My Birthday

I celebrated birthday #33 earlier this week. Lane and I went out to dinner over the weekend. We tried a new restaurant, and we both liked it. Chloe came over to watch the kids for us, and she snapped this picture of us before we left:

Me at the restaurant--still 32 in this picture:

Lane had a steak with some sort of layered potatoes on the side:
A yummy salad:
After dinner we stopped at Starbucks for coffee and dessert. For some reason I was kind of sad about getting older this year. I almost started crying in Starbucks!

On my actual birthday, Rhett really wanted me to come have lunch with him at his school. They eat at 10:30 a.m. so Crosby and I just went to hang out with him. This is the best I could do on a picture of all three of us (Alexee was at MDO).
He wanted me to stop by his classroom after lunch. They usually go to the playground after they eat, but it was rainy that day so they had to watch a movie in the classroom. He was just beaming--I thought it was cute and sweet that he was so excited to have us there as guests.
We went straight from the school to meet my sister and nephew at Old Mill Bread Co. Lane doesn't like to eat there, so I'm always looking for someone willing to meet me there! :) After lunch we went to Hobby Lobby to grab supplies for the kids' nursery rhyme costumes for Family Literacy Night at the school that evening (yes, a good early start on the costumes). Mic brought me cupcakes-yum!--and the new boots that she and Mom got me for my birthday--THANKS! I was so excited that I failed to notice that the box contained two left boots. I got home and went to put them on for Literacy night and realized what I had! ha ha! Mic called the store and sure enough they had two right boots there, so we were able to get it all worked out today.
Me & sweet nephew Jeryn:

I didn't get a picture of me with Micaela :( Thanks guys for coming to visit me on my birthday--it was fun!

When I got home that afternoon I had a package on the front porch--this cute gift from Mary Katherine--thank you, too! I have the towel hanging on the oven door and I love looking at it!

I regret not getting a picture of our whole family together on my birthday, but Mom has promised me my annual Red Velvet Cake next week when we're home for Thanksgiving, so I hope to get a belated group picture then.

After school we had about 45 minutes to make king and spider costumes. Alexee left hers on for all of 45 seconds, so I guess it was wasted energy. Rhett liked his king's crown and cape though. Here they are listening to R's teacher read about the Gingerbread Man:

(Lane & Crosby stayed at home.)
Craft time:
After the school event and getting the kids in bed, Lane and I ate popcorn then I got to work in the kitchen on my first-ever Thanksgiving dressing attempt. Silly me volunteered to make it for our Bible Study Thanksgiving feast. My Grandmother usually makes the dressing for our holiday meals, so I called her for help. She wrote out her recipe (as best she could...she usually doesn't measure things, but hers always turns out great!) and mailed it to me in my birthday card.

I found dressing to be time-consuming, and it seemed to dirty a lot of dishes.

Getting started:
cornbread and onions:

I love hand-written recipes. It's so special to have it in her writing--I'm really happy that she wrote it down for me to have.

See "Community Group Thanksgiving" post for a picture of the finished product. I was a little nervous, but I actually thought it turned out good!

Caramel Pecan Tarts

I made these for a friend today, so I thought I would share the recipe:

(They taste like bite-sized pecan pies)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 T margarine or butter, softened

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, 1/2 cup margarine and the powdered sugar. Divide into 24 equal pieces. Press each piece against bottom and side of ungreased small muffin cup, 1 3/4 x 1 inch. Do not allow pastry to extend above tops of cups.

Mix remaining ingredients. Spoon scant tablespoon mixture into each muffin cup. Bake until filling is set and crust is light brown, about 20 minutes. Cool in muffin cups 20 minutes. Remove from muffin cups with tip of knife; cool on wire rack.

Raking leaves and other fun

One afternoon last week the kids raked leaves in the back yard and jumped in the pile. Well, Rhett raked...Alexee & Bogart jumped.

Alexee likes to have her fingernails and toenails painted. She has trouble giving them time to dry, but I think they look so sweet!
Rhett went to spend the weekend with my parents. I've talked to him a few times, and he is having lots of fun. We are missing him here though--it's so quiet! (Alexee doesn't have anyone to fight with!) Lane and I went out to dinner last night. This morning we took my car to have new tires installed then we went to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. It was really good. We've eaten lunch and dinner there several times, but this was our first time to have their breakfast. Alexee had the Mimi Mouse pancakes and apple juice.
After breakfast we took A to the park for a little while. It was such a pretty day!

Here's A on the slide today...

...It reminded me of this picture of her in the very same spot in October 2007.
This afternoon we played outside and went for a short walk. Alexee pushed the bear around in the stroller, and she also found these leaves for him. :)

Phone Photos #3, I think

It's kind of fun to me to plug my phone in every few weeks and see what I've snapped pictures of recently...just every-day type stuff...

