Happy Birthday, Victoria!

I promised Victoria a special birthday blog post.  : )  She was not quite as excited about it as I was.  Victoria's birthday was Saturday, September 9, so on Friday, I went up and met Victoria in Homewood for lunch.  We had Saw's barbecue, one of our favorite barbecue places, and Dreamcakes, our absolute favorite cupcakery!  

Chocolate peanut butter for V, and strawberry for me!

Yummy strawberry cupcake

On Saturday, we all went to dinner at The J. Clyde for burgers and a beer selection that reads like a novel.  I am not a beer drinker, but I am pretty sure the others enjoyed their choices.  The lighting was not so great, so my pictures are not the best, but thankfully, the pyromaniac Colin was able to set fire to a napkin and enhance the ambience while everyone made arson jokes.

Victoria, with Riley ignoring me

Colin and Lauren

The birthday girl

Ryan didn't want his picture taken

Chris and Drew

It's That Time Of Year Again! Roll Tide Roll!

Chris and I are fortunate to have season tickets for Alabama Football, so we never have to miss a game (well, except that we missed the first game because we were up in Murfreesboro meeting baby Alayna!). Chris is even going down to Gainesville this weekend to cheer on the Tide against Florida!  Here are a few photos from the games so far:

Bama vs. North Texas
Mother and Rita had tickets for The Zone!

Bama vs. North Texas

Bama vs. Arkansas
View from our seats

My Favorite Potato Soup

It has been a little chilly this week (c'mon, it's all relative), and I have been craving some potato soup.  I absolutely love this recipe, so I thought I would share.  I usually add a few carrots and some shredded cheese (either in the soup or on top of your bowl).  Make sure to add lots of black pepper--even better if it's freshly ground!  I sometimes use about a cup of french onion dip--yeah, like you eat with potato chips--instead of the chopped onion; you can add it after you've added the milk mixture in with the vegetables.  DO NOT use onion soup mix!  I tried it once and the soup was the most disgusting thing I've ever put in my mouth.  This soup is great with fresh bread or a sliced and toasted baguette.  I'm making it for dinner tonight, so I'm currently using my bread machine to make some bread to go with it!  
Enjoy!

Here's the delicious finished product!

Delicious Ham and Potato Soup

  from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes  (I leave the peel on! More nutrients and less work!)

1/3 cup diced celery

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

3/4 cup diced cooked ham

3 1/4 cups water

2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste

5 tablespoons butter

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

Directions

1.  Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.

2.  In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.

3.  Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.

Serves 8.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 195 | Total Fat: 10.5g | Cholesterol: 30mg

Powered by ESHA Nutrient Database

Labor Day weekend

Chris and I had a great Labor Day weekend!  We went to the Alabama tornado relief concert on Friday night and we loved hearing some of our favorites.  They played "Dixieland Delight" with "Will the Circle be Unbroken" in the middle, and they played all of their biggest hits.  Then they brought out the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra and performed a song they wrote about the April 27 tornado called "Raising Alabama." Also with TSO, they played "Christmas in Dixie" and "Angels Among Us," and ended with "My Home's in Alabama."  For an encore they lined up and played each other's instruments for a part of "Wildwood Flower," and then they finished the show with "I'll Fly Away."  It was a wonderful show, and the band repeatedly reminded everybody that they were here to raise money to help Alabamians and thanked the sponsors of the show and the audience for being there.  

At the Alabama tornado relief concert at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater

On Saturday we headed up to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to see Chris's brother, Ben, his wife, Daeon, their daughter, Kaelyn, and their new baby, Alayna.  Chris's parents, David and Lu Ann came to visit too!  We had a great time playing with Kaelyn and watching Alayna do cute baby things.  On Sunday afternoon, Chris's mom and I went to Old Time Pottery to look for a pot for her and we made the poor guy load and unload 3 different giant (and very heavy) pots before we had the one we wanted!  He earned his pay that day!  The boys spent most of their time out in Ben's garage/workshop/man cave, building storage cubes for Kaelyn and a step stool for Kaelyn's best friend Reagan (or so I thought!).  Sunday evening, Chris asked me to come out to the garage, and they showed me the finished step stool and said it was for me!  Ben had built a step stool for Kaelyn to use for her bathroom sink and I told Chris I needed a step stool to reach things in my kitchen cabinets.  After they finished the storage cubes, sweet Ben started working on the step stool for me.  I still have to paint it, and I plan to use stencils, so a post on that process will follow!   Take a look at a few pictures from our visit:

Grandmama with Alayna

Me with Alayna

Sleepy baby

She's so long!

Stretch!

Long legs and toes! 

Teaching Kaelyn the art of the one-handed self-portrait

Kaelyn decided to give it a shot.  It's a steep learning curve when you're 2.

We watched Dirty Dancing, and Kaelyn and Uncle Chris decided to give the lift a try.   They gave Johnny and Baby a run for their money.  

Alayna sleeping

This girl was so hungry, she started sucking on my finger, and boy is she strong!