THE SHEHANE CLAN

March Fun

2014-08-05T20:55:00.001-04:00

March 2014

Saint Patrick Days, grumpy 2 year old, happy 2 year old, gymnastics, and a visit from Jennifer and Evan!

Date Night

2014-07-28T13:30:00.002-04:00

February 2014

Kate, Abby, and I went on a girls date to see The Cat in the Hat at the Aurora Theatre. I think the girls love these nights out mainly because they get to pick whatever they want to wear, weather appropriate. We had dinner first then walked over to the theater. I'm really trying to instill a love for the theater in our children and it was such a fun night!

February Fun

2014-07-28T13:26:00.002-04:00

February 2014

February consisted of more snow, cold children, Valentine's Day parties, inside play, a rare nice day, first chicken biscuits, and lots of love!

Kate's Birthday

2014-07-20T14:47:00.000-04:00

January 18, 2014

Katherine turned 6! For her birthday she chose a family day. We had lunch at American Girl then a party at Grandma and Granddad's. She also had a humongous cupcake at school during lunch. We are so proud of Kate and love her to pieces. She is kind, loving, fun, smart, and just perfect to us :)

Snow!

2014-07-20T14:36:00.003-04:00

We had a full week of steady snow in January. Atlanta pretty much shut down the first day. The snow started around noon so everyone started driving at the same time plus we don't have the infrastructure to salt all the roads. You have a ton of cars driving on iced roads means a mess! Luckily, Jason decided to work from home that day, just in case... I actually picked Kate up early from school to take the girls to the dentist. The kids had so much fun playing in the snow. I was, as usual, over it within a couple of days. Man, it's a lot of work layering and unlayering all the kids. Plus, it's so dang cold ;)

January Activites

2014-07-20T14:15:00.001-04:00

January fun involved a girl's trip to see the movie, Frozen; Liam into everything; days of rain followed by some scooter riding; helicopter flying; sibling love; and tired children.

Christmas Morning with Santa then at the Grandparents

2014-07-13T21:04:00.001-04:00

Christmas morning was so exciting for the kids. Santa ate lots of cookies, the reindeer ate the carrots, and presents were left for everyone. I didn't take many pictures at our house. I've definitely been more in the moment this year and since I'm the picture taker we have to keep the memories in our minds. It was such a wonderful day. The big hits at our home were the mini trampoline and Liam's scooter. I did take a few more pictures at my parents.

Christmas Eve Eve

2014-06-09T21:12:00.002-04:00

Santa came to our house a day early so we celebrated Christmas Eve the day before too. We continued our tradition of making cookies and opening a present of pjs. The girls also decided we need to leave carrots for the reindeer and in case Santa wants any healthy food :) I love our family and how happy the kids are during holidays. These traditions are so important to me and I plan on doing them every year, even when our kids are teenagers and too cool for family stuff ;)

9 Years

2014-06-09T21:05:00.000-04:00

December 18th, 2013

Jason and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary. Wow, what a crazy year 2013 was. I am so thankful we have a strong marriage because amazingly my cancer didn't seem to affect it, except make me more grateful for Jason. Even though I was diagnosed in 2012, the cancer stuff was still going strong this past year. He is my best friend and the person who can comfort me and make me laugh and who I always want to be around and talk with. We're already planning a trip to celebrate the big 10 next year :)

Jason, as usual, planned our date that night. We went to dinner then downtown to see The Christmas Carroll at the Alliance Theater.

Katherine's Christmas Party

2014-06-09T20:57:00.003-04:00

December 2013

Kate's class had a "winter" party and I was able to sign up to volunteer. The parents are crazy around here and you have to fight to help out, since everyone signs up right away. I was literally checking my email every 5 minutes so I would see the sign up right away before the slots filled up. Turns out, I'm one of those crazy parents! It was a lot of fun. They decorated cookies, played games, made pictures...

Abby's Preschool Christmas Program

2014-06-09T20:52:00.002-04:00

December 2013

Abby sang at her preschool and it was so cute! You can tell she is really trying hard and had practiced a lot to learn all the words. Later she had a party in classroom I was able to attend.

Santa!

2014-05-30T20:46:00.002-04:00

November 2013

We went to visit Santa early this year. I joked it was a Christmas miracle that we were able to get a picture with all 3 kids with Santa. We went with my parents and made a day of the experience. After seeing Santa we played on the playground, then rode the carousel and ate lunch. I love days like this and the memories that are made.

