Winter Jam

Our girls had never been to a concert before.  Last year when Hannah heard about Winter Jam on the radio she really wanted to go....but we had other things going on that day and we just couldn't make it.  Jesse and I told her that we would definitely try to make it the following year.  

Since Winter Jam fell right around her birthday this was her gift from us!

She invited Gracie and of course we had to take Allee and Annie!

So a GIRLS NIGHT it was!  Tammy and I loaded up and took the girls to Steak and Shake for dinner and then headed to Winter Jam!

I think they all ha a pretty good time :) 

Annie and Al

Ummmm....well....is ALL I can say :)

*Group 1 Crew!

Makes me smile

:)  Good Friends!

Watoto Choir Visited BMS

The Watoto Choir Kids came to BMS and preformed the other night!  We were asked almost a year ago if we would be interested in hosting a few kids!  YAY!!  What a fun opportunity!  The bummer is the day before the kids were going to be arriving...Emma tested positive for the flu :(  Sooo...plans had to change and my parents offered to let the kids stay at their house with Hannah and Allee!  Thanks Mrs. Tucker for organizing such a GREAT event for the Bolivar area!  We are excited to know that the Watoto Choir will be at our church in a few weeks!  So hopefully our WHOLE family will be able to see them again soon!

Hannah, Helen, Allee, and Grace after the performance

They are all such cute kids!

Hannah, Evelyn, Auntie Comfort, Allee, Helen, and Chase at Grandma and Papa's House

Fun Days at Home

Some of the best memories are just our days at home together!  I LOVE being home with my girls and watching them play together! 

 This picture shows our Emma's personality the best!  She loves being outside and playing in the dirt but she is also such a little princess!  Love it!

The 2 big girls and I decided to have a pampering time!  Emma was to freaked out by our faces to get hers done!  Enjoying the simple times :)

Steelers Game in KC

A good friend of ours was getting rid of her Steelers vs. Cheifs tickets.  Of course I knew I had a guy who would love to go! My plan was for Jes and his dad to go...but Jesse had a different idea.  Since I had never been to a pro football game he wanted me to go with him.  I was very anxious about going....but we had a good time.  But...I would much rather watch from home ;)

Camping Trip!

 We have wanted to go camping all summer but with the record breaking July temperatures we never were able to make it work.  It just so happened that the weekend before school was beginning was a PERFECT weekend to go!  So we loaded up and headed down to *Roaring River State Park.  It was a great place to camp with lots of things to do.  You could easily spend a week there!  Here are just a few pictures of what we were able to fit into our weekend trip :)

Mommy and The girls

Daddy with his girls

We were so proud of Emma for making the 1.5 mile hike 350 ft. up!
No complaining and she walked the whole way!!

Daddy and the girls in front of the natural spring.

SILLY FACES

Hannah caught her limit in trout!  The rest of us only caught 1 :)

Little Sis and Big Sis

Big Sis and Middle Sis ;)

Alright...funny story with this one!  As you can tell from several of our pictures Emma is going through the "FAKE" smile phase, so the big girls were all trying to make their best "Emma Smile"!  

BLIZZARD IN M*ISSOURI?

Blizzard in M*issouri? If someone said "Hey we have a BLIZZARD WARNING"... I normally would have thought they were a little cRaZy!! But really last Monday afternoon the weather radio was flashing "BLIZZARD WARNING"! Tuesday it snowed hard almost all day! It was absolutely beautiful! A lot of people in our community were not able to get out of their driveways! We closed the store and enjoyed Tuesday and Wednesday at home together! Thursday morning my dad came and plowed us out!! WOW the snow was so DEEP!! Here are a few of the pictures! The main highways even stayed snow covered until Saturday!

One of Jesse and my favorite memories of the snow this year...Sitting at our table in front of the big picture window drinking coffee with all the lights out in the house where all we could see was the snow falling outside! SO PEACEFUL!!

Amazing to think that each little snowflake is so very much different...just like people! Hope you were able to stay warm and capture some precious memories of your own!

