Tornados and library books....

WOW!

What an eventful evening!

If you live in the area, you know what I'm talkin about!

Nothing like knowing that a tornado is headed straight towards your small community and having a dispatcher husband giving you play by play of the storm!

Can you say.... nerve wracking???

When we were told to "take cover", I went and explained to the boys what was going on. There was a tornado and we were going to the neighbors! Garet comes into the kitchen and says, "Mom, if our house is blown away.....I have a library book due tomorrow."

(I'm not kidding! That was word for word!)

His librarian ranks high on his list! HA!

Thank you Jesus! We are all OK! The storm died out right before reaching us! God answers prayers!

I'm not freaking out....yet

Thought this was interesting....

My brother~n~law just posted this pic on his FB.

Every employee at his place of employment was given a bottle of Germex this morning with disease prevention instructions!

Are you kidding me?

I'm really trying NOT to freak out! I really am, but a dear sweet friend reminded me this morning that the majority of our small community comes from Mexico. Nice!

I know that this situation is in the Lord's hands....but still!

Blogging and Bunco....two of my favorite things!

Blogging and Bunco are my two outlets! I look forward to bunco night every month! This is not a great pic....guess my flash didn't go off. I wanted you to see that we really can put 17 women in my little bitty house!
Great friends.....

Great food...

Great stories....

I made a strawberry pie and it was a hit! Several ladies asked for the recipe....so, here ya go! If you are local, Brookshire Brothers has strawberries buy one, get one free through today!

Strawberry Pie

1 cup sugar

2 T. cornstarch

1 cup water

1/2 pkg. strawberry jello

1 pt. strawberries, cut up

pie crust....graham cracker or vanilla wafer

1 small Cool Whip

Cook sugar, cornstarch and water on med. heat until thickened (very thick). Add strawberry jello and cut up strawberries. Pour into pie shell. Top with Cool Whip! Enjoy!

I told ya it was easy!

LOOK....I got crafty!!!!

We had a little shower for a sweet friend of mine tonight! I have seen these diaper cakes and thought they were sooooo CUTE!!!! So.....I made one myself and it turned out super cute! I'm not braggin....just proud of my non~creative self! For a little moment....little moment.....I almost wanted another baby! Smelling all of the powder filled diapers brought back precious memories!
Peyton asked why I was smelling the diapers with a look of concern on his face!
He asked, " You like the smell of POOPY diapers?"
Uh.....NO!!!!
Back to reality!

Table Talk.....

I love sitting down as a family to eat dinner at night! I know that we are very fortunate and that this will not last forever! I enjoy hearing all about the day....the good and bad! We were introduced to this little table game at youth camp last year! We started playing this little game with our family every night. Yes, we play games at the table! HA! Each person is asked two questions! "What made you happy today?" and "What made you sad today?"

It has become a wonderful tradition for our family and the boys start it every night! I love to hear each answer!

So, last night Peyton asked Garet, "What made you happy today brother?"

Garet says, " I only missed 2 on my Math Taks test and I received commended performance!"

I guess you already know what I'm happy about today!

Can I get a WOOT, WOOT for Garet?

We have had a great year and I'm so proud!

One BIG Easter Celebration....

Beware...very long post ahead....sorry! We celebrated Jesus for days! We celebrated at Ms. Connie's. We celebrated with the Roses and we celebrated with the McCoy's!

Celebrate! Celebrate! Celebrate!

Daniel and Peyton checking out their Easter eggs after the hunt!
Daddy gets lots of lovin from the bunny! I wonder who that is???
Running, skipping, hoppin with the bunny!
Here comes Peter Cottontail!
Peyton and Lane pose with the bunny!

Meet Kyndall! This is one of Peyton's special friends! I told them I wanted to get a pic of them before we left! They threw their arms around eachother and posed! So sweet!

We were able to spend half of Easter weekend with Auburn's family and half with my family! Auburn's sister, Angela, headed up their community Easter celebration! I managed to get a pic of her running around! This girl is amazing and has the biggest heart of anyone I know! Lots of work so that others will hopefully come to know JESUS!!!! So, we had lots of free food, jump castles, face painting, clowns and Easter egg hunts! Thanks Aunt Angela!

This is the expression you get from a 36 yr. old MAN trying to seesaw with his son! hehehe!

Priceless!

Shelling fresh green beans for Easter dinner! I'm so weird.....I love doing stuff like this! Auburn's mom, Dorothy, isn't doing so well! I will always cherish the moments like these!

There was lots of good food!!!!

My nephew, Evan, was the Easter bunny at the community celebration today! We made him get dressed again so that we could take cousin pics! He looks thrilled, huh? Thanks Easter bunny!

The only one dressed for the occasion was my cute, little nephew....

Cullen!We ended a great day by visiting with old friends!

