Dying...

Is blogging dying... or is it just mine?  I feel so sad about the fact that it has been a MONTH since I blogged. I'm so far behind and honestly, I feel like I should just quit... I pretty much have.  I want to get excited about it again!  I want to WANT to blog.  I want to have an experience and think, "I can't wait to blog about that!"  How do I get back there?  Do I even have ANY readers left?

One thing I AM excited about is the premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire tonight at 8 p.m.

I won four tickets from a local radio station to see it at an IMAX theater!  SO EXCITED! Maybe I'll blog about it?!

In the meantime, follow me on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the exciting life of Shannon :-)

An Apple A Day...

When we moved into our house last summer, we inherited an apple tree. I wasn't very excited about it because growing up, I remember walking down the alley to my best friend's house. There were always those soft, green, apple-like things all over the alley. I don't know if it was the apples or the caged German Shepherd, but that alley smelled awful!  To this day, I pair that smell with those apples (or whatever they were).  So, when we learned of our apple tree, I just knew we'd have that smell in our backyard... yay.

The apple tree became a nuisance.  Mike would have to pick up the fallen apples before he mowed each time.  Although it didn't reek like I had expected, it was still a pain compared to the rest of the trees in our yard.

Dad came over a month or so ago and grabbed a couple of apples off of the tree. He was going to eat them! What?!  I never even considered eating the apples!  I don't know why the thought never crossed my mind. Maybe it was still the stinky apples that I remembered growing up. I know that those (if they even were apples) were not to be eaten.  I was surprised that Dad wanted to eat them.  I told him he could take as many as he wanted... What was I going to do with them??  In the meantime, I continued to buy apples every week at the store.  Yes, I am aware of how ridiculous this sounds.

Last night, I was out back grilling our dinner and I noticed how many apples were on the tree. It amazed me!  Wow! I actually have apples on my apple tree!

I gave the girls a bag and told them to get picking!  We were going to be set for LIFE!

Although small, these apples looked great!

 

I washed and cut one for Taylor and I to try. It was delicious! A little tart, but very good!  I will not be buying apples from the store this weekend, that's for sure.

We have enough to feed an army! Come on over and fill a bag!  I'm excited to eat fresh apples all fall :-)

FIRST GRADE

Summer is finally over and it's back to school time! Jaden has been counting down the days literally the whole summer. She said that she wished summer break was only one day because she LOVES school so much! She has the wonderful Mrs. Dickmeyer as her teacher this year!

Taylor is all about school, too, even though she won't even start preschool until next year. She wants so bad to be just like her big sister! 

 

Happy first day of first grade, Jaden!!

Have fun, Biz :-)

Jaden's 6th Birthday - Part 2

Wow. I never even finished blogging about J's birthday!  That was almost three months ago... 

Ok!  For Jaden's friends party this year, she wanted to take her friends to Ball-O-City at Crazy Pinz!  Basically, Ball-O-City is a HUGE play area/ball pit for kids.  They loved it!

 

After the party at Crazy Pinz, Taylor went home with Gramma J and Jaden got to have three friends spend the night!

It was a wild and crazy night!  Not even joking.

Happy Birthday Jaden!!

Part 1 Here

Part 3 Here

Jaden's 6th Birthday - Part 1

Jaden celebrated her 6th birthday last month!  She was so excited to wake up and open her present from Mike and me.

She thought we just got her a new bag, until she opened the bag...

She FINALLY got a Nintendo DS!!  Maybe just a tad bit excited :-)

She also got a couple of games to get her started.

J was SO excited to have her Dad show her how to play her new games :-)

More celebrations to come!  Happy birthday, Miss!

Part 2 Here

Part 3 Here

Kindergarten!

I Trust You'll Treat Her Well  by Dan Valentine

 World, I bequeath to you today one little girl in a crispy dress.. with two blue eyes...and a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a batch of light red hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs. I Trust You'll Treat Her Well.

She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning and skipping off down the street to her first day at school.

And never again will she be completely mine...

Prim and proud, she'll wave a young and independent hand this morning, and say goodbye and walk with little-lady steps to the nearby schoolhouse...

Gone will be the chattering little hoyden who lived only for play, and gone will be the delightful little gamin who roamed the yard like a proud princess with nary a care in her little world.

Now, she will learn to stand in lines...and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called...

She will learn to tune her little-girl ears for the sound of school bells, and for deadlines...

She will learn to giggle and gossip... and to look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy across the aisle sticks out his tongue.

Now she will learn to be jealous...and now she will learn how it is to feel hurt inside...and now she will learn how not to cry.  No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch while an ant scurries across a crack in the sidewalk...

Or will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn to kiss lilac blossoms in the morning dew.  Now she will worry about important things...like grades...and what dresses to wear...and whose best friend is whose. Now she will worry about the little boy who pulls her hair at recess time... and staying after school...and which little girls like which little boys...And the magic of books and knowledge will soon take the place of the magic of her blocks and dolls. 

And she'll find her new heroes.  For five full years I've been her sage and Santa Claus...her pal and playmate...her parent and friend.  Now, alas, she'll learn to share her worship and adoration with her teachers (which is only right).

No longer will her parents be the smartest, and greatest in the world. Today, when the first school bell rings, she'll learn how it is to be a member of the group...with all its privileges, and, of course, its disadvantages, too. 

She'll learn in time that proper young ladies don't laugh out loud...or keep frogs in pickle jars in bedrooms...or watch ants scurry across the cracks in a summer sidewalk...

Today, she'll begin to learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends. That "the group" can be a demanding mistress... and I'll stand on the porch and watch her start out on the long, long journey to becoming a woman.

So WORLD, I BEQUEATH TO YOU TODAY ONE LITTLE GIRL in a crispy dress, with two blue eyes, a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a batch of light red hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.

I TRUST YOU'LL TREAT HER WELL.