Mike's Birthday Celebration #2 & #3

Saturday afternoon, we met Mike's family for lunch to celebrate his 37th birthday again. We were going to go to Toby Keith's I Love this Bar & Grill, but it was extremely busy. When they said it would be an hour and a half wait, we decided to go to a different restaurant. So we ended up at Texas Roadhouse. They had to split us up into two tables back to back, but it was still better than an hour and a half wait!

Mike's mom made an awesome German Chocolate Cake - homemade cake, homemade icing!! Fortunately/unfortunately, she sent the leftovers home with us! I had some of it for dinner last night ... and breakfast this morning. Just kidding. (I had the strawberry cake for breakfast!)

The Cake!!! Did I mention homemade cake with homemade icing? So rich .. so yummy!

Aunt Charlene and Uncle Ralph

Aunt Pat (she doesn't follow the rule) and all the girls

Mason and Gary

I think it's safe to say that a good time was had by all.

Mike's Birthday Celebration #3

So today, Mike and Emily and I went back to Toby Keith's restaurant for lunch. Mike really wanted one of their chicken fried steak sandwiches for his birthday. It's good, but maybe it's not hour-and-a-half-wait good. We got there right when they opened today so no waiting.

Emily, waiting for our lunch

Emily wanted to know if this bus was the bathroom

Birthday Boy and his little girl

After we finished eating, we were pointing out different decorations they had on the walls. On one wall was a huge American Flag. I asked Emily if she could say the Pledge of Allegiance .. and this is what I got. One is normal .. and one is superfast!

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Tag, I'm it!

I've been tagged by my friend, Lisa.

Favorite memories of 2008
#1 Visiting the zoo with Mike and Emily.
#2 Emily driving the train at her 3rd birthday party.
#3 Mike's baptism
#4 Christmas!

Favorite movies of 2008
#1 Fireproof
#2 27 Dresses
#3 Baby Mama
#4 Nights in Rodanthe (Okay, I didn't actually watch this one, but ...)

Favorite foods of 2008
#1 Emily's Scooby Doo birthday cake
#2 Goldbrick Candy
#3 Fajitas at Alfredo's (before Cubbies on Wednesday nights)
#4 Pizza Hut

Favorite places of 2008
#1 Oklahoma City, OK
#2 Magnolia, AR
#3 Fayetteville, AR
#4 ??

Events in 2008
#1 Our nephew, Carter, was born in February.
#2 Heather and Stephen's wedding in March
#3 Emily's birthday in June
#4 Mike's baptism in July

Things I liked in 2008
#1 Emily learning to write her name
#2 Being a Cubbies leader
#3 Starting my blog
#4 Mike and I both getting a promotion at work

Things I look forward to in 2009
#1 Finding out what God has planned for me and our family
#2 Seeing the results of all the changes we are going through at work (may be 2010 before I see this!)
#3 Emily starting Pre-K in the fall
#4 Spring!


I'm supposed to tag 4 people so consider yourself tagged!

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Mike's Birthday Celebration #1

In this family, you get multiple birthday celebrations. Mike's first party was tonight. He requested Sonic for supper. (I was going to fix BBQ, but he had BBQ for lunch at work today.)

When we drove up at Sonic, most of the drive-in stalls were filled with fancy classic cars. There was a shiny cherry red Mustang, several old Chevys, a couple Belvederes, A red Corvette, and a Falcon to name a few. I wished I had my camera so that I could take pictures of some of the cars! Why is it that I never have my camera with me when I need it??

Then we went home and ate some strawberry cake that I baked this morning before work! It was really moist and tasty. Lots of ooooey gooey icing. After cake (and singing - off key singing), Mike opened his presents from Emily and me and the card from his parents.

Mike's next party is Saturday! Stay tuned for details!

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Happy Birthday, Mike!

Happy Birthday to you ...
Happy Birthday to you ...
Happy Birthday dear Mike...
Happy Birthday to you.

And many moooooooooore!

I love you!!!

Check out Mike's new blog - God's Favor.

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AWANA Cubbies Update

Approved

Workmen

Are

Not

Ashamed

Tonight, we had six Cubbies in our class. I had prayed all week that the two new girls from last week would be back this week. They both came back plus another new one this week! I was so excited to see them! I hope they all three come back next week and I'll be praying for that to happen.

Emily did so well with her verse this week. "When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. Matthew 2:10" She just picked it up immediately. When I picked her up tonight, she wanted to know if I'd heard her class singing the Cubbies song. Yes, I did! They are very loud tonight.

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Kids say ...

Kids say the darndest things ....

