Restaurant #2 of 30

Barbec's

Michael and I have recently rediscovered our love for brunch on Saturdays.  Since we are not early risers (I have totally converted Michael on the weekends, thank goodness) it fits our lifestyle perfectly.  We roll out mid-morning and go grab breakfast then come home and work hard or play hard or both until time for dinner.  I will admit I was a little nervous about this place when we pulled up.  It has a greasy spoon/Skillets look to it.  But, I loved going to the Pioneer with my Papa so I was willing to give it a try.

Homemade beer batter biscuits and gravy "the only respectable way to have beer for breakfast."

WOW!!!  I LOVE biscuits and gravy and I was NOT disappointed, I also think this is a great slogan for a restaurant and breakfast.  I was a little wierded out that they were kind of sweet, but the gravy cut the sweet so that I could handle it.  MAW wanted to marry them and have biscuit babies with them.

Same critique rules apply.
Michael 4 1/2 stars (out of 5)
Great biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs ok.  He will kill me for this crusy coffee picture, but I love that we did not need to get cute and that you felt like you had your very own coffee mug.

Avery flatly refused to eat his breakfast, but LOVED that they had little jellies great for tower making.  I thought his PB&J looked good....

Abbe 4 stars

As I said the sweet biscuits wierded me out just a little and my bacon was super greasy.  But, the iced tea was great and the people were very friendly. 

it MUST be almost SUMMER TIME!!!

because we've gone for our first swim of the season (thanks claire!)

we are enjoying lots of relaxed patio dining

we've had our life jacket fittings

and, EVERYbody at our house is smiley...we are summer people you see!

we hope your memorial day weekend gets your summer started off right! 

TV Finales

Spoiler Alert... don't read if you haven't watched!

So, I confessed long ago that I am a TV-aholic.  I think I am doing better now that I am a mom and have kids to play with, but I also spend about 30 minutes sitting every 3 hours during the day, so I can catch up pretty quickly on all my shows.

Brothers and Sisters-Whatever, I can't believe they killed Robert.  He's so handsome.  I liked looking at him and I thought he and Kitty always had good conflict.  But, I thought it was a good episode.  I am a little whipped by the fact that they all just quit their jobs and everything works out roses.

Grey's-HOLY MOLY!!!  I don't know if anyone besides my Mom and I still watch this show, but wow!  Talk about intense.  Totally unrealisitic in most ways, but not in all.  I am surprised there aren't more family members doing crazy things, but VERY thankful since I do work in a hospital.  Do you think Meredith and McDreamy will start trying now or will it make her too dark and stormy for babies?  By the way don't you hate that phrase "trying for a baby" yuck on the mental images.... sorry!

Biggest Loser-I am so sad that Koli won the at home prize.  I was so much more excited for Sherry or Drea's dad, I can't remember his name.  I think it is totally cheating that Koli went to Vegas and didn't go home.  How can you win the at home prize if you haven't been at home?  VERY disappointing.  I was glad for Michael and Ashley that they lost so much weight, they both looked great and had so much to lose.  Daris also looked great.  I think it says a lot about how nice this year's group was to each other that Michael got to compete to the end, if they had been "game players" they would have sent him packing early on with all the weight he had to lose.

American Idol-Ok, I was a huge Lee fan.  I still am, but Crystal killed him Tuesday night.  How did he win?  Also, I thought the entertainment Wednesday night was awful.  Seriously, Janet Jackson, Chicago, really???  I was so disappointed.  I will miss Simon.  I can't imagine it will be the same or even close without him.  Good thing So You Think You Can Dance starts tonight!!!

Modern Family-Good, not great.  I somehow didn't record the week before and heard it was the best of the season, I guess I will have to watch it on-line.

Gossip Girl-I admit this is the skankiest show ever, but I end up watching it when there is nothing else on.  I am so over the Blair Chuck will they won't they... It is Ross and Rachel all over again, only not nice people!