At my mom's....the boys are putting their Easter story cookies in the oven and sealing up the tomb!

The Easter story cookie recipe is amazing!

I totally recommend it for teaching kiddos all about Easter!

We celebrated Christs resurrection and my mom's birthday!

No, my mom isn't a zero! We had a six candle and a zero. She doesn't want to be 60 yet....so, we just used the zero! We are very informal! Love you mom! Happy birthday!

Celebrating with family!

The Easter bunny visits!

After a wonderful lunch, the guys watched the Lastros! (jk...I know it is early in the season!)

We dyed Easter eggs!

We had a Eater egg hunt!

(hot, hotter, no cold, real cold!)

We played "monkey in the middle"!

(OK, OK, THEY played....I watched!)

It stormed Easter morning, but turned out to be a beautiful day!

Thank you Jesus!

A few pics before we all head our separate ways!

Aren't Grandma's amarillo's pretty?

The gang's all here!

A very informal pic of my fam!

Tattoos and sweaty, dirty boys! What more could a girl ask for?

Excuse the ears....I was pretending to be a Playboy Bunny for one day! HA!

What's for dinner?

Do you like cabbage?

We do!

My mother~n~law use to make these wonderful stuffed cabbage rolls and my husband loved them! They are a lot of work! I love to cook, but I love EASY recipes! When I found this recipe for stuffed cabbage casserole.....it was a keeper! Same ingredients, just in a crockpot! My neighbor gave me a fresh head of cabbage...so, guess what's for dinner?

Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

1 pnd. ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

4 cups chopped cabbage

1 med. grn. pepper, chopped

1 cup uncooked instant rice

1 cup water

1 can tomato paste

1 can diced, tomatoes, undrained

1/2 cup ketchup

2 T. vinegar

2 T. sugar

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 - 1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

1/4 t. garlic powder

In a skillet, cook beef and onion over med. heat until meat is no longer pink, drain. Transfer to a slow cooker, add cabbage, grn. pepper and rice. In a bowl, combine water and the remaining ingredients. Pour over beef mixture. Mix well. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours until rice and vegetables.

There is just something I love about spring, gardens and fresh veggies!

Hope you had a Happy Easter! We did! I've been unpacking, washing tons of laundry and eating Easter candy!

TGIF ~ Today God is First!!!

Hallelujah!!!!

He is RISEN!!!

Eater blessings to you and your family!

Off to wash clothes, pack, pay bills, take Peyton to the Dr., cook, pack, make sure we have everything for Easter, make sure we have everything for Mom's birthday and finish delivering a 9 billion rolls!!!!!

A mother's work in NEVER done! Can you relate?

Trying to focus on Christ in the middle of the craziness!

Have a super weekend!!!!

Christmas in April and a Thomas birthday!!!!

Christmas in April.....this is so sad! I haven't seen my sister and her fam since before Thanksgiving! They made a move during the holidays and then we were all sick for months. So, we haven't seen each other. We decided Christmas in April wasn't such a bad thing. New toys in April....the kids liked that!
Bath time traditions! No naked shots....sorry!

Cole is obsessed with Thomas the Train! So....Thomas was the theme! Look at the AMAZING Thomas cake M.E made Cole! I have never seen anything like it before!

Precious!

Canon is not so little anymore!

He is a chub!!!!

I just wanted to pinch his cheeks and thighs the whole time!

He has changed so much!

Like father.....like son!

Canon trying out brothers new boots and umbrella!

Cole and all of his cousins!

I hope we didn't scare cute little Whitley and Libby off! They probably didn't know what to think when they arrived to a house full of BOYS! At one point Peyton YELLED, "Uncle Jeff, You need to check Cole's pants. It smells like he took a BIG POOP!!!!"

I try!

We had to have the "you don't talk like that in front of ladies" talk!

On Sunday, we took the boys to Grapevine to meet Thomas is person! It was freezin and WINDY! Canon cracked me up! He was snug as a bug in a rug! I begging him to let Aunt Carrie ride with him.....didn't happen!

All aboard!!!! I'm the fat, chubby girl!

hehehehe!!!

Mr. Conductor really like his job! He danced up and down the aisles to Thomas music! He punched our tickets like Polar Express and he had some dance moves that were questionable for little eyes to see! Had fun watching him!

chug a chug a chug a chug.....choo choo!!!

It was a great weekend with family!

I have to add this! This is my 5 yr. old son! He is my free spirited child! I turned around while we were waiting in line and he had made a friend....a girl friend. They were having this serious conversation! He was mesmorized! He is so girl crazy! Everyday he has a different girlfriend and he is 5! I pray daily!!!

Women and tattoos!!! Oh my!

Peyton got a Thomas tattoo and cried when it came off in the shower Sunday night b/c he wants a real tatt like daddy!!!! Great!