Rylie's 3rd Birthday and other fun things

Decorating the Christmas tree was fun this year. A vast majority of the ornaments were hung about 6 inches off the floor by my little "elf" who was helping me. She was so proud and she absolutely LOVES decorating! She has only been busted once so far for trying to unwrap gifts under the tree!

Here she is with her BFF Kaylen.....those two love to play dress up and get all decked out. Girly-girls through & through!

Here is Rylie getting lots of help from her friends while opening her birthday gifts. We celebrated her 3Rd birthday and what a blessing...it was warm and sunny outside for the kids to play! Great day for all:)

Here is the birthday girl blowing out her Strawberry Shortcake candle.

Can you spot the 4 children in the leaves? This was by and large the hit of the party! A last minute decision by her daddy to leave the mound of leaves in the backyard proved to be a success! I had a ball pit and a tent with a tunnel that all but got ignored! Just proves that free is usually the most fun to kids anyway!

Rylie sporting the "3" shirt I made for her!

We made little trinket boxes in the shape of strawberries and filled them with goodies for the kiddos to take home.

One of the posters I painted for her party

Yummy strawberry cupcakes and homemade strawberry cookies....all things strawberry for this party girl!

Here is Rylie's birthday cake. It was my first time to use fondant, and was a lot easier than I would have thought, although dying it proved to be a bit messy. It is Strawberry Shortcake's hat, in case you were trying to figure out what it was! I made a red velvet cake and slathered it with cream cheese icing before applying the fondant, because I personally think fondant is for aesthetic purposes only (not all that tasty).

Tasty Tuesday 2

This is a savory fall dish that I ran across on ALLRECIPES.COM......(love that site). It was submitted by JRLJACKSON, just so credit is given where it is due, but I tweaked it a bit and it was still delish. So here it is in case you are feeling exotic....it is a Moroccan dish!

Moroccan Tagine

I tablespoon olive oil

3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves,

cut into chunks

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small butternut squash, peeled & chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth

1 (14.5 oz. ) can diced tomatoes & chilies,

with juice

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 dash cayenne pepper

1) Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook the chicken, onion, and garlic about 15 minutes, until browned.

2)Mix the squash, carrot, tomatoes & chilies with juice, broth, sugar, and lemon juice into skillet. Season with salt, coriander, and cayenne pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, and continue cooking 30 minutes until vegetables are tender.

*This is really good served over brown rice. It is pretty healthy and tasty. The original recipe called for 1 (15.5 oz) can of garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed, but I didn't have this. It also called for canned tomatoes with juice but I only had the ones with chilies (like rotel) and I used chicken bouillon instead of vegetable broth, as the recipe stated. Stewart said he didn't love this, but he is a traditionalist when it comes to meals. I thought this was both tasty & healthy & Rylie liked the butternut squash, so I would say it is going in my recipe box!

Just some random pics and some good news!

Ok....so first things first......we have some great news! We are expecting the newest little Fox June 2! We are very excited about this and want to give ALL the praise to our heavenly Father! Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement during this time & please continue to keep our little one in your prayers as we anticipate his/her arrival:)

Here is our little doodle-bug raking the back yard in her skivvies! Her daddy bought her a pink rake at Lowe's...."She has to have that" were his exact words!

This is our fabulous encounter at the Safari park we went to at some random location in Georgia that I can't quite recall right now....( I am a bit tired). Tons of fun...haha...literally! There were Buffalo, Giraffe, zebras, and many, many others, all desperately trying to stick their huge craniums through the bars of the ghetto van. (It was rented there at the park.....DO NOT attempt to drive your own vehicle through....we saw a nice Dodge Ram pickup behind us and I am pretty sure he was cursing himself....oh, and I do believe he had a Bama tag on the front.....I'm just sayin'...)

Breanna, Rylie & Haleigh in the ghetto-fabulous zebra van! Fun times! The Mystery Machine has got nothing on this fine piece of machinery!

Me & my honey stopping for a lunch break.....

This is not at the safari park...just a cute pic of Rylie posing with her Daddy & Pawpaw. She kept making me take it over & over saying...."I blinked".

My sis, My mom & my nieces walking with Rylie as we approach the Safari Park....can't you feel the anticipation radiating through this pic?

