Avery Singing

I tried to get Avery singing on video a few weeks ago. Grace was listening to The Phantom of the Opera, which she is belting in the background. I got her to sing a couple of times, but she wasn't doing it like she had earlier. You will also get to witness her ability to eat anything she finds on the ground. It's seriously becoming a problem. She will eat just about anything she finds. Crazy kid!!!

Grace and Avery

This is my second attempt to catch Avery singing, but she stopped as soon as Grace started talking. Of course Grace isn't camera shy, and wanted her chance to talk on video. I have no idea where she got this saying. Another crazy kid!!!

I Hope This Lasts!!

We finally got a day of nice weather. While it was still warm, it didn't suffocate us when we went outside to play. I have felt really guilty this summer because I haven't been able to do much with the girls. We stayed inside quite a bit due to the heat. My body just didn't handle it very well. So when the humidity went down yesterday we spent the afternoon in the backyard after school.

Grace has finally mastered the art of riding a bike without training wheels. She is loving it!!!! But I think she is getting tired of just riding up and down the sidewalk next to our house. I told her after the baby is born and I recover we can take walks around the neighborhood while she rides her bike.

I'm so glad our neighbors have full grown trees to give us some shade. We have never lived in a house with any kind of shade, which makes playing outside a little too hot sometimes. But we have plenty now and I am loving it!! I wish we had trees in our own yard, but we will just have to make due with what we get from the neighbors.

Lounging in the grass eating baked lays.

They are the sweetest sisters.

I'm not sure why this picture didn't flip. But it shows Avery pointing at "air-pains."

Grace is pointing out bunny rabbits in the clouds. Avery didn't get it and started looking for bunnies in the yard.

I guess Avery thought it was still too hot outside because she started pouring water on herself. Actually she does this about everyday, inside or outside, it doesn't matter. She is the messiest kid I have ever encountered!

I really hope this weather lasts for a while. I want to enjoy the girls before I have to start giving a lot of attention to the baby!! :)

First Day of First Grade

Gracie is officially a first grader. I can't believe it!! She was so excited and nervous this morning as we got ready for school. Avery was excited too, she just didn't know what she was excited about.

She's been trying to smile with her mouth closed since she still has that big tooth hanging sideways in her mouth. But it is starting to get really loose, so I hope it falls out soon. It's making her feel a little self-conscious. I think she will feel better when she gets to school and sees other first graders with dangly front teeth. ;)

Backpack drama!! We bought a backpack a few weeks ago when we were at the mall with Dad and Carol. They bought her the dress she is wearing for the first day of school, and I bought her a gray and pink backpack that she wanted. But three days ago we were at Target buying a few things and she saw this monkey backpack. She fell in love with it and it's matching lunch box. Scottie said no way, but I was wavering quickly. I have a feeling that this might be the last year she will want to carry a pink monkey backpack. I know that may seem silly, but I definitely feel like she is growing up so quickly. So we came to a compromise, she could get it by giving us her money that she earned from her Papaw, and with the knowledge that the pink and gray one will be her backpack next year. She was so excited, and I felt like I get to keep my baby girl for one more year.

Waiting at the bus stop. It was so hot and humid!!! If you have naturally curly hair, don't come to Ohio. It won't do you any favors. I have had the hardest time with Gracie's hair. Everyday we deal with frizz and tangles. I am really ready for fall, for many reasons. :)

The girls were singing Wheels on the Bus while we waited. I think Avery is going to be a little lonely without her big sister to play with her.

I told Grace to wave at me, but I didn't get the picture in time. She was really nervous by the time the bus got here. She told me she had butterflies in her tummy. So we prayed together right before the bus came. In fact I prayed all morning that she would have a good day, and that good friends would come into her life. I was really happy to see that she got to sit with a little girl that lives down the street. We've talked to her a couple of times this summer and she seems really nice. I hope this is the start of a good friendship!

So now it's just me and this little monkey. We've already read a couple of books and will have to find things to do until Sesame Street comes on at 10:00. Avery is not a big t.v. watcher, but she LOVES Sesame Street.

