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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Happy Randomgiving

Officially the most hectic, all-over-the-place Thanksgiving on record.

On Wednesday night, we dropped this grumpy little Indian


and her big sister off at Nan and Pop's for a sleepover.

Hope Wednesday night prayer turned into Hope Dessert Potluck and Prayer.

And I made these tasty little morsels.


Hold the adorable marzipan toppers because I ran out of time.  And my frosting is not nearly as cute.

On Thanksgiving morning,

Dave and a few other suckers friends were up at 4:30 AM and headed over to CityTeam to cook breakfast and pass out turkeys.


I was up at 5 AM and off to work a 12 hour shift at AMR, taking calls from turkeys that were passing out.

No pictures, sorry.  HIPAA rules and all.

Dave and suckers friends left Oakland and headed over to Hillsdale to join 40+ play in the annual Turkey Bowl.

Limited photos of this event because participants were more concerned with the game than proper documentation.

Well, except for these two.


Mom and Dad took the girls up to Aunt Liz and Uncle Frank's

while Dave was reliving high school glory days

and I was slaving away in the blue dungeon.

Dave finished Turkey Bowling and met Mom, Dad, girls and rest of the family in Marin.

They made him sit at the kids table because he cares more about football than family.


Kayla also wrote a letter thanking our hosts as part of a school assignment.

And it's clear that she's already moved on from Thanksgiving and has Christmas on the brain.



And I enjoyed a quiet few minutes after work until all my turkeys came home.

With a HUGE plate of leftovers.

Happy Crazy Turkey Day! :)

Friday, November 26, 2010

Our Little Songbird






Any guesses?

Don't blink. It's quick.

And really tricky, I realize.

Those that have seen it live, need not apply.

Prize is a swift pat on the back.

And the blessing of hearing our sweet little girl sing praises to Jesus.

Monday, November 22, 2010

School Pictures

Terribly generic.

Depressing, cloudy background.

Cheesy, forced smile.

Taken five hours into the school day so hair clip is somewhere on the playground instead of where it belongs.

But it is imperative that we buy them year after year.

Or her scrapbook will not be complete.

Therefore, her life will not be complete.

Lame?  Yes.  Necessary?  Absolutely.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Sunsets, Paul Washer and Strawberry Cupcakes

On Sunday, we left the little ones with Grandma and took a quick trip down to So Cal to hear Paul Washer preach.

Now, normally I loathe Highway 5.  It's dead boring.  It stinks like putrid cows.

I'm always convinced an over-worked, under-sleeped semi driver is going to drift into our lane and kill us.

And the long stretch of open road causes my husband to develop an unhealthy and verbal preoccupation with gas mileage.

Which makes our fellow road trippers wish they had chosen another car.  Sorry, girls.


But on Sunday night,  Highway 5 somewhat redeemed itself.  With an amazingly beautiful sunset.


But it's still stinky.  And boring.

Anyway, our 4 carloads of Nor Cal folks met 3 carloads of Masters kids and 2 carloads of So Cal friends.

Just in time for dinner.

BJ's Restaurant, Party of 187.


We were up early the next morning to see Washer.

One of the most gifted communicators of the gospel I've ever heard.


Listen to him.  You will be changed.

But he'll make you cry.  And contemplate your salvation.  And closely evaluate what you do with your time.

And make you feel guilty about tweeting.

He preaches truth with passion and in love.  And was a missionary for a zillion years.  The real deal.

Next time, however, I may sit a few rows back.

Because I felt like he was looking into the depths of my soul the ENTIRE time.

And I really just wanted to tweet about it.


What does this all have to do with strawberry cupcakes, you ask?

Not a whole lot.

I made these sweet little treats when the Masters kids were in town last month.

And seeing them all this weekend reminded me that I wanted to share the recipe.

Because they're good.

Like November sunsets and Washer's preaching.



Recipe from Martha.

NOTE: My frosting came out a little "soupy" so I added a few cups powdered sugar and an extra stick of salted butter to thicken it up a bit.  And let it sit in the fridge for about an hour or so.

Happy Baking!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Crafts

My favorite school masterpiece yet.

And the first official photo documentation of her missing right incisor.

She fell and chipped it at school and it turned brown and died.