What are we going to watch this summer?  I know Top Chef starts soon.  Let me know what to set my DVR for.  As I said I've got at least 30 minutes every 3 hours during the day....

Me and Britney

This is my friend Maddie, I love her so much.  She has been my bestie since ACU and taught me to love so many things.  I love that she teaches me to be spontaneous and fun.  She did my new header, isn't it fabulous???

Maddie loves Britney Spears.  She loves her so much we chatted about her upcoming concert via text while Maddie killed some time about 30 minutes before she had Hadley, epidurals are great :).  But, she hasn't quite convinced me to love Britney yet.  Lately I have been feeling a lot like her beloved Britney. 

You see just when I think I have this 2 kid thing figured out I have a Britney moment...

Like a few weeks ago we were at Target and I had Avery crawl up into the car on Hank's side and told him to crawl over to his carseat and I would come buckle him in.... We got to the stop light and Avery said "hi mamma" and I said "Hi Avery whatcha doing buddy, AVERY DO NOT MOVE!!!"  You see Avery was perched on the seat in between his carseat and Hank's sucking on his pappy and lovey... I forgot to go around and buckle him in his carseat.  Nice!  Luckily we pulled into the bank and got buckled in, and about 30 minutes later my heartbeat dropped back below 200. 

Or like last week when we got to the grocery store and I realized Hank had a blowout on the way there.  I also realized that the backup outfit was a church backup outfit since it was Monday, and didn't want to waste it on NewFlower.  So, I changed Hank's diaper and stuck him in the Moby in only his diaper and hoped no one would notice....

Or today when I decided to try on a pair of jeans real quick to see if I could squish into them before I got dressed for good to go meet some friends for lunch.  I got distracted after I realized that if I sucked in just right they would zip.  I remember thinking at lunch the tag on those jeans sure was itchy.  When I got home and went to the restroom I realized why that tag was tickling me, I had a different kind of Britney moment, I forgot to get fully dressed after I tried on those jeans....Nice!!!

Good thing Maddie loves Britney, that way she can still be my friend I don't know what I would do if she wasn't!

Happy Birthday to ME!

This week I celebrated the big 3-0!  It was a great day.  I got to hang out with the boys, have lunch with my sister and a great dinner, too.

I have been thinking a lot about my goals for this year.  I know it is cheesy, but I have.

My serious goal is to live a more meaningful life.  I want to work harder to mean what I say and say what I mean.  I also want to be sure to say fewer mean things, this seems to be something I am way better at than I should be.  I also want to be sure that I spend more time in more meaningful ways.  More time playing with Avery & Hank less time worrying about a spotless(not that it EVER was even close) house.   When I volunteer for something doing it because I mean it.  Trying to find out what it is important to others and why it is meaningful to them, less time yapping about the same old things that I find interesting/important.

My less serious goal is to be more brave.  I love things to always stay the same, but that isn't always good.  I am a wimp about trying new foods, new restaurants, ets. 

In honor of trying new things I am shamelessly copying my friend Annalee, Michael and I are going to try 30 new restaurants in our 30th year. 

So for my Birthday Linde and Jeff joined us at Rusty's Tacos. 

I can't get too far away from my personality, I love some rules.... So, I made everyone rate the place out of 5 stars and give comments, so here goes!

Avery-doesn't get the stars concept.  But, he threw his tortilla on the ground and ate the chicken so I say he gave it a 3.  He loved being outside, and I loved that made it not such a big deal that he threw his tortilla on the ground. 

B-day girl- 3 1/2 stars 

     great shrimp taco, fair chicken taco, good queso, rocks margarita fair, atmosphere very fun

Hank-no vote, but everyone told him he was cute!

Wow, I hope you have your sunglasses on, I am ghostly!

Michael 3 1/2 stars

     didn't love the pork taco, did love the fish(not breaded) taco

Linde 3 1/2 stars

     Excellent frozen margarita and shrimp taco, chicken not so great!

Jeff 3 stars

     Good pork taco, the tortillas were too weak

So far I am having fun with my new restaurant adventure!!