The 4x4 Tractor stuck in our backyard! Our Home sitting in the trees! Here is a picture of the pond just below our house!

Aunt Brenda We Miss You!!

Aunt Brenda was here for a couple of weeks from PA! We enjoyed every minute we got to spend with her and wished her stay was longer! The girls have already been asking when she is coming back :) Aunt Brenda is Papa Chuck's sister and we are thankful that they are both part of our family! Thanks Aunt Brenda for loving us!

Summer Is Coming To An End... :(

WOW!! It hit me last night that my girls will be starting back to school in about a week! Where in the world has our summer gone? Every spring when the school year comes to an end I think, "We are going to have such a relaxing summer, we really don't have much to do." Then, our schedule starts feeling up and before we know it our summer vacation is almost over and it is time to start thinking about the fall! This is the point that I am at now!!! Hannah will be starting 7th grade! (For some reason 7th grade sounds sooo much older than 6th grade to me!) I saw one of my friend's moms, that I grew up with, at Walmart. She said, "that she and one of our other friends had been talking and that she thought that Christy (me) was going to have a teenager." WHAT A TEENAGER???...It hit me like a ton of bricks! The wierd thing is that when she was telling me this I didn't feel like it had been that long ago that I was at her house for sleepovers... I still have vivid memories of being at her house, exactly what her daughter's room looked like and the onry things that we did together! So here we go starting a new journey with Hannah who is becoming a Teenager....We will embrace every minute because Hannah is such a special girl and we couldn't be prouder of her :) Allee is switching schools this year, as she enters 3rd grade! She found out Friday who her teacher will be this year. We have heard that she is young and bubbly which is a great fit for Allee. Allee is super EXCITED to have 2 of her friends in her classroom this year! We are soooo excited for the switch and I think she is going to love BIS. The only problem that I think we are going to have is that she won't be able to go by her 1st grade teacher's room every morning anymore! Allee loved to start her day with a big hug from Miss Hoover, or Mrs. Mark I guess I should say! I'm afraid I will have to call Adrienne some day to let her know that Allee might be having a bad day and that she needs her to come to BIS and give her a hug:) Emma is starting Kindergarten this year! Most of you don't know but Emma and I are starting a new journey together this fall! We are homeschooling Emma. At least for now... We are going to take it a year at a time and see when we feel like God tells us that she is ready to be put in a regular school classroom. Emma is a bright little girl but emotionally we just don't feel like she is ready for public school! The big girls have even told us to homeschool her! So, here we go on this new adventure... We are very excited to see where it will lead us!

WE ARE THE TRUE FAMILY CIRCUS!!

