Oh! WHAT A WEEK!

Well this last week was spring break! It was a MUCH NEEDED break from school! If you are not a teacher you can not possible understand why we need this! I loved being a home with the windows open and being able to be outside!
Ava was able to come stay with us for the week. We always enjoy having her come to Conroe. I know Jace was really excited to see her. Sorry I do not have more pictures but my mom took my camara to DC with her so this is all I have!

On monday we took all the kids to the park. It was such a beautful day...well a BEAUTIFUL WEEK!! Here is Ava waiting to go to the park, in her new big girl seat that we bought her. She was so excited! She just kept saying "It's beautiful and I love it so much!"


All of the cousins. Its so crazy how it went from 1 (which was so quite) to 4 (which is SO LOUD) in a YEAR!!!


Well we are now back to school and I have to admit I was happy to see all of my wonderful kids again! I did miss them! :) We don't have very long left of the school year yet so much more to do!! This time of year is always CRAZY BUSY!! Wish me luck!

30 minute meal

Well I am not one for trying new things mainly because my HUSBAND will not eat it!
But the other day a teacher I work with had this chicken pasta at lunch and it looked SO GOOD so I decided that I would try it. Now that Aimee is living with us she will try anything for me! Well it did turn out WONDERFUL and it was so easy! After a long day at work that is what we all need! It really took only 30 minutes..maybe less!

So here it is...try it if you would like but I HIGHLY recommend it!
oh...and I don't have measurements but you can just make it to taste!

Ingredients:
Linguine Pasta (or whatever type you like)
whipping cream (you can use light, or half and half to make it less fattening)
butter
Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Seasoning Blends ~ Poultry Magic (Its the green bottle)
Chicken (I used chicken breast cut into strips but you can use any boneless, skinless chicken)
Tomato's
Chives
olive oil (optional)

-boil pasta as usual.

Sauce
-mix that whipping cream, butter and seasoning in a sauce pan. Mix it to taste. (Use alot of seasoning!)

Chicken
-Cut chicken into strips
-Cover the chicken in the Paul Prudhomee's seasoning.
-Grill the chicken in the olive oil until cooked. (The original recipe said to do it in butter but I did it in olive oil instead!)

-cut up the tomato's and the chives to sprinkle on top of everything. ( I don't like chives so I didn't use that)

Put it all together and there you have it!!!



Let me know how you like it!

A weekend with Ava

Shane and I went to Dallas this weekend to see Ava. We get to see her every other weekend and its not nearly enough! She is growing and learning so much and is becoming LITTLE MISS INDEPENDENT yet has daddy rapped around her finger!! She loves to pick out her own clothes, her own bow's for her hair, and she even tells me how she wants me to do her hair! She is such a girly girl but doesn't mind getting a little dirty when she plays with her cousins. I love her smile and she just makes me melt when she hugs me and says "Lo, Lo, I love you!" I could not ask for a better step-daughter and can't wait to watch her grow into a young lady!

On Saturday, after a little shopping, we had lunch with our friends Sammy, Julie, and their kids. Shane and I always enjoy spending time with them and Hayden and Ava play so well together. Here is Hayden and Ava before we left.



We also had Sunday lunch with Shane's family before heading back home. Thank you Courtney for the WONDERFUL lunch!! It was delish!
Our time in Dallas always goes by too fast! I am ready for it to warm up so we can start doing things outside again!

Oh the Changes

Lately we have been making many changes to our house. Well just paint but it's amazing how much paint can change a room. Here are some pictures of the updates. Oh and of course I had to add one of Gavin!

Wedding video

I made this video for our wedding but I don't think it was ever played! ENJOY!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This is for Leslie

Since I have not blogged since Halloween I thought I would update on what has been going on.
In November we had Ava down the week of Thanksgiving. It's always so great when he gets to come to Conroe! Shane's mom, dad, and Granny came to spend Thanksgiving at our house. It was my first time to cook a turkey but I think it turned out very good! Oh and I was sick the whole time during the break! NOT FUN!
December came and went with a blur. I was so busy at work, we had LOTS of Christmas shopping to do, Aimee and Gavin moved in, we had a Dallas Christmas, a Zaragoza Christmas, our own little Christmas, Christmas with my family and then a Pimentel Christmas! And then there was New years. Our plans were to go to Dallas but Shane was sick so we didn't get to go.
Now in January, school started back for me, Shane finally got better,and he has been working on projects inside the house since it is too cold outside!
This is the bookshelf he is building and he is also painting for me! I will post more pictures when it is finished.
I had to add this picture of Gavin! We have really enjoyed having him and Aimee at our house. Gavin is getting so big! He loves to talk to smile. I'm not sure what I am going to do when they have to leave!!

Halloween.

Ok. So I'm not so good at blogging. I always have good intentions of doing it but it never happens...sorry.
Here are some pictures of Halloween. We were in Dallas with Ava. This was our first year to have her for Halloween so it was exciting for all of us. We spent the day shopping for a comforter for her big girl bed she now has at our house thanks to Nana Syliva! She LOVES IT. After that we went to Courtney and Randy's house to carve pumpkins and hang out until it was time to go. Here is the pumpkin Shane carved for Ava. She said she wanted an angry pumpkin.

Picture time!

Ready to go trick or treating. This picture cracks me up because it shows ALL of the personalities!

We went on a hay ride around a neighborhood with Shane's family and some of their friends. It was so fun!! And then a random lady asked if she could join us. She soon realized we were not her friends she was looking for but asked if she could still ride with us until she found them...good thing we are nice people!

Ava got LOTS of candy and had so much fun. She did get tired so for the last 30 minutes we got to ride inside the truck!

Other things going on....I have a new nephew! Gavin Brooks Pimentel was born on Nov 5Th! He is soooo cute! For those of you who don't know Jeremy (my brother) was supposed to be deployed to Afghanistan at the beginning of November and he was going to miss Gavin being born. Well God had other plans and J was able to stay a month longer!!! He, along with Aimee and Gavin, were also able to come down for a visit before he deploys Dec 1. We are all happy to spend more time with him before he goes and of course see baby Gavin. After he leaves Aimee and Gavin will come back to Conroe to stay with Shane and I. I am so trilled that Gavin will be here so we can watch him grow!!!

Since Thanksgiving is this week and I only have to work two days we decided to bring Ava to Conroe. I took off Friday and mom and I drove to get her. She has had so much fun playing with Jace and seeing Bren and Gavin. Shane's parents and Granny are coming in Wednesday for Thanksgiving and will take Ava back with them. So that means....This is MY FIRST THANKSGIVING TO HOST!!! I am a bit nervous about cooking a Turkey but I have been getting much advise from my wonderful daddy on what to do...I will let you know how it all turns out. I think I am going to make Shane and Ava practice with me like that target commercial! :)

I hope everyone has a ....

HAPPY THANKSGIVIGN!