cheesecake

S got very hungry driving back from Houston and I had nothing to feed her. She really wanted D's chocolate chip cookie so D shared with her. That wasn't enough for S so I pulled over to the next available place (you know what it is like with a screaming-at-the-top-of-their-lungs baby.) That place happened to be Jack-in-the-Box and the only thing I could think she could have without choking was a slice of cheesecake. S enjoyed it very much. D was a great helper and feed S about half of it but S kept biting D so I finally said "just give her the rest and let her feed herself." S was perfectly fine with this. About 10 minutes later both kids fell asleep for the remainder of the trip. When I got home and finally saw S, this is the mess I was greeted with:

She was completely happy though. It was funny.

Texas Renaissance Festival

really cool swing

D was in heaven - fairies, fairies everywhere.

SANTA!! So glad we ran into him here instead of having to go to the mall this year.

The gnome creeped me out - I didn't expect D to hug him but she had no problem with him . . .

The fest was REALLY cool. We had a good time and, of course, spent a fortune.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours - - - Yummmm - pie - - - my mom:

My MIL & T's cousin, G.

T's aunt MA

G again
D

My love, T

Neighbor S

My FIL

T & my mom feeding S her 1st bites of pie.

One of the funniest things this day was at dinner when T was theorizing that infants cannot taste tartness. He then fed her a little cranberry and said "see." About 5 seconds later S gives this little shiver then gags and tries to spit it out. Poor thing...I don't like cranberries either.

great weekend

We had a great weekend. In summary:

• Saturday afternoon I went to a Holiday Tea hosted by my friend, Lisa's church. It was very inspirational.
• Saturday evening Trey and I had Date Night with dinner at Moonshine Grill and then concert at Emo's. We went to see Delta Spirit, who you may recall my mentioning from their performance at ACL Fest this summer. We talked to the lead singer for a bit before the group went on. We also got their newest CD.
• Sunday we went to church and D stayed afterwards to do some fun things with the youth group.
• Sunday afternoon we all drove down to San Marcos to watch cousin, Kristi's teams cheer in their cheerleading competition. Both teams did well and got bids to Nationals. Yea, Kristi!
• On the way home we stopped at the gigantic Cabella's

It was a fun weekend. :-)

recent photos

This is my pink dress from when I was a baby. My mom has a pro portrait of me in this dress. I also have a photo of D in this dress. adores her Daddy
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yummmmmm. "Dad is great; he gives us chocolate cake."
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Every grade for D's school gave some type of program in honor of Veteran's Day. D's grad sang "This Land is Your Land." Contrary to how it appears here, D actually enjoyed singing the song.
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me rocking the girls to sleep. Doubt I'll be able to hold them both at the same time much longer...
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Look at D swim!!! This last session of swim lessons has been awesome. D would barely go under water and now it is no problem. She has improved soooo much. Her teacher was new to the school but I think the best teacher she's had.

so proud. ---------------------------------------

"Hey! Look at what I did - I tipped it on its side!"

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Fall soccer end-of-season party at the bowling alley.

cool trophies with balls that spin
S just couldn't stay awake...
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Neighbor friend had school play last night. A was Cavegirl in the beginning of play. The chorus was sitting on the side in front of the stage. When they stood up one poor girl hit her head on the fire alarm and set it off. The poor kids didn't know if they should continue or leave the building. It was so funny.

D brought flowers for A. We enjoyed the play; it was a musical about the history of Rock n Roll.
A changed into surfer girl for the Frankie & Annette part of the play. Then Elvisssss came on stage.

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Yes, we continue to be busy. I've wasted enough time on the computer this morning. Guess I need to get housework done. Happy weekend!

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. . . this way and that way and this way and that way . . .

