Thursday, October 19, 2006

What I have learned...

Tonight I tried something new that I normally don't do...I took a random picture for no real reason, except that I liked what I saw.  I was looking out my kitchen window, after what was a rather yucky day, weather wise, and saw this... and I had to

 

 

 

 

 

take some pictures.  I have been taking a photography class and like to feel like I have learned a few things in class and I wanted to play with some settings on my camera and see what kind of results I could get....well this is what I came up with from my patio.  I was pretty pleased!  :)

Now if I can just learn a little more about Photoshop and how to tweak the many, many, many pictures I have saved on my hard drive!  :)

Only one more day of school left this week.  Today was Hat/camo day and of course Mallory dressed for the part.   She didn't have any camo to wear, but she did borrow one of her daddy's hats to wear.  She doesn't look too thrilled to get her picture made...does she?  Hmm...might have something to do with the time of morning?  :)

Tomorrow is school spirit day!  That will be easy and fun too.  I think they are having a pep rally right before school let's out for the day.  Nothing like that....get the kids all excited and hyper....and then let them go home to their parents!  Don't you love it! 

We will be off to Indiana after Mallory gets home tomorrow for a few days to visit with family.  The girls are excited to see the grandparents! 



Family is so important...

We went to Memphis this past Saturday to meet up with my grandparents, Pap and Gram.   Mallory and Kennedy could hardly wait to get there and see them and they hated to leave!  They always hate to leave them and it makes me so sad when we have to leave!  I am so glad that they love being with them and that they are having the same opportunity that I had growing up...of getting to know these wonderful people and getting to spend time with them while they are young.  Even though they don't know it now...someday they will realize how blessed they truly are to know their "Pap and Gram" and to have got to make some wonderful memories with them to carry all throughout their lives!

Pap and Gram were driving down to Memphis from Indiana to attend the Spiritual Sword Lectureships at Getwell.  So we decided to drive over and meet up with them since it is only a short drive for us over to Memphis.  We got there on Saturday afternoon and spent the night and then went to church with them on Sunday. Saturday night we all went to Olive Garden and ate supper!  Yummy!  I love that place, but we hardly ever go unless we are with Pap and Gram because nobody in my little crew really cares for it but me. 

Of course, it would not be right if the kids didn't get a surprise when we arrived.....I guess.  Or at least that is what the "grandparents" must think....because they are always getting them something.  I knew ahead of time that they were getting something for them since I had already been asked if they liked this...or do you think they will like that???  LOL  The answer is YES!  Anything you give my kids they will like....they just like surprises!  Mallory got her first dose of American Girl stuff...and I have a strong feeling that this won't be the last of it either.  She is in love with American Girl now!!!  Of course, the one she got was Molly....which is her nickname that my grandparents call her and she just giggles every time she tells someone about that!

Kennedy has been begging for a Doodle something...it didn't matter what...just something.  Mallory had a Doodle pet and doll and Kennedy has been whining for one too...so I dropped that bug.  Well...low and behold...what do you think showed up in Memphis???   That is right!  A Doodle Bear....and I think it was the deluxe edition...whatever that means! :)  She loves it and is loving the fact that now she has one too!  How cool is that? 

And of course it wouldn't be complete if Parker didn't get something .... right?  WRONG!  He is five months old!  He doesn't know the difference!  LOL!  But anyhow....they did!  So he came home with a toy too and I had to find a place to put it....but I will have to admit that he has been entertained by it when I show it to him and seems to like the little rings that are on it!  :)

As you can tell, we all had a great time and the kids were so loving seeing Pap and Gram! What is so funny is that we are leaving tomorrow to meet them back up in Indiana and stay several days with them.  My parents flew into Indianapolis last night from Houston, Texas and so we are driving the 6 hours to my grandparents house to visit instead of the 14 hours to Houston to visit!  This will be the first time that my parents have gotten to see Parker and they haven't seen the girls since last October...so it will be a great trip and so good to get to see them again!

I said all this to say that family truly is so important.  I hope that I am instilling this in my children and teaching them to connect and stay close to their roots!  I am so glad that they are having the opportunity to grow up knowing their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  I always loved visiting and being around extended family when I was growing up.  It was always something I looked forward to and enjoyed and I want them to feel the same!  Can't wait till this weekend!



Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Catchin' y'all up...

Well, as promised I am going to attempt to give a recap of the week from last week and fill you in to what fun we had and how busy we really were.....I will try to be brief...but that probably won't be possible...I mean come on...I have three kids and you know how I like to talk about them.

