just a note.

um. lots to say. where the hell have I been since easter, etc....

lessee....

my 31st birthday was yesterday and it was more wonderful than usual. I spent it with people I absolutley adore. that makes any birthday good. well. that and ice cream cake. my thighs are still screaming. and on friday night before there were lemon martinis. yum.

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landon turned six months old a couple of weeks ago. yes. I am writing his letter. don't worry. i had to wait for almost an eternity to get mom to send me pictures. so i am workin' on it people. just a preview... we have two teeth on the bottom. and he's still delicious.

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I want a vacation with no children. i'd like for, just like 48 hours to be able to go do what I want to do and go where I need to go and know that my little lovelies are being taken care of. I don't think i could get to cabo san lucas in only 48 hours, but, hey - it would be worth a try.

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trying to find a new job.

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excited that my friends lyndsay and nathan are about to have a baby boy.

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super excited that my friends jill and jonathan's adoption is almost final.

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need new glasses. desperately. someone! quick! water the money tree!

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dance recital weekend this weekend.

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more than this. later.

xoxo.

the famous dessert.

so every year at easter, everyone brings a dish.

as you might have heard earlier, kaley and allie's dad, he brought a ham. a ham!

my mom brought a coconut pie. someone else brought bbq chicken in the crock pot.

my cousin shawna, she is alllllways in charge of macaroni and cheese. homemade. and you have to fight to get some on your plate.

you get the idea.

usually i take banana pudding. it's a favorite and people almost lick the dish clean when it's all gone. i make it so much i know the recipe by heart. amazing.

this year, i opted out of the banana pudding. yep. you heard me. opted out.

the problem was, i had gotten hooked on an episode of paula deen's best recipes on saturday. and the friday before that, while in my favorite hair salon, i had been reading the paula deen magazine. before i knew it, i was trying to mayonaise on everything.

so she made a wonderful, simple recipe called "blueberry pineapple crunch," which looked easy and just sounded delicious. the kind of delicious that you only experience when you go into the grocery store hungry. a thing one should never do. right along with watching episodes of paula deen's best recipes when you have yet to have breakfast.

so. it was decided. by a power greater than me. i would forgo bananas and whip up blueberry pineapple crunch for my easter dish.

and everyone moaned and groaned and complained because ewwww blueberries and pineapple are you serious? yes. i was serious.

to make a long story short, and to end the torment of your eyes reading this useless post, the dessert was gone in sixty seconds flat, complete with scraping of the dish. here is the recipe. make and enjoy. and when you say the word "butter," you have to say it just like paula deen would.... buttah.

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Paula Dean's Pineapple Blueberry Crunch (from Paula's Best Recipes on The Food Network)

• 3/4 cup butter, plus more for dish
• 1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple in juice
  
• 1 (20-ounce) can blueberry pie filling
• 1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 13 by 9-inch casserole dish.

Melt 3/4 cup butter in saucepan over low heat.

Pour the pineapple with juice into the casserole dish and evenly spread blueberry pie filling on top. Cover with dry yellow cake mix and top with pecans. Drizzle with melted butter and bake for 35 to 45 minutes.

easter recap.

sunday was easter. which means, in the south, a large gathering of your closest family members where everyone brings a covered dish and a bunch of plastic colored eggs filled with candy that will surely melt everywhere... then, you stay there for several hours stuffing your face full of all sorts of deliciousness you would never find at home, and watch your children run around the property on the hunt for the mysterious prize egg that might have a $100 bill inside. indeed.

it means dressing your children up in their sunday bestest best (which is a much nicer version of "sunday best" complete with white patent shoes) and arranging them, along with their twenty or so other restless cousins, and taking the yearly cousin photo. because we mommies like to think of them always like that, in their sunday bestest best, not in the shorts, bare feet and mismatched tank top they will eventually put on. taking this picture takes many a nerve, and usually causes all parents involved to quickly retreat into quieter, shadier areas. quickly. especially the males. what? who?

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the prize egg turned out to be a silly ole urban legend. it was only $10, not $100. not that it mattered.

dalton was happy to find one egg, and why couldn't he just sit down after he did? summer was chattering on the whole time she was hunting, though i am not sure quite about what. destiny was just in a hurry, as no one was allowed to gather more eggs than she. imagine her complete frustration when i asked her what color each one was... then the dilemna... show off how smart she was with her colors, or keep up with her mad dash to fill her basket? jackson wasn't quite sure what we were doing and why, but it seemed fun enough... running around a yard collecting plastic things that have candy inside? OKAY!

kaley and allie were sweet and charming, as always, offering to help me carry in landon and gathering my diaper bag for me. oh, and their dad made a ham. they were quite proud. a ham! did i mention that?

and landon. white and sparkly and clean. and without a nap. and still as charming as ever. i love that boy.

i made a paula deen recipe. with a whole stick of melted butter poured over the top.

bliss.

on being super delicious / a shout out / cry for help

Shelley. HELLO? MCFLY? I miss my friend. Where are you? Where are we? I do not have your phone number anymore to call you crying or laughing or even screaming. So. Please. Know that I miss you. I miss Friday night Ryans and Sour Skittles and everything else.

xo.
Rachael.

Mimi was crazy enough to take my children on Spring Break - Update II

Spagi supper w/ icecream for dessert. And a game of UNO that would NOT end but oh the giggles and pieces of them we had never seen before! Big girls "late night" priledge ending w/ popcorn fingerprints on Pa's laptop I've found....Emily has fell right in with the, "Pa..." but Jocilyn still clings to my side. COULD NOT ASK for better travel companions for our wild two. Sunshine would be nice for a couple of hours-

Girls on Spring Break with the Grandparents. Update 1.

Text msg from Mimi:

made tents w blankets in the car a/c not working can you imagine

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My mom and dad have taken the girls, and one friend each, to Charleston for Spring Break. Much like a UFC Cage Fight, I will let you know who comes out alive.

symphony

there are moments you wait for your entire life.

my friend jill just got the most wonderful news ... a sweet baby boy is about to be born, and he's going to be the next precious member of her family. kaley's baby brother.

prayers, it turns out, do get answered. in grand form.

now. wonder if he will be a redhead?