Crawfish Boil!!

I love me a good crawfish boil. And when Andrea told me they were moving their annual one to when I was going to be visiting, I was sooooo happy. Crawfish are delicious, but not something I will ever make at home. I just don't have to proper supplies.

First you need a giant pot. And I mean GIANT:

They actually used 2 that night because there were going to be so many people.

Then you need a big long table covered in trash bags set up in the dirtiest place you can find:

Here they opted for the horse barn. Though I must say, normally it would have been outside, but it had been raining all day and the barn was the only dry place large enough.

And of course you can't forget the most essential element of a crawfish boil:

The crawfish. One of the boil attendees happens to be a crawfish farmer (is that what they're called?) and they brought them freshly caught. Yum. Now you better believe I don't have access to freshly caught crawfish back home.

Here's one who got away. He made a valiant effort, but in the end it was to no avail. No crawfish is left unboiled.

Mmmm. Into the pot they go. And the second most important ingredient:

Crawfish just wouldn't be crawfish without this.

Then, after they boil for a bit, you need a large, dirty cooler in which to dump the finished crawfish:

I must say. There is nothing sanitary about a crawfish boil.

Finally, everyone needs a big plastic tray (which are merely hosed off after the last boil and stored until next year) to pile high with crawfish:

This is the master chef, Uncle Stacy. He makes a mean crawfish.

You better believe I got in on that action.

Ella and Alex didn't care much for the spicy crawfish, so they indulged in hotdogs instead.

Oh yes. and you always have boiled potatoes and corn with all crawfish boils.

And when all is said and done, you must have an enormous barrel on hand to deposit all the empty crawfish carcasses.

Good times. Now do you see why there is no way I could ever do this at home? But we sure do love taking advantage of our visits to Aunt Andrea to indulge in this fantastic Louisiana tradition. Thanks Andrea!

When Mommy's away.....

... the kids get to play.

Part of our reason for going to visit Andrea was so I could go to a workshop in Houston. So while I was off working, Andrea watched my kids for me. Or I should say, spoiled my kids for me. She had a little too much fun.

First, she did their hair.

Look at that little ham bone! What a babe.

"Hello ladies." Yeah. He knows he's got the looks.

Ella will never hold still long enough for me to do her hair like this. But she loves looking all pretty.

Then it was photo shoot time.

Cousin got in on the action too.

What a bunch of cuties!!

Can you feel the love? They were making an Alex sandwich. He didn't appreciate it.

And then it was time to play.

And play they did.

Aunt Andrea let them play outside all day long.

She took them to the park, fed them pizza, and let them stay up late.

I don't think they missed me at all.

Gone Country

Yes, I have been AWOL. But I have a good reason! We went to visit my sister Andrea in deep country Louisiana. My kids LOVE going to see Aunt Andrea. They will talk about it for weeks before and weeks afterwards. Ella doesn't waste a moment after we get there to put on her cowgirl persona:

Though this cute little thing:

is quick to remind everyone that she's the real cowgirl there. Isn't she a doll? She's so chubby and cute! You just want to squish her. She's my niece.

Alex loves Aunt Andrea's too. See:

"I love Aunt Andrea's! But I've got to say, I have ulterior motives for being here."

He sure does. The one and only reason he goes is for this:

"Yeehaw!" he says. When we first got there I was trying to let him pet the horses but he kept pointing behind them. I couldn't figure out what he was trying to say. Finally, I realized he was saying he wanted to get on the horses. He loves this.

He rode forever. Though he was nice and took turns with Ella.

She really wishes she could live with Aunt Andrea full-time and be a cowgirl.

They love riding. Now me? Not so much. I didn't bother this time after the fiasco last time.

Alex also got a few other tastes of country living. He got to ride on a tractor:

Okay. So technically that's a lawnmower, but he did get to ride on a tractor. I just didn't get a picture of it.

Alex also played in a lot of water and mud. Anywhere there was a puddle you were sure to find Alex in it. I probably changed his clothes 5 times a day. However, one day he picked the wrong puddle to fall in. You see, Andrea has a septic tank, and it's overflow drainpipe leads to a ditch in front of their house. And you guessed it, Alex found himself in it.

It was sooooooooo nasty!

