Cruise Ship ~ Captain's Dinner

Here we are ready for our lobster...

These are our tablemates...Wayne, Serina, and Selina. They are from San Francisco!

Cruise Ship Take 2 ~ Captain's Dinner

The second day of our cruise was the Captain's Dinner. Nathan had his usual...ice water and cheese pizza.

WE HAD LOBSTER, SHRIMP, GARLIC POTATOES...

AND...Chocolate Melting Cake!! O.M.G...so delicious and so fun.

Wordless Wednesday #28 ~ Bon Voyage!!

Photos from the first day of our cruise...

Bye-Bye Wisdom Teeth!!

This morning Kyle has all 4 of his wisdom teeth removed...or as he says, "ripped from his face!" I know this is a terrible picture, but I had to sneak in one picture and he wasn't very happy to oblige! His friend Jacqueline is here to support him...what a nice friend.

You know, it is so hard to see your "baby" go through any type of surgery or procedure. I am hugely blessed to have healthy, thriving kids. My heart breaks for parents of very ill children who must watch their babies endure surgery after surgery, procedure after procedure, needle after needle.

By the way, I have not forgotten about the vacation pictures...I'll try to post them later today or tomorrow. I just have more important duties at the moment, like playing nursemaid. A Mother's Work is NEVER Done!!

Where Are We???

Here are a few hints... We're on a big BIG ship...with a waterslide.

A big BIG waterslide. Darrell and Nathan have gone down it over 50 times...me? Zero! Hey, it is filled with ocean water and it's freezing...I am very delicate.

Nathan has his Mom and Dad to himself...Kyle is at home with Grammy and Grampy. We miss him so much...I bet he doesn't miss us...so sad!

Darrell and Nathan think they have been down the slide way more than 50 times...maybe more like 75...over 12 hours spent at the pool...hello, does it get any better than this??

Lots of ping-pong going on also...hum, do you know where we are?? Can you guess?? Tomorrow, we'll be home and I'll show you more pictures. For now, I must go catch the "Vegas-Style" show and stop blogging as I'm paying 75 cents per minute.

Mexican Market

I LOVE stopping by the Mexican market near my school. I usually see some of my families shopping. I could spend an hour looking at all of the stuff and practicing my Spanish. These are some of the spices. The store is not very large, but they have every spice I have ever heard of. This is only about 1/3 of the total spices they carry.

And, tons of dried chiles...also dried shrimp, corn, fruit...

An entire wall of tortillas. When we bought them yesterday, they were still warm!!

Last night Mom and Larry came over for dinner. We had Carne Asada and Carne Pollo...muy bien! They have a beautiful meat counter and everything is priced great!!

Anyone for a "Skin-On Pork Foot?" Uh...yuck! They also have whole Beef Tongue and Boiled Pork Skin. I cannot bring myself to try that kind of stuff. Even though I'm a Kansas girl, some animal parts just should not be eaten!!!

The produce is yummy...and all the signs are written in Spanish!

It is fun to visit the Mexican market and our dinner was delicious!! Adios Amigos!

Sago Palms

These are the Sago Palm trees that are in the front flower bed in our yard. They grow SO fast...they become unruly within a couple of months of trimming. They were way overdue for some attention. This is what they looked like earlier this morning...then Darrell went crazy and chopped, pruned, and thinned...

He filled up the "green" can and the regular trash can...

And now...they look much better. Thanks my Dear Husband.

The After photos.

Dinner With the Schafers

A couple of nights ago, we had dinner with the Schafers...we adore this family! Kyle and Ricky have played on Little League together, Travel Ball together, and High School against each other!!

We both have Nathans! Great name...great kids!

Here's Emma. She can play ball with the boys...and not miss a beat!

A whole buncha baseball kids...trying to look cool...see the big boys...not sure what they're doing...best not to know...

Rick and Jolene...the nicest couple. We're so blessed to have such great friends...with polite, respectful, talented kids! Thanks for going to dinner with us, don't worry we aren't upset that Ricky's team beat Kyle's team...TWICE!!

Wordless Wednesday #27 ~ Homemade Corn and Shrimp Chowder with Bacon

VERY MESSY!

Almost done...

From Everyday Foods...

DELISH!!!

Spending Gift Cards

The finale to Nathan's Birthday celebration...a day of spending his gift cards. He had such a great time picking out things to spend his "money" on. Some things that I would not have chosen for him. He is a very particular kid and knows exactly what he wants and likes. Here he is with some of his "loot."

Trying to decide...We went to Target, BestBuy, Sports Authority, Toys R Us, Borders, and the bank to cash some checks. Okay, enough birthday until next year...

Nathan's Birthday...AGAIN!!

If you know me, you will not be surprised that we celebrate our kids' birthdays for several days...not just one. Opening gifts.

9 Little Boys...and 1 Princess.

As they get older, the gifts get smaller...thank Goodness. He ended up getting over $300 in cash and gift cards...and some really cool gifts.

The party room at the Arcade. Nathan has some great friends with great families!

At Nathan's request, I made his favorite cake...a "Triple Vanilla Chocolate Chip Bundt." I was honored that he'd rather have that than a bakery cake...saved me some money also. Did you see this Newbry family???

My 11-year old...

Gift Opening with Holly looking on...

Me and "the Daddy." Another birthday party over...a sigh of relief, with a bit of sadness.

Darrell with his beautiful "in-laws."

Xander...such a great kid with a beautiful accent.

Mom and Tanya...hey, can the kids have a turn??!

Little Dwight. Check out all of his tickets coming out of the machine. Nathan and Dwight have been friends since preschool...that's 7 years...and they're only 11!!