Happy Birthday, Ada!

Ada Marie's 19th birthday is today.  And, while she is not our daughter by birth, she is ours in every way that counts.  We are so proud of our Ada!!!

Total Randomness...

Are you wondering what the last week of our lives have been like?  Check out this post on Amy Loves It!

Homeschool Time!

We are proud to announce that the decision has been made!  We will be homeschooling Abby Grace for her Kindergarten year!

We cannot wait to share with you all of the awesome things we will be doing this school year.  Thanks to all for your love and support in this decision.

And, while we're at it, check out the Homeschooler's Wish List, posted on my blog site.

My "baby" is five!!!

It does not seem like it has been five years since I gave birth to my sweet Abby Grace. FIVE years!

She weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz (or as my DH put it to one person: 14 lbs, 7 oz!), and was 21″ long. She had beautiful blue eyes and a smidge of dark hair.

I was in labor with her for 22 hours, and she was born at 5:45 am, on Friday, May 14, 2004. Shane, Grammy (my mom), MeMe (Shane's mom), and Kristi (Shane's sister) were all right there as she was born. PoPow (my daddy), PaPa (Shane's dad), Allen (my brother), and Raigan and Kerrigan (I only had two nieces then!) were on the other side of the curtain. A student nurse-midwife (whom we adored) delivered my sweet girl. It was an amazing, if long, experience.

Now, five years later, she is a tall, skinny little thing with curly blonde hair that won’t grow past her chin. She is a smartie-pants, and writes her letters well. Abby Grace has taught herself several letters. She enjoys coupon-shopping with her Momma, helping bake and cook, sorting laundry, and reading books.

Abby Grace is a joy, and I am so glad to be her Momma.

I just cannot believe she is 5.

A Double Birthday Party

My sweet girls, Abby Grace and Reese had a double birthday party on Saturday. It was a lot of fun, and we did it as frugally as possible (feel free to giggle at me and my crazy ideas!).

Reese turned 3 in March, and we had a family party then. Abby Grace will be 5 on May 14. It is soooo sad that my baby is going to be 5! It does not seem like I was preggers with her 5 years ago. Ah....

Anywho, Shane-O and I decided to make it easy on ourselves our family and have two parties in one. Summer gets so busy, and a lot of family and friends are unable to attend both parties.

So, the plan was to have a nice little get-together and hang out in our backyard. Ha! It rained the entire week before... this is what our backyard looked like - minus the cars.

But, not to worry. Luckily, I had cleaned out our garage, and it was nice and neat. Seriously. I don't like it when our garage is messy.

So, while it sprinkled, everyone chilled (and, it was chilly!) in lawn chairs in the garage, while the kiddos rode bikes, dodged the bad drivers played in the Barbie car (that belongs to my MIL), played basketball, and chit-chatted.

Would ya like to know what we ate? I know you're just waiting to hear about my gourmet budgeted birthday meal. Well, here it is... and if you are wondering, yes I really served beans, and no I didn't pay for them!

• Beans (cooked in the crockpot for 8 hours) - all TWO pounds of them were gone. I received a ton of compliments for 'em. Who says cheap isn't gourmet? Thank you, WIC!
• BBQ shredded chicken on rolls. I cooked the chicken the night before in the crockpot. Thank you, Proverbs Wife!
• Cake... what cake? Not me! I used two brownie mixes from my stockpile, and topped 'em with cream cheese icing.

I didn't go to the store for a thing (well, you know what I mean). Does it count that my MIL picked up rolls for me before she came since mine NEVER rose??? {stupid weather} BUT, the unrisen rolls did not go to waste, as my family ate 'em anyway.

The day was great. Shane picked out a swimming pool for the girls, and they got lots of great things from our wonderful family and friends. More importantly than gifts was getting to spend TIME with those family and friends. It was a wonderful, fun, happy day.

And boy was I worn out after it was over.

Photo by U.S. Geological Survey and Lotsa pix by ME

Also posted on AmyLovesIt!