Busy Weekend

OK, so I'm on a roll...2 blog entries in 2 days. We'll see how long this lasts! Ha! We had a really busy weekend with Emily's birthday party, a going away party for Jarrod with some of his favorite people from TK Gorman, soccer practice and we were also supposed to have a soccer game on Saturday morning but the fields were too wet...which was a bit of a relief. I swear, I am so bad...I enroll my kid in sports and then I am super excited when the games are canceled...what is wrong with this picture!

We did Emily's 5th birthday party at Double Dave's this year and the kids got to make their own pizzas. It was a HUGE hit! All the kids had a BLAST playing games and making their pizza. I think we have had one of her birthday parties pretty much everywhere in Tyler now, so next year should be a challenge. Maybe next year I might finally be prepared for a small slumber party. Did I really just say that??? I still cannot believe my sweet baby girl is about to be 5-years old. She is such a smart, sweet, funny little girl that keeps her mommy and daddy on their toes...constantly! She is going to get a pretty cool gift for her birthday this year...a baby cousin! We are SO excited to meet Madelyn Kate Bilberry on Thursday morning!

Emily's Hello Kitty cake that I made for her...it turned out WAY bigger than I thought. Jarrod seemed to think that Hello Kitty looked more like Stuart Little...
I guess he has a point...what do y'all think??

Making her pizza

Our crazy girlie

Saturday night, some parents from Gorman threw Jarrod a going away party and it was so much fun. Jarrod spent 7 years at TK Gorman and it was a very tough decision to leave such a wonderful environment. The people there are awesome and we miss them a ton, but we plan to keep in touch. It's so neat to see what a huge impact my awesome hubby has had on so many lives. I can't tell you how many people thanked him for everything he did for their sons or daughters...one mom actually got teared up talking to me about what a huge influence he had on her son's life so far. It makes me very proud to be married to such a great guy! He is loving his new job at Whitehouse High School so far, and we are looking forward to getting to know all the people out there as the year goes on.

On Sunday we had soccer practice and Jarrod took Emmy. Alli and I decided to stop by and check things out too and she had so much fun walking around in the grass with all the big girls. This little girl cracks us up!


She is getting so big...in fact, we got to turn her car seat around so she faces forward now since she is a year old and 20 lbs. She is really enjoying getting to see everything!

"Hello world!"

Alli had had 12-month check-up this afternoon and she is tall and skinny like her sissy. I am not really sure how that happened because the child is like a human garbage disposal. I mean really, we have to just stop feeding her because we get tired of sitting there. She could literally sit there and eat for hours I think! She likes pretty much anything, but can eat a whole banana in like 15 seconds...I am not kidding! She is in the 98th percentile for length and 51st percentile for weight...and her head circumference was off the chart as well so that's supposed to mean she's smart :) She got 4 shots, but did great. She got over it pretty quick and just seems really tired tonight. And there she is...crying in her crib. On that note, everyone have a great evening and good rest of the week!

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

In trying to be a better blogger, I needed to do a quick update today so I decided to share a recipe I really like. Every Friday, Kelly's Korner has a different "Show us your life" theme and this week it's dinner recipes. Although I don't know Kelly, I started reading her blog when her baby girl, Harper, was born and was in the NICU and I have been hooked ever since. I finally decided to join in and contribute something. This is a recipe that a friend made for us after Allison was born and I just LOVE it. I am probably going to make it this week and freeze it for my sister-in-law because she is having a c-section on Thursday and welcoming my first niece into the world! We can't wait to meet you Madelyn! Hope y'all enjoy the recipe!

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

2 (6.2 oz.) pkg. fast cooking long grain and wild rice mix
1/4 c. butter or margarine
2 medium onions, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
2 (8 oz.) cans sliced water chestnuts, drained
5 c. chopped cooked chicken
4 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 (16 oz.) container sour cream
1 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. soft breadcrumbs

Prepare rice mix according to package directions; set aside. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add onions, celery, and water chestnuts. Sauté 10 minutes or until tender. Stir in rice, chicken, 3 cups of cheese, soup, and next 4 ingredients. Spoon mixture into a lightly greased 15x10 inch baking dish or a 4-quart casserole. Top casserole evenly with breadcrumbs. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup of cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Lately....

I know, I know...I am a total blog slacker. As many of you know, I am rarely ever at a loss for words, but I will sit here and open up my blog window and think "what in the world can I write about that anyone would care about reading". The past month has been SO busy and I always think "I should blog about this or that" and then I get home, get on Facebook and waste the night away.

OK, so let's start at the beginning...On September 1, after 7 years at TK Gorman High School, Jarrod started a new job as Assistant Principal at Whitehouse High School. Although we miss the people at Gorman, so far he absolutely loves it at Whitehouse. We went on a little road trip with Emily to one of their football games in Sulphur Springs and even stopped to eat at my favorite place along the way...Cracker Barrel.


