Let me start this by saying that if you work at Children's in Birmingham, you think I am crazy. They nurse told me to call on Friday if I hadn't heard back. I thought I would get a jump on it and called late Thursday afternoon, thinking they might return my call that afternoon, or at least I would be the first call on Friday morning. By lunch on Friday, I had no call back, but I had called them several times. I knew they closed at 4:30, so about 3:45 I called again. I told the sweet girl who answers the phone that I just wanted some things cleared up by the weekend. She said that it had been noted that I had called 7 times(psycho!) and the doctor would call me before the weekend. She didn't say psycho, but after she told me I had called 7 times- she didn't have to! At 5:20 I got a "blocked" call on my cell phone and I jumped into action- I had written every blood test they had ordered down on a piece of paper. I was ready to write the numbers down (I had already looked up the all the test with google-psycho!) He didn't give me any numbers. He did let me know that her markers did not indicate leukemia. That was key for me! I felt like a weight had been lifted. Thank you Jesus! Now we just have to figure out what she does have, but knowing what it is NOT makes things a little easier. Thank you for your prayers!

Fordy Girl

We have been in Birmingham all day trying to figure out what is going on with our baby girl. She has had a rough few weeks. A variety of problems all pointing to arthritis- maybe. But no diagnosis yet- apparently it is harder to diagnose than you would think. After 10 vials of blood today, we should be able to rule out some pretty nasty stuff on Friday! I left today's appointment wanting some kind of answer, but I didn't get any. On the way home I asked how she was- "My knee pits hurt" after a good, much needed laugh, I felt sorry for her- this is just not normal. Saturday she said her feet couldn't hold her up any more!! She does play "through" the pain, but I am very ready to find out what is going on with my active, playful child. Please pray with us for answers. Thank you!!!

"T" is for...

T is for Tea Party. When you are in 4 P at our school, you have a T party- T is the letter of the week. They work on manners, and a little dance. The boys pull out the chairs for the girls and push them up to the table after they are seated (or shove them as baby did). When Sissy was in 4P, her partner would not dance with her, she hasn't forgotten it...

Here is Baby at the "T" party

"T" is also for thirty- and here is what baby will look like when he is 30!

I have had several post that I wanted to do, but when I started putting the pictures on the screen, they all had one thing in common- Baby! Maybe it's because he is with me most of the day, or maybe it's because he cracks me up, or maybe it's because he is my baby!
I will come up with a post that does not include him- it's going to be hard, but I think I can!

Baby

The make-up kit that Aunt Lee got sissy for her birthday is really coming in handy-

The girls had a wonderful time try out new colors-
But don't be fooled- baby did too- even if he kept saying "I don't want to be kissy face anymore!"It was just a little hard to understand him while he was laughing so hard.

We Have Been Busy

It has been a while... but since my last post, we have started school( the wonder twins and sissy), our house was struck by lightening- ripping a hole in one of the wonder twins walls- throwing parts of my fireplace into his room, started another school (baby), been to so many "back to school" meetings I wondered if I would ever see my family again,had a Sunday School party at my in-laws lake house, had my brother-in laws birthday, my father-in-laws birthday, my sisters birthday and my parents anniversary. We have been busy! While doing all of that, I found a wonderful cookie recipe that I have to share! I found it on Food Network- it is one of Giada's. I usually do not make anything she makes and I don't know why- this just might be my new favorite!

Espresso Chip Meringues

These are the ingredients- pretty simple right?

Egg whites(this means they are healthy), salt, superfine sugar, cream of tarter( I know everybody has this laying around- go buy some you will make these often),vanilla extract, instant espresso powder (I used instant coffee) and mini chocolate chips

Place your oven rack in the center of your oven. Preheat to 250

With your whisk attachment, beat the 3 room temp egg whites and a pinch of salt- special note here- if you send your children to get the eggs, and they get them from underneath the chicken- wait a few hours- it is very hard to separate the whites and the yolks right after and egg has been laid- just a fun fact to throw out at a party!

Whisk this until frothy- about a minute

Next add the 3/4 cup of sugar about a tablespoon at the time- I didn't have any superfine sugar so I put "regular" sugar in the blender and it became- super-fine! I think I just heard some real bakers gasp...

Add the 1/8 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar, the 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla, and the 2 teaspoons of espresso powder or if you are like me you can use 3 teaspoons of instant coffee

Combine all of this on high until it holds stiff peaks- 3-5 minutes Next stir in 2/3 cups of mini chocolate chips- I just throw in 1/2 the bag

Spoon out the mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet- I did not have any parchment, but I am ok with that. You should be able to get 12 large cookies

Bake for 25-30 minutes- do not burn them- do not open the door!!!!! Now here is the hard part

About 20 minutes into the baking, your kitchen will smell out of this world, but you can't open the oven door. When the buzzer goes off, you can't open the door. You turn the oven off and set the timer for 2 hours, yes, you have to smell the wonderful smell, for another 2 hours, coming from an oven that is off and YOU CAN NOT OPEN THE DOOR. The first time I made them I thought it would not be a big deal, I had laundry to do and my kitchen needed a good cleaning, but that smell- oooo that smell it beckoned me to open the door... but I did not.

Make these today- you will find love in a cookie! ( leave the coffee out if you must and they are still great)

I also made this...


Homemade Salsa! It is FINE!!! This post has already been too long and the recipe came from a friend, so I will have to get her permission to share it! Just know it is the best salsa you will ever have!
Have a great weekend!

Perfect For A Foyer

Sometimes when it is hot outside, The best thing to do is ice skate
In your foyer

All you have to do is pick out your best "skates"

Or you pick some of your mama's shoes-

Either way- it is some kinda fun!

Thoughts on Exercise

Exercise... It is something I do not like! It makes me sweat, it wears me out, I can't sit down the next day, I just don't like it. A couple of years ago, I started walking with a friend on mine. She talked me into it.

The night of the Auburn/Alabama game I was at her house with a group of people who started talking about running a 5K. HA! The next day, she was at my house and we were printing out a 5K for dummies running plan. She talked me into it.

I really wanted to like it-really! we started "training", we ran exactly the way the plan said to, but for some reason, I wasn't loving to run. I have always heard that once you start running you will love it- anyone who says that is lying! It got cold during our "training" and my running partner was not a softy- she would not stop, I think she almost killed me! My lungs would burn, I mean like- on fire burn- wonder if that bout of bacterial pneumonia I had the year before had anything to do with that- oh well. My lungs burned,my appetite increased, my knees hurt and I swear I cracked my hip- I know this because I watched The Biggest Loser, and the exact same thing happened to one of the contestants that season. Anyway- I was not loving to run. It did give me some relief to know that the 5K was at the beach, in March- so that meant warmer weather.

The big 5K weekend was upon us. We had finished the "training" and we were ready. I was secretly hoping that my running partner would say- let's skip it- she did not. We got to the beach- met a great group of girls, laughed a lot, signed in for the 5K in the rain- not a good sign! The big run was on Sunday- it was a record cold day- like it started off in the teens- and add that breeze off the gulf and you have yourself a miserable run! I called my family to see what they were doing-they were playing in the snow- yeah, it was cold.

This blog has been long enough, I won't go through all the thoughts that went through my head as I picked up my legs made of concrete to carry them across that finish line (yes, I did finish). Just know this- I will not be doing another 5K. I will go down to the beach to laugh- hard with friends, but not to do a 5K!



Now that I look at this picture, all those girls have i-pods, maybe that hurt my time...ha, ha,ha!