Happy Birthday Jack!

Shepherd’s cousin Jackson Graves turned two and we had a fun time celebrating his big day. Jack had a trampoline party with lots of Buzz Lightyear, Jack’s favorite Toy Story character. Shepherd had so much fun jumping on the trampoline and playing in the sand that he did not have much interest in eating supper OR birthday cake! It was so cute to see all of the little cousins playing together and sadly growing up.

Jack blowing out his candles

Dana did such a great job making Jack's cake!

Poor Savannah, she is the only girl, good thing she has a little Tom Boy in her!

Sawyer has the giggles

We have our hands full with these boys!

I love Shepherd in this picture

Savannah and Shepherd

Baby Carsen at 9 weeks

Silly Boy!

Loving a Small Town

We have had a fun week and weekend in the Faught home. We usually keep our calendar pretty busy, but this week has been very calm, giving us the opportunity to take long walks as a family and read lots of bedtime stories. Despite the quiet calendar, Shepherd has kept me very busy this week. He has been extra adventuresome, causing him to get into lots of drawers or cabinets that have been out of his reach and making lots and lots of messes for Mom to clean up.

Shepherd can now reach the toilet paper off of the back of the toilet. He managed to get both rolls from each bathroom and had fun in the living room. The sad thing was, I was less than 10 feet away from him and did not even realize what he was doing. :)

This week was Homecoming for Siloam Springs High School and I got to enjoy the small town event. I went to the pep-rally and parade on Friday to support my cousin Ariel and one of my high schools girls from church, Sarah. They both looked beautiful on the court and it was fun to see how the traditions from Siloam Springs High School have not changed in ten years, since I was there.

Beautiful cousing Ariel, Senior Maid for 2010 football homecoming.

Ariel and Katie in the parade

Love that my girls, Colleen and Langley, were the start of the parade. (They are the girls in the black outfits)


Taylor, Shepherd and I went out to dinner Friday night to a local pizza parlor in downtown Siloam Springs. We knew everyone in the restaurant and are friends with the owners. Fratelli’s has very fresh pizza that taste like it just came from Italy. Shepherd was too funny, he barely ate a piece of pizza, but when our dessert pizza came out, he ate two large pieces and wanted more. I justified the nutritional value of his supper, because the desert pizza has Nutella and strawberries on it. (Nothing wrong with a little protein, fruit, and carbs for dinner? Right?)

Shepherd loves the dessert pizza, just like his daddy!

Saturday morning we attended a craft event hosted by the town of Siloam Springs. Shepherd had a great time being crafty; he made a card for his Cousin Jack’s 2nd birthday, a bracelet, and absolutely loved the Play Doh!

Shepherd making a birthday card for Jack

Loving the Play Doh!

What’s New With Shepherd?

Shepherd will be 16 months old on September 21st and he is quite the character. He is always up to something and makes me laugh all of the time. He is at such a fun age! The other day he went into the kitchen and came out with a new hat on. The whole time he wore this colander, he was giggling at how silly he was acting.

I like the new hat!

Shep is climbing on everything. I have to keep my eye on him or he will be standing on top of a table bouncing. Boy he scares me! He loves stairs and can navigate them quite quickly.

Shepherd still loves to eat strawberries, but he will not eat any other fruit. I cannot give Shep gummy snacks because they cause too many problems in our home. If he eats a package of gummies, he will just cry and cry until he gets more. He is a very determined little guy. The other day, I had a friend over and made some cookies. They were sitting on our entry way table so when Taylor got home from work, he walked in the door and saw the plate of cookies right away. Shepherd and I were in the kitchen cooking dinner and Taylor asked, “Are these cookies for anyone?” (obviously wanting to eat one) As soon as Shepherd heard the word “Cookie”, he took off running to Taylor and asked him for some by signing “more, more”. Shepherd loves his sweets and will not pass up the opportunity to eat some.

Shepherd’s favorite breakfast food is pancakes and sausage. We make a lot of pancakes in our home. Here are some pictures of Shepherd helping me cook breakfast. He is such a good helper!

A chef in the making!

Yum! That taste good!

Shepherd's favorite meal of the day!


One of Shepherd’s favorite things to do is play hide and go seek. His favorite place to hide is in the curtains. Okay, so the only place he hides is in the curtains.

