1st Day of School

Today was the 1st day of school.

Ethan started the 3rd grade & Emily started Kindergarten. When did this happen? When did my babies grow up?

My kindergartener!

Goober!!

My 3rd grader!

He was so proud of his new backpack. He had to have a one strap backpack this year.

Stinkbug & Ladybug

Happy girl!

There were tears shed. Not by Emily, though. I'll admit it. I cried. Sure I held it together while I was dropping her off, but after I got back to the car...

Then I went home, went into her room & cried. I went to work & every time I thought about them both, I got a little teary eyed. I no longer have a baby. I know this is a great new season for them, and I am happy they came home all excited about school. I know Emily will love kindergarten & I'm real excited because Ethan will get some extra help this year due to his ACC. I think this will make a big difference in school for him, but I can't help being a little reminiscent.     

Ethan & Emily, it has been a complete honor to be your mother for the last 8 & 5 years. Good luck this school year. Both of you will do awesome. I love you!

Let's Talk About...Food, Baby!

OK. Let's talk about one of my favorite topics... food.

More specifically, food that I've made. Here is some things I have created recently.

First up, I made a no-bake chocolate chip cheese cake which I found here.

Chocolate chip cheesecake

It was really good. I think next time I'll try it a little differently. I love mint, so time I might use the Andes mint pieces instead of the mini chocolate chips, add a little green food coloring & mint extract in the cream cheese mixture.

Egg rolls

Dear egg rolls, how do I love thee? I have never made these before so it was the first time for these little guys. I used chicken, purple cabbage, mushrooms & onions in my mixture. See how they gradually got a little darker & darker. Yeah, that's what happens with two kids running around. You'll get a little distracted. These little guys were good and all gone by the next day.

Oatmeal chocolate covered raisin cookies

Wanted some oatmeal cookies the other day. I didn't have any raisins, but my husband had just bought a bag of chocolate covered raisins, so whala!! The oatmeal chocolate covered raisin cookie was born.

Here is a cake I made for my kids in honor of them going back to school. Ethan's going to 3rd & Emily is going to Kindergarten. Yes, I will be a complete mess and in a puddle of tears tomorrow. More on that later.

I got the idea for this cake here. I was in a hurry to get this cake done so the Kit Kats aren't evenly placed on the cake. They're kind slapped on in a hurry.

Emily asked me if I wrote the words in glue!

Here's a cute idea that will let your kids play with their food. My daughter LOVES bread. She will ask for a plain piece of bread to snack on. I saw this idea somewhere in blogland & thought I'd try it.

Grab a cute little helper...

Take some milk, add food coloring...

Some bread, or in our case a hamburger bun & a NEW paintbrush & come creativity.

You get an edible work of art & a happy girl.

I toasted this for her, and she couldn't have been any happier. 
Ever had cake mix cookies? 

1 cake mix, I used funfetti; 2 eggs & 1/3 cup of oil

Mix it up. Um, you gotta watch out for your helpers. Mine loves cookie dough.

Roll them babies up!

Now, you can bake them as directed and frost them like the directions suggest (directions on the side of the Funfetti box). That's what I usually do. 

This time I did them a little different. I rolled them in sprinkles.

You  can now bake as directed. I didn't have enough sprinkles for all the dough. So, I added my left over mini chocolate chips from my chocolate chip cheesecake to the rest of the dough.

Lastley, I made this...

A stromboli

I know it doesn't look all that great and kids questioned me for like, 5  minutes asking me "What's that?" "What's in this?" "Is that a mushroom in there?"

But after they tried it, they liked it. I told them it's good to try new things. Nobody wants chicken nuggets & macaroni & cheese for every meal. Well, nobody over 10 anyways.

Until next time... happy eating!!!!

Bring the Rain

Here in central Texas, we have been many, many days without rain. We even broke a previous record for having so many days over 100 degrees.

We have all been praying for rain. Well today for about 5 whole minutes, we got some steady rain. The kids wanted to go out and enjoy it. I couldn't say no. I grabbed my camera & joined in the fun.

As you can see from the pictures, all the grass is BROWN!!

