Emmys 14th Birthday Celebration!

Emmy had a wonderful 14th birthday this year. I am late getting this post written and published because her birthday pictures got transferred to Bryan's work laptop instead of mine and I kept forgetting to get them off of his computer in the evenings when he was home.

Emmy's request for her birthday this year was a slumber party with a few of her dearest friends. She also really wanted an ipod touch but we were not sure if we could afford one as they are pretty expensive. In the end, Bryan made it happen and it was a real surprise to her as she didn't think she was getting one.

She was truly astounded and has very much been enjoying her gift. She uses it to face-time with a few of her friends as well as for email, facebook, and other online things like listening to music. 

The weekend after her birthday we held her slumber party. She invited 6 of her closest friends and 4 were able to come. Three are friends from church and one is a dear family that we know from Tuscaloosa. 

From left to right- Gracen, Emmy, Sasha, Annie, Abby, and Zoe. 

Gracen is from Tuscaloosa. Abby, Sasha, and Zoe are friends from church. They are all in youth group together and Abby also takes the same ball room dance classes on fridays that the girls take. Incidentally, Abby, Emmy, Sasha, and Zoe were all put in the same dorm this year for summer camp which the girls are all thrilled over. You don't get to chose your dorm partners and they had no idea if any of them would even be together, though they were hoping. Emmy found out Wednesday night that they are all together! That just made me smile. 

Abby & Annie

I am so thankful for such beautiful friends for Em. It's something Bryan and I have prayed over for each of our girls. The high school years can be tough and our hopes and prayers are that each of the girls will find just a few special Christian friends to walk the road with. Emmy is our social bug and she really needs it too. More so than some people do. On a side note, I just have to share this- Zoe's mom and I originally met on the Five in a Row boards many years ago when the kids were really young and we were living in TN and God put us in the same church as them when he lead us to Brook Hills 3 years ago. How fun is that!  

The girls arrived on Friday evening around 5pm. We served pizza for dinner and I made a strawberry lemonade cake. It was a recipe I found over on Pinterest. The evening was filled with lots of hairstyling, make-up, and painting nails while hanging out together. Emmy and Annie's large loft proved to be great as it had plenty of room for us to put our blow up mattress for the girls to sleep on. 

The younger kids had strict instructions to not bother the girls during the party. *Wink* They did great and kept a distance so as to give everyone their privacy. I had a few special treats on hand for them too. 

For breakfast on Saturday I made banana stuffed french toast and bacon. It was the first time I had tried this french toast recipe (another Pinterest find) and it was sooo yummy! I've made it several times since.

Baked Banana French Toast

1 loaf french bread

8 eggs

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoon cinnamon

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 large banana

 brown sugar

butter

Powdered sugar

Maple syrup

Spray a large baking dish with pam. Cut french bread into slices. Cut them about 1/2 – 3/4 inch thick. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla until blended. Place sliced bread in bowl to coat. Place slices of bread into each dish until bottom of dish covered.  Cut banana into 12 or more slices. Coat slices of banana with brown sugar and lay on top of slices of bread. Place remaining slices of bread on top after coating them in egg mixture.  Transfer dishes to a baking sheet. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight. When you are ready to bake, mix together remaining 4 tablespoons brown sugar and 1 tablespoon butter and sprinkle over bread. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes. Enjoy warm with powdered sugar and maple syrup. Makes 12.

The original recipe came from, HERE. I altered it a bit to my liking. 

On Saturday around noon Zoe and Sasha were picked up by Sasha's dad. Shortly after Bryan, Emmy, Abby, Gracen, and I headed into Hoover to the Galleria. Bryan dropped us off and then ran by his office to do a few things. The girls and I ate lunch, did some shopping, and then we met Gracen's parents at Sears. They drove up from Tuscaloosa to get her. It was great to see Dana and Jeff again and Bryan showed up at that time too so Jeff and Bryan were able to visit a little. We don't get to see them much but sure do enjoy it when we do get time with them. After the mall we dropped Abby off at home and Em's birthday celebration time had come to an end. It was a fun one! 

I know it's the echo of every mothers heart on the planet, but where does the time go? It's hard to believe my firstborn daughter is already 14! 

MeMe & Larry's Visit

Randomness from their time with us this month.

They brought Camden's birthday gift down with them.

Their were other gifts too! It felt like Christmas all over again! 

A new rug and pillows for the girls room that MeMe made. 

A great and fitting shirt for Bryan with some money attached to the label for ammo. :) 

Another perfect tee for Houston and it had money for ammo attached to the label too. Houston said "Now that's my kind of clothing!" :)

A jewelry box for Natalie. 

A new purse. 

A necklace and new purse for Ally. 

Legos for Camden. 

A new book for me. :) 

2 new necklaces for me. These were on my Pinterest wish list. MeMe made them for me. One is I Love Lucy and one is Gone with the Wind. LOVE them! 

