Cowgirl Loves Pancakes

It is my sweet Cowgirl's 9th birthday today. NINE years! Where does the time go? I can still remember what an angel she was as a baby. She rarely cried, even as a newborn. She would wake up in the morning and just lay there in her crib, waiting for someone to come get her for breakfast. She has grown into such a beautiful girl and her heart is as tender as they come.

Cowgirl has been reminding me for an entire month that she has never had a birthday party (no SuperMom status here) and that I needed to get some invitations ready pretty soon or it would be too late. Yesterday when I picked her up from school the first thing she asked about were those blasted invitations.

I had none.

But little does she know that today after school I have arranged for she and 4 friends to dine on pizza and ice cream and then to go see a movie that she has been dying to see.

Redemption.

And then, to make it even better, I arranged for IHOP to give away a free short stack of pancakes to every person who comes in from 7 am to 10 pm today. How cool is that?! SuperMom status, achieved!

(Okay, actually, I lied. They were already doing that at IHOP. But let's not tell Cowgirl, okay?)


Happy birthday, Cowgirl. We love you to the moon and back again infinity times.

Season's Readings

Every year at Christmas our family likes to read a holiday story together. These are my two favorites and I often recommend them to others whether it is the holiday season or not.

Let me tell you why.

Christmas Jars is the story of Hope, a reporter who is grieving the recent loss of her adoptive mother when her apartment is robbed. Soon after someone leaves a small jar full of money anonymously on her doorstep. Eager to learn the source of this unexpected generosity, Hope uses her skills as an investigative journalist to find other recipients of 'Christmas jars'. Her search eventually leads her to the family who first began the tradition of saving a year's worth of spare change to give to someone in need at the holiday... but that's all I'm going to tell you.

It is a wonderful story which teaches the power which lies in giving of yourself... and may inspire a new Christmas tradition for you.


A Return to Christmas is a heartwarming Christmas story which follows the lives of two young boys living in different worlds; Artemus and Chess. I don't want to give away too much of what happens, but through a simple twist of fate these boys are thrown into unexpected circumstances which teach them both much of who they really are. It is a story of Christmas miracles and family ties and enduring love. This book is written by Chris Heimerdinger, who is one of my favorite authors because of his ability to write in such a way that his stories are brought to life.

Both books are great to read aloud with your family or all by yourself, wrapped in your favorite quilt with something chocolate nearby.

Celebrate the season with a little bit of readin'!

September Serendipi-Tea

One warm September afternoon I was invited to saunter over to my wonderful friend Jan's home to enjoy one of her quaint tea parties. Every party has a theme, and this month's was September Serendipity, which, as Jan pointed out, sounds quite a bit like September! Share-a-dip-of-tea. So we did.


To start things off we enjoyed shrimp scampi on sun-dried tomato crackers along with some sparkling strawberry pomegranate juice as we read aloud the morals from the Serendipity line of books. My favorite moral, ever since I was very little?

"Normal is whatever I am."

Next we feasted on spaghetti with meatballs and red sauce along with sourdough bread spread with pesto while admiring Jan's dishes and table decor.


For dessert we were served a splendid lemon sorbet in antique teacups along with snickerdoodle cookies. And then it was time for dress-ups. (What? It's not normal for grown ladies to play dress ups? Well, Normal Is Whatever I Am. So there.)


Jan gave us each a hat and pair of gloves to wear as we continued to eat and enjoy each other's company.


Don't they look charming? And so proper with their pinkies raised! After I took about a million pictures of the group, they insisted on taking one of me as well.


Pinkies up!


Jan then brought out this delicately beautiful hat which had been her aunt's and had us all try it on.


I thought it particularly suited Nadine and complimented her seashell necklace very nicely.


I think it is fair to conclude that we all had quite a serendipitous day.

Inspiration

The kids brought it up again. As much as they know I hate the subject, they had to ask.

"Mom, can I have a birthday party this year?"

I sighed. I am not exactly talented in party-planning. I would prefer to pay each kid the amount it would cost to host a party and call it good.

However, there are the rare moments when my mind can surprise me with its pure genius. Moments like today.

I started out by answering Thumbelina's birthday party inquiry with another question. "How old are you going to be this year? Thirteen? Unlucky number thirteen? Who celebrates that number? No one, that's who."

And then the idea began to form. It was like magic.

"Actually, Thumbelina, I think you totally should have a party!" I exclaimed with excitement.

"Really?" she questioned skeptically.

"Definitely! It can be a 'Series of Unfortunate Events Party'. You know, because you'll be unlucky number thirteen?"

Thumbelina likes this series of books, so her interest was piqued. "Okay..."

"Yeah! We can send out invitations and everything. You can even invite thirteen friends! And on the day and time that they arrive, we can have a sign on the door in a fancy 'Series of Unfortunate Events' font! It will say:

Due to a series of unfortunate events,
today's party has been canceled.
Please leave your gifts at the door
and attempt to make your way home.

What do you think?" I asked, really, really super excited for the first time in my life about throwing a birthday party.

She just rolled her eyes.

What?!

The Neighborhood Parties On!

Every Fourth of July our neighborhood has a BBQ. We also have BBQs all summer long, but this is one with a purpose. The purpose? To eat more, visit longer, laugh louder and light more fireworks than should be allowed. This year's turnout was much smaller than usual because of all the neighbors who decided to spend time with their families on the 4th. The nerve.

Our teen boy population was well represented.

The unspoken rules for the usual neighborhood gatherings are as follows:

1. Bring your own meat
2. Bring something to share

However, this was a special occasion where the rules were changed to:

1. Bring a few dollars and Dan will work his magic on some chicken and brisket.
2. Bring something made with potatoes or watermelon

Number two usually works out great - the neighborhood brain waves generally work it so that some people bring various salads, some bring dessert, you get the idea. This BBQ was the exception...I have never seen so many potato foods! Potato Salad, Funeral Potatoes (we live in Utah, people, it's inevitable) & chips took up the majority of the food table by far. And more watermelon than could be consumed by a small village in a third-world country. There was also a tasty pasta dish that Marci's mom brought and the most yummy avocado/tomato/cilantro-type dip (THANK YOU NANCY!!) I have ever laid taste buds on. GaeLynn and I were ready to secretly transport the dip into her kitchen and indulge, but used our better judgment and left about one-chip-scoop-full so someone else could have a taste. Marci made creamy vanilla homemade ice cream, too.

Oh, and there was plenty of water to drink...

When it came time for fireworks, we had the usual arsenal of smoke and flame. It was beautiful. Some people really, really wanted to like sparklers, but the sparklers wouldn't stop doing that sparkle thing.
All in all, I think the night could be measured as a grand success!

God Bless America!