VIPs and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last Friday night Jody and I talked about going to the Monaco to see Fools of Gold. We tried to get Prive (the VIP balcony area) tickets for the Saturday night show but they were already sold out:( So this past week we were prepared…we stalked the website until they went on sale Thursday. Yea…finally…the VIP experience! Popsy and Gigi came over to watch the kids and we headed out for our night on the town. We decided just to grab a bite to eat at the theater before the show. We made our way to the staircase leading up to the VIP section and in front a sign reads “Closed for a Private Party.” Who would have thought they would rent the entire area out on a Saturday night for a private party! So we just split a few appetizers at the bar downstairs and headed up to our seats when the Prive area opened up 10 minutes prior to the start of the movie. We did get VIP seating during the movie but we have yet to get the complete Prive experience. Better luck next time!

Saturday afternoon, I was folding clothing watching Food Network. Throwdown with Bobby Flay was on and he was making the ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie…so of course I started craving Chocolate Chip Cookies. I knew I only had about 1 cup of chocolate chips so I search the Food Network site until I found a recipe meeting the ingredients in my pantry. A Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe called for 2 cups of chocolate chips, chopped Hershey bars or M&M’s. Perfect! I had 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1 cups of Holiday M&M’s left over. Mary Reese decided she wanted to help and really got into it when it was time to lick the beater and bowl. *Note – she doesn’t have clothes on in the picture because she cranked the mixer up on high while I was dumping in the cocoa powder. The cookies turned out delicious and delightful and satisfied my craving!

Pancake Day

It is Saturday morning we just returned from the 42nd Annual Kiwanis Pancake Day in the cafeteria of good old D-High! It reminds me of all the lunch periods I spent in that room. Still to this day I still have to sit on the “correct” side of the cafeteria no matter how packed it is!

I remember taking Banks to his first pancake day when he was almost 3 months old. I had gotten up to feed him that early morning bottle and he did go back to sleep like he normally did. So we loaded up at 6:00 am and went to eat our stacks of pancakes and sausage. It was kind of nice because it wasn’t packed at all! Then we came home and all three of us took a nap!

Both Banks and Mary Reese look forward to this morning every year (almost as much as Christmas morning)! To quote the Decatur Daily: “It has turned into a citywide social event, with friends and neighbors visiting between mouthfuls of pancakes and sausage.” I can’t think of a better way to describe it! If you haven’t been…there is still time…they are serving until 7:30 pm!

Playroom Disaster ‘08

This past weekend we had almost absolutely nothing to do. Banks had a gymnastics birthday party for Hilton Saturday morning and that was it! So I gave my kids full reign of their playroom. When I went up there Saturday night to put them to bed, it looked like a microburst compared to the natural disaster that stormed through on Sunday. President Bush and Governor Bob Riley came through that afternoon and declared a state of emergency and within an hour and half all the debris was cleaned up and back in its place!

The Before

And After

A new "cousin"

This message was in my Inbox this morning from one of my best college friends:

Subject: Hi!!! Who: Me & Bill

What: A baby

When: September 5th or around

Why:

A. Peer pressure

B. Got drunk

C. Looks easy

D. "Got lucky"

E. All the above

Consider yourself "in the know"!

I call Lori my “cousin” because we tailgated with Lori, Bill and the rest of the T-town crew before the Homecoming game (that is the game we took the kids to this year). When we were walking into the stadium, Banks kept asking if my cousin was sitting with us. I finally figured out he was talking about Lori. He has mentioned her several times since then and even said that this year when we go to a game we can stay at our cousin’s house. Anyway…Congratulations Lori and Bill! I know you are going to be FABULOUS parents. We can’t wait to meet our newest cousin Orrell in August/September!

Oh...and a little trip down memory lane for all you college buddies of mine!

Swap - Freshman Year (Mande, Allison, Jane, Lori, Mary and Me)

Pat O'Brien's Senior Year after Alabama beat LSU (Mary, me, Bethany, Amy, Lee Allison, Lori and Mande)! It was pouring rain after the game!

