Such a Big Girl!

Bianca is such a big girl!! She is already practicing her writting skills!

Happy Birthday Johnny, Larissa, & Bianca!

That first week of August will always be very hectic! I have 3 lions after all.. Bianca' Second birthday was on July 30, and then we celebrate Johnny's 32 and Larissa's 11th birthday on August 3rd. So we usually set one day and celebrate Johnny and Larissa, and since Bianca is still small, we roll hers into the day as well. We had a Pool party for the girls, and a get together at our house. Nothing too big. But we had a great time.

Larissa wanted a Skull cake. So I did my best at freehand! Not too bad.

And for Bianca we decided on Hello Kitty.

Larissa got some pretty nice gifts. Including these text messengers.

And Bianca got some cool Walkie Talkies to share with Cordelia!

Then we had some good food..

And some good friends over to the house!

Suffering Succotash!!

From Urban Dictionary - suffering succotash
An exclamation of annoyance and surprise, made famous by the cartoon character Sylvester the cat. its a "euphemism" for the curse phrase "suffering saviour"
Suffering succotash!

From Wikipedia - Succotash is a food dish consisting primarily of corn and lima beans or other shell beans.

Recipe for Succotash from All Recipes

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, divided
2 cups fresh lima beans
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons white sugar
4 ears fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob

DIRECTIONS
Melt 1/2 cup butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in lima beans and salt, and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan heat tomatoes, sugar and remaining 1/2 cup butter. Cook until tomatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
Stir tomatoes into lima beans and add corn; cook 10 minutes more.

Just thought Id Share, cause will on my weekend in Houston, we stopped in a small town, and saw a very nice buffet, and imagine my surprise when I see this..

I was so amused, and scared at the same time.. I never even knew it was a dish. But after researching it, it doesnt sound half bad! So I just wanted to let you know.. If you ever see Succotash.. Try it!! Now you know what it is!

Our Weekend with the Tree.. Oh and NKOTB!!

That Saturday started like any other Road Trip. We picked up the girls, and headed out to Houston Tx. We were on our way to the New Kids on the Block concert!

We got in right on time and went to rest and get ready at the hotel. We were going to be meeting a couple of girls for some drinks and food before the concert.

Then we were on our way. Making sure our directions were correct, we got to the place, and began looking for parking. Then we saw it.. a great spot, right near the venue, and we wouldnt have to pay for parking, which was like 12 bucks. So we pulled right in. Everyone got out, and we started to head to the resturant.. and thats when it happend!!

A Tree fell on the car, right as we got out. Not but 20 seconds after we walked away. And not just a branch, the whole tree fell on the car. Good thing it was one of those smaller trees, but it was so long, it crossed the sidewalk, the car, and one lane of traffic.

And smashed into the front windshield.

Needless to say, we were all so shaken. And being out of town, we had no idea what to do. We were only about 2 hours from the concert and a tree was stuck in the car. So, we decided to head over to the restraunt and have a few drinks anyways. We really couldnt do anything about it. Hope, stayed on the phone with the insurance to clear it up. But there wasnt much good news. We met up with the other ladies at the resturant, but by that time, we were not in the mood to eat. Just round up the Margaritas!

We finally made it to the concert, and despite the beginning of the evening, we really had a great time.
The Opening Act were the Jabbawokees. They were alright, but we only made it in to see the end of thier set.

Then on to The New Kids on the Block. Yes, sitting there, I realized, man.. Im old. But not as old as they are. And they are still bringing in the crowds.

When they came out, it got crazy loud. I can only imagine what it sounded like in the near by mall. Im sure if the wind hadnt knocked down that tree, the sound of so many women screaming all at once, would have done the job!

The show was awesome. They did all thier old hits, and some newer ones. I was so amazed by the large amount of fans. And there were older women, young women, kids, and even men there. It was such a diverse crowd.
When we got to the van, we walked up on people taking pictures next to it. It was quite disturbing, but then we decided to try it, and you know what... it was quite fun. And it cheered us up a bit, while we looked for a way back to the hotel and back Home!!

The next day, we were able to get a ride home!! It turned out to be a great trip, and one we all will never forget. I was very happy to have shared that with some great women!! Till next time ladies!!

4th of July

This year, we decide to take the kids on a trip to Belton, Texas. Its where I have family from. And my mother was going to be going for thier annual 4th of July Parade. In years past, she has always tried to get us to go. And I haven't been since I was a little girl. So we went ahead and joined them. Besides, I had never taken the kids to a parade. They were due one.

We started the weekend off at Lake Belton. Very nice. I was a litte weirded about going into the lake. I am not a lake person. I like to see my feet. But had to take the kids in.

We made a picnic while out there and enjoyed the sunset.

Me and Johnny

Sunset at Lake Belton

The next morning we got up bright and early and went to get our space at the Parade. Friday night, I started to not feel too well, so that morning, I had a fever. I was so upset that I was feeling that sick, while out of town on a great little vacation with the family. But I got thru. And we had a great time at the Parade.

