every captive thought

First and most importantly...my Mother made a delicious meal as always tonight but the dessert....OH. MY. GOSH.  It was a new recipe she tried out and I haven't stopped eating it since we got to her house.  The good news is that they are really thin and so you can eat several of them and still have room for more.  They are called PRALINE BARS but that name does not do them justice.  At all.  And the recipe doesn't do them justice either...you are just going to have to take my word on this one and make them right away. Praline Bars 12 unbroken graham crackers (4 squares each) 2 sticks of butter 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 cup pecans, chopped 1 cup chocolate chips Place the graham crackers in a jelly roll pan with sides.  Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add brown sugar and pecans.  Boil slowly for 2 minutes.  Pour over the graham crackers.  Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top.  Bake at 300* for 15 minutes.  Cool for 10 m...

I put James down for a nap today when I really knew better.  I knew he wasn't tired but I also knew that he wasn't feeling well and I hoped that he would rest.  I hoped wrong.  He did THIS to the books I left in bed with him. I was so unhappy. And when he got in trouble for it he just looked at me and smiled. That is when I called Nana and told her that she better come and get him in a hurry. So note to self...no more books in his bedroom at "nap time". And if you need any private documents shredded I know someone who can do it for cheap and fast. The second extremely important thing I have to tell you is that if you have not gotten some of these...  ...RUN, don't walk, to the nearest store and get a few packages because OH. MY. GOSH. they are so good.  I first saw them on Jodie's blog and for this...I will love her forever.  She has a totally awesome blog that you should check out for reasons other than these cookies but yall...these are some good cook...

Wasn't today a beautiful day?!?!  Love it!  We spent a lot of time outside enjoying it. Later we went over to Nana and Papa's for dinner and to play at "Nana's park"...that's what James calls Mom's backyard.   James also looked at a new ap on Nana's phone. Jude was super-relaxed in Nana's lap. Mom made the most delicious dinner tonight.  Croque Monsieur, Strawberries Romanoff, and whatever these heavenly things were called...Mile High Yum Yums... James had to look away.  I can't wait to have one for breakfast with a big fat cup of coffee.  Oh my word! Jamesie is getting a tiny bit better at sharing his Nana with Jude.  It only took 6 months. Today I made Jude green beans for the first time.  I never expected that he would HATE them.  Big-time hated them...like he even gagged and stuff. Later he was on the floor being adorable.... And his brother decided to steal his thunder.  Photo bombing runs in his blood...just ask his Aunt ...

First and most importantly...Happy birthday to my sweet mother-in-law Marva! I love you! Thank you for being such a wonderful mother-in-law, mother, grandmother and friend. You are a blessing to us. This morning I made Jude's first batch of baby food! Sweet potatoes! Yall...he LOVED them. And I pray this child inherited my eating habits and not Brad's food snobbishness. James is a little mini Brad...looks like him, built like him, acts like him and eats like him. Jude wasted no time gobbling down his sweet potatoes. I feel sure that if he could have, he would have asked for some more please. Tonight Stan and Marva came over so we could celebrate her birthday. James celebrated the cupcakes.   Hands-free of course. Totally the product of two type-a's.   He can't stand dirty hands. Or dusty tables. He loves to dust.  And I love that he loves to dust. I really took this picture to show my sister how he loves the muff-muffs she sent him. They are big boy ...

I made a new recipe tonight and you know how that sometimes goes when you make something new??? Sometimes it...uh...is yucky? That was this dish. Not so good. So bad in fact that I wouldn't even feed it to George...and I have sweaters that I like more than George. No offense George. Anyways, James took one look at it and wanted to give it a try. And I am not one to keep a child from expanding his food horizons...so.... ...Ummm...maybe not so much on the chicken... But the egg roll was a different story... I am about 99.9% sure that he thought it was a giant tater tot. And everyone knows that tater tots totally go with groddy Chinese food. But now the sugar snap peas...that was an entirely different story. Those made it onto the end of the fork and that was it. He wouldn't let them anywhere near his face. Jude was highly disgruntled with the whole situation because he felt sure he would've loved the fake nasty Chinese food.

Yesterday James and I went over to Raine's house. She introduced James to her guinea pig, Scooter. He was tentative, to say the least. He wasn't sure if it was George or Jude or a wacky combination of the two. He never really figured it out so he thought it best to keep his distance. This morning I got out while it was still dark to get a little shopping done for tonight's festivities. I brought some donuts home for the boys. James can put away some donuts. He even snuck a second one while we weren't looking. Now I'm taking a little break from getting things ready for tonight to stare at this sweet little sleepy face.