Pillows for the school room that MeMe made us! These too were on my Pinterest wish list. LOVE them! I adore map pillows and I love the colors she found to make these with. 

Matching pillow case dresses for Natalie and Ally that MeMe sewed. Aren't these adorable!! 

We took MeMe out to our favorite Italian restaurant for Mother's Day. We went on Saturday instead of Sunday to avoid the crowds. 

Larry is an avid gardener and lived here in AL for years. AL is his home state. Since he gardened here all those years he had plenty of good tips and advice that he was able to give us while here. He showed us the best place to plant our grapevines and blueberry bushes. He showed  me to how root plants like boxwoods and holly bushes. Something I had been wanting to learn for a while now. He brought us 2 holly bushes that he rooted himself for us to plant on our property. He also helped Houston get our 2nd raised garden bed installed! 

Our 2nd bed ready for some seeds! 

I'm so thankful for all of his great input and help during the week he was here! 

MeMe helped us with some home projects too. We had bought some stained glass film to apply to our front and back doors. She did the project for us while she was here! 

Our back door. I love the frosted look it gives. 

Front door! Isn't it beautiful! It is just gorgeous when the sun shines through it. 

Years ago MeMe worked as a hair dresser and she passed around haircuts while she was here too. Ally, Emmy, and Annie got trims. Natalie got a new style including bangs and Houston got a haircut. 

On Sunday MeMe and Larry went to church with us which was special. On Wednesday us girls headed to the Galleria for a day of shopping and lunch out. Emmy needed a new swim suit for upcoming camp and she needed a few new tops too. We stopped by Old Navy before hitting the mall and once we got to the mall for lunch Bryan met us there. He works 5 minutes down the road from the Galleria. Emmy found everything she needed and it was a fun day out just for us girls. 

Outside of that we just hung out here at home and enjoyed our time together. 

Larry is a pecan lover and I made this pecan cake as a thank you for all of his 

(and MeMe's) help during the week. I'm not a big pecan lover but this cake was pretty good. 

 I found the recipe on Pinterest and just altered it a bit to my liking. It's HERE. 

Thankful for a wonderful visit with family. 

Take Me Out To The Ball Game......

We bought peanuts but no crackerjacks. 

This past weekend Bryan's work held a company dinner for everyone including the camp team people. You have the Student Life staff that works at the office year round and then you have the summer camp staff which are people that come from all across the country to work as chaperone's, drama team, and other leaders within the camps each summer. They come here to headquarters and then leave with their team to whatever state/camp they are working in this summer. The dinner was for everyone so it was pretty crowded. One of the main leaders at SL hosted it at their house and had it catered. They live in Hoover right around the corner from Regions Park, the Birmingham Barons baseball stadium, so after dinner everyone headed over to the stadium to enjoy a ball game, courtesy of Student Life. 

Our family loves a good Barons baseball game. Well.....not necessarily everyone in our family. Some of us are a bit more enthusiastic about baseball than others. Bryan thinks baseball is pretty boring as does Emmy. Natalie, Ally, Camden, and I LOVE baseball games. I love the atmosphere and find the game overall to be much more fun than a football game. Maybe because I can understand it. LOL! Annie and Houston are somewhere in the middle in that they enjoy them but don't get super thrilled over them. It was a fun night for all of us though. We had not gotten a chance to attend a game yet this season. 

The game went into 10 innings being tied 0-0 so I can't say it was a super exciting one but it was fun nevertheless. In the end the Barons did loose. Part of the fun was that our family got some screen time which the kids thought was cool. Natalie and Ally were put on the screen dancing and Bryan and I were selected in the kiss cam. 

The evening ended with a fireworks show. 

Hopefully will get back to a few more games before this season ends. 

My Simple Diary: Week 20 of 2012

We have family in town this week. Bryan's mom and Larry arrived this past Friday evening. We are sure enjoying their visit.

We took Meme out to our favorite local Italian restaurant, Joe's Italian, for Mother's Day. We went on Saturday to avoid the Sunday crowds.

I've been getting some great gardening tips from Larry while he's here. Love gleaning his knowledge in the area. He is showing me how to root different plants and giving us advice on where to plant future things.

Us girls are heading out tomorrow for a day of lunch and shopping together. Emmy needs to find a swim suit for camp.

MeMe has been helping us with some projects around the house. So thankful for her skills and help! You will have to wait until my next house post to see what all she did though. :)

And a fun discovery this week, thanks to Larry.......

At the very back of our property we discovered a TON of wild blackberry bushes and the bushes are overloaded with berries! I was so excited to make this discovery! What a fun and special surprise from God!

The bushes go so deep in some areas that some are hard to reach so Houston is going to work on clearing a path to those for me by clearing out the plants that are not blackberry bushes.

Ally picking a few on Monday that were ripe and ready.