He stank to high heaven. We hosed him off outside. Such fun.

We did all sorts of other fun things while we were there, but I saved them for other posts. I didn't want you to have to read a full novel at one sitting. Besides, it gives me something to blog about for the next few days! So stay tuned!!

Water Fun

I was up to my neck in kids the other day, so Anton was kind enough to take the kids out back and entertain them. They ended up playing with water. Of course it wasn't planned, so everyone was out there in their clothes. Or lack thereof towards the end.

What a bunch of silly heads. They were having the most fun with the hose.

Anton was trying to catch the water while Alex whipped it around.

Alex thought it was really fun.

And you can't play with the hose without getting a nice refreshing drink from it.

I wonder where he learned that from?

Ella really enjoyed spraying Alex with the hose.

He didn't like it so much. But he got over it quickly.

But I think the one who enjoyed it all the most was Anton.




He's just another one of the kids.

Killing me with cuteness.

I took Ella to the doctor today to get her hearing checked, and on the way home we stopped by the pharmacy to get her medicine. I had also promised her a treat for being good at the doctor, so we hopped over to the dollar store down the way. In between the two there was a hair salon, and Ella declared that she wanted her hair cut. She wanted to be able to flip it like mommy's. I've been meaning to cut it anyways, so we went in.

It was one of those salons where the ladies are all old smokers that talk your ear off the whole time. I think she took all of 5 minutes, at the most, on Ella's hair. But after getting home and taking a curling iron to it, she looks absolutely darling.

She is so cute!!

She was having fun posing.

And I'm not one to stop her. What a doll. She's growing up so fast!

The Cake That Wasn't Meant to Be.

I was commissioned by my church to make a cake for the birthday party of our women's organization. I was really excited to try out a new technique I had never used before. It's called a frozen buttercream transfer. You print out in reverse whatever image you want on your cake, then you trace it and fill it in with frosting and freeze it. When frozen solid you flip it over onto the cake. Easy, right? Well you would think so.

I frost my cakes when they are frozen (it locks in the moisture and keeps the cake from crumbling) and that is what I did this time. However, I had been to lazy to level the cake. So while the cake seemed level while I was frosting it, it held a secret deep down inside. After placing the frozen buttercream transfer on the cake and being somewhat satisfied with the result, the cake decided to rebel. As it defrosted it settled. And as it settled it cracked. So did the transfer. Then to make matters worse, it was humid and the cold, frozen cake and transfer started to condensate. There was a lot of blue food coloring in the transfer and it began to run through the cracks. In the end it made for a not so pretty cake.

You can see the dots of water all over it too. Those eventually dried, but the green cracks running through it all stayed. Forever. I was able to patch up the cracks in the white part of the cake, but I just wasn't going to scrape off the transfer and start over. No way.

I did end up sticking stars and twirly confetti on the cake too (which I didn't get a icture of) so it kind of hid the ugly picture, but it was there for the world to see. Oh well. The cake tasted good and I wasn't getting paid so live and learn. Right?

County Fair

We love going to things like county fairs and such. So when the fair rolled around this year we made sure to go. Unfortunately, though, we managed to get there right in between all the shows and such. So we wandered a bit, ate some over-priced junk food, let the kids ride a ride, and called it a night.

But of course we managed to take a few pictures to share with all of you. The kids rode their usual ride, the merry-go-round. Though I guess technically it's called a carousel. It's the one they always choose. We like it because the parents get to go on for free.

I got nominated to be the token parent while Anton stood taking pictures.

Look at us good-lookin' girls!

And this is one of those pictures where I look at it and say, "Where did my baby go?" He looks all grown up here! Stop that. No more growing. You may become potty trained, but you are not allowed to get any bigger or speak any more words! Sigh.

The kids also both got balloon sculptures; Alex, a hat:

And Ella, a flower:

We wanted to see the hypnotist show and eat a funnel cake (what is a fair without a funnel cake?) but we ran out of money. That's really easy to do at a fair. I've decided that I'm going to open a concession stand at the fair and it will be called "Fair Prices at the Fair." None of this $4 for a hot dog thing. Get your $1 hot dogs here! I will make a bundle because everyone will buy their food from me.

Anyway. That was our fun night at the fair.