I'm counting down the hours until Gracie comes home and tells me all about her first day of first grade!!!!

Cookie Recipes

I thought I might post the recipes I used for my cookie table. I made peanut butter, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and chocolate Rolo cookies. The oatmeal raisin cookies were suppose to become sandwich cookies with cream in the middle, which would have tasted like an oatmeal creme pie. But I ran out of time on the day of the party. I'll post the link to both the plain cookies and the sandwich ones.

I've told you about the peanut butter ones before, except it's a recipe for snicker cookies. I just leave out the snickers and use this recipe for plain peanut butter. I LOVE this recipe. I will never make another kind of peanut butter cookie again. You can find the recipe here.

I had never made the Rolo cookies before, and was taking a risk by making them for the first time on the day of the party. But it was worth it, because I thought they were really good. You can find the recipe here.

I found the oatmeal raisin recipe at Annie's Eats. I really like her food blog and can't wait to try more of her recipes. You can find the plain cookies here, and the creme sandwich one here. I plan on making the sandwich cookies soon because they look soooo good!!

I already had the chocolate chip recipe in my recipe box. So I'll post the whole thing here on the blog. I really like these cookies because they use a box of vanilla pudding. I think it makes the cookies really soft and sweet. The only thing I've noticed is that the regular recipe can sometimes make the cookies a little too sweet. I usually halve the recipe and they turn out perfect! I used the whole recipe for the party because it makes a lot of cookies. They still turned out good, in my opinion, but I still like to cut it in half. You can also use different flavors of pudding to make different types of cookies. My roommate in college use to make them all the time. She was always mixing it up. One time she used chocolate pudding and white chocolate chips. Another time she used mocha flavored pudding and milk chocolate chips. They were really good!!!
Anyway, here's the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

4 1/2 cups flour
2 cups butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 (3.4oz) pkgs. vanilla pudding mix
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. baking soda
1 pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs
1 (12oz) bag of chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat in pudding mix. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Blend in flour a cup at a time. Add baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.
Yields: 4-5 dozen

Toooo Hot

We had a heat advisory yesterday, which was not a surprise since this whole summer has been unbearably hot!! So we stayed inside...again. I had so many fun things planned this summer, but it's been so hot that we haven't done very much. I'm a little bummed about it, but I just can't be out in this heat for very long. Maybe next summer won't be so hot!!

Grace spent the afternoon painting. She asked me to find a picture on the internet that she could look at for inspiration. ;)

Avery spent quite a bit of time at the table eating a doughnut. She is the slooooowest eater! But we didn't have anything else to do so it worked out for me. We had gotten doughnuts that morning at a little mom and pop cafe after we ran to the real estate place to drop off our rent. She ran straight to the counter and pointed to the ones with "can-ie" on them. And that's about all she ate off the doughnut, icing and "can-ie's." Of course I had to eat the rest for her. They were really good doughnuts!! There is something to be said about family owned doughnut shops. They are so much better than chains stores. I need to stop talking about them because I would love to go back and buy a dozen right now!!! That would be a bad idea, right??

This is what Scottie did the whole time he was home. He had just gotten off of his 30 hour shift!! And he worked the entire 30 hours. He said they were crazy busy and he didn't get much time to stop and take a break. I felt so bad for him. We just let him sleep. Even though he didn't wake up until after we were all asleep, it was nice just to have him in the house. We are going to have to get use to this and realize it is our new "normal" for now. It's a crazy life for a resident!!

Graduation Party

Well, it's been almost three months since Scottie graduated from medical school and we are just now having a party for him. We couldn't do it right after graduation since he left a week later for officer training, and then had to start his residency as soon as he got back. Today was the best day for him, even though he worked the night before and had to work right after the party. I told you this residency life was going to be tough!

But we had a good time and I am so happy that we had the chance to celebrate all of his hard work. I'm almost getting teary thinking about everything he has accomplished, I am so proud of my husband!!

