At the Top of the Hill

I refuse to say that I'm "over the hill". I prefer to say that I have reached the summit...and I'm just gonna hang out here for a while! I celebrated my 40th birthday in October. My original plan for this memorable day in my life was to invite the neighborhood and have a big fiesta. However, we got home from our fall furlough only a couple of days before and it was still really hot and humid and the house was a mess and I was fighting off a cold...so, Sarah and I each made a cheesecake, we invited our friends Braulio and Pily over to hang out for the day and the day passed quietly.

Note to self: Peanut butter cheesecake and mocha cheesecake are amazing. Both of them. Better not to make them both for the same party or you'll gain 5 pounds.


My special gift from Doug and the kids was this critter:

And of course, if I got one of those, I need one of these:

And with both of those, I made this:

And then I made banana bread, but I didn't take a picture of it because we ate it too quickly! But it was really yummy!!!

Funny note: The sound of the grain mill grinding grain while clamped to the kitchen counter is almost exactly the sound of a 5.7 earthquake hitting the house. (Voice of experience.)

Happy birthday to meeeeeee!

Happy Happy Birthday Birthday!!

I have 14 year old twins. That just sounds really weird to me. I am now one of those moms who stops moms with itty-bitty twins and says, “I have twins. But mine are big now.” Never thought I’d do that, but I did…just last week.

Anyway, we let the twins turn 14 and were able to celebrate with some friends in Tucson as well as with Grandma and Grandpa Jack and Aunt Cindy. That was an extra-special treat!

Grandpa took everyone bowling and we had a great time. As usual, I took tons of photos, but here are some of the better ones. I’m still struggling with F-stops and aperture settings, trying to get good shots indoors without a flash. I’ll get there eventually.

Sarah took a picture of me and when I saw it I said something like, “Those pants make my hips look big.” Or some such comment. Bless her heart. She said, “You just look like yourself, Mom.” Thanks, honey. I think.

Here are Grandma, Andrew and Aunt Cindy. It was good to be able to spend time together again. We don’t do it often enough!

At the end of the day, we gathered for cake and ice cream (and a yummy candlelit dinner) at our friends’ house. We sang “Happy Birthday” and “Felíz Cumpleaños”, and then we attacked the cake.

Happy Birthday, Twinlets!!!!

Once

It only happens once...per child. We've now celebrated six 11th birthdays and with this cumpleaños numero once, we're done. No more 11th birthdays. Sigh. It's the end of an era.

Evie celebrated her 11th birthday with style at Grandma Linda’s house this year! No, I didn’t bake the cake; I did pick it out though!!!

Can’t believe we’ve had her around for 11 years. Wow!!! Time flies!

Ah, my beautiful daughter -- lover of everything pink, purple, frilly, lacy or sparkly. So very unique and such a blessing to our family.

Evie

Elegant
Vibrant
Innovative
Easy to Love!

Happy Birthday, Peanut!!!

It's My Party; I'll Have Pie if I Want To!

I promised a friend that I'd post the recipe for my peanut butter cheesecake a.s.a.p. Here ya go, Tresta!!!

This recipe was given to me by my Aunt Nancy and it's been a family tradition for years. I only make it once a year, because it's so incredibly rich!!!

You'll need one pie crust of either graham crackers or chocolate cookie crumbs. I do my cheesecakes in a 10" springform pan, but you can choose the pie plate you want to use. If you use a standard 9 inch pie plate, you'll need two.

Aunt Nancy's Peanut Butter Pie

Cream together:
1 cup peanut butter
1 8 oz. pack cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar

add:
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp vanilla

Mix well.

Fold in 2 small (8 oz.) tubs of Coolwhip.

Mix well.

Pour into 2 small or one large pie pan. Chill and enjoy!!!

Told you it was eeeeasy!!!

Of course, it's a little different making this recipe here in Mexico. I haven't been able to find Cool Whip anywhere. That's surprising to me, since that stuff stays good in the freezer for years (practically). You'd think they'd be able to import it. Sigh.

Fortunately, I was able to improvise a bit. I ended up not making a cheesecake exactly, but it should be yummy!!!

Happy Birthday to meeeee!

Thirteen X Two = Fun

This post is otherwise entitled: Bad Mommy! You forgot to post about the twin's birthday!!!

Jessee and Seth are very forgiving, though! Thanks, guys!!!

One cool thing about having a birthday right after a US furlough: you get American gifts!!!

Like NEW BOOKS!!!

And American candy!!!

Thanks to a couple of gifts from some wonderful friends in Oregon, we even had an ice cream cake!!! (Thanks Aleta and Shari!!!) This was a first attempt -- and it turned out great, if I do say so myself! There weren't a whole lot of leftovers, that's for sure!

Happy 13th, Jessee and Seth!!!!

We love you!

My Double Digits Darling

Here we have a special post in honor of Evie's 10th birthday. Better late than never!

We celebrated Evie's special day in Portland with Aunt Debbie, Uncle Mark and Grandma Linda. Evie's one request was to have an ice cream cake...but I neglected to pass that info on to the ones purchasing the cake. Aunt Debbie must have some special insight into Evie's mind, 'cause look what Dad and Debbie brought home...



I never would have expected it! Isn't God good?! Even in the little things!

Here's Evie opening one of several "pink" gifts which included a new pink backpack and a pink digital camera. She's very excited about that! She has a natural eye for photography, so you'll be seeing some of her shots on our various blogs soon.












It's official: we no longer have any "little kids". Sniff. Sniff.

Happy 10th Birthday, Evie!!! We're so proud of you!

Happy Happy Birthday, Baby!

Happy Birthday to the man I love!!!

Isn't he such a cutie???

Sweet Sixteen

Most of the pictures of my kids' babyhood are in a box in my mom-in-law's garage; however, I was recently sent this great picture of this cute little red-headed girl in a watermelon suit holding her favorite little teddy bear. Isn't she just the cutest little thing???
Click over to Sarah's blog to wish her a happy sixteenth birthday!!!

Happy Cumpleaños Andrew

Andrew turned 11 on the 7th of November and I'm finally getting to post photos of his big day! We had a great time! It was especially good that Doug returned home the night before -- Andrew didn't say so, but I know that he would have been pretty bummed if Dad hadn't been there to celebrate with us!!!

Here's Andrew's birthday photo collage...

We opened presents early in the day -- who wants to wait till bedtime? Where's the fun in that???

Can you tell that Andrew is the outdoor type by his gifts?

Maria and her family, Andrew's friend Michael and Esteban came over to celebrate with us. Andrew said he didn't want any games or candy -- just pizza and a tres leches cake (a Mexican specialty, which I attempted for the first time...Note to Self: don't attempt something new and complicated for a big celebration.)

So, we made PIZZA!!!!!!

Although the cake was a pretty complete failure as a "pastel de tres leches", it tasted wonderful! No one complained (except me) and there were no leftovers. It looked good on Andrew, too. Definitely his color!

After cake and pizza, all the boys chased Andrew outside with buckets of water (no photos for a reason!!!) and then everyone came inside and watched Iron Man.
Happy Birthday, Andrew!!!