Aubrey's 4th Birthday

I can't believe Aubrey just turned 4!! That is so crazy! We have been through so much with her and we are so thankful to God for giving her to us! She brings us such great joy and always makes us laugh. Her personality is alot like her mama...independent and strong-willed and knows what she wants :) She loves going to pre-school, just finished playing soccer and now she is asking to do gymnastics....very busy girl! We love her so much!

It's crazy that 4 years ago these pictures were taken. It doesn't seem that long ago! She was 3 weeks early due to pregnancy complications, then in the NICU for about a week, many Riley appointments, colic for 4 months, hospitalized with pneumonia for a week a day after her first birthday, lots of respiratory problems until she turned 3, and ever since then she's been pretty healthy! It's about time! :)































Aubrey had a Little Mermaid birthday party with all of her friends and family there. We played games, ate pizza, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. She got TONS of Ariel stuff for her birthday which she has been playing with everyday!





















For her actual birthday (which fell on a Monday), we went to Anderson Apple Orchard and then to the Incredible Pizza Place for her birthday dinner. She is so spoiled but we love her so much! :)

Grandpa

I lost the best grandpa in the whole world this past week! I am lucky I was there to hold his hand and sit by his bed as he took his last breaths. I will miss him terribly but I know he is in Heaven. His marriage to my grandma of 64 years is a testimony to so many! He was also a World War II veteran and served on the front lines of war. He was a great farmer, business man, and family man. His grandbabies held a special place in his heart.

Here is my all time favorite picture of me with my grandpa...I used to ride in his conbine while he picked corn and most of the time I fell asleep in there! :)

Cadence's 1 Year Pictures

Here are the pictures from Cadence's 1 year photo session. The pictures turned out great despite her being fussy and then falling head first off of the chair onto the cement. Thankfully Rachel was able to photshop and make the rest of the pictures black and white so you couldn't see the redness and swelling :) Hopefully our family photo session will go better this fall!

http://rachelhuffmanphotography.blogspot.com/2010/08/cadence-1-year.html

Soccer and Preschool

Aubrey started soccer practice this week and she absolutley LOVES it! She is so cute! She also loves having her daddy as her Assistant Coach. She is getting so big!





















This same week she also started preschool again, this time at a new school. She currently goes 2 days a week and LOVES school! She looked so big walking in with her backpack on. She is quite proud of her new Princess backpack that Grandma Cindy bought for her.

Garden Recipes

Fresh Tomato Salsa
3 cups chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup diced onion
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
2 tbsp. lime juice
2 jalapeno peppers with seeds, choppped
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Mix together and serve with chips

Gucamole
3 large avacados
1 lime (juiced)
1-1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 cup diced onion
3 tbsp. minced fresh cilantro
2 roma tomatoes chopped

Mash everything up together and serve with the salsa and chips

Zucchini Cream Pie
1 1/2 cups cooked zucchini
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 can sweetened condensed milk
1 pie crust
cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg

Don't let the name of this recipe fool you! It is an amazingly tasty pie!!! You will NOT be disappointed!

Shred, boil, drain (very well), and then blend the zucchini so it is an applesauce consistency. You will need 1 1/2 cups of this, so you will need to start with a large zucchini or several small ones. It will cook WAY down.

Mix everything together, adding the sweetened condensed milk last.

Pour into the unbaked pie shell and sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 4o minutes or until the middle is not jiggly.

Enjoying Summer....

So now that all of the craziness of June and early July are over with for us, we have been enjoying a wonderfully relaxed July! The last couple of weekends have been spent with friends and family and enjoying time with Aubrey and Cadence.

Cadence is growing so fast now! She can say what a cat AND a dog says now...its VERY cute!! She says mama and dada and mo-mo (which means more). She is walking/running everywhere and anywhere, especially wherever Aubrey is. She has learned how to pick a fight with her big sister :) We are working on wearing shoes, although she would rather be barefoot. Totally like her momma and big sis :) Her left foot turns in a little bit so her left shoe always wants to fall off. Hopefully she will correct on her own. The last week has been rough for all of us since she is cutting 2 of her top molars at the same time. Her poor gums are so swollen that it makes me hurt to look at them! She wakes up screaming a few times a night and has been pretty grumpy. We have been giving her extra love and tylenol. Praying they come through soon!!

Aubrey is growing so fast too! We are working on her behavior issues which are mostly related to having to share the attention from others. We have had to really get strict with warnings and following through but we are finally making some progress and we hope she basically outgrows it soon. She is in love with Ariel from the Little Mermaid! Everything MUST be Ariel now! She starts a new pre-school in a few weeks, and I think we are both looking forward to that. :)And we have her on the wait list for soccer this fall and hoping daddy will get to be her coach :)

I am loving every second of having a garden this summer. I have learned TONS of new recipes for garden products which I will hopefully post soon! Tonight I made fresh salsa with my tomatoes and green peppers and a few other ingredients along with guacamole. It was SO good that I am pretty sure that Josh and I will finish it up tonight.

I will try to post a couple of recipes soon...

The Party is over...

I am so sad that the BIG party is over!! My baby girl, Cadence Joy, turned one on July 1st and her big party was July 3rd. She is so beautiful and so sweet. She melts our hearts everytime she smiles...which is all the time :)

Josh took the day off on July 1st and we all went to the zoo. It was such a great day and everyone was happy. We saw the dolphins show, rode the train, had lunch, rode the carousel, and saw lots of animals! Cadence and Aubrey both had such a great time. We are so blessed with our little girls! I love them so much!

Here is a picture of Cadence the day she was born and then one year later!















































On Saturday, July 3rd we had a wonderful birthday party for Cadence with most of our friends and family there. She had a beautiful ladybug cake and cupcakes to eat and tons of other food. She got some really great birthday presents including a really cool handmade/handpainted growth chart, splash table, books, fun toys, and very cute clothes. It was so nice to have our friends and family together to celebrate Cady's big day....even great grandma and grandpa Landers were able to come, which was really special to all of us.





































On Sunday, the Fourth of July, we went down to the canal with Aunt Mary Jo and rode the four seater surrey all the way up and down the canal. The girls loved it even though it was very hot! We stopped to play in some of the beautiful waterfalls along the way. Then we came home and they played in Cadence's new water/splash table. What a fun weekend! We are so blessed!!