Meet the Shaneyfelts

Banks

Three Things Vol 1

Happy Monday! A few bloggers I follow will randomly do a post sharing three things about each member of their family, and since my blog is basically my online scrapbook, I thought this would be something that I’d love to look back on a few years from now!

Dustin and Sarah

  1. Dustin just turned 40 on Friday and we celebrated him with dinner out. The place we went to started frying their fries in tallow at the beginning of the year and they are soooo good! There’s such a different in how they taste.
  2. I’ve been wearing my weighted vest on all of my walks and I really enjoy it! The one I got is adjustable and it goes from 11-20lb. I’ve got it at 14lb right now. It has a little pocket on the front where I put my phone and I like that I can keep my hands free while I’m out walking. I’m either listening to a podcast or talking to someone on the phone while I’m walking 🙂
  3. This is the 2nd year in a row that I did not shop the Nordstrom sale. I didn’t shop last summer because I was 3 months post-partum and still had a bunch of weight to lose. And I’m not shopping this summer because I’m still working on losing weight. I’ve lost all of the weight I gained from Merritt and now I’ve got to lose the weight I gained from Banks’s adoption ha! I’m slowly doing that now, so I don’t want to get a bunch of clothes at my current size. Now I did buy this spray for my hair and the last time I bought it was two years ago, so it really does last! I use it before I curl my hair and my hair is now long enough for me to start doing that again.

Harrison

  1. Harrison just got his letter in the mail from his new teacher and he’s excited to see who is in his new class!
  2. We’ve been reading lots together over the summer. We read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe together and then watched the movie (he loved). We’ve recently started reading The Green Ember together. The language is elevated, but I believe it’s so important to expose children to elevated (and honestly, very beautiful) language in order to develop their vocabulary. Harrison has also been reading to me this summer! My mom brought by a ton of the old readers from the 1950s (think Dick and Jane, Tip and Mitten, etc) and Harrison has been reading those to me.
  3. Harrison is super creative and loves to build robots and other creations with his legos. He goes upstairs and has his quiet rest time while the babies nap, and he’s always showing me his creations and the different parts to his robots. (He loves Wall-E and The Wild Robot)

Banks

  1. Banks is our #1 helper. I say I’m running to the bathroom and Banks yells he wants to help and runs ahead of me and lifts the toilet seat LOL or he sees Merritt opening a kitchen drawer she shouldn’t be in, so he puts his body in between her and the drawer to keep her from opening it.
  2. I wish I could post this video here, but Banks loves Toy Story so much that at the beginning of Toy Story 2 when Rex is playing the video game, Banks will act out the part of Buzz. It’s the best. I videoed him the other day doing it so I could remember it forever 🙂
  3. Banks loves to be a backseat driver. We’ve just recently turned his carseat to forward facing, and he sure does love to yell out “Be careful, Momma!” or “Slow down!” Yesterday Dustin had the navigation on while we were going to pick up a marketplace purchase, and as soon as the navigation would say a direction like turn left, Banks would yell out “Turn left, Daddy!”

Merritt

  1. Merritt has started roaring like a dinosaur. She heard Banks playing with a dinosaur one day and roaring, so she started doing it and it’s hilarious.
  2. She’s still not walking (but taking a couple steps here and there), but she definitely is doing everything else. She learned how to climb onto the couch and she get down the right way, too.
  3. Merritt loves applesauce pouches and can eat 3 at a time haha! She points to the pantry which means she wants some applesauce 🙂

The 2024-2025 School Year

We finished up the school year last week. Harrison finished kindergarten on Wednesday and the babies finished their school on Thursday. I finished school on Friday 🙂

First day of Kindergarten!!!

Last day of kindergarten! (And he’s wearing the same shorts so you can see how much he’s grown in a school year!)

Harrison had the absolute best year in kindergarten this year. I’ll be honest–I was nervous about how he’d do in school. He had never done 5 days of school before; he had always gone only 2-3 days becuase of Dustin’s previous job and the fact that he was off some during the week. So this would not only be his first time in school without a nap (and this boy can still nap great!), but it would also be his first time doing school 5 days in a row. He also is your typical boy–lots of energy and I didn’t want that changed about him.

