Balloons

 Last weekend was our annual Balloon Race Festival.  It so happened that none of our children came home for it.  :(  My plan was that I see balloons every year.  Once you've seen one, you've seen them all.  I planned on sleeping in on Saturday and skipping the whole finding balloons thing.  So I slept till I woke up which turned out to be pretty early.  I made coffee,  had a cup and then decided, WHY NOT?  I love to take pictures.  What else did I have to do?  So, by golly, I got ready, grabbed my camera, and was ready to go.  Just about that time, Todd called.  He was working and wanted me to know that the balloons were all over at the mall.  He suggested I go on out and have a look at them.  :)  So then I knew which direction to go!  I drove over the bridge and saw several just across the bridge at the hotel there that used to be The Ramada.  So I drove up there and enjoyed those there for a few minutes.  Got a few good shots there.

 Then I headed on over to the mall.  There were so many people behind the mall, I COULD NOT find a place to park!  So I hauled my little Camry right into the grass and parked before all the balloons flew away and I missed all the good shots. 

 This one was coming down.

 Even though I thought I didnt want to go do this at first it turned out pretty nice. 

 I guess no matter how many times you see all these things in the sky, it never gets old.

 I loved the shots where I could just look up into the balloon.

 It was a BEAUTIFUL day for it.  The sky was gorgeous.  Weather was great.

 I love the close up shots.

 It was pretty fun, even by myself.  I was even a little disappointed when my camera battery died on me and I had to head on home.  By the way, when I made it back to my car there were plenty of other cars that followed my lead and parked there in the grass.  :)   I think I got some good pictures.  Maybe one day I will get to take pictures from inside a balloon flying across the sky!  Yes, I would love to do that!

Game Time

 This is my last post from Avery's visit with Nonna and Poppa.  We packed in lots of fun in our short time together.  Games were definitely on the agenda.  We played "our version" of dominoes.  It was close to the actual version but not exactly.  Simply because Nonna doesn't play dominoes thus doesn't know the rules very well.  Uncle Mickey gave us a few tips which helped get us started.  It was fun. 

 We also played Jenga.  She likes that and is getting quite good at it.

This is Poppa playing Ladderball with Avery. 

 Averys turn!  I assure you, that was a good shot!

And this last picture is a shot of when Avery and I were making snowflakes!  It was a pinterest idea using a hot glue gun, glitter, and wax paper.  Now you should know, that the best thing about our snowflakes.......was this picture.  Yea maybe you are much more crafty and way smarter than me, but our snowflakes went in the trash.  Of course Avery didnt really know that. The picture however, is CUTE!

Okie dokie, thats it.  The end of Averys visit- blog posts.

Time for A Recipe Post

 As much as I love to cook you would think I would do more recipe posts.  I figured it was about time for one.  I made this recently and it was so good.  It's a Spicy Beef Po Boy. 

Here is what you do.  First of all salt and pepper a chuck roast really good on both sides and then brown it good  in Olive Oil.  I use Extra Virgin.  

 When it is good and brown you remove it from the pan.  Next pour in a box of this.

 Now you gotta scrape up all the good flavorful dark stuff in the bottom of the pan.  Thats the flavor right there. Then add a can of these. I normally get a name brand, but this was all they had so its what I got.  It was fine.

 Now for the good part baby!  CHERRY PEPPERS  I had never tried cherry peppers before.  I was a little nervous about adding them but they looked good enough so I went with it.  I used half a jar. And I drained them.  The liquid would have been a little hot.

 

 Then I added a whole jar of these sweeties.  I have tried them.  I love them and we use them a good bit. So in they went, liquid and all!

Now I dont have a picture of the next ingredient.  Silly me.  But you know those tiny jars of pimentos.  Yep use the whole little jar. Just pour it in. Stir everything around.  Looking yummy already.

 Next add that chuck roast back in.  Settle it deep down in there.  Cover it with a lid and then add to a preheated oven at 300 degrees.  There it will stay for 4 hours.  Yes I said FOUR!  I know, I know, thats a long time.  Its worth it!

After the four hours are up, take the beautiful pot out of the oven.  Oh sorry if you dont have a beautiful pot like mine.  :)  Anyway take the meat out, and shred it.  Then take out the peppers and remove the stems.  I guess you could do this before cooking.  Maybe I will next time.  Once the meats all shredded and the peppers are de-stemmed, add it all back to the liquid gold in the pot. 

