I've got nothing

Mary Bullock has been sleeping most of the afternoon, and I've been catching up on my Greek. Oh! So worth the wait. HOLY. MOLY.

 

I won't spoil it for you because if any of you had spoiled this for me, I'm sure I would have held that grudge for a very long time. But seriously. If you haven't watched, go. Now.

Just wondering...

Do you ever read the news and wonder if the world is going to hell in a handbasket?

I do. That's sort of the reason I started this blog.

I thought: I could fixate on all the heinous things that go on in the world, or I could fixate on good things. Funny things. Happy things. Peaceful things.

 

And it works.

Sometimes it works better than other times.

Sometimes I also have to avert my eyes from news stories that I know will make my head hurt from worry.

I worry a lot, you understand. About things I know. And also about things I do not yet know.

If I had a silver tea service sitting just outside of my tub, could I afford not to worry? Maybe not.

But still.

I don't even know what to say...

but I think I know where I will be November 20.




Now that was quite a birthday thing, don't you think?

I wasn't bowled over by the first Twilight movie, I will admit. Mostly because I didn't care for the clownish way in which Robert Pattinson was made up. The powder? The lipstick? I know he's supposed to be a vampire, but somehow in my mind it was supposed to be a little more subtle.

But his color looks better in this short clip, I think.  I wonder how early I can buy tickets?

Weekend in Review

So, of course Mary Bullock's birthday party was the highlight of the weekend, but that was only two hours. The rest of the weekend was a little blurry, but thankfully I took pictures so I could remember what took place!

First, there were a lot of wagon rides...but I didn't take pictures of those. Dang it! Thankfully, Jen just came through with some of those pictures. Because MB was born to ride in a wagon. Born to.  She loves to throw things over the sides. She also loves to lean over and put her fingers on the wagon wheels, just to feel the tickle as they circle beneath her fingers. Then she puts her fingers in her mouth.  Lovely, right? But what are you going to do?

Did I forget to mention that we had a fabulous fried seafood lunch at Whitey's? We had fried pickles as an appetizer (yum!) and I had fried gator tail for my entree.  If you've never had it, it's a bucket list item, in my opinion. I have Lee to thank for getting me to cross this one off.

Then there was the cookie making. I've never made sugar cookies that didn't come from a Pillsbury tube. Turns out, those Pillsbury people are onto something. Cutting out sugar cookies is hard. So hard, in fact, that I forgot to take pictures while we [ok, mom did most of the hard stuff] were doing it. But I did get mom to fake one for me.

 Notice there is no dough in that pile of flour? Mom is such a bad liar. I get this from her.

Lee's brilliant idea for the duckies was to shred blue paper and make a pond for them to float in, so that is what we did.

Want some? Come by my house! We have some left. And they were pretty good, I thought, for my first time. I would have frosted them, but I was dead on my feet after a crazy Friday spent making final preparations for the party. Next time, perhaps.

Here are some other party details that didn't get posted yesterday...

It took us all a while to come down off of Saturday's frenzy, so Sunday we spent waking up slowly, then lazily wandering the zoo, taking in the fall air that eluded us on party day. [Really? 94 degrees in late October? Of course.] 

Sigh. My camera is stupid.

The babies were tired, but the giraffes sure woke them up!

Have you ever seen a giraffe eat? Their tongues are long. And snake-like.  Lee fussed at me while he was trying to get these pictures because I kept screaming and dropping the lettuce. But I'm telling you: when that tongue comes at you [or your lettuce, really--but still] it's fight or flight. And I'm all for flight.

MB's first train ride was a success! Although, I think her daddy was more excited than she was. What is it about boys and trains?

We couldn't ever get the babies to look at us at the same time for a picture, but this one will do. It was so nice having Jen, Jake and Bennie around. MB will be lonely now!

Ok, that's it for the weekend. Moving on with life now. My baby is a toddler. She even seems older now.  Walking around, saying some new word[ish]s...

Wonder what's next?

Hello again!

This weekend was nuts! Nuts! Totally fun but also totally exhausting. We have still not recovered.

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble uploading my pictures to facebook. So before I punch a hole in my computer, I'll just post some here just to tide us all over, and I'll give facebook a chance to pull it together.

The cake was my favorite part of the whole day. I had told the bakery what I wanted, but could never have conceived of what they actually made. It was unbelievable. I think I actually gasped when Lee brought it home and uncovered it.  Holy crap. Did I just say that? Yes, I did.