So our morning started out something like this... I woke up late to get ready for work. So I am rushing around and trying to get everyone ready to get out the door on time and then my phone rings at 8:10. Jesse called to see how quick the girls and I could be in town to meet him for breakfast at Brenda's before work. Oh course I say, Uhhh...I can probably be out of here in 20 minutes. LOL... I had just got out of the shower and was bound determined that we could make it work. We never get to go out for breakfast together and it was too fun of an idea to pass up!! So we made it out the door by 8:30 and headed to town. As we were driving down the road Hannah says, "Hey, Mom what does that hole go to?" WHAT HOLE? Our sweet little kitten decided to crawl up a hole in the front of our van that I have now learned goes into our dash board...I guess all vehicles have them! (I know I have never looked that close!) So I am still driving through town to meet Jesse, the cat is now in our dash, all 3 girls are crying, and of course I am on the verge of tears myself. WHAT DO I DO??? We get to Brenda's and I send the girls on inside to meet Jesse. I open the hood on my van and tried looking up in the hole that she climbed in. I didn't want to go inside because as far as I knew she could climb out of our van through the front where the engine is and then she would get ran over by another vehicle!!!! Jesse came out of Brenda's and looked around and said just come inside and she will eventually come out. We headed back in and Allee is still crying because she was thinking of all the bad things that could happen (she gets that from me). Jesse is telling her not to cry "The cat will be fine." We eat as fast as we can because keep in mind I have to be at work at 9:00. So the girls and I load back up into the van to head to work WITH THE KITTEN IN OUR DASH!!! Jesse told me to keep the fan off until we get her out! We get to the shop and still NO KITTEN!! Allee is still crying, I am starting to cry. Keep in mind it is almost 90 degrees outside! Allee calls Poppy to the rescue! Poppy and Mr. Jim came to our work and tried to see if they could reach up in the HOLE to get her out. By this time she really isn't making much noise. NO LUCK!! Poppy tells the girls to just leave her food and water in the floor board. Of course I am thinking...She is going to cook in there! What if she is stuck and can't get out?...All these things are running through my head! The girls go out to the van every 5 minutes to see if she is out yet...STILL NO KITTEN!!! I was talking to Grandma (my mom) on the phone and she called her friend that has a Auto body shop here in town. They were going to come to the store to help get the kitten out! As they were getting ready to come...(around 10:00) I went out to see if I could at least hear her! I listened real close and could hear a faint meow and a little scratching...Good News at least she is still alive! I looked up in the hole and could see the little stink! I reached up in there and grabbed her! WE HAVE THE KITTEN!! The girls went into excited CHEERING...WE HAVE THE KITTEN!! I called my mom back and told her to call her friend back. Yep!! I have defiantly decided we are truly The Family Circus! Who wants to come and spend a day with us! I will guarantee you will have plenty of entertainment!

Grandma and Papa Time!

The girls have been getting quite a bit of extra Grandma and Papa time while we have been working on the house! They come over to our new house every night that they are free and say "We want to rescue the girls tonight." You can imagine the girls EXCITEMENT!! Grandma took the girls to Walmart last night and bought them some yarn to teach them how to croche! They are having a BLAST!! The have the chain down and Grandma said she is going to teach them the single stitch today! They built a sand area at their house too...so between that and snuggling with Papa and watching movies, Emma has plenty to do too!

WORLD CUP!!

Well, our family has really been into the World Cup this year! We've all filled out our brakets too...so far I think all of us have got most of it wrong!! Oh well, it is still lots of fun to follow it together! With Hannah and Allee both playing soccer it is so fun to see them get so excited while they are watching the games! They decided to go ALL OUT on Saturday when USA played! GO USA!! Hope you enjoy the picture!

The New Addition to Our Family

Well in the pink blanket is our sweet little kitty!

We got the sweet little thing on Saturday. After daddy gave the girls the ok we went and picked her up! They have named her Boo (Like the little girl on Monsters Inc.)

We have been taking her every where with us. We even went to WalMart last night and Hannah put Boo in her purse:) It is AMAZING how the little things in life make the best memories!

Hope all of you are enjoying your day!

SCHOOL IS OUT FOR THE SUMMER!

WOW!! Summer is finally here! My girls are out of school and we don't have any big plans this summer except for working on our house, going to church camp and spending lots of time together! AWESOME!! We were so ready for this school year to come to an end!! I will admit that I am one of those parents that you see crying the first day of school every year! Jesse thinks I should just schedule that day off of work! Sorry, I just can't help it! I love being with my girls! When they are gone I feel like a little piece of me is gone! But, when we all get back together at the end of the day I feel complete again! We now officially have a 7th grader (um did I just say that???), 3rd grader, and a Kindergartener!! Our girls definately made us proud again this year with their school work! Hannah had another great year with straight A's. Allee did amazing and is excited to start getting letter grades and percentages next year! Hannah is a great role model and Allee wants to be like her sister and get good grades! Hannah went on an end of the year Student Council Trip today. The other 6th grade representative didn't show up for the bus. I will confess that I offered to drive to Branson and get her (LOL)! But...Hannah texted me and said that some of the 8th grade girls asked her to be in their group today and she was going to be alright! I've been praying for her all morning! They all seem to be good kids but this is the first time that she has went somewhere like that without me...I always go on their school field trips! I love watching my girls grow but it also breaks my heart! My little caterpillars are turning into such beautiful butterflies!

