Halloween 2010

This is the first year we were going to attempt the Trick or Treating with Tate. We tried to pump him up as time drew near that his monkey costume was so cool and he had to wear it door to door to get some candy. He actually did it which I was surprised. He was such a cute little monkey!! We also carved a last minute pumpkin which was fun for Tate and daddy to do together and went to the new corn maze in Powell with Baby Cooper and Izzie. We had a great time this Halloween!!

Tate's first Trip to Disney - 2010

Spur of the moment is not my thing (ask my husband) but I just wanted a get away trip so bad this Fall before the new baby GIRL (yes GIRL!!) and before I got so pregnant I couldn't walk. We started researching into a short Disney trip and after some planning and good advice from others had a plane flight and trip booked before we knew it. It worked out good because this fell during my Veterns Day Hoilday so the only day I had to take off was Wed. We flew Alligient Air from Wed to Sun and this was the perfect amount of time away. Tate did great on his first plane ride and even sat in his own seat like a big boy. We were able to sit together both flights which helped ease mommy and daddy. We arrived in beautiful Florida with 80 degree weather. The Disney Express shuttled us to the Pop Century Resort and we got used to the shuttling around from here to there the rest of the week. Our hotel was pretty cool with three pools and lots of oversized items (playdough, three-wheel, Mickey Mouse, etc). We stayed in the 50s themed area. When we arrvied we had to take advantage of the warm weather not warm water and jump in for a swim. Swimming in November was awesome so we did again later in the week! We visited three theme parks: Magic Kingdom (the castle was magical), Animal Kingdom (loved the Safari ride), and Hollywood Studios (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!!). I was amazed at all the rides we could ride with Tate. He did get a little scared on some of the dark, loud ones but overall did great! We got our picture with Tigger, Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. I was surprised that we could find all the characters and so many Christmas lights were up already. At Hollywood Studios we were able to catch the Festival of Lights where the lights flicked on and off to Christmas Music. Two nights we visted the Downtown Disney area which was full of place to shop and eat. They had a LEGO store, a Ghirradelli (which I fell in love with their Hot Chocolate and free samples), and tons to Disney themed stores that were fun to look through. Our short trip was a success and it will be great to have these memories some day to look back upon.

Looking out of the plane with daddy...


Mickey's house ("take a picture"~Tate)...


The big castle...


Animal Kingdom...


Goofy and Pluto...


Festival of Lights at Hollywood Studios...

2 years ago...

2 years ago Tate Kelton Shular came into this world and his mommy and daddy had no idea how much we would/could love such a thing. This year was special because we now know that Tate will have a sibling on his next birthday so this is his last one as an only child. Travis and I decided to celebrate on his actual birthday by taking him to the Ripley's Aquarium. It was so fun. Tate loved all the big fish and surprisingly was not scared in the long tunnel. Afterwards, we walked the Gatlinburg strip and had to get a yummy caramel apple with nuts. Of course...Tate had to take a few bits himself. We had a great time together just the three of us.







Yummy Caramel Apple...



We decided to have the party on Sunday October 3rd outside and of course it was the coldest day so far in October. It had been having beautiful weather and of course the day of Tate's party the high was 60!! This brought back memories of last year. And to make the day even better we went to go get some balloons for the party and they ended up blowing out of the back of the car but Auntie Abs saved the day and surprised us with some more. What great family we have!! We had the party at the pavilion in our neighborhood and all the kids played and played on the play ground. We brought the fire pit over since it was so cold and many people gathered around the fire to stay warm. Carolyn and I made sport cookie pops and blue cupcakes. So...cute! Tate was such a big boy. He did so good opening his presents and showing off his new toys. He is such a loved little boy and I know that because so many people came out in this cold...cold weather!!





Look at all the cuties that showed up to celebrate with Tate...

#2 is on the way!