Our options were a silver cap replacement (um, no thanks) or to yank the little chopper.

She was brave.  Like a fireman.


And this?

This is the weirdest, most terrifying seasonal project I have EVER seen in all my life.


Happy Wednesday!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Dave's Fave Porcupine Meatballs

Julie over at Joy's Hope asked us to post and link our favorite comfort food.  Like 3 months ago.

And I'm just getting around to it now.

Sorry, Jules.


Now, I'll start by saying that I don't recommend making this dish for guests.

Because, well, the finished product kind of looks like dog food.

Which is why I didn't include an "after" picture.

I'm really worried you won't try it.

And Dave likes them with ketchup which makes the whole situation even worse.

But I double dog dare you to make them.  They are AMAZING.  Promise.


Porcupine Meatballs


2 lbs. ground beef

1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped

2 packets Success Rice (uncooked)

2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup

garlic salt

pepper

celery salt

Worcestershire sauce

Tabasco sauce

Mix all ingredients (EXCEPT soup) into small balls.

Pour soup into large pot and heat until it starts to bubble.

Place meatballs in pot and turn heat down to low.

Cover pot and simmer for 45 minutes.  Stir occasionally.

Serve with a baked potato and veggie and you are good to go.

Kobi says enjoy!  They are his favorite, too... :)

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

It Does Rain in SoCal.

Tony! Toni! Tone!  I loved you in 1990.

You and your one hit.  And the exclamation marks in your name(s).

But you lie.  And you lie HARD.


It DOES rain in Southern California.

It rains alot.

Each October, Nan and Pops spend a week at their Newport time share.

And we always crash the party.  This year it was a rainy, cloudy, overcast party.

But still a super fun party.

Dave and Kayla flew down later in the week, thanks to work and school.

Which meant 3 days of ridiculous indoor spoiling for Queen Ashlyn.

Shopping at the Disney store.  Shopping at the train store.  Merry-go-round at South Coast Plaza.  Over and over again.


Bottomless Ruby's shakes.  Ice cream for breakfast.  Pops even let her drive.


The skies cleared just in time for our trip to the Happy Place on Friday.  Which was great news.  Because those rainy weather theme park panchos are embarrassing.  And should be banned from the planet.

The day went exactly as I expected.  Kayla found the Disneyland Petting Zoo (which I didn't even know existed) and Ashlyn was afraid of anything that moved or waved or even hinted at invading her personal space.  Until Minnie Mouse brought her a tray of baked goods from Goofy's Kitchen and all was well.





Another fabulous trip, yucky weather and all.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Faith Like a Child



"Let the little children come to me.  Do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matt. 19:14

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Stinky Parade of Champions

We celebrated the Giants yesterday. And every picture I took looks the same.

There were 999,999 people there. And 999,872 of them had rancid body odor. And pushing and shoving problems.

And let's just say Timmy Lincecum's not the only one smoking a questionable substance.  Or using a potty mouth.

Thank you, San Francisco.

Thank you for an interesting, raucous, foul smelling near-stampede.

Thank you for making my husband crazy happy.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Big Winners: Jess and The Giants

Our beloved San Francisco Giants won the World Series on Monday night.

The mere possibility sent my husband into a consumer frenzy.

Rewind to 1985.
Superbowl XIX: San Francisco 49ers v. Miami Dolphins
Hours before the game started, my dad came home with a brand new big screen.
A mahogany encased beauty w/ tri-color projector and brown suede covered speakers.
Jealous? Of course you are. Hands down, the hottest TV on the block.

Back to 2010.
Our not-so-trusty laptop was quite sick.
We're talking last-stage, on-a-morphine-drip-if-it-were-human sick.
Old.  Tired.  Cherrio particles between keys.
Battery life of about 2 minutes when unplugged.
Just sad.  And sticky.  And dying.

So I came home from work, during the 3rd inning of the Giants game to a beautiful new iMac.
My very own big screen. Sans the mahogany. A HUGE, clear monitor. And a cute little keyboard. No food particles.

And have come to the conclusion that guys buy toys when their teams are about to become world champions.

And this time, I reaped the benefits.  Although I kind of did in 1985, too.

Best of all, was the note on the desktop:

Happy Halloweekend!