Help!!!

Dear Faithful Readers of Mom's Blog,

This is Charley, and I NEED your help. I am four years old and have been told that I am a very sweet dog. I had the best life up until about...oh 17 months ago. Mommy and Daddy let me eat all the people food that I wanted. I got to sleep all day while they were at work. I got to go on walks. Then, one day in July Mommy left and came back with this little person. She wasn't so bad at first...she just cried a little. She has grown up and she walks and talks (not any language that I understand) and all she does is torture me ALL day long. She got in big trouble tonight because she threw all of her food on the floor. (which was kind of nice for me!) Then she found a red sharpie and wrote all over her face. She took all the clothes out of her drawers that Mommy had just neatly folded. (and thought it would be funny to put the pants on her head.) And...she broke a Christmas ornament. That won her a free trip to bed...no passing go...and no collecting $200.00.

If you are reading this and would like to help me...please give me a call. I need your help. Daddy said that I get to stay with Uncle Adam for a few days and I can't wait. I don't even mind not being with my Mommy and Daddy on Christmas day. I am looking forward to the break from flower head.

Thanks for your concern,
Charley Shelton

Snow in Alaska....

Just thought I would post the difference between Nashville snow and Alaska snow.... I think this was even taken a month ago!!! I will be excited to visit them...and excited to come back home!!!

Uncle Scott and Aunt Lindsey have nothing on us...

My brother and sister-in- law just moved to Alaska in October. They are always sending pictures of themselves and my neice and nephew (Jersey and Biscuit) in TONS of snow! I thought they might be impressed with the snow falling in Nashville!!!

Ellie Shelton...Ready to take on the World

This has been quite a morning! My house was clean when we woke up this morning. NOT ANY MORE! Every drawer is unpacked and there are messes EVERYWHERE! Ellie likes to unzip her pj's and show off her chest and belly! She also loves to wear Brian's riding glasses. We call her "Hollywood!" As I was teaching her all the countries, their capitals, and a major export...she decided she also needed a scarf! Not only is she the smartest "non-talking" 17 month old...she is the best dressed, too!

Fun week in Aberdeen

Ellie and I headed to Aberdeen for a few days last week. We had a great time. Ellie loved getting to see all her favorite Mississippi friends. BA fed her well and she LOVES her chocolate chip pound cake!!! YUM! She loved swinging in NaNa's backyard. She had such a fun time with Es. She loved going over to Madie's house and snooping through her drawers and playing "Where's Bubba?" She loved the cat at my dad's house. I spent a whole day trying to get a cute Christmas card picture. Nothing turned out. After dinner, NaNa took her clothes off and she streaked through the whole house laughing and giggling. She sat down in front of the Christmas tree and gave the cutest smiles....NAKED...of course. Oh well.

Happy Birthday Amanda!!!

I have to apologize for not giving my very best friend in the whole world a birthday "shout out" yesterday. I did call her bright and early, but I just never got on the computer yesterday. Amanda is the sweetest, most fun, loving person I know. I am so honored to call her my best pal. I taught with Amanda at DeSoto Central Elementary. I was scared to go talk to her, because she was the "cool" teacher. She was so cute and well dressed and everyone wanted their child in her classroom. Someone convinced me to go talk to her about starting our Masters together! We started together and had a blast. Notice that I said...started.....we are both Master student drop-outs!!!! I was also nervous about her boyfriend, (now husband) Calvin. All I knew about him was that he went to Ole Miss, was a CPA, and lived at Southwind in Memphis. Little did I know...his dining room chairs were so old that I sat in it and it fell to the floor!!!!! There was nothing to worry about there! Amanda and Calvin are two of the most wonderful friends, parents, and Christians that I know. Happy Birthday one day late!!! Love you!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Yesterday we decorated our Christmas tree! Ellie really enjoyed playing with the lights. She had fun putting a few ornaments on the tree. Her favorite part of the day was just getting to play with her daddy! They played outside and had a blast. Santa Clause comes to see you when you finish decorating the tree. This way you know you have been a good girl/boy and that he will be coming back to see you. He came and brought Ellie and Brian a present. It was really fun to watch them get their presents on the front porch. What a fun weekend!!!

