Caroline

This is one of the kiddos we were summoned to entertain in the pool while the grown-ups took care of some business.  This is Kayla's little cousin Caroline and I had the privilege of meeting this one when she was just days old.  She was so itty bitty and it's weird when you only see kids like once a year b/c they just change so much!

I saw this one at Kayla's wedding 2 years ago and then last year at the annual Chili supper...so she went from newborn, to toddler we danced around with at the wedding, to a 2 year old that sat down and had a conversation with me at the chili supper, and now she's a 3 year old who is very serious about her chalk drawings.

 

Things are very serious when we are very small.

Wileta's in the Kitchen with Dina

 

While I was in Cleburne this past time I went out to my friend Kayla's aunts house to entertain the little kids and possibly partake in dinner with her family.  Little did any of us know that it was going to turn into a FEAST!

While watching her Aunt Wileta work her magic in the kitchen I commented that I felt like I was sitting on the front row of a cooking show.  Her kitchen is everyone's dream and I swear the lighting is production quality.  After I made the comment she said that there used to be a cooking article in the paper called Wileta's in the Kitchen with Dina.

Kayla's parents brought over steaks, grilled jalapenos, grilled zucchini, baked potatoes, and veggies.  Wileta made up homemade fried chicken (a certain friend I won't mention had never had homemade fried chicken which is what prompted this mega feast), homemade shells and cheese, corn, potato salad, rolls, and gravy.

It was super tasty and exactly what a good "get together" meal looks like in Texas :)

12 Days

So I just did the "math" and realized that we leave California in 12 days...


That is all

Hooty Hoo

I know I've said it before, but seriously....this might be the cutest thing I've ever made.  It was the brain child of my mother-in-law for my niece Em.  And if there is possibly anything cuter than this hat...it's

Flowers!

Somehow these guys didn't die the month I was gone and they didn't get watered. Its quite possibly a miracle. As of now, all plants are alive...just a little sad.  Some tender love and care should take care of that...I hope :)

Meet Hannah

She's perfect! :) we had a nice time bouncing and swaying and napping.  I'm seeing more trips to OK in the future

Also, didn't realize I'd packed UT clothes until we left the hotel in Norman, OK...then when we ventured out shopping and all the baby boutiques had "Sooner" stuff EVERYWHERE! 

I didn't get shot or kicked out of anywhere...we'll call it successful.

Today I Get To Meet Hannah

Pretty excited :)

WHAT IS IT?!?!

In case you're new to the game or just have never actually met me...

I HATE waiting.

I interviewed for a position at the school I used to teach at last Friday and was told "one to two weeks" to hear back and I'm dying!  I hate waiting!

Then to add to that THIS pops up and gives me something else to wait on!  At least this one has a definite end date...but still...I HATE WAITING!

I am ridiculously impatient.  In fact it's almost childish.  (If we're being honest it's probably very childish.)  When there's something that I want, I get into an absolute funk if I can't get it.  I will say that there aren't many things in this universe that I just HAVE to have and usually it's something that I can actually get like a shirt, or a cd, or a movie, or an iPhone case.

I try to get my impatience in check and save money by ordering most things on eBay but sometimes the cost just isn't worth the wait for me b/c waiting drives me NUTS!  I am currently ALSO waiting on an iphone case that i ordered late late Sunday night and even paid extra for the faster shipping.  It should have been here today.

It's not here.

I HATE WAITING!

I swear they are watching how many times I check that website to see where it currently is and just laughing and laughing at my expense.  I check every 5 minutes like it's actually going to help or change the outcome...It's still not here.

By the way, I HATE WAITING!

On a semi-related note.  Little bit here has got herself some Aunt Casey attitude in her :)  This past weekend we all got to witness this one's inability to wait.  I'm a bad influence b/c when she starts doing something wrong or gets herself in trouble I am the one who almost just has to leave the room b/c I start laughing so much.  I dunno if it's the "uncomfortable laughs" or just that I find it entertaining how dramatic life is when we are so small and things are so frustrating.

Either way, I'm that person laughing into a pillow while your child is in time out crying their eyes out.

God help our future children.

Trying Something New

Trying a new mobile format blogger just added. I apologize in advance for any errors that appear while I get used to the new features.
Hope you're having a fantastic day!

Baby Shower Goodness

 A week ago (and a day) I was super glad to be able to go up to Frisco and see my friend Heather and attend her baby shower.  It wasn't until about halfway through it that I got to thinking and I'm pretty sure it was my first legit baby shower as a grown up.  I've given baby gifts, I've made baby gifts but I don't think I've actually attended a shower as an adult...I could be wrong, but I'm like 90% sure b/c I've been contemplating this idea the entire week.

It was wonderful.  Heather's family is going through a bit of a baby boom and we were blessed to have two of the recent additions at the shower.  I have to say...the shower, the cute baby gifts, PLUS not one but TWO tiny babies was enough to give me a pretty bad case of baby fever.

Now, it'll go away like it always does, I'm nothing if not practical.  But I can't wait till Hannah gets here so I can hold a tiny baby and "oo" and "aww" then give it back :)  It's a temporary cure for baby fever and it works pretty good.

