Chicken Nugget French Fried Cake Anyone?

It's not often that my sweet boy will actually sit in one place long enough to play toys with Mommy, but yesterday was an exception! Gracyn was busying herself with the letter magnets so Cade asked if I'd like to play "little people" with him. Sound good to me, I replied. He promptly informed me that he was going to drive the BIG dump truck to collect trash and my man could drive the "widdle" dump truck and be HIS helper. So my man hopped up in his little dump truck and got to work. After a hard days work of collecting pretend trash from pretend people's curbs, Cade asked my man...

"Would you like to come over to my house for supper?

My Mom's makin' chicken nugget french fried cake for supper!"

Of course my man politely accepted, who could pass on THAT treat, and ate delicious fried cake for supper. It must have tasted good because check out the smile on his face!

Where does he get this stuff?

Next week on Menu Monday,

I'll be featuring my recipe for Fish stick macaroni and cheese pie. HA!
Only delicious fried southern cuisine served here!

Wordless Wednesday

Railways, Water and a Wedding

Off we flew last Thursday evening to visit my family in Dallas!!! The drive up was a breeze and on Friday morning we set out to do something Cade has been looking forward to for quite some time now. Nani and Papa have been talking about taking him on a TRAIN for months! Friday was gloriously beautiful, so we decided to take the plunge and ride the rail into downtown! He was so excited all morning waiting to set foot on his favorite mode of "prewtend" transportation...trains! My little boy spends hours setting up tracks, conducting trains, and rearranging freight cars on any given day! He has loved trains since he first discovered Thomas around age 2 1/2. He even informed me before we left that he needed to change his shoes because his sneakers were dirty and "Sir Topham Hatt doesn't like dirty shoes, mommy!" So with a clean pair of shoes we headed off on our adventure!

Just our luck! We miss the next available train and have an hour to kill. Luckily, an old stand-by was just a short walk away! Papa treated milk shakes and sundaes all around!!! With full bellies we head back out and board our train. Cade was so brave! He wanted to ride on the top deck of the passenger car with Papa and marched right up there and found himself a seat. He loved the view and talked about everything we passed by in detail. He was fascinated with the sights, sounds, and smells of this new and exciting choo choo train. A short trip later, we climbed off to walk off some energy in downtown. Our little crew headed to the old courthouse first, where we found a neat synchronized water fountain to play at. Gracyn practiced her walking and Cade practiced his running!Peek-a-boo...we see YOU All 5 of us, including Gracyn enjoyed every minute of that afternoon. The excitement we witnessed in his eyes that day was remarkably contagious! We felt like we were riding a train for the first time again, through Cade. His sheer joy reminded us all to find happiness in the little moments in life and to truly marvel at the world that surrounds us. I pray that in the months and years ahead, I will continue to stop and look at the world through HIS eyes. Thanks for the lesson little man
A BIG congratulations to my cousin Cody and his new bride Ashley! They got hitched in Sherman Texas at her family's ranch on Saturday afternoon. It was a gorgeous outside wedding on a hillside overlooking a pond. Nature provided the perfect backdrop for their fall themed nuptials. I wish them love and happiness always. Here are just a few pictures from the big event!

Aunt Manda and Uncle Cody taking in the view with Cade

The Happy Couple...aren't they so cute?!??!!

Gracie enjoyed all the yummy tableware :)

Wordless Wednesday

Look at all the Pumpkins

Cade's first class field trip is in the record books! Last Friday, we caravaned over to visit a local pumpkin patch with Cade and all of his preschool buddies! Even Gracyn came along for the ride! Needless to say, there were too many neat pumpkins to check out for ANYONE to look too long at the camera, but we managed to get a couple of good shots in!

The one we took home

2 Adults + 5 Kids = Lucky 7

Recently our friends the Locklins let their fun lovin' kiddos come spend the night at our casa. It was the first time Cade has EVER had "kid" friends spend the night, so to say he was excited is the understatement of the year!!! We honestly had such an awesome time with them! They are truly a neat mix of kids. We spent the night gorging ourselves on pizza, guzzling lemonade, dunkin' cookies, playing golf, hitting baseballs, sharing toys, bowling on the Wii and watching BEE movie! When the sun rose the next morning, everyone was eager to help out in the kitchen making their own individual servings of monkey bread for breakfast! Locklin Crew you're welcome anytime here at Casita de Alaniz...the more the merrier!

Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here

Learning the ropes

Now it's Ray's turn

It's ON little brother!!Mr. Captive Audience
Our own future Cirque du Soleil performer practicing his balancing act

Boxing Action... the SuSpEnSe...is killing me

BEE movie timeGracie...right in the mix of thingsBeD HeAdS

Menu Monday

I felt inspired to share this past week when I made these tasty bars for my friend Holly who just had a new baby girl! We whipped up these treats in no time, as they take very few ingredients but always seem to be a crowd pleaser! Seriously...who doesn't like sugar, cream cheese, and cake mix crust??? Lemon Cream Cheese Bars are light, fluffy, and soooo creamy! I am not usually the first to order a lemon dessert, but these babies have just a hint of fresh squeezed lemon, which is perfect for me!

I came by this recipe from Steve's wonderful great Aunt Joy! Back in the day, when Steve and I were dating in college we visited their home for the weekend in Tulsa Oklahoma. I instantly loved how their home felt full the moment I stepped through the door. Full of warmth, of happiness, of generosity, and well, full of...JOY! Her name truly fits her perfectly. The first night we spent there we feasted on spaghetti with Joy's homemade spaghetti sauce, which was out of this world! I still remember that meal all these years later. Lucky for me, she also included these delicious bars to her weekend menu and here I am still baking them and sharing them all these years later. Joy, thank you for being so generous to me over the years...with your smiles, your laughter, your honesty, and your recipes! I hope that when people enter my home, they feel that same sense of belonging and welcome that I felt all those years ago when I first came into yours!

Joy's Lemon Cream Cheese Bars

1 Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix with Pudding

1-8 oz. Pkg. Cream Cheese

1/3 C. Sugar

1 Lemon Juiced

1/3 C. Oil

2 Eggs

Mix dry cake ix with 1 egg and 1/3 C. oil until it becomes crumbly. Reserve 1/2 -3/4 C. crumbles for later. Pat remaining mixture lightly in an ungreased 13X9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

While the crust is cooking, beat cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, and 1 egg until light and smooth. Once crust has finished baking, spread this mixture over your baked layer. Sprinkle the top with reserved crumbs and bake 15 minutes longer. Cool thoroughly before slicing.

6th Pic, 6th File, Meme

My friend Ginny, over at FIVE TEXANS, tagged me for this super easy photo meme! All I had to do was go to the sixth photo in the sixth file of my photos and post it. So here goes...

Drum roll please...the sixth photo from the sixth file is....

a picture of my sweet friend Amy and her precious daughter AnnMarie from back in 2006! They now live in Corpus Christi and we took a little vacation back in August to visit them and had such a great time! Hope you see this blast from the past Amy :) Love ya!

I tag Kristi, Amanda, and Melissa!!!

Fun Fridays...my favorite things

Our little CuTiE on the Mend!!!

Cold + Ear Infection (x2) = Fall

Well it had to happen sooner or later! Lucky for us, it DID happen on a long weekend stay with Nani and PaPaw (the kids maternal Great Grandfather)...Gracyn got sick for the first time in her 10 months of life! And boy, did she get the works! She had a little bit of a runny nose on Sunday, nothing major, but awoke screaming at 4:20 AM Monday morning very UnHaPpY. Of course, I jump up, run in to check on her, before she wakes up her brother, because brother is an ogre when he's woken up out of a sound sleep. She was burning up with fever, so I go to the bathroom to get our Infant's Tylenol. I look in the normal "medicine" drawer, not there. Under the cabinet, not there. In the kitchen "medicine" cabinet, not there. UH-OH...this is not looking good. All the while I am toting Gracie around with me on my hip searching while trying to calm her tears! Finally, I wake up Steve and enlist his help in the medicine search and rescue operation. Still we cannot find that elusive bottle to save our lives!

Why does this always happen when you really, really, really need stuff???

