Craving Some Creole

While my mom was here Adam and I attempted to dine at a local cajun restaurant.  We had to drive up and down the street three times to find the hole in the wall restaurant just to find out that they are only open Thursday through Saturday.  We were there on a Monday.  Those of you who live in Nebraska know that West Point has more restaurants thank Oakland, but there still aren't many choices. Adam told me to pick where to go eat and I wouldn't pick anywhere, expcept saying, "No Pizza Ranch."  So we just went home: without eating.  I had a green smoothie and I am sure Adam ate cereal. 
Since we still haven't been to Shipwrecked we tried our own cajun meal.  It was delicious. As usual I made some adjustments to the recipe so this blog post is mostly to help me remember what I did to make this delicious shrimp creole. 

The recipe started here www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Creole-Spiced-Shrimp-395914?mbid=ipapp

Here are the change I made.

Creole-Spiced Shrimp


1 pound shrimp
1 small onion, sliced
1/2 lemon8 bay leaves
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
chili powder
garlic powder
crushed red pepper flakes
ground red pepper
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup crushed tomatoes
2 T unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
1/4 cup water

Toss shrimp and next 13 ingredients in a 9x13 pan.  Add butter on top and 1/4 cup water. Bake at 325 degrees or grill until shrimp are just opaque in center: 20-25 minutes.

Serve over rice with a little extra Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning. 
Yummy!

A Visit With Mimi & Caroline

Thursday, June 7th I went to pick up my mom and Caroline at the train station in Omaha.  They had been traveling for more than twenty-four hours.  They were excited to be in Nebraska to see everyone.  The kids were asleep when we got home, but they were thrilled to see them on Friday morning.  Caroline had fun at the pool with Alexander and Audrey. 

  


Audrey loved swinging and landing on the couch.  She squealed each time she hit the couch. 

 Caroline and I made handkerchief dresses for Audrey.  Caroline loves cupcakes so we chose some cupcake handkerchiefs.  We decided it was easier to make shirts than dresses.  Now they have matching cupcake shirts and dresses. 

 Audrey loves her brother.  She says, "Hi baby, and gives him hugs and kisses.  Mimi wanted the same hugs and kisses, but Audrey didn't share those hugs and kisses. 

My mom and I enjoyed doing several projects together.  We painted the mailbox post, light post, and the trim on the front porch.  We found several great accessories at local thrift shops and added some beautiful flowers outside.  My house definitely needed a lit Yvonne help. 

Mama and Caroline chose to return to Kentucky on the Amtrak train.  The train left Omaha at 5:15am so we decided to all spend the night in Omaha.  We enjoyed exploring the Old Market and eating dinner at the Twisted Fork.  We played at the pool and then sent Mimi and Caroline on their way.  It is always hard to say goodbye.  We all had some quality time together.  It saddens me that my kids don't have the opportunity to be close to their grandmothers.  We love you Mimi and Caroline. 

All Girl: Shoes, Clothes, & Bows

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 Audrey took her first tumble down the stairs on May 23rd.  I knew this was coming.  She had learned to climb the stairs and come back down.  She was trying to bring blankies down from her room and tumbled down 8 hardwood steps.  She cried a bit and had a small bump on her forehead, but she was fine.  Audrey has a love of shoes and clothes.  She has one special polka dot shirt that she loves.  Anytime she sees it she pulls it out and insists on wearing it.  She loves everyone's shoes.  We often hear thump, thump, thump thinking she has fallen down the stairs again.  Thankfully, it is just our shoes.  She throws them down the stairs and them climbs down to get them and put them on her feet.  She doesn't care who's shoes they are.  She says, "Shoes." She must get that from her Mimi, because I hate shoes. I hate buying shoes, I hate wearing shoes.  The first thing I do when I get in the house or the car is take off my shoes.

Audrey Playing With My Barbies

Audrey loves her baby dolls.  She says, "Baby." She even calls her brother a baby and pats him on the head and rubs his back.  She loves to rock her babies and wrap them up in blankets and dish rags.  She gives the kisses and loves on them just like we love on her.

Even though she loves all things girl, she still loves getting dirty. 

Auj loves her hair bows.  She doesn't like to keep them in her hair, but she loves to stand up and choose them and play with them.  She calls them, "B." She likes for Mommy to wear her bows as well, but then she will take them out of my hair and pull a little hair with it.

Baby girl loves her belly button.  When she is sleepy or upset she tries to find her belly button and stick her finger in it.  This is especially difficult when she wears a onesie.  At night I sometimes have to unzip her PJs so she can find her button to soothe herself.  A little strange, I think.

