St. Paddy's Day weekend...

The St. Paddy's Day weekend is sadly over. Although this was the most non-festive SPD i've had in recent memory, it was still fun nonetheless. I had two PC show's in Tulsa, so ML&J and i took the Queen to work Fri. morning and left from there. We stopped in OKC for about an hour so they could get out of their carseats, get some cheaper gas, and stretch a little. After a couple short errands, we loaded back up and headed for Grammy and Grampy's. The trip was thankfully uneventful and Grammy greeted us as we pulled in. She had agreed to do a little babysitting while i did the shows, and she was looking forward to the time with the grandbabies. From the time they hit the door until there were toys strewn all over the living room floor was approximately 16 minutes. Grammy keeps a closet full of toys from my childhood and some that we have cut from the stables at our house and some that i have found while garage saleing in their neighborhood. Back a few months ago, i found almost a complete set of the Fisher Price little red barn and silo. It was a great find, and i realized just how many animals and implements had been lost from my set. We're still short a dog from either set. But the kids don't mind, they don't miss it at all. It didn't take M long to get her Little Mermaid wedding dress on and find some of Grammy's church shoes to clop around their wood floors.

While they played Grampy took me across the street to show me an upcoming "project" he needs me to do for him. Their next door neighbor had a huge pecan tree removed and its all stacked in her backyard. Apparently, they have agreed that Grampy can have it if he just removes it, so that's where i come in. He wants it moved to his backyard and then split. It looks to be about 5 or 6 full ricks of wood, so it should be a good job for an entire weekend. He wants to pay me for it, but i don't know, i'd be glad just to take a couple ricks home with me. Of course, i don't have my fireplace built yet, but should be a good summer project. I'm planning on building a small hearth area in our living room and putting a wood burning stove in there. I really miss having a fireplace, since growing up with one. I was always a firebug, and came home from school every day during the fall and winter and spent at least the first hour building a good hot fire for the evening. We had a Lopi insert with an etching of a wolf in some fir trees on the windows of the stove. Man i used to get that stove HOT!!! When the top began to glow a dull red i knew i had the fire hot enough. Usually if the stove got that hot it was basically unbearable in the den where it was located, we would have to open it up to the rest of the house so the heat would disperse a little. I digress. I haven't quite decided what make and model of woodstove i'm going to go with in our present home. I really like the railroad depot pot bellied look, and i'm sure it would be sufficient for our needs. There are so many out there to choose from, just finding the right one is difficult enough. And then there's the issue of me never having done ANY kind of masonry work before, which should prove interesting once the mortar gets mixed. Of course, i'll have an idea or picture once i get started but it should be interesting nonetheless. If you want, your welcome to come over and have a cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy a good laugh for a day or two while i try my hand at bricklayin'.

I think Grammy was surprised at how much little girls can eat when they get hungry. She had fixed some of her comfort food and they cleaned it right up and were begging for more. They definitely have their Mama's appetite when there's good food around. That girl can EAT, coincidentally, you wouldn't know it by looking at her. J is starting to get that way too. He's been eating a lot more off our plates. Grammy fed him a bowl full of mashed potatoes and some veggies too. The other night, i made some chicken gumbo. I put the darkest roux i've ever made in it and it was really good. J LOVED it!!!! I started to put the first bowl away that he had helped me on, and he began screaming for more, so i got another big ladle and we had another bowl together. It even had a little bite for spicy heat, and he didn't seem to want to stop on it. I started calling him Gumbo after that. I've got a picture of L eating some jambalaya that i had made for her #2 birthday last year. She's got her mouth open after a bite and is making a sound like a dragon breathing fire, only to dig in for another bite a few seconds later...my little Cajun Queen, makes Papa Piquante proud!!

After getting home from Tulsa, neither mama or i felt good, and that continued into Sunday morning. But around 11 or so i started feeling better and went into town and got the girls some kites to fly which they enjoyed immensely. I planted a couple redbuds Grammy had given us and eventually went out to an oil field road and found another and planted it too, now i'm looking for some white dogwoods to go with them. It was so nice outside yesterday, we started with big bubbles and ended up with kites and planting trees. Even J got a little farmer's tan that i noticed this morning. We're still not feeling great but not as bad as we were. I think Mama is going to take Wed. off and we're going to take the kids to the zoo for M's birthday, that should be fun.