Gardening and Food

I said last week that I was going private this week, but I have had a crazy week, and just haven't felt up to spending an hour on my computer typing out email addresses. Maybe this weekend?

I had a brunch/jewelry show at the house yesterday. My friend has started selling jewelry and I agreed to host a show. It was a blast! I love making fun food, and enjoyed hanging out with my friends at the house.

I had so many sweet people email me to be put on my blog list, and many said they liked reading about food and gardening. I am dedicating this post to you, sweet blog readers!

On Gardening:
I went out to my back yard today and took a few pictures. Every year, I am just amazed at how quickly everything goes from bleak to blooming. My Japanese maple (the last picture) was completely bare two weeks ago. The whole process is such a miracle to me. I have always considered myself a rose fanatic. I have them all over. Over the past two growing seasons, though, I have come to adore my irises. I watched that beauty in the first picture open up yesterday. I only wish they bloomed longer than a few weeks!

On Food:
I love reading cookbooks. I just recently purchased a new one and was reading through it. One recipe happened to catch my eye because of its unusual ingredients. East Texas breakfast cake is basically a cake batter mixed with sausage, blueberries, and pecans. I had to try it! My whole family gobbled it up and it was a big hit at my brunch yesterday. It is great to make for breakfast for kids going to school, and it lasts for several days. Enjoy!

East Texas Breakfast Cake
1 lb pork sausage
2 C flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 C sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 C sour cream
1 C blueberries
1/2 C pecans (optional) I used more. How can one only use 1/2 pecans?

Blueberry Sauce
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C water
2 T cornstarch
2 C blueberries
1/2 t. lemon juice

Cook sausage until brown and crumbly. Drain and set aside.

Mix flour b.p., and b.s. together, and set aside. Cream the butter in a mixing bowl until light. Add the sugar and brown sugar, and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream, beating just until moistened after each addition.

Fold the sausage, blueberries and pecans into the batter. Spoon into an ungreased 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until the cake tests done.

To prepare the sauce, combine the sugar, water, and cornstarch in a saucepan and mix well Stir in the blueberries. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 minutes longer. Stir in the lemon juice.

Cue the cake into squares and serve with the sauce. Store in refrigerator.

This weekend

What a weekend! We started Friday off with a momentous occasion....Mary Elizabeth's first hair cut! I started noticing a few split ends, so my hair dresser gave her a trim. M.E. was in a trance during the entire episode, and my sweet hair dresser didn't even charge me. I guess she knew that she was investing in a very lucrative new client! I was wondering if cutting off her curls would make her hair straight. The second picture solved that mystery!

We kicked off baseball season yesterday! I got in the car (at 7:45 a.m. Yuck!) with Matthew and asked him what he thought about his baseball game. "I just know I am going to get hit by the ball!" I reassured him, but knew it was a possibility, since this was his first time playing in kid pitch. One look at the (huge in my mind) 9 year old pitcher throwing fast balls to the catcher sort of made my stomach turn. This is definitely a different world from last year's coach pitch. And for the second stomach turn of the day, Matthew was up to bat during every mother's nightmare....bases loaded, 2 outs. He got in the box, the kid fires off a fastball, right into Matthew ankle bone! Once he got up, and I knew he would be OK, I breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't strike out!!

The next time up to bat, he got in position and had one strike. The next ball hit him right in the calf! Yes, there were three times during the game that any kid was hit, and my kid sustained two of them! At least both times, he was able to get the kid on 3rd, home for a run. Matthew was pretty humored by the whole thing and wondered if there was a target on his leg!

Matthew's soccer game was much easier to watch. Baseball is killer on mothers, I think. Too much pressure on individual kids. I love watching his face when his opponent comes near the goal. He loves playing goalie! I prefer the half of the game when he is running up and down the field. Helps get some of that insatiable energy out? Maybe? Seriously, he played in back to back games yesterday and it only seemed to rev up his engines. If only I had a quarter of that energy!

