Jacob's 3rd Birthday

I'm finally getting this put up from Tuesday...how do some of you people get pictures put up the same day they were taken???



Good Mornin' Sunshine!


Happy Birthday calls from Great G'ma and Great G'pa Torres.


The plan was to have a small little party at a local park but it rainded all day long! Scratch the park plans! We ended up at a local restaurant and it worked out perfect. My parents got to come over after Mom got off work. It was only our family and one other...we've been freinds with them forever...
(note the fabulous job I did of capturing Pam and John's faces...oops!)

Pam (H.) B. She and my Dad have known each other since they were little.


John B. He and my Mom have known each other since they were little.


Clint H. He and I have known each other since we were babies.


Jacob and his proud parents.


Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you...
(the stickers on his shirt add a nice touch don't you think)


good job!


Jacob was quite proud of his new hat - he loves hats of all shapes and sizes!


What's in this "patches"?


A happy family.


A beautiful 3 year old little boy who makes our hearts sing.

Happy Birthday Jacob

How can it be?

My baby is 3!

Compassion

Yesterday Lia was crying because she was hungry. Jacob came up to me and announced "Mom, Weah-Ma'nay is crying, Gay-cub gonna cry too". Yeah, my heart just melted.

The story of the little boy climbing up on the old mans knee and crying with him has been in my e-mail in-box about a thousand times - but to have the privilege of actually watching such true compassion like this in your son is breathtaking. He makes me proud.

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Since this past Sunday was our 6th anniversary I decided these two photos would be appropriate. It's absolutely amazing to think of/ see all the changes that have taken place since that beautiful day in April 2003. Where has the time gone? I'll post about our anniversary trip...sometime.

Easter Weekend

I'm still here...we went on a mini-vacation for our anniversary last week (post about that later) so I'm just now able to put up some pictures from Easter weekend. We had a great time at my Aunt and Uncle's place - met Brad & Lesha there and spent some time at a large g2g in "Middle of No Where TX". Brad and I have been going to this particular g2g since we were about 12 years old or so (not EVERY year, but a lot of them) so it's fun to go now and take our kids. The age range this year was 7 mo. (Lia) to 97...or something like that. ;) The tweens/teens/wanna-be-teans-again play volleyball or football; the adults visit, cook the briscit and fixins', and play dominoes. David, Lesha, and I tried to keep 3 active toddlers off the volleyball court and football field as Brad was a "wanna-be-teen-again" and played some v-ball....he was on the championship winning team. Pretty impressed I was!! Sunday was meeting, a scrumptious lunch (of course - we were at David and Brenda's house remember), and the Easter egg hunt. All in all it was a great weekend.

No particular reason for this photo...other than I love looking at it. She's just so stinkin' sweet!


The 2 cutest twins there...Trace & Trevin. Say it with me "awww".



My serious girl.


All the men making sure their particular brisket is smokin' just so...15 were cooked for the crowd.



Brad doing some kind of dance out there.


My ATTEMPT at getting some decent pics of the kids...you can see how that worked out! Oh well, they make me smile.







4 Sweethearts before the baskets...seriously, have you ever seen such sweetness in one place!


Sweetness has gone by the wayside...everyone wanted what was in someone else's basket. It's a bit like life sometimes hugh? ;)



Awe...he's helping her out...only to decide which chocolate he wanted.


Egg hunt time...








oh noooo....it's renegade egg hunters!!



technical difficulties!


Candy is usually better when it has a bit of crunch from the driveway. Bet you didn't know that.



My baby sweetheart with my biggest sweetheart.


It was a profitable hunt...much chocolate was scored!



What better way to end your weekend than in the arms of Great Grandma C.

Bet You Didn't Know...

...learning to crawl means sticking your tail up in the air as high as possible.

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This was taken Easter Sunday just after the kids egg hunt. David and I were beyond exhausted from staying up WAY to late multiple nights laughing and yacking with our family.

