Garden Primavera Fettucine

Ingredients:

1 package fettucine (12 oz)
1 cup fresh cauliflower, chopped
1 cup fresh brocolli, chopped
1 small red pepper, cut into thin strips
1 cup yellow summer squash, sliced
1 cup zucchini, sliced
2 cups Alfredo sauce
1 teaspoon dried basil
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:
In a large saucepan, cook fettucine according to package directions, adding vegetables during the last 6 minutes. Drain and return to pan. Coat with alfredo sauce and sprinkle with basil.

I buy 2 packets of Alfredo sauce by the taco sauce seasoning and then just make those according to their package directions.

This pasta is actually really good. You can't beat the smell of fresh red pepper. YUM!

Happy Valentine's Day!

It is feast or famine when I blog I guess. Enjoy it while you can. ;-) We did a few fun things this Valentine's weekend, one of which was making a flower arrangement out of tissue paper and pipe cleaner. I wanted real flowers from Costco, but this whole arrangement cost about $2.00 so I told Ryan forget the real flowers this is much more cost efficient.

Still not sure what Ryan and I have planned for Valentine's celebrations. I just want the Wisconsin Cauliflower soup from Zupa's. That would make me happy. I did order 3 books off Amazon too and told Ryan that was my Valentine's gift. They totalled about 20 bucks in all. Not bad. We also did an FHE lesson for Valentine's last night. You can check it out here. We also made cookies. This was yet another baking nightmare that I don't wish to discuss at this time, but here are a few that turned out. I don't bake. Have I ever mentioned that before. I cook, but I don't bake!

Gracie lost a tooth at school on Friday. Now she looks goofy, but cute.

By the way.......did I mention I'm pregnant? I thought this would be a good day to let ya'll know. 7 years ago today Ryan and I found out I had had a miscarriage with not just one but two sweet babies. Talk about a horrible Valentine's day. So today I am grateful to be in the place that I am at, 3 healthy kids with one on the way. God has a way of blessing you 100-fold after sad things I think. (picture's upside down...sorry) So I'm due August 26th. Finally I get to have a baby in good weather. Maybe the postpartum blues won't be as bad since Fall is by far my favorite time of year.

I'm so glad I'm past the halitosis stage. You know the stage where you can't brush your tongue without almost vomiting? I am almost past the "Is she just chubby or is she pregnant?" stage. So that is nice. Although, I'm actually both chubby and pregnant.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Valentine's day!

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!