Our First Cook-Off

Bill is master of the BBQ, and some of our friends encouraged him to enter a competition. With one in town, we figured why not. We both dream of having a restaurant some day...Bill making beer and BBQ and me great appetizers and dessert of course!

Anyway, we packed up our smoker and about half of our kitchen and headed into downtown E-ville for a fun day.

Beth, Jason, and Bella joined us on our team. The cook off was basically like a giant tailgate party minus the tailgate. 20 teams competed against us. Some own restaurants or tour the circuit, and some were just back yard grillers out to have a good time like us.

Here is our little grill compared to our neighbors who has been touring the BBQ circuit in the area for about four months.

The prep is a family affair. Bill trims some of the unnecessary fat, I remove the skirt or thin membrane coating the rib - this makes them extra tender, and Brit gives the ribs a good rub with Bill's "Magic Dust."

Then Bill got the fire started and waited for it to get the perfect temperature.

Shortly after we put the ribs on the grill and sat back to relax. Lots of friends and family stopped by for a visit. This was our home for the day. TheBANK sponsored our team, which is why we are all wearing match BOE shirts, and lucky for us we were able to borrow the tent, which gave us a nice shady place to relax for the day. It was darn hot out there!

Our home for the day:

Brit got so comfortable she fell asleep.

Auntie did a good job and brought lots of good activities for the kids to do. Here's Brie and Bella coloring:

The ribs:

The 10 bones we turned in:

Me turning in our ribs:

The results, we weren't winners, but we sure had a wonderful time. We'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Missing Tooth

My baby lost her first tooth last weekend. My how time flies!!

The poor tooth had been ready to be pulled for a couple of weeks, but Brie wouldn't have it, she was convinced it would come out while she was eating and no one would have to pull it. Last Saturday morning she fell and hit her mouth, and out came the tooth!

The Soloist at School

Brittney has a solo in the drama club performance they are preparing at her school right now. Her principal was having a stressful day on Tuesday, so after rehearsal one of her teachers (Ms. Schmidt) took her by the principals office to sing for her. Mrs. Patton enjoyed it so much she asked Brit to sing it at their morning assembly the next day. Brit was bouncing off the walls excited. As if I normally dress her in rags, she reminded me when she woke up that she would be performing for everyone in the school so she needed a "really cute outfit to wear"...um hello fashionista of second grade...your closet is full of really cute outfits to wear thanks to your wonderful Nana!

Here is my little star, singing a bit of the Titanic inspired "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion. The show they are doing is a review of the best music from all of the decades.

She was very nervous yesterday, but you sure can't tell! She was expecting some background music, but she got acapella instead. It amazes that it doesn't bother her to sing in front of all of these kids. She informed me that she sang it again at the end of the day for her own class, they asked for an encore!

Sorry for the big bump in the middle, a kid was walking in to the gym and not paying attention and bumped into me.

Hooray for Spring!

I'm so glad that Spring has arrived! I love watching everything turn green, and watching all of the lovely spring flowers bloom.

My favorite off all spring flowers are lilacs. My lilac bush bloomed a couple of weeks ago, and I got a couple of good pictures and a couple of vases of flowers to scent the house with. I only with the lilacs lasted longer, they are only pretty for a week or so until we good a good rain and then they start to turn colors and fall off.

Last weekend we had gorgeous weather, which usually doesn't happen for the March of Dimes March for Babies that I have chaired for the last four years. Luckily this year we had great weather, a great turnout, and raised more funds that last year! (I didn't get pics of this event...too busy working, but you can check out some on my sisters blog.)

After the walk, Beth and I headed back to my house to give the girls naps. Our husbands were golfing in a golf scramble together, so we had a lovely day together with our girlies!

After naps we headed to the lovely LeClaire Lake to feed the geese(no ducks yet), enjoy the pretty weather, and let the kiddos run off some steam.

Brittney wanted to help Bella, but Bella wasn't so excited for the help. She loved the slide and swing..."WEEEE!"

All three of the girls enjoyed some climbing.

They had so much fun feeding the Geese....

Thank you Sissy and Bella for the fun day!!

Girlfriends

Look at these gorgeous ladies, all of my best girlfriends from High School! We got together to celebrate Maggie's Bridal Shower over Easter weekend.

We had such a wonderful time at Maggie's sister Angela's lovely home.

What can be better...good friends, good food, good wine, and a reason to celebrate! I only wish we had a longer visit. I'm looking so forward to spending a fun filled weekend with them two weeks from now for Maggie's wedding. I can't wait girls!!

Happy Second Birthday Ryan!

This adorable and very special little guy is my Godson Ryan. He turned two last weekend, and it was a very special celebration. Ryan wasn't yet here in the US to celebrate his first birthday. His Mommy and Daddy, our good friends Amy and Rick, were very impatiently waiting for his adoption from Guatemala to complete...a very long and drawn out process that started when Ryan was only a couple of months old!

We're so glad to have him here now! Ryan LOVES Elmo, so of course he had an Elmo party. I made these cookies for him and his friends to celebrate his daycare birthday party.

This is a cute little video of him telling us how old he is. He's such a doll!

Happy Birthday Buddy!!