bubba shrimp...

i want to share a recipe with all of you shrimp lovers out there. paula dean made it on one of her gazillion shows, and it looked really good. so i tracked down the recipe for us to try one evening when my parents were here. it was a big hit!

shrimp & wild rice casserole
one 8 0z. pkg. of wild rice
1# med. shrimp, peeled & deveined
2 TBSP butter
1/2 gr. pepper, diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 can cream of celery soup
(it calls for cr. of mushroom but YUCK!)
2 c. sharp grated cheddar cheese
salt & pepper
bread crumbs
*cook rice minus 1/4 c. of water. cool. saute shrimp. saute onion & gr. pepper. combine all ingredients except for 1/2 c. of cheese. saute bread crumbs. put into a 9x9 pan with bread crumbs on the top. top with remainder 1/2 c. of cheese for last 5 min. of baking. bake @ 325 for 30 min.
2 c. of cheese is a lot! i know we didn't use all of that...to each his own.

flashback friday

i know you've seen this picture before, but it is worth sharing again. this is from christmas 2006 in n.d. g'ma & isaac built a snowman & used green olives for his eyes & smile. it didn't take long for ol' smiley to get his eyes pecked out by some birds. i love the big smile on isaac's face. looking forward to lots of playing in the snow soon...

tomorrow...

...i get to...
kiss her,
hug her,
snuggle her,
cuddle her,
tickle her,
tease her,
nestle her,
smell her,
hold her.

i can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!

let it snow...

little did we know that we wouldn't have to wait until friday to play in the snow! i was at work, about 15 miles from our house. dennis texted me at 12:30 to tell me that it was snowing at our house. so he & isaac headed outside to check it out. how many opportunities was isaac going to have to play in the snow at our house?

yummy...fresh snow!

hey dad, let's have a snow ball fight!

could this really be snow in the desert?

starting to become a winter wonderland.

isaac & snow-reb.

talk about twilight zone...a snowman under snow-covered palm tree?

isaac was all on board to make a snow angel.

when we first moved to vegas, it was in august when it was terribly hot. at that point i had visions of sitting by the pool in december while everyone else in n.d. was freezing. guess my vision has changed...

it took me an hour & 45 min. to drive home from work yesterday...remember i live only 15 miles from the school. when i got home at 5:30, we went out to the back of the house for dennis to knock down the heavy snow from the palm trees. while he was doing that, isaac swept off the left side of the table above. can you see how much more snow we got after he did that?

it really is pretty, isn't it?

complete the sentence...

Feel free to play along in the comments section or on your own blog.

Today I: went to work, opened some christmas gifts early, packed isaac's suitcase, did one load of laundry, talked to lauryn & my parents, watched isaac & dennis play the new wii.

Tomorrow I will: go to work but don't have to teach ~ yippee! it's parent teacher conferences (which i don't have to do since i'm the sub & just got started with the group) so i will just work in the room, organizing the mess, rearranging the mess, probably creating a new mess!

I'm looking forward to: flying to n.d. on friday & watching my kids play in the snow!!! can't wait to see family & friends...oh what fun!!!

I could pass on: mushrooms (DISGUSTING!), raisins, science fiction, bugs

Newest song I like: a song called "addicted" ~ don't know who sings it

Last show I saw: i went to "four christmases" with susan & enjoyed it...vince vaughn rocks, right jer?

Something aggravating: people who work out at the gym with their hair down

One thing you may not know about me: hmmm, since i blog & facebook, i'm thinking you know everything there is to know...

I can still: play "the spinning song" on the piano pretty good; i can still recite the opening rap to "the fresh prince of bel air" ~ impressive, i know!

Gift I'd want if money was no object: a new car, i'm not picky...i'll take a mercedes, bmw, or audi; free passes to fly to visit family whenever & wherever!