Thanksgiving

2014-05-30T20:41:00.002-04:00

November 2013

This year we stayed home for Thanksgiving. We ate a huge meal at the club and spent most of the weekend at my parents hanging out with them and Jennifer and Evan. The girls love Evan :) It was a great weekend! Lately I've been getting caught up in the moment and I forget to take pictures. That happened here; the only pictures I have are from one night while we were at my parents.

Kate's Thanksgiving Play

2014-05-30T20:36:00.001-04:00

Kate had a Thanksgiving show in her kindergarten class. She did so well and knew all the words! My parents, Liam, and I went to watch and we were all so proud of her. It was such a fun day!

November 2013

2014-05-30T20:26:00.003-04:00

November 2013

Visiting the preschool pumpkin patch

Jason taking the boy scouts on a campout

Liam having a rough moment during church

Jason was working late and kids were cranky so I had them sit outside to see the sun set while they ate dinner. It magically calmed everyone down. Too bad that doesn't work every time!

Camping

2014-05-30T20:17:00.002-04:00

November 2013

We braved camping with a 5.5, 3.5, and 1.5 year old! It was fun but a lot of work! Getting everything ready, buying what we needed, preparing food... It was definitely an experience for the kids and that makes it worth all the effort. We ended up camping at the Tranquility RV campground. It was perfect! When you first drive in there are designated camp sites but if you drive past that there is an open area in the woods. There were 5 families total. Where we camped there was a big clearing surrounded by woods and we each had a spot in the woods for our tents. Our family only went for 2 nights/3 days because that's my limit :) The first night was pretty rough. It was cold and Liam barely slept. The next night was better because we were sure to use our heater. The kids had fun running around the whole time. By the end they were so exhausted though. I don't think they could have taken anymore.

Around the Home

2014-05-30T20:13:00.005-04:00

October 2013 Happenings Around the Home

Kate's school had a fund raiser that we paid way too much money for since we didn't realize they did "kid" laps instead of real track laps :) It was fun watching her run around though!

Kate's first selfies I found on my phone! I'm obsessed with her freckles.

When Liam was called a girl multiple times even though he was dressed in the most boyish clothes I had ever put him in...

Liam snuck in while Jason was doing some work

Love them!

Abby getting her first real haircut.

Jennifer and Evan's Wedding Weekend

2014-05-13T18:46:00.001-04:00

June 2013

(I can't believe I haven't written about this)

Jennifer and Evan had the most amazing wedding weekend/day in Telluride, CO. We flew in on Wednesday and flew back on Tuesday. Liam stayed with MeeMaw and PawPaw while we were gone. The first night I went with my parents to help Jennifer and Evan put together their welcome bags. Jennifer planned every detail of this wedding and went all out. Everything was pretty amazing. Everything in the bag had a Telluride theme. There were water canteens (with Telluride on them), energy bars, tylenol (for altitude headaches), sunscreen, chapstick, chocolate... all in a canvas bag.

Thursday afternoon they planned a picnic at the Telluride Town Park. You had to walk through town to get there and the street was lined with vendors. They got all the vegetables to grill that day from the stands. We found some chia seeds granola for Jason's Dad and jam for his Mom. The place of the picnic was pretty surreal. Mountains were on both sides with a river streaming by. It was a really nice day. That night we went out to dinner with Evan's family. We were there for a long time and the kids did great. It helped that we were sitting outside.

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner at The Peaks Resort. The dinner was on a patio outside enclosed by a clear balcony. The sun was setting over the mountains and the weather was perfect. It was such a beautiful night. Their friends gave a few toasts during the night and it was fun hearing about them. They are such a cute couple :)

Saturday was the big day! My sister had a suite reserved at the hotel for all the bridesmaids to get ready. Again, it was beautiful. There was a huge balcony looking out at the mountains. There was even a masseuse there. We had lunch, got our makeup done, our hair done, hung out...

The gondola was a big hit with the girls.

Family Hike

Family Hike #2 and #3

Jason took the girls on a bike ride the morning of the wedding. I was with my mom and sister in the bridal suite helping and getting ready.

The kids the morning we left. We sure missed not having Liam with us!

