The one about the birthday party...

This was a big one...she's a whole hand now.  I've only just recovered enough from Saturday's festivities to blog about it.

Let's start with the party theme...mood, if you will.  My girl's always been partial to the canines.  Her first toy, given in the NICU on Valentine's Day by a volunteer organization was a cocker spaniel beanie baby.  They started a trend.

I'm not sure, now, why I felt the need to make salt dough dog biscuits for the wreath.  "Stress" should be my middle name...when party-planning anyway.  I had a leftover that I left on the table.  Little Miss found it,  tasted (!) it, pronounced it "sandy" and expressed concern about her "birthday cookies."  Picky thing.  The "dog biscuits" for the party were of the sugar cookie variety.  And deemed acceptable by Little Miss Picky.

Which brings us to the food.  Corn"dogs," hot"dogs," and "pupperoni" bagel bites.  Classy, no?

The rest of the spread, including "puppy chow."  How I loooove licking powdered sugar off my fingers!

The cake--created by a very talented co-worker.  She's made every one of Little Miss's cakes, even the petit fours for the baby shower!

The "poop" behind the cake is an inside joke--that I'm not sharing here!  The mystery is driving you crazy, isn't it?  Sorry.

Instead of party hats, we had dog ear headbands.

Molly's looked oddly natural on her.

As did Uncle Bubba's.  He had to miss the real festivities--but made sure to drop a gift for she who must be gifted.

Lolo will have to grow into hers.

The big moment...

...all five candles and one to grow on...out in one blow.  Doesn't that mean you get your wish?

This is probably the most (her words) "totally awesome" (poor child of a child--well, teen--of the '80s) present EVER!  She saw it when we let Emily out for the morning.  Loverboy had been out in the cold, in the dark for several hours Friday night putting it together.  Love that man.  She went out for the first bouncing in her pjs.  By the way, the party outfit was her choice.

I think Lolly will be visiting more frequently.

We had a malfunction at the junction with the pinata.  But we overcame that...by giving it a good punch and Mama shaking the goodies out.

A pooped party puppy.  Loverboy was pretty exhausted too...sick and sleep-deprived.  The joys of parenthood!

I think a good time was had by all.  We're calling it a success.  But maybe #6 will be at Chuck E. Cheese...

Number 5

Five years ago...Thursday,  February 3, 2005, 11:39 am, I became a mama.  And, in my humble opinion bestowed upon the world one of the greatest treasures:

A comedic treasure, I admit freely.  This is what I get for saying "Smile nice for a birthday picture!"

Since the big party and serious cake is Saturday, I thought a cookie "cake" would be fun.

I think it was enjoyed.

Molly and Papa took us to the birthday girl's favorite restaurant for dinner.

Molly is continuing Grammy Jane's family's tradition of putting a nickle for every year under the dinner plate.  Since Molly tends to be over the top with Little Miss, she also put a dollar for every year in the birthday card.

The gifts were "small" today.  The big one will hopefully be delivered in time for Saturday's party. 

The vectron whatever thingy was a hit.

Especially with Loverboy.  Note the puppy decor for the party.  I have not yet begun to crepe paper!

I think five will be fun.

Hello February

I've read several blogs lately that bemoan February.  Really?  The shortest little month?  It's the only one that IS actually exactly four weeks.  Sometimes we throw an extra day on top of it to keep the calendar in line...but what has February done that's so bad?  I, of course, looove February because that's when I became a mama.  Granted, some of my favorite relatives have taken their leave of this mortal coil (is that the right phrase?  what does it mean?) in February.  But still--Valentine's Day(and all the chocolate on half-price sale the next day!)...President's Day (I like a good white sale, don't you?)...sometimes Chinese New Year, Mardi Gras...the Super Bowl, Black History Month, Sadie Hawkins Day...amethyst and violets, purple.  There's a lot to like. 

A day about town, ghosts, and a pizza spaghetti tutorial (sorta)

After,  yet another, trip to WallyWorld, Little Miss and I visited Molly at the hotel.  She is not in the least bit afraid of the "ghost" upstairs and always insists on going up there--even been known to go alone!  Above is my picture of where someone else captured an image of something ghosty looking.  Alas, the spirits were not moved for me.

This guy facing you at the top of the stairs seems rather stern.

The courthouse from the upstairs parlor windows.  The parking lot has been destroyed.  Seriously.  A mud pit.  They've been putting in geothermal wells during the renovation of the courthouse.  I don't think this has helped business around the square to say the least.

There is Molly, hard at work in her cage.  I think she was looking at QVC online.

However they unload this place, Little Miss is really going to miss goofing around on the check-in counter.

After we left Molly, we walked across the street for some hometown sightseeing.  She's quite attached to the Leapster.  I offered to hold it for the picture, but she was at a critical point in the Spongebob game.

Note the ghost in the second floor window.  I haven't actually been inside the jail museum since, oh...1985 or so.  But I think the gallows were on the second floor.  Nice to have a cooperative ghost that will pose reliably.

Making a jail break...or I may have mentioned the ghost behind her...

Like an earlier post about the Brazos Motel, this is something else I've always meant to take a picture of.  Today was the day--I'm trying to maintain the "just do it" attitude.  So, I stopped on the way home.  Marion does have good prices on real-deal fragrances.  And she also stocks vacuum supplies in addition to those listed above.  Diversity.

Now...my first attempt at a tutorial and my first attempt making this casserole.  It was not completely successful, but worked out nonetheless.

It is super simple.  Boil and drain one pound of spaghetti.  I used whole wheat pasta and no one knew it.  You'll see why.

Put the spaghetti in a 9x13 baking dish.  Beat 1 egg and 3/4 cup milk.  I used 1%.  It seemed to work.  Pour it more or less evenly over the spaghetti in the baking dish. 

At this point, a jar of spaghetti sauce is supposed to be dumped onto the spaghetti.  I forgot this step until after I had already put the whole shebang into the oven.  I just added the sauce on top of dished up portions.  But this is point where NEXT time I will put the sauce on top of the spaghetti.  Puppy sous chef is completely optional.

About 3/4 of the bag of pizza blend cheese goes on top of the spaghetti (which should have the sauce on it by now remember!)

Next up, the pizza toppings.  I chopped an onion, 1/2 a bell pepper, what ever amount of mushrooms I had lurking behind the milk in the fridge, 2 small cans of black olives (drained),  and the cutest itty bitty pepperoni rounds.  It made for a nice distribution of pepperoni.

A certain Little Miss would not stay out of this.  LOVED it...picked out the baby pepperonis and olives.  Demanded a bowl of the spaghetti noodles.  By now, I'm thinking this is going to the families A #1 casserole. 

At this point, I dumped on the rest of the pizza blend cheese and all of the parmesan, which was really a blend of something or the other.  We are a cheese eating people.

Obviously.  Still loving the pizza spaghetti.  For now.

Into the oven it goes at 350 for...I don't remember.  25 minutes?  Until the cheese is melted and bubbling and crunchy at the corners (the best part).  That's it.

Loverboy, still feeling a little peak-ed today, perked up at this tasty dish.  Little Miss?  Uh-uh.  Wouldn't touch it.  With or without sauce.  Wouldn't pick out a pepperoni. No, no, no.  So we got rid of yesterday's leftover chicken and broccoli.  Everybody wins.