Fun Day With Annabelle

Annabelle started to Kindergarten this year and today was an Inservice/Holiday for her. So she came last night to spend the night with me. We have had a fun time! We have made Jack-O-Lantern Iced Cookies and 2 Heart Cookies for her Mom. Sunday is Missy's birthday so Annabelle wanted to bake something for her.

We also went out to feed the horses but only one came to eat. Annabelle fed Lady some apples.

Pictures to come!

Memorial Day

Matt and Missy

I would like to ask everyone to please remember our military men and women on this Memorial Day Weekend in prayer. I know how hard it is for the soldiers and their families when they are deployed to fight for their country. Each one of these soldiers made a decision to serve their country to protect the freedoms we all hold so dear. The families of these precious men and women need our prayers just as much as the soldiers do.

The picture above is my children the day Matt graduated from basic training at Ft. Sill, OK. We went with some friends to Meers' Restaurant to eat and this picture was taken on the drive up the mountain. If you have never eaten at Meers, you have missed a treat! They have the best and biggest hamburgers you have ever eaten.

Thank you to all our Military men and women and Veteran's everywhere!!!! You are the best our country has to offer. I appreciate the sacrifices you have made for our country. You are the reason we live in the greatest country in the world!

Annabelle's Dance Recital

Sunday, May 23rd was Annabelle's annual dance recital. Of course, she was the best one there and I am not one bit prejudice. This is her 3rd recital and she loves it! Below you see the one and only "Bee". She and 2 other girls danced while one of the older girls sang "Bare Necessities".



She was also in two other numbers--"Jailhouse Rock" and "Singing in the Rain". I loved both of those.

She takes dancing from Jaima Young Miller at Bella Prima in Birmingham, AL. The studio is located close to the Galleria.

Brownie Pie

One of my families favorite desserts is Brownie Pie! This recipe is very easy to make and it is wonderful! The hot fudge sauce you could eat with a spoon. You can make the hot fudge sauce ahead of time and just reheat it in the microwave. It will keep in the refrigerator for at least a week. That is as long as it has ever lasted at my house!!! I never add nuts to mine since neither of my children like nuts. I sure hope your family enjoys this as much as mine does.

Brownie Pie

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup margarine melted

1/2 cup plain flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix all dry ingredients together then add eggs and margarine. Mix well, bake at 325o for 25 minutes in an 8 inch pie pan.

Hot Fudge Sauce

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup margarine

1 small can pet milk

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

Mix sugar and cocoa together, then add other ingredients except butter and vanilla flavoring. Cook over medium to medium high heat until mixture boils. Continue boiling for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in margarine and vanilla. Stores well in fridge and you can reheat in microwave.

To serve, slice a piece of pie, top with vanilla ice cream and drizzle as much hot fudge sauce as you would like! ENJOY!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Matt

Today is Matt's birthday. He is my baby and he is 33 today! As you can tell from the picture above, he loved the Dukes of Hazzard! He was such a cutie in this picture and he still is! He now has children of his own. This seems like only yesterday. Time flies when you are having fun :)

Maggie Claire Moon's Arrival

I have a new granddaughter, Maggie Claire Moon. She was born May 6, 2010 at 1:04 p.m. weighing 8 pounds 6 ounces, 21.5 inches long. Of course, she is beautiful just like my other 3 granddaughters. The picture above is Lyndsey, holding Maggie, Annabelle and Lydia.

Bertha's Pound Cake

I guess everyone has a lady at church that always makes a "pound cake". Bertha was that person at Dwight Baptist Church. Her pound cake was the BEST! She said her secret was Gold Medal Flour and starting the cake in a cold oven.

1/2 Pound of Margarine

1/2 Pound of Criscoe (either regular or buttered flavor)

3 Cups Sugar

Cream all of the above together.

Then add:

5 Eggs

Mix together in a bowl:

3 Cups Gold Medal Flour (All Purpose)

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

Alternate the flour mixture with

1 Cup Milk with 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Added to it.

Bake at 325 Degrees for about an hour or until a cake tester comes back clean. BE SURE TO START IN A COLD OVEN!!!!!!

This makes a LARGE pound cake. I can make one bundt pan cake and 1 loaf pan (my bundt pan is a small one) or you can make 2 loaf pans.

