It's All About the Food!

Grandpa got Braden Shipley's this morning for breakfast. He was super excited when he got up. Hence the "Mom get the camera!"

And after going to Super Target, we headed to Chicken Express for his lunch (and my sweet tea) and then drove through Bueno on the way home.

Too bad someone's eyes were bigger than their stomach! I told him to get the 4 piece, but noooo. He had to have the 7 piece. And ended up feeling pretty large and uncomfortable!

We Made It!

We arrived in Texas this morning.... in just under 16 hrs! After heading to the house, having breakfast, showering/freshening up, etc., we headed to Pantego to visit.

Here is Braden with his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Harris. (I should find a picture of him from back then and post it!)

The boys under the new (since we were here last) covered walkway connecting the 2 buildings.

Jon beside his retired football jersey. It now proudly hangs near his mom's classroom!

The boys visiting with Grandma during her free period.

And guess what I had for lunch today?!?!? A #3 from Taco Bueno!

The Tree

Every year, the 4th graders get trees from the Soil & Water Conservation Office to take home and plant. Braden brought his tree home on Friday, April 17th (the day I left for the Women's Retreat). He and Daddy were supposed to plant the tree while I was gone. If you were unable to plant the tree right away, you were to store it in the fridge. A week later, the tree was still in there! So on Saturday, Braden and Grandpa Ernie planted his tree.... we'll have to see whether or not it survives :)

Here they are... Braden watching and Grandpa digging.

Dallas watching from the porch.

Braden packing down the dirt around the little tree.

Grandpa adding a ton of Miracle-Gro to help the poor tree along.

Turn your head to the left! Not sure why this loaded the wrong way. The tree is to the right of the rod supporting it... hard to see.

Cookies!

Wednesday night, my high school girls frosted and decorated the 13+ dozen cookies I had baked! They looked really good. I later packaged them by the dozen and froze them. They will go to local families next month who have been affected by job losses, etc.

Oh Caitlin!! Always so silly!

Danielle enjoying the leftover frosting!

Jon being a good sport while he and some of the girls argue over Jacob v. Edward.... Twilight! Jon's firmly in the Team Jacob camp, though reading Midnight Sun helps Edward not seem so obsessively stalker-ish.

Hillsong London

Last Tuesday, I left home at 3:00pm headed to Granger, IN (by way of Ft.Wayne to pick up Ashley) to see Hillsong London in concert at Granger Community Church. 9 hrs later, I stumbled in the door! It was an AMAZING concert!! If you ever get the chance to see Hillsong, you have to go! --Did I mention the tickets were only $10?

Ash, me, and Aud

Aud could not wait for us to get off the toll road! She HAD to go! But it turned out that she didn't need to go this bad. She came running back to the car after looking inside these restrooms!

Still Alive

We're all still alive and well. Just haven't felt like getting on much lately. And we've been pretty busy! Braden is starting baseball practice, still meeting on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights with our sr. high kids at church, Jon and I have both read the Twilight series, I went on a Women's Retreat last weekend, I am trying to find volunteers for vacation bible school, I went to a Hillsong London concert last Tuesday night, and we are headed to Texas next Tuesday!!!

But to tide you over until I get around to posting all the other pictures.....
Dallas trying to open some Easter eggs filled with dog treats. (these are the only pictures I took involving Easter!)

Dallas sleeping while Jon read.

And proof that Jon read the Twilight series. He skipped the first book because we had watched the movie, but he read the other 3 in less than a week. Then he started looking up info online about New Moon - the movie, which is set to release on my birthday! Then he found the unfinished Midnight Sun online and read that! He downloaded it for me, but some of us have been too busy to read it :)

Can you say "obsessed?"

Baseball Season's Here

Practice started last week! Jon is the assistant coach this year. And to give you something to look at, here are Braden's new cleats... He picked them out himself!Basketball season ended this past Sunday. We are super excited! Braden's team played in a 5th grade tourney on Saturday. They lost all 3 of their games... BUT, there was a losers' bracket! Every team returned to play on Sunday! Yipee!
And they won. And won again. And then played the losers' championship game. They lost but received a lovely runners up medal. Way to go!

In other news, we are having our sr. high kids over for dinner tonight. (Looks like we'll have more than enough food :)

Girls Night

Here are some of the pictures from 2 Fridays ago when my high school girls came over. We watched movies (When a Stranger Calls and Twilight), made freezer meals for families in need, and played cards while waiting for the meals to bake..... and ate lots of goodies! You'll have to pretend these pictures are in any sort of order! :)

Ready for bed...... a little after 4 a.m.

Christina all warm and cozy in Braden's sleeping bag!

Kayla, who had to leave before 8 to get to softball. She was pumped to get less than 4 hrs sleep!

Brittany, the cheater, who still lost both games.... she's not a very good cheater.

Me.... no wait! Just Brit in my glasses.... and she still lost!

Christina wondering why we were up playing cards at 3:00am!

Where was Danielle? Right here. Sleeping, despite the camera flashes!

And where was Caitlin? Also asleep.... she went downhill pretty fast when we put N'Sync: Live at Madison Square Garden in :)

Right after the scary movie!.... which we watched in the dark, hence C's expression. The flash on my camera is REALLY bright!

The twins at the end of the scary movie. Danielle had moved closer to Brit :)

We also had a visit from Audrey and her mom. Fun times! Fun night! (And Jon went and got donuts for everyone in the morning!)

28 Days From Now

My rings will have been inspected, cleaned, and re-dipped at JARED

(you know, the Galleria of Jewelry)

I AM SO EXCITED!

28 Days Until Yummy Goodness