Chocolate Chip Cookies, Anyone??!!?

Josie has become very aware of how much I cook in the kitchen and she's constantly wanting to be my helper! Even when the kitchen is all cleaned up (which is typically rare around here), she will say "Cook, Mommy!" I have thought all along that Josie was 100% her Daddy -- but maybe, just maybe she does share some of my interests and have a little bit of me in her :)

Josh had a rough day on Wednesday and Josie and I knew the PERFECT thing to cheer him up :) Chocolate Chip Cookies!!!!!!!!

We did sneak a few before he got home :)

Big Change and Nails!

BIG change in the Shearon household...... I have taken a new job!

I started working this week for Sysco as a Marketing Associate. This has actually been in the works for quite some time. The interviewing process was very long but as soon as I got hired, they asked me to start working the following week! So.... that brought on even more change! Josh and I had been thinking about what we would do if I did get the job and all of the changes that would mean for our daily life, family and restaurant. Although it required some major adjustments particularly with Kreme Kastle, we are very grateful for this opportunity and are loving the idea of good benefits! That relieves a lot of stress in our life! We had been praying for this for a long time. Although you sometimes wonder if your prayers are being heard, it's pretty amazing how God knows when to reveal His plan at just the right time :) The restaurant is still going strong under Josh's care and we are so very blessed with family that helps us so much, as well. It was hard for me to walk away from Kreme Kastle after putting so much into it, but I know this change is for the best for our family and Josh is doing great keeping everything under control at KK :)

So, on a different note.... Josie and I had a girls' night on Friday while Josh worked at the restaurant. Josie discovered my nail polish. So, we did manicures!!!

Josie may have found her calling.... ha! I think we will stick to crayons from now on :)

Josh came home really quick to pick up some things and he took a quick pic of us gals in our PJ's doing manicures!

Josie is sooooo proud of her nails! She has told everyone all weekend, "look at my nails!!!"

Fun memories :)

Our Home Away From Home

It dawned on me that I have never really blogged about Kreme Kastle (our home away from home). Josh and I opened the restaurant in Sept. 2009 in Brownsville, TN. We have been very blessed with a lot of support from our community and have some very loyal customers. We even have a few customers that will specifically leave a "tip" for Josie or what they call "the Josie fund!" We have really formed a lot of great relationships over the past couple of years.

We definitely have a different type of "lifestyle"/routine with owning a restaurant. Before Josie was born, it was just our life and we really worked 24/7. We have tried to create a good balance of work and family now that we have our sweet Josie. I was very fortunate to get to stay at home with Josie the first year of her life. I continued to do Kreme Kastle work from home (make desserts, some paperwork, scheduling, etc.) Once Josie turned one, we put her in daycare a few days a week and are lucky to have our parents watch her the other two days while I work at the restaurant with Josh.

It's fun to take Josie up to the restaurant. She has a great time! She loves all of the employees and they love her, too :) She loves to get shredded cheese in a little cup and walk around with it. She loves the cash register, fax machine and ANYTHING with buttons!

Our future waitress :)

Valentine's Day 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a great day!

Josie took these cute little Valentine's to her friends at school. I found some little activity kits at the Dollar store and wrapped them up and attached the Princess Valentine's that Josie picked out. She even colored the back of each Valentine for her special little buddies :)

One of my Valentines :)

Isnt' she cute?!?!

Josie loved her new lunchbox for school. She has actually had some major meltdowns the past 2 days over this lunchbox. It's so funny to see how attached she gets to the most random things!

Josie thoroughly enjoyed the goodies and candy she found in her Valentine's bag from friends (hence the need for outfit #2) I think the poor child was on a sugar high all day!

"More candy, Mommy?!?!"

How can you not love that Cheeto face :)

Valentine's Day means something a little different for a restaurant owner. We were very focused on our Valentine's Dinner at Kreme Kastle. We hustled and worked our little tails off! We even had my dad doing the dishes! Josh and I did celebrate Valentine's Day, though :) We went to dinner on Saturday night, which we both really enjoyed. It was nice to have an adult outing!

I feel very blessed and loved this Valentine's Day. I am so lucky to have a wonderful husband and such a sweet little girl! I would say that Josie is one spoiled girl, too --- she loved all of her goodies from her grandparents and Mommy & Daddy!