Now I know this is bad for you, but the next step adds wonderfulness.  Melt a little butter in a skillet.  Take your Po-Boy buns and brown them in the butter. Once browned, add spoonfuls of the Saucy Meat Pepper goodness to the top of the buns.  Add a slice of mozzerella, (not to Todd's of course).  Cut it in half (my preference) and dig in!  Really really good.  Sorry I was so anxious to eat this great sandwich I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.  :(

Anyway, you should try this.  It was really good!

Hats Off To You, Or rather, Hats On!

 Before Mawmaws birthday party we had to make a trip to the mall for a gift.  Birthdays aren't quite as much fun without presents!  :)  So while we were there Avery decided to do a mini fashion show trying on hats!

What a cutie in the red one

Getting a little sassy here in the black one

 

What can I say, a little goofy in the brown one

 

 Just sweet and precious in the animal print

This girl just melts my heart, hat or no hat!

Fall Decor

 Last weekend after we had Mawmaws Birthday Party with the family, Casey and Charlie went to Baton Rouge for a rare Date Night away.  I was off on Monday since it was Columbus Day and school was out so Avery got to stay with Nonna and Poppa who has Mondays off.   We had a GREAT TIME. I had a few projects in mind for us so early Monday morning we got busy.  First task on the agenda, gather acorns.  Avery was really good at this and had fun doing it.

 She knew to throw away the yucky looking ones.

 So we gathered plenty of acorns, bagged them up and brought them inside for use in our project. 

 We needed candles, pretty glass candle holders, and the acorns for a fall table decoration.

 Avery placed the candles carefully inside the candle holders.  I made sure they were centered.  I cleaned the acorns really good and then Avery placed them around the candles. 

 I added some ribbon, which was suppose to be "fall" ribbon but  I couldnt find any, so I went with Gold!  Here they are all lit and pretty

 I probably should have turned the light on to make these iphone pictures.  But I like the shimmer!

Avery was quite proud of our effort.  She enjoyed creating as much as I do.  It wont be long before I get to turn this into a Christmas table decoration!  :)

Celebrating

 Well I finally took the time to blog again.  And I finally took some pictures to blog about...

First of all this is your introduction to... Paige.  She is Marks girlfriend.  We love her and are glad she was a part of our weekend. 

 She is a great match for Mark.  The both LOVE hunting.  He even surprised her with an interesting birthday gift...  They jumped out of an airplane!!  And... she LOVED it!  I tell ya, they have a lot in common.

 The whole family got together this weekend.  We had things to celebrate.  But first we enjoyed family time.  We played ladderball in the yard.  Casey was getting the hang of it this time.  She even won her game against Sebastian.  :)

 This is her scoring here!

 And this is the face Sebastian made when she made her winning shot.

This is Avery running around so glad to be outside with everyone.  She was actually playing chase with Paige and Mark here.

 Earlier I mentioned that we got together this weekend to celebrate.  We were celebrating Todds Mothers birthday.  She turned 67 on October 4th!  She is always doing something for someone else and we decided we wanted to do something for her.  So several of us met together this weekend at The Sandbar and enjoyed lunch, cake, presents, and most importantly family time together for her birthday celebration.  We really had a very nice time.


 This daughter of mine REALLY loves her Mamaw!  She really does.  She would do anything for her (and has) because she knows her Mamaw is the same way and would do anything for her, or any of us for that matter.  At the restaurant before cutting the cake Casey gave a small speech about Mawmaw.  It was very sweet!

 

This is during the prayer before our meal.  Yes I was taking pictures.  Lord forgive me.  :)

 

 This is when Richard and Corre got there.  Sebastian hadnt seen them in a while.He was happy to see his daddy.  They had been out of town and yes Linda and Bill were babysitting, and dog sitting!  I told you!

 He is such a cutie!

 

I think Mawmaw and Pawpaw were glad to be able to get together with everyone.  

 I know Linda had a good time.

And here is another one of my girls that LOVES her some Gigi.  I know its a little confusing but Avery calls Mawmaw, Gigi.  I love this sweet picture of them.

 

And speaking of SWEET PICTURES!  

I am glad we had this celebration for Todds mom.  We enjoyed the weekend for sure.  There was lots of food and laughing and fun as there usually is when we are all together.