Dr. Pepper Cake

Here's a recipe good enough to cheer anybody up..too bad I can't share with Lena Kate. She has been fussy off and on all day. She has never really just cried early afternoon for no reason. She was crying for a good 45 minutes around 1pm today, and then had another fussy session this evening. I think she may be teething, but I'm not sure. I've got some teething rings in the freezer. We'll see how tomorrow goes. She drools non-stop and gums everything in sight.

We are also going to try some rice cereal tonight to see if it helps her sleep longer. She has digressed to waking up every 3 hours at night and demanding to eat. The girl is hungry and I don't do well denying what she wants....uh oh! I guess I better learn fast.

Ok, here is the Dr. Pepper Cake


1 box German Chocolate Cake Mix - Duncan Hines is the best
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 box instant vanilla pudding
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 12oz Dr. Pepper

Combine firest 3 ingredients, beat until blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla and Dr. Pepper last. Pour into greased and floured 9x13 pan. Bake at 325 for 40 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Icing.

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1/3 cup cocoa ( I like Ghirradelli..or however you spell it)
1 lb powdered sugar
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla

Beat until well blended and fluffy. Frost cake.

Add a few candles if you are celebrating a birthday. Oh, this makes me want a piece now. The cake is light, but the icing is heavy..good combo.

Melissa this is for you..hope you like it.

Weekend at the ranch

We had a nice weekend in Mathis at the ranch with Lena Kate's Mimi and Papa. The sure enjoyed getting to love on her. She was a good girl and all smiles...except when Mimi didn't get her out of the car seat fast enough after we arrived. It wasn't Mimi's fault, LK was just hungry and tired of being in her seat. She was a good little traveler both going down and coming home. YEA Lena Kate! Lane helped Dad install a new pump on the pool and worked on some other ranch projects. I'm glad Lane was able to be there to help Dad. It was alot of work. Mom and I also made a birthday cake...who's birthday, you ask. I guess you can say we were celebrating in honor of Sarah Allen - my bff turned 29 Sunday. Happy Birthday "Aunt Sarah" We had yummy white cake with lemon cream cheese frosting in honor of you. It was fantastic. Aunt Lynne and Uncle Cassie came over for grilled shrimp dinner on Saturday night. It was really tasty.

Then on Sunday the girls went to church. It was my first time to get to hear the new preacher. Patti was wonderful. I really enjoyed the service. Her message was about prayer and really explaining how to pray. She spoke about praying to God to help us glorify his name and his will rather than just ask for blessings for those we know and love. All my life my nightly prayers have included requests for blessings on my family members. I will now be focusing my prayers more on God's purpose for me and to live in a way that would be pleasing to him in addition to my traditional prayers. She didn't use this line, but "Thy will be done" has new meaning to me in prayer. I was taught how to pray as an adult specifically at the age of 30. I hope to carry the message with me always and to teach this to my children as they grow and can comprehend the capacity of the message. It is a much more selfless Godly way to pray, if you will. Patti also sang "Sinking Sand" as part of her message. She has a beautiful soothing voice and the congregation gradually joined in on the chorus, "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand..." This is so true. On a lighter note Lena Kate managed to make a really LOUD stinky poop during a quiet moment in church. Everybody within 3 rows heard her and giggled. Not 30 seconds before that I was wondering if she would grace us with one of those. Other than that she was pretty quiet with the exception of a few squeaks to let Patti know she was listening. She also really liked watching the choir sing. She paid close attention. Everybody just loved on and gushed over her. I feel blessed!

Aunt Lorain also came over to see Katie as she calls her :) I like Katie too...so fine by me.

Lena Kate wore her camo outfit since she was in the country. The girl just looks cute in camo, especially camo with ruffles. Thanks Barbie!! She is destined to be a country girl.

Quite the acrobat!

Lena Kate enjoys her new walker-thanks Charles. I think I might have mentioned this on the previous blog. Not that she walks in it yet, but she likes to be upright and play with toys on the tray. This is her really happy face....she goes from a small smile to a wide open mouth. I love this series of pics...they just crack me up, especially the one where she looks mad. She played in it for quite a while this afternoon.

This is the one where she looks MAD, but she was happy, I promise!

Lena Kate has a new favorite toy...rings. Thanks for the rings Juli. She had them in her hand for about 3 hours this afternoon without letting go of them...even when she was sleeping.

Ready for the ranch in her John Deere outfit. This bib was soaking wet.

Lena Kate didn't get the memo that this was Missy's couch. Missy made space for herself.

Cowboy Spaghetti

This is super good

1 lb spaghetti
1 tbls Extra virgin olive oil
1 lb ground sirloin
3 slices smoky bacon
1 medium onion
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp hot sauce...or more if you like
1 tbls Worcestershire
1/2 cup beer
1 can, chopped or crushed fire roasted tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese
4 green onions
salt
pepper

Heat a pot of water to boil, add spaghetti and salt the water. Cook until still slightly firm, but not hard.

Heat a deep skillet over med-high heat, add EVOO and bacon, brown and crisp bacon, 5 minutes, and remove with slotted spoon. Drain off a little excess fat if necessary. Leave just enough to coat the bottom of skillet. Add beef and crumble as it browns. 3-4 minutes. Add onions, garlic and stir in meat. Season meat with salt and pepper, hot sauce and Worcestershire, add 1/2 cup beer and deglaze the pan. Cook 5-6 minutes more then stir in tomotoes and sauce.

