Wordless & Wordfull Wednesday - Cookies On A Stick

Need to make these again.  They were just sooooo good!  Made these a few years back for Sam's birthday party instead of a cake.  These cookies were a great hit!

If you would like to see more Wordless photos head on over to Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, Live and Love...Out Loud, and J. Leigh Designz.  Now if you're like me and sometimes you can't stay wordless head on over to see some Wordful Wednesday photos at Seven Clown Circus.

I would love to come and visit your Wordless Wednesday photos so please leave me your link and I'll come on over.

Late Birthday Wishes

I have the world's best sister!  Her birthday was last week and she has entered her 40's this year.  She has a great husband and two wonderful daughters.  I know it's late....but....HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!

This picture was taken a few summers ago but it's a great one of the three of them. 

Sam's Birthday

As most of you know we only have one child.  He's the light of our eyes.  We don't have much and can't afford to give Sam exactly what he wants whenever he wants it.  So you can only imagine the look on Sam's face when we gave him an early birthday present.  Here's a peek:

Through Craigslist we found a PS2 and a very reasonable price.  We gave him the controllers first and it only took him a second or so to figure it out and this was his reaction.  One of his controllers lights up and is very cool looking.  Check it out!

Sam didn't want a party this year for his birthday.  Instead he just wanted to have a friend spend the night.  This I could do.  This was the reasoning for giving him his present early.  We wanted him to have a little bit of time with it before he and his friend played with it.  His friend has one and I knew that Sam would tell him first thing on Friday morning which of course he did.  We took both boys out for pizza Friday night and also let them play some arcade games before heading back home and letting them play games, watch movies and stay up most of the night.  Andy and I stayed up until midnight and it looked like the boys would fall asleep any moment.  WRONG!  They were up until around 3:30 and were back up around 7:30!  Thing is...you couldn't tell that they hardly had any sleep...that is until later that day. 

The great thing is that they were perfect!  They were quiet, polite and followed directions!  Now we were planning on taking Sam and his friend to a movie on Saturday but his friend had already had other plans. 

Before I go on with the rest of the story I need to go back to Friday afternoon...Sam got a call...FROM A GIRL!  He took the call said a couple of okays and then said bye.  We asked who it was and he said that he didn't know.  So I looked at the caller ID and realized that it was one of the girls from his class (her mom is a teacher at school).  I told Sam who it was and asked him if wanted to call her back.  HE DID!  Within that conversation he asked her to go to the movies with him.  I made sure that her mom was okay with it the next morning, which she was, and we were off to the movies...WITH A GIRL!  It really was cute to watch them both during the movie.  Going down the row it was Andy, me, Sam, GIRL, and her mom.  She sat as close to her mom as she could and Sam sat as close to me as he could.  But they would both spy looks at eachother during the movie.  Sam also had popcorn that he ate one kernel at a time which is so not him.  He's the typical boy that takes a handful of popcorn and crams it into his mouth.  But not this time.  In fact he would spy a look at her before every bite.  He was such the gentleman and even said "thanks for coming to the movies with me" at the end. 

So all in all I think that Sam had a great birthday!

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday Sam!

Sam is 10 years old today. Which I'm having a hard time believing.  He can't be 10 yet!  If you wish him a happy birthday here I'll make sure that he gets your messages.  So please leave him a comment today.  Later today I'll post all about his sleepover last night and activities from today.  So plan on coming back!

Birthday Party

Sam has been 9 years old for a week now and I'm still wondering where those years have gone. He is such an amazing boy. Here are some photos of his birthday. Some are from here at home and then the others are from his birthday party at the park. He had 8 friends show up and they all had so much fun. They played with water guns, got tattoos, had cake, opened up presents and then went to play some more in the park and in the sand. There is so much happiness in his face. His smile is the best! We had great weather for the party too. Temperatures were in the upper 70s/lower 80s and it was overcast so it didn't feel that hot. Although I could have done without the 25+ mph wind. Couldn't have candles on his cake. But it didn't seem to phase him much.

(Before hitting play be sure to stop my music on this page.)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

9 Already????

Tomorrow is Sam's 9th birthday. Where has the time gone? It seems like only yesterday we were meeting him at his foster parents house. He was 3 months old and was the most beautiful baby boy I had ever met. I never knew I could love some another persons child as my own. But now I know that love knows no boundaries. He is my son through and through.

I've sent out an email to those that were invited to Sam's birthday party. This time I had a great excuse to do so. Some had called to RSVP but the messages were accidentally erased. So, gee, I had to email and tell them that I wasn't sure who had and hadn't RSVP'd. I know that 3 for sure are going to be there and 1 maybe so far. I sure do hope and pray that more will be able to come. I so want Sam to have a great party. He's kind of bummed that one of his friends can't come. Mainly because it's a true friend of his. He is probably Sam's one constant friend even though they really only see each other at church. I haven't had the heart to tell him that he's moving away from here. Of course I'm still dealing with my own feelings on that subject. But that's not what this post is all about.