RAIN!

Well, we have had a very nice restful weekend that was well accepted! We had rain in the forecast everyday since Thursday. So, no soccer practice Friday and no soccer games Saturday. Now, Jesse and I love going to the girls games and watching them but we also love the time at home and it seems like these "free" weekends are very few and far in between. However, the rain also meant not much done on our house last week. The forecast looks pretty good for the first of this week so I think we should be able to get our basement floor poured. Hope you all have a great week!

Well What Can I Say...It is now March!!!

Well all I can say is WHAT...It is March??? Well I started this post thinking I would try to post something fairly often but is has been 3 short months since the last post! LOL!! Hannah is entering her 4th quarter in 6th grade and has continued with a straight A record. Jesse and I are so proud of her for her dedication to her school work! She takes her grades very serious and personal! She is still playing soccer almost every weekend in Springfield and having a great time! We will be celebrating her 12th birthday on the 25th! I can't believe that my precious little Hannah is turning 12!! God is so good and continues to guide her life! I know that I am learning a lot from her and she even helps me keep my character in check! Allee is also entering her 4th quarter in 2nd grade and has continued to learn and grow in her school work. She also takes her school work serious! She has been playing basketball this winter and has started her spring soccer practices! Allee loves running and playing sports! She gets so excited to go to practices and games! Allee has grown a lot this year physically and spiritually! She has been talking to us about baptism! We feel like God is starting to put convictions into her precious little heart! What an AWESOME feeling it is when your kids make this decision! Emma is still in preschool and doing well! Emma has a totally different personality than our other girls! Emma is pretty shy around people she is not familiar with and it takes her a little bit to warm up! I took her to a birthday party for a couple of her friends yesterday (and didn't take the older girls on purpose). An hour into it she still had not got to far away from me. She kept saying "I want to go home. I want my girls." After she said this to me enough times we headed on home! There were so many other kids there that the poor girl felt very overwhelmed! As I buckled her in the van she says, "I don't like Birthday parties." However, it does make me SMILE knowing that she loves her sisters that much! Our baby girl is turning 5 on the 30th and that is another hard one to believe! Jesse and I are doing great! We love our free evenings and weekends from running though they come very few and far in between! We have friends with older kids that tell us to enjoy every minute because they are gone before you know it! We are ready to start building our new house together! As soon as the weather warms up and stays there we should be able to get started! We Thank God for such AWESOME girls and for each other!

CRAZY BUSY and ENJOYING EVERY MINUTE

Well I can't believe it has been over a month since the last time I posted! So sorry about that! Life at the Sheppeck house can seem to get pretty crazy! Since the last post we had Thanksgiving which we shared with my family at my Granny's house and then we headed over to Papa Chuck's house for dinner! We had a wonderful time visiting with all of our family! However, we all missed Uncle Jason at Papa Chuck's! We are hopeful that he will be able to make it back to Missouri around Christmas time for a nice visit! Hannah started her indoor soccer games last weekend! They won both games so that was pretty exciting! Our children's choir at church will have their Christmas Program this coming Sunday! Then Hannah and Allee both have Christmas Concerts for school next week! Emma is also having a Christmas program next Thursday! Allee has started practicing basketball getting ready for games to start in January! Lots of fun events happening around our house! Cute story about Hannah ~ So she went to K-Life a couple weeks ago and comes home telling me that her leaders told their group that they should talk to God like he is their best friend since he is. So we sat down for dinner the next night and she says, "I think I am going to try talking to God like they said that I should." She starts in praying and says, "Hey God! It's me!" I thought it was so cute! I hope that she continues to talk to God often as she grows! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Season!

