Emily's 6 month check up!!

Today was Emily's 6 month check up! How did 6 months go by so fast??? She had a great check up, she's 16lbs 8 ounces and 26 inches long! The doctor said she's growing great and looking more beautiful everytime she see's her. She's enjoying cereal and solids more and more, she also really likes the rice puffs and last night had her first cheese puff and boy was that fun to watch. Everyday I fall more in love with her, she's such a happy little girl. I waited 5 1/2 years for you Emily and I have felt so lucky since the day you were born! I can't wait to see what the next 6 months have in store for you and what your next mile stone will be! Mommy loves you.

Softball Season Starts Today! :)

I'm super excited that my softball season officially starts today! I missed it terribly last year but I didn't want anything to happen while I was pregnant!! It looks like a nice cool day so it won't be as HOT as it was last week for practice!

I'm picturing things now putting on my cleats, preparing my pony tail and sliding on that mit, today's going to be one FUN filled day! Lets Play BALL!! :)

I feel so blessed

When I get the chance to have a minute to myself I sit and just think how did I get so lucky? I can't believe how much life has changed in the last 7 years. I have been on the roller coaster they call life. I would have never thought at 28 I would have been married twice and have two of the most amazing little girls on the planet. I really didn't think I would have had kids before 25. I always wanted to go to college, travel the world, and then settle down get married and have kids. Like I said the roller coaster of life took me somewhere different. The tough lessons happened during my first marriage, being 21 and having a baby was tough, sometimes when I see the show 16 and pregnant I can't imagine having a baby while still being in high school. Olivia changed my entire life, I never knew someone could love another person so much, that just one smile one laugh could change your mood. She taught me patience, kindness, sacrifice, and how to see life in a whole new way!

Being a single mom during my divorce was tough, I felt like I had failed and I had never failed at anything ever, well I had but this was the biggest failure I had ever faced. I had never lived on my own yes I know 22 and never lived on my own, I liked being at home!! But here I was living in a 2 bedroom apartment with my 2 year old daughter, I had nothing but I had everything as long as we had each other. The first year was the toughest but I learned how to live and remembered the Shantel people really liked. I started dancing again, I started laughing again, I started LIVING again! Everything fell into place and then LOVE happened.

Matt was the first man I ever introduced to Olivia. I was really true to my heart about not bringing a bunch of strangers in and out of her life. I wanted her to know that any man worth meeting was a man that would be in both of our lives forever. I was worried about how she would feel about Matt and having someone else taking away her attention, I mean it had been only her and I for the last 3 years and so who wouldn't be jealous. She started to really like Matt and well one thing led to another and we made it official we were to become a family! Yes it all happened so fast but I wouldn't change one thing. Then we gave Olivia some more BIG NEWS, she was finally going to be the big sister I knew she would always be!!

Emily's growth brought up all kinds of questions, I wish I would have blogged more about my pregnancy but honestly I was too busy working and watching my daughter GROW into a kid rather than a little girl. I can remember she asked me one night, When your belly gets bigger mom will you take it with you to work?? I couldn't help but laugh, oh the things out of the mouths of babes!! She was curious and helpful and she hasn't stopped since Emily got here!!

Matt has been such an amazing guy! He's really taken on the role of Dad and Step Dad. He's always my backup whenever I need him. He communicates with me and that is huge in a relationship. He's also one of the funniest people I know. He knows how to turn my frown upside down. We may not always think alike and we have our off days but I always know he's in my corner and I'm in his. I love his so so so so so much!

I would never have imagined at 28 years old I would have such an amazing husband whose supportive and loving, and works very hard, a beautiful and kind daughter who everyday teaches me new things, and an infant daughter whose smile could light up a room and whom  I love to watch grow everyday! I have three of the most amazing people under my roof. I feel so lucky and so blessed! I can't wait to write our next chapter.... OUR NEW HOME!!!

Friday Funny!!

Now how many of us thought we'd never say this and as we are that voice in our head says;"OH NO I'VE BECOME MY MOTHER???"  LOL HAPPY FRIDAY!

Liebster Award!!!

I was recently nomintaed for a Liebster award from a wonderful friend KATE @  http://travisandkategreer.blogspot.com/ What a special nomination, I really hope that my followers enjoy my blog!! I wasn't familiar with the Liebster award so here's what I found out!

If you are not familiar with the Liebster Award it is given to fairly new blogs with


200 or less followers. This is a way of giving recognition to bloggers for a job well done.

It brings undiscovered blogs to the light and helps them gain exposure to attract more followers. If you receive a Liebster the person giving it to you is basically saying,

"Hey, YOU ROCK!"





Being nominated for a Liebster comes with a few guidelines...





1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog

2. You must link back to the blogger who presented the award to you

3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog

4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs you thing deserve some recognition. Remember they have to have 200 followers or less when presented with a Liebster!