We found out on August 1st that we would be having another Shular baby come into this world. We were so excited that Tate will be a big brother. We decided not to tell anyone until we went to the doctor the first time which was August 26th. This was a hard secret to keep especially from out parents. I ordered a "big brother" shirt for Tate to wear and surprise our parents. The day we got the shirt in the mail we could'nt stand it anymore. We decided to tell Abbie first. I called and invited ourselves over for dinner...yum mom's lasagna! We get in the door she noticed the shirt first off. She was super excited! We went to moms next and she noticed the shirt as Tate was walking up the porch stairs. She couldn't believe it! We decided to pick some veggies from the garden so we called Gram and Pap to come over and pick some of the okra that was going bad. They came over and hung out for quite awhile before noticing the shirt and of course they were super excited too! Dad found out since he kept Tate at our house the night of our 10 year reunion and we continued to call other family and friends after that weekend since it came out at the reunion festivities. We are really excited to add another life to our family!

Smith Mountain Lake with the Streets

In the middle of July we decided to crash the Street vacation at Smith Mountain Lake. My Aunt and Uncle have a condo on the lake and everyone was gathering together. Tate rode his first jet ski very slowly between Travis and I. We ate good and had lots of fun. We visited the Smith Mountain Boat Dock because my Aunt kept talking about the "big" fish. WOW! These things were huge and there were so many. We had a great time feeding them lots of popcorn. The last night we were there we all got in the boat and rode to the Mexican place to eat. Glad we could crash the party!

See what I mean...Big and lots of them...

First trip to Dollywood

My Birthday fell on a Monday this year and Travis and I happened to be off for the July fourth holiday so we decided to do something fun for us and Tate. Tate has never been to Dollywood so we decided to make a day of it. I don't know who was more excited Travis or myself. One thing about parenthood that I love it showing your child new fun things in life. Well this day was full of them. When we got there we decided to go straight to the Country Fair. We rode the elephants and the tea cups together. What a blast! What I wasn't ready for was for Tate to ride some rides by himself...sounds absurd at 21 months! On the contrary Tate was able to ride the Bubble Bees and the Ducks all by himself...what a big boy! We also made our way up to the carousel and the last stop was the famous steam engine train. By this time in the day Tate was wore out and actually fell asleep on the train. What a great and memorable birthday!

North Myrtle Beach 2010

This year we decided to go to the beach in June. This worked out better with our busy work and summer schedule. The Stewarts were supposed to go with us but God had other plans so we still decided to find a place and go ourselves. Our reservations started on Sunday so we decided to drive to Greensboro to visit with Derick and Scarlett which worked out great for us. It cut the trip up and Ray and Carolyn were there too. Tate slept most of the trip to the beach and on the way home...something about the car that wears him and myself out. We stayed at Baywatch and had a one room place that was just right for us this year. It had lots of pools that Tate grew to love. He started jumping in by himself while we there. He was fearless. He also loved the sand and waves. Every morning we would go down to the beach and play in the ocean puddles. These were cold at first but the sun would warm them up throughout the day. Travis and/or I would follow Tate as he wandered down the beach. Around 11 or 11:30 Tate was spent and ready for a nap and a hotdog. He would eat and be out for 2-3 hours. Travis and I would take turns on nap duty (but I have to say...I got more beach time...thanks Trav). When he woke up we would go down for a couple more hours and end up in the pool. Every night we would find some good place to eat and yes Travis did talk me into seafood two nights. One of them we drove to Calabash and the other one was the buffet Travis has been talking about for months. I am so glad we went and got to make some Shular memories together!!

Tate's 18 month pics

We got 18 month pictures done in early May at the Botanical Gardens in Knoxville. These were sort-of a spur of the moment thing but really turned out well. Below are some we took ourselves before the shoot. We used Travis's Radio Flyer wagon as a prop and had a great time.

Papaw Mike's Birthday 2010

Dad's name is Papaw Mike to Tate and Izzie. This is hard to get used to...calling everyone by their "new" names but oh so much fun. Dad picked to go out to eat for his birthday so we ventured to Outback...YUM! Tate and Izzie were all over dad he could barely eat. Tate evened sneezed in Dad's salad and dad said he lost his appetite. I am sure it was a sweet sneeze! Later in the evening we went and played on Izzie's new swing set. She got this for turning 3. We had a great time!