On Sunday, June 3 Audrey took her first steps.  She didn't even realize she was walking.  It was so exciting.  

My Old Kentucky Home

On Easter Sunday we left for a visit to Kentucky.  We had a rough start. Audrey girl had gotten sick three times since 5 am.  I was sure she had a stomach virus, but after not throwing up for several hours I felt it was ok to take her to church.  She never got sick again.  As we were landing in Minneapolis guess who got sick…. Alexander.  My thoughts of a stomach virus resurfaced.  Remember we have done this before.  It seemed to be a combination of coughing and turbulence that caused Alexander’s vomiting.  Praise the Lord. 

Easter Egg Hunt on Monday    Audrey loved Carter's puppy Rocky

We arrived in Louisville around 10:30pm.  Madeline was there to pick us up and Alexander was thrilled to see her.  My mom was just as excited to see the kids when we reached Frankfort.  We enjoyed a few quiet days in Frankfort as the kids and I were still struggling with colds.  On Wednesday, we spent time with Jessica and Addie. Audrey loved Addie and tried to pick her up and patted on her saying,  “Baby.” Addie is almost as big as Audrey.

Alexander, Audrey, & Addie

On Thursday, we had lunch with Ronnie and Janet and Claire.  Alexander and Claire had a great time playing together.  They obviously remembered being together in January.  From there we headed to Louisville to pick up Adam and headed to Owensboro. 

Alexander got to go bowling for the first time.  Mommy wasn’t very happy that she didn’t get to be part of this first experience.  Not to mention that I love bowling. 

Adam and I enjoyed a nice dinner together at Briarpatch without the kids.  We also got to go on a few runs together and separately.  Alexander got to have another first that Monday.  We went to school with Tami. Tami teaches three year olds at Cathedral Preschool.  Alexander had a great time learning about caterpillars and reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

Fun With Cousins, Jaxson, Conner, and Carson 

Capitol Steps

 

Alexander and Mimi

We headed back to Frankfort for a few more days. Unfortunately, my mom had to work each of these days.  We visited her at the Capitol and took some special pictures.  Unfortunately, the tulips had already bloomed and had been removed.  My mom was supposed to return to Nebraska with us, but due to the General Assembly calling a special session, she was unable to leave and had to continue working. 

Audrey was entertained on the plane with the flannel board pieces from the church nursery .

As we arrived at the airport on Friday I received a phone call saying my flight had been delayed.  This was going to cause me to miss my connection in Minneapolis.  I had to change airlines and fly to Dallas a few hours later than my original flight.  Thankfully my sister and Cissy took us to lunch rather than us having to sit in the airport.  I had only agreed to stay in Kentucky longer than Adam if my mom flew back with me.  I was not thrilled about flying with both kids alone, AGAIN.  It isn’t horrible, but there is nothing easy about it.  The only positive thing is I did get $200 in vouchers from Delta for having to change airlines.  American also tore up our stroller and gave us a voucher for a whopping $30.  Needless to say we were relieved to be back in Oakland several hours later than planned.  It is always good to go home to Kentucky, but it sure makes me realize all that I am missing.  I never realized how beautiful Kentucky was until I moved to Nebraska. 

Alexanderisms

Alexander says so many funny and cute things. 

He loves to pray before meals.  He always says the, "Thank you Father" prayer. 

Unprompted, Alexander prayed for someone to not be scared to fly to Nebraska.  He said, "Help them to be safe and not be scared."  We prayed this for my mom when she visited in November.  Amazing how he remembered that and applied it to someone else.

Just the other day, he held Audrey's hand and prayed with her.  Precious. 

At church Wednesday, he sang on the microphone forever.  Adam played the guitar.  It was amazing.

Adam and I sing, "Audrey Girl."  Alexander sings, "Audrey gawk."  Not sure what that gawk means.

 While most of what Alexander says is cute and sweet he certainly has times when he uses poor English.  He still struggles with pronouns, rarely using he and she correctly.  "Her is going to my house," he says.  We finally did get him to at least use the masculine and feminine pronouns appropriately when talking about girls and boys.  

When asking a question about himself he says, "My do it?"  We constantly remind him to ask, "May I do it?"

"In four days," and "In forty days." He has no concept of time.  "Last year." 

He confuses money and temperature.  He tells us it is not expensive, "It is forty dollars."  Alexander also says, "It is forty degrees."  He likes the number forty, but he uses any number. Sixty is often used as well. 