5. Make sure you let the bloggers you nominated know they have a Liebster! Leave a comment on their blog, DM on twitter, Facebook post--however you normally get in contact with them!





Here are my five nominations and who I think deserves a Liebster Award of their own! They are in no particular order. These are all blogs I feel deserve a little extra attention and I enjoy reading each day. Please follow them and show your support.

1. Nicki & Jennifer @ http://www.practicallyperfectprincess.com/ Have an amazingly exciting book about to come out that I think every little girl will love! Please check them out and show some love for amazing MOMS!!

2. Josie @ http://www.letterstosoph.com/ Has an amzing little girl and her adventures are very fun! Hope you'll check her out!!

3. Jolene @ http://richjmylife.blogspot.com/ Writes with a lot of passion about her family! I also love her Tuesday Happy List!! It's a great reminder of all the wonderful things you have to be HAPPY ABOUT!

4. Nicole @ http://www.localsugarhawaii.com/ Has some tasty posts! Her marshmallow post looked so good I almost booked an immediate trip to Hawaii to get some!! Check her out she's got a great outlook on living sweet in Hawaii!!

5. Crystal @ http://www.ideallyspeaking.ca/  Has an adorable little girl she loves to write about as well as life. She's very honest and I really enjoy reading her posts!! Hope you'll check her out!!

Do you have a princess like I do, then you must join the PRINCESS PALOOZA!

Join The Princess Palooza



Calling All Princesses!!!!


April is a celebration of many wonderful things, but here in Rebekah Grace's neck of the woods we have decided to add one more reason to celebrate.



It's Princess Palooza Time!



What is Princess Palooza you ask?


It's a month long celebration leading up to the world wide release of Rebekah Grace's first novel in the month of April, but this celebration cannot happen without your help!



All Princesses must have a Royal Court full of other Princesses and Rebekah Grace is no different. Rebekah Grace would like to invite all Practically Perfect Princesses everywhere, with the help of their Queen Mommies of course, to submit photos and or drawings of their very own.



All submissions will then be entered for a chance to win signed copies of Rebekah Grace's book along with a fabulously fashionable Practically Perfect Princess tee shirt! This tee shirt is one of a kind and in true Princess form has sparkly jewels and a too perfect tutu ruffle, so get ready for high style!


Ready to add a Princess you know to the Royal Court? Here's how?



1. Send a photo or pdf drawing of your Practically Perfect Princess to Queen Mommy jen@practicallyperfectprincess.com.


2. Please include a mailing address so that we may send you the book and tee shirt in case you win.


3. Make sure to let us know if we can post your picture.


4. Check back often to see as new members of the Royal Court are added!

http://www.practicallyperfectprincess.com/
You must check out this website!! I know this book is going to be a BIG HIT in my family and I love supporting other mom's doing AMAZING things!! Check it out and check out all the darling princess in the Princess Palooza Contest you might see some familiar faces from my blog :)

So cute!

I found this blog cartoon while googling and I couldn't help but laugh! Thought I'd share!! Enjoy!!!

Something NEW coming soon!!

So I have noticed that a lot of the new BLOGS that I am following have special days where they highlight pictures, happy thoughts recipes,thank yous or just randomness!! I love it! So I have decided I am going to start Our Funny Little Family's Friday Funnies!! I am going to find fun cartoons, pictures, random thoughts and well something to make you smile and laugh!! I am looking forward to this new chapter and addition to my blog I hope everyone else does too!! Please give me feedback it helps so much!!! Stay tuned to this Friday for my first Friday Funny!!!

Can't wait for tomorrow!!

Yes I am one of those people who LOVE LOVE LOVE there birthday! And tomorrow's the day!! I can't wait!! I also adore the date I was born on because it has a lot of 4's in it, 4/24/1984, and weird but our houses address is 2424, it must be a sign, and even weirder is that our inspection is on the 24th! This has to be a sign that this house was meant to be!!! I am excited to go out to dinner have them sing and cheer and well it just be for about 5 seconds all about me!! SO EXCITED!!!

They accepted our OFFER!!

So I haven't written about looking for a house, 1. Because it's super stressful, 2. Our budget is a lot smaller since my husband stays home so it's been a scarce market, and 3. Because I didn't want to jinx myself!! Well I will now shout from the roof tops, WE GOT A HOUSE!! We saw a house Wednesday night that both Matt and I liked( this hasn't happened till now!) so we put in an offer, they countered we countered back and last night they accepted our counter! I am so excited. We live right now in a 2 bedroom apartment with 4 people. It's a little cramped needless to say. Well now we will all have our own rooms and our own SPACE!! I can't wait. Now all I need is lots of prayers that the inspection goes well, we are going through the VA so they are a bit particular, so I just hope it doesn't need anything major and we can close quickly!! I can't wait to have a picture of the 4 of us outside our new HOUSE!! If anyone is free and in the Spokane area I know some people who could use some boxes and some help in a few weeks moving...LOL :) Will post pictures soon of our house, it's so fun saying that!! :)

I've got that Friday FEELING!

