Paying It Forward

We went to the grocery store to get needed items for our assigned dishes for Thanksgiving.  Like so many times, we are too tired/hungry after doing the actual shopping that we went to a drive-thru to grab some dinner. We were waiting behind a silver SUV in the drive-thru line for a few minutes and then it drove away.  We then proceeded to the drive-thru window where we were informed that the car ahead of us had paid for our meal, and that the generous person asked the cashier to relay the message to "pay it forward".  We were in complete and utter shock, we both have heard of this happening to people before but have never been on the receiving end.  We then told the cashier to please allow us to pay for the persons meal behind us.

It felt appropriate to let her enjoy a french fry from our free meal...she was a very satisfied customer!

Free food!

The Hubs and I were discussing the impact of such a simple act.  That person completely made our day, I'm sure I'll think of that act often...it was so unexpected and so generous for a complete stranger to pay for our dinner.  The person behind us hopefully felt the love from us, and all of the employees in that fast food restaurant thought that the whole thing was so cool.  We talked to about 4 of the employees there and they were grinning from ear to ear- all from some sweet person paying for our dinner!  I seriously cannot get over how awesome that experience was.  To the stranger that paid for our food at Rush's tonight- Thank you for reminding me that there is so much good in the world, there really is.  Pay it forward people!

Greek Festival 2012

We have been wanting to go to the Greek Festival for a few years but for some reason it always got bumped off the calendar...until this year.  We had a great time feasting on the Greek delicacies that we got there, but the highlight was the baklava sundae.  I would go back every year for that thing alone!

Punky was unimpressed by it all, except for Aunt Heath.  When Heath is within a mile of my child, she will find her.  Lo just cannot get enough of her.

 Cooing and smiling at Heath.

 Happy girl!

 We got to tour the sanctuary of the Greek Orthodox Church, it was breathtaking.

 The tour guide told us about the artist that painted all of these scenes- the man comes over from Greece with a team of apprentices.  The artist does a sketch in pencil (which takes about 45 minutes) and then the apprentices paint it out without even consulting the artist about color choices or anything. They have worked together for so long that they just know.  The tour guide also told us that they only bring a few basic colors of paint because they custom mix all of their paint.

A shot of the outside of the church.

Cereal

Lo had her first taste of cereal on July 17th.  She has her 4 month well visit on the 24th so her pediatrician told us to start her on cereal a week before the visit.  She did better than I expected,especially since she was sleepy when I realized we hadn't given her any yet..  I didn't expect that she would keep any cereal in but I think she may have gotten a tiny bit!  It was adorable, but I'm sure that I am not biased in any way.

The after math.

Yes, her first meal was served in a pampered chef bowl...how fitting!

Happy girl with a full belly.

The next time we gave her cereal we mixed a little pear juice in with it (her ped told me to give her an ounce per day) and she seemed to like that a whole lot better.  She took down a pretty good bit during that session.  Each day she gets better and better with the eating thing...practice makes perfect!

Independence Day 2012

We had a fabulous 4th of July celebration at our home.  This year we decided that we were taking over the 4th as our holiday.  All of my siblings have "their" holidays so we chose our first one.  We had a delicious spread- we went with BBQ as the main event.  We also had some wonderfully patriotic food too including salad with blueberries and strawberries, red white and blue dipped strawberries, truffles and pretzel rods, red and white pina coladas (a.k.a. Hawaiian lava flow) and blue corn chips with queso and salsa.  We also enjoyed red white and blue cake with homemade strawberry ice cream and s'mores.

 Everyone enjoyed the outdoor games- golf toss and corn hole.

 A kid and adult favorite-the slip and slide.  Pappy even took a couple joy rides down the thing.

 Red, white and blue eats.

 Roc making the ice cream

 Nell tasting the Hawaiian lava flow drinks

 The slip-n-slide champ J-Man

 Gigi, E and Pappy enjoying the swing

 Some of my crafty decor.

Our little family.

We bought a plethora of outdoor games that everyone enjoyed.  We also tried to do water balloons but that was an epic fail!  Apparently we bought the worst water balloons ever made.  The slip-n-slide will definitely be making an appearance next year.  The kids made everyone s'mores over the grill and the day ended with a pretty sweet fireworks display put on by the Hubs and Roc.  There was only one grouping that went astray and sent the entire family running for their lives.  It was also the first fireworks set off so that Lo could experience some.  She was unfazed by the fiasco but her Mama wasn't so calm as she bobbed and weaved around the yard like she was in a war zone.  Good times!

Smooth(ie) Operator

I have been taking a powdered nutrition supplement for a few weeks just to be healthier overall. The soy based formula is one of the nastiest things I have ever ingested in my lifetime. I was mixing the 3 scoops of powder with a small glass of juice...just thinking about it now makes me heave. My Babs suggested putting it into a smoothie and I did just that this morning...it's like 100 times better. Thank heaven for the bag of frozen  blueberries from my mother-in-laws, the peaches given to us by one of Hubby's co-workers that I ended up freezing, & the rest of the strawberries picked on our annual family trip to the local strawberry patch. This will now be my breakfast of choice. Now I need to stock up on fruit!

Father's Day 2011

Me and my Dad

 My parents came to Horse Country for Father's Day weekend.  We did an impromtu home project, took them to dinner at a local BBQ joint and watched a movie.  On actual Father's Day we made them a fabulous breakfast.

Father's Day breakfast of champions.  Dad was chewing...not mad!

Delightful french toast and fruit salad.

 After church my brother's family came to our house and we made bacon wrapped steak and chicken kabobs on the grill, tortellini salad and spinach salad.  Then for dessert we had fruit pizza and it was yummy!

Fruit Pizza

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad a girl could ask for.  We love you!

Lava Hot

Today I decided to order some Indian cuisine for lunch.  I ordered my usual and went to pick it up a few minutes later.  I frequent this particular restaurant and the owner always knows when I order because I always make a special request for plain yogurt with me meal.  When I got up to the bar to pay, the owner came out and said "you know that the bhel is hot, right?" and I reminded him that I order it all of the time.  I came home and opened her up and.....hot doesn't even begin to describe!  I told Hubby later today that I thought I was going to have a panic attack because I thought my mouth was on fire for a few seconds.  The yogurt didn't even help cool it down.

The moral of the story is: When you order your food specify MILD (even when you think you like spicy food...that level of heat is just pointless). When the owner asks you if you are aware of such heat...he means it!  It was REALLY delicious though.