Beauty Shop

This is the beauty shop. Papaw converted their garage to a beauty shop in the early 60's. Mamaw has had a constant stream of clients since then. Can you image the fun we had playing beauty shop at every visit? Mamaw will be 88 tomorrow & still works 2 days a week. She's an angel sent from God. Words are not adequate enough to express her importance to me & every other life she has touched.

The Stick

Mamaw has a walking cane which she calls her "stick". Well, Danijela was all over Mamaw AND her stick. Mamaw got more exercise than any of us. Danijela would pretty much demand Mamaw to escort her all over the house. Mamaw was also left stickless quite often.

Mamaw

Wrestling

This is a funny story. We were talking about Weight Watchers which led to funny things wrestlers do to manage their weight. Apparently if you stand on your head & immediately run to the scale you can lose 10ths of a pound ... for a few seconds. Aunt Sara gave it a shot while we all laughed hysterically.

Kissin' Cousins

We are all cousins at some level. Papaw & Mamaw had six children. Then they had children of their own that number 13 (I am one). Those grandchildren produced 11 great grandbabies so far (one on the way). Here is a day with some of us ...

Dress Up

Before we left for Amarillo Danijela tried on Sundee's shoes. Well, she is all into the whole shoe thing. Here she is walking across Mamaw's living room with Sydney's high heels. I wish I had sound to accompany this image.

Amarillo by morning ...

It is the beginning to an old country song that I know because I am old. I'll be 40 this year which is totally freaky to me. But, oh well, such is life. My Mom, Danijela & I went to Amarillo this week to see Mamaw. She is the most precious person in the world to me. Above Danijela is in my Mamaw's dining room. She fell down the stairs of our deck the day before we left & looked like Rocky Balboa. Love her. She is my tomboy.

BIG Boy

Reece is Reece. He is a big boy. He has always had these amazing mature facial expressions. An old soul in a baby's body. I believe he'll do amazing things in his life ... an astronaut, teacher or Nobel Prize winner. Reece, remember me when you are famous. You also look really hot in blue.

Poor Fig Newton

Poor Fig Newton or poor couch? Couch.

Puppy Dogs

Danijela's Robeez are officially her "outdoor" shoes (see previous post). She has worn them out at the park, in the water & in the dirt. I bought a knock-off brand @ Target today. We'll see how long these last.

Seahorse

Danijela has had a persistent cough for about a month. We thought it was allergies. Doctor says it is probably viral. Anywho, we bypassed playgroup & spent the day together. I thought it would be fun to put on her seahorse bathing suit & clean the deck. She sure liked it.

Bang Bang Bang

Danijela is very much into being pushed & pushing her Jeep umbrella stroller ... in the house. She used to despise her stroller. Now she begs to sit in it. Tuesday she pushed Kiley around our itty bity house (with Tata's help). It was quite the entertainment. She gets very frustrated when she hits a "road block" & doesn't know how to maneuver out of it. Here are some action shots.

Red Shoes

Our big girl tried on Sundee's shoes when we weren't looking. She's never done that before & now it is part of her regular routine. I guess this is the beginning of dress up.

Kiss Tata

Danijela loves her Tata. She gave him several kisses yesterday evening in the backyard. Her Tata was very happy. Genuinely touched. He is such a great husband & father. We love you, Tata.

Sleeping Beauty

Pancake Monday

Yep. I made pancakes Monday morning. I had cottage cheese I needed to use & Danijela loves the pancakes. It is one of the few things she will eat right now. These are healthy pancakes loaded with protein.

As you can see, I made quite the mess. I think I finally figured out how to make them without sticking to this particular griddle. I also substituted Egg Beaters for the eggs. Think they turned out just fine. I divided them into sandwich bags & froze them for meals on the run.

Easter Sunday

Today is the day we celebrate Jesus Christ's resurrection. This morning Danny & I served in the Children's Ministry during the early Easter service.

When Danny took Danijela to her class I could literally hear her wail echoing down the hall. It wasn't long before the workers came to inform us they simply couldn't calm her. So, Danijela joined her Tata & Mama. She did great & especially liked the animal cookie part & pretend kitchen. We did, however, get the pleasure of revisiting the whole temper tantrum thing later in the day.

Tacos

Mom & I went to an undisclosed East Dallas Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was very strange. "The camera" caused a little uproar. What we believe was the manager came to our table asking about the camera & if we were from "the newspaper." Grammy & I thought that was funny.

At the end of the meal another manager "inquired" about "the camera" once again. Totally thought we were going to be followed. My Mom & I laughed hysterically in the car. We giggled about how we could have been PIs. Mom was the decoy. I said "I'll expose my hairy legs to distract" the target. I almost wet my pants.

LFHMC

The Little Forest Hills Mom's Club (LFHMC) meets monthly & today was the day. It was cool because my Mom is in town & finally had the opportunity to meet the friends I've been talking about forever. Above are me, Polly, Devra & Barbara.

Scone Saturday

Have you noticed the missing Pancake Saturday's? We were out of town & then Danny & I went on a cleansing fast (don't ask). So, pancakes were not an option. However, my sister-in-law, Paula, made some awesome scones on the Saturday we were in Austin. Here is the recipe:

Spiced Whole Wheat Scones
1 c. Whole wheat flour
1 c. White flour
1/3 c. Sugar
1 1/2 t. Baking powder
1/2 t. Baking soda
1/2 t. Cinnamon
1/4 t. Salt
1/8 t. Ginger
pinch nutmeg & cloves
6 T. Butter
1/2 c. Buttermilk
1 egg
1 t. Vanilla

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Blend with we ingredients. Shape into circles & cut in half. Bake on lightly buttered cookie sheet @ 400 degrees for 16-18 minutes.

Miss Matchy

This morning Danijela did the funniest thing. There was folded laundry on the coffee table. She handed Grammy a sock & wanted it on her foot. Then she grabbed another sock (that didn't match) for the other foot.

THEN her Tata put a sock on her arm. And she wanted a second mismatched sock for her second arm. Go figure. The arm thing started to agitate her pretty quick so I just snapped this one.

Mitzy

I took this yesterday when we were at Baba & Deda's house. Danijela was coming back in from the backyard after looking for Mitzy the cat. We found her later. The cat I mean.

Inspector Clusoe