Lately....

What have I have been up to lately? A whole lot! :) It's a busy season of life right now, but I am having fun! In addition to work and finishing up co-teaching two college courses, I have a full life! Here's some of the fun I have been having!

We had a huge Kids Expo in town where thousands of children showed up to see various vendors and meet some famous people from Disney shows! Our department put on a teddy bear clinic where we could help children "play doctor" and introduce them to medical equipment in a fun way!

 We had teddy bears with casts and medical equipment (syringes, x-rays, stethoscopes) that the children could play with as they pretended to be the doctor!

 We decided that a fun activity would be to do little finger casts out of plaster that they could take home and decorate as finger puppets. This pic is a little blurry, but I am showing off the examples (this was the calm before the storm of thousands of children!)

 The children seemed to love our booth!

 See the finger cast? By the end of the day, we were all so worn out from talking and casting thousands of little fingers!

 Apparently, I had not had enough fun in one day so I decided to go hear a bluegrass band who was playing an outdoor concert downtown. I had been standing from 9am-7pm, so I thought that I would just relax at the concert, but ended up standing right in front of the stage the whole time! The band was great and really interactive with the crowd. After it was over, I ended up meeting one of the band members, and he signed my CD!

 I have had several projects going as well! Have you ever heard of a clothing line called Matilda Jane? It's really cute stuff, but quite pricey too! I decided to try making something for my little niece that was similar in style to THIS little dress. I found a pattern and some fun fabric:

 And made this little dress! I love how it turned out!

 My other project last week was planting a garden. I really don't have a good place for a garden, but I was determined to make something work!

  My back yard is very shady, so I didn't have much to work with. We had a tree cut down last fall, so there is one tiny little patch that gets some sun, and I took advantage of it! I took this area:

 And turned it into a little garden that is about 4'x6' It's pretty small, but big enough for me to get my gardening "fix." :)

 I also found some containers for the deck so that I can grow some herbs and lettuce on the deck.

 This first plants to go it...5 tomato plants! Can't wait to get some more variety in my little garden!

Baptism Weekend!

We had an eventful weekend in Birmingham this past weekend! Kathryn and I drove down on Saturday to help get everything ready for Elaine Mae's baptism and the dinner afterwards at Ivey and Tom's house. This post is full of pictures, and I will let the pictures mostly speak for themselves! 

 Elaine Mae is getting so big, and has learned how to "bootie scoot" around the house. It is hilarious to watch! She doesn't crawl on all fours, but sits mostly upright facing forward and pulls herself by her arms and  by moving her legs!

 On Saturday, in between playing with the kiddos outside and getting all set up for the dinner celebration, Ivey and I made this carrot cake! We were pretty impressed with how well it turned out! :)

 Saturday was a beautiful day, and we got to enjoy some time outside playing in the sandbox:

 And swinging...

 Sunday, we woke up to clouds and rain! But it did not spoil our fun! Even the rain was a reminder of how we long for God's cleansing of Elaine Mae's heart as she received the sign and seal of baptism! Getting ready...

 Thomas just taking it all in...

 All dressed up!

 Sweet family:

 Grandparents:

 Other grandparents:

 The gang (so sad that we were missing a few of the siblings!)

 Aunts:

 Granddaddy:

 Sisters:

 Chilling with Uncle NaNa:

 Nathan and Laura:

 Beautiful hymn we sang together before lunch:

 The table:

 The spread!

 Gathered for a hymn and prayer:

 Sweet baby girl! She was such a trooper!

 She didn't let her big dress stop her from investigating!

 Grammie:

 Aunt RuRu:

 Three generations of "Elaine:" Vivian Elaine, Ivey Elaine, Elaine Mae:

 All worn out after a big day!

We are so thankful for God's covenant promises that he will be the God of believers and their children. We pray that Elaine Mae will never know a day when she does not love and worship Jesus as her Savior!

Test Kitchen!

I love trying new recipes! I found this one a few weeks ago and just got around to testing it out today! It is Roasted Vegetable Tacos with Avocado Sauce and Feta!

Yummy fresh vegetables!

 Filling:
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small summer squash, diced
½ medium red onion, diced
1 ear sweet corn, removed from cob (or about ½ cup frozen corn kernels thawed)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 medium red pepper, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons cumin
¼ teaspoon salt
 *I doubled the recipe so that I could enjoy some leftovers this week!

Preheat oven to 400˚. Prepare all the veggies as described and toss with olive oil, pressed garlic, salt, and cumin. Roast on the Large Bar Pan until tender and lightly browning.

 Avocado Cream:
1 ripe avocado
⅓ cup plain greek yogurt
¼ cup cilantro
1 tablespoons lime juice

 While veggies are roasting, combine avocado, Greek yogurt, cilantro, and lime juice in Food Processor until creamy

 

Assemble in corn tortilla, sprinkle with feta cheese and top with avocado sauce! Yummy! *I added a can of drained and rinsed black beans to veggie mixture!