Add hot spaghetti to meat and sauce and combine. Adjust seasonings and serve up pasta in shallow bowls. Grate some cheese over the pasta and sprinkle with green onions. Top with crisp bacon.

I'm going to make this soon. I forgot how easy and wonderful it is, comfort food for sure. ENJOY!

Prayers Needed for Stellan

For those of you that don't follow McMama in blogland then please click on my link to the right to My Charming Kids. Her youngest son who was a miracle baby and not supposed to survive was born healthy. On Monday his mom took him to the ER since he was having some breathing troubles due to congestion. His heart became very sick following treatment with the same problems he was having in utero. Please play for baby Stellan and his family. The situation and very precarious and he needs you to call all angels and the almighty God to be with them during this time.

On a brighter note Lena Kate is having a good time discovering new toys and grabbing everything in sight these days. Yesterday we connected some more rings to her play gym and she was grabbing away at them. We also brought down the walker that Charles shared with her. She likes to sit in it and chew on the seat. She puts everything in her mouth and is a slobber factory. Here are a few pics of our recent days where she is snacking on her rattle. She really likes it.

Can you see all the drool on her outfit!?!

YES - MORE SLOBBERMOUTH!

I just love this one

My new ride tastes good

NEWSFLASH!

Lena Kate can roll over all by herself....both directions! Overachiever alert!

Randomness

I don't have too much excited to post, but thought I'd say hi and share a few pics of LK hanging out. Yesterday was a great Saturday. Jennifer, one of Lena Kate's Aunt Nancy's best friends, came down to San Antonio to share one of her family traditions with me. We made mints! They are so yummy and I can't wait to share them at Jennifer (Brown) Szklarski's shower in Mathis in a few weeks. Jennifer is just a wonderfully sweet girl that I'm so fortunate to have met. I now consider her my friend too:) We made mints all morning and then had sandwich from Quizno's. Yesterday afternoon Trent and Nancy brought over some ribs and Lane smoked them on the grill. Lane also made a pot of beans. We just hung out on the porch and enjoyed the Spring evening...it doesn't get much better than that. Nancy and I also got in a walk around the neighborhood. Last night I gave in to a craving I've had for 2 weeks now. I baked some homemade brownies. They were excellent! I posted the recipe a few weeks ago, so feel free to scroll back and find it if they sound good to you too.

Funny Story-Last night at about 4am I got up to get LK since she was hungry and not relenting with the thunderpounds she does with her legs. I bent down to pick her up and in my sleepiness I picked her up upside-down not realizing it! Rather than having her under the arms I had her under the legs. I went to pat her back and realized it was her butt and her head and arms were hanging down rather than her legs!...I can't believe I did that. You would've thought somebody had put something in my Crystal Light last night at dinner. Fortunately, she didn't seem to mind at all-not a peep out of her. I guess I was tired.

Unfortunately, there were some great photo ops yesterday and I didn't even get my camera out of the car. Lena Kate was wearing her camo outfit with ruffles on it...such a cute little country girl! I think she looks more like herself in outfits like that than dresses....must be the tomboy in her mother. You'll have to settle for these.

Isn't this funny? You just see her "surprise eyes" and sweet feet!

Daddy's Humor

Me: (showing Lane LK's Easter pic) Isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen?



Lane: She looks like Gordon the Fisherman.



Me: That kinda hurts my feelings.



Lane: What, they fished on Easter (with a smirk)



I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. I guess I'll just laugh. That is Lena Kate's Daddy's humor.



On a slightly more serious note, I just hope one day he tells her she is beautiful like my Dad told me...of course there were a few Gordon the Fisherman comments thrown in, but I will always cherish the beautiful comments from my Dad much more. It is amazing how at one point in your life you could care less what your Dad thinks of how you look, rather you are mad at him because he does (short skirts, etc.), and then you come full circle and realize how deeply in love you are with the man you call Dad and how deeply to the core you care what his opinion of you is, how you look, and if he is proud of you. All you dads out there, whether it is natural to you or not, compliment your daughters and dote on them. They will love to put on fashion shows for you after shopping with their mother and you will break their heart if you are disinterested in the girlie things. I'm guessing you can tell by now I put on a few fashion shows for Dad. He was always so good. I have a very special bond with my Dad...yes, I'm a Daddy's girl. I'm just sure that Lena Kate and her Daddy will have a similar relationship. I can't wait to watch it unfold.....I can just picture him teaching her how to ride a horse and to enjoy the simple things in life as he does. Lane is a great Daddy. How wonderful it is to think of our future family moments.

Yes, all this from a simple silly conversation about a photo. My mind wonders. OK, re-read the conversation part of this post and take it with the light heart that was intended when I started this post!...Trust the Gordon Fisherman...or something like that. She's the cutest Gordon I've ever seen! I now will have a fun memory every time I see a fish stick.

Easter Preview

I'm going to have to take more pics first thing one morning. Lena Kate is always happy then. This afternoon she was tired, so she didn't want to cooperate...then she fell asleep. I guess sleeping pics and no smiles pics are better than no pics. I just love a sleeping baby. Enjoy!

Boys will be boys!

Diapered Cousins - guess who will need lots of sunscreen!