Tag, you're it!

a missing stocking...

something in our house is missing...
~it's the laughter of a little girl...
~it's the sound of a little girl saying "good nike" at bedtime...
~it's little arms wrapping around your neck...
~it's a little girl saying "i need sum-ting"...
~it's pretty, bright, golden brown eyes in the morning...
~it's a little voice saying "can i have milk or no?"...
~it's a wild & crazy hair-do right out of bed...
~it's a stocking on our wall...
~IT'S LAURYN!!!

lauryn went back with my parents after their stay here for thanksgiving. with me going back to work, we thought it would be best for all of us. so far it has! lauryn was not scared or sad to leave us...which makes me kinda sad that she wasn't sad to say goodbye to us...but at the same time, it makes me very happy that no one has had to deal with an unhappy little girl who could really make life miserable for all of us if she really wanted to. instead, she chose to prove us all wrong & not have an issue with it. in fact, i'm wondering if she'll come home to l.v. with us without a problem ~ that's how much fun she's having with g'ma & g'pa. here are some pictures from the 11 days she's been gone:

lauryn has gotten some quality time with cousin lilia.

it's always fun to be in the kitchen with grandma ~ get to help bake and get to have hot chocolate AND ice cream!

fun in the snow ~ making a snow angel & sledding.

~lauryn~
we can't wait to see you in 10 days and play in the snow with you, drink hot chocolate with you, & cuddle up with you!!! will you give us hugs or no?
we love you!!!

flashback friday

this picture is from my junior year of college. my friends shelley, ann, & i were living in our first apartment after spending 2 years in the dorms. one night we got together with a bunch of girls from our dorm to have a party. you can see for yourself how wild & crazy it got!

i bet you've never been at a party before where someone broke out their accordian to play? but if you have, i want to hear YOUR story!

back to work...

it was back to work for me this past monday after a 3 year break from teaching. a few months ago i had decided to go back to work as a sub in the school district. it seemed to take FOREVER to get the word that i could begin. here was my to do list:
1. fill out sub application
2. get referrals (which i found out after the fact that i didn't need them since i was a former district employee)
3. paperwork for the dept. of ed.
4. get transcripts
5. get fingerprinted
6. fill out this form & that form
7. get fingerprinted again!
8. fill out this form & that form
9. tb skin test
plus, i was driving all over the place to get these things done, papers turned in, then find out that they need more papers; therefore, more trips. it seemed to never end!
my girlfriend kelcey from my former school called one day while i was in the middle of this process. she called to tell me that a co-worker of hers, in her grade level, has to go out on medical leave. she told me to hurry up & get everything done so i could long-term sub for this person! i called the district & said hurry up & get everything done so i can long-term sub for this person!...i don't think the words hurry, quick, or fast are in their job decsription at the district offices.
i found out the day before thanksgiving that i could start dec. 1st. i've got 3 days under my belt and, i must say, it's going better than i anticipated. i'm exhausted (was sleeping by 8:30 the first night) but am fine with it. since it's the school i used to work at, i know most of the people, and it's been fun catching up with everyone. on monday i got home & was greeted with the flowers below, given to me from my boys. they are soooo sweet to me!!!

happy thanksgiving from 3 lil' turkeys

flashback friday...i knew that she was THE ONE!

these are pictures of maxie 8 years ago when we first got her. she was such a cutie! i was back in north dakota while on track break & had fallen in love with jackson, my dad's dog. he is a yorkie, and i had never known what one was before that. so that summer when i was home, mom & i were busy looking through the want ads, looking for yorkie puppies for sale. dennis & i had been looking in vegas but didn't feel it was right to spend almost $1000 on a pet. we were lucky to spot an ad for 3 mo. old yorkie puppies about 45 miles away from where my parents lived. mom & i headed there to see what we could find. it was a family who had bred their own yorkies to sell the puppies. as soon as we walked through the door, there were 3 puppies yapping & nipping at our feet. it was hard to decide which ball of fluff to choose. then i spotted a 4th puppy hiding in the shadows, taking everything in but too shy to participate. i knew right then & there that she was the one. so for a mere $150, we left that house with my first baby in tow. now, as you may have noticed, dennis has not been part of this story but is in the above picture. that is because he was in training camp with de la hoya at the time in big bear lake, ca. so the picture with dennis & maxie above is their first meeting ~ after i flew back to vegas with maxie & was back at our place for a bit, dennis drove back for a weekend to meet the new member of our family. you can see on the top & bottom of the trio of photos, it didn't take her long to make herself at home. maxie has always loved to snuggle in blankets & continues to do so to this day. all you have to do is take a blanket out & she's there!

