Her Hillbilly Highness: August 2008

8.29.2008

Haystacks

12 oz. pkg. Nestle butterscotch morsels
5 oz. can La Choy chow mein noodles
6 oz. dry Planters roasted peanuts

Place all noodles and peanuts into large mixing bowl. Heat morsels in microwaveable bowl on high for 1 minute, remove and stir. Cook at 30 second intervals and stir until smooth. Do Not Overcook. Pour melted morsels over noodles and peanuts; stir until coated. Quickly spoon onto waxed paper.

8.25.2008

1st Grade Here We Come!

Kylie was off to 1st Grade by 7:15 this morning. Yeah, that's right- our school starts at 7:30 in the morning! That's a HUGE adjustment for us but we weren't tardy on the first day!!

She is so excited about being a big 1st grader. We went to Meet The Teacher night on Friday night and met her teacher, who is new to the district and really sweet! We also found out that she had a locker instead of a cubby, real desks instead of a table, and Katelyn was in her class again this year. How random is that? We couldn't have requested that they be in the same class both years but it happened! I think she is going to have a great year.

I had her outfit all picked out and she didn't even complain. In fact, she said, "I'm going to wear my hair in a headband because that will look SO 1st grade!"

Alan, Riley, and I walked her in to school and they ushered all the kids into the gym. Kylie couldn't wait to get rid of us- she quickly found some friends and told us goodbye. We stayed in the hall and as they walked by, I got a pic of her and her teacher, Mrs. G. I'm glad that it happened that way because she would have been really angry if we had followed to her class to get a picture!

I'm thinking of all my friend's that have kids who are going to school for the first time this morning. It was so hard to let Kylie go last year- I remember holding it together until I got in the car last year to go home. Then I called my Mom and was better. This year, I was an old pro! No crying or even tearing up. Yea for me!

I wanted to put some pictures of Kylie's last summer weekend on here. She has been begging Ninni and BoBo for weeks to help her make an "Ace of Cakes" with her. She loves to watch Ace of Cakes with me and we sit and marvel at all the fabulous cakes that they make. It's one of our favorite shows!

Well, it just so happens that BoBo is going to pastry school and can make awesome cakes, too, so Kylie picked up on that and asked BoBo to help her make a Gumball Cake like Ace did a few weeks back. Ninni and BoBo were kind enough to plan the night and Kylie was so excited she couldn't even sleep the night before!

Here's Ace's Gumball cake (or one off the internet that is close to it!):

And here is Kylie and BoBo's gumball cake!

Isn't it so cute? BoBo planned out the cake and Ninni said that she made Kylie do all the work like cracking the eggs, pouring the mixture, and putting each and every gumdrop on! Thank you so much, Ninni and BoBo. I'll bet that was one of the best parts of summer for Kylie and she will never forget it! I think she's planning another one real soon! :)

8.24.2008

Bea's Ham

This is my grandmother Bea's recipe for ham. Beady always cooked by the seat of her pants. She threw in a little of this and a little of that and 9 times out of 10 it was different each time, but still great! My aunts and mom got her to sit down and tell them some recipes a couple of years before she started to deteriorate with Alzheimer's. I am so glad that they did because now we can carry on her cooking legacy during the holidays.

My sister in law, Carolyn, took all these special recipes and put them into book and gave each of us a copy one year. I keep it handy all throughout the year because it is filled with good eats and good memories!

This recipe is simple yet so tasty if it is done right!

Small ham
1 small can crushed pineapple
1 cup brown sugar

Drain pineapple and save the juice. With the ham in a baking dish, put the crushed pineapple on the ham. Mix the brown sugar and pineapple juice to make a paste. Spread the paste on the ham. Cover with foil and cook in a 350 degree oven for one hour. Turn the ham over and cook for another hour. Keep the juice. As you cut the ham, dip each slice in the juice and let the juice drain off the slice. Put on plate and serve!

My Ace of Cakes- with BoBo's help!

Here's Ace's Gumball cake (or one off the internet that is close to it!):

And here is Kylie and BoBo's gumball cake!

8.23.2008

Riley Roo

I just had to get a post in about my sweet little guy before the first day of school when Kylie will get all the glory. Riles has been eating SO good this summer. He asks for a fork with everything and since I introduced him to pickles, he eats them like crazy! Are pickles gluten-free? I don't know! I really don't care at this point because he's been such a picky eater in the past. I'm so excited when he wants to try something new. As long as it's not dairy. Dairy makes him CrAzY!!!! Speaking of, I just found out that I am lactose-intolerant and it's no fun, sister!

So here is a regular lunch for Riley. PB&J, pickles and raisins with a fork, his Micky Mouse cup and a Maisy book lurking nearby. Add a tv filled with Noggin shows and we are good to go for a couple of hours.

These two are going to really miss each other when school starts. Look at Riley with his arm around his sister. That makes Kylie really proud! :)

8.21.2008

Hanging On By A Thread

Kylie has those two front teeth that have been hanging on FOREVER!! Here she is in Abilene with her friend, Kaylee. You can totally see that one of her front teeth is hanging sideways! Her smile is completely different!!