Yesterday was one of those days when both T & I zig-zagged all over town and passed each other only briefly. It started Monday night when I was petting Izzy (short for "Isaboy" when gender was discovered after original naming of "Isabella") and found two big holes and a smaller one in his right side. Once we cleaned off we could tell was definitely a bite mark. It looks a lot like the bites Sadie has given Daisy but the vet couldn't say that it was definitely a Sadie-bite. We would be extremely shocked because Sadie LOOOOOVES the cats. Sadie GROOMS them -- seriously. (It is one of the weirdest things.)
So, yesterday morning I took Izzy to the vet while Trey dropped D off at school. I noticed a stray dog (male pit bull puppy) hanging around in the morning. By early evening the dog was still hanging around and one of the neighbors separated and held the pup when it jumped on another dog on a walk with the owner. Another neighbor said they've seen and feed the pup for two days. I then decided to take the dog to the Humane Society but did not want to take him in the car with the kids. Trey got home and took the kids to get some food then D went to the neighbors. I went first to the closest SPCA, who told me I had to take the pup to Town Lake (hated doing that but what else to do?) Trey had taken S to a church meeting with him so I stopped by the church on the way home to do the switch. Had to stop at the pharmacy to pick up Rx (will NEVER recommend Wal-Mart Rx to anyone - took TWO DAYS and MANY PHONE CALLS to get filled) then over to neighbors to pick up D then finally home.
So, long day - started at 6:30 and went to 9:30. Busy, busy, busy.

mmmm...prunes, mashed peas

mmmm...prunes, mashed peas but YUCK on pears. S has been started on solid baby food and likes oatmeal, grits, prunes, mashed peas and butternut squash baby food. She is ok with rice cereal but absolutely hates pear baby food! So surprising since it is so sweet. S also likes some little cracker-like things called Baby Mum-mums that my SIL introduced me to.

D has been pretty good with her Halloween candy. One of the dogs got into the stash the other day and the full-sized Snickers is now GOOOOOONNNNNNEEEEE! oh well.

It has gotten WINDY and chilly here. Possibly getting into low 30s tonight. Amazing Texas weather...

Caswell lunch

Today my mom and I went to lunch at the Caswell House. It was the 25th anniversary of their Christmas lunch. The house was decorated so beautifully, as usual. Our lunch was green salad, a slice of Mexican beef casserole and a slice of green chile casserole with rice and beans. The dessert was a gingerbread (or pumpkin) cake milk chocolate truffle and a red velvet cake white chocolate truffle. It was lovely.

owwww, my head hurts...

Just got back from lunch w/ D...who knew 1st graders could ask so many questions?

our easy dinners

One of the best book purchases T ever made was this cookbook called How to Cook Without a Book by Pam Anderson. To the advanced cook I am sure it is very simple, but to me it breaks down how to do simple things (like how to saute) that other cookbooks tend to assume you know how to do. It is also filled with simple sauce recipes that we tend to use on sauted chicken breasts. The sauces always follow a simple formula--

1. measure pan sauce ingredients in a measuring cup (liquid always totals 1/2 cup).
2. pour liquid into hot skillet once meat has been removed.
3. reduce liquid to 1/4 cup
4. Tilt the skillet and whisk in butter or cream, and spoon over each portion.

Last night I made the Chicken with Lemon-Caper Pan Sauce. It's 6 TB chicken broth, 2 TB lemon juice, 2 tsp capers and 1 TB butter. I served with mustard greens and mashed potatoes. It was quick, easy and yummy. D eats it with no complaints as well.

learning about the spoon

where is that spoon?got it.almost there. another toothless grin.

What happened????

I blinked and my little girl turned into a big girl . . . I was so surprised at the change two missing front teeth can make on a kid's looks. When I picked D up from school I was greeted with her pointing to her mouth and a big toothless grin. Then it really hit me . . . my little girl is growing up TOOOOO FASTTTTTT!!!

my vote is cast...

crossing my fingers . . .

elegant 75

One of the most elegant ladies from our church is turning 75. You would NEVER guess that she is 75. She is so intelligent and kind. Her family had a party for her at the Allan House here in Austin. It was a lovely party. S was passed around all over and was very happy about it. D had a blast running around with her church buddy. It was BEAUTIFUL weather so we sat out on the second floor balcony for most of the event.

T made yummy ribs for dinner once we got home. Such a sweet hubby.

Though we are both a little grouchy from lack of sleep. Off to bed now . . .