Alpha Chi Jr/Sr - Our Senior Year (Amy, Me, Lori, Jane and Mary)

Lori and Bill's Mexican Fiesta Wedding Shower 2003 - Jane, Amy, Lori, Mary and me (Bethany was missing because she was about to have Michael)

Friday night before the Alabama/Ole Miss game 2006 - Mary, me, Lori, Jane (pregnant with twin girls), and Bethany. Amy was in route from Memphis

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jody and I don’t get into to all the “stereotypical” Valentine’s Day festivities. I am never waiting for the florist to rollup with a dozen roses…I can think of 1000 other things I would rather have for the money he would spend on roses on Valentine’s Day. Usually I do cook a “special” dinner for the family and we enjoy the holiday together! Tonight’s menu includes steak, baked sweet potatoes and grilled veggies. For dessert, I am attempting some Chocolate Molten Cakes accompanied by some chocolate dipped strawberries! The cake recipe is from a friend of my sisters and is supposedly is from the files of the one and only Frank Stitt! I am getting hungry already!

I do love the holiday for the kids. The other night, I got such a kick out of watching Banks and Mary Reese get serious about “decorating” their Valentine cards for all their friends at school! Ms. Davis asked me to bring a Valentine snack for today and when Mary Reese found out I was making heart shaped cookies with pink icing…she thought she needed to take some to her friends as well. So last night I whipped out 4 dozen heart shaped “sandwich” cookies with the help of Stephanie and Camp (kidding…he came sniffing through when I was rolling out the dough and got dusted)!

Oh What a Night/Early Morning...

Last night everyone at the Murphree household got nestled into their beds at a reasonable hour for what it seemed like a long winter’s nap. Jody and I were both asleep before the second Will and Grace Episode on Lifetime was over (so before 11:00 pm). Mary Reese woke up around 12:00 am because her pull up was soaking wet. Jody got her changed into a new pull up, dry pajamas and tucked back in her bed. We had just fallen back asleep when the phone rang. (It always makes me so nervous when the phone rings in the middle of the night!) I can hear Jody and this person on the other end having a conversation and I finally realize that he is talking to the security company because the alarm was going off at his office. (Yes, we are the lucky ones who get to answer the alarm calls in the middle of the night!) They said one of the motion sensors was going off in the warehouse and that the police were on their way to the scene. He told them if there was no sign of a break in to just reset the alarm because they have raccoons that get into the warehouse and set the motion detectors of all the time. So again we fall back asleep, until the phone rings about 20 minutes later. The alarm company told Jody the building was on fire and that the fire department was on the scene. By that time, I could hear the fire alarms from the trucks in our neighborhood racing to the scene. I am trying to help get Jody out the door, keep the dog in the house and get the house locked back up behind him when Mary Reese wakes up AGAIN! I just wanted to get back in by bed and get more than 1 hour of uninterrupted sleep by that point, so I told her to just get into my bed. I didn’t really sleep all that well…I had a three year old in the bed with me and just kept wondering what was going on at GulfEagle Supply. Jody came through around 4:00 am for the camera so he could take pictures (by that time the firemen had the fire put out). By 6:30 am, the alarm and phone were both ringing. It was Jody calling to let me know his mother would come and get Mary Reese if I would drop Banks off at school. Finally I got Mary Reese off with Nanny Nan, Banks to school (with a little detour by Jody’s office so he could check it out), and to work (only about 30 minutes late)! I am not as tired as I thought I would be but I am sure Jody is exhausted being that he only had about 1 ½ hours sleep! Hopefully tonight we have a restful nights sleep!!!

Davenport’s Pizza and a Christening Gown

This weekend we went to Birmingham for Carter’s baptism at Canterbury United Methodist. Saturday afternoon we loaded up the family and Debbie and headed to Hotel Stacey located in beautiful Homewood! After we got the car unloaded, we all piled back in the car for a quick shopping excursion to the Summit. We only made it to L’Occitane for lotions and Belk’s for a little blue jean shopping before meeting up with Nick, Sue and Carter at Davenport’s Pizza for an impromptu Birthday Dinner for Debbie!!! We had to wait for about 30 minutes on the table but that Jim’s Special was well worth it! A little side note on Davenport’s because my family has spent so many memorable meals there - I started going there when my dad was in Dental School and my mom taught home economics at Woodlawn High School. They claim they use to have to drive through McDonald’s and get me a Happy Meal because I wouldn’t eat the pizza. I think it is just so they could have more pizza for themselves! After my college graduation instead of eating in Tuscaloosa, we headed back to Birmingham and dined at Davenport’s. Nicholas and my dad took all the groomsmen there for lunch during Nicholas and Sue’s wedding weekend. Jody and I almost always stop by there for dinner on our way home from the beach. So it just seemed fitting to have dinner there on Friday night!