TASTY TUESDAY

Anyone that knows me well knows that I LOVE to cook...therefore I am anti most anything that comes prepackaged. There are exceptions, however! ZATARAINS! I love it! My faves are currently their black beans and rice (serve with a side of sour cream with a healthy dash of chopped cilantro mixed into the s. cream...very yummy!) And now, the Jambalaya mix! Of course, I did doctor it up a bit......Here's my take on it:

Make the jambalaya mix as directed; when it tells you to add the meat, I used turkey smoked sausage. This comes in your deli meat section of the grocery store and is pre-cooked. I used half of the package and just sliced it and then cut the slices in halves. When I added the meat, I also added a small can of whole kernel corn, and a small can of diced petite tomatoes. (drain the tomatoes a bit, but not all) While that is simmering, slice up a small green bell pepper (or just half of one) and about a 1/4 of a small vidalia onion. More or less to your taste. Saute the bell pepper & onion together in a skillet with about 2 tablespoons of butter. When this browns a little, add it to the zatarain's already in progress and throw in a handful of chopped cilantro. Yummy to your tummy! Serve with crusty french bread and hot sauce:)


**Some of you may know that Houston (our lovable, but high-energy weimeraner) was struck by a hit-and-run driver in a truck, pulling a trailer, no less. This was about a week and a half ago. Stewart had gone out in the front yard about 10:00 in the evening when we realized that Houston has gotten out. Stewart called him and he heard the truck hit him and Houston yelping. The truck drove right past Stewart and he ran up the street to find Houston lying on the sidewalk. He was still alive, and Stewart got him home. I came out and saw him lying on the garage floor with multiple wounds on his head and back leg and we both thought he probably wouldn't make it. The next morning, Houston was able to raise his head, but that was about it. Now, a week and a half later, he is back to his old self! You would never know he had yet another brush with death! That dog has 9 lives! On a lighter note, the same day that Houston was struck by the truck, our hamster Jack-Jack had gotten out of his cage. When Houston was trying to stand after his accident, he threw up, and in the mix was a blob that looked mysteriously like a furry little Jack-colored rodent! What are the odds? Stewart & I didn't get close enough to inspect it and verify...one can only speculate. Hmmmm....

August is halfway over already???

Ahh...summer is winding down, and soon it will be fall. I can't believe school has already started back for the kiddos...I see them filing into the elementary school down the street with their new backpacks and freshly sharpened pencils. Rylie isn't old enough for school yet, but I couldn't help but buy her a fresh pack of crayons on our last visit to Target. Something about school supplies...I love it! This is a picture of Rylie and her Grandad blowing out the candles on the yummy German Chocolate cake we made him for his birthday. He and my mom came up to see us & we went out for sushi to celebrate, then back to our house for cake! Rylie is a budding chef....she loves to help out in the kitchen and even frosted most of the cake herself!
My little Rachel Ray in the making!

Here is Rylie and her buds Andrew & Kaylen, munching down on some frozen treats! We had an impromptu pool party in the backyard....fun times!

Stewart recently acquired a motorcycle....it just so happened to be while I was out of town...go figure! Don't worry, he called me and let me know before he got it...actually, it was on his way to get it! HA! Anyway, he is schooling Rylie on the mechanics of the bike in this picture. She had been helping him wax it and make it look "cool".

Here is Rylie on her "motorcycle". This is currently her favorite vehicle to play with and she will take it in and out of the house, wherever she may be at the time. Inside the house she likes to load the handlebars down with purses. As you can see, there is a baby doll in the back trailer part pictured above. She calls the trailer her "boat", like daddy's truck when he pulls the boat behind!

She is learning to swim with her floaties or a life jacket quite well. At the beginning of the summer, she was somewhat afraid of the water, but now she loves it!

Rylie and her daddy on the "hog". Too cute!

Sporting her Cinderella tattoo. That thing did not come off for days! What does Disney make that glue out of? Jeez? The other day we had this conversation:

Rylie: "Mom, do cats sometimes bite your tongue?"

Me: (Thinking where did this come from???) Did someone ask you if the cat got your tongue when you wouldn't say anything?

