Mashed Potatoes

Last night was the first time Addy has eaten mashed potatoes and actually liked them...and had seconds! She's not been much of a potato fan in any form, mashed, baked, or fries. Jen made the potatoes, so she must have the magic touch!

Visitors!

We had some MN visitors come see us last week. Grandma E., Steven's Godmother, Deb, and our niece and nephew Gabi and Ryan came to see us! They rolled into town on Friday Aug. 13 and stayed with us for the week! It would be fair to say we had a full house! Addy was never short on attention, that's for sure!

Saturday morning Addy woke up to our visitors, which let's face it, are really just here to see her! Grandma brought Addy her very own rocking chair, and she loves it!


Such a lady!

We went to a minor league baseball game on Saturday night and stayed to watch the fireworks at the end! Addy loved the fireworks, just like on the 4th of July.



We played at the park...



Went out on the town...




And rounded out the visit with a road trip to Lynchburg to see the Jack Daniel Distillery. So fun!



Addy really liked the statues of Jack Daniel. She now says, "Jack" very clearly! Thank goodness she has a cousin named Jack, now I just need to work on her associating that name to her cousin Jack!!!

We really enjoyed our visit, thanks for coming to see us!

Happy 30th Birthday Steven!

Today it was Steven's turn to say goodbye to his 20s! Unfortunately he had to go to work tonight, so his celebration was cut a little short. He just wanted a low-key evening, so we had pizza for dinner and then went outside to play with water balloons and bubbles! When we came inside we had some delicious NO BAKE cheesecake that Jen made today! It was really good! Addy loved it, too...of course :).



(You may notice the scrape on Addy's forehead, she fell head first off the bottom step of our back porch tonight.)


Mackenzie and Katie got Steven one of his favorite things for his birthday, IBC Root Beer! They had fun with a little scavenger hunt for him to find them, though. Here are some pictures of Steven reenacting finding his presents, since I was a little slow with the camera!

1st Day of School

Mackenzie and Katie had their first day of school on Friday! This was their first time going to school since they've been homeschooled until this year.

Aren't they the coolest first and fifth grader ever?



They both had a great day and really like their teachers. I had the privilege of going with Jen and the girls to school to be the photographer (aka: moral support for Jen). I think the best part of Jen's day was picking the girls up and hearing how much fun they had!

In Addy news, this is what she's been up to lately: shoes and shopping. She loves trying on shoes, anybody's shoes, even her daddy's shoes!

And she loves bags, purses, lunch boxes, basically anything she can tote around!

Redeemed

Jennifer redeemed herself by making a new Mississippi Fudge cake! This time it turned out sinfully good!!!


Here's the recipe if any of you chocolate lovers out there would like to try it!

2 sticks butter, melted
1/2 c. cocoa
1 1/2 c. self rising flour
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 c. chopped pecans (optional)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min. Cool. Cover top of cake with mini marshmallows. Broil till brown.

Topping:
1 stick butter
1/3 c. cocoa
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 box powdered sugar

Pour over marshmallows. Keep refrigerated.

Warning: it's rich and addictive!