Suprise Party Continued

Okay, I was supposed to post this blog two weeks ago, but since I am a little technologically challenged I couldn't figure out the stupid slide show thing. So this is a good as it gets, I couldn't figure out how to zoom out of the pictures either.... but on to the party!!
It was such a success! Thank you so much to everyone who came, we were overwhelmed with the amount of people that came, and we can't thank you enough! There were actually 47 of you in that house at one time.
I had been planning the party for weeks, and I was so proud of myself and my pregnant mind that I didn't let it slip! My mom (who is going to be my partner in our party planning business) and I started planning the party as a smaller affair, and of course it grew bigger and bigger with the more ideas that we came up with. Our theme was a Surprise Tailgating party, since I am the only thing Eric loves more than sports (actually I am sure Toby comes before sports too). My parents were so great to let me use their house, there was no way that all of you could fit into our condo! The tablecloth was made out of AstroTurf with tape and stenciled letters, thanks mom and dad. The football cake was supposed to resemble a trophy, both my mom and I really wanted to have an ice sculpture Heisman Trophy but we had to draw the line somewhere.
Thank you so much to everyone that helped me, I couldn't have done it without you! Thanks to Mama J, my partner in crime for EVERYTHING! Dad for cutting out those little stencil numbers and cleaning the house, Merisa for the yummy hot dog wraps that people inhaled, Suzy for the football sugar cookies, Bri for the legendary brownies, muddy buddies and chex mix, Grandma for the toffee and fudge, Annie Swan for the queso and Kennedy for helping us set up! I am sure I left someone out, but really thank you all so much for coming!
As for Big E, (aka: the Toxic Avenger, Man-o-Man, Babe, Baber, Lars, Little Larsen, Erk, E-licious) it was so great to do this for you! I wanted to do something extra special that you would enjoy because I feel incredibly lucky and blessed that I get to be with you! You take such good care of me, and you will be the best Dad to Mack. I appreciate so many things about you. But I don't want our blog readers to puke because of the cheesiness factor. I love you and you are the BEST! I hope your Birthday was everything that you wanted it to be!

Eric's 30th SURPRISE PARTY

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Crazy Happenings!

Okay, I know I have NOT been the best blogger lately! Life has been hectic (I will post more on the main source of hecticness in just a minute). For this post I have decided to do more of my random rantings.

#1 Kamikaze Toby: Oh how I love the Beag! I love how excited he gets to do ANYTHING, really going outside, in the car, eating (well that especially), snuggling, frolicking in the snow and so on. So Eric and I were just get ready to go up to my parents house and every time we go we usually take Toby with us. So of course we tell him we are going and he freaks out, doing the tail wag, jumping all around, you know extreme dog happiness stuff. Well, he charges down the stairs and is waiting at the Pilot's bag end so he can jump in the back. I open the hatch and he is so excited that he doesn't wait. I kid you not, the dog leaped right into the tailgate.... hard. I was expecting to find a beagle head imprinted in the metal. This really didn't help me defend the dog's intelligence to Eric. Toby has recovered.

#2 Comatose Eric: Okay, if you ask Eric to tell you this story, it will definitely be different than my version. But I figure if he wants to be heard he can blog too! So we go to Prenatal Class, which is great and totally worth the money! Anyway, at the end of the class, the nurse goes over breathing for the last fifteen minutes or so. So we get in position, Eric sitting up with his back against the wall and me leaning against him, holding hands on my amazingly enormous tummy. This week she decides to have the men do the relaxing and breathing with the women so they will know what it feels like. Soothing music and a voice comes on and we are lulled into relaxation. The voice is telling us to relax every bone in our body from our toes all the way up to our necks. All of the sudden Eric goes limp... totally relaxed... hands fall to the floor.... neck goes slack and leans against my head.... breathing is incredibly deep. He will argue that there is no way he fell asleep, obviously I disagree. At least when Eric goes into labor he will be totally relaxed!!!

