back from springfield

It's late (for me, anyway), and I need to shower and get to bed, but I wanted to get on here and give you the weekend in a nutshell:

We had a lovely time on Friday evening, just hanging out at Dad's house. My brother and one of his girls came over, as did Tim. We had pizza and good convo, and just relaxed. Saturday was a gorgeous, sunny day for Tim's company picnic at a beautiful Springfield park. We went and had a great time! One of his coworkers is a talented amateur photographer and was taking portraits, with all the proceeds going to United Way. She took some amazing pics of Tim, Nick, and me. I can't wait to get my CD! I'll be sure to share. The best part of the picnic was when Nick won in his age group in the kids' costume contest! He was wearing a really cute train conductor costume, and he really was the cutest kid in his age group (and the only boy!). He got a great felt bat basket full of candy and trinkets. He was so proud and excited, and so were we! After the picnic, we ran around and did a little shopping. I got a new yoga mat, and also pre-purchased tires for one of our cars, which we'll have installed next weekend. We then returned to Dad's house to relax for a bit before we all headed out to a Chinese buffet for dinner. (Do you see how horribly I eat in Springfield?) Saturday night, it was early to bed for me, as I had to get up early today to sing at church. That went really well, and I thought I looked pretty spiffy in my dress and knee-high high-heeled boots. I swear I will share pics of all this stuff when I get a chance! Tim came to the early service and recorded me, and we then snuck out to Panera for a pastry and visit. After the second service, I returned to Dad's house, where we got mostly packed up and ready to leave. Then, I headed back to church to sing at the installation service for the new minister, after which we came home to St. Robert. We got back at 6:30 this evening. Whew! It was a whirlwind weekend, and it's good to be home...

pretzel-topped sweet potatoes

This is BEYOND amazing! If you like sweet potato dishes, you MUST, MUST, MUST make this and let me know what you think. Frankly, I don't even know how I'm typing this post, because when I ate the sweet potatoes, I DIED!!! :) It's all about the crispety-crunchety topping with its complex mix of salty-crunchy pretzels, tart-sweet cranberries, and nutty pecans. Shut UP!!! OK - enough hyperbole. On to the actual recipe:

Pretzel-Topped Sweet Potatoes

2 cups coarsely crushed pretzels
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup cranberries
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup butter, divided and melted
2 tsp. cinnamon, divided
2 1/2 - 3 lbs. canned sweet potatoes, drained
1 5-oz. can evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, combine crushed pretzels, chopped pecans, cranberries, brown sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Set aside.

In another large bowl, beat sweet potatoes until smooth. Add evaporated milk, sugar, vanilla, and rest of melted butter and cinnamon. Beat well.

Spoon potato mixture into a 9 x 13" pan sprayed with Pam, and top with pretzel mixture. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 mins. or until nicely browned and bubbly. Eat and DIE!!!

apparently, it IS whether you win or lose!

Today on the way home from school, Nick informed me that his class had won a contest and thereby would get a pizza and ice cream party (Don't even get me started on the fact that apparently, school is all about seeing how much crap they can feed the children!). This contest was a "drink drive", in which parents were asked to donate bottled water or juice boxes or pouches. Ironically, our family had nothing to do with his class winning, as I refused to donate those things, since I don't believe in using them. Anywho, after announcing that his class had won, Nick shouted (with maniacal glee) "Victory is mine!" :)

a day out with thomas

Yesterday, we sprang a great surprise on Nick! We piled into the car and drove the 2 hours to Granite City, IL, just over the McKinley Bridge from St. Louis, to spend "A Day Out with Thomas." We wouldn't tell him where we were going - just that it was a surprise and it would take a while to get there. As usual, he was great in the car, and even napped a little (The kid sawed some logs in that car seat!). We stopped at a Cracker Barrel just this side of St. Louis for lunch, and this was really where his fabulous day began, because he got to have his favorite - a pancake with a little baby bottle of syrup! :) The child loves those baby bottles of syrup. After lunch, we only had about 20-some more miles to go before we got to the event, and honestly, we couldn't have planned our arrival better: Just as we pulled into our parking spot, the real train, pulled by Thomas the Tank Engine, went chugging by in front of us, Thomas' whistle tooting merrily. When Nick saw this, he literally jumped up out of his booster seat and SCREAMED with joy and delight! He was absolutely beside himself, and covered us with kisses as he thanked us for his surprise.