Rylie: Yes. Pop.

(She had seen my grandfather, Pop, the week before and had been mulling over this for the whole week apparently! The kid never forgets anything!) She looked relieved.

Farmer Rylie checking our tomato plants. She is sporting the overalls that were her daddy's when he was that age. We have a few tomatoes, zucchini, and bell peppers left in our little garden, aside from the jalapenos that must have come from Lucifer's home collection. I thought I would be a domestic goddess and make my own pickled jalapeno slices, so I researched, found a tasty recipe and proceed to slice a large jar's worth of jalapenos (sans rubber gloves) and made the brine to pour over them. As I placed the lid on, I went over to the sink and rinsed the jar, as well as my hands. A few minutes later I scratched my nose and afterwards it felt as if I had cut it in the process. So I went to look in the mirror and lo, and behold there was nary a scratch there. That's odd, I thought and splashed a bit of water on my nose. This, in turn made the inside of both nostrils feel as though I had just snorted a match. After a bit more water splashing on my face, (I thought that would help?) my face soon felt like the dry lands of the west engulfed in a brush fire! I literally could not see out of both eyes and my face felt as though the skin had been peeled off! I yelled for Stewart and he told me to put Milk of Magnesia on my face. I blindly got the bottle of or closet and poured it directly out of the bottle in a mad frenzy over my almost certainly disfigured face. This, all while I struggled to maintain composure because Rylie was following at a close pace as I ran from kitchen to bathroom to bathroom seeking relief! When that didn't work, I ran to the fridge and grabbed the milk jug and poured it all over the first piece of fabric I could find and stuck my face in it screaming "my eyes, my eyes...oh, the burn" with Rylie looking at me like I was crazy! By this point, Stewart was making phone calls, probably because he finally realized I wasn't being overly dramatic (this time:) and I had threatened to go to the ER! So, he hastily grabbed a bottle of Aloe and covered my face in it! Ahhh~ sweet relief! After I could peel my eyes open again, I opened them to see my dear husband and sweet daughter staring at me with horror and awe. I looked at myself in the mirror and found that I had mascara running down my face, my nose was running, eyes watering and maybe a bit of drool was involved. Rylie said, "Mommy, I brought you this soft kitty cat from my room so you can rub it on your face!~ (Don't worry, you can laugh! It IS funny in hindsight!)

Sweet girl!

Rylie, Jonah, and baby Katherine on one of our family camping trips!

Long time no see!

It has been quite some time since I wrote......and, as promised, here are some new pics! My friend Megan came over and took some gorgeous pictures of Rylie in her "element". This went over significantly better than the previous 3 tries at Portrait Innovations and the results were absolutely fabulous! She did such a great job with Rylie, who is not your easiest subject. June was a busy/crazy month for us. My grandmother found out she had an aneurysm and they had to do major surgery to correct it. Praise the Lord! The surgery went well and she is recovering as we speak. She has not been released from the hospital to come home, she will have to stay a few weeks, but she did well and continues to recover. Thank you for your prayers:) On a sad note, my great aunt Marge lost her battle with cancer and we will be traveling to Charlotte, NC for her memorial service this weekend. The family has dubbed it "Marge's Celebration" because she was a person who liked to celebrate all things in life and lived life with vigor until the end. She was a lovely lady inside and out and will be missed. I know that she loved the Lord, so we celebrate that she is in His presence. On a less important note, Houston "McGyver" Fox strikes again. We took him to the vet just under 2 weeks ago to see about a mass on his leg and the Dr. seemed sure that it was a cancerous growth and had to be removed promptly. $$$ later, we picked him up, heavily sedated, with 25+ stitches and a lampshade on his head and took him home to quarantine him for 2 weeks while he healed. The very next day he jumped out of the area in the garage that we had him hemmed in and by the next day had managed to bust open his sutures. We returned to the vet...more$$$...because that is what we as responsible dog owners felt the need to do and his wound was awful. They kept him, removed the sutures and cleaned the wound, gave us antibiotics and sedatives and sent us on our way. A few days later, after borrowing a kennel from Skyler, I opened the door to give him water and he barreled out, knocking me backwards and breaking my tailbone in the process! Curses! The next day was the 4th, so we went out on the boat and came home that evening to find that he had McGyvered his way out of the kennel (not through the door, mind you, but somehow got the side of it off....what dog does that?) and defiled our home once again. If you missed the first episode of Houston ransacking our house, go back to older posts so you can appreciate this. It will be the one with his picture. Anyway, at least the pantry was closed this time, so he only ate what was on the island and in the trash. Fun times! If you are thinking of getting a weimeraner, here's my advice: Go buy one of those cute calendars with the weimers dressed up as people in the photos and save your hard earned cash on the actual dog! I love Houston, but he is HIGH MAINTENANCE!!!

