Ava Is A Preschool Girl!

How long have Ava and I waited for this day? F-O-R-E-V-E-R! Ava has sat through 2 years of dropping Gracie off at preschool and now over 1/2 a year of dropping her off at Kindergarten. I was going to register her for the Fall but found that they had 2 openings for this year, so I signed her up now and for the Fall. I am so excited for her...and me. She is out of my hair T and TH 12-2:15. Breck is in a nap at that time so it is just me. What a refreshing feeling! She will be going 3 days a week in the Fall. The teacher describes her as "Ms. Happy."

She kept talking about her friend the first day of class I finally said "What is her name?" She was appalled....she's like "It's a BOY!" Of course, how could I forget my little Tomboy would make friends with a boy. I have only admitted the price to my mom, because frankly it is ridiculous. But as my mom reminded me I am investing in her future.

Finally Gracie's B-day Pics

I really didn't take a bunch. The cake looked like crap and I never ended up taking one of the Hello Kitty doll but here are a few. Here is Gracie's gift from mom and dad. She was thrilled with the "wrapping paper."

Gracie's birthday hat from school.

Her birthday candy in her mouth matches her birthday dress.

I give up

I have tried a bunch of times to upload Gracie's birthday pictures to the computer and they just won't, so I am forced to blog without them.

Gracie turned 6 on January 25th. We went to the Olive Garden and spent close to $60.00 on our family of 5. All because Gracie wanted an Ollie the Olive cup. It was fun though. Ava, Breck, and I made her a lemon cake with white frosting and sprinkles. I ruined it by not letting it cool enough before spreading the frosting. When will I learn? She had enough birthday money to go to Build a Bear and buy a Hello Kitty doll that she named Hello Kitty, of course.

I can't believe my baby is 6!

Taco Casserole

Ingredients:

1 lb hamburger (cooked and drained)
2 cups crushed tortilla chips
1 can corn
1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 15 oz (I think) can tomato sauce
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

After fully cooking hamburger in large skillet, combine all ingredients but cheese and mix well. Transfer to a casserole dish and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Add cheese and bake an additional 10 minutes.

The original didn't call for black beans, but I think that is a great way to get some extra fiber and color.

Enjoy!

Kiddie Kandids

This is one of the many adorable pictures K.K has captured of my kids. I am so surprised that they are shutting down and claiming bankruptcy! I don't always go to Kiddies but I swear I have gone there at least twice a year since Gracie was born. :-(

Just A Post

No big deal. No cute pictures or exciting news. I just wanted to let you know I am alive. I thought I'd tell you something cute/funny/sweet the kids have done this week.



Gracie: After throwing a fit about folding and putting away her pajamas, and I after I reminded her that she never folds and puts mine away so why should I fold and put hers away, she writes me a note with a picture that says "Mommy sore for beeg disreseptol" (sorry for being disrespectful).



Ava: I think Ava really wants to go to school because after dropping Gracie off at Kindergarten Ava says "Mom my life is falling apart!"



Breck: Gracie was sitting on the floor crying because she had a loose tooth that she was freaked out about and Breck crouches down by her and says "Darn it! Darn it!" and then gave her a hug.

Breck 2

For some reason my pictures got all screwed up on my computer....so if it's not a recent picture and I click on it to upload it...it uploads a completely different picture. So just pretend that the picture below is a picture of Breck as a newborn because that's what I was going for. GRRRRR! We celebrated Breck's 2nd birthday on December 12th. We bought cupcakes and Pizza Hut. The only gift we got him was a Spider Man balloon that stayed inflated until the other day when I deflated it.

Breck loves to read books. Ava has this Hello Kitty book that he loves. I cannot believe he is 2 already! He says so many things and just seems like a kid now instead of a baby. We've been really blessed to have him in our home!

Christmas

So I left my camera down at Annie's for Christmas morning. Everything went well. I stuck to my guns of not getting the kids very much and I'm glad. They were happy with what they got. The pics below are of the Shepherd family Christmas party that took place on Dec 11th. It is at Ryan's sister's house, which is big and beautiful. They had probably 20 trees lit up in the front yard. It was quite the sight.

These two pics are hilarious in the fact that they portray the girls' personalities so well.

Breck was HORRIFIED of Santa as you can tell. He was the only grandkid out of 20 (some younger) that balled his bloody eyes out!

I hate posts without pics....

But I am forcing myself to update at this point without them. I got them all prepared and now I can't find my camera chip so this will be a pic-less post.

It was Ryan's birthday yesterday. I cannot believe I am married to a 30 year old. That sounds ancient. I know it is still young, but it just seems old. We also celebrated our 8th anniversary yesterday. It is so nice to just be in a groove and be comfortable with each other and not worry about all the stuff you worry about when you're dating. I remember going to the Olive Garden when we were dating and getting the Alfredo pizza even though I really wanted the Alfredo pasta, because I was so freaked out that the pasta would be too messy to eat. Ha Ha. What a joke! Now I have no shame. We went to Chuck-A-Rama last night and I went back a ton of times for more food. It's nice to just love each other and not worry about what each other thinks as much. I know I am just rambling. Anyway the kids and I made Ryan a cake and then Gavin came over to play and we just had a good time. After we put the kids in bed, Grandpa watched while we went out to eat. Ryan spent the meal time begging me to go price PS3's with him. I have never even heard of them. I utterly refused his requests so we went home and he watched football while I read The Da Vinci Code.

Ok, better posts coming soon.

p.s Ryan was kind enough to buy me roses and my favorite chocolates to celebrate our anniv.

A Day Late And A Couple 100 Short.....

That is how I feel today. It is December 8th and I still haven't posted about Halloween. So here goes. Hopefully I can get up to date soon. These are my little babies walking Gracie to school on Oct 30th.

We stayed for the costume parade. This is typical Gracie style....so demure and behaved....lol.

Breck freaked out when he found out that he couldn't join in the parade and Gracie wasn't coming home with us. ;-)

Halloween night as we head out......

L-R

Niece Autumn (butterfly), niece Kassie ("supervisor"), niece Amber (witch), Gracie (cat), nephew Tyler (skeleton), and Ava (Sleeping Beauty).