Heather with her sister-in-laws and the tiny babies

After two boys it's fun to see all the pink cuteness

This one is a pro at rockin' babies.  She was in this chair for over an hour rockin a babies

Me, Heather who you probably can't even tell IS pregnant from this view :), and Allison

And the soon to be daddy-again getting some baby holding practice in

My Latest Projects

I've posted some of them randomly but the pictures were just from my phone.  So here are the "good" pictures of my projects from the past month or so.

Elf Hat for Baby Hannah

Little Lace hat for Hannah that I apparently dropped at the C-Town Mall and will never find.  Will make a replacement soon.

The flower from the lost hat

The bear hat for baby Hannah (I seriously can't wait to meet this kid!!!)

Elf hat for the future niece or nephew due out next January.   Can't wait to see that little nugget in all it's Aggie stuff.

One of my proudest projects, baby Hannah's absolute girly goodness blanket.

Reagan's owl hat I made for when she came to California to help me drive back to Texas last weekend.

I will admit, it's possibly the cutest thing I've ever made....like Ever.

Why I'll Never Wrap Anything Again

 

I'm a lucky girl, my closest friends are ones I've had since elementary, middle, or high school.  One of these friends is having a baby and it's her first girl after two boys so of course it calls for lots of pink :)

Since I'm in love with crocheting and I love my friend, I took this opportunity to make her lots of crochet things (I'll post pictures later)

In our town there's this store called Accents in the mall and when someone gets a gift from Accents, or has it wrapped at Accents...EVERYONE knows.  Since I didn't actually get a gift from there I did get it wrapped there and for the price quite honestly I will probably never wrap something myself again.

Haters Gon' Hate

 But me...I just bake.

I made all these chocolate chip cookies for our road trip to Texas...it's kind of one of those projects that's all or nothing.  There's not really a recipe for a couple chocolate chip cookies.

This is one of my favorite recipes.  Instead of butter you use Crisco butter flavor baking sticks and they make the perfect combination of crunchy and soft.  It's quite perfect and they hold their goodness longer than some other recipes I've tried.

It's just the Nestle Tollhouse (say it like Phoebe) recipe...so, cue pictures of cookies :)

I am going to write a love song for the cookie scoop...  my OCD looooooves how uniform everything is

 These are diagonals that Mr. Reed would be proud of :)

So many cookies....like 54.

The end!  Want one now?

Part 1 of the Texas Shuffle

I haven't blogged in a week now and with good reason:

I have been busy!


Reagan came in last Friday to Long Beach and we saw as much of California as we could in the 4 hours we had before sundown then grabbed some food and went back to our apartment where I began (yes, BEGAN) to pack for this month long stretch here in Texas.

Reagan at the Long Beach Teeny Tiny Airport

Saturday morning we loaded up and headed out at around 7 o'clock and were shooting for El Paso (about a 12ish hour drive I think.)

For the most part our Excellent Adventure was relatively uneventful...except the first 15 minutes.

We get on the highway and head to base where we stopped to get gas b/c gas on base is always cheaper and I figured I should take advantage of it before we headed out into the civilian wilderness.  I also kinda wanted to show Reagan a tiny bit of base.
After we filled up and Reagan got to take in a bit of the scenery we went over the overpass and turned to get on the on ramp and my car JOLTS like it sporadically stopped working and then decided to work immediately afterward.

Immediately we're both like "CRAP!?"

We continue on cautiously...driving a LOT slower than the California speed racers that are zooming past us.  My car is generally low maintenance, the only problem I've had with it has to do with the air supply (fan belt, hoses, AC.)  So I turn off the air conditioner to see if it runs better (it wasn't running poorly but I was overreacting to every bump in the road like my engine was going to show up in my rear view mirror.)

As soon as I kill the AC "smoke" starts coming out of the vents, Reagan points to it, and I just pull over.  We evaluate the situation.  The car was running fine, nothing seemed off, the "smoke" seemed to just be vapor from the AC so we decided to press on.

My poor little car just really doesn't have a lot of "oomph" so the mountains are hard on the poor thing but we made it, slowly but surely.

We stopped in Yuma (right outside of the California border) and as soon as we were off the highway and idling at a stop light to turn....the check engine light comes on.  That stupid unholy light...and we were maybe 200 miles into the trip....with like 1300 left to go.

To wrap up the story...we made it to Texas with no further worries from the car.  The check engine light stayed on the entire trip but the car drove fine and aside from some sketchy truck stops we hit up for food/gas it was a pretty routine drive.

When we got into Austin we decided I'd go ahead and eat dinner with Reagan before making the rest of the trip to Cleburne...but after we got some tasty Torchy's Tacos in our bellies all I wanted to do was sleep so I crashed at her place for the night.  It was the best decision I made b/c I was able to chill (literally) watch some tv, got to watch How to Train your Dragon and absolutely pass out for the night.  Woke up bright and refreshed and finished off the drive easy the next morning.

So here I am till the end of June.