I love Friday's!! Not only because I get to wear jeans to work EVERY Friday but also because it's the start of the weekend! This weekend is going to be super busy with the Race for the Cure and softball season for me has official started! I have joined a new team this year and so far everyone has been super welcoming so I can't wait!!! It's supposed to be gorgeous this weekend 73 on Sunday and I say BRING ON THE SUN!! Really hope everyone has a terrific weekend and a STUPENDOUS day!! Here's some sunshine and smiles I am sending to everyone!!!

Kate and my 100th Post

So this marks my 100th post on Blogger! HOW EXCITING!! I wanted to celebrate by telling you about one of my most special friends. If you can't tell she's in all these photos with me. Her name is Kate. We met in October of 2007 when I came back from training in Seattle and started at SECUWA. Kate was one of the first people to welcome me to the credit union and instantly befriend me. Funny thing is she knew my husband and in laws., can you say small world? We quickly became good friends and for the last almost 5 years we have grown super close. I can call her anytime to talk about well anything. She's always honest with me and I admire that. She's also one of the BEST MOM'S on the planet. She has two adorable boys and one little bundle of joy in the oven(I hope it's a girl!) Even though she no longer works at the credit union because she's doing the most important job staying home with the kids I can't help but miss her everyday. I am so glad you live close, that we have facebook, twitter, text messages and well the phone. I want you to know how much your friendship means to me. You are one of a kind and I am so lucky to have you in my life! So as I celebrate my 100th post I also want to celebrate my friend! Thank you for being there when I really need you. No one can ever replace all the memories we've shared, I can't wait to see us in 20+ years watching our kids grown up and reminiscing about our 20's! Thank you!

GLEE, The Voice, American Idol I LOVE IT!! My tv guilty pleasures!

I LOVE GLEE! Tonight's episode was AMAZING! I also love Saturday Night Fever. I mean how could you not, bell bottoms and the bee gees! I am super sad about the cast members they will be losing in 6 short weeks but who knows will come and steal the show.

I have some mixed emotions about the voice right now, I think Christina made a huge mistake sending Jessie Campbell home last night and I don't like Lindsey Paveo. I really like Jermaine Paul and also Chris Mann. I also really like Tony Lucca. I have enjoyed Tony Lucca since back in the days of the MMC. I mean he was with my other favorite Justin Timberlake!! I am very excited tonight for the premier of Justin Bieber's video BOYFRIEND! Man I am now glued to my TV!!

Can't wait for American Idol tomorrow. I really liked Heejun and was sad when he got voted off but I do really like Holly and Colton. I think when it comes down to it I really hope a girl wins, we have had so many male winners lately it's time for a female. I think Jessica has a good chance of winning and I do really enjoy Phillip Phillips uniqueness, no one performs like Phillip! I am excited to see what's in store for tomorrow night, could it be I am a musical junkie....YES!!

Well I don't know what everyone else is watching but I would love too. Any recommendations on some new shows I may not be watching?? Please let me know I would love to hear from you guys about your TV guilty pleasures!! :)

Twitter Party

OMG, that twitter party was RIDICULOUS! I couldn't keep up with everything said and everyone but man for my first twitter  party I had a blast! Congrats to all the winners! I'm super excited from just Thursday when this whole she-bang kicked off I have found some amazing blogs to follow and my followers have increased. I feel so happy that people want to know what's going on with me and my family plus it's nice to get the feed back and maybe just be there for someone who needs a smile!!

Well the VOICE is on and well it's my Monday guilty pleasure but I will leave you with a special quote and a Sweet Dreams everyone!!!

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. PAUL VALERY

New Readers!

I am so excited to see all the new readers I have and all the comments. I especially appreciated one in particular from Angel Shrout she told me to just be me!! I have been wanting to attract more people but didn't know how and to hear her say people will do what they can for the numbers but those who will stay will be the ones genuinely interested I have to agree! I blog hopped around this weekend and found some amazing women and I followed all the ones I knew I would come back too, it wasn't for numbers it was because what I read I felt like it touched me and that I would want to know more and learn more about this person, so I hope all my followers are following for that reason too!! :)

That being said it's the start of a new week and I hope everyone makes it a great one!!

Happy MONDAY!

Some updates on my family!

Emily has started eating baby food!! We started with sweet potatoes and boy did she LOVE them. We've been on them for 6 days and last night decided to try green beans. I heard I should start with veggies because fruits are sweet and most kids will eat that no matter what!! So 2 for 2 and I am feeling like this kid will possibly eat ANYTHING!

