“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” ~Psalm 139:14
Zachary David Wright
Born: December 28th at 1:50pm
Weight: 8.38 pounds
Length: 20 inches
Proud Mommy & Daddy with Baby Zachary!
I am so excited for Christie & Tim today as they welcomed their precious son through the blessing of adoption! God is good!
Welcome to the family Zachary!!
I went with Shutterfly this year and was really happy with how quickly my cards arrived {since I was late ordering…as usual}. I actually had to order them in two sets because I used the wrong list {yikes} and drastically under ordered. I have made sure that I won’t be making a repeat of this incident again. The “wrong list” has been deleted! I did squeak by with the one extra card that I need for my scrapbook, so all is well. I am optimistic that I will be on the ball next year and have a professional picture taken early so that I can order my cards early {perhaps my semi-professional sister will be the photographer}. Merry Christmas!!
We just got home from our visit with Santa! The girls {especially Gracie} says that the Santa at the Villages at Allen is THE Santa Claus. They assume the other ones are just helpers but the one they get to see it THE one. Here is the 2010 picture with Santa…
Here are a couple from Christmases past…
They sure are growing up fast…Santa however hasn’t changed a bit!!!
July 29, 1981
I was 4 years old when Princess Di & Prince Charles were married. I remember watching it with my mom on the TV and loving every second of it. It was the first time I had ever even seen a real-life princess and to me it was as if Cinderella herself was getting married. I can't wait to watch {hoping they televise it} Prince William & Kate's wedding with my girls!! Times have changed, but I hope it's as neat for them as it was for me almost 30 years ago!! :)
Save The Date: April 29, 2011
P.S.- I also love the fact that she is a brunette…that is all. ;)
The other day I was watching Oprah and Jessica Seinfeld {Yep…Mrs. Jerry Seinfeld} was one of her guests. {Unnecessary confession: I record ALL of Oprah’s new episodes on the DVR, however, I only watch the “happy” ones. Back to Jessica Seinfeld…} She was on the show sharing some of the recipes from her latest cookbook and one of them caught my eye….Crock-Pot Lasagna! I have never made a dish after watching a cooking/talk show but this one seemed easy enough and it also “looked” like it would taste good. So last night I decided why not!
I have to say that it turned out pretty good! Lance and the girls were all fans so I think I shall keep this quick & easy recipe in my arsenal {ha…like I have an arsenal, more like a gun or two}. Next time I may try to add some ground turkey just for kicks. We had a ton of leftovers after our little family of four ate it, so I had it again for lunch today. Here is the recipe for anyone that may be interested:
Directions:
1) In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, garlic, oregano, salt, red pepper and black pepper. In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella and Parmesan.
2) In the bottom of a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, spread a thin layer of the sauce. Top with 3 of the noodles (breaking to fit as necessary). Spread about 1 cup of the sauce over the noodles and layer with 2 cups of the spinach and 1½ cups of the cheese mixture. Repeat twice more with the noodles, sauce, spinach and cheese mixture. Top with the remaining 3 noodles, sauce and 1 cup mozzarella.
3) Cook on low, covered, until the noodles are tender—especially in the center of the lasagna—about 3 to 3½ hours.
Every single time it rains I tell myself that I am going to break down and buy some rain boots. I see all these cute rain boots all over the place {on people and in the stores} but I always talk myself out of them. Well, this last rain shower {downpour} that we had convinced me to FINALLY place the order and I just got them in today…
There were SO MANY styles to choose from on Target.com that I had a bit of a tough time making a decision on which ones to get…now that I can see them in person I am really happy with my choice! Now all I need is rain to break these puppies in!! By actually purchasing these rain boots I probably secured the longest drought in DFW history! Ha! I will wait patiently, but the next time I see any precipitation falling from the sky I know exactly what shoes I’ll be wearing!!
This morning Gracie and I woke up bright and early and made it out to the Gary Burns Frisco Fun Run. Our friends, the Stedmans, were planning to run in the races and we thought it would be fun to cheer them on and do a little running ourselves. Gracie just finished her Boosterthon Fun Run a couple of days before so she was excited to get out there and do it all again.
Gracie really wanted to run in the 5K with her friend Lauren, but she had been training for the 5K race and Gracie had not, so we decided to make our first race together the 1 Mile Fun Run. Gracie decided on a strategy for the race: Run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute, Run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute and then sprint to the finish line. With strategy in hand we headed to the race. We had to get there early because we missed the date to register online and had to register at the event. It was SUPER cold so we went in, signed-up and headed back to the car to stay warm.
After a few minutes of staying warm it was time to head to the starting line! We were also on the look out for the Stedmans, knowing that they were in the crowd somewhere.
We found the Stedmans rather quickly for such a large crowd {5000+ runners not counting the spectators} and found out the Scott & Conner would be running the 1 Mile Fun Run too. Gracie was super excited!
Gracie & I just before they sounded the starting horn!