Can you find Shepherd?

Oh, there he is?


Shepherd is a very determined little guy! The other day we were at a friend’s house and found a frog. The frog was on a decorative wrought iron pole that was in a flower pot. We showed the frog to some three year olds, and the frog was about eye level with them. They were all squealing and in awe of the cute little frog. I then showed the little frog to Shepherd and he immediately tried to grab it. Thankfully, he was not tall enough and could not reach the cute frog. Shepherd then disappeared and came back with a big stick and whacked that frog off of the pole! He found a way to accomplish his task!

The other day, the TV was on and it was turned to the news channel (Not a kids channel). I left the room and when I came back, I found Shepherd on the couch, changing the channel, trying to find the kids channel. The funny thing is; Shepherd is not tall enough to get on the couch. So how did he get up there? Well, I looked down to find a pile of his toys stacked up so he could have a step stool. He is sure one determined little guy!
Shepherd has recently become interested in the potty. I have no plans of potty training him at 16 months, but I do want to help make him aware of it. I always dump out Shepherd’s dirty diapers in the toilet before throwing them away. (I find it gross to put poop in your trash can) Shepherd’s favorite thing to do is wave bye bye, while the contents of his diaper flush down the toilet. Shepherd has gone number two twice on his potty and this morning I found him on top of my bathroom toilet (yes, the lid was down) and he was going poop in his diaper. I am hoping that it was not just a coincidence; I am hoping that he is starting to connect the dots and understand what the potty is for.

Shepherd has finally learned how to really play with his cousins. Prior to this month, the only interaction that he would do while playing, would be trying to steal a toy. Now, he has figured out the concept of playing. It is so cute to see him have so much fun with his cousins.

Jack, Shepherd, and Paisley. Fun in the tub!

Cute boys!

Savannah, Shepherd and Paisley playing in the pool

Long Labor Day Weekend!

Taylor took off a few days from work so that we could have a five day Labor Day weekend. We went out to Grand Lake and just relaxed! It was very nice getting to spend a long weekend with my family. On Thursday, the Bunker family joined us for the day, Donny and Taylor went golfing at Shangri La, and Cooper and Shepherd and the moms got to play in the lake. On Friday, my family arrived and we got to enjoy the sun with the Wright, Aichele, and Graves family. The weekend was great, but on Friday, Shepherd started teething his bottom left canine tooth and he became a mess. He cried non-stop, had bad diaper rash, his little nose would not stop running and he had constant diarrhea. This was definitely the worst teething we have experienced. I only took pictures on Thursday, because my hands were full Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with a sick baby. We ended up going home a day early because I was out of diaper rash cream and exhausted from a cranky baby.

Cooper and Shepherd loved jumping on the bed!

Both boys are ready to go for a swim!

Shepherd tubing with Dad

Taylor and I were able to get away and go on a date Friday night. We enjoyed my favorite dish, Cajun Fondue from Shebangs.

Sawyer turns 2!

Shepherd’s cousin Sawyer turned 2 on August 19th and we met the Aichele family in Tulsa to celebrate his birthday. All of the cousins had such a great time at the aquarium and enjoyed a pizza party to finish off the afternoon. I was very shocked at how excited Shepherd was over all of the fish. He also wanted to touch all of the live sea animals that were available for “petting”.

Taylor, Shepherd, Sawyer, and Melanie.

(Sorry Taylor, your eyes were closed in both pictures)

Shepherd touching the Shrimp

Sawyer is noticing that he has the same shirt on as Shepherd

The boys really loved these shiny fish!

Mom and baby

Shep loves the fish!

Trip to Velma

Sorry it has been a while since my last post, life has been busy. In August, the Faught family traveled southwest to Velma, OK to celebrate Lindsay and my birthday. We were in Velma 8/12 through 8/15. We had a wonderful time visiting with family, but it was a very very hot weekend, with it being about 105 degrees the entire time. Here are a few pictures of our weekend in the heat.

I wonder what he is thinking?

So cute!

Not so cute. He was pretty cranky from the hot weather.

Birthday girls! We are 6 days apart and both turned 27!

Isn't Lindsay's rainbow cake amazing!

Lindsay and her awesome cake!