Steve devises a plan to run to the 24 hour Super Wal-Mart down the street and I decide to nurse Gracie while he's gone to calm her. This is all occurring around 4:45 AM, mind you. Around 5:15 Daddy returns with the goods! Just to show you how easily distractable my hubby is, he also comes home with the movie Ironman and proudly says, I saw it on sale near the check out line...maybe we can watch it tonight!

God love him...

as I'm thinking to myself...how am I going to stay up and watch a movie when I've been up half the night already. Love you sweetie and I know you were only trying to be helpful. Anyhoo, we down the Tylenol, put Gracie back down and fall back in bed around 5:40, only to hear the alarm sounding at 6:45 AM to get Cade ready for preschool. Gracyn progressively gets worse as Monday goes by, capped off by a LONG solid crying episode that afternoon that was not stopping. Mom and I were worried about her so I call in and of course...no openings in the doctor's schedule, but they say they'll work us in if we come on up. Mom and I load up, Papaw stays here with Cade while he's napping and thankfully they get us right in. By this point her little eyes are swollen b/c she's cried so much and she is miserable, the infant's Tylenol is just not cutting it.

Diagnosis: DOUBLE ear infection with a bulging ear drum b/c of the fluid and a cold.

On the way home, we swing by the pharmacy pick up her meds and head home, exhausted but so relieved that Gracyn got a dose of Motrin which helped SOOOOOOOO MUCH more. We are giving her amoxicillin for the infection so I am hoping it will clear it up soon. She just started these terrible coughing stints last night which brought about another sleepless night. Our pediatrician is wonderful though, and called in a supplemental script for cough meds this morning. Whew, what a whirlwind these last 3 days have been! I am so thankful that my Mom was here to help out...with cooking, caring for us, allowing me to nap, cleaning up, doing laundry and playing with the kiddos! The past 3 days wouldn't have gone NEAR as smoothly if I'd been on my own. Love you Momma :)

Are you stocked up for cold and flu season? I certainly wasn't, but I am now! I devised my top 5 items to have around the house when your kids have a cold...here my top 5 must haves!!!

#5- Chicken Noodle Soup: it just does the trick whether you have 2 teeth or a mouth full. Even for little folk, they have the chicken and stars which Gracie loves! It's thicker than than the chicken noodle variety so all the good broth goes down!

#4- A SOFT burp cloth: for nose wiping! I have come to realize this fact, NO BABY LIKES TO HAVE THEIR NOSE WIPED, it's just something all people under 3 feet want to avoid like the plague! I choose to go with either a silky or super lush and soft burp cloth instead. We LOVE Gracyn's burp clothes from Caden Lane. It has soft cotton minky backing which is perfect for sore, runny noses. I even use them on Cade when he's got a runny nose!
#3-Vicks Baby Rub: LOVE this stuff. I still use it with Cade and now with Gracyn. You can use it on any baby over 3 months of age. I usually rub in on her chest and back before naps and bedtime. It does have a strong smell, but to be honest I really love it! I think it leans more towards the lavender/eucalyptus scent and it breaks up all the crud...can't beat that.

#2- Infant Motrin: it's 4 AM your baby wakes up screaming and crying, burning up with fever...what do you reach for? From now on it will be Infant Motrin in this house. It worked FASTER and LONGER than my old infant's Tylenol stand-by. #1- Must have to survive cold and flu season? A Piping Hot Cup of COFFEE...when I've had a long night, which has been frequently lately, nothing gets me awake moving and caring for everyone else like a cup of joe! If I'm not up and at 'em...whose going to take care of all the sickies? Some days I just need a jump start to my day. My personal coffee vice happens to be Peet's Decaffeinated (b/c I'm still nursing) French Roast...with cream and Splenda, please! It will clear away any fog left over from getting about 5 hours sleep TOTAL...

What are your household must haves for cold and flu season?

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

My camera has returned via my Mom! Ahhh, I am so happy to have my Canon Rebel at my beck and call once again. I am going to upload LOTS of pictures from our recent weekend visit to Dallas and of my playroom project...the ragamuffin garland!

WARNING
Obnoxious Amount of Pictures to follow...

A Reading Buddy

A BIG FIVE-O

My first Garland!

mixture of fabrics, burlaps, ribbons, treasures and pictures :)

Treasures hidden within...