Unfortunately, it was a bit too cold and windy for our taste, but we had a blast nonetheless. At the Imagination Station, Nick got to color and play at a Thomas table, and he got a cool tattoo of Thomas on his cheek. We also checked out a huge Thomas built with Legos, and Nick sat on and played around that for quite some time. There was a little music area where they had railway tunes playing, and a woman was handing out egg shakers and bells and helping the kids get down with their bad selves. :) There was also a big inflatable slide, and Nick had a great time on that! He got to meet Sir Topham Hatt, and also had his picture taken with the train conductor, who looked uncannily like Capt. Kangaroo. The prices in the gift shop were horrific, especially for a cheap-o like me, but we did concede to let Nick get two wooden toys - a special edition "Day Out with Thomas 2009" passenger car and Sir Topham Hatt's car. Of course, those two small wooden toys ran us $30!

Nick got to ride on a little tractor-pulled train, but the main attraction was, of course, the 25-minute ride on a real train, pulled by Thomas the Tank Engine himself! The passenger cars were double-decker ones, which was pretty cool, and of course, it was imperative to Nick that we sit on the top level. Even though the scenery was anything but scenic, that train ride was by far the highlight of the day for Nick, and for me, as well, because he actually sat on my lap and snuggled with me! He never sits on my lap anymore, so I really cherished that, and soaked it up! I think Brian enjoyed the train ride a lot, too - partly because it got us out of the wind and chill for awhile.

It was a wonderful time altogether, and we were so glad we did it, even though we basically drove 4 hours round-trip to be there for about two hours. On the way home, we stopped at Panera in Rolla for dinner (Yay! I love Panera, and don't get to eat there often enough.), and as the capper to his day, we let Nick pick out a huge chocolate cookie to take home. Later at home, he enjoyed it with a glass of milk. And he slept like a log last night!

Here are a few pictures from our wonderful day:


Nick and Mommy on the train

Nick and Daddy on the train

Nick with the train conductor (See? Totally Capt. Kangaroo!)

Nick with the rather jowly Sir Topham Hatt

kindergarten pumpkin patch trip

Here are some photos from the Partridge Elementary Kindergarten class' recent trip to a pumpkin patch:


Nick and Mommy on the hayride


Nick with his best school-chum, Benjamin (or as Nick calls him - Benjer-man). Check it out - his smile is so big that he's got the double-dimple goin'! That doesn't happen very often.

He picked a great pumpkin!

Photo op! Photo op!

look what we made!

Last night, I got out Nick's Mr. Potato Head parts, and we made pumpkin-heads! I think they turned out really cute.

what a wonderful week!

This has been my week, apparently, when it comes to getting random compliments from strangers! Today at the commissary, a woman complimented my hair color (thinking it was dyed) - she went on about how it was the perfect shade of red, etc. When I told her it was actually my natural color, she gushed even more. Made my day! It was also a reminder to me that when I think something nice about someone, I need to open my mouth and say it! So often, we fail to do that. What a nicer place the world would be if we vocalized every nice thought we had about others....

i'm STILL smiling!

So, today, I went to donate blood at the Red Cross Bloodmobile at Walmart. As I approached the mobile, an RC guy greeted me, saying "Hello, young lady." Well, that just about made my day, as I don't get called that much anymore. A bit later, when I was sitting there doing the donation, the song "Don't Stop Believin'" was playing on the radio. I was singing along softly, and a young man (maybe late teens?) who was also donating asked me what the title of the song was. I told him, and then turned to the RC worker next to me and said "He's not even old enough to know that song!" We shared a chuckle about our "advanced age", and I said "Well, I'm just thrilled that the guy outside called me "young lady", as I don't hear that much anymore." The young man then piped up and said, in a very respectful, non-creepy way, "Well, you're very beautiful." Well, blow me down! It was completely random and unexpected, and totally made my day!!

nick's kindergarten picture

Here is Nick's school picture, taken in September 2009, at age 5 1/2. Look how grown up he is!