.22. Mish Mash

This is pretty much going to be a mish mash of posts since I haven't updated my blog as well as I wanted to. They are killing us with homework at school and I've been spending lots of time with Miss Anna and not as much time on the computer. :)

I'll start the post off with something from a couple weekends ago..

August 15, 2009 - Saturday

This was a crazy day! I had gotten my Pell grant money so Mom, Anna, & I went shopping! Mainly for scrubs and shoes and we got everything but!!! Okay, I did get my shoes, but I didn't find any scrubs in the petite length, they all had to be ordered. I got a new stethoscope though and some more clothes. We also went to Target and got home really, really late! Anna decided to spend the night, but of course we had to stay up and play with this cool toy first!






That last one cracks me up! Anna has now decided that she likes making mad faces for the camera. She kept saying "Now take a picture of my mad face!" Goofy girl!

Even Piper stayed up late with us.. but she was really wishing we would go to bed!

But not before a bath..

and a little Hannah Montana on the Wii!



August 16, 2009 - Sunday

On to the next day! We decided last minute that we wanted to go back to Castaway Cove since we had such a blast the first time around! We did have another blast, but it was a lot more crowded and just .. dirty. There were baby wipes thrown down and just icky stuff all over the ground. We did have fun though and Anna got to cross the lilypads this time AND go down the HUGE waterslide by herself! I'm talking about the slides that I'm not that crazy about. You only have to be 36" to go down those and down those she did go!! She LOVED it and kept wanting to go again and again and again!

Starting off our day..

She got Dumbo and Stitch the day before at the Disney Store in the mall. She also got that dress at Dillard's.. I told you we bought everything but scrubs! ;)

Lunch at Chili's. Again with the mad face. (She really does look mad here!)

Warming up..

She just can't not smile!

And who could stay mad for long anyway with a dessert like this?!

It was DELICIOUS!! Chili's is having a special going on - 2 for $20. Mom and I got an appetizer - skillet queso, main course - chicken and cheese quesadillas for me and a hamburger and fries for mom, and a dessert - chocolate cake with icecream (see above) for $20! That's a great deal for us (and there was even enough food left over for Dad if he would have been able to go with us. He was at work.) Anna had macaroni and cheese with french fries and of course that delicious dessert because she loves Chili's kids menu. Her favorite thing to eat on this day was the chocolate shell on top of the ice cream!

Enjoying a frozen lemonade at the waterpark.


Let's go play now!

Those were pretty much the only pics I got, we were too busy playing and the camera I used this time was not waterproof so I was scared to get it very wet. I do have a picture though that I found on the Castaway Cove website. It's a great shot of the lily pads that Anna crossed.

Enjoying a little popcorn and watching TV with Ninny.

Busted!

Needless to say Anna spent the night with us again! Love that she got to spend all weekend with us, we all had a blast!

August 22, 2009 - Saturday

That pretty much brings me up to this current weekend/week. Anna called me last Friday night and wanted to know if I was busy.. LOL I said of course not and she came back over to spend the night. We went shopping again on Saturday in Wichita Falls due to it was their Back to School Tax Free weekend. I finally bought my scrubs, but I do still need one more pair of pants. Believe it or not, Wal-Mart carries petite sizes. Who would have thought it?! So I just got my scrubs there because we have to wear white and I'd rather buy cheap ones because they will probably be trashed/donated/something after I graduate. I hate white. Here's a cute picture of Anna in Wal-Mart on Pumba.


August 25, 2009 - Tuesday

We had our Family Night at school. Mom, Dad, Anna, and I headed up to RRTC so they could meet all my teachers and meet the other people that I go to school with. I don't have any pictures, but Mrs. Krey, Ms. Hill, and Mrs. Werner all took pics so maybe I can get a copy of them somehow. :) Anna fell in love with my friend Logan and even tried to write her name on the blackboard. She got the 'g' backward, but it was cute. They also had cookies and punch and they were delicious!

I do have some pictures of Ms. Anna from the next day though. She spent the night again (imagine that?! LOL) and Ninny took her to school the next day.

Goofy Goober

Engrossed in Phineas and Ferb

A quick smile

All ready to go!

Now you can see why I am so BUSY! :) We have a test tomorrow in Mrs. Werner's Nursing Concepts and we get to return-demo catheterization on a male and female (dummy with interchangable parts) first thing in the morning! Fun times.

.21. First Day of School

How can this sweet little thing...


already be old enough for pre-k?!