Last night, I was telling Emily that my boss wasn't feeling well at work. Here's how the conversation went from there.

Me: My day was good, but we were busy and my boss wasn't feeling very good.

Emily: Well, did you put your hand on his forehead?

Me: No! I didn't put my hand on his forehead.

Emily: Why not?

Me: Because ... I'm not his mama.

Emily: Who is his mama?

Me: I don't know, but it's not me!

Emily: But who IS it?

Me: I'm not sure who his mama is.

Emily: Well what's her name? Is it Jennifer?

Me: No, I don't think his mama's name is Jennifer. I don't know what her name is.

Emily: Well ...

Me: I don't know! Lets go play with your computer .. please anything but talk about this any more.

This post is part of "Laughter Lives! Tuesday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check our their blog to read everyone else's "Laughter Lives!" posts.

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Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday to you ...

Happy Birthday to you ...

Happy Birthday dear Mom...

Happy Birthday to you.

And many moooooooooore!

I love you!!!

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Weekend Projects and Certainly Not Me!

This weekend - unlike most other weekends - I set a couple goals for myself. These were things that needed to be done and SHOULD have been done a long time ago. One of them is a "Not Me!" that I was too embarrassed to post until it was fixed. Okay okay .. I will admit it! BOTH of them are "Not Me!"-worthy. Both of them should have been fixed a long time ago.

I took some Before and After pictures to explain. "Before" pics were taken on Friday and the "After" pics were taken today.

Emily's Sleeping Beauty Vanity set

Vanity set - Before

Vanity set - After

This Vanity set was a 45 minute project! It had soooo many parts and so many stickers and decals. And after everything was said and done, I still had one little screw left over. Bummer.

I did not wait over three weeks to assemble one of Emily's Christmas presents. What kind of parent would do? That would be like torture to a little kid, especially when the box has been sitting in the living room the entire time.

Christmas Tree

Christmas Tree - Before

Christmas Tree - After

This was an all evening project! Taking down the tree was the easy part in this project. Getting all the ornaments back into the boxes and getting everything back into the closet was the real challenge. While we were putting everything away, I predicted that I would find something I missed just as soon as the last box was tucked safely into the closet. (As usual) I was right! And (of course) there is no extra room in any of the storage boxes. Bummer.

I did not leave my Christmas tree up until January 18th! Who would do something like that? I don't know, but it's certainly not me!

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Recipe - Reeses Cups

I had a very special request for the Reeses Cup recipe that I made at Christmas. I wish I had a picture of the final result. I took pictures of everything else I made at Christmas, except that!

Reeses Cups

Melt together in microwave:
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
2 sticks margarine

Add:
1 lb powdered sugar

Mix well and spread into buttered pan. Top with melted chocolate chips and 1/2 block paraffin melted. Chill. Cut into squares.

Enjoy!


*****************************************************

Okay that's the "official" recipe - not a lot of detail. I use creamy peanut butter and a 9X13 pan. I think the hardest part is the melted chocolate on the top. I have tried the paraffin, but I didn't like the way it turned out (eww!). The real problem is that the topping is hard to cut without it cracking. This year, I tried putting a few squares of white almond bark in with the chocolate chips. That worked better, but I ended up letting the pan sit out on the counter for a half hour or so until the chocolate was softened a bit and then cut it into squares.

Have you ever run into a similar problem when working with chocolate? What worked best for you?

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Purse, Penguin and Prayer Requests

My new purse was delivered today. I'd been to the store to check the price on it every weekend since Christmas and it was never on sale enough for me to be willing to buy it. Last weekend, I found it on sale online and ordered it using a click-through from Ebates.com (If you haven't signed up, do it now!) which earned me 8% cash back. Then I found another website online that was even cheaper than where I ordered it and so I cashed in on the 110% Price Match Guarantee and got a $30 credit! Woo! I also got a $10 coupon for using the Price Match service so I went back and ordered a checkbook wallet. I wish they had another color besides green, but I like all the pockets and card slots and compartments.

Penguin

Emily brought a cute penguin thermometer home from school today. I think it's very cute! Emily doesn't seem too upset that her best friend is not in her preschool class any more. I told her that we'll still see her at Sunday School and Cubbies. She seemed fine with that.

Prayer Requests

Two blogger ladies that I have been following had babies this week and BOTH babies had breathing problems and they were BOTH flown by helicopter to Arkansas Childrens Hospital in Little Rock.

• Please pray for Jenna and baby Brayden (born Wednesday - 7lbs, 1oz)
• Please pray for Kelly and baby Harper (born tonight - 9lbs, 12oz)

Both babies are very serious and the families are having a hard time. This is the first baby for both families. Please visit their sites and PRAY!