I made a little table in our front room with a few pictures and his diploma. There were some cards on there from our family. Thank you!!!

This my cookie table, and I am so proud of it!! I asked Scottie if it was okay to do this instead of a cake because they are ridiculously expensive, even at Wal-Mart. He didn't mind, and I got an excuse to bake cookies!! I love baking, but I don't like to have cookies around because I will eat them all. This was the perfect way for me to bake and not eat everything in sight. Although there are some left over and I'm trying to think of how to get rid of them, maybe meet some new neighbors??

I put gift bags on the table with some ribbon so everyone could take cookies home. I love this idea. I read an article somewhere that suggested doing it for a bridal shower. All the guests are asked to bring a batch of their favorite cookies and a copy of the recipe for the bride. Then everyone gets to take home cookies and the bride gets a stack of new recipes. Great idea!!!

Avery and Nana. Wow, Mom was a life saver. Even though I had been working on the house and the cookies for three days straight, I just didn't have the energy to get it all done. Luckily Mom helped me finish cleaning and we spent the whole morning getting the food ready. Thanks again Mom, I couldn't have done it without you!

The food table, which is also our new set of cabinets that Scottie made. I am so impressed with his skills. He bought the cabinets and then cut plywood for the back and sides, and cut trim for the corners. Then he painted it and put the counter top on it. I LOVE it!! It really looks good in the kitchen and has given me a lot more storage/counter space. Thank you hubby!

I was trying to take different pictures of the party and everything we had done. My brother-in-law Joe thought I was taking a random picture of him. To be honest I didn't even notice there were people standing there, I was taking a picture of the food table. Which is why everyone is in mid-motion. Oops! ;)

Scottie's Granny, Grandma and Grandpa Conner, and his dad Jeff.

Scottie's family that came to the party, including his "Aunt" Rena (she's really Penny's cousin but more like an Aunt) and his cousin Jesse.

Like every party I go to, I got busy talking and socializing and stopped taking pictures. So sadly I didn't get a picture of my Uncle Mark, Aunt Teresa, and cousins Katie, Amanda and her family. We were so happy they came to celebrate with us, and can't wait to play Things again with the rest of the Jenkins crew! :)

Grace and her cousins caught a butterfly that was definitely in it's last hour of life. Although I think all of their love and "experiments" helped it move on to butterfly heaven a little faster then mother nature intended. I'm not sure what experiments they did, but I know they weren't trying to hurt it. They named it Jessica, drew pictures of her after she passed away, and created a song about Jessica the butterfly. I love how these kids play together, they are so funny to watch.

Grace, Chloe, Dylan, and Ezra help Jessica into her new home. They even put grass in there for her to eat, maybe her last meal? ;) Avery was there "helping" too, but we didn't get a picture of her with them.

After the party Grace was talking about Jessica the butterfly. She said "well Jessica is in heaven now, or maybe hell.... if she killed somebody." I didn't know how to respond and she sounded so serious, so I just waited until she left the room to burst out laughing.

The girls found the dress up box in the basement. This is one of their favorite activities when they get together. Chloe looks so cute in the Snow White costume, but I don't about Grace in her ripped up Star Wars costume from two years ago. She loves it so I guess that's all that matters.

You gotta love cousins!!! The girls were trying to talk us into letting Chloe stay the night, which is something her mom Amanda and did all the time when we were younger. It was almost like going back in time listening to them tell us how it would work even though Chloe didn't have any clothes with her. If I hadn't been totally wiped out from the past few days of party preparations I would have said yes, as long as it worked out with Amanda. But I was about the fall over by the end of the day. We promised the girls we would work something out soon so they could have a sleep over. How could we say no? They get along so well and have the best time together. We will definitely have to do something soon!!

Thanks again to everyone who was able to come. I know there were a lot of people who wanted to, but it just didn't work out. We appreciate every one's notes of encouragement and congratulations. Thank you to all of our family and friends for supporting us the past four years. Not only does it take a village to raise a child, but it takes a village to help someone make it through medical school without losing their mind!