There were so many runners/walkers that it took a couple minutes for it to clear out enough for us to get going. Before we knew it we were running! Gracie ran the first five minutes like a rock star! She was happy when that first one minute break came but when it was over went right back to running!! Scott & Conner stayed right with us the whole time, it was so much fun! Towards the end of the second five minute run Gracie was starting to ask, “how much longer?” but she NEVER stopped until the break. The last break came right as we turned to corner to see the finish line. Seeing the finish line sparked us all to forget about the break and just start sprinting to the end!
Go Gracie Go…you’re almost there!!!
Gracie…The Racing Veteran!! She ran her first mile race in 13:02! AWESOME…YOU ROCK KIDDO!
After we finished our race we stay to cheer on Lauren & Tamie as they ran the 5K! This was Lauren’s very first official 5K…such a big deal! We waiting for them at the finish line!
There they go!!
Lauren did AWESOME! That girl ran all 3.1 miles without walking…she RAN the whole thing! That is even after she took a spill during the race. She finished with a great time just over 38 minutes. Talk about a proud mama…Tamie was glowing with pride! Way to go ladies!
We all had a great time and look forward to running together again soon!
Today was Gwynie’s final {sniff} Preschool Hero Parade. In the years past you dressed up as a hero from the Bible or as a everyday hero {policemen, firemen, etc}. Here is a picture of Gwynie at her very first Hero Parade:
After choosing a biblical hero, the next year we went with an everyday hero:
This year they added the option of dressing up as something from God’s creation. Well, that just makes the options endless. This is great because you do have endless options but it also makes it hard for a 4 year old to make a decision. After several minutes in the Halloween Aisle at Target we had a winner. This year, at her last hero parade of her preschool career {sniff…sniff}, Gwynie went as a:
She absolutely LOVED her costume {and so did I}!! Her favorite part was her wings of course. When we were getting her dressed I asked her to go put on her black dress shoes. I figured she would grab the ones she wears all the time but she came down with a pair from her closet that had been Gracie’s that I had actually held on to {shocking}. She was very excited and said, “Mama I found the PERFECT shoes! These ones have butterflies on them”. To my surprise they fit and were in fact perfect! I asked her how she wanted me to do her hair and she said “half circles” which is what she calls pigtails that I don’t pull all the way through and it leaves little loops or “half circles” on top of her head. These “half circles” is her hairstyle of choice these days. Here are a few more pictures I took before we headed to school:
Once it’s time for the Hero Parade, each class takes turns parading in front of all the parents in the school’s courtyard. It such a sweet little tradition that Gwynie has looked forward to each year. Okay…time for the the Hero Parade to start!
Time to head back inside for a class picture! You would think that 16 four year olds would be difficult to get in position for a group picture but they did a great job!
The Hero Parade was a huge success and Gwynie had a great time. After all the fun activities she did at school {wearing her costume, walking in the parade, carving a pumpkin, playing with the pumpkin seed, eating pumpkin muffins, etc.} I asked her what her favorite part of the day was and she said…
Since Gracie is now in 2nd Grade {the BIG time} she gets actual grades on her report card!! No more checks and stars but number grades! She came home today with her first report card of the year:
Way to go Gracie!! You have worked really hard on your school work this first 9 weeks and it showed today on your awesome report card! Keep up the great work kiddo!!
We just got home from Gracie’s school where she participated in the Boosterthon Fun Run to raise money for her school. Her school’s goal is to raise $20K to buy a large shade cover for the playground {I can’t believe how much those things cost}.
The first thing she did was to gain per lap pledges from her friends and family. So she sat down an wrote an email asking for support {I know that those that received this email probably thought I typed it but Gracie typed every word…there were many times during the typing of the letter that I would have been happy to type it for her ;) but she did the whole thing}. She was so excited when she would get a pledge!! THANK YOU TO ALL HER SUPPORTERS!! She met her total pledge goal of $15 lap and her lap goal was 35 laps {the most you can run}. She has been counting down the days until the Fun Run and today was the day!
Gracie headed to school READY for the big event!! GOOD LUCK!!
When Gwynie and I got to the school all of the 2nd & 3rd grade classes were getting warmed up by dancing and stretching with the Boosterthon Staff. The staff was a lot of fun and really upbeat…they really did a great job getting the kids pumped up! After their warm up it was time to get the Fun Run underway!!
On your mark…get set…GO!!
I LOVE the determination on her face in this picture!!!
Gracie did A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!! She was a running fool and had a huge smile on her face while she did it! I think she probably ran 99% of the laps {and they ran for a total of 30 minutes}. The few times she walked she said were because her “heart was tired and it needed a little break”. I bet so kiddo…Mama was tired just watching!
Gracie was very happy because…
You were an inspiration today Gracie…YOU ROCK!!
I don’t know the details about the Boosterthon as far what it cost overall and what percentage the school gets and all that but as a parent I can say that I absolutely love and support what Boosterthon is doing in the schools. They had great and upbeat staff members at the school each day cheering the school on while teaching lessons about Fitness, Leadership and Character. It was so fun to watch Gracie get excited about running in the Fun Run! I would do this type of fundraiser over selling a product every day of the week and twice on Sunday. ;)