Almost forgot, the weekend before Jarrod started the new job, several of us gave my sister-in-law a baby shower and this is the cake I made for it.


On Labor Day I got something I had been wanting for a really long time, and it's something Jarrod really enjoys as well...a new digital SLR camera. We got the Canon Rebel T1i and absolutely LOVE it!
I know absolutely nothing about photography but I really want to learn and understand it...but this camera takes the best pictures, even in "dummy mode" as I call it. Jarrod spotted this little tree frog by our garage door one night and I decided to test out the new camera on him. After some cropping (thanks to 15.1 megapixels) and a little color enhancement, voila...


On September 11, Emily had her first slumber party with 2 sweet friends from school, Emma and Lorelai and they had a blast! It was Emma's birthday party and her mom told me the girls stopped giggling at midnight and then they were up giggling again at 6 a.m. They got to sleep in a tent in the living room so they had a blast! When I picked Emily up, we had to go to Wal-Mart to get groceries and she actually fell asleep riding in the buggy. Everyone that passed us was cracking up at her.


On September 13th, we celebrated Allison's first birthday with cake, ice cream and presents. This is the cake I made for Alli's birthday and Alli once she was done with it. She is such an awesome little girl...I just can't believe it's been a whole year since she was born! We are so blessed to have two wonderful little girlies!


I currently have two more cakes in the oven for Emily's birthday party. After this, my cake decorating supplies are going away for a little while. Jarrod just LOVES the messes that I make in our small kitchen when I decorate cakes. I will admit, clean up is definitely not the fun part of cake decorating, but it is so fun to see everyone's face when they see a cool cake you have made.

I am really going to try to blog AT LEAST weekly, but I will shoot for blogging daily. Lord knows I spend enough time on the computer, I just need to use it blogging sometimes. Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday!

Yummy recipe

Well, I have nothing terribly exciting to blog about so I thought I'd share a recipe that we really like. I think my friend Rebekah sent it to me initially and I have shared with co-workers and most recently I made it for my sweet sister-in-law who's on bed rest until she delivers our first niece, Madelyn in a few weeks. Anyway, it has an interesting name and I had to get the Wikipedia definition so I would have a clue what it is. (by the way, what did we ever do without Wikipedia?!?!)

A runza (also called a bierock, fleischkuche or Kraut Pirok) is a yeast dough bread pocket with a filling consisting of beef, pork, cabbage or sauerkraut, onions and seasonings. They are baked in various shapes such as a half-moon, rectangle, round (bun), square, or triangle. In Nebraska, the runza is usually baked in a rectangular shape. The bierocks of Kansas, on the other hand, are generally baked in the shape of a bun.

I guess since I have never been to Kansas and have only visited Nebraska one time, there's really no reason that I would have ever had the opportunity to try a runza. Anyway, enough rambling...here's the recipe:


Runza Casserole

2 lbs. ground beef
1/4 cup diced onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 cups chopped cabbage
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 tubes of crescent rolls 8 count (or you can use those new crescent sheets for casseroles like this)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef with onion, salt and pepper, drain. Add chopped cabbage to hamburger mixture and simmer for 15 minutes add soup to mixture. Prepare 9x13 pan, lightly grease bottom and sides of pan. Spread one tube of crescent rolls in bottom and slightly up side of pan. Pour hamburger mixture into pan. Sprinkle cheese on top of hamburger mixture. Cover with second tube of crescent rolls. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Pilot to be???

We have had a fun weekend! We hung out with Jarrod's family from Oklahoma City, had a great dinner with Trent and Rachael, and probably the most exciting thing...went flying in an airplane with my dad's friend, Lin. Emily has been telling me for the past couple of weeks that she wanted to fly in an airplane. I explained that we would go on a trip one day and fly on a plane, but that flying was expensive and not something you can do often. I was telling my dad about her request and he arranged for Emily to go for a plane ride with Mr. Lin! Thanks Paw-Paw! She was super-excited about it, then kind of got nervous and unsure once she found out that it would be loud and bumpy. Even on the way to the airport, she kept reiterating, "I am not going to fly, I just want to sit in the plane." I told her that was fine, but not to make up her mind until she gets there and can check things out. She got in the plane and we taxied around the airport for a while and then got out to rest.

This is when we were taxiing around and Emmy was steering.

This is when she was deciding whether to fly or not.

After a little convincing and a promise that she could sit on Mommy's lap, she decided that it would be fun to fly.

She was ready to go!

I have to admit, it did freak me out a little bit when Lin said that she was REALLY steering the plane! Of course, he also had a steering wheel and could correct if she did anything crazy.

This was our view right after we took off...Lake Palestine!

Jarrod was playing golf at Eagle's Bluff and we flew over them and circled a little so Emily could wave (Jarrod and I were texting so I knew what hole they were on). We also flew over Albert's house and waved at him! It was pretty cool to get to do that! Thanks again Paw-Paw! Now to make Mr. Lin a special treat to say thank you!