Tonight is my book club on People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks. I loved this book! It is about a woman, who is restoring the ancient Sarajevan Haggadah, and she finds small fragments of things in the book, an insect wing, and hair, a wine stain, etc. The book then jumps through time, and explains how each of these got into the book. We are given the information, but the restorer is left to wonder. I highly recomment it!

Happy new week!

Feed the birds!

I find myself often titling my blog entries with lines from songs in my head. Right now I am singing "Feed the birds..." from Mary Poppins, but I digress..

My love for gardening has extended to the birds and insects that also enjoy my gardening. I have decorated my house with bird and bee things. Sounds a little funny together! I often think that when the kids are grown, I will be one of those funny people out wearing cammo armed with a pair of binoculars and a field guide looking for birds.

My love of birds has spread to Mary Beth. We use our barren pots in the winter to throw birdseed in so our little friends will come up close to the back door. When I was opening the blinds yesterday, I noticed this strange sight in my pots. I went out to see whether or not I was growing a strange fungus, and laughed when I figured out what had happened. Mary Beth decided that the birds needed an upgrade from boring old birdseed and threw in a Keva smoothie and banana pudding!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! It's opening weekend for Little League baseball!

It's time!

Well, I have been mulling this over for a while and have decided to make my blog private. I will keep this message up for a week. If you would like to have access to my blog, you can email me at:
littlebitslife@gmail.com

It's been a fun ride!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

We have had such a fun day. It started at 5:30 this morning, when we heard Thomas yelling at the top of his lungs over and over, "Can we come out and see if the Easter Bunny came?" Bryon had to race in to quiet him down! We got up around 7 and enjoyed some time looking through our Easter baskets and having a small egg hunt. Then it was off to church.

The funniest thing happened at church today! I wore a hat today because I love hats and feel that it is acceptable to wear one at Easter. Before the service and afterward, no less than 5 over 80 year old men made a beeline over to me and thanked me for wearing a hat and said they wished that more women would wear them! So ladies, if you are looking to corner the over 80 crowd, I have found the way!

After church, we headed home for a traditional ham Easter dinner. We have spent most of the day working in the yard and playing with our Easter goodies.

Spring Break

I can't believe Spring Break is already over! We had a great week.

Tuesday, Bryon took off work, and we headed to Ft. Worth for a day at the zoo and botanical gardens. We couldn't have asked for better weather and benefitted from the fact that most metroplex schools had a different spring break. We all enjoyed a day away and were sad to come home!

Thursday, I drove the kids half way to Conroe to meet my mother-in-law. They took the kids for two days, and Bryon and I had a great time at home by ourselves. I spent the majority of Thursday cleaning out closets. We went out to our favorite restaurants both nights and ran errands after 8 p.m. just because we could!

Saturday morning, Bryon left to pick up the kids at 6:45 a.m. Matthew had a 10:30 game, so it was back to reality! It was great to have my little chicks back home, and we enjoyed a day at the ball fields. We all got a little too much sun. Hmmm...last week, snow. This week, sunburns!

Overall, it was a wonderful week! I always feel like the school year flies after Spring Break. I am sure that it will this year as well! 10 weeks until summer!

Breaking for Spring!

I am excited, and a little apprehensive, about this week. If we have a great day, then, "Yeah! Spring Break!" If we have a hard day (fighting, cries of boredom, etc.), then it's..."OH MY GOODNESS ONLY 10 EXTREMELY SHORT WEEKS UNTIL ALL THREE ARE HOME FOR 2 1/2 MONTHS STRAIGHT!!!! Here's hoping for good days!

We had a great weekend. The boys had their soccer games. Again, this is one of my favorite things about being a parent! Thomas played well and even scored a goal! Matthew is so much fun to watch as well. Competetive and athletic to the core. He was so cute racing around the field with his hair flopping, and steely eyed determination to get the ball. At some point, he is going to have to chose a sport, and I really hope he gives soccer the green light!

Bryon and I are taking the kids on a day trip to the metroplex and then my in laws have asked that the kids spend a few days with them. With so many sporting events on the weekends, the kids don't get to spend nearly as much time at their grandparents' house as they used to. This will give me a few precious days to go through closets and do a little spring cleaning. I feel like I am going to have to get rid of half the clothes in the boys' closet. They have both hit growth spurts this year. Matthew is now wearing 10s and Thomas wears 7/8s! Along with the cleaning, I am sure there will be a date or two thrown in there as well!