#3 Coke: Okay I have done such a great job laying off the coke since I got pregnant. This really has not been easy, oh the burn down the throat all the way into my tummy. But it makes me a little ill now and Mack gets way hyped up. So anyway, like I said I have been great at resisting. But for the love, there is one place where I have such a hard time resisting the Coca-Cola goodness. I was at Nordstrom at one of my favorite places the MAC counter. (No, I am not so disturbed and obsessed with my makeup that I would name my first born after it. Gimme a break people. Mack is a family name!) All of the sudden I spot it, the Nordstrom cafe see-through soda container, with a brown syrupy coke in it. These Nordstrom people are a genius. The fill the clear cups with the coke and from fifty feet away you can see the carbonation bubbles rising to the top! They even use the yummy small square ice, you coke drinkers know of the ice that I speak of. Oh how I wanted to run up the escalator and order one ASAP. You all should be impressed, I didn't break!!

Halloween and Yummy Nummy Goodness

So Eric and I LOVE dressing up for Halloween! This year Eric looked great as a vampire (no to all you ladies out there, he DID NOT get the inspiration from Twilight!!) Anyway, he looked great and whoever did his makeup and costume were amazing. Thanks Momma J! I went as a prego gypsy. I wore this outfit about four years ago with a little corset type thing and looked awesome!! Oh the waist that is now gone. I put on the costume without the corset and was the size of a barge (you know like Gaston). So anyway, we waddled to a few parties, special thanks to Pat and Annalisa, the party was great!!

I was reading on a Eric's cousin Marissa's blog about how she loves pumpkin, I am quite the pumpkin lover myself so I decided to put this amazing recipe up on the blog. Be careful though because the batter is the BEST I have ever had and every time I have made it I have eaten way too much and gotten ill.

Pumpkin Cream Trifle
1 (18.25 oz) spice cake mix

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding

2 c cold milk
1 c pumpkin puree

2 (3.4 oz) cheesecake instant pudding and pie filling
½ c water

½ c vegetable oil

2 c whipped topping
3 eggs

1 package English toffee bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, combine the cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, pumpkin,
water, oil, eggs, and pie spice in mixing bowl and pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish.
Cook cake for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature and cut cake into 1-inch
cubes. Whisk together the milk and the cheesecake pudding mix. Allow to set for two
minutes. Fold the whipped topping into the pudding mixture. Layer 1/3 of the cake cubes
into the bottom of a large bowl; top with 1/3 of the cream mixture and sprinkle 1/3 of the
bag of English toffee. Repeat layering until all ingredients are used. Refrigerate 1 hour
before serving. I have also used a can of sweetened condensed milk mixed with 1 cup of cold water and then added vanilla pudding mix, let it set and stir in into a small container of Cool Whip. AMAZING!

Mack is doing very well and moving all the time, most of the time into his mom's ribs or bladder. I got some limb in the bladder today as I was teaching Gospel Doctrine and almost had to make a beeline for the bathroom. We are getting so excited that he is so close, and we are amazed that we can love him so much already! The Nursery is still in transformation mode, but it is coming along nicely! Sorry I haven't been the best at blogging lately, I WILL be better!

The Great Catch Up

1. So yesterday was a great day! All of the women on my mom's side of the family got together to celebrate my Grandma's Birthday. I LOVE my Grandma! Really there are just so many great things about her, and she always makes me laugh and smile. We had not been together for a long time and it was so fun to see everyone and laugh! I come from great women. For dessert I made the BEST soft sugar cookies and promised that I would post the recipe. I wish that I could take the credit, but my sister-in-law Suzy shared the recipe with me. So ladies here it is:

Soft Sugar Cookies
* In Small bowl mix together:
1 c sour cream 1 tsp baking soda
set aside

Mix dry ingredients:
5 c flour 3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt 1 ½ c sugar

Make a hole in dry ingredients and add:
1 c softened butter 3 eggs
Sour cream mixture 3 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon or almond extract

Chill if needed. Roll and Cut. Bake at 375 for 4-6 minutes. Frost with icing of choice

As far as the icing goes, I just kinda made it up with 4 oz of cream cheese, 1/3 cup butter, milk and powdered sugar.