Well, after nights and nights of me pulling and her telling me, "Just wiggle it!" , I finally yanked it out of there. The tooth fairy didn't give her $10 like with the first tooth. She left her "Three of these ones". That's code for 3 dollars. She put it in her piggy bank and is hoping for another American Girl doll with that money. I'm betting that she's just gonna have to ask Santa again. The way these teeth keeping hanging in there, she's gonna be like, 9, before she gets that doll with her teeth money. Oh, to be young and dream big again!

Back To Blogger!!

Yea! I'm back, baby!! I wasted 8 whole months away from Blogger and it feels so good to be back! I love my Mac- not a fan of the Mac Blogger system. Plus I can't tell you how many times I heard, "Your blog wouldn't let me comment- Your blog bogs my computer down- It's a lot of trouble!"

So, I whipped together a little header and said goodbye to iweb on Mac. I will NEVER stray from Blogger again!! :) I love you, my friend!!

8.17.2008

Olympic Gold

I’m so proud of Nastia and Shawn for winning gold and silver in the Individual All- Around on Friday night. I watched with tears in my eyes and was so happy for Nastia for doing so well and sticking so many landings. My heart also went out to Shawn but she really took it gracefully and, hey, a silver medal aint all bad! You can bet that we are going to that parade for Nastia when she comes home seeing as it’s just down the street. I won’t forget my camera, either so stay tuned!

As for the Team Competition and the Individual Apparatus Competition- I am just going to say “no comment” on all the controversy that was surrounding that 13 year old on Team China and those idiots they chose for judges. I hope they feel justified for giving someone FROM CHINA who landed her vault ON HER KNEES the BRONZE MEDAL instead of Alicia Sacramone who did NOT land ON HER KNEES!!!!!!!!!!

That’s all I am going to say.

Have a nice day!

8.13.2008

Music Camp

Last week and weekend were great! Kylie went to music camp all week at my parents church. She spent the night and stayed with them through the week except to come back for piano lessons and gymnastics. I got to spend a whole lot of time with Riles and work without being interrupted! I got some blogs finished and am working on a couple this week. I need to work on my own blog- post what has been happening! I never thought I would be so busy. Our summers are usually a lot of laying around. Not this summer!

So Kylie did great at Music Camp and she and I were scheduled to go to Abilene on Friday to visit the Beards. Kylie really wanted to go to her Music Program so we put off going to Abilene until Saturday morning. She was so cute at her performance and then came home and cried because she wanted to go to Abilene right then! Can I never win?

Here she is singing. She knew all the songs and the hand motions. We told her that music camp would be like Camp Rock. She loved going everyday and had so much fun. I don’t think she met anyone like Nick Jonas, though.

And here she is giving us a look because we were recording and taking pictures. She is still not a fan of being the center of attention.

And here she is acting completely over it and picking at her nails. Sigh. We still had a great time and Riley sat in the audience and was SO good.

Our Trip To Abilene

Kylie and I FINALLY went to Abilene to see The Beards. I mean, they have only been gone for almost three years. What was the rush? :) We have really missed them so much and can’t believe that we hadn’t gone before now. We had such a great time and did so many fun things in just a day. Erica wanted us to stay an extra day and we were actually entertaining the idea until I got a call from Alan that he and Riley were stranded at Whole Foods in Plano. My dad took care of it but we are now one car short! Argh!

Back to the trip- Kylie and Kaylee acted like they were still the greatest of friends and no time had passed!

Kylie’s front tooth is hanging by a thread!

Campbell stole my heart and was the girls’ shadow the whole time, and Erica and Cary feed us and kept me entertained. That family is seriously the most hospitable family that I have ever met! Erica and I got to catch up and I got to see her beautiful house that they have worked so hard on. It was immaculate and I was determined to come home and clean my house from top to bottom.

The girls in their cherry swimsuits!

We visited their church on Sunday morning and I felt like I had been attending there for years. Everyone was so warm and friendly and Kaylee took care of Kylie! Even though I forgot our hanging clothes to wear to church, we had some casual clothes to wear and Erica even put the girls in cute/casual clothes to wear as well! What a great friend.

I really enjoyed seeing the ACU campus because so many friends of mine went there. It was very pretty- kind of like Harding!! :)

Jacob’s Ladder, Girls goofing off, Ants in the shoe!

The girls’ slumber party!

Ummm, no I’m not pregnant! This baggy shirt looked GREAT in the mirror at Steinmart on Saturday!!

On the way home, Kylie and I stopped at Godfather’s Pizza (which was housed in a gas station) to get pizza for us all. I wanted Alan to try it since it was THE BEST pizza joint in McKinney while I was in 7th and 8th grade. I have missed it so much!! Plus those jr. high parties were really great!!

Now we can’t wait to take the WHOLE family back to Abilene in the fall for another visit. Get ready for us, Beards!

Her Hillbilly Highness