A Beautiful Weekend!

We had such a beautiful weekend here!

We took advantage of the gorgeous weather....

Worked on potty training some more....

played dress up....

and put a few miles on our wagon :)

Josie's new favorite phrase is, "Whatcha doin?!?"

We hear this a thousand times a day!

Before you can even finish telling her what you are doing, she will quickly say, "Oh!"

It's pretty cute :)

Random Pictures From This Week!

Josie & Bunny

Josie & Daddy

Thank you to the manufacturers of Yoplait for putting Dora on the kids' yogurt... Josie NOW eats yogurt :)


Children's Museum

playing in the kitchen!

Playdate in Memphis!

Josie and I went back to Memphis on Thursday for a fun play date at the Children's Museum of Memphis. We went with a few other families from Brownsville. The kids had such a great time and the moms enjoyed visiting, as well! Then, we all went to Chic-fil-a for lunch. What a great time!

All of the kids dancing on stage!

Josie trying to give sugar to the dog at the "Fire Station"

Josie, Hooper and Claire

Josie & Claire

Ainsley, Josie and Ben in the Cadillac Escalade

This picture makes me laugh!

2 year check up

I took Josie to her 2 year check-up on Tuesday in Memphis. We were about a month late making the appointment! What else is new!? I'm late everywhere I go these days! Josie talked about Dr. Chris all the way to Memphis and then she became a "mute" when we got to the office! He quickly became her friend when he gave her a Minnie Mouse sticker! Josie had a quick and painless visit! No shots! She received a GREAT report! She weighs 26.4 lbs & is 32.5 inches. She had gained 3 lbs. since her 18 month check up! We discussed the fact that Josie drinks a lot. The pediatrician had no real concern other than wanting her to stick to 2% milk only now that she's two years old and he doesn't want her drinking any juice. I have given her water and milk only the past couple of days and I can tell that she is not drinking as much as before. She's actually eating more! So, I think he was right that she was filling up on liquids and had not been a big eater. We had been giving her half juice and half water along with whole milk before this week's visit.

Josie showing me her sticker from Dr. Chris :)

Josie and I went to the mall after her visit and she picked out her "prize" for being good at the doctor. She picked out a new princess camera! I just love that she thinks you take a picture with the front of the camera to your face... Duh! I guess it's because she only sees the front of the camera when I'm taking her picture :) Funny kid! We also picked out an M&M cookie at the mall and thoroughly enjoyed it :)

Potty Training 101

Wow... where do I begin!?!?

I have decided that expecting parents should skip childbirth classes and find a potty training course! This has been on of the hardest tasks that we have faced!

We officially started potty training around here a week before Josie's 2nd birthday. I felt like she was still young to understand, but all she was talking about was "potty talk!" She was very aware of when she did it and talked about her baby doing it all of the time. I am a firm believer that you shouldn't start potty training until your child starts showing interest. Josie's Grandmommy and JJ had bought her a very cute "potty" a while back and we decided to put it to good use! I asked for some advice from friends and thought that I was going to take the "cold turkey" approach and lock us indoors for a few days and conquer this battle. However, the stomach bug struck our house two weekends in a row and I never took that "hard core" approach. So, we are still working on it! I did like the idea that a friend gave me to let Josie go pick out "big girl panties" (opposed to pull ups). So, we went to Wal Mart and Josie picked out her Dora panties weeks ago! Well, she also spotted a Dora potty at the same time. So, I went with it and thought... "whatever works!" So, now we have two potties and she loves them both. It cracks me up because some days she loves her original potty and refuses to go to the Dora potty even if we are close by it and vise versa!

The very first time that Josie went to the potty was the day before her 2nd birthday. I was so glad that Josh happened to be home when it happened! We jumped, screamed, gave high fives and ate lots of M&M's! Josie is very aware of the potty situation when she is home, but she NEVER mentions it when we are out in public or at church or anywhere. They say that Josie has gone potty at school several times, but not consistently. So, we are using the laid back approach and she wears pull ups or her real Dora panties at home and a diaper at night to sleep in. She wears pull-ups at school. We have gone through LOTS of M&M's at our house (gotta love bribery!)