Yee Ha - Camryn's First Birthday!

We celebrated Camryn Joy's first birthday last Saturday night. Sarah, Tyson and Camryn made the trip to Tyler and brought the party with them. Sarah decided on a Western theme and the creativeness (is that a word?) was pretty impressive. Yes, we live in Texas, but STILL.

First of all Sarah sent a cute invitation that said western wear was optional, so of course we all dressed western! Sarah made Camryn's little shirt from a bandana. So cute. Emery wore her cowgirl pink bow and bluejean skirt.

Tyson's grandmother, Momo attended. She didn't make her famous rolls, but we still let her stay. Sarah cooked for everyone. She made cowboy stew and cornbread. AND...

cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing. And this picture doesn't do them justice, but she made chocolate toppers in the shapes of cowboy boots, the number one, and the state of Texas.

The table decorations were adorable. I now have this yearning for a pair of pink cowboy boots. They were so cute.Beth said that Greg's shirt was more "vaquero" and less cowboy.

We even played a game. Sarah made copies of the pictures that she had taken of Camryn month by month. They were all mixed up, and we had to put them in the correct order. It was the girls against the boys and yes, the girls won. But every couple got a little calendar with the pictures and notes on Camryn's accomplishments for that month. I love it!

Family picture time. Tim (Tyson's dad) borrowed this adorable pony from a friend. It looked so real and was motorized too! It neighed, turned it's head and batted it's eyelashes. Camryn loved it.

Time for presents - let's just say that she did ok. Emery and Beth got in on the fun.

Emery loves her Aunt Sarah.

Rice cereal - not cake - but she loved it and ate it all.

Camryn wasn't sure what to do with her cupcake, but she finally figured it out.

When we got home Greg said, "That was so much fun." And it really was. Happy Birthday Camryn Joy!

PS: Sorry about all the exclamation points, but I just can't help it!

My Feet are Frozen!

And my hands are too... because I don't have snow boots or good gloves! My goodness I live in Tyler, Texas and shouldn't need them, but today I sure do. Here are a few pictures from our walk this morning - our neighborhood has been transformed!

Pizza 101

Sarah and Tyson gave me a cookbook for my birthday (and an apron). Thank you Sarah and Tyson- it's titled The Pioneer Woman Cooks and this is my first from scratch pizza. You see usually I GO OUT to eat pizza, but I couldn't resist this pizza dough recipe and it was really easy. The times I made pizza at home in the past, I resorted to the canned stuff, but this was super easy - you just have to let it rise. It makes enough for 2 crusts, so I have one in the freezer (bonus).

Beth and Matt gave me a membership to Premier Gym which I LOVE, and I'm going to need even more if I keep eating stuff like Pioneer Woman pizza. Thank you!

I think I'm going to try the jalepeno poppers next - jalepenos looked pretty good at Super 1 today. This recipe involves cream cheese, bacon and you guessed it, jalepenos. Oh and more gym time.

Squash

Did you ever wonder what someone looks like when they take their first bite of squash? Well wonder no more because Emery is demonstrating it for you. Actually she finished off her squash and then ate a bowl of rice cereal!


Oh and here is Camryn with her first bite of cereal. This happened a few months ago - about six. She's a pro now and such a good eater.
These little girls are a constant source of fun and joy.

I Think I'm Addicted

I started cleaning out my pantry today and decided that my cookbook shelf was a good place to begin. Notice my old Better Homes cookbook and my new pink one? Also, the one without a spine covering is Betty Crocker. Betty and I are good friends.I really don't have that many cookbooks, but notice the little short ones all clumped together?

I have SIXTEEN of those. They sell them at Brookshires on the rack at the checkout stand and apparently I'm powerless to resist them. I have everything from "Brunch" to "Soups and Stews".

They cost around $5.00 each, so I've invested some money here.

I admint that I'm powerless over the checkout stand cookbooks and that my cookbook shelf has become unmanageable.

I Love Pound Cake

I love pound cake. And I just felt like making one today. Partly because you get to lick the beater after it's all mixed up!This is a recipe that I found on the Pioneer Woman website. It has "pop" in it of all things. She calls it the "Perfect Pound Cake" and it turned out pretty good. Well it has 3 sticks of butter and 3 cups of sugar in it, plus the pop (I put in 7 Up) and flour and eggs. So if it's not good then you're in big trouble. So I made a little chili.

Ate a little cake.

And watched a little football today. Well actually we watched a LOT of football.

To Carrollton and Back

On Tuesday, Beth, Emery, Tanner, Bruiser and I went to Carrollton to see the Kirkseys. It was a quick one night trip, but it was fun. Obviously Camryn and Emery wanted to get together and have some quality time. Really what could be more fun than laying around in your footie pajamas and chewing on your hand?

The exersaucer is so much fun - Camryn' s pretty much graduated to just playing with it occasionally, but Emery loves it right now.

Please notice the chubby little legs!

We're about to head out to the mall for a little shopping fun. Camryn has a new umbrella stroller and she likes it a lot. Oh yes, she has a new tooth and seems to be growing a little hair too.

Most of the time we just sat around, talked, ate and watched the babies. Very nice.