***

1) A slice of buttermilk pie (that I should have covered with a foil "tent" a few minutes sooner!).

This recipe is from His Doorkeeper, and it's one of my favorite desserts.

Buttermilk Pie

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 T flour, rounded

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

dash of nutmeg

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in flour and eggs. Stir in buttermilk, vanilla and nutmeg. Pour in pie crust. Bake 45-50 minutes at 380. Cover with foil tent along the way if it looks like it's getting too brown on top.

Pie Crust--Mom's recipe

1 1/3 c. sifted flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. Crisco

3 T water

Combine flour and salt. Cut in Crisco with pastry blender until mixture is uniform (should be fairly course). Sprinkle with water, a tablespoon at a time. Toss with fork, work dough into ball and roll out crust.

2) Alexee is pretty much potty-trained! (2 years, 9 months) She quit wearing Pull-ups to MDO about two or three weeks ago. She'd been going without a Pull-up at home for a few weeks before that. She's doing great! (Still sleeps in one.) She loves these PJs. She calls them her "pretty girl jammies" because they have little girls on them.

3) Crosby's first time to sit in a high chair at a restaurant. :) This was after school one day when we went to get Monster Milkshakes.
4) Sweet, sweet words by Rhett!
5) Reading a Curious George book to Alexee in her room one morning. I love it when she sits beside me in her chair.
6) Crosby's first time to sit in a shopping cart. (I might get a little carried away with the "firsts" since this is my last!) This was at Hobby Lobby this morning. Fall stems 50% off!
7) Cute ponytail holders I bought for A today. Can't wait for her to wear them!
8) The weather was PERFECT today--78ish, I think. I love fall! Rhett wanted to look at the top of the car while we were waiting for time to get A in pick-up line.
9) Since the weather was so beautiful, we met Ali & her kiddos at the park after school--always fun. Alexee & Maylee throwing rocks.
10) Lawson & Rhett at the park.
11) Fall stems purchased at Hobby Lobby and jars of hedgeapples that Mom picked for me and brought last weekend (Thanks, Mom).
12) Close-ups of hedgeapples. They have a funny smell, but I like the way the look--they're a pretty shade of green.

Baby dedication ceremony

Bobby & Charla (Community Group Leaders) and our family at Crosby's dedication

(Album Here.)

Yesterday was a great day. Busy, but in a good way. We had Crosby's dedication ceremony at church, and our families were here to celebrate with us. The kids did great, and we just felt so blessed!

We had lunch at our house after church, and that was really fun to have a chance to get everyone together. The weather was beautiful, so the kids enjoyed playing in the back yard. Crosby was very sleepy after church so he actually slept through part of the party held in his honor, but he was in a good mood when he woke up.

Halloween fun

The kids really enjoyed trick-or-treating this year. Rhett chose to be a skeleton (he thinks it's funny to try to scare people now), Alexee wanted to be a horse, and Crosby was a giraffe. I thought they all looked cute! It's always fun to see them in their costumes.

No "skeletons in the closet", but we did have one in our Japanese Maple tree:

Before trick-or-treating:

Ringing the doorbell at my friend Ali's house (isn't her wreath cute!?):
When they first opened the door, Alexee was scared of Lawson's costume! She's been afraid of Rhett's, too. He's chased her around and around and she's screamed and screamed the last few weeks--poor thing. Having a big brother makes you tough, I guess!

Rhett & his friend Lawson--I think it's so funny the way they are looking at each other!
Family Halloween picture--minus the little giraffe who was asleep in the car:
Lawson & Maylee waving good-bye:

Thanks for the candy, Stankiewicz fam!
Just down the street from Ali's house, we ran into R's friend, Olivia, and snapped a quick picture together:
Lane & Crosby after C woke up:
This house scared Alexee, too. She ran away, but Rhett liked it!
Cute cowgirl:
At Mrs. Charla & Mr. Bobby's house. Charla was pretending to be scared of the skeleton! Not only did she have great candy to share, but she also had a possum in her back yard for the kids to look at--what a trick-or-treating bonus!
We then came back to our house, and I brought Alexee & Crosby in for baths (Alexee had eaten way too much candy--she didn't eat a bite of dinner). Lane, Rhett and a few of our neighbors walked a loop around the neighborhood and collected quite a bag of delicious candy. What a fun night!

A fun Birthday Party

Aiden, Rhett, Garret, Lawson...and Alexee

Rhett's friend, Garret, just turned 6 and had a super fun birthday party at the football stadium last Friday night. Lane stayed home with Crosby, but R, A and I had a good time running and playing on the field! We were so glad for a break in the rain.