more isaacisms...

according to isaac, the characters below are:
woodchop
&
snooFy

are you smarter than a 5 year old?

if you are in the nys offices, i'm gonna say the answer to that question is NO! now i'm conviced that there are idiots in charge of the national youth sports (nys). this past saturday, isaac's *purple* team (the tigers) played another team that was *purple*, and if that wasn't enough irony, they were also called the tigers. teams decide what their team names will be so i can't blame that on them, just the uniforms. a bit confusing for a bunch of 4 &5 year olds, wouldn't you say?!
this is how it works ~ your team is put in a "league" with 7 other teams & play round robin for 8 weeks. well, they don't even excell at planning that because you play one team twice. that's it ~ not complicated in my book. apparrently, the person in charge of uniforms is 1 crayon short of a box of 8 crayolas!

flashback...

this is for dennis who saw this picture of isaac the other day & fell in love with him all over again...

celebrating lauryn's birthday...

last week for lauryn's birthday, we told her she could go to build~a~bear & pick out a new bear. of course, she chose the most obnoxiously pepto~bismol pink bear she could find as i think any 3 year~old girly~girl would do. here she is pumping the pedal to fill her bear.

did i mention that this new pink bear is covered in hearts?

time to give the bear a heart...

off to the showers...

here she is with cindy ~ lauryn chose the cinderella attire for cindy to wear.

isaac scored too...he got a new outfit for his bear, ace.

then it was off to applebee's for supper...as if grandma NEVER gets to eat there. it's a joke, because the only chain restaurant/bar in williston where she lives is....APPLEBEE'S! but it happened to be the night that isaac's school benefits from us eating there so...

lauryn got a free sundae & was nice enough (finally after half of it was gone) to share with her brudder.

then it was time to head home for the unwrapping of the gifts...

and what does a 3 year old princess get for her birthday? well, princess stuff of course!

good call lilia on the singing little mermaid card...

what does lauryn think of having the election results on during the gift opening? (it was election day after all).

i think we all feel the same way lauryn...

love you little princess!

happy birthday lolo!!

this was what our little biscuit looked like when she was born. although she was almost twice the size of isaac at birth, she was still tiny. we were all so excited to meet her, to see her beautiful dark hair that had auburn highlights, and to love her. yesterday, all of a sudden, she was 3! we couldn't imagine life without our lolo, our lil biscuit, our l.l. cool a. , our princess, and the list goes on. we love you lauryn!!!

flashback friday...halloween style!

what a perfect day to look back at costumes from halloween's past. isaac was 8 months old his first halloween & dennis' sister darla made these adorable costumes for isaac & maxie. don't they make a cute raggedy ann & andy?

the next year isaac was a cowboy while his lil buddy kole was an indian. we went to kole's house & went trick-or-treating with kole to just a few houses ~ enough to satisfy a 1 year old's sweet tooth.

this was just 5 short days before lauryn would come into the world. isaac was 2 & 9 mo. old. i was on bed rest so had to stay home while dennis & my mom took isaac over to see kole, then came back to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood.

lauryn's first halloween. g'pa bedford was here to visit. we went to the district (a shopping area). lauryn was a puppy & isaac was her vet.

last year my mother-in-law made these cute pebbles & bamm bamm costumes that were a hit!

tomorrow i'll post this year's halloween festivities, so stay tuned...