Happy Spring Break everyone!

Surprise this morning!

Well, we had our biggest snow last year Easter weekend, so why not have our first snow of this year at the beginning of Spring Break? We weren't expecting snow, but got a big surprise when we opened the blinds this morning! I had lost hope that we would get any snow this year, so I feel like this morning was an unexpected gift! The kids had a great time in the half and hour they had before school. Lots of snow ball fights and "ice football".

Thomas was SO excited and ran around screaming "It's Snowing! It's Snowing!" He dressed himself in his snowman sweater without a wardrobe consult from me. Thomas told me he was most excited because they can finally put snow up on the weather board at school!

Many of you fellow Texans have commented on how crazy the weather has been this week! Shorts one day, freezing rain the next, shorts again the next day, then snow! Tomorrow it is supposed to be beautiful again in time for our games. I guess variety is the spice of life, right?

My long, tall Texan

Today was Kindergarten cowboy day at school! I got to go to the sing along and take pictures. One of the songs they sang was "Long, tall Texan", which was the song we sang every year at Taylor Elementary in Abilene! It brought me right back to elementary school! There were lots of cute pictures, but most of them had other students in them, and I felt funny putting them on the internet! We also took "Wanted" pictures of the kids. Thomas looks like such an outlaw, don't you think? I had a great time watching the kids. I just love kindergarten!

AI fans?

Any American Idol fans out there? I really enjoyed last night!

I wasn't the biggest fan of David Cook until last night. He was incredible! I also love Jason Castro, despite the fact that he in an Aggie ;). My third favorite guy is Michael Johns.

I am looking forward to the girls tonight. Brooke White is my favorite girl. I also love Carly Smithson and Syesha.

I was a little disappointed with the song choices last night. The 80s were the best! I hope the girls pick some great ones tonight.

Who are your favorites?

In like a lion....

They say that March comes in like a lion. Boy was that the case for us! Bryon's parents came to visit for the weekend to catch the boys' last basketball game and first soccer games. I enjoyed watching the boys play on the same team this year. It will be the only year they will be able to do so in our basketball league, and I was sad to see it end Saturday. I get really attached to the players and their parents. I hate that it has to change every season!

Fortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to dwell on it, and it was off to Matthew's first baseball practice. We left that early to head to the soccer fields for the rest of the afternoon. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be outside, and felt a little strange not sweating to death at the soccer fields!

The boys are always entertaining to watch on the field, but ME can be just as entertaining! She has grown up at one sporting event or another, and has learned to have a great time! The middle picture shows ME and her best friend, Whitney, holding hands in Matthew's baseball glove. Whitney has on one of Matthew's soccer shin guard, cleats, and sock. On the other foot is ME's croc. ME is wearing the matched shin guard, cleat, and sock, and Whitney's shoe. They entertained each other nearly the entire soccer game running around this way!

It was a great weekend, but I must say I really enjoyed that Sunday afternoon nap!

This should be a great week. Tomorrow night is the awards ceremony for basketball and I am going to sing with some great people on our church's praise team. This is something I enjoy so much! I also have three friends who had, or will have babies this week! What a blessed week!

What's going on...

Lots going on around our house these days! We are wrapping up basketball and starting soccer and baseball. Having two boys who live for sports makes a very busy mother! I have gotten spoiled over the past few weeks with both the boys on the same basketball schedule. Now we are trying to balance Thomas's soccer and Matthew's piano, soccer, and baseball schedules. It will just be for a few weeks, but I am anticipating more take out food runs than normal!

