layla’s 9th birthday

the day before layla turned 9, she got to take a couple of friends with her, downtown, to have lunch at red robin. she loves to do this because then daddy can join us and then just go back to work after lunch. they clapped and sang and brought her the ‘mile high mud pie’ for dessert. holy cow!

we did our best, but it was HUGE!

then daddy went back to work and I took the girls to ride the great wheel!

it was a little freaky, but the view was amazing!

hello stadiums, ferries, mt. rainier, puget sound…

hello space needle!

after all that, we went back to the house and played awhile before we had to take one friend home. the other was spending the night. after dinner, dave took the boys out shopping to get birthday gifts while the girls played some dance central on the xbox and then we walked the dog.

and that’s when everything derailed…

on the way back from shopping, micah barfed all over the back seat of the car.

and so… sleepover guest had to be sent home and layla was devastated, convinced that micah being sick was going to ruin her birthday.

she dried her tears and forced a smile for her ‘last day to be 8’ picture.

fortunately, micah had no further episodes and seemed fine in the morning, although I kept him quiet and upstairs as long as I was able to…

layla was appeased by eating her birthday lucky charms and getting to open her present from the friend who got sent home.

and then she made her birthday cake all by herself.

she was quite proud!

after birthday dinner of french toast, she got to open presents.

she was very excited to get “julie’s pajamas” from gramma laurie. very!

it was like 90* out, but she insisted on wearing them.

and then we had cake.

can’t believe we have a 9 year old!

Comments

someone googled this stuff and found me!

these are as is... spelling errors and all. how to use a bathroom scale seriously? how hard is it? if you want step by step instructions, read this . washing machine doesn't empty bummer dude rachel's restroom i seem to remember someone predicting, when i was in high school, that i would go into the portable restroom business some day... "locks of love" site:blogspot.com because i'm totally the authority on that sort of thing. my hair is still in a ziplock bag waiting to be mailed. http://rambling-rachel.blogspot.com/ i think you typed this in the wrong place does 2 year old talk with imagination is there any other option? SLUDGE IN WORM BIN yummy. diapers to bed well, considering the other option... yes, please! imagination and 2 years old once again. 2 year olds do like to use their imaginations. loose change in my washing machine what priceless wisdom are you looking for here? how to get some? where did it come from? what to do with it? duh! rachel joe

“you should have your head examined!”

… i just did! yup, yesterday i had the thrilling experience of sitting in a hospital waiting room for 2 hours, followed by another in a trauma room. no, i don’t think i had suffered any sort of major trauma – i think that’s just what room they had left to stick me in. i mused about where we would go if they had to kick us out because a ‘real’ trauma situation arose. thankfully, we didn’t have to learn the answer to that. i guess i was a traumatic as it got during that window of time. backing up, i wound up in the hospital yesterday because micah threw some clothes on the ground. the night before i had been folding laundry in the living room. i had a couple of stacks of ‘hang up’ clothes that were draped over the baby gate in front of the fireplace. yes, it’s a christmas picture, but i knew i had it in my stash. at any rate, there’s the ugly baby gate that the clothes were hanging on. also notice the wood mantle above it that the nativity set is on.

light n’ crisp waffles recipe - everyone's favorite!

i got this recipe from my dad. i have no idea where he got it, but these are the waffles i’ve been eating as long as i can remember. they are so delicious, easy, and HEALTHY! OHMYGOODNESS, i cannot help but go on and on about them because they are so incredibly fabulous! if you want to see my picky eaters eat, come on waffle night! i think last time I made these, layla (all 33 pounds of her) put away 4 quarters of a waffle. that’s one WHOLE 10 square inch waffle. (and yes, i did just pull out my waffle iron and measured it!) anyway, here it is, without further ado… 1 cup flour (I usually do 1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat) 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal 1 cup rolled oats 2 tbsp baking powder* 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs 1/2 cup oil 3 cups buttermilk put all dry ingredients into a bowl, break in the eggs, add oil, then stir in the buttermilk. *t he amount of baking powder is not an error, but is the secret of the crisp, tender result! let the batter stand for a short time (15-30 minutes) to allow t

white chicken chili recipe

was just chatting about recipes w/ a friend and realized that i have talked about this recipe, even photographed a bowl of it, but haven’t ever posted it on here. what a shame, because it’s one of my family’s absolute favorites! i got the recipe from my betty crocker cookbook, and it’s one of the first things i ever made for dave and i after we were married. i even have the date written down next to the recipe and a smiley face, indicating we liked it. =) i actually don’t mess with this recipe too much, so here goes… i usually make a double batch so i can freeze some and still have leftovers. it freezes really well, so it’s a nice thing to have on hand. 1/4 cup butter 1 large onion, chopped 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped (or pressed) 4 cups of cooked chicken (chopped, cubed, shredded, whatever – sometimes i just throw in a couple of the cans of chicken they sell in a 6 pack at costco, if i have them on hand and don’t have any cooked chicken handy) you could also use turkey 3 cup

changes of season

in my old age maturity, i’ve come to really appreciate the rhythms that flow throughout the year, bringing the seasons and their changes and uniqueness and the varying ways these affect our lives. when i was younger, i always said i liked summer the best, because i liked warm weather. i held to this until a year or two ago, when in the spring, we were driving down a road and i was practically jumping out of my seat with excitement over the beautiful flowering trees and the other deciduous trees which were starting to get their leaves. that combined with the vigil i start keeping in late january when the first little green peaks of what will be daffodil leaves poke their way out of the frozen ground caused dave to point out that he thought my favorite season was really spring. he’s got a point. so i’ve thought about it, trying my best to come up with a firm ‘favorite’, and i can honestly say that it’s impossible! the closest i could come would be to identify a least favorite season, w

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