Thanksgiving 2008

We have so much to be thankful for this year. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Memphis with Brian's entire family. His cousin's were so sweet with Ellie...and she LOVED them! We ate WAY too much and had a blast! Thanks to everyone for a wonderful weekend.

Fun Weekend with Friends

I am sorry about 3 posts in one day! I just wanted to write about our fun weekend with friends. Amanda and "Ms." Pat came this weekend for some fun shopping! My sweet husband went to work at 5 am on Saturday so that he could be home to have "Daddy and Ellie Football Saturday!" The girls and I went to Tis the Season and all over Franklin doing some retail therapy! Thanks girls for coming...can't wait until next year.

The Baby Jesus

Ellie loves the Baby Jesus...any Baby Jesus. BA gave her an advent calendar and she has carried around the Baby Jesus for weeks. She puts him in her shopping cart, Cozy Coupe, purse...just about anywhere. She can always produce him when you ask her. Our friends the McMullen's gave her a Fontanini Holy Family for Christmas last year. We opened it this morning and she was so excited about the Baby Jesus. I got her all ready for nap time and realized that she still had him in her hand. I guess there is no better person to nap with than the Baby Jesus! I pray that she always loves him as much as she does now!!!!

***Update: Ellie was crying so I went in to check on her. Minnie Mouse and The Baby Jesus were kicked out of her bed. Not sure if they were causing trouble or what...

Ellie's New Favorite Snack

Ellie has decided that her "new favorite" snack is Charley's dog food. I think they have a little co-op going on that they didn't tell us about. Charley loves to eat her food and vice versa. Brian caught her in the dog food this morning before work. I decided I would make her a little necklace out of bells...so that I could know where she was. Here is what I found in the laundry room after lunch. She was having a blast digging in the food. When I asked her what she was doing she looked at me like I couldn't possible be talking to her. When I asked again, she slowly put it in Charley's bowl. She was only trying to help!!!

Daddy's girl...

As I was getting Ellie ready for church this morning I decided to try on my coat from when I was little. It was a very special coat...Ladye made it for me and then her grandchildren wore it. I just wanted to see how long it would be before Ellie could wear it. Ha Ha....TODAY! It fit beautifully! She looked so sweet and got so many compliments at church. I am pretty sure we were all around 5 when we wore it...Ellie is 16 months. I guess it is fair to say she gets her size from her daddy! When we got home from church, I decided to try the dress on that Ladye made for me. Guess what...it fits too! Meg wore this to our rehearsal dinner. (She was in Kindergarten!!!) I am raising the jolly green giant. (But she sure does look sweet in my clothes!!!) Thanks LaLa! What a fun day.

Trying to get a Christmas Card Picture

This morning we went to the Opryland Hotel to try and get a good picture of Ellie for our Christmas cards. It was fun...but she wasn't really into sitting still for a picture. She seemed more like the Grinch that Stole Christmas. I think we got several good ones. Thanks to Aunt Nan for her beautiful new Christmas dress! We love it!

Lipstick Jungle

Ellie was playing so well in the playroom this afternoon. I thought maybe..just maybe..I could run to the bathroom without a 16 month old and a chocolate lab. This is what she looked like when I came back. She was also chasing Charley trying to put it on his nose. I promise I wasn't gone 30 seconds. I have no idea where she even found the lipstick. I had been looking for it for months!! I guess we will have to work on how to correctly apply lipstick!

Monkey's Treehouse

Tuesday, we went with our sweet friends Anna and Caroline to Monkey's Treehouse. Monkey's Treehouse is a really cool place for kids to play. They have everything you could possibly imagine. Of course, Ellie's favorite was the truck. Thanks to the Bryan's for spending the morning with us!

Happy Birthday Aunt Steph!!!!

Just wanted to send a birthday shout-out to one of our 4 faithful readers....Aunt Steph! We hope you are having a great birthday! See you soon. Make sure Adam takes you somewhere really nice for dinner! Ha Ha!