Look what I got!!

My Christmas present finally came in and it was installed on Monday!!

Before . . .

Notice that I have obviously not cleaned this nasty old thing since we ordered the new one.

After!!! Yea!!




I don't want to cook on it and get it dirty!! :)

Happenings . . .

Last Wednesday I was summoned to keep a sick grandchild. Chandler had a stomach bug on Tuesday and was still not back to feeling tip top on Wednesday so I kept him. He must have gotten some new Uno cards for Christmas and he wanted to play!! He sometimes has his own set of rules for certain games but he is always fun!!



Robert and I went back on Friday after school for the weekend. Britni and I ran some errands Saturday morning and then Chandler had a basketball game at noon. His little team won. Yea, Fire!!





Afterwards we met Steven and Kylie and Trevor, Erin and Noah at Chuy's for lunch. Chuy's is a very good Mexican food restaurant. Try it sometime. Also Robert's niece and her family, Lisa, David, Taylor and Casey - were there and a former student of Robert and mine. Robert's niece and family were in town for a swim competition. Casey competed in a swim meet and won several medals!! Our former student, Robert lives in the area and is a teacher. It was great seeing him and catching up. And I didn't take my camera in Chuy's so no pictures. :(

We did not get to see Trevor and his family during Christmas so after lunch we went back to Britni's to visit and let the kids open gifts. Chandler and Noah played, Rainey took a nap and the rest of us watched some football and the Aggie basketball game.







Then we played Taboo and had pizza. If you haven't tried this game it is pretty fun.



Before we left on Sunday I tried to get a picture of Chandler and Rainey but they are too busy being silly to cooperate. I got this one decent one out of about 10. :)

Fabulous K Giveaway

Fabulous K is having a Lisa Leonard jewlery giveaway. Check out Fabulous K's awesome blog and Lisa Leonards amazing jewlery. Be sure to enter the giveway!

He Loves Me!!

Isn't it awesome to start a new year knowing this!!

Last Christmas Party

My brothers and sisters and families get together every year sometime during the holidays but usually after Christmas since our families all seem to go in different directions. They all came to my house on January 2nd. We had lots of good food and laughs. My brother always has several funny stories to tell!!









We had a Chinese gift exchange but we were pretty nice to each other this year - not a lot of stealing going on. :)







Chandler played video games and . . .



Rainey pretty well bossed my great-nephew, Dylan around most of the day and . . .



the big guys had a serious Connect 4 tournament going on.



We had a cookie bake-off this year.



There were some good entries but everybody can't win. My sister-in-law, Tina won "family favorite",



which Rainey thought was pretty good.




My sister, Ann won best creative presentation,



and my brother, Steve won best shape,



and my niece Lindsay won most colorful.



And then there was Best Overall!!



Yes - I won. Notice my crown!! I think they were a little jealous and said it might have been rigged. I don't really know what they are talking about. So what if my daughters were the judges!! :) They know a good cookie when they eat one!!

Independence Bowl

During the Christmas break we went to watch the Aggies play in the Independence Bowl. Robert and I along with Britini, Chuck, Chandler, Kylie, Steven, Austin and my niece-in-law and great nephew Kristie and Dylan made the trip to Shreveport. Little miss Rainey stayed with Aunt Ann and Uncle Hugh (or Uncle Pugh as Chandler calls him. LOL)



The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band -





Go Ags!



It was pretty chilly. We packed up coats and blankets and lots of packets of hot hands and feet. It wasn't bad until people started to leave and then the breeze started hitting us.








We had a good time even though the outcome of the game was not how we wanted it to turn out!!

Fish Stick Assembly Line

Several years ago I came across a recipe that my family fell in love with. I got it from a teacher I taught with and she called them "easy cheese blintzes". I am sure you have had them - they are made with bread rolled out flat with a cream cheese mixture spread on each bread slice and then the slices are rolled and dipped in melted butter and then in a cinnamon/sugar mixture. I first made them for our family Christmas get together a few years back and my husband and brothers ate them up!!! Because of the size and color - my brothers called them fish sticks.



I made them for the next several get togethers or family reunions or whatever. The boys would always ask if I was bringing "fish sticks". Because there are several steps in the process it takes a little time to make them by yourself so I refused to make them unless I had help. My girls and husband started helping with the process with someone cutting off the crusts and the others rolling out the bread or dipping it in the butter. I have not made them for several years but decided I would do them again for our Rainey Family Christmas this year. We had the assembly line going strong with Chuck cutting the crusts,



and Robert rolling the bread out flat.



Once Chuck finished the crusts he came over and started rolling each piece after I was done with the spreading.


Then Britni would dip them in the melted butter and then shake them around in a bowl of cinnamon and sugar and place them on a cookie sheet.


With all of this good help, we were done in no time at all!!! The family that assembles together - eats fish sticks together. LOL