Izzie Turns 3

Izzie Beth is 3! Izzie had a party at the Bouce House this year. Tate loved it this year because he was big enough to bounce on his own. He found a favorite spot and wanted to do over and over. Izzie got a load of presents and did so good opening her presents. Everyone got a ball as a party favor. You know Tate was in heaven. You can tell Izzie Beth is loved!

Tate's first "real" camping trip - Bear Tree

I am really amazed that it has taken us this long to take Tate camping especially since Travis and I enjoy it so much. I call it his "real" camping trip because we all three actually slept in a tent together. That was an experience. It was really hard to get Tate to calm down and go to sleep with his mommy and daddy right beside him. Aren't we supposed to play like we do in our play tent at home?? We went to Bear Tree Campground in Damascus, VA with the whole Street clan. On Saturday we rode the Creeper Trail...well lets say Tate and I started to ride but it fell right at nap time and a down pour so we ditched everyone for a nap. That was an experience because I didn't have a car seat and I had to drive papaw's truck in the pouring rain with Tate's head on my lap. Oh..but what a memory! We had a great time and hope to do more camping in the near future!!

Mommy's Day 2010

This is my second official Mother's Day and my Tate was so sweet to me. He got me some beautiful yellow Gerber Daisies (my favorite) and a gift card to go get my toes done. Girl time...yeah! We have a tradition to go the park with the whole family and this year switched it up and went to a park in Fountain City to stay a little closer to home. We ate KFC and just played, played, played. We had a good day celebrating mothers.

Doing the "Thumb Dance"

This was Tate's first wedding that he actually busted a move on the dance floor. He was hilarious doing his "Thumb dance." Him and Izzie were so cute. Izzie was actually a flower girl in the wedding and she did so good. We had a great time but left the party because we thought the music was starting to hurt Tate's ears. We found out a couple of weeks ago that Tate needs tubes. He is getting them the Friday before Memorial Day. I guess he has his daddy's ears!

Kitchen Cabinet Project

Travis gets these wild hairs every once in awhile and he pulled through this one with a win! He has been talking about painting our kitchen cabinets...well...since the day we bought the house over 4 years ago. We didn't have much planned last weekend so he decided to get into a project around the house. We (when I say this I mean Travis with my input) started on Friday night sanding and taking the cabinets and drawers so we would be ready to start painting on Sat morning. We decided to use Travis's dad's paint sprayer to make things go a little faster. This was a nightmare at first. We couldn't get the thing to work and had to clean it out delaying our project until mid day. We had a schedule because we had the Dye/Milas that night and anyways it was supposed to rain. Travis finally got the outside painting done just in time to leave Sat night. On Sunday Travis's dad came over and helped finish trimming the inside and they hung the cabinets. Beautiful! We celebrated by eating Mexican with Travis's parents. Throughout the next week Travis touched up and put the knobs on. We decided to do handles on the drawers to mix things up. Let me know what you think...

Before:


Tate helping...ha!


After:

Bunny Day 2010

What a fun holiday this year! The Easter bunny made it to our house. Tate got a bubble mower, puzzle, and some other goodies. He must have been good the past year...ha! We have a tradition that we started last year with Abbie and Izzie where we go to get pictures at the Mayo in Powell. They have live animals that the kiddos can pet. Tate looks so scared in his picture. He did not make a move with that large bunny beside him. We went to a couple of egg hunts this year....one at the Shular's house and then we went to Beaver Creeks'. Tate was a pro at hunting eggs. He got lots of candy that mommy and daddy can eat!! We also colored eggs at Mamaw and Papaw's house on Saturday and then at our house when dad came over. It was a blast this year and of course mommy likes getting all new clothes for the family!!

Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays

My Mom's, my Mother-in-Law's (Carolyn), and my Father-in-Law's (Ray) birthday are all really close so it seemed like we were getting together with family a lot this month to celebrate. We had Mom's and Carolyn's birthday dinners at our house. We had a good time. Ray's birthday we decided to go out to eat so we picked a Japanese steak house so Tate could be entertained. Well...this didn't go as planned because Tate was sick. He slept through the entertainment and actually threw up for the first time on the way home. He was so pitiful!