The Cat's Meow

Giulianna and I got to spend this past Saturday together at a fabulous carnival themed birthday party for her friend Anderson and his baby sister Lydia whose birthdays are close so their mommy (My friend Lindsey) did a split ticket.  And what a party it was!  In case you didn't already know, Giulianna is a full throttle kind of girl, who from day one was completely rarring to go.  At the carnival G wore herself out between the gymnasium sized inflatable slide and the two bouncy houses! She had a blast!  One of the most impressive things at the party though was the face painter.  Have you seen these painters yet?  The ones that can paint faces so ellaborate that the kids look like they are attending a mardi gras ball?  Impressive to say the least.  This lady could do the entire face in about 3 minutes... 

Check out Giulianna as a cat.

(She was given the choice of blue or pink cotton candy and of course, she chose BLUE)

Squash Cakes

Last night we had Breaded Pork chops with squash cakes for dinner.  Being a southern girl,  I was immediately drawn to the idea of the squash cake that my Mother-in-law served a few weeks back.  These things are a wonderful!  And a great way to serve summer squash that is EASY to make! They are basically miniature squash casseroles fried up in pan!  What's not to Love???  Who knew Italians and southerner had the same affinity for fried vegetables?   This is NOT my mother in law's recipe.  I improvised and made these because I hadn't gotten my hands on her recipe yet... 

Here you go!  Enjoy...


Grate 4 yellow squash
2 eggs
1.5 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup of all purpose flour or bread crumbs
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil (both spices are the dried kind)
Pan fry in olive oil

Kiddie Fitty

This week hasn't been anything but HOT!  We haven't been able to get in the pool because of Mills' cast so we've really been stir crazy.  Giulianna painted outside one day this week but it was so hot she was dripping with sweat.   She was enjoying herself so much that I don't think she cared.   Since I haven't had much going on this week I have been able to focus my attention on Giulianna's first day of school and what she is going to wear!  So petty, I realize, but it is hard to resist.  I can not sew.  Let me say this first and foremost, but luckily for me, my Mom and my Grandma do.  Since I have not been able to find what I was wanting for the big day, I decided to have my Mom make a jumper/short set for G's first day.   Lets face it, in Alabama we can't wear fall clothes until half way through October, so shorts will have to do until then.  Here is the McCall's pattern that we are using.  We are shortening the shorts and adding a ruffle and also lengthening the top to make it more jumper length.  I chose a cornflower blue fabric and we are adding extra large red rick rack on the bottom of the jumper and above the ruffle on the shorts.   Her monogram in red will complete the ensemble.  I thought the blue and red combo screamed Back to School! 

 I'll post a pic when its finished.

I really need to learn to sew...  There is an awful lot of cute fabric at Hobby Lobby.

Just in case you didn't know... "Fitty" means "Outfitted"on the street these days. 

I'm just hip like that.

 

School Days are Coming...

I am trying to decide on a backpack for Giulianna since she starts school next month and I couldn't resist posting some of my findings.  These bags for preschoolers are just precious and it is going to be hard to decide which one to choose.  Giulianna really has taken a liking to the color blue.  She assures me that blue is a girl color too and with all of the girl choices in blue I guess I have to agree.  Take a look at some of the backpacks I've found...  Absolutely Adorable...

CrazyDazy.com

Pottery Barn Kids

Pretty in Pink

Yesterday, Mills & I spent our afternoon at University Orthopedic getting her new pink cast.  I guess it wasn't a good sign when we walked in the door and the ENTIRE waiting room was packed with patients waiting to see the doctor.  The receptionist informed me that the doctor was running an hour behind and that if I liked I could run an errand and they would call me when he was ready.  I would then have 15 minutes to  return to the office.  ( Something told me they had done this a time or two since they already had a running behind protocol).... I was thinking "Geeze, this is gonna be fun".  Mills hasn't had a nap and she's already emptied her sippy cup into her lap in the car.  A new trick she has picked up where she turns her cup upside down and shakes it until its empty.  Luckily it was only water. 

Daddy met up with us in the parking lot and we went to a local coffee shop to kill some time.  I shared a chocolate milkshake with Mills.  No call.
So, we went back to Matt's office to wait and Mills explored all of the treatment rooms and made tracks up and down the halls.  She greeted a few patients and was having an all around good time.  My husband is a Chiropractor who, I am almost certain, is never running an hour behind.  We left after an hour had past and made our way back to the Orthopedic office.  After another 45 minutes in the waiting room we got to see the doctor.   After a quick review of her x-rays from the Emergicare visit, he made me feel a lot better about the condition of Mills' arm.  She has a very slight buckle, we are very fortunate.  She will be in a cast for the next 9 days and will get a new set of X-rays at that time to determine if she will need another cast.

So Glad that's Over!!!  Here is what we came home with...

Demonstrating her sippy cup trick...

Mills 1 Year Portrait

My sweet baby girl turned one May 15th and we just got this proof back from her portraits.  My good friend Lindsey Smith has opened a photography business here in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and is consistently amazing me by her work.  Who knew an English Teacher would have skillz behind the camera?   

Visit her at www.lindseyrsmith.com/blog/

Happy Fourth of July

Well, another 4th of July Celebration is behind us.  We had an eventful weekend to say the least.   Me and my sweet girls went to my hometown of Jasper, Alabama on Saturday morning to have lunch with my family for the 4th.  We had barely cleared our plates when Mills took a tumble and ended up at Emergicare with what ended up being a "Buckle" fracture in her forearm.  It is hard to accept that my perfect baby is hurt and I have been very sad for her for the rest of the weekend.  But at the end of the day, it could have been a lot worse and the fracture that she has is the best of all possible situations.  Her bone isn't broken into two pieces,  she didn't have to have a bone set, and she also will heal completely.  Dr. Lovely in Jasper told me that if an X-ray were taken in two years, you wouldn't be able to see where it happened.  I am very thankful that it wasn't worse.  But with that being said, I will be making some changes in what she is and is not allowed to do.   Jumping on the bed being one of them. 

Yesterday we all loaded up and went to Tuscaloosa's Fourth of July Extravaganza cast and all.  The City of Tuscaloosa really outdid themselves if I may say so.  They had Jumpy houses and Inflatable Slides,  sack races, water balloon tosses,  face painting, and  besides the driver of the "Joy Train"  being undeniably a little drunk, it was pretty awesome.  Giulianna's favorite, by far, was The Tumblebus .  This is a new thing that is taking Tuscaloosa by storm wherein someone has converted a school bus into a gym and they drive to different locations on different days and you bring your kids to partake in the fun.  They have rings, trampolines, rope swings, and monkey bars.  Giuilanna stayed in the Tumble bus all day and emerged from the bus a sweaty, tired girl.  We ate hotdogs while listening to local "talent" from kid groups in the area. Giulianna got to have a real Pepsi.  (The second time in her life).  It was a good day.  Since we live close to the Park, we loaded everyone up and went home, after getting baths, Daddy put Mills to bed and Me and Giulianna loaded back up to catch the Fireworks.  I love Fireworks.  And I love talking them up to Giulianna and getting her excited.  We watched most of the show sitting on a fence.  She held my hand and leaned over on me.  She told me "she loves watching fireworks with me".  Melted my heart.. We made our way before it was over so we could get out of there when the show was done.  They had not one, but two finales.  It was Extraordinary, until we got in the truck to go home.   Leaving Sokoll Park took a cool hour, now isn't that what the 4th is all about!!?