ENJOY and be sure to let me know how it turns out!!!!!

Christmas 2009

My Dad with the Great Grandkids

From Left to Right: Back row - Joshua, Dad, Judson;

Front Row - Lydia, Jack, and Annabelle

Please Pray for Our Soldiers and Their Families

I would like to ask everyone to please say an extra prayer for our soldiers and their families. As a mother that has spent two Christmas's with a son serving in Korea and Iraq, I know how hard it is for everyone. Thank you to all our soldiers for the sacrifices they make for us everyday.

My son is home having completed his 4 years of service to this great country. I know there were many praying for him and for all his family while he was gone. Thank you to everyone for all those prayers. Please keep praying for the other soldiers still serving.

If you have someone in the military, please let us know so we can add their name to our prayer list.

Annabelle's Christmas Program

As always, Annabelle's Christmas program at Hand in Hand was wonderful. The staff always go out of their way to put on a fanastic show! Annabelle's group sang a couple of songs from "The Grinch". The teachers fixed all the girls hair and they were all so cute! Annabelle is the 5th from the left. Of course, I think she was the best!!!!!!!

Lydia's Baby Dedication and Birthday Party

Sunday, December 6, 2009, was a very busy day. First, we had Lydia's Baptism at Riverchase United Methodist Church. After church we went back to Missy and Tyler's and celebrated Lydia's 1st Birthday! It was a little early but we just combined the two events. We all enjoyed it very much. This is a video of Lydia eating her cake while being seranaded by Annabelle, Addie Grace (Tyler's sisters daughter) and Caroline. Annabelle and Addie Grace ran upstairs after church to change clothes--they said they had to get dressed to be the "Dream Team Rock Band". Caroline wasn't there for the big change!

Lydia's 1st Birthday!

Alice in Wonderland and The Queen of Hearts!

Let me introduce you to Alice in Wonderland, aka Annabelle and The Queen of Hearts, aka Lydia. Don't they look adorable?

West Gadsden Cafe Thursday Menu

Baked Ham
Fried Pork Chops
Beef Stew

Macaroni and Cheese
Green Beans
Creamed Corn

Fried Okra

Spinach

Baked Apples (before they moved to the last location)

Pear Salad
Tossed Salad
I know there was more, I will edit this when I can remember what else we had.

And of Course All the Great Pies--Chocolate, Coconut, Lemon, German Chocolate, Strawberry, Potato, and Egg Custard.

When the cafe moved to Forrest Avenue, the crowd was much larger, so they began doing a little something different with the Pork Chops. They would fry them in a skillet and get them very brown, then put them in a large "steam table pan" (long deep pan) with a wire rack in the bottom. Then they would cover the pan with foil and put them in the oven to bake for a while. All the grease would cook out of the pork chops and settle in the bottom of the pan under the wire rack. These are the most tender pork chops you will ever eat! Try them at home!!!!!

I still cook the Beef Stew for my family for Sunday dinner. Here is the recipe that I use. I put all the ingredients in my dutch oven to cook.

1 Can Tomato Sauce ( just a regular size can)
4 Cans of water ( use the tomato sauce can)
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix
Dash of Kitchen Bouquet
Dash of Garlic Salt
Salt and pepper to taste (you can wait until later to decide how much)
1 regular size bag of baby carrots (cut each in half)
2 ribs of celery (chopped very very fine) I like the taste if gives but my family doesn't like to see it!
3 pounds potatoes (cut in bite size pieces) DO NOT PUT THESE IN UNTIL THE LAST 45 MINUTES OR UNTIL MEAT IS TENDER.

2 packages of stew meat (OPPS I left this out!!!!)

You may need to add more water

Bring to a boil and then place a lid on top and continue cooking on low. I can get my stew boiling, put a lid on it, turn it on low and it will continue to slow boil.

Be careful if your pan isn't a thick one.....this will stick!

Serve with Cornbread!!!!!!

I hope I have remembered everything, this is from memory. As you can tell, I don't use a recipe, I just sorta dump!