Those were taken on her first day of school! School started for Ms. Anna Banana on August 13 and so far I think she is doing okay. She's not too crazy about it, but I think as the year goes on she will like it more and more. I hope so anyway or it will be a LOOOONG YEAR! ;)

.20. Blog Hop Favorite Recipe

I actually have a new favorite recipe just in time for this blog hop. This cake is DELICIOUS and super easy to make. I even have pictures, but I can't take credit for them. The recipe and pics are from here. It's a Julia Child recipe and the name of it is:

Le Marquis
(Chocolate Spongecake)
Here is a classic recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It’s not difficult but uses classic techniques many have never learned: beating egg yolks into thick “ribbons,” whisking egg whites into stiff peaks, and sifting and folding. Unlike most of today’s recipes, Julia Child’s were written with the equipment listed with the ingredients. That way you wouldn’t get halfway through the recipe only to realize you didn’t have an electric beater or 1 1/2-inch deep cake pan.

Ingredients
A round cake pan, 8 inches in diameter and 1½ inches deep
3½ ounces or squares of semisweet baking chocolate
2 tablespoons brewed coffee
A small saucepan set over almost simmering water
A wooden spoon
3½ tablespoons softened butter
A wire whip or electric beater
3 egg yolks
A 3-quart mixing bowl
½ cup granulated sugar
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
A rubber spatula
2/3 cup sifted cake flour, returned to sifter
A cake rack

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour the cake pan. Measure out the ingredients. Stir chocolate and coffee in the saucepan over almost simmering water until chocolate is melted and smooth. Off heat, beat in butter by spoonfuls to make a creamy mass. Let cool to tepid while proceeding with recipe.

2. Beat egg yolks in the mixing bowl, gradually adding sugar, until thick and pale yellow and forms a ribbon.

3. Beat egg whites and salt together in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed; sprinkle on sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.

4. Fold tepid chocolate and butter into egg yolk mixture, then fold in one-fourth of the egg whites. When partially blended, sift on one-fourth of the flour and continue folding, alternating rapidly with more egg whites and more flour until all egg whites and flour are incorporated.

5. Immediately turn into prepared cake pan and run the batter up to the rim all around. Bake in the middle level of preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Cake will puff about ¼-inch above rim of pan and top will crack. It is done when a needle or straw, plunged into the center of the cake, comes out clean.

6. Remove cake from oven and cool in pan 5 minutes. Cake will sink slightly and top will wrinkle. Run a knife around inside of tin and reverse cake on rack. Allow to cool for about 2 hours; cut layer in half horizontally. It must be thoroughly cold if it is to be iced.


Creme au Beurre, Menagere (Butter Cream)
This should be made with an electric beater; it is heavy work by hand. Ménagère literally means “housewife”: This is a butter cream easily made in a home kitchen. Use pasteurized shell eggs, if desired.

Ingredients
A 2 1/2-quart mixing bowl
2 egg yolks
2/3 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) softened butter
An electric beater

Instructions
1. Rinse bowl in hot water, dry it, and place in it all ingredients listed. Beat at a moderate speed for about 5 minutes to obtain a smooth cream. Chill until cream is cold, but still malleable, then fill and ice your cake.

Use with Le Marquis (Chocolate Spongecake)

From Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

.19. Blog Hop - Favorite Pictures

Let me tell you, I have TONS of favorite pictures so it was hard for me to narrow it down to these for this week's blog hop. I don't have a ton of time so this is going to be short and sweet (we have 3 tests this week! Fundamentals on Thursday, A&P Exam 2 on Friday PM, and Med Terms Friday AM).

Most of these are scans (and older) but they are some of my ABSOLUTE favorites!

Halloween 2007 - She was a pink octopus!


Fall 2006 - My favorite of her two-year-old Pics


Fall 2006 - She was so proud of her mouse ears!


November 2005 - My favorite of her 1-year-old Pics.
She still has that gap, but she finally grew into it! ;)

.18. Waterpark fun continues!

When I got the pictures developed from Thursday, I had some pictures from another waterpark trip Anna and I took. We went to White Water Bay in OKC back in June and had a really great time! Except it rained on us and we FROZE until the sun came back out (you can even see in one of the pictures how dark the sky was beginning to get)! We had a ball though!