I'm still here...trapped under the wallpaper

If I ever get myself caught up (that'll never happen), and out from underneath the pile of wallpaper I'm pulling down in the kitchen, I'll put a "real" post up here - but until then I'm tired of looking at the Cajun Meatloaf recipe every time I open my blog. So...here's a pic that makes me smile every time I see it - it's not technically a good picture, but it does make my heart go pitter patter. More pics from this weekend coming...sometime. That's all I can promise.

I have enjoyed peaking at all of your blogs (between mountains of laundry, sink fulls of dishes, baby bottoms to wipe, mouths to feed, dogs to pin up {thanks to a cranky old neighbor}, etc.) even though I haven't been making many comments. I'll get caught up on that one day too maybe. And can I hear it for making wall paper illegal? Any seconds for that motion?

Cajun Meatloaf

I made this meatloaf for potluck Sunday...and not one single morsel of it was brought back home! It really is THAT good. This is "Pastor Ryan's Cajun Meatloaf" from Pioneer Woman. I'll be posting this on "Ciao Down" also, but I know not everyone checks out that site and I wanted to share this with as many of you as possible. Now...go ciao down on some meatloaf. Your taste buds will thank you. (Your heart, not so much.)

2 lbs lean ground beef
1 lb ground pork
3 bell peppers
2 med onions
1 bunch celery (5-6 ribs)
3 eggs
6 Tbs butter
1-2 C breadcrumbs
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbs Worcestershire
1/2 C milk
2 C ketchup
2 Tbs honey
optional: few shakes of hot sauce

Preheat your oven to 400.

Chop all of the fresh vegetables (peppers, onions, celery) into a small dice and mince the garlic. Over medium heat melt 6 Tbs butter. Once butter begins to start brown, add the diced vegetables and garlic. Add about 1 Tbs salt. After these have cooked for a few minutes add Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, nutmeg, and Cayenne pepper. Add hot sauce if you want. Next add 1/2 of ketchup. Continue cooking and stirring for a few more minutes. Remove from heat.

After allowing the mixture to cool for a few minutes add milk. Stir until combined. Next add at least 1 C of bread crumbs. Continue adding bread crumbs and stirring until mixture is a nice, thick paste. In a large mixing bowl place the ground beef and pork. Wisk 3 eggs and add to the meat. After allowing the pasty vegetable mixture to cool down a bit, begin incorporating it into the meat. Keep working all of the Cajun-Veg mix into the meat until all is blended well.

Spray a sheet pan with some non-stick cooking spray. Next, using your hands, form your meat mixture into a loaf on the pan. Make the loaf about 6-8 inches wide and about 1 1/2 inches thick. In a small bowl or measuring up mix together 3/4 C of ketchup with about 2 Tbs of honey. Slather this sauce over top of the whole meatloaf.

Place in a 400 over for about 40 minutes.

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David took this picture the other day after Lia's first watermelon session. He and Jacob were outside flying a kite and Jacob got tired of wearing his cap so he put it on Lia's head. She had a great time playing with it.

7 months!

Our baby girl is 7 months old today. I've had to laugh at myself a few times since she was born. There have been several things I thought I would never do..."if I ever have a girl"...
A)she will not have a lot of pink
**you should see her closet - it's FULL of pink

B)I will not dress her fu-fu
**she has a lot of fu-fu and I love it

C)she certaintly will NOT wear those stupid looking headbands
**a cousin of mine sent her a couple of headbands, I put them on her, and I was hooked. My girl just looks cuter in them than your average baby. ;)

D)she will not have more clothes than Jacob
**yes, she has 3 outfits to his one

So...I've eaten a bit of crow, and loved every bite! ;)

Miss Lia in her Heelarious shoes, headband, zebra print and hotpink fu-fu looking all adorable.

Watermelon Time

It's A Good Day

Check this out...I WON SOMETHING!! This was a shock to me as I've never won a single thing in my entire 32 years of living. Not even a free Coke when you take off the lid and "1 in 6" wins...nope, never even been the one in six. So I pretty much feel like I've hit the jackpot. ;) A huge thank-you to Rhonda at Sew Personal Designs. At first I thought I'd get something for one of the kids, but upon furter reflection, I decided I'm going to get something for myself. I'm a good Mom like that. ;) I'll be sure and post a picture of what I pick out once I receive it. Oh happy day.