Day 6: Epcot/Magic Kingdom/Cinderella's Castle

2014-04-03T20:23:00.002-04:00

Our last day was a busy day. As I already mentioned, Jason, the girls, and I went to Epcot that morning so they could ride their favorite rides again and see Jasmine.

We came back to the hotel to rest for a bit, then we all went to MK to do a bunch of rides and eat dinner at Cinderella's Castle. Again, we didn't really have any waits for the rides. The kids loved the playground at Dumbo. I hung outside since Liam fell asleep in his stroller and I didn't want to wake him. We were having so much fun that we didn't realize what time it was and had to run to make our reservation at the castle, hence why the kids are so red in the picture :)

Cinderella's Castle was amazing. The food was surprisingly good and the characters were so sweet. Our waiter even gave Liam a free meal since we were going to have him share off our plates. Kate and Abby were fascinated by the entire experience and felt so special. Liam did have an incident which involved my Mom coming to help me and then taking Liam out to buy him a new shirt... Again, so thankful we had my Mom there to share this experience with us and to help with Liam!

My favorite picture from the trip and from 2013. This moment was the end to a wonderful week spending time as a family and celebrating our health. I am so thankful for my family and have been blessed with more than I ever hoped for in my life.

Day 5: Magic Kingdom/Halloween

2014-04-03T19:58:00.000-04:00

We all went to MK Halloween morning, then our hotel had a party and trick-or-treating that evening. Another perfect day. The hotel was amazing for the kids celebrating Halloween. They had crafts and candy and movies... We loved being at Disney World for Halloween.

Day 4: Animal Kingdom

2014-03-03T18:49:00.000-05:00

Day 4: Pool Day and Animal Kingdom

We decided to have a rest day during the week. A lazy morning and afternoon at the pool. There were three pools at the resort but we only went to the one right outside our room. The Nemo pool was the best in my opinion. It had a splash pad area that was perfect for Liam. There was also a little climbing/sliding area and the pool itself was huge with a big wadding area. Jason also did a little work this morning too.

Later that afternoon, Jason, Kate, Abby and I went to the Animal Kingdom while Liam napped and played with my Mom. We got a deal with our park tickets where one was free. I really liked the Animal Kingdom but I don't know if it would be worth paying full price for everyone to go. The safari was pretty great. We literally could have reached out the jeep and touched some animals. They had a pretty impressive playground too. If you went over the bridge in the playground there was also a pit where kids could excavate dinosaur fossils. Kate and Abby played forever here. There was a 4D movie that was fun. Kate was really into all the effects. Some of it was a little too real for Abby and she'd take off her glasses for the intense parts. Lastly, Jason and Kate went on a roller coaster while Abby and I rode the train then went to the petting zoo area. We watched the parade then left right as the park was closing.

Magic Kingdom

2014-02-03T07:52:00.002-05:00

Day 3: Magic Kingdom

This was a day I don't think any of us will ever forget. We had an early appointment at Bippity Boppity Boo. It was surreal walking into the park with barely any people. The girls LOVED getting their hair and nails done. They were too cute and it was definitely worth it. We were finished before the park fully opened so we were again able to walk on a bunch of rides. The girls loved the teacups and I personally liked Winnie the Pooh. Liam was hilarious during It's a Small World. He was laughing and saying wow over and over. It was so cute.

At lunch time we went back to the hotel to take a break. Liam was exhausted and slept the second he got in the car. My Mom arrived then from her flight. We showed her around some, then after Kate and Abby napped for a bit, Jason and I went back to Magic Kingdom with the girls. They really liked Pirates of the Caribbean, Dumbo (especially the amazing playground inside the Dumbo area), Barnstormer (a real roller coaster!), riding the train, and a ton of other rides. We were able to do a few character meets too since lines weren't long. Merida was my favorite of the entire week. She was too cute and really sweet with the girls! Abby loved that she met Tangled (Rapunzel) and Kate loved meeting Snow White. It was fun for them because they were dressed as Snow White and Rapunzel and the princesses made a big deal about it.

We finished the day with dinner at The Crystal Palace. This never could have happened without my Mom being able to watch Liam. It was a long day and would have been too much for him. Kate and Abby really enjoyed being able to pick out their own drinks, dinner, and best of all, desserts! The characters were fun too. The Halloween Party was starting when we were leaving. We didn't stay for the party and it was a good call. It doesn't start until 7:30, the kids bedtime, and it was crowded and dark. I tried to get pictures of all the decorations though, because they really go all out! Unfortunately, it was just too dark.