Well, he’s loved every single day! He would ride the bus from his elementary school to mine each afternoon, and I’d always ask him the best part of his day and his least favorite part. He always had lots of best parts and could never think of a least favorite part (I think one time he said having to do indoor recess after the weather was really bad a few days in a row and he was ready to be outside). He thrived this year and learned so much, and we are so thankful the Lord blessed Harrison with the best teacher (who happens to go to our church so that helped a ton ha!)!

First day of school for the babies

Last day of school for the babies!

What a year it’s been! This year Banks was in the older ones class and like Harrison, he also had the best year! He never cried at drop off and loved his two teachers (who also loved him so much). He made friends, and it was evident when we saw them at the ballfield this spring and they ran to each other, hugged, and played in the dirt together.

Merritt started out in the nursery this year and then after Christmas, moved up to the crawler class. Both classes were ones Banks had just been in the year previous, so we were very familiar with the teachers and class procedures :). She also seemed to really love being dropped off and I loved seeing her play when I picked her up each afternoon. She also was in the same class as her cousin twice a week, so they got plenty of cousin play time, too!

I was nervous about sending Banks and Merritt 5 days a week this year, too, since Harrison had only gone 2-3 days a week since he started the same school at 6 months old. Dustin moved into a new (and better!!) job position back in June and instead of having random off days during the week, he was now M-F. This forced Banks and Merritt to also go M-F now and I was really sad about that! Despite this, both babies seemed to really thrive in their classes as well, and that was all an answered prayer!

Now we’re off for the summer and spending every day together! I love being home with my kids so I thrive in the summer! (Now if it’d only stop raining in north Alabama….)

Banks Turns TWO!!

I’m a little behind on Banks’s birthday post since he’s been two for almost a month, but I want to make sure I have this memory on my blog!

Banks turned two on January 24th, and I took the day off work to spend with him since I felt like last year’s birthday he had to share it with an ice storm and then an almost 8 month pregnant Momma 🙂

I am so incredibly grateful that I get to be Banks’s Momma, and I don’t take that for granted. Dustin and I prayed ceaselessly for a 2nd baby, and God gave us the most perfect baby boy. He’s a Momma’s boy through and through and I love when he takes his Paci out and looks at me and says, “Kiss.” He’s average for his height and the best big brother to Merritt. He loves to get her teething toys to bring to her or pat her on the head. She pulls his hair and he doesn’t get mad. He’s Harrison’s shadow–wanting to copy everything big brother does.

We took Harrison and Merritt to school on his birthday and headed to Huntsville to a gluten free bakery where they have a cake that is both gluten free and dairy free for his birthday. Dustin had an appointment at his endocrinologist at the hospital, so he met us for breakfast at the bakery! (You’ll see that sometimes Banks doesn’t keep his eyes open for a picture when he’s cheesin’ hard)

After that we went to Target and walked around. I also tried to go to a children’s consignment shop, but it was mass chaos and we turned around and walked out haha.

We stopped by Starbucks after for a treat 🙂

Then we headed back to our town to stop at our local children’s boutique where Banks followed me around sweeping the store haha!

Banks’s party was the next day (on a Saturday). He loves two things: Wall-E and Snoopy. I felt like it would be easier finding Snoopy things to decorate with–and it was on Etsy! I ordered two weeks before his party; the items shipped out quickly; but then it snowed in Florida and his party supplies were stuck at the Pensacola post office and didn’t arrive to us until the Monday after his party 🙁

We just kept it to immediate family, and I decorated in Snoopy’s colors.

Since the party was at 3:30PM, I had a cold dip, hot dip, and little smokies in the crockpot. I served a punch that my mom made (SO SO GOOD!!), had a coffee bar, and then offered water.

A former student who goes to my church made Banks’s banner and I loved it so much!

Banksie Boo, we love you so much!