After Thursday night's soccer practice, I asked Thomas to close the blinds while I got Mary Beth ready for bed. A few minutes later, I went to find Thomas and found him face down on his bed, dead asleep, still in his shin guards and cleats. He was burning up. I took him to the doctor on Friday, and he was diagnosed with the flu. He hadn't been sick since Michael's wedding two years ago, and I couldn't believe how pitiful he looked. He could hardly keep his eyes open. Thomas and I both got on Tamiflu (I can't imagine how I would manage our schedule if I was sick for two weeks with the flu!), and he was much better yesterday. Thomas being sick really made us pare down our activities all weekend, and I have to admit, it was great just being home.

After Bryon got home from church yesterday, we spent a considerable time in our yard gearing up for the spring. My fingers are sore today from so many thorn pricks, but being out there working in my garden has given me major spring fever!

What song was number one the day of your birth?

For me it was "One Of These Nights" by the Eagles .
Bryon's was "Joy To The World" by Three Dog Night.
Matthew's was "Smooth" by Santana and Rob Thomas
Thomas's was "U Got It Bad" by Usher
Mary Beth's was "Slow Motion" by Juvenile

I think it is funny that I knew Matthew's song really well, I know only the artist, Usher, but not the song, and I have never heard of "Slow Motion" or Juvenile! I guess I listened to less and less popular music with each passing baby!

What about you?

By the way, the Macarena was the number one song the day I got married! Hah!

Valentine's Day and the weekend

I have lots to catch up on!

First of all, we had a very nice Valentine's Day. Ever since Matthew was old enough to realize what the holiday was about, we have made the Valentine's night a family affair. This Valentine's Day, I made my grandmother's traditional spaghetti dinner and a strawberry cake. We had a candlelit dinner in our dining room. ME's chair was covered with towels! We enjoyed telling each other how much we love each member of the family. For the rest of the night, the boys kept talking about how much they loved eating in the dining room (I guess instead of eating in the kitchen when we have guests!). Friday at lunch, I made Mary Beth some soup and called her into the kitchen to eat. She raced in and sat at the dining room table and said, "I am ready for lunch!" What can I say, the girl has formal tastes!

This weekend, Michael and Jilinda came to town to celebrate Michael's birthday. After the boys' basketball game, we all gathered at my house to eat lunch. After lunch, we all sat around my living room to listen to Dad read my parents' 100 memories of Michael, and then watch a video of his life up to this point. It was a very emotional afternoon. Watching the video made me proud of my brother, really miss being a child, and hopeful that Bryon and I can provide a wonderful childhood for my kids like my parents did for me.

Here is a cute picture of Michael and Matthew when Matthew was in kindergarten. It was on Michael's video, and I don't think I ever had seen this one before! I can't believe how little Matthew looks!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Happy Half-Birthday, Mary Elizabeth!

Today, Mary Elizabeth is 3 1/2! Here is what she is up to lately:

*Mary Beth rarely walks anywhere. If she is moving, she is either twirling, jumping, or strutting hands on hips! She is very interested in the "twirl factor" with her dresses. The more material on the skirt, the better the twirl!
*She is into imagination games. Every day, we take turns being Belle and the Beast, the mean old ugly troll and the princess trying to cross the bridge, Cinderella and the prince, etc. When she is in character, she refuses to be called Mary Beth.
"Time for bed, Mary Beth!"
"Don't you mean, Cinderella?"
*Speaking of Cinderella, she is still obsessed with all things princess. She is Ariel in the bath tub, and either Cinderella or Belle "on land". She has asked me before if she could be a walking mermaid. Whatever floats you boat, Mary Beth!
*Dress up, dress up, dress up! You rarely see Mary Beth walking around our house without some sort of dress up clothing on. She came out of her room this morning in her Cinderella dress, tiara, and high heels!
*Her room is generally a disaster! This goes back to the last point. I can't put away her dress up clothes faster than she can pull them out! She did tell me a month or two ago that she wasn't strong enough to help me clean her room. Here's hoping that she gains some strength soon!
*She adores her big brothers. She calls Matthew "Bub" or "Bubby". Thomas is "Sweetie". Matthew calls her "Zooie". She can do no wrong in their book.
*She loves to laugh and to have others laugh at her. She went to her favorite restaurant yesterday with her best little girlfriend. They laughed for over an hour straight! Life is never dull with Mary Beth around.
*She adores Lauren. She calls her "Aunt" and prefers to have Lauren call her "Niece".
*She still loves her "Bibi". Sadly, the term bibi has been replaced recently by "blankie" or "blanks" for short.
*The girl can SING. She has a very large verbrato that cracks me up!
*She is very interested in letters right now. She loves pointing them out on buildings and is right most of the time. She also loves writing "M" but doesn't want to learn how to write any other letter.
*She is still pretty petite. She weighs 32 pounds and can still wear some of her 2 year old clothes.