The Fairy Godmother was waiting at the castle entrance

Abby's experience. I loved when she saw herself for the first time.

Kate's experience. She was so still while they did her hair. I loved seeing her expression at the end too!

Liam stayed away from the Fairy Godmothers and was content eating and staying close to Jason :)

Liam on the way back to the hotel that afternoon

Watching the parade.

The guys standing next to us were hilarious. They knew these tricks so all the characters in the parade would do special things as they went by.

Epcot

2014-01-30T20:00:00.000-05:00

Day 2 and Morning of Day 6: Epcot

We had early reservations for breakfast at the Akershus Palace. This meant we were able to enter the park before it opened and walk around a little with it completely empty. At breakfast the princesses came around and took pictures and signed Kate and Abby's autograph book. I bought these for them just in case they cared about getting signatures. It was a good call because they loved having the characters sign their books. After eating, all the kids in the restaurant do a parade with the princesses.

Kate's favorite ride of the week was at Epcot. She was tall enough to ride Soarin with me and wanted to ride it over and over again. Abby's favorite ride was also at Epcot. She loved Spaceship Earth. I think she liked going up in the big "golfball" and turning backwards and touching the computer. I was surprised because I thought it would be boring for kids. Not for ours! Liam did really well and liked all the rides. I was a little nervous in the pitch black rides because he kept trying to stand up but besides that it was great having him experience everything too.

On our last day the girls really wanted to go back to Epcot. We left Liam at the hotel with my Mom and went there as soon as it opened. We rode all their favorites again plus some more. We were able to finally meet Jasmine too!

The workers were making bubbles from solution in the trashcan. Liam had a blast!

Kate took our picture :)

Abby LOVES Jasmine so we walked all the way around to Morocco to meet her. Unfortunately she had to "fly home to take care of Rajah." Aladdin was so nice though! Kate was uncomfortable so only Abby went to meet him and he was one of my favorite character meets.

This was the closest Liam got to any of the dressed up characters. After Mickey, he would go no where near them!

Abby, Liam, and I watching the water fountain show while Jason and Kate went on a ride. Perfect ending to a fun day first day.

Disney World/Halloween

2014-01-29T18:51:00.001-05:00

Day 1: Arrival

This year was my turn to pick a trip for Jason and I. We've done a few hiking trips in the US and I really wanted to go to Switzerland or Prague or Scotland or Ireland... However, when it came down to it, and the year we'd had, I just wanted to do a family trip. Something for the kids. DISNEYWORLD! It was a lot of planning on my part, but everything turned out perfectly. We drove down to Laura's Friday then Sunday morning we left for Disney World.

Our hotel was amazing! We stayed at the Art of Animation in the Nemo suite. The details and decorations and overall atmosphere was wonderful. My Mom flew down Tuesday to help with Liam. I really don't think we could have fully enjoyed our trip without her help. Liam still needed naps and breaks and wants to run around and climb out of rides :) I could have left him home with mine or Jason's parents but I wanted our whole family to be together. I think Liam really enjoyed the trip so I'm glad he was there. I know the girls LOVED the entire week, It was so fun simply watching them enjoy the moment. I didn't want to go when it was crowded so I took Kate out of school for a week and we went Halloween week. It was empty! We rarely had to wait for any rides and it was easy to maneuver around. We literally walked on to multiple rides the whole week. I was nervous about having Kate miss a week of school, since they're a little psycho around here about that, however her teacher told us it was fine at to have fun.

The first day we played in our room then walked around the hotel grounds. I loved this place!

Our view from the bedroom and the rest of the suite.

Annual Six Flags

2014-01-07T19:20:00.000-05:00

(September)

We made it to the GA Tech night at Six Flags this year. My one year anniversary of the day I started chemo. It was nice not feeling sick! Normally, they don't have to entire kids section open but this year they did. We were literally the only people in there with our kids. It was great! We did take Abby on a "kid" roller coaster that turned out to be pretty intense. Her expression was priceless. The girls had a blast and Jason and I even did a real roller coaster while Steve watched our kids for us. (Liam stayed home with my parents since it was his bedtime).