Another digital page

This page is made from the snow we had earlier this year.

 

Bye for now....

February on the Hill

Finally made myself stop and blog today.  It seems like a year since I've blogged, so LOTS to talk about.  We have been snowed in for much of February, which has been fun, but after a day or so, got REALLY boring.  The kids wanted to play in it for 1 hour, then they wanted it to go away!  We missed about 3 1/2 days of school, which made Anna sad because she knew these days would have to be made up at the end of the year and take away some of her precious summer days.  Jake couldn't care less....meant he could play video games and that is all he knew!  What a difference 2 years makes in a kid's thoughts!!  

Jada LOVED rolling in the snow and getting covered in these little snow balls.  The only remedy...a warm bath.

 Anna

Anna's friend, Brody

Jake

Anna's friend, Jama 

 Our house in the snow

  
We had about 7 inches.  Fayetteville, about an hour away, got 2 feet.  We were lucky..

We also had a couple visitors that our family has missed so much.  Pia and Andres!!  Pia came to live with us in Pine Bluff, when she was, I believe, 16 years old.  She came as an exchange student and went for a year at Watson Chapel High School.  After that year, she went back to Chile and completed her senior year there.  The next year she came back to live with us and went to college.  She eventually graduated from University of Central Arkansas.  She returned again to Chile to begin medical school.  We haven't seen her since 2006.  She brought her boyfriend Andres with her to visit.  He is a really nice guy and we thoroughly approved!!  It was so good to get to see them.  Anna and Jake were very young when she came to stay with us.  She has always felt like part of our family.  We had SO much fun visiting with them.

 Andres and Pia

Pia and Anna

Basketball season is over for Anna.  Both the Jr. High boys and girls won their division and conference.  It was such fun watching both teams play this year.  On a somewhat sad note (for me), Anna has decided she is not going to cheer next year.  It is hard for me to believe, but I have to support her decision.  I understand her reasons, but it is still hard, nonetheless.  She turns in her uniforms today. 

Jake still has 3 more games left in his basketball season.

He has played really well.  This will be the last year that he plays for Johnson County Boys Club.  Next year, he will play for the Panthers!!  (Hopefully).  

I had the opportunity to make a birthday cake, and cupcakes, for an old friend this month.  It made me a little nervous, but I think it all went pretty smoothly.  Her only request was far an "Army Cake" for her 7 year old grandson, Chandler.  

His cake

His dogtags

His cupcakes

I have, for some reason, been in a cooking mood lately.  I guess it comes and goes, but while it was here, I think I gained 10 pounds!!

We had friends over for the Super Bowl and I made some goodies...

Red Velvet Cupcakes, yum..

 And for Valentine's Day, I made these....

And I got THESE....

I made a really good dish one night a couple of weeks ago.  I got it from Southern Plate.  It reminds me of lasagna without the cottage cheese or noodles.  It was a hit here, especially with Jake who pukes at the site of cottage cheese!  Here is the recipe...

Deep Dish Pizza

1 lb ground beef
1 med onion, chopped
1 C flour
15 ounce jar pizza sauce
1/2 C Parmesan cheese
8 ounce mozzarella
1/2 tsp salt
dash black pepper
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 T oil
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp fresh oregano

Preheat oven to 350. Brown hamburger and onion. Drain well. Add garlic salt and oregano (or Italian Seasoning). Add pizza sauce. Stir well. Grease a 9×13 inch pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle mozzarella over bottom of it. Spread meat mixture over the cheese.  In mixing bowl, add eggs, milk, flour, oil, and salt. Pour over meat in pan. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over batter. Bake 30 minutes.

We are planning on a big trip over Spring Break!  We are going on another cruise, back to Belize, Mexico, and Honduras.  We had so much fun on this cruise last Spring Break that we decided to do it again.  More details later on that.

Having Sloppy Joe's for supper, so better get busy.



Bye for now...

Snowed In

I never thought I'd see the day that I would say, "I'm sick of snow!", but today.....I'M SICK OF SNOW!!!  This is our 2nd snow of 2010 and I've had enough!  It was fun the first day and everyone was Facebooking about how beautiful and fun, blah, blah......now, everyone is just ready for summer.  I have to admit, though, it was a beautiful snow and of course, I took tons of pictures, so you'll just have to bear with me as I show a few.....

I took this picture while the sun was just coming over our trees.  This was taken from our front porch.

Not sure why I like this picture, but I took this yesterday when Joe and I went riding to see the snow.  I was getting a little cabin fever, so we grabbed the camera and headed out... I wish you could see the pond better, cause it was beautiful.

Geese on our pond

 

Snowed in.....

My new Wal-Mart rain (snow) boots.  Love them!!

Shanae and Anna

 

Jake sledding

 

Shanae and Anna with Mr. Snowman

Other than snow, we have had a lot of medical "issues" lately.  Joe had a kidney stone, then Gran had 7 kidney stones and had to be hospitalized overnight.  Next, Anna had Strep throat, then surgery to have her two canine teeth exposed and ligatures were placed to "pull" the teeth into the right place.  After all that, Gran had to go back in and have "kidney sludge" pulled out with a basket and another stint placed for another week or so.  She had hurt for almost an entire month until the last procedure, so maybe she is on her way to recovery.

Anna is finishing up with cheerleading season FINALLY.  She is cheering now at the district tournament, then she will be through until tryouts...which is in March.  Of course, she'll still have tons of practice, but no games.  Jake is full swing into basketball now.  He has won several games.  I think they have only lost 1 regular season game so far.  He has only scored one point, but hopefully we'll get more chances to shoot.

Joe and I are going to Big Cedar Lodge this Friday for Valentine's.  I am so excited.  It will be nice to have a little adult time.  The kids and my parents are coming on Saturday and we will spend the day shopping!  

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and Happy Valentine's to you and yours.

Bye for now.....

Candy