What a change from her older sister. With Olivia I struggled a lot. She was allergic to milk and we didn't know until after she turned one, she had awful eczema, and well she didn't sleep more than 2 hours a night till she was 14 months. I was due for a good baby right? Well I definitely got one. Emily has been sleeping great, eating great, growing great, and well she's pretty much always smiling unless she's hungry or her diapers dirty!!

I will say I learned a lot from Olivia. I learned about how strong of a woman I was. My ex-husband worked nights so I worked all day and then came home to well an always fussy baby. I felt awful and like I couldn't do anything and tried everything. Once we got her allergy tests done everything made more sense, we gave her different milk, we stayed away from a lot of foods, and we started living life on the more cautious side. I am happy to say that after finding out about her being allergic to milk, eggs, soy, pork, oats, peanuts, & cat/dog dander she is now no longer allergic to milk, soy, pork or oats, and 2 weeks ago we had a peanut challenge and she is allergy free from peanuts!! This is such a great relief. She has been so cautious about what she eats and what she's given that not only am I proud but feel like I have created a monster!! She has slowly been trying Peanut butter and each day she gets a little braver!! 

Matt has been working a ton on the side with his dad in the evenings so it's been a lot of me and the girls time. I have to say it's been fun. It just being me and Olivia for 2 years it was quite the change when Matt joined the bunch and now a baby sister too boot! We are all doing really great and I can't wait for just a little over a week for my birthday and my baby girl turning 6 months!! It's definitely time to celebrate and for some pictures to be taken!!

Easter 2012

We had a really nice Easter this past weekend. The weather was great and both my girls were in great moods! I got some fun shots of both of them!! Emily had her first ride in a swing at my mom and dads and well I'll let the pictures say the rest!!

My beautiful girls

Check out those SHADES!!

She loves her Auntie Jennie

Grandma Sue and Emily

Happy Baby!

Daddy and his girl! Silly

Ready to go find eggs!!

Where are those egss?

Finding all the loot!

My Easter Princess!

Somehow I forgot to get any family photos! You can see I had my camera, oh well I got great photos of my girls and the memories will always be with me. Great first Easter the 4 of us!

So.........

I didn't quite get through the 100 day picture challenge like people say LIFE got in the way! Things have been super busy and it seems they are about to get even more busy with The Race for the Cure next weekend, then garage sales, Bloomsday weekend, recital for Olivia and Mother's Day, baby shower for Buffy, and then maybe just maybe I will get a weekend in of scrapbooking with my favorite gals!! Man seems like I may not get a break till June and then school will be out and I will officially have a first grader in my house!! It's super exciting she's really looking forward to next year and eating lunch at school and having recess!!! The little things that please our kiddos!! Oh wait I forgot a few events coming up the 24th just happens to be my 28th birthday and on April 25th my little Emily will be 6 months! I can't believe how fast time has gone by!! I wanted to share a photo of Olivia in her dance outfit, I am so excited for her recital.

I remember my mom getting all geared up for my dance recitals, camera check, flowers check, tissues check! And what's even more special is the recital also falls on Mother's Day weekend!! What a special gift! I see so much of me in her everyday, I always wanted a little girl to follow in my footsteps in my love of dance and look what I got! I love you tiny dancer!!

Blogger Party!!

Joining in on the fun of THE ULTIMATE BLOGGING PARTY has been an eye opener and it just kicked off less than 9 hours ago. Last night I was tweeting and blogging and I got lost! There are so many fabulous mom's and dad's out there blogging about life, food, coupons, school, life lessons and so much more. I feel a little overwhelmed on where to start but I have blog hopped a bit and have seen and met some really amazing people! I really hope to connect with new bloggers and build a strong foundation. I'd also really enjoy learning more on how to make a successful blog! I was looking at the list of prizes and a few have to do directly with advertising and a blog make-over! I have to say these prizes intrigue me so!! I am really going to jump around and take bits and pieces from everyone and really vamp this blog up!! I hope you will join me on this journey and give me lots and lots of feedback!!

Happy Friday and Happy Blogging everyone!!!

Etsy Shop is OPEN!!!

http://www.etsy.com/people/Shannycan424?ref=si_pr

I recently opened an Etsy shop! I was told by numerous friends by posting my tutu's on facebook to open a shop and see where it goes! Well I haven't made my frist sell on Etsy yet but I have had some private sells from friends and family! I am really enjoying this new chapter and hope to see fun photos of the kiddos and adults too in my special tutu's! I am also working on some earrings with my sister, pictures soon to come! Hope you all will check it out and let me know if you need a tutu for any special occasion, birthday, bachelorette party or just to have a dance party in your living room I'm your gal!! Cheers to a new chapter in 2012!!!