Monday-Wednesday Mallory was out of school on Fall break so we tried to cram a lot in during those days!  Monday was one of those stay at home and watch cartoon days, relax, chill with Mama, play....do whatever days....but then Tuesday....well that was a little different.  Tuesday started off pretty boring but by 10am we were throwing on clothes trying to get ready to head to Meridianville to go to Tate Farms with my friend Telah and her three kiddos.  We were getting ready...not exactly sure if she was going to be able to swing it because she was waiting on the "refrigerator guy"...you can read more about that on her blog.  :)  But thankfully it all worked out and we got to go...so I loaded up and headed that way.  The one disadvantage that we were at to begin with is that Tate Farms doesn't open to the public until 2pm.  Yuck!  Which means that it messed up the afternoon schedule...not that Kennedy naps any longer...I couldn't be so lucky!  However, our husbands come home around 5pm and at times do expect us to be home and have supper ready....imagine that????  :)  But anyhow....we went and had a blast!  My kids did not want to leave and I promised that we would go back and I intend to keep that promise, because I had a blast too!  That place is awesome and has grown so much since the last time I went!  WOW is all I can say!  I have put in a couple of my favorite pictures from the day here ....but then I put a bunch in a photo album on the left hand side of the webpage that you can view...there are just so many good ones from that day.    

Of course that night we have a home cooked meal and everything went smoothly     and .... yeah right!

Ok, now here is the part where you are going to call me CRAZY!!!  So we survived Tuesday and then woke up to more fun on Wednesday!  I had already planned with my good buddy Melissa to go do some fun stuff with her that morning after her dentist appt. in Decatur.  So to put this in a nutshell,    we ended up going to visit with himself at his house.  We spent a couple of hours there with Melissa and her twin girls, Jolie  and Jessie .   They all had a blast!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Now to top it all off when we left here we had to head straight to the beauty shop to get haircuts.  So off we went!  While we were there, I called and managed to get a sick visit to the Drs. office for Parker.  I needed to take him and see what the problem was...something wasn't right and he has seemed sort of fussy.  Boy, am I glad that I did! 

He ended up with a ear infections in both ears and started on an antibiotic and some Dimetapp.  He had been cranky and I knew he didn't feel well.  My first and biggest clue was when he wasn't eating well....lol...anyone that has seen my boy and knows us knows that if Parker  is not eating well .... then there is a problem!  Well, so we got that taken care of and now we are on the road to recovery. 

So basically that is what we did during Fall Break...I know it seems crazy...and most parents would probably think I was for tackling Tate Farms and Chuck E. Cheese within a two day period...believe me...I thought about it too...but we had fun and in the end that is what matters the most!  School started back on Thursday and we stayed home for a couple of days...only to head to Memphis on Saturday to see Pap and Gram...more on that later tonight!



Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Tomato Pie

Submitted to me by Betty Pritchard

Tomato Pie
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1 refrigerated pie crust
2-3 tomatoes, sliced
Fresh basil leaves, torn
Shredded mozzarella
Prepare refrigerated pie crust.  Keep cold until time to put it in the oven. 
Mix 1/2 cup mayo with 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese.  Spread that on the bottom of a pie crust.  Slice tomatoes (probably 2-3 per pie) and layer them on top of the cheese mixture, sprinkle with a little salt, pepper, fresh torn basil (or about 1/2 tsp dried) and top with more shredded mozzarella.  Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or so, just until the tomatoes are bubbly and the cheese and crust are browned. 
NOTE: You could also add a little crumbled bacon in with the tomatoes.



I need suggestions and FAST!!!

This week is homecoming week....ok.... I can handle that....Here is a partial schedule for the week:

Monday:  Pajama and Wacky Hair Day

Tuesday: Twin Day

Wednesday:  80's Day

What am I gonna do for that?  Of course Mallory want to dress up or participate...she has no clue what it means and I have tried to explain it to her .....but that is besides the point....she wants to dress up for 80's Day...

Any suggestions?  I can barely remember what today is let alone try to figure out what I was wearing or what was popular in the eighties???  Please help to jog my memory and send some suggestions my way of what I could throw together for her to wear to school tomorrow!  Thanks!



Wondering???

I have been working on trying to improve the looks and the content of the website today.  It has been raining here and yucky...a really good day to be inside...so I decided to tackle some things that have been on my to do list.  I am working on trying to get my "Category Cloud" up and running ... so you may see many new posts over the next few days....this is mainly because I don't know any other way to do it yet but to post to the main page in order to get them into the categories I want also....so that is just the way it has to be for now.  Anyway, I am adding a category cloud and hopefully a couple of tribute pages.....some new links.....and a few new things.  Sorry if things have been messy or looking sort of freaky....hopefully I will get things back in order this evening.  Thanks for your patience!  Have a great afternoon!



Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.



 

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