Half Way to Eighteen

Tuesday, the 18th, was Madison's 9th birthday! I can't believe I have a 9 year old! It seems that even our children's birthdays revolve around eating out. Saturday evening we took Madison to Olive Garden for her birthday. Then, Tuesday we ate with my family at Bubba's for her birthday, and then last night we ate at La Fiesta with Corey's family for her birthday. While we were at La Fiesta, an Elvis impersonator was setting up his performing equipment. As he was warming up, we told him that he needed to sing "Happy Birthday" to Madison. So before he started his show, he sang to her. She was pretty excited that The King was the one singing Happy Birthday, not just her ol' fam! I think she had a good birthday. I'm so happy that we have such great family surrounding our children-birthdays and every day!

Our Veteran

Last Friday, Lorena Elementary had a Veteran's Appreciation Program to honor all the Veterans in our community. The students were allowed to invite a Veteran to sit with them during the program. My grandfather, Papa Bob, mentioned that he was going to speak at Bruceville-Eddy's Veteran's Day Program. I asked him if he would speak at our program too, and he said he would love to. So, he came to our program decked out in his Marine coat and hat, and ready to speak to our school. He did a great job speaking, and was so excited that he had 4 generations in that gym with him (Papa Bob, my mom, me, and Madison). It was not only a special day for our Veterans but for our family, one we will remember forever!

Cason Strikes Again!!!

My Papa Bob's 85th birthday was this past Tuesday, November 4th. Every Wednesday my family eats together at Bubba's, the local (okay only) cafe in Lorena. When we eat on Wednesday, we also celebrate any birthdays that have happened within the week. My mom usually brings some kind of dessert for the birthday celebration. Being the nice person that I am, I decided that I would bring the dessert for Papa Bob's birthday. After much pondering, and advice from my mom, I decided I would fix Sopapilla Cheesecake. So Wednesday afternoon I got home from school & immediately started preparing the cheesecake. I set the oven to 350 degrees, like the recipe calls for, and got it all together. I put it in the oven, set the timer, and began doing all the things I normally do on any given afternoon, i.e. help with homework, throw a load of laundry in, get clothes ready for the next day, etc. Twenty minutes later, I heard the timer go off, and started smelling a really burnt smell. When I opened the oven, I realized that something had gone terribly wrong. The Sopapilla Cheesecake was burnt to a crisp! I looked at the oven trying to figure out what went wrong; and then it all became perfectly clear. As I was running around getting things done, and possibly watching a few minutes of Oprah, Cason decided he needed a snack. The bucket of Halloween candy was on the counter right next to the stove. When Cason climbed on the counter to get to the Halloween candy, he turned the knob to the oven up to 500 degrees! I quickly put the pan out in the garage, so the whole house wouldn't smell like burnt cream cheese, and then started looking for something else to fix for my Papa's 85th birthday celebration. Of course, I had nothing else to fix! So, on the way to dinner we stopped at good ole' Brookshire's and picked up a store bought cake. I give up on cooking/baking! Every time I try, something goes wrong, and most of the time Cason is involved!!!

The Hulk, A Cat, & A Screamer...Oh My!!

Well, we survived another Halloween. The kids actually wore their costumes the entire time they were trick-or-treating. Every year since we started trick-or-treating, with kids, someone did not wear their costume. This year Jackson donned the Scream mask & cape, Cason was none other than the Incredible Hulk, and Madison was, after much searching, a Purr-ty Kitty. The kids got a ton of candy and had lots of fun!