I will leave you with a brief anecdote: Rylie and I went for a walk to Dollar General, which is a couple of miles from our house, just to pick up a few items and get some exercise in the process. At dinner that night, Stewart asked Rylie what she did today and she told him about seeing turtles in the creek on our walk and she said "...and we walked to Dollar Genital"! Stewart and I laughed so much and that made her say it more. The things 2 year olds say without even knowing...hysterical!

Happy Easter!

Rylie & John Gavin watering ALL of our tulips! I bought them watering cans & I have never seen anything hold their attention so long! What a great investment:) They literally played in the yard for HOURS! It was so cute.

Here is my little Easter bunny posing for a pic.

So cute! Rylie & Stewart were sitting in the garage, whiling away the hours while it rained.

I told Rylie to pose for me.....sometimes she can be a ham! I have about 7 more after this, each with a different expression!

Just in case you forgot what I look like......JK! Stewart took this one.

I told you we had lots of tulips! My dear sweet husband planted hundreds of them, red, white, yellow, orange & pink! Tulips are my favorite flower...he is really such a romantic guy:)

Tip-toeing thru the tulips!

She was probably getting so tired of me trying to get her to smile & play in the tulips! She was a good sport, though!

One more!

Checking out the inside!

“He is not here. He has risen from the dead as he said he would.” Matthew 28:6

“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

(Praise, God! Don't forget to stop & thank our Lord for his sacrifice and his continuing mercy & grace! God is so good & we serve a risen savior! Thank you, Jesus!)

Have a Happy Easter, everyone!

Spring is here!

What a beautiful week it has been! Such great weather! Tuesday we went to the St. Patrick's Day parade with Kaylen & Andrew. The kids had fun and got to see a green dog! They walked their little legs off to get to the parade and then we went to the park and saw the ducks afterwards. While we were still at the park, the Harlem Globetrotters bus pulled in across the street at the Holiday Inn, so we ran over & got our picture taken with some of the extremely tall players! (The picture is still on my phone). Anyway, here is a shot of the awesome tulips in our yard! We have hundreds of them, ranging from pink to red! Stewart planted them...he knows tulips are my favorite! They make for great spring pictures. This is Rylie's favorite baby, who we named Theo originally, but she has since started calling him "Leo" and insists that he wear dresses.....we now refer to the baby as "she" and we will say Leo is short for Leona!

Wow.....what a toddler can get into in the time it takes you to call the dentist! I got off the phone & she had crawled back into her bed (a dead giveaway that something was up). She turned to look at me & her face was covered in lipstick! She is quick, & had returned the evidence to my make-up bag in the bathroom!

This is Stewart & Rylie re-enacting the previous night's sleep! He told me he literally woke up the night before like this, with his little "backpack" on... I laughed so hard I cried! WE have a king sized bed!!!

Here are the girls painting outside yesterday at the Wilson's house. Andrew was there too, but he took a fall & skinned his nose up. He was o.k.....back to playing soon after! He is a tough little boy:)

A shot of the flowers & ladybugs on my mom & my grandfather's birthday cake....they share a birthday. Rylie helped me make the ladybugs.

my mother & "Pop"

Rylie & her grandaddy during an intense fishing lesson......she learned how to reel'em in! A Mexican family walked up behind us on the pier & she said "What are they talking like???" really loud! I told her they were talking like Dora, and she said "oh".

I love this picture of my sweetie!

She caught one! She did not want to touch it though.

Snow in Alabama.....my snow bunny doesn't look too happy in this pic! She perked up when we made a snowman & gave him m&m eyes and an almond nose!