I'm going shopping for present tomorrow along with getting some items for his party. One thing that I can't forget to get is a battery for my camera. I would hate to have one of his birthdays go by without having pictures.

I'm hoping that I will get pictures up this weekend not only of the party but some others as well that I have been wanting to put up on her.

Here's hoping that we have a great birthday weekend!

I'm Back!

When one takes a break from writing on their blog it is really hard to get back into the habit of writing on it again. The last time I wrote on here was last August! It's been 7 long months and I think it's about time I get back into this. But how? There is so much to catch every one up on. How do I choose what to tell you about and what to leave out?

Guess the choice is simple. Just start from now. As I am constantly telling my son, Sam, the past is past and we can't get it back, we can't change it, so we need to just leave it be. Guess my own medicine is a good one.

The most talked about upcoming event in our house is Sam's birthday. He's turning 9 on Friday. I can't believe it! He'll have his party on Saturday at a local park and he's really excited about it. I just wish I knew how many kids were coming. No one seems to RSVP any more. Would it be wrong of me to email all the parents (as he invited his den in cub scouts and his basketball team along with a few extras) and just do a simple "birthday invite" via email as a gentle reminder? I still have a few days to ponder that.

Now on to the main project of this week. What activities should I have at an outdoor birthday party with 8 to 9 year old boys? Any advice?

Rachel's Birthday

I'm a little early but I wanted to wish a friend of mine and fellow blogger HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Sam's Birthday Party

Forgot to write about Sam's birthday party that we had. But first let me tell you about the success that I had with the cookies that I made. I did cookies on a stick so that the transportation of the treats would be much easier and I didn't have to take plates, forks and knives. I looked and looked around the Internet until I found this recipe. It's an amazing recipe where the cookies have a very thin crisp layer on the outside and are still soft on the inside. They hold their shape! Never did a single cookie "ooze" like some other sugar cookie recipes. I am keeping this recipe even if I don't do them on a stick again. Here are some pictures of the finished product while the icing was drying.


Now on to the party! We went to the C. R. Smith Museum. It is the museum for American Arlines. C. R. Smith was the founder of American Airlines. After the museum we went to a pizza place for lunch and to open presents. Everyone seemed to have a great time. I know that we did!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Birthday

Sam had a wonderful birthday yesterday. Of course as soon as he woke up he wanted to open all of his presents. Made him wait until after dinner. Here are some pictures of him opening his presents. Remember that you can click on them to see them full size.
This is a sword balloon that his principal at school made for him once he arrived that morning.

The "loot"!

Harry Potter "Scene It" game. I was looking through Toys R Us when I found this on clearance for only $10! I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw it. I snatched it right up.

Books from Grandma and Papa. He has already started reading them. In fact one of them went to school with him.


These are "Kings Corner" a card game, "Craft n Play" Formula One race cars that he can build then paint, Tony Stewart race car and magnet.

Legos! Built it last night and has played with it quite often already.

A plug n play game that includes Ms. PacMan, Pole Position, and a few others. He is stuck on playing Pole Position and Ms. PacMan.

A Hot Wheels Race Track. Andy and Sam put it together this evening. It's pretty cool!

Here is the cake that I made for him. Boy is it ever good!


Sam and his cake. The second picture is him being embarrassed while we sing to him.

I don't know what I said to him but I caught him rolling his eyes at me. Boy does he ever have it down.

Yee-Haw Boy-Howdy!

My boys took me out last Friday evening for my birthday present and I had a wonderful western evening. We had Texas BBQ for dinner and then it was off to see the Vocal Majority with special guest Max Q perform their Fall Show "How The West Was Won". Songs that they performed included: Deep in the Heart of Texas, Home on the Range, Big D, The Eyes of Texas are Upon You, and How the West Was Won WOW! What a wonderful show. I can't find a current video to share with you but I did find one of the songs that the Vocal Majority did during this show that they performed back in 2003. Before you listen to these make sure that you pause the music that is playing to the left.



Here is one of Max Q. The video quality isn't the greatest but the sound is wonderful. They did this song last Friday too.



Andy and Sam....Thank you so much for a wonderful evening!

Socks And Birthday

What started out as this:
Turned into this:

Then slowly, after starting over a few times, it turned into my very first sock! Here are some pictures:


Well today is my 40th birthday. So far it has been very uneventful. Andy went to work this morning and I probably won't see him until late this evening. I took Sam to school and I don't think he even knows it's my birthday. I'll pick Sam up from school later, have dinner and then head on over to church for bell choir and choir practice. Since we just moved here no one there knows it's my birthday and I'm not really the one to announce it.

I did receive a beautiful card in the mail from my parents yesterday along with an e-card from them today. THANK YOU!!!!

I think I'll go bake myself some cookies, switch the laundry around and then watch some TV and take it somewhat easy today. Still have a lot of unpacking to do but...hey....it's my birthday.

UPDATE: Received a wonderful card from my in-laws today. THANK YOU!