Debbie and all the Grandkids

Sunday we attended the beautiful baptism service in which Carter as well as my kids behaved like perfect angels! Mary Reese snored (I mean slept) through the entire sermon while Banks worked diligently on his kid’s page they handed out. Carter wore the gown that Debbie made when Banks was baptized almost five years ago. Mary Reese wore it 2 years after Banks and hopefully there will be several more Willis kids to continue the tradition! I have been meaning to get all their names and dates they were baptized embroidered in the hem, so now there have been 3 maybe that will give me a push! The lace is my favorite part of the gown...in fact the lace was the first thing we picked out!

Banks, Mary Reese and Carter

The Lace

After the service, we headed back to the Lovoy’s house for a delicious lunch complete with a delightful cake! It was a perfect road trip! I am sure you can check out Sue and Nick’s blog for more details that I will let them divulge!

Giving up the Joe

Being raised Methodist, I did not grow up giving up things for lent. In college I was friends with several “good Catholic girls” who observed the tradition…so that is when I started. Over the years Jody and I have both given up different things but this year we are doing it together!!! We have both decided to forgo our morning coffee and I will have to admit it has been a rough start! Around 3:30 am a tornado came through the area, so Jody, the kids, Camp and I were all in the basement. I don’t think I got back to sleep until after 5:00 am…so that half a pot of coffee would have been so FABULOUS this morning!

Box Tops and Pop Tops

When I took Banks to school last Friday, Ms. Davis asked me to start collecting Box Tops for Education and pop tops off canned beverages. She said they were tied for 1st Place in the Box Top category. If you haven’t figured it out already…Ms. Davis LOVES to win every contest at the school. I really think she has won every one this year, so I don’t want to disappoint her! If you aren’t collecting these items for someone else, please collect them for the next few months for Banks, Ms. Davis, Ms. Byrd and Banks-Caddell Elementary! Thank you!

The Best of Both Worlds...

What a busy, rainy day! Hilary and I took Banks, Mary Reese and Vivi to the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus 3-D movie matinee at the Monaco Theater today. I love the Monaco because you can reserve your seats. So I purposely picked the “handicapped” row because there is an aisle in front of you therefore giving you plenty of leg room. Banks was glued to the movie and wore his 3-D glasses the entire time. Mary Reese wore hers for about 5 minutes and then was over them. She watched about half the movie in her seat and then dance in the aisle the rest of the show. I will admit, the movie was pretty cool. Disney came up with this 1 week movie highlighting her recent Best of Both Worlds Tour because so many people couldn’t get tickets to her sold out concerts. The best part of the movie was one radio station had a contest with dads for 4 concert tickets complete with backstage passes…they had to sprint wearing high heels! It was hilarious!

This afternoon, Banks had a birthday party for his friend Shakiah at Off the Walls (a huge indoor playground). He played on every toy there! Then we came home and had the Gantts, Bronaughs, Burnetts, Greenes and Villarreals (after they made pizzas for the entire city) over for the Super Bowl! We had so many yummy snacks! Our favorite commercial was in the 4th Quarter for Amp…there was a huge auto mechanic with jumper cables attached to him dancing to Push It trying to get enough “juice” to jump off a car. The second runner up for the night was the Doritos Mouse Trap from the 2nd Quarter. What was your favorite commercial?

Happy Birthday Shakiah!

Cookies!!!

Today we made cookies...Oatmeal Raisin and Butterfinger!!!! The oatmeal raisin are packed full of great spices, raisins and nuts. The butterfinger cookies, my "signature" cookie, are made with chunky peanut butter and crushed butterfingers!!! They are always a hit and a staple at any tailgate! While we were cooking...we were also learning. We counted out the ingredients and practiced taking turns sifting and stirring! The finished products...ready to share with a neighbor!