Introducing...

Dallin Earl Shepherd

Born Monday, May 3, 2010

7 lbs. 3 oz., 20 1/2 in. long

Sienna, Colby, and Ashley are happy to have him here.  (Ashley really is happy, she's just sporting her usual stoic camera face.)

Of course so are Mom, Dad, and Grandma.

Mom and Dallin are home and recovering nicely.  Dallin seems in perfect health for which we are very grateful.  We're glad he didn't come a day or two earlier during the Nashville downpour that caused historic flooding.  It would have made it a lot harder to get to the hospital!

March picture highlights

Besides birthdays, here's a glimpse of what we've been up to in March.

Colby has been building blanket forts.

 

Sienna's been climbing trees.

 

The kids have been out riding bikes.

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with green oatmeal, green eggs, and green milk.

Bryan took a work trip to Barcelona, Spain.

Ashley's been potty training.

And I'm getting bigger by the day.

Happy Birthday Colby!

Four years ago this little cutie joined our family.

Happy Birthday Colby!  Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd were here to celebrate with us.  We took advantage of wonderful weather and headed to the zoo.  His big birthday gift was a soccer goal, which he loves. 

 

Look who's 6!

Six years ago we brought home this tiny girl.

We celebrated Sienna's 6th birthday on Monday.  Unfortunately she woke up feeling sick and spent much of the afternoon like this:

She perked up a bit when the festivities started: dancing to her song ("Brown-eyed girl"), spanking machine, getting measured on the wall, opening presents, handprint on the birthday tablecloth, and cake & ice cream.

Sienna requested a Strawberry Shortcake Cake (as in the character, not the typical dessert).  A Strawberry Shortcake hat was as close as I could get.

Speaking of 6 years...
Ashley has been potty training and is now in underwear during the day.  It has been 6 years since I haven't had to regularly change diapers.  And I'll have about a month to enjoy it before #4 arrives!

Artists in the making

Anyone who knows Sienna knows she loves arts and crafts.  She can spend hours at her desk coloring, cutting and drawing.  This month one of her pieces of school artwork was selected among 12 from her school (2 per grade) to be shown at the Williamson County School's Art Show.  It was held at Nashville's Frist Art Museum.  She definitely gets her artistic talents from her Dad.  Although I'm pretty good at stick figures! 

Here is a link to her artwork.
And here she is at the Art Show.

Funny how a simple drawing can sure make a momma proud.

A few other recent crafts:
A doll, bed, and quilt for Ashley's birthday:

Paper earrings for us all:

Colby is not far behind.  He will also sit forever and draw cars, butterflies, boats, and curious looking people.  And lately he's been using reams of tape for anything and everything.  Gotta love his "smile" in the picture above.

Highlights from February

Valentines Day.  Although Bryan and I did enjoy a date over the Valentines weekend, Sienna probably got the biggest kick out of the holiday.  She made Valentines galore and planned a Valentine party for us at home, after having so much fun at her school party.  She had everyone dress in red or pink, we all had paper hearts added to our clothes, and everyone exchanged Valentines.

Injury.  Colby tried to do a running jump onto his chair and missed.... hitting the table with his lip.  It wasn't pretty, but it's healing nicely.

 

Snow days.  There have been several this season.  We spent one of them at the bowling alley.

 

Dancing.  Bryan went with Sienna to a Daddy-Daughter Dance at her school.  Sienna was so excited and was looking forward to it all week.  And Bryan was a good sport. 

 

 

A birthday.  Ashley turned 2!  We had a couple families over to help celebrate and eat cake and ice cream.

Cabin fever.  We headed out to Percy Warner Park for a little hike.  It was still kind of chilly but everyone was happy just to be outside.

 

Meet Little Bob

One of the greatest things about winter in Tennessee, is that when it snows, even a little, it's a BIG DEAL.  School gets canceled and everyone heads out to play.  We had our biggest "snowstorm" in seven years this weekend.  School was canceled Friday, Monday, and Tuesday, and we'll see about tomorrow.  There are very few snowplows in the city, and since the weather right now is a pattern of warming, melting, then freezing, it's too slick for the buses at 6 in the morning.  Church was even canceled on Sunday!  At first the snow was too icy for packing.  And by the next morning there was a thick layer of ice on top, such that Ashley could walk on top without breaking through.  Colby would break through about every other step, totally throwing off his balance.  Here's a glimpse of how we spent the weekend:

Meet "Little Bob" and his creators:

An evening "sled ride" around the yard.  Mush, Bryan, mush!

Sledding with other neighbors down a subdivision street the next morning:

Some people wish it would snow more often around here.  Not me!  Then it wouldn't be so exciting and fun!