The Weekend

I had a fun weekend. I kept Annabelle and Lydia while Missy and Tyler went to the Alabama ballgame. We had a fun day! On Sunday, Annabelle sang with her choir at church. She is in the pink dress with a white hair bow and of course, right in front of the microphone. She spotted that mic when she started up there and made sure she got right in front of it! It was hard to get a good picture even though we were on the 2nd row. I hope you can see and hear this.

The Pre-School Choir at Riverchase United Methodist Church.

Finally I am Posting

Well it has been a long time since I have posted. My dad was in the hospital for two weeks and my sister and I had to take turns staying with him. He is so much better now, still weak but better. I know now he is on the road to recovery. While he was in the hospital, Annabelle sang him a couple of songs. They are posted on the left.

I will post more later. I have Annabelle and Lydia today and things are a little hectic! Annabelle and I made gingerbread mini-cupcakes while Lydia took a nap! Annabelle decorated them all by herself!

Annabelle and Lydia

My Two Precious Girls!

Just wanted to show everyone how beautiful my girls are! They spent the night with me last week and we had a ball. Annabelle had "popcorn and milkshake," two of her favorite things!

I added more pictures to the slideshow on the left, so be sure to check them out. Lydia has really grown.

I'm Back!!!

Did anyone hear me screaming HALLELUJAH to the top of my lungs Monday night? Well I was screaming it very loudly. I would have sang but it would have scared Scooby and probably all my new neighbors too! The reason for all the Hallelujahs-----Matt and I have moved and we are completely out of the old house. It seems like it took us forever and I suppose it did take a long time. We have moved into my dad's house. He hasn't lived here in 4 years at least. My mom passed away 6 years ago and he was never really happy here alone. He moved in with his sister to look after her. She is 10 years older than my dad and is now legally blind. Her eye doctor took her license away and she needed someone to do the things she was no longer able to do. She does great for someone that will be 95 on July 10th.

The house is located on 10 acres of land that my grandfather bought in 1948. Mother and dad built this house in 1978 and enjoyed the house until mother's alzheimers progressed to the point that she could no longer do the things she enjoyed doing. At that point my dad cared for her until she passed away.

We are in the house, but there are still so many things to do. As my mother would say, "The carport looks like OUT OUR WAY." We will get it all done but with the way we both work, it will just take a little longer than we both would like. Matt is working full time and going to school 2 nights a week so he is pretty tired when he gets home. Bless his heart, he moved every piece of furniture by himself! He is a good son to have around!

My sister helped me too. I could never have cleaned this house and packed the other one if it had not been for her! I know she is glad her work is done. I will never be able to thank her enough!

Missy and the girls are coming to spend the night tomorrow night! I can't wait! It is so nice to have room for all of them to visit for overnight. I will try to take pictures to post. Lydia has really grown since you have seen her.

Bella Prima Dance Recital

Today is Annabelle's dance recital. I can't wait to see her dance. She loves her dance class. She is the youngest one in her group. I will have pictures to post tonight!

I kept Lydia Thursday, Friday and Saturday. She is such a pleasant baby. She never really cried. She fussed a little when she was hungry or needed her diaper changed but that was it. I put her to bed at 8:00 p.m. and she slept the first night until 6:00 a.m. and the second night until 7:00 a.m. You can't ask for a better baby than that! I sure did miss her last night!

Annabelle did such a good job at her dance recital! She is the youngest one in her group, most of the other girls are 6 and she is only 4. I was so proud of her!!!!!

Moving!!!!

I haven't posted in a while because Matt and I are moving to the country! We are moving into my parents' house in the country. My dad hasn't lived in his house for about 4 years because he moved in with his sister to look after her. She is legally blind so she can't drive.

Since the house hasn't been lived in for such a long time, it is taking us much longer to get things ready to move. It has been slow go because I can only go up there after work. I will try to get some pictures to show you soon. Matt is working on the big yard and he has his hands full with that.

We can't wait until we are ready to live there. We will have sooooo much more room.

I will try to post more soon!!!!!!

A Day With Lydia

Isn't Lydia a beautiful baby?

I am waiting on Lydia, my youngest granddaughter, to get here!  I get to keep her today while Missy works.  She is almost 4 months old.  I can't wait!  I will have pictures to post this afternoon. The weather today is suppose to be cool so we will be staying inside.  Check back for pictures!