Uncle Jason Visit

After Allee's basketball practice last night Uncle Jason came over with Papa Chuck for a quick visit! Unfourtanetly, he wasn't able to stay in town very long this time but the girls were so HAPPY to at least get a little playtime and snuggle time with him! Our girls enjoy every moment that they get to spend with Jason! He is such an AWESOME Uncle! After a little bit of Bucking Bronco riding on his back they snuggled down together and watched America's Funniest Home Videos! Since Jason has moved to Kentucky his visits are not as often as they were when he lived in St. Louis but our girls always look forward to his next visit! We are so thankful for the time he gives us and pray that maybe someday he will be able to move closer!

"Camping Weekend"

Well we were suppose to go camping this past weekend with some of our great friends but with the temperatures being around 28 as our lows we figured that it wouldn't be such a great idea! So we improvised and had a "Camping In Weekend" together! We hated to let our kids down as they had been looking forward to our camping weekend for weeks! So Friday we went on a hike up by Pomme De Terre Lake and then had dinner at a little local restaurant by the Lake. As we walked in everyone stopped and stared...we aren't for sure if it was because 4 Adults and 7 Kids entered or if it was because we weren't "Locals". The food was Great though! Saturday we took the whole crew to Rutledge Pumpkin Patch in Springfield! What an AWESOME place! Corn Mazes, pumpkins, petting zoo, and a great playground! After the trip to the pumpkin patch we went back to the vanHoornbeek's home and fixed Wild Turkey wrapped in bacon!! Every time Jesse and I make these we enjoy every bite! I even think the vanHoornbeeks enjoyed the wild turkey. Sunday we enjoyed a great message at Freshwater Church here in Bolivar and wrapped up our weekend with lunch of all the wonderful leftovers from the weekend! Now this morning when we woke up I wondered why we couldn't just stay in bed longer! Thanks vanHoornbeeks for a wonderful weekend with great friends and lots of AWESOME memories!

Fun Weekend

Well with all the rain that we had last week we got the weekend off of soccer. So, Saturday morning the girls and I got the house cleaned and then I got into my Keepsake Chest and got my old prom dresses out for them to play with. They had a blast and was content all afternoon! It was a hoot watching them playing like they were getting married and changing dresses! So, so Fun!! Then Saturday evening Jesse and I had our "Date Night" we enjoyed dinner together at TGI Fridays and then went to Home Depot to get some ideas for our house that we are planning to start building in the spring! Sunday the girls and I went to Silver Dollar City with my mom, dad, Chase and Grace (my brother's kids). It was a great time! It definatley felt like Fall yesterday! It was actually pretty cold! We all wore our heavy coats and I was still chilly! But the cider, smells, and sounds of Silver Dollar City in the Fall made it all worth while! I'll try to get some pictures up as soon as I get home to the camera! Last night we were at church while Hannah and Allee were practicing for the Christmas Program Emma and I were working the sound booth cause the boys who normally work it were sick. So on our way home the girls called to Thank my dad for such a great day at Silver Dollar City and Emma gets on the phone and says, "Papa me and mommy worked in the Caboose tonight at church." CRACK ME UP!!! The big girls and I started laughing and we said, "not the Caboose Emmie. We worked in the Sound Booth." They are such funny girls!

Proud Parents

Well today was a pretty normal day! It has been raining here since last night and isn't suppose to let up much until tomorrow afternoon. What a great fall we are having!! I love the cooler temperatures. Hannah got the evening off of soccer practice tonight and was able to go to K-Life. She said they studied the way man looks at people and the way God looks at people. She is such an amazing girl. We can talk to her like we talk to an adult friend. Allee was so excited because she brought home a letter from her school counselor today wanting to test her for the gifted program. What a great accomplishment for her. We are so proud of her for working so hard at her school work. Emma spent the morning at preschool and then spent the afternoon with Poppie John at Bolivar Sheet Metal. Between Beyond Blossoms and Bolivar Sheet Metal she is going to know how to run a business! God has turely blessed us with such AWESOME girls. They are each so unique but also so many similarities. We are so thankful for everyday that we get to spend with them and pray for many more.