There were so many entries in the Parade. It lasted quite a while.

Joshua at the Parade

Larissa at the Parade

Bianca at the Parade
Even Cordelia had an ok time, but after a while she was bored.

After the Parade, we went to visit some family and got to eat and enjoy some very good food.

Johnny loved the awesome sausage wraps!!

And Bianca loved the watermelon!!

By the evening, I had completely gone from bad to worse.. I was so sick. I had fever, chills, sore throat and a terrible headache. So we made it to the fireworks, but I had forgotten the batteries to my camera. So unfortunately we didnt get any pictures of the fireworks and the kids. But they loved it. We drove out to Temple, TX to see the fireworks and they were beautiful. We are even considering going again, next year. Hopefully this time, I wont get sick. Which by the way, ended up being tonsillitis. So that was a lot of fun!!

Bianca's sleeping habits!

Yes, we have a problem.. Bianca still sleeps with me. In my bed. Good thing she isnt a wild sleeper! Plus, we secretly love it. She has very cute sleeping habits to help her drift off. One, is tha she sucks her bottom lip. Always has. And she also like to play with your fingers while she is falling asleep. I guess she finds comfort in doing these things, and we arent in any hurry to change that.

Here she is playing with my fingers!!

Bianca Asleep

Or so I thought, untill she flashed me with her big smile.. Such a faker!

Bianca is Potty Training!

Yes, my baby girl is starting to Potty Train. still very early, but compared to her pro sister Cordelia, she is actually behind. So she has lots to make up for. We are still working on it, but she is getting much better. Too bad now we cant keep her clothes on her. But she goes when she needs to.

Strawberry Cream Puffs

OH when I saw this.. I knew!! I knew I had to have it. I knew I could make it, and I knew my family would love it! And guess what, they did! They loved the whipped cream the most. My oldest daughter decided to devour hers with no hands and came up with the cream all over her face. They loved them. I will definately make these again!

First off, the dough was very odd. And when I put them on the cookie sheet, I think I made them too big. It just seemed like too much dough.

But after baking them, they came out very golden. When I went to cut them open, it seemed like a lot of the insides where not cooked. So I was very unsure about taking out all the insides.
They came out great. I put them in the pan with the cream and strawberries, and they came out perfect.

Recipe from Imagine. Dream. Create

Cream Puffs

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

4 eggs

Heat oven to 400.

Heat water and butter to rolling boil. Stir in flour, reduce heat. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Beat in eggs, all at once, continue beating until smooth. Drop dough by scant 1/4 cupfuls about 3" apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Cool. Cut off top 1/3 of each puff and pull out any filaments of soft dough. Fill puffs with whipped cream. Replace tops.

Sweetened Whipped Cream

2 cups whipping cream

6 tbsp powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Beat until thick.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze

3 oz semi-sweet chocolate

3/4 cup whipping cream

1 tbsp butter

Chop chocolate and place in metal bowl. Heat cream and butter until it comes to a boil. Pour over chocolate. Let stand 5 minutes, then beat until melted, smooth and thick. Refrigerate for awhile if it's too runny (and don't dump it all over the counter and floor like I did). Pour into icing bag with a small tip and drizzle over cream puffs.

Serve with fresh strawberries and dust with powdered sugar.

Chocolate Eclair Squares

Recipe From Kraft

Prep Time: 15 min Total Time: 4 hr 15 min Makes: 16 servings

What You Need!

2 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed
64 NILLA Wafers
2 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Make It!

BEAT milk and pudding mixes with whisk 2 min. Stir in COOL WHIP.
ARRANGE 16 wafers on bottom of 8-inch square dish; cover with 1/3 of pudding mixture. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining wafers. Refrigerate 4 hours.
MICROWAVE chocolate in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. or until melted when stirred. Drizzle over dessert.

Mac & Cheese Lasagna

What You Need

1 pkg. (7-1/4 oz.) Macaroni & Cheese Dinner
1-1/2 cups spaghetti sauce
1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1 cup Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese
2 Tbsp. Grated Parmesan Cheese

Make It!

HEAT oven to 350°F.
PREPARE Dinner, using the Light Prep directions on package. Meanwhile, brown meat in skillet; drain.
SPOON half the Dinner into lightly greased 8-inch square baking dish; top with layers of half each sauce, meat and shredded cheese. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
BAKE 20 min. or until heated through.

Here is what it will look like after you put the sauce on, before the cheese.

And with the melted Cheese!!

Everyone really liked it. Very different for me, but overall pretty good.

Lasagna Rolls

Well the plan was to make Lasagna, but some how it turned into Lasagna Rolls. I did not have a recipe, so I just went ahead and did it from memory. But I went ahead and just did the regular recipe for a Lasagna. After it was done, I think I would need to make some modifications. But it came out really good. The Flavor was there. But they just turned into a big mess.