Again you can click on the collage to make it bigger. :)

.17. Castaway Cove

So on Thursday, Mom, Anna, and I headed to Wichita Falls, TX to have a little fun in the sun at Castaway Cove. It's not a great big waterpark, but it has plenty of stuff to do with a 4 (almost 5!) year old. I had taken Anna to get her 4 year old vaccination's for school (I had to get a few too so I asked if I could just take her) about a month ago and I promised her as a reward for putting her through that we would go to the waterpark. Boy did we have a BLAST! I was afraid it was going to rain us out, but by the time we got there it was HOT HOT HOT!

C and I had taken Anna to this waterpark last year and she loved it. It has a really nice kids area with three miniature water slides and some other smaller water slides. Last year Anna would only go down them if she could sit in my lap, and this year she started off that way, but by the end of the day, she was going down them face first on her tummy! GO ANNA!

She was also tall enough this year to ride on one of the big slides in a double tube so we got to ride together. She LOVED it! She's so little though, she sat in the front of the tube as close to me as she could get and I wrapped my feet around her and had a death grip on her life jacket just in case. There was no way I was going to let her fly outta there! We had so much fun though. I love how the lazy river floats into their wave pool and you have to cross the waves to get to the other side of the river. That was my favorite part of the trip! The waves were so strong that they about knocked all three of us down. We could not stop laughing! Here's a picture collage of our day:

You can click the picture to make it bigger and please excuse the crappy quality of the pictures. They were taken with one of those waterproof disposable things and let me just say I am so glad I have a nice digital camera for really nice pictures! And Carol over at inkyblog gave me the idea for this collage. Go check her blog out, she's funny, a great photographer, and her two boys are adorable!

.16. Pigtails and Polka Dots

Okay, so I finally had a talk with C and K about A and D. Let's just say that I think things are settled now and we can go on with life. Which is a great thing because I was really, really missing my girlie!

I got to go over and meet baby Deacon. Here's a little snap shot of him that I took.

He's so tiny and adorable and cuddly and sweet and smells just like a baby should smell!! Love him!

But now for my sweet pea! Anna got to spend the night Wednesday night with us and lemme tell ya, we had a girl's night! We did hair (pigtails!) and nails (purple with blue sparkles) and played Wii and ate popcorn. Stayed up really late and just had an awesome time! It was just what we both needed. We missed each other!

(I have no idea about why she is posing like that, I just told her to let me take a picture of her with her nails and that's the pose I got! She cracks me UP! hehe)

Here's a picture of me that Anna took and she is very proud of even though I have no make up on and a big ole zit by my nose. That's one thing that I just love about kids, how they're so honest and innocent. They honestly don't care if you're black, white, zebra-striped or polka-dotted. They love you pretty much no matter what!

That's all for now. We went to Castaway Cove down in Wichita Falls yesterday. I did get our pics developed, but have not had a chance to play around with them on the computer so I will have to make another post about our fun day! We had a BLAST!

.15. Blog Hop - Encouragement

So this week's blog hop is all about Encouragement. I thought and thought and thought and thought and thought some more for something that I consider encouraging. With all the drama that's been going on in my life, I just could not think of anything. Finally though it came to me while I was driving! This song just happened to come on the radio and I knew..



I absolutely LOVE this song and find it so, so true. I'm going to give my props to Miss Miley for singing such an awesome song and for giving me something to use for this week's blog hop. YOU ROCK MILEY!

Also while I was on YouTube finding that Miley video, it made me think of this one:



LOVE IT! I just find it so encouraging that this "father" is spending time with his "daughter". Nowadays there are so many children out there who do not have a father figure (or a mom/grandpa/grandma, etc) that I think every one should watch this little PSA and take a moment to spend some time with their child(ren).

.14. August already?

I can't believe that today is August 2nd! Wow, this year has flown. Well parts of it anyway. Seems like it took forever for nursing school to start, but now I've been in class for almost 1 month (first day was July 10)!

Yesterday mom and I went to OKC for some retail therapy. LOL Hey, shopping really does help when you're depressed and down. I feel lots better today because I got to get out of the house and just go. We both got new purses, I got a new watch AND new bedding! My old bedding was too short and this was on SALE (like $100.00 cheaper on sale!) so I love it! It was a bed in a bag so it came with a comforter, sheet set, pillow shams, and bedskirt! The sheets are now in the dryer and I can't wait to put them on the bed.

Here's some pictures of my loot.

Purse:


Watch:


Bedding:

The best part about all of these purchases was that EVERYTHING was on sale. Gotta love a good bargain! Now I'm off to go study for school. Hope everyone has had a great weekend!