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Laptops and Legs

This evening, Emily sat down next to me to "work" on her laptop for a bit. She's got several games that she likes to play on there. She asks me what number to push to get to certain games, but sometimes I don't know what she's talking about. Tonight, she was asking me what number to push to get to "cup". Uhhh, no idea on that one.

I really like this little Vtech laptop because it has a mouse with it, but the mouse doesn't move all over. It only moves a big side to side and front to back. Much easier for little ones to get the hang of using the mouse without getting frustrated. The only thing that I don't like is that it has a "10" key and no "0" key.


And notice Emily's pants. Yep, she's got her pants pushed up to her knees and then pink pantyhose over her pants. Lovely!!!!

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Cubbies Update

Emily and I went back to Cubbies tonight. We missed last week because I wasn't feeling good so it was good to be back.


It looked like Emily had a full class. She was glad to have her teacher "Mrs. Jennifer" back this week. Emily was telling me all about Mrs. Jennifer, how "she didn't have her baby any more" and "her daddy" stayed home with her baby. I think she was really interested in all her teacher's business.


My class was bigger this week. We had two little girls to make a total of five. The new girls did really well. They just got right into the swing of things and were very sweet. When the mom and dad of one of the new girls dropped her off, they came into the room and talked to us a bit about what we do in class. The little girl was off playing and talking to us and the dad finally told the mom to "just walk away" and she would be fine. And the mom said "well, I want her to miss me!"


I also found out tonight that Emily's "best friend" at her preschool will be leaving. Her last day is tomorrow. She's going to be starting a full day preschool. I'm not sure how to talk to Emily about it. I guess I'll wait until she gets home from school tomorrow and see if Emily says anything about it. I'm glad the other mom said something to me about it so that I would be prepared to discuss it. The girls will still see each other at Sunday School and at Cubbies so that is good.


It's supposed to turn very cold here tomorrow. I hope we are ready!

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100

100 tiles in a standard Scrabble set

100 yards in an American football field

100 yards minimum for a Par 3 on a golf course

100 degrees is the boiling point for water

100 in Italian is cento

100 as Roman Numeral = C

100 legs on a centipede

100th day of a (non-leap) year is April 10th

100 United States Senators

100 blog posts

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Yes, you heard me right ... this is my 100th blog post. It sure didn't take long to get here.

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Wii Love to Play

I think I mentioned this before, but we got a Wii for Christmas. We usually play games several nights a week and then on the weekends.


I like to do step aerobics on the Wii Fit. Emily likes it too. She says she wants to play the "step on, step off" game. I have tried some of the yoga poses, but .. uhhh .. some of them are kinda weird and I'm not too good at that part.


We also like several of the games on Wii Play. Emily likes fishing and shooting and the cow racing game. I don't think Mike likes playing shooting with me very much because I always win that one. He likes the laser hockey though. He's pretty good. He goes for the aggressive moves and I just sit back and wait for him to sink the puck into his own goal for me. hehe


I like the games where we can play together. Bowling is fun, but I like the Wii Play games that we can play at the same time.


I looked at some games online the other night. I think Dance Dance Revolution looks like a lot of fun. Have any of you ever played it? What other Wii games do you enjoy?

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Boomer!

Sooner!


Well the big game is tonight. It's the Something Something National Championship Bowl. You know the one, I'm sure. Oklahoma vs. Florida.


After work, we went over to my in-laws house for dinner. My mother-in-law fixed some awesome tacos. While we were there, I hooked up a wireless router for them to use with their new laptop. Yep, you heard me right. My in-laws have finally joined the information age. They're all set up with email and have found some favorite websites. And yes, they are turning into faithful blog readers, too.


Emily and I left about the time the big game started. She goes to preschool on Thursdays and Fridays and they don't get to take a nap this year. By the end of the day, she's pretty well had enough. It's important for her to get in bed on time on Thursday nights so that she can make it through the day on Friday.


Emily and I drove by Wal-mart on the way home and I noticed that the parking lot was almost empty! That's Oklahoma for you! They are serious about their football team and nobody was out and about after the game started.

Mike came home at half-time and he's watching the rest of the game now. Not sure if he's happy with how is Sooners are playing tonight.


I guess we'll see what happens.

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Wile E. Coyote's Nemesis

So you guessed it ...

This fine feathered friend is a Roadrunner.

