Boys...

These boys are in their own little heaven.

New routine...best decision EVER!!

We are three weeks into a new routine over here in the food department.  

After the first week, I told Allie (my wonderful sister-in-law), 

"Can we do this for the rest of our lives??" 

It has been THAT great!

I actually don't remember how it all got started,

but Allie and I decided to get together to prep meals for the week.

The first week, I watched the kiddos, she went grocery shopping,

then in the afternoon when the kids went down for their nap,

we got to work!

We did this on Monday,

made meals for each night of the week.

Sliced, diced, seasoned, mixed and ready to just throw in the oven 

or whatever the recipe calls for.

The picture above we made stuffed bell peppers.  

On prep day, we made and seasoned the meat mix.

Then the day of we just cut open the bell peppers, filled the mixture and put them in the oven.

For the kids we decided to make burritos using the same meat mixture.

It usually takes a whole afternoon,

which can feel like it might not end,

but then every night of the week,

we just pull out the 9x13 pan (or whatever it might be)

and bake it, or bbq it and serve.

This was another meal we made,

chicken and green beans in a bag.

Yummy!

This new routine has been such a blessing.

It has been a blessing to my busy mind.

It has been a blessing to my wonderful husband.

It has been a blessing to our kids...

(even if they don't understand how much of a blessing).

It has also been a blessing to our nutrition.

It has been fun to try new recipes and to learn together!

I encourage you to find a friend or a family member too, to do this with!  

You will be glad you did!!

Austin's hats

Austin loves wearing hats lately.

His favorite is his Lightning McQueen hat.

 He does not mind if they are too big...

 or too small,

He loves the red Bulldog hat too.

 Sometimes he wears the hat backwards, 

but if he does he tells me he is wearing the hat the wrong way.

 He even likes to find hats at the stores to try on.

Even warm, cozy hats work well.

He has been a big fan of them lately.

Soccer girl

Daddy has been quite the supporter of getting the inner athlete out of this girl.  

He has led the charge signing her up for soccer, practicing with her, 

even going shopping with her for a pink soccer ball, shin guards and all the soccer gear she might need.

 Don't you practice soccer in a tutu??

 After two practices...it was game time!

She was so excited.  

She was so anxious to get there.  

Every day since, she asked if today is soccer again.

She loved it.

She also loved scoring the first goal of the game that day.  ;)

 This little cutie pie wore his favorite Cars hat and sat really good playing on Daddy's phone, 

which let us watch his sissy play her first game.

Thank you Austin!

 On top of Aubrey Rose loving her new sport, she is meeting some sweet friends.
 It's a WIN, WIN all around!!

Thank you, Blake, for being the best Daddy.
Even though I was a little hesitant on adding two days of practices and games to our weekly schedule, it sure was fun to watch her play.
It was even more fun watching her beam of excitement.
Aubrey Rose said after the game on Saturday that she loves soccer, more than dance.
I am so curious as to what this little girl will love as the years progress. 

Kindergarten update

Our little Kindergartner is getting older and older every day.  ;)

She absolutely LOVES going to school.  

We are in her sixth week of school.

26 days in so far.

She goes to school in the mornings and

I would not consider Aubrey Rose to be a morning girl. 

She loved preschool, but there were definitely days 

she asked if she could stay home or if she didn't have to go.

I have yet to hear any of that.

One day she did ask if she could just wait a little longer to go,

but other than that, it has been such a delight for her.

This is Aubrey Rose's FAVORITE way to get to school...  

I haven't mentioned anything yet to her, 

but I did notice she started the school year wearing her backpack 

on both shoulders with the middle snap done across her chest.

Now she insists on holding it on one shoulder.

I am not sure if her friends wear it that way too, 

but you better believe I am going to start paying attention to that.  ;)

And so it begins.

Friday's are spirit days at school.

Mimi (Blake's wonderful mom) made her the cutest dress with the school colors.

On the back of the dress Mimi added a paw print and Go Tigers!

It turned out so cute!!

Thank you Mimi!!

One different thing about Aubrey Rose being in Kindergarten is,

 now any extra curricular things need to be done in the afternoon or evening. 

There is no more luxury of getting it done in the morning.  :(

It is quite tricky with Austin still taking afternoon naps.

We have gymnastics on Wednesdays...

soccer practice on Wednesday nights,

dance practice on Thursdays...

and Awana's just started back up as well.

It's a lot of work being in Kindergarten!!

So, as you can probably imagine I come across this every now and then.  ;)

Yesterday, when we picked up Aubrey Rose from school,
Austin let go of my hand and sprinted to sissy.

Aubrey picked him up in her arms, swung him around and they both giggled and giggled.

I wish I had video taped it.

It was so precious.

Austin sure loves it when sissy is home.

So do I.  :)

Oh, the wedding day...

This turned to be such a perfect day.   

It was way too hot, but from the pictures, one would never be able to tell. ;)

It was so fun to watch the union of Julie and Tony.

Julie glowed all day long on her wedding day.

It was such a joy and an honor to stand beside her on their special day.

This flower girl beamed with excitement when she got to hold the brides bouquet.

The three of us girls

Can't wait for these two to have their own babies!

Little Shuterelli's!!

The reception site turned out BEAUTIFUL!!

Little break time before heading out to the reception...

One of my favorite parts of the whole day was when they shared their first dance.  It started to slow music and they were just swaying back and forth.  Then, it sounded like the music malfunctioned.  Tony ripped his jacket off and they danced an awesome choreographed dance routine that surprised us all.  They kept it a secret from all of us!!  It was soooo cute!

One of their favorite desserts are fruit pizzas so they decided to have mini fruit pizzas for everyone.  They turned out sooo cute!

Aubrey Rose had been waiting ALL day for the dancing time.

At 10 in the morning as we were driving to the ceremony,

Aubrey Rose asked if we get to dance first.  HA!!  

No sweet girl, we have to wait almost all day until it is time to dance.

It's finally time!

Let the dance party begin!!

Aubrey Rose danced with the ring bearer almost the entire night.

Julie and I met in high school, but we also got to play softball together in college.
It was so much fun to see some of my favorite girls from our Point Loma days.
There were so many girls that made the trip up to see Julie get married.
What a blessing!!
Here are Cheryl and Rachelle with Julie and I.
LOVE these Loma girls!!

These two rocked the dance floor all night!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Storelli!!