So, let me know where we else we need to try, only 29 more to go.

Sweet Treats with a Sweet Boy

I made one of my all time favorite desserts last week and I thought I would share the recipe.  As always it isn't very hard, but it was good enough that my guests went back for seconds (girls not boys, that means it is GOOD!)  On second thought maybe dinner was just bad, but no matter why they had seconds these babies are worth going back for!

First get your very best munchkin assistant and give him his very own bowl and spoon to stir and help. 

I learned to give him his own after he flatly refused to give me my spoon back last time we cooked and it turned into a 30 minute turn for Avery.

Here are the ingredients for Neiman Marcus Brownies

The Cake Part

1 stick margerine(I used butter, it makes ya fat but at least you are fat and natural)

1 chocolate BUTTER RECIPE (this is important) cake mix (I realize there is nothing natural about a cake mix, but I am also the girl that gets Diet Dr Pepper with my biggie fries so humor me)

1 egg (cage free because happy chickens lay better tasting eggs, right?  Linde and I just had a conversation about this last week)

The Topping
1 (8 oz) cream cheese softened  (you can use light, but I haven't tried fat free, sometimes it cooks wierd my mamma says)
2 eggs
1 box powdered sugar (16 oz, I can't ever find boxes anymore)

Ok are you ready it is REALLY hard....

Put the cake mix, egg and softened butter in your kitchen aid.  Mix it up on relatively low, to kinda fast.  It will be brown, not white like in the picture.  I didn't think to blog this until later in the game.  Also, be sure to take your spatula out before turning on your mixer or you will be sorry.  I am not sure if this will work if you don't have a mixer, because it makes a really thick dough.  It will be a big ball of dough.   

Then put in your 9X13 and squish it out.  This is a great step for little fingers to help with IF you can keep them from eating it.  I squish it up on the sides so it makes an edge.

Next mix together the topping in your kitchen aid (rinse it out first.)  Be sure your cream cheese is softened, it makes life much easier if you don't have to throw it in the mixer and then churn it forever or wait for it to soften in there....

Then pour the topping on

See, easy cheesy!

Then put it in your preheated oven at 350 and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown!

This might be a tiny bit overdone, because the sides were a little tough but as much as I love soft cookies and brownies, this is one that will be gross if you don't get the top cooked.

I have also heard these are good with a yellow cake mix, but I don't know why you would miss out on an opportunity to have chocolate.

Enjoy!!!

2 Months Old

This little fella turned 2 months old Saturday and we are sure having fun with him. 

His second month has been a great one. 

He was so excited to help celebrate Daddy's 30th Birthday by staying with Papa and LouLou while Mamma and Daddy went to watch an A&M baseball game, and got a really cute Aggie Baseball onesie out of the deal, too.

Hanky also got to stay in a hotel for the first time.  We went to Wichita Falls to see Grandma Faye and the Banks in from North Carolina.  As you can see Hank found Grandma Faye very relaxing.  Hank was also very jealous that Avery and JD are best friends and he is too little to have all the fun that they had.  Hank was so thankful to get to meet Grandma Faye and have so much great help for his Mamma while Daddy was on a business trip. 

 

Yesterday Hank celebrated his first mother's day with almost all his mother types.  It was so fun for him to start his 3rd month with Mamma, LouLou, Honey, Grandma and Meme!  What a great day!

Hank remains a precious baby.  We have fun now that he has more awake time and has started passing out smiles here and there.  I have to say the little coos make me melt, I think Hank will be a chatty one when he gets older.  We also continue to LOVE that he sleeps a great night and FEAR the day he quits.  Hank is also a stellar pooper and goes through 2-3 outfits per day on a very regular (pun intended) basis.  Friday night he even cost Aunt Linde an outfit....poor Aunt Linde. 

We went to see Dr. Y today and Hank had a great check-up once big brother deemed it Hanky's turn.  Here are his 2 month stats...

Henry Lee

10lbs. 14 ounces

23 1/4 inches