Tornado Damage in Cammack Village

Most of you know about the tornado that hit Little Rock a few weeks ago. