Family Vacation

We took a big trip to Disney World a couple of weeks ago celebrating Madison's graduation from high school. Her friend Morgan went with us and Bailey, Avery & Kendall also went. Here's a few pics from the week.

Knox

I have a new great nephew and his name is Knox. I wanted to make something special for him and thought this up in the middle of the night. It turned out just as I envisioned it and Amanda liked it too!

Here's a picture of Knox - he's even cuter!!

Full Moon Cafe Tortilla Soup

Tonight we had tortilla soup and guacamole. This soup is different from most tortilla soup - try it!
Here's the roux you make to thicken the soup

After adding the roux to the chicken broth, you add RoTel

Here's the tortilla strips, I just use a pizza cutter to cut the strips

The grilled chicken

The finished soup with a scoop of fresh guacamole. Yummmm...

Full Moon Cafe Tortilla Soup

8 cups chicken broth or stock

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup flour

1 cup grated Monterey Jack-Colby cheese

1 pint half and half

2 teaspoons diced jalapeno chilies (optional)

1 10-oz can RoTel tomatoes & chilies

1 cup cooked, diced chicken breast (I like grilled with fajita seasoning)

Combine chicken broth and pepper in a soup pot and bring to a boil. Make a roux in another pan with the butter and flour - melt butter and stir in flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Stir into chicken stock. Add cheese to stock and stir until melted. Add remaining ingredients to stock and heat. Garnish with thin strips of flour tortillas baked in a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes until crispy. Then add a scoop of guacamole and enjoy!

1st Birthday Party

Baby M's first birthday was in late December but we didn't have her party until January 16th. We decided on a Minnie & Mickey party. Here's a few pics that are okay for me to post, sorry no pics of her precious face, it's against the rules!

The kids playing, Baby S, Baby M and Mariah

She got a new chair, to help her in her climbing skills!

And Bailey got her a castle (she is a little princess after all!)

Apron

So Bailey wanted to make an apron for her gift at her friends Christmas party exchange. So she cut all the pieces out, started sewing, then asked me for help. It was fun to get my creative juices flowing again, maybe I'll try to do that more in 2010! We thought it turned out cute and Bailey says it was a big hit at the party.

Christian Services Christmas Party

Earlier this week Christian Services of Oklahoma hosted a Christmas party for the foster families and it was wonderful! Santa was there, although none of the kiddos were too thrilled to see him! There were gifts for everyone, including the parents, and wonderful food. We are so, so thankful to be working with this agency to help the babies of Oklahoma have a better start in life. They are a good liason in working with the state.

Here's some pictures of M with some of her presents.



The favorite was the keyboard but it wasn't Mariah or M's, it was Grants!


Mariah is looking on in this one, they both got baby dolls.

A Day at the Doctors

Baby M and I spent most of Wednesday at the Children's complex going to two different doctors. Here's a picture of M before the first appointment looking out from the 5th floor of the new doctor's building.

She had to had blood drawn and she didn't even cry! Just stuck out her lip and pouted a little bit. Here's a picture of her little arm wrap which she really wanted off.

Here are a couple more pictures of M in a chair like a big girl and playing in the lobby. So we finally got home at 3:30 and we were both exhausted and took a nap.

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Thanksgiving 2009 Pain & Joy

We had a great Thanksgiving day. We started out at 7:30 this morning at the OC cafe. Our duties included cutting pies, topping with Cool Whip and putting in individual boxes to go out. We probably cut about 100 pies and there was another table cutting also. Then we took 100 hot meals to Edmond Hospital then about 20 to some families here in Edmond. There were well over 1700 meals delivered by about 500 volunteers today. A wonderful Thankgiving Day in the City! Thanks goes to all those who plan it, the Neil Arters, Jimmy Arters, Muellers and Schaefers!

Here's a couple of cute workers handing out the rolls!

Then this afternoon Avery and I went down to Children's Hospital to hold a 4 month old baby boy who had major heart surgery. He had a feeding tube in his nose and was hooked up to about 10 different tubes and lines. That is all sad enough in itself, but this is the real heartbreaker - he has not been visited by any family that the nurse knew of in his 4 months of life. The nurses and doctors fought for DHS to take custody of him, which recently happened. Our church has joined efforts with a group called Anna's House that goes to shelters and hospitals to hold babies that don't have anyone to hold them at that time, and that is how we found out about Baby G. As I sat holding this sweet baby, I felt pain and joy at the same time. I am so blessed that I have found my calling, fostering babies and holding these babies, and that gives me great joy. Of course the pain is obvious - it is heartbreaking what innocent babies have to go through, a lot of times because of their parents, so if I can take a little time to give comfort to a sweet, sweet baby, oh what joy that gives me! So like I said in the title, pain & joy, but the joy definitely outweighs the pain. If you would like more information about volunteering with Anna's House, let me know and I'll get you the information.
Here's Avery holding sweet Baby G.

And a lady on the elevator said Bob Stoops had been up at the hospital and visited her granddaughter this morning. A friend had told me that he often goes up to the hospital to visit the sick kids and Thankgiving was no different for him. Is this a great state or what?

Madison's senior picture sneak peek

Here are a few pictures I took while Amanda took the good senior pictures of Madison. We went to Guthrie, which is full of great picture opportunities!

I can't wait to see the ones my niece, Amanda Watson, took! I know they will be great. If you need someone to take some family pics give her a call, she's very reasonable and takes ton's of pictures.

P.S. I can't believe my baby is a senior!

I'm really good at procrastinating

Okay, so I'm really good and buying the supplies to make the cutest things, and don't get around to every making it. So I am committing myself and want all two of you who read this to hold me accountable by asking what I got done this weekend. I have great plans..........

