Sleepover

Last night was the first time for Cannon & Neely to get to have a sleepover at Gran's new house.  From the time they stepped off the bus yesterday they were bugging me to go to her house.  I told them to pack their overnight bags....which BTW, was quite funny!  It is amazing what they think they "need" when you let them pack themselves!  We waited for Les to get home, then headed to Gran's house.

We  took Gran out  to dinner at our fave little Mexican place in Cedar Park, then it was sleepover time.  I never had a grandparent close enough to just go over for one night,  I always envied kids  that did.  I am so glad that Cannon and Neely will have that escape!  

I got up this morning and rushed to get ready to go pick them up....thinking they would all be sick of each other...wrong!  As I got close to Gran's house she text me to say they were going for donuts.  I may never get them to spend the night at home again!!!  After they got home from the donut place, and about 4 donuts, a dozen or so donut holes and one kolache....it was time to play on the new swingset!  Needless to say, they enjoyed their first of many sleepovers.....and I had to pry them away from her house, only by promising we would see her later today.

Positive Circle of Eight

When I was in high school, many moons ago, I ran around with a sweet group of girls.  We were  hardly perfect, therefore we called ourselves the "Positive Circle of Eight". A few of the girls have been chattin up a little Circle of Eight reunion....and I couldn't be happier about it! This group consisted of myself, Keri, Ronda, Cami, Daystar, April, Heather and Callie.  Combined we have 14 children, and one on the way (congrats Ronda) . We are (in no certain order)  an RN, an amazingly talented Artist, an owner of a dance studio (which by the way she owned when we were in high school) and High School Teacher, a Sonographer, a SAHM which happens to have her masters in statistic (yea, she's smart :), an Events Coordinator for her beautiful wedding and event venue, a Sr Project Manager for a construction company.....and we've lost touch with Daystar so I am not sure what she does, so hopefully she will make it so we can catch up with her.  I'm not sure who came up with that name Positive Circle of Eight...maybe it was Keri???.....I'm sure we will get to the bottom of that (and a million other things) at our little reunion.  All of the girls are still in the Lonestart State, except for Daystar, so as Heather put it, "she's our wild card".  Amazingly enough, the first date the planners of this shindig  threw out there, so far, works for everyone!  April 17th I will be reunited with friends that I have not seen in 10+ years for most, but even longer than that for a few of them.  I'm not sure that one night will be enough to catch up, but it's definitely a start.  Speaking of a start, I need to start some ab workouts, because I have a feeling we will be doing some BIG belly laughing that evening.  There will probably (at some point) be some dancing, eating, lots of talking, crying, hugging and loving!  I can't wait!!!  I love things to look forward to, and this is definitely something I will be looking forward to! So many wonderful memories with these girls, and I never thought we'd get the chance to make more.....but it looks like we will!!! 

Good times, Good times!!

Breakfast Casserole requested by Aunt Janet

Aunt Janet, here is the recipe for the breakfast casserole I made while you all were here....

If you have been an overnight guest at my house, chances are you had this casserole for breakfast.  I am such a one trick pony....but if it ain't broke, don't fix it!  This casserole feeds a crowd, and aims to please!  You make it the day before you cook it, and then pop it in the oven the next morn, voila......breakfast!

1 lbs sausage (whatever kind you like, I use the Jimmy Dean reduced fat)
10-12 pieces of bread (white or wheat, whatever you have...I usually use what is leftover from the week before)
15-18 Large eggs
1/4-1/2 milk (beat into the eggs)
6 deli slices of swiss cheese (I have also used pepper jack which made it a little spicy...YUM)
salt & pepper to taste

Brown the sausage, drain fat, set aside. Cut crust of bread and cut bread in fourths. Spray 9 x 13 dish with Pam, and cover bottom of dish with pieces of bread. Sprinkle sausage on top of bread, then tear up slices of cheese on top of sausage. Beat eggs and milk and pour over bread,sausage, bread and cheese. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours, but you can refrigerate up to 24+ hours. Sprinke shredded sharp cheddar on top and cook at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes (may take a little longer, I usually start checking on it at about 30 minutes). Make sure all eggs are cooked. Take out and cool for 10 minutes and serve. We like to eat our casserole with my homemade salsa and a dollop of sour cream!  Next time I make this I am going to drain a can of rotel and pour over the sausage, bread and cheese before I pour in the eggs.  This will definitely give it a little kick.....here in Texas we put Ro-tel in ANYTHING!

Enjoy!!

Bittersweet

It came to me this morning how selfish I have been about Gran's big move to Texas.  This morning she took her sister, Liz, to the airport and told her goodbye.  Liz will go home to Alabama, and Gran is home, but not the home that she has known all her life.  In her own words on the phone after an emotional goodbye with her sister, "I left a lot behind".  Until that moment it had all been happy for me, but I realized that I have not given up a single thing!  In fact, there is not a single thing about her moving here that is not in my favor, yet she gave up so much to be here with us in Texas.  I hope that we can show her how much we appreciate what she has done, and what she has given up to be here.  We can't thank her enough with our words, so we will have to do so with our actions and our love for her.

I hope that she will be happy here.  She gets to watch the children grow up in person, rather than on a webcam or a blog, but it was not done without sacrifices.  She will be so missed in Alabama (and I know she will miss everyone in Alabama), but we are so happy and blessed to have her here with us, and we hope that she will love Texas!  I already know of 4 things that she really loves about Texas (that she didn't have in Alabama)....Les, Cannon, Neely and Hutch!!  

Thank you Gran!!!!

Totally Awesome!!!!

It's pretty exciting here in Texas when we get a little snow!!!!

So we play.......

Hutch on the other hand did not appreciate the novelty of snow in Texas!!!!

Hutch was much more fond of the 75 degrees on Sunday!

On the way home from school the kids were so excited about the snow!  Cannon screamed out ,"this is totally awesome".  Neely screamed out, "thank you God for the snow".    Cannon screamed out, "thank you God for the snow".

It was fun!  I am glad we don't have it all the time....I myself am a warm weather girl, but I am thankful for a little snow today!  Thank you God for the snow!!!!  It was totally awesosme!!!!

Snowing

It's snowing in my neighborhood.....

and I'm at work....hummmppphhhh!

Perfect weather

Hard to believe that in two days it will freezing again, for today it's PERFECT! 

We decided to get out enjoy it while it lasted......

Aunt Liz and Gran stopped by for a visit.

Les cleaned out the garaged.

And I did what I do best....I loved on my sweet boy, and took pictures of him.

Crawling is for babies

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Moving Day

We welcomed Gran to her new home in Cedar Park this weekend.  She drove into town on Friday afternoon with her car loaded down, and her brother in law and sister in law driving a Uhaul full of her things, right behind her.  Her sister rode down with her, along with Buddy, her collie, and Jose the cat.  They have spent much of the day unloading, unpacking and putting up.  There is still much  to be done, but I fully expect by this time next year  next week that everything will be in its rightful place!

While the ladies put things up in the house, Uncle Coye helped Les finish putting the swingset together!  The kids are so excited about Gran's house, the swingset and Jose, they may never want to spend a weekend night at home again!  We are equally excited about Gran's move to Cedar Park, it is a WIN WIN situation!

Welcome to your new home Gran!!!!