The birthday girl was perfect for her big day! She was a little tired, since the party was during her typical nap time, but she made it through the whole thing without fussing once.  That night, she slept for 14 hours (6pm-8am)! She was pooped. And speaking of poop, can you guess what color hers was the next day? If you need a hint, take another look at that cake. Kind of gross, kind of hilarious. Had to be documented.

But speaking of that cake again...the answer to the big question was, yes! She dug right in.

And she shared.

That's my girl!

More weekend photos to come. Little had her 12 month shots this morning and is in need of some extra special love and care today.

Friday Favorites: A Pictorial by Mary Bullock, age 1

Goldfish!

Gritsy

 

Grandma Moose

Goldfish!

Aunt Kay Kay

Lovely the Lovey

Caaaaaaaake. 

 

Aaaaaand... Goldfish! 

One year ago today...

Ready to be induced, 6:00am. Little did I know this would be the last time my hair would look really nice.

Daddy getting the electronics ready! This was of supreme importance. 

12 hours later...

I think my first words were, "OH MY GOD!" and then "Oh, Lee. She has your toes." 

The new daddy was a little shaky.

I was sort of smiling, sort of laughing, and sort of crying. And I also sort of had jowels.  [It was the fluids! I swear!]

So proud to show off his girl.

I love that this picture looks so peaceful, but I specifically remember being very, very afraid.

This is one of my favorite pictures from her first day [actually the next morning]. I love that we get to keep this moment, amid all the lost moments of those first blurry days. I also love this because we laughed so hard when we figured out that the nurses had put a shirt on her bottom as pants.  It wasn't so funny that they did it, but that it took us hours to figure that out.

Not surprisingly, there's been a lot to figure out in the last year. And we're honored to have been given the opportunity.

Can you keep a secret?

Seriously. Don't tell anyone. They're already for sale at Publix. However, I figure that if I buy four per day for the next two weeks, while everyone else is so caught up in Halloween that they're not even thinking of Christmas, I can stash away enough to get me from Thanksgiving to...St. Patrick's Day? Easter, perhaps? If I ration frugally?

[Update: To answer your questions, the expiration is March 2010. What's the date on Easter next year? I could totally make it!]

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!

For all you smarty pantses who guessed Mary Bullock's Halloween costume...

That's Toto. And Daddy.

 

As you can see, Lee and I were both shocked.

[I know it's not officially Halloween yet, but we went to a Halloween-themed birthday party on Saturday, and we won't actually make it to Trick-or-Treat this year.]

Comfort Food: Sante Fe Soup & Drop Biscuits

Now that Fall has finally graced Jacksonville with her presence, however fleetingly, our family has been thrown full-throttle into soup and chili mode. This is one of the things that we love most about fall, actually. It goes way back to Lee's 2L year at Richmond, when we made homemade Jambalaya on the first cold weekend of fall.  We had no money and a grocery list the size of an arm, but we weren't deterred. In the end, the secret ingredient [according to Lee] was half a bottle of Miller Lite. And then there was the Emeril Lagasse joke... it really was quite funny. You weren't there, of course, but you can trust me on this one.

ANYWAY. Since we've established that I'm slightly culinarily challenged, you won't be surprised that Lee was the one who made our Sante Fe Soup last night. He even grocery shopped [I know! How lucky am I?]  Plus, the recipe is super easy to make.  I've listed it below, in case you're interested.  It's a nice option when you want something like chili (chili-esque?), but not chili-chili.

The soup was thrown together while I was putting MB to bed last night, and then we sat on the deck [shivering, actually - it was 60!] sipping Dogfish Head Punkin Ales while it simmered on the stove.  I don't normally like to be cold, but when I remembered how vehemently I had complained about the lack of real seasons here, I decided to suck it up, put on my fleece, and enjoy the cool weather. And after, a FEAST was had.

Tonight--leftovers, which will probably be even better than the first round! I even managed to whip up some drop biscuits tonight. BAM!

Sante Fe Soup
Brown together 2 lbs. ground beef and 1 onion.
Add: 2 pkg. Ranch dressing mix, 2 pkg. taco seasoning.
Stir.
Then add:
1 16oz. can black beans
1 16oz. can kidney beans
1 16oz. can pinto beans
1 can rotel
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 cans yellow corn
2 c. water


Simmer 2 hours.
Garnish with sour cream and shredded cheese.


Quick Drop Biscuits
2 c. Bisquick
1 stick butter, melted
1 c. sour cream


Mix ingredients together and spoon into a greased mini-muffin pan.
Bake at 400 for 11 minutes or until lightly browned.