Cranberry Stuffed Pork Loin

This is a recipe for a pork loin that I have purchased at a meal prep store and I searched to find the recipe. It is so good and really not hard at all. It is delicious. Kelly at KellysKorner is hosting a "post your favorite Thanksgiving recipes" today so I am posting this there. My family is not too keen on turkey, but they all love this pork loin. The ones I have made didn't have the bacon wrapped so I haven't done that. I have just used kitchen twine to wrap it all together. I would also at least double this recipe to feed our family of 6.

Cranberry Stuffed Pork Loin

1 (1-lb.) pork tenderloin
1 1/2 cups cooked herb-seasoned stuffing mix
1/2 cup cooked cranberries or whole berry cranberry sauce
4 slices bacon

1. Heat oven to 450ºF. Make long cut in center of tenderloin running the length of them eat, stopping about 1/4 inch from edge. Spread open; pound flat.

2. Spread stuffing on one half of tenderloin, leaving 1-inch border on long end. Spoon cranberries over stuffing. Fold other side of tenderloin over; wrap bacon diagonally around tenderloin, securing with toothpicks.

3. Bake 30 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 140°F. to 145°F. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing. Remove toothpicks before serving.

3 servings

One Check Off the Bucket List

Why would any sane person wait in this line on a Thursday night? That's what Bailey and I kind of wondered as we waited to see our favorite cookbook author/food blogger. We stood in this line for about 4 and a half hours and got to know the people around us pretty well. The girl in front of us was a little wacko, quite the stalker. The people behind us were a nice, cute young married couple.

As we waited we were entertained by some people, like these two cute little punks.

We also got to meet and talk to this nice (looking) man.... his name is Ladd and he's a rancher.

But finally after listening to our little stalker girl and taking our shoes off cause our feet hurt so much and complaining about how my back hurt, we met THE PIONEER WOMAN, aka P-Dub, aka Ree Drummond. And she was so nice and it was all worth it! If you aren't familiar with her, you need to check out her website. And those two cute little boys are her sons and that nice looking man is her husband, otherwise known as The Marlboro Man.

Thanks for signing our cookbooks P-Dub and being so nice to the hundreds of people you talked to that night!

Fall is here!

Memorial Road had their fall festival for the kids tonight after church. All the little kids dress up for the evening and it's so fun to see them all in their cute little costumes. Baby M dressed up like a ladybug. I can't show you the pictures with her full face showing, but at least the pictures that usually get deleted can be used this way! Here she is in her ladybug costume in front of the picture prop. Yesterday I tried putting her hair up in doggie ears and this is the result. She loves her new Disney princess ball too!

Last week we went to Tulsa to visit Kendall and Avery and visited the pumpkin patch in Bixby. It's the same one I used to take Bailey, Avery & Madison to when we lived there and they were little. Baby M wasn't too crazy about sitting amongst the pumpkins!

Food, lots of food

It's been a long time since my last post and I've made a couple of trips to Dallas and visited the Oklahoma State Fair. I'm always amazed at all the different foods they have at the fair and how they can add even more calories to already fattening foods! I have to say the only thing I had was roasted corn at the fair, but some of these things looked really good!If you are really lazy, you can get your pizza on a stick!

Yum is what I have to say about funnel cakes!

So I went to Dallas with my sisters early in September and stayed at my cousin's house. She was a great hostess and made reservations for us at a cute tea room in Richardson, The Chocolate Angel. I didn't get pictures there, but they had an awesome grilled pimento cheese sandwich and served it with jelly - it was delicious! Then on Sunday we went to a restaurant called Rise, it is a souffle place and it was delicious! Here's some pics:

This is the caramel pecan or something like that! Heavenly!

This is the truffle mushroom that Jill & I split, it was wonderful.

And this is the cheese tray that you can choose several different kids of cheese to try from. It was an eating experience and so fun. I highly recommend Rise.

Then Bailey and I went down to Allen for a day and a half in late September for some retail therapy, an Allen football game and some great food. We ate at Buca di Beppo and had this -
Possibly the best pasta dish ever - It was called Pesto Basilica or something like that.

And this salad with Granny Smith apples, gorgonzola cheese, spiced walnuts and dried cranberries. Need I say more? Anybody want to go to Dallas for a food weekend??

Scumbag Tribute

While this title may seem a bit funny, unfortunately this is a sad posting. Gary has been in a group of 7 guys who were friends in college who called themselves the Scumbags. They had gotten together yearly for the last 20-25 years for a guys weekend. Ken Veteto was the main instigator of this group and would plan the trips for them every year. Tragically, Ken was killed in a small plane crash last Saturday along with another family from the Park Plaza Church of Christ in Tulsa. He had called Gary in August on Gary's 50th birthday starting to plan the get together for this fall. He was one of the good guys, really funny and a great doctor. He will be missed by all his patients, co-workers, fellow church members, friends and family and his fellow Scumbags and their families. Every year his dad, Max, would draw caricatures of the guys and they made t-shirts. Max passed away a few years ago and Ken took over the art work. The picture above is the drawing from last year, the guys in Ken's prized Camaro. Top row is Bradley Hemphill, Gary Jones, Larry Bailey, Tim White. Bottom row (l to r) Gary Huntsman, Nathan Parker, Ken Veteto.

Our prayers and thoughts are with Carrie, Cody & Carissa. We will all miss you Ken and your great sense of humor, but someday there will be a Scumbag reunion in Heaven!

Make & Take

This is a great website with lots of great ideas! I haven't tried any yet, but have plans to soon! I especially love the Scrabble Tile Pendant tutorial.