Thank you Lord for the rain. But, could you send more? Please?

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII..... Love a Parade!!!

I'll admit it. I'm not ashamed. I'll just announce it!

"I'm in love. I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!"
 Anybody guess what movie that's from?

I'm in love with nostalgia. I long for simpler times. I love small towns, parades, local carnivals, county fairs & farmers markets. I love the fact that my children are going to school with and are friends with children of people I went to school with. I love church potlucks, cookie exchanges, driving by our small town's "Yard of the Month" to check it out, etc., etc. You get the idea.

Well I should be happy as a lark today. My family visited a nearby town for their local parade, which by the way, Stinkbug was in! That makes two parades he's been in this year. Wowsa!!

So, if you can stand a little small town charm, here are some pictures.

Granny & Emily waiting for the parade.

Check out my dad's new hat! He loves that thing! He gets lots of compliments by the way.

Me & Ladybug. The sun was in our eyes.

Yes, we are from Texas. Here's a Texas steer to prove it! (Ahem, Hook 'Em Horns!!!)

He wasn't happy about riding in the train. He said it was for babies. I talked him into it.

What's that? A wave? Why Stinkbug, I think you're having fun!!

No explanation for this one.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I already have.

Gotta love these things. Emily wouldn't put her head in there. Buzzkill.

Smile & Say MRI!

Stinkbug waiting to do the MRI

                                                           *Warning. This post may be a little long.*

My heart is full. I love this boy very much.

Ethan went for his MRI last Friday. I have to say, the people at Dell Children's Hospital know what they're doing. We were there twice in one week for two tests & both times the staff was wonderful with Ethan.

Ethan did great with the MRI & they didn't have to sedate him. He was able to watch a movie  through goggles & earphones while they did the test.

When Ethan came to us, he was only 3 months old. We were handed a little chubby bald headed baby and told, here, he has ACC.  He'll probably have learning disabilities, possibly seizures. They were really vague and didn't have a lot of answers. We didn't care. To us, Ethan was perfect. He hit all his baby milestones on time, some early. Fast forward 8 years. We now have questions. What kind of ACC does Ethan have? Full ACC, partial ACC, thinned CC? None of the paperwork we had on him could confirm this.


While standing in the room with him while he was having the MRI, I was just in awe. All I could do is stand there and thank God for giving man the smarts & ability to run tests like this so we can see into Ethan's brain.


Even as I was standing there watching all of this, I knew. I knew the results already. I knew the MRI would confirm Ethan's ACC. I was at peace with that. I felt God's peace. I was just hoping that the test wouldn't add any other complications. I know children with ACC often have additional medical issues. I recently read the following:

"In nearly half of all cases, agenesis of the callosum is associated with different congenital abnormalities, including Dandy-Walker syndrome, septo-optic dysplasia, Chiari one and two malformations, Aicardi's syndrome and holoprosencephaly. Arachnoid cysts and hydrocephalus may also develop in conjunction with these abnormalities."

Again, I felt God giving me peace, and saying "Ethan may have ACC, but ACC doesn't have him." That's true. Ethan is amazing. Ethan may have ACC, but whatever the future holds, he will be awesome.

We got the call today. Ethan has complete ACC.

I'll admit it. I cried. I allowed myself to shed a few tears. Just a few, because I already knew and this doesn't change Ethan. It was the missing piece of the puzzle I knew would come.

Don't get me wrong. I didn't stay sad very long. The only thing wrong with his brain is ACC. Nothing else. He doesn't have seizures, hydrocephalus or other medical abnormalities. Ethan can walk & talk & run and ride a bike & do just about anything else he wants to. Other children with ACC are not so lucky.

I've come full circle. I'm amazed with Ethan. I look at him in awe. I always felt that Ethan was meant to be my son. That's really cool to know that the son I was meant to keep wasn't one of my own, but a little boy whose parents couldn't take care of him, a little boy who needed me as much as I needed him.

Now we know. So what? It doesn't change anything. We don't know what Ethan's future will hold, but I do know that it's gonna be alright. Whatever happens, Ethan will always be my boy, and I'm o.k. with that.

Me & Ethan on his 4th birthday.