The other day I hurt my finger and yelled loudly.  Alexander later informed me that when I yelled I broke his heart into pieces.  I apologized and he said it was okay, because "Jesus is going to fix my heart.  He is going to come to my room while I am sleeping, turn on the light and put the pieces back together." 

After reading stories before naptime and bedtime each day Alexander's request is always, "Snuggle?" He will sometimes even wake throughout the night and ask to snuggle.  He often comes to our room in the early morning hours and asks to snuggle.  I usually just pull him in bed with us to get a few extra minutes of sleep.

We are awakened each morning to, "Mommy, can I have milk, O's, and a show?"  Of course the answer is yes. 


One last Alexanderism.  After getting a spray tan Alexander noticed my tan lines and asked, "Mom, why is your booty white?" 

Hilarious three year old. 

Audrey's First Birthday

It is so hard to believe that my baby girl is one year old.  Although the last year has been difficult in some ways it seems like just yesterday we were bringing home our tiny princess.  Audrey weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces, but was hard to handle from the beginning.  She had colic and reflux and rarely slept.  She still isn't the greatest sleeper.  At six months old she did sleep twelve hours at night, but that didn't last for long.   Audrey was born three months to do the day after my dad died.  He wanted another granddaughter so badly.   He would have loved Audrey and would have ensured that she loved him as much as he loved her.  

We went home to Kentucky to celebrate Audrey's first birthday.  It is a little difficult to plan a party 800 miles away, but with the help of Pinterest, my mom, and Jessica we pulled off a fancy affair.  Audrey's snowflake soiree was rather spectacular.  My mom's house was the perfect setting for the event.

 
It was great to have the family together in one place.  Alexander was thrilled to see his cousins and friends.  He was especially excited to Jessica and Derek and baby Addie of course. 

Audrey loved being the center of attention, especially when we sang Happy Birthday to her.  Alexander was a good big brother and helped his food deprived sister, who only has one tooth, eat her birthday cupcake.  She finally figured out what to do. Surprisingly, she wasn't as interested in the gifts as I expected.  At Christmas she couldn't keep her hands off the packages under the Christmas tree.  She was excited to play with her birthday gifts, but didn't care to open them. 


Our new family birthday tradition is to have a balloon release for my dad.  We did this at Alexander's birthday this year, but my mom missed it, so I thought we would do it again.  I want my kids to always remember him and know what a special father, grandfather, and friend Daddy Bob was.  My heart aches that they will not have the opportunity to know him. 

Audrey is so serious, but loves to play.  She loves a basket of laundry, bibs, or socks.   She has just recently become increasingly interested in books, primarily touch and feel books.  We call her the Audreycane because she can make a mess of a clean house in moments.  She loves to eat avocado and banana.  She will make use ofany item as a pretend phone.  Her big blue eyes and long eyelashes melt her Daddy's heart.  Audrey enjoys music, especially The Cars' "Drive."  Auj is quite the dare devil and has no fear, unlike her brother at this age.  It was a blessing to be able to celebrate the life of our precious Audrey.  We are so thankful for her and all the joy she brings to our life.

We've Come a Long Way Baby

Upon moving to Nebraska in October our permanent home was not ready.  There was lots to be done.  The majority of the house was gutted.  I was excited to help make decisions about the house and to even do some work.  The process got really long and difficult.  We were all getting frustrated.  There were many church members who spent hours and days painting, cleaning, etc.  Three months in the temporary house, with Audrey in our room, no dishwasher, trains in our backyard, and tons and tons of Asian Beetles was enough. 

By Christmas we could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  There was color on the walls: yellow, green, blue, pink, brown.  I love color.  New flooring was installed.  My beautiful cherry cabinets arrived. It was coming together.  I was thrilled.  

We went to Kentucky for Audrey's birthday on January 12th.  While we were away there was lots of work done.  Adam returned several days before the children and I.  He worked day and night as well getting ready for our return.  

On January 21st the kids and I returned to Nebraska to our new home.  It was beautiful.  There are still several things to be done, some trim work, painting the new banister to the basement, and carpeting the stairs to the basement.  I have worked for the last ten days unpacking.  We are finally home.  Praise God and thank you to all those who helped make this possible.  

 Audrey is sleeping in her OWN room, we love having a dishwasher again, and Alexander is thrilled to have his playroom in the basement.  Oh, I forgot to mention part of the renovation was adding a huge window in the basement where we pushed our sleep sofa and oversized chair in.  Otherwise they would not have fit down the stairs.  We have had a few plumbing issues, but for the most part it is perfect.