The crew after our flight

Funnies and Not So Funny

Our girls keep us laughing a bunch these days...These are just some funny things that have happened so far this weekend...I thought I would share:

Yesterday when I went to pick Emily up from my parents' house, she was invited to have a sleepover instead after much begging. I then asked her "Emily, why do you like Nana's house so much better than ours? Is it because we make you clean up your toys and stuff and you can just leave everything out here?" She immediately replied, "Yes, and Rhonda will clean it up for me!!" She has this thing lately with calling us all by our first names, so when she blurted that out, we immediately died laughing...#1 because it is 100% true, and #2 because she called her Rhonda and not Nana. She's a mess!

This morning I woke up about 7:30 because Alli was crying about the load that was in her diaper. I went to get her, changed the monstrous poo, then took her back to bed with me to see if we could both sleep a little longer...plus that soft bald head is SO fun to snuggle with! She was a little restless and finally laid down where her mouth was on my arm. Then she started blowing raspberries (her favorite thing to do now) on me and I died laughing...which then made her laugh more. She just kept doing it and I kept laughing...what a great way to wake up on a Saturday morning!!

One thing that was not funny this weekend: Jarrod went over to a buddy's house last night to have a little guy get-together before his friend has a baby in about a month. He was preparing a slab of ribs to cook today and was cutting a layer of fat off with a butter knife. He managed to slice his finger open pretty bad and probably needed stitches last night, but they just bandaged it up. So when he wakes up this morning he tells me that he thinks he needs stitches...then he takes the bandage off (athletic tape...which was lovely!) and it starts bleeding again and looks pretty bad. His mom came over to check it out and see if it looked like it needed to be stitched up, but because it had been so long since he cut it, stitches wouldn't have been the best option because it could seal in any infection if there was any...so they got it all cleaned up and bandaged again. It takes real talent to slice your finger open THAT deep with a BUTTER knife! Way to go babe!

I'm sure we will have some more stories before the weekend is over.

P.S. Alli is standing on her own now, but a little unsure about taking a step without holding on to something. It's coming soon though! Yikes!!

Blog Slacker

It has been brought to my attention that I am a bit of a slacker with my blog. Things have just been so busy lately and even though I dedicate plenty of time to Facebook every day, I just haven't taken the time to update my blog. Jarrod decided to take nine hours in Summer session I, so that was a bit of a challenge for all of us, but he's relieved that it's pretty much over...with the exception of one project. Even though I don't get a summer vacation, it's nice that Jarrod's time is more flexible and it gives me a little bit of a break in the mornings and stuff.

Emily has been playing T-ball with Upward and is having an absolute blast!!! I am having some internet/network issues with our desktop so I can't post the t-ball pics right now, but I will later. She plays hard and we are so proud of her! After the games, they all get star stickers for different things like best on offense, best effort, etc. The BIG GOLD star is the one for "Most Christ-like" and Emily got that sticker after the first game because she was a good team player and an overall sweet girl. It's so much fun to see her excitement when we go to games on Saturday mornings. Jarrod is at a Rangers game tonight, and Emily asked if we could watch the game on TV...so she sees the pitcher warming up and started mocking him in our living room. Daddy would have been proud!

Emily also started taking swim lessons this week from a sweet lady that has 4 kiddos in each class. She was SOOOO excited Monday evening to go to swim lessons and had an absolute blast! Parents are not allowed to stay and watch, so that Ms. Joy is able to have their undivided attention, but we get to go to a show-and-tell next Thursday. I can't wait to see what she has learned!

Allison is completely on the move now...crawling and cruising everywhere. She can stand on her own, but doesn't do it a whole lot right now. She has two bottom teeth and still is pretty much bald. She has a little bit of fuzz, but hair is not looking too promising. She is the sweetest baby in the world! She is so different from her big sister in many ways though...Emily never put stuff in her mouth, Allison puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. We really have to be on top of our game with watching Alli. Emily was a very picky eater, but you put anything in Alli's mouth and she is in heaven. It's so great how well their personalities complement each other. Em LOVES to harass her little sister and Alli pretty much just lets her do whatever, within reason. Every now and then, Allison will yell at her though! It's going to be funny when they get older because Allison seems like the sweet quiet one that will blow up when she is agitated enough. We shall see!

Well, that's about all the excitement in our lives right now. I have changed my routine a little and have been trying to get in a routine of going to the gym and working out in the mornings at 5:15. I am not really a morning person, and although the first 10 minutes when my alarm goes off stinks pretty bad, I feel great when I go work out in the mornings. And surprisingly enough, it helps me stay on schedule much better than sleeping in! Jarrod and I have plans to start doing P90X soon, so we will see how that goes! OK, off to bed so I can wake up at 4:45!