2. I survived! I am SO glad Eric is home! He was in Houston for six days and man did I miss him! Thankfully, no one broke into my house in the middle of the night and I made in through the week alive. Since I am such a wimp, Momma J and I had a slumber party the whole week. Thanks Mom! Having Eric gone just reminded me how much I love him and how lucky I am to have him. I am so thankful that we are best friends and that we love being together so much! Thank you so much to those of you that called, kept me company, had me to dinner and made sure I was not too lonely!

3. After my massive post about DWTS, a lot of people have been asking me what I think so far. Here it goes. I can't get hooked for some reason, I watch it but I don't get excited. I really think Brooke adopted her baby, there is no way her stomach can look that good! I really like Warren Sapp, how his three hundred pound body is so light on his feet is beyond me. Cheryl still needs a new haircut. I am sick of Lance and Lacey pushing the envelope, enough with the chains on your costumes. Cloris is entertaining, but it is way time to go.

4. Presidential Elections: So I watched the debate this week, I am not impressed with either one. I am still up in the air about who will be my final choice. I have decided however that I think it should be mandatory that the nominee announce their cabinet choices before the elections. Who are they going to surround themselves with? You know who I would vote for..... that's right Tom Selleck!

5. Baby Mack is doing very well. He is quite the mover and shaker. Now when he kicks we can see my tummy move with him. I was amazed at this and so was Eric. He then asked me if I remembered that scene in Ailens and Spaceballs. I really missed Eric!

I am a FF Fanatic!

I don't know what happened to me over the weekend, something has been rewired in my brain. So on Sunday morning I get this frantic call from the Hubby in Houston asking me to look at his fantasy football lineup for the games that day. I locate the lineup only to find out that our (see I am even saying "our" instead of "his team") wide receiver is injured and is probably not going to be playing. I also look to see that we are playing another team who is favored to beat us, I must act quickly! I have never been into the whole fantasy geek football thing before so it took me a long time to figure it out, and my deadline was fast approaching. At exactly three minutes before the lineup was closed for trading out the teams bench I finally figured it out! I was a proud peacock, knowing how grateful Eric would be.

But then during church, my mind started wandering.... How is the team? How are our players? Has anyone been injured? Was it wise to take Braylon Edwards off the bench? I then looked at our opponent this week silently sitting in church and started to wonder if he was obsessed as I was. Then I was hoping that he would lose badly.

So I came home and checked and our team was looking okay. It was 86 to 89 and we had one more player to play Monday night..... Braylon Edwards our bench warmer. Oh no, would my trade work? Where was Eric when I needed the reassurance that our team was okay? Sure enough, our team ROCKED! 112-89 baby! Braylon was amazing and now might be my favorite player! I called to tell Eric the good news and we celebrated via cell phone. I am the BEST assistant manager/coach ever and I am completely perplexed as to why I care so much!

Tylenol Toby.... I Swear He Has Hidden Thumbs

So I have decided that I have waited long enough to blog about The T-dog. I just didn't want to appear like the obsessive people who live for their pets (even though sometimes I am one of them). But no, don't worry I don't wear T-shirts with the Tob's picture on it and I don't do the whole baby talk thing to him either, he is way too intelligent for such talk!

So, T-Dizzle has had a very stressful week. Today I left for a doctor's appointment to come home to find a Ziploc bag full of Tylenol (that I keep in my CLOSED nightstand drawer) on the floor in the front room. The bag had been chewed open and Tylenol was scattered everywhere. So I called the vet, and of course they recognized me as the owner of the dog that will eat anything. (Some of the things on T's wrap sheet include: a bottle of Tums that, were also in a closed drawer, snail bait, Benedryl that had the child cap on and pure vegetable oil. The beag has iron gut.) Well, Toby was really excited until we pulled up to the Vet's office where he promptly put on the brakes. I walked in and they greeted me with, "There is Tylenol Toby". So they take him back to make him throw up the Tylenol and I sit down to wait in the waiting room. Some busy body in the waiting room then asks how in the world my dog got an unspecified number of Tylenol. I felt like a neglectful mother. Needless to say, the Beagle Boy is recovering fine, a little stoned because of the medication and a little clingy because of the trauma but I don't blame him. I called to report to Eric and we decided that if we can't keep our dog out of trouble, maybe we aren't quite ready for Mack. But I am sure we will do fine!