Fall apple craft

The other day for part of our homeschooling day we did a fall craft. I am hoping to go to an apple orchard this year with the boys. After we got done with our work we used our thumbs print to make an apple. I have wanted to use our finger paint more and so this was the perfect craft.

Andrew and his thumb print.

Seth and his thumb print.

Andrew's final product. (He is my go fast and get it done as quickly as possible...) He did very well on writing A is for Apple all by himself. It is such a joy to watch him learn and be able to teach him!

Mom's (teacher) example. :)

Seth's final product. Seth can write a few letters by himself, but for today we just had him write the A's.

More snakes...

The boys and papa found a snake the other day. They had a blast carrying that thing around everywhere! They are so much like their dad!

So happy...as you can tell!

Tomato caterpillars, as the boys call them. Eww, is what mom calls them!

baby snake. They kept saying " aww, he is so cute" Lol.

Pretty Vines!

We have had this trellis on the side of our porch since we have moved into this house. When we moved in there was a vine that would grow up it,but would not last long. It never grew all the way to the top either. My Mother-in-law gave me a potted vine last year. It was later in the year and so it grew pretty well. I took the seeds and replanted them this Spring. It did amazing this year! I haven't had the trellis full before! It is so pretty! Thanks Cindy!

The flowers came out this last week! They are so pretty!

Bottom to top!

Fathers Day Catch.

For Father's day we went out to Grandma and Grandpa Shepherds for the afternoon. The boys and Dad went out to the pond and found a variety of reptiles. The boys had a blast using their net to catch them. I think they were down by the pond, pretty much the whole day. They were FILTHY by the end of the day, but had so much fun!

Frogs!

Seth's was mostly a full grown frog but it still had a bit of a tail. So weird looking!

Andrew's frog.

They even caught a crawdad!

The biggest tadpole I have even seen!

All the friends in the bucket! :)

Jack Ethan Shepherd

We have been super busy here at the Shepherd house! We had family over for Memorial Day and then on Tuesday we went to the hospital to have our new little joy, Jack Ethan! He was born at 3:56 pm and weighed 8lbs 1oz. He was 21 in. long! I took him to his first Dr. Appt. and he already weighed over 9 lbs. He is growing quickly and doing well! We are so exctied he is here and healthy!

The boys are so in love with him! They ask us to hold him all the time! They are learning quickly how to handle a new little one.

This is my most recent favorite! Our morning tummy time! :)

Butterfly garden

The boys had a new project that they enjoyed this Spring. Zach ordered caterpillers on-line for the boys to watch turn into butterflies. They loved looking at them everyday and seeing how they changed.

The boys, checking out the baby caterpillers.

The next week they turned in cocoons.

Butterflies!

Strawberry Layered Dessert.

Made this the other night at the request of my husband! It is soooo yummy!

2/3 C. boiling water

2 C. Oreo Cookies, finely crushed (about 20 cookies)

1/4 C. butter melted

1 pkg, (3oz.) Jell-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin

1 pkg. (80z) Philadelphia cream cheese, softened

1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip Whipped Topping, Thawed

1 lb. Strawberries, sliced

In a small bowl, stir boiling water in to dry gelatin and mix at least 2 Min. or until completely dissolved. Cool 5 min. stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, mix cookie crumbs and butter; press into 9-in. spring form pan. Set aside

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add prepared gelatin mixture, beating well after each addition. Gently stir in 2 cups whipped topping. Divide mixture in half.

Top cookie mixture with half of gelatin mixture. Layer with 2 cups sliced strawberries over gelatin mixture and top with remaining gelatin mixture. Top with remaining Cool Whip.

Garnish with remaining strawberries or blueberries, if desired. It helps set up if you put it in the fridge for a while before serving! ENJOY!

New Pantry!

I have wanted a pantry for so long! My cupboards kept getting more and more stuffed full of food and it was driving me nuts! I felt so unorganized and would even go buy more of something I already had, because it got stuffed in the back of the cupboard. Thankfully my handy man husband came to the rescue! We converted the cupboard that we put our trashcan and broom in and made it the pantry! I feel so much more organized!!!

The before picture!

The after picture!!

Scrapbooking Weekend

Last weekend I got the chance to go to Scrapbooking Weekend in Lansing, IA at Village Creek Bible Camp. Scraping. Adult Conversation. Wonderful meals provided with no clean up. Naps (optional...which I took full advantage of :). Need I say more? It was a wonderful weekend! The devotionals were wonderful and encouraging! I thought I would share a few of my favorite pages I got done.

I got caught up on the boys albums.

Who knows what happened with this picture. I couldn't fix the way it came up so guess you will have to do a sideways number to check it out!

One from the family album. I am pretty far behind on this one.( I believe 2005, 2006 was what I was working on)

My scraping space.

Mom, getting lots done! She got my wedding album done...um, just a few year late. ;)

My grandma and Aunt Diane. Aunt Diane looks like she is getting a lot done huh?

Tami and Joy and Aunt Julie scraping away!

Chicken Ranch Tacos

This recipe is so simple and so yummy! This is pretty much the only way we eat tacos anymore. Thanks to Stephanie Wright for introducing to us!
All you need is chicken chunks ( I used 3 chicken breasts for my family)
Ranch dressing
Taco Seasoning
Cook the chicken chunks in a skillet. When they are all cooked through add the Taco seasoning and Ranch ( to your taste). Serve with hard or soft shell tacos and put your topping such as cheese, lettuce, salsa, or extra ranch.

Fun Art 2

We had a few fun projects we did this week. The boys had never finger painted and so I decided to buy some finger paint to try out. We didn't make anything specific this time but my wheels are turning on what I can have them create!

We also had fun with shaving cream. When I worked as a teachers aid, a teacher let the kids "clean" the tops of their desks with shaving cream. She let them write their letters and draw picutres for a while. I let the boys use the shaving cream on the table! They had fun making the whole table white. :)

When we were pretty much done Aunt Holly told him to put his hands on his face. Of course he does what she says. lol!

Seth writing his letters. Andrew wrote his name but smeared it right before I was going to take a picture.

Fun with Shaving cream!