This one (no, I don't really know that it's always the same one) likes to hang out in our yard. When Mike came home the other day, this little guy was by the swingset. When I got home, he was out closer to the driveway I snapped this picture from the car. I'd been trying to get a picture of him for a couple weeks, but ... uhhh .. they're pretty fast, ya know.

Just so ya know ...

I've got a yucky chest cold. It's been hanging around since Friday and my voice is pretty much gone at this point. Uggh! At least it waited until after the holidays, but it could not have come at a worse time as far as work is concerned. I was training a helper at work this afternoon and I could not quit coughing. I felt sooo bad.

And poor Emily ...

The other night, I was telling Emily that her teeth looked bigger. For some reason, that really upset her. I tried to make it better by telling her that it was okay because her head was getting bigger too. She didn't want to hear that at all!! I decided to stop while I was ahead, but really .. I think her teeth are getting bigger. This is not a great picture, but what do you think?

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What am I?

• I am a a bird.

• I can fly, but I usually don't.

• I like to eat insects, lizards, small birds, eggs, fruit, berries, nuts. (I'm an omnivore.)

• I'm a fast bird. I'm so fast that an ISP is named after me!

• Seriously, I can run up to 15 mph.
  

• I build my nest out of sticks. I usually put it in a low tree or bush.

• I make a dove-like "coo" sound that is slow and descending.

• Sometimes I make a rapid clattering sound with my mandibles .. meep! meep!

What am I?

And a Tidbit ...

And I just couldn't resist ... a picture of Emily from lunch today at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

The waiter played a little trick on her.

We were ordering our drinks and I said she wanted a Sprite. She said "and not water!" So when the waiter brought our drinks, he sat our glasses down and said "An iced tea, a diet coke ... and a water for you." She just kinda looked down and softly said "I didn't want water." I said "You didn't? You better take a drink." She took a drink and said "It IS Sprite!"

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2,009 Reasons to be Thankful

Seriously? You seriously thought I was going to list 2,009 reasons to be thankful on my blog?

And where would I find the kind of time it would take to list 2,009 reasons? I'm at work today, ya know!

Although I will not be listing them all on my blog, I do have at least 2,009 reasons to be thankful at the start of this new year.

Looking back on 2008, I had plenty of reason to be thankful last year as well. I wish I could do a "Year in Pictures" post, but I don't pictures of a lot of things that we did. I'm really bad about remember when things happened and this is yet another reason to start using that new calendar that I bought this week!

As I was sitting here reflecting on 2008, I tried to come up with a list of memorable events in 2008.

• Our nephew, Carter, was born to my brother and sister-in-law in February.
• My sister, Heather, married her long-time boyfriend, Stephen, in a beautiful ceremony in March in our hometown.
• My parents put their farm up for sale.
• Emily had her 3rd birthday in June, complete with a big celebration at Orr Family Farm.
• Mike's dad turned 60 in July.
• Mike and I joined the church.
• Mike was baptized in July.
• Emily started AWANA Cubbies and I became a Cubbies leader.
• Emily started gymnastics classes.
• Mike got a promotion at his work.
• I got a promotion at my work.
  

I feel like I'm leaving some things out, but those are the things I thought of this morning. Isn't God awesome? He has done so many great things for us in 2008. I can hardly wait to see what's in store for us in 2009.

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Hello, 2009

Happy New Year!

I always like this time of year where you can get a fresh start on things. The end of a year always seems like a good turning point to change some of my bad habits. I get to start a new calendar and get busy with organization again.

But all of that will have to wait until I've eaten my black eyed peas! I'm not really superstitious that way, but it's a good excuse to get some vegetables into my family. I thought we were going over to the in-laws, but apparently we're not. I better get in there and start some peas then.

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Ho, Ho, Ho

Merry Christmas everybody! I hope you all had a great Christmas. We sure did!

Emily let us sleep in a bit this morning. When she woke up, we went into her room to tell her that Santa Claus came to see us while she was asleep. Emily wanted to know if he ate all the treats that we left out for him. As you can see from the picture below, he definitely did!


After that, we opened all our presents. We all got lots of nice things. Way too many things to list, but ...

Emily got a water baby that she named Lucy.

She got a princess video game that you play on the TV ...

and a pink remote control car ...

and a Cabbage Patch kid sailor boy named Adam.

After we opened our presents and played, we went over to Mike's parents for lunch. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera with me but we had a really great time. It was nice to see alllllllllll the family. We had some really good food and then played Dirty Santa.

Later this afternoon, we came back home to play some more and rest. We have another busy day tomorrow.

P.S. No, Santa didn't steal her Mama's jewelry box! She asked about it this morning!

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