*When it is time to get in the car, she races around the house to pack up a purse or two. They are usually filled with plastic toys, chap stick, or even the occasional extra pair of underwear or socks!

What a joy she is to me!

Happy 30th birthday, Michael!

Today is my brother, Michael's, 30th birthday! He is such an important part of my life. My kids adore him, and I feel so blessed to call him my brother. Can't wait to see you next weekend, Michael!

Ring Tailed Tooter!

I want to be careful writing this so as not to leave the wrong impression. For starters, my boys have always been rambunctous, but they never get in trouble in school. Thomas hasn't ever gotten a color change, and Matthew, from the start of preschool to present, has only had one. Deana, he did get his name tag pulled by a cafeteria Nazi, but even his teacher thought it was stupid, so we won't count it!

And then there is Mary Elizabeth.....

Let's just say, the girl loves to talk. She also loves to be silly with her best friend, Whitney. Yes, before every ballet class, and Mother's Day Out drop off, we have the discussion on how we must behave. She will look at me with her nose squinted and 1000 watt smile promising that she will be on her best behavior. It's just so hard for such a social butterfly!! She has had a few time outs for talking/silliness. Last week, I picked her up and asked her if she had gotten in trouble. She exuberantly exclaimed, "I didn't go to time out! I am SO LUCKY!" Does this mean just that she didn't get caught?

I must say that she is a doll. So affectionate and sweet. It is just a matter of reining in her mouth! She did great yesterday, so I am hoping this is just a phase!

Red Velvet Balls

Red velvet balls are one of my family's favorite desserts. I just got through making a batch for Matthew's teacher's birthday today. They are also a great gift at Valentine's Day. Here is the recipe:

1 box Red Velvet Cake
1 sm. tub of cream cheese frosting
1 package of chocolate bark

Bake red velvet cake as per directions. Use the biggest container you can to bake it in. This helps it be a little dryer. I use a 11x15.

Let it cool slightly. Then crumble the cake in a large bowl (make sure not to have large chunks of hardened edge cake in the mix) and pour the cream cheese frosting in the bowl. Mix well.

Roll into balls whatever size you want. Mine are usually the size of golf balls. Maybe a little smaller. Put the balls in the refrigerator to harden.

After a while, melt the chocolate bark either on the stove or in the microwave. Dip balls into the chocolate mix and let them harden. After finishing the balls, I like to drizzle white almond bark on top of them.

Then try your hardest not to eat the entire platter of them!

Monday morning quarterback.

What a whirlwind weekend! After our game on Saturday, Bryon and the boys went camping with our neighbor and his two boys who are the same age as Matthew and Thomas. They had a great time fishing, canoeing, hiking, listening to ghost stories, and exploring caves. ME and I had a fun girls weekend, too! We are considering spending a few days camping during Spring Break. I am not much of a camper, but I think I can hang with a few days of R&R, beautiful scenery, and hiking. I just need to find a place with closed in, air conditioned luxury!

We enjoyed the Super Bowl with some of our friends and thanked the good Lord for the gorgeous weather! All of our kids had fun playing outside and we got the first glimpse of spring. I am sure the cold weather will come again, but I have enjoyed cooking out and wearing shorts for a change!

My poor kids looked like walking zoombies this morning after such and eventful weekend. I think next year, they should plan for the Super Bowl to be the Sunday before MLK day so everyone can rest afterward! We will all have an early night tonight, and all will be well for tomorrow.

I was happy for the Giants, but it stung just a little seeing how the Cowboys beat them twice this year! Oh well, there is always next year!