Sidney's 10th Birthday Party

Well we have FINALLY celebrated Sid's birthday. She turned 10 this year. So seeing as how she was now a decade old, I told her we could celebrate one of two ways. Since she was a decade, we could have a decades party. We could have the girls come dressed from different decades: 50's , 60's, 80's, etc. and we could play games from different decades. Or we could have a baby shower since she was out of her baby years. The baby shower was easier to buy stuff for so we went with that.
Each girl got to take home a little goodie bag with a bubble gum cigar, mints, a rattle, chap stick and a pink flower hair clip.

Her invitations we baby shower invites and we played baby shower games.

First game we played was we had to smell the "poopy" diapers to figure out which kind of candy bar had been melted in it.

Then we played this memory game. I showed the girls the tray and then removed it and they had to remember as many things as they could. And lastly we played a baby shower bingo game.

Then we had pizza

and cupcakes. It turned out really cute. The girls had fun and I finally got it celebrated for her! Happy (belated) Birthday Sid!

Holiday Treats

Microwave Caramel

1 cube BUTTER (not marg.) at room temp.

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c Karo syrup

1/2 can (14oz size) sweetened condensed milk

*Stir together until there are no lumps and it is smooth. Microwave for 6 minutes. POUR out the mixture in a greased or waxed lined 8x8 inch pan. DON'T SCRAPE the bowl out. For some reason it changes the consistency. So just get as much out as you can and then you can scrape the remainder out onto a plate for yourself for later! DO NOT DOUBLE THIS RECIPE either.

Peanut Butter Cups - or squares

1 pkg Graham crackers - finely chopped

1 c BUTTER - melted

4 c powdered sugar

2 c peanut butter

*Mix all the ingredients together and pat down in a wax lined cake pan. Melt two 8oz (the giant ones) Hershey Bars and spread over the peanut butter stuff. Chill and cut up.

These are so yummy. They taste just like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. It doesn't matter who I give them to, they LOVE them!

Tea Pot cake

My friend's darling little girl is tuning 3 today and is having a tea party to celebrate her birthday. Jamie, my friend said she wasn't going to bother making a cake for it. So I made one for her. It turned out so cute! I have this red tea pot that I set out at Valentines that I love, so I tried to make it look like it.
I just baked a cake in a 2 quart batter bowl for like an hour until it was done. And the lid is a jumbo muffin top. The spout and handle are made out of cardstock. So easy!
(yes, yes I know I am bragging. But sometimes, you just want to!)

PUMPKIN WAFFLES with BUTTERMILK SYRUP

I wish that I had some pictures to post of these but I didn't make any, so just use your imagination. They are so yummy! I like to make them on Christmas morning.

PUMPKIN WAFFLE BATTER

1 c flour

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

*mix together in a bowl

2 egg yolks-beaten (keep the whites for later)

1/2 c pumpkin

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 c milk

6 tbsp melted butter

* mix together well and then add the dry ingredients and mix.

Whip the 2 egg whites until peaks form, then fold into the batter.

BUTTERMILK SYRUP

1 1/2 c sugar

3/4 c buttermilk

1/2 c butter

2 tbsp corn syrup

*Boil for 7 minutes. Remove from heat then add:

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

*Stir together well.

You have to make this syrup to pour over the waffles. Don't just pour some plain old store bought maple syrup on them. They just won't taste the same. These are so yummy!

Cowboy Staduim

I have had a nasty --literally nasty, naughty, all of the above in my computer---that I downloaded on purpose kind of. I thougt I was running a Windows Security Center sweep. A fake Windows Security Center said I had a virus trying to attack. This kept popping up for a week or two so I finally ran the sweep which downloaded porn! I about died! I was so glad that it was me who ran the sweep instead of Jens. NOW TO MY POST!
Jeff had an Agel event and took Jens along. He also brought my nephew Alec and Sam brought Jaxon. They had an all access pass to the Cowboy Staduim. They LOVED IT! They got a personal tour of the stadium and then got to watch the game from a suite.

Jens was so excited to show me this picture. He said that this was his new facebook profile picture.

After the game, they all got to go down onto the field run around and play. They loved doing that.

Alec and Jeff

Jens and Jaxon

Southern Carribbean Cruise

We went on a 7 day cruise to the Southern Carribbean. We stopped at Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Croix and Antigua. We had a blast!

We also spent 3 days in Puerto Rico (we ported out of Puerto Rico and ended up staying there a few days). While there, we went to church and ran into a friend from high school. Jackie Richardson and her husband, who are living there. Her husband is in the FBI and works in San Juan.

We toured an old Spanish fort in San Juan. It was really neat to go through. It had underground tunnels and dungeons.

We hiked thourgh a rain forrest in ...... gosh, I can't remember. One of the islands. They are all running together now in my mind.

I do remember where this was....! In St. Lucia! It was a beautiful island! We took a boat tour around half of the island. Got out and then took a taxi up the mountain to a volcano. Then we went down the mountain a bit to a waterfall. We got in it and it felt GREAT! The water was cool and refreshing. Then we went all the way back down and got back in the boat and it took us to this beach where we had lunch and just basically parked our butts in the sand.

The mountain we drove up....

The volcano....

The waterfall....

This was in Antigua. We rented wave runners and it was so much fun. We spent the day at the beach and playing in the water.

This church was in Barbados. It is an Anglican church and it was built in 1628. It is the oldest church in Barbados.

The grounds surrounding the church had graves in it. They were soooo old. They were cool to see.

This pew was in the front row and had this plate on it. Kinda neat. This beach was also in Barbados. It is called Cutters Beach. It was so beautiful.

One of my favorite parts of cruising is the amazing sunsets that you get to watch. All in all, we had a great time and made a lot of new friends.

AND NOW! MY FAVORITE PART OF CRUISING!!!!!!!

To all you people out there who make it sooo dang memorable! (I'm sure I'm going to Hell one day for being so mean) For this chick who thought she had a bikini body......and in a squatting position none the less! Thank you for helping me remember that I was on Dawn Beach in St. Maarten!

And thank you for picking your melvin after you stood up.

And for this man in his wife beater mesh tank top and these Vegas print style shorts and shirt. I thank you for helping me remember the waterfall that we stood in to cool down in in St. Lucia.

And to this woman in Barbados. (the old lady on the left) I THANK YOU FOR HAVING NO BOOBS! Yet you still felt as though you could wear a strapless bikini. You have NO IDEA how memorable you made my lunch!

I especially love this picture because she is smiling at the camera!

And I couldn't do this post without paying credit to some past cruise memorables! One of my favorites ............... Sasquatch! (at least that's what we nicknamed her). I could not get over her yellow bikini with her black underwear on underneath. In loafers. I loved watching her walk around the ship for a week.

Jeff and I have been on 7 cruises and you people have never let me down!

T H A N K Y O U!