Olivia's Birthday at Home

 Olivia celebrated her birthday in Texas

by going to the zoo and having

a small family party at home.

 She opened more presents!

 And her Momma made her

a Dora cake!

 She picked this cake out of the

Wilton Yearbook.

Olivia really doesn't ask for much,

but she did want this cake!

Isn't it cute?



Home Remedy for COOTIES!

Grace had a little incident

with cooties,

and it was not fun!

Her Uncle Billy gave her an itty

bitty kiss on the cheek and

she just knew he gave

her COOTIES!

Why?

Because he's a BOY!

And

BOYS have COOTIES!

She was distraught.

So much so, she cried!

(you would cry, too, it you had cooties)

So - I told her about COOTIE WASH!

 

THIS:

REMOVES COOTIES

Really.... it completely destroys them!

And it's not necessary to read

the label. It doesn't say

a thing about cooties

on there.

But then, it's a home remedy.

Home remedies aren't mentioned

on product packages.

Nope... I've never seen packaging

on a bar of soap say

put it under your sheet to

prevent leg cramps

and the vapor rub bottle

doesn't say, rub on bottom

of feet to prevent coughing,

but we all know those work.

So - if you get COOTIES

try this!

It'll also make you

smell nice and it'll

make your skin soft!

A Tea Party for Brilyn

 Brilyn loves a Tea Party!

 I had the tea room all set up to do a

wedding consultation, so we could

not use it, so when Brilyn asked

for a Tea Party, I first told her

not today. Then, she put on the cutest

little smile and said, "Pretty please!"

 How could I resist?

She was using her manners.

And what could be more important than

enjoying a tea party with a grandchild?

Moments like these are priceless!

We couldn't use the tea room, so we moved

the tea party to the kitchen.

And it was just as special.

Time shared with Brilyn is

always special!



Happy Birthday, Olivia!

 Today is Olivia's Birthday!

 She's been celebrating for three

weekends, so I'll have more

pictures of our zoo trip later,

but TODAY is her DAY!

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

I hope you have super wonderful day!

You've been a Joy!

And I look forward to lots and

lots of good times

in the years to come!

 



Dog Sitting

Last weekend Billy and Alyssa

went to Red River,

so we kept Pistol and Kat!

I think Pistol enjoyed his stay.

He likes sneaking into the kitchen

and hiding under the table

waiting for Brilyn to drop

some little morsel of food and

chewing on rawhides

and bones.

Kat misses Billy!

Just look at those big sad eyes.



When she's not in the middle of the

living room floor looking at us with

those big sad eyes she's

laying on the staircase making sure

no one else gets to the

food bowl.

(when we moved here Abby slept upstairs

with the boys so the food bowl is still upstairs

in the bathroom)

Poor Pistol and Abby!

I put Kat out by herself for a little while

each day to give the other dogs

a chance to eat, but they

might have both lost a pound

or two during Kat's stay!

Kat has appointed herself

guardian of the food bowl and

she guards it very well!

 

A VERY Special Christmas Gift

I received a very special

Christmas Gift

this year from

Brandy, Andrew and Brilyn!

It's a very special

snow globe!

Look at it closely.

REALLY CLOSE!

Did you notice anything?

 

If you didn't get a very special

message - look again!

Read Brilyn's shirt!

 

 

Yes! Brilyn is going to be

a Big Sister!

And we are having another

grandbaby. He or she

is due in August and although

we found out on

Christmas Day,

the kids wanted to wait

until after the first trimester

to make an official announcement.

It's going to be nice

having a teeny tiny baby

to love!
*very big smile*

 



February Birthday's

 We celebrated February Birthday's

and Valentine's Day on the 10th

to accommodate more people's schedules.

 Billy & Olivia have Birthday's in February!

 Billy got a Cinnamon Roll Cake

and Olivia got cupcakes!

(Billy doesn't like to have his picture taken)

 I think Olivia enjoyed hers.

And I know she enjoyed her presents!

This girl loves everything.

Especially if it has Mickey Mouse,

Minnie, Dora or Tinkerbell

on it. It's nice when little

ones are so easy to please!

 

F'Real Shakes for Breakfast!

When Grace says,

"I have a great idea!"

You can believe she REALLY has

a great idea!

(or she's up to something)

This time, she wanted to go to

the new store at the corner because

she thinks she saw donuts there.

And it would be a nice surprise

to go and get donuts

for Momma and Olivia!

(you can't argue with that)

So, I started the car, got dressed,

loaded up, scraped windows and off

we went to get donuts.

Grace picked out a round chocolate

covered filled donut with no

center hole for herself.

(more service area for chocolate)

She also got one for her Momma!

