Annie's Birthday

Monday, February 15 was my middle daughter, Annie's, birthday.  A national holiday just happened to fall on her birthday this year.  We decided to celebrate with a brunch at 11a.m. so that Annie could join her friends in the evening for a celebration in Visalia (somewhere where birthday girls can ride a mechanical bull free on their special day??)!  Annie loves her family, so that is who we invited -- Grandpa Roger, Graner, Uncle Sam, Aunt Sue, and all of our immediate family.  Uncle Tom and Aunts Aletha couldn't make it, although Aletha dropped by a little later in the afternoon with her birthday wishes.  I made 3 kinds of quiche, monkey bread, fruit salad, fresh squeezed orange juice and a fresh strawberry cake.  I probably should have made 2 of the monkey bread since it is sooo yummy and poor Edward didn't get any when he arrived a little later.   We all had a great time together celebrating with Annie -- I am so glad she only lives an hour away and not the 4 hours it used to be when she lived in San Ramon.  Annie is such a blessing to all of us -- she is the energetic life of our family.  She is one of my three very special blessings and I love her soooo much!  Have a great year wonderful daughter!

Annie and Claire with 32 candles!!

Claire turns 9!

Claire Bea, my only granddaughter, turned 9 a few days ago.  To celebrate, Claire and her friend, Bella, Bella's mom Anabel, Katie, and I traveled down to Hollywood on Saturday to have lunch and shop at The American Girl store.  We had so much fun!  Katie's GPS guided us on our journey to the shopping area called "The Grove".  Anabel commented "It's Disneyland for adults!" -- meaning the main shopping area looked like main street at Disneyland, only with a variety of high end stores.  There was piped music, flowers, statues, beautiful buildings, no cars, etc. and the weather was absolutely perfect.  We parked in a parking garage and had no trouble finding The American Girl store.  I think I was as excited as the two birthday girls. Bella's birthday is a week after Claire's so this was her celebration too. 

The girls got to each pick out a "just like me" doll.  There were quite a few to choose from with many combinations of hair, skin color, eye color, etc.  They also got matching souvenior T-shirts and doll outfits that could only be purchased at The American Girl store. 

We went upstairs to check in for our lunch, and we oo'd and aw'd at all the mini stores for all the historical dolls we passed on the way.  Wow! 

The American Girl Cafe was the cutest place ever.  The color scheme was hot pink, black and white.  The tables were decorated beautifully -- there were cloth napkins with hair bows they could keep, for napkin rings.  They provided a "sweet seat" for the girls' dolls. We were served pink lemonade and mini cinnamon rolls soon after we were seated.  There were little black and white boxes with papers printed with conversation questions on them.  The menus were pink and had a variety of choices for our entree.

Next we were served a plate with fruit skewers, crudites and dip, and crostinis and bruchetta for our appetizer.  Yum!  We all placed our entree orders and the girls thought about names for their dolls. 

The girls and I  had "bity hamburgers and hotdogs" with curly fries.

  The waitress brought out tiny little black and white cups and saucers for the dolls -- so cute.

For dessert we were served a plate with a little frosted star cookie, a cup of chocolate mousse,  and a little heart shaped piece of cake.

Claire and Bella both had candles in their cakes to blow out while Happy Birthday was sung to them.

 What a fun time we all had.

 I'm sure the girls will never forget their 9th birthday celebration at The American Girl Store!!  I know I will always enjoy the memories.
Oh, and on the way home we made a stop at the Burbank IKEA store -- that is always fun.

Grandma Day

When my first grandchild was born -- Claire -- in January, 2001, I made a committment to keep her one day a week.  My daughter Katie was going to be a working mom and I wanted to give little Claire a break in the middle of the week from her day care.  I have kept that committment for 9 years and 4 Moreno grandkids!  I have been so blessed to have been able to spend this quality time with them.  Currently, Grandma Day is Wednesdays.  Around 7:30 a.m. my little Farmer comes in the back door.  He is usually dressed as a football player (Bengal or Green Bay Packer) or he has his farmer work clothes on.  Archer shows up with his mommy moments later and our day begins!  Farmer's favorite breakfast is mini-pancakes.  He also loves to squeeze his own orange juice (he likes to go out and pick them first).  So our day begins . . . we have done all kinds of things throughout the years.  I've taught them all (except baby Archie) how to make cookies, especially chocolate chip.  We put together puzzles, read books, make tents, etc.  Claire and Bauer are picked up from their school at 2:20 p.m. (usually by Grandpa) and they join the fun until their mom picks them all up around 5 p.m.  Of course I am totally exhasted by the time they all leave -- but it is soooo worth it.  Here are some pictures from our last Grandma Day.

Squeezing the oranges

Yum!

Archer is ready for breakfast too!

Farmer on his tractor, ready to go play in the mud (he wasn't supposed to, but that didn't stop him.  I guess he just couldn't resist).

Cookies for Tuesday Night Bible Study

Barry leads a Bible study on Tuesday nights and today I made some cookies to bring along.  I had picked up a magazine a while back that a cookie recipe I wanted to try.  They are Brown Sugar Cashew Cookies.  Could they taste as good as they looked and sounded??

I got all my ingredients together -- I had recently picked up a jar of cashews from Target just in case I got around to making these cookies.

Ready for baking . . .

Cooling down and waiting for frosting . . .

Now the taste test . . .from the guy who can't taste anything . . . but he was the only one around!

Looks like he got enough of the flavor!  Actually we shared the tasting cookie and it was delicious!  I'll make this recipe again.

I hope the Bible study group enjoys them!

Barry Turns 62!

Yesterday was Barry's birthday. We drove up to Reedley and met two of his brothers and their families for a late lunch at the Main Street Cafe. Of course our three daughters, son-in-laws and grandchildren were there too! 18 total (Farmer counted). Maybe I should introduce my family so when I refer to someone you know who I am talking about. Barry is my wonderful husband of 36 years. We have three grown daughters -- Katie is the oldest. She has been married to Edward for 10 years and they have 4 beautiful children -- my grandchildren. Claire is the only girl -- she is almost 9; Bauer is almost 7; Farmer is almost 5 and Archer is 10 months. Annie is our middle child -- she is the fun stuff in the middle! She is a 3rd grade teacher and lives about an hour from here. Betsy is our youngest and has been married for 2 years to Primo. They have one child -- my youngest grandson -- Caleb -- he is so cute!

So back to Barry's birthday. After a yummy lunch (they have verenika, zweibach and german sausage on the menu) we went to Phil and Rosemarie's for dessert. Here is where I have to post a few pictures of the desserts Rosemarie picked up from Eddie's Bakery in Fresno. I've never been there but I think I would love it!

Berry Coffee Cake

Lemon Tart


Chocolate Chiffon -- That's the birthday boy!


Farmer thought Grandpa needed some help blowing out his candles!
A birthday in the family is a BLESSING. Being able to share it with your family is a double BLESSING!

I'm so excited! I'm finally getting my blog started. I want to share about all my blessings! They will include my family, my hospitality adventures (which will include yummy recipes), my faith and misc. blessings that come my way. When I have more time I'll get with the plan!