And - she got the prettiest donut for

Olivia because Olivia likes pretty

donuts. Hers had lots of sprinkles.

She picked out an Apple Fritter

for me and then wanted to get drinks.

I told her I could make coffee at

home so she got a chocolate

milk for Olivia and a

F'Real Shake for herself.

That's when I figured out that Grace

was up to something.

I think she had planned on

getting a milkshake the whole time!

The donuts were just an excuse

to get to the store.

(where do kids learn that?)

 

Anyway,

Grace loves these milkshakes!

Not only do they have her

favorite flavor, but she gets

to make them herself.

They are soooo cool!

You choose a cup of ice cream,

Peel off the top and place it

in the mixer. Then press either,

thinner, normal or thicker

and it mixes it up.

Then you get to put on a

lid and inset a straw.

Grace can do it

ALL BY HERSELF!



Another Rice Cooker Recipe

 

 I had never really thought of cooking

desserts in the slow cooker or

rice cooker, but when I saw this

I wondered if it could be adapted,

so I gave it a try!



First, I peeled and sliced Granny Smith

apples and put them in the rice cooker.

 Then, I dumped the topping over the apples.

 

I set the rice cooker to slow cook for 3 hours

and served it up with ice cream and

caramel topping.

Delicious!

Yes - you can cook almost anything

in this machine!

 

Recipe:

 

Apple Butterscotch Crisp

 

3 Cups Apples, sliced and peeled.

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 sm. package cook and serve butterscotch pudding mix

1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup quick cooking oatmeal

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup unsalted butter

 

Put your apples in the crock pot/rice cooker/

Mix the other ingredients in a bowl.

When the butter is mixed in it will be lumpy,

but that's okay. Just mix it up and

dump it over the apples and then

slow cook for about 3 hours.

 

Serve with Ice Cream

and Caramel Topping!

Another COOL Christmas Gift!

Here is another REALLY COOL gift

I got for Christmas!

It was from my son Billy and

his lovely wife, Alyssa!

When Billy buys something - anything - it

has to be the best, and this is

the best rice cooker I've seen.

It's also a steamer and a slow cooker!

I have been using it for so many different

(ribs, apple crisp, various rice and chicken recipes,

soups and chili's)

things I got to wondering if I could

also use it for meals I normally cook

on the stove.

So - I did an experiment!

 

First, I browned 5 lbs of Hamburger Meat

and put it in 5 freezer bags for future use

and put it in the freezer.

Then, one night when I had a basketball

shoot at dinner time, I put all the

ingredients for Hamburger Helper in the

rice cooker/crock pot.

 I put vegetables in the steam tray and put

it on top of the Hamburger Helper.

I pressed the White Rice button!

And when we came home from our

basketball shoot dinner was ready!

And - the rice cooker cleans up so

easily! I just love it!

This wasn't my favorite rice cooker meal.

I'm not really a fan of Hamburger Helper.

But - it was a good experiment and

a healthier option than

fast food on the way home.

And ANYONE could do it!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Since Valentine's Day fell in the middle

of the week, we decided to celebrate

the Sunday before, as we were

already all together for the

February Birthday Celebration.

(except for Dustin, who was catching up on work and home work)

 

 We had birthday cupcakes and

Valentine's cupcakes!

 And a cute little candy bar!

 A teapot full of lollipops to match our

tea party theme!

Aren't the little silicone teacup

cupcake tins the cutest little things?

I think the girls liked them.

Grace and Olivia came up early

so they were here to help make

cupcakes and decorate.

Grace is getting to be a good helper

and Olivia likes to try!

We gave her the job of taste testing

the frosting and licking the spoons.

And I think she handled both

tasks like a pro!

A Sophia The First Tea Party

 We watched the Sophia the First

Disney Movie and liked it

so much we decided to have a

Sophia the First

tea party.

 Grace decorated cupcakes while

Olivia sampled frosting.

 Aren't the cupcakes cute?

We carried this little plate strait to

the tea room. 

 Grace poured tea and then

both girls licked the frosting

off of their cupcakes.

I think cupcakes are simply

frosting dispensers.

Neither girl eats the cake.

Only the sprinkles and the frosting.

Hmmmm..... I wonder if we

should try just making

frosting cups?

 

Puppet Show Time

 I got a bunch of cool new puppets

for Christmas, so Grace gave me a

puppet show!

 Aren't these the cutest puppets?

 They were just perfect for a rainy afternoon!

 Olivia and I got to be the audience

while Grace performed!

Every so often Grace would look out

to make sure we were paying attention.

We were...

See Olivia laughing....

Grace performs a really funny puppet show!

See...

She made Brilyn's Barney

scare away a sting ray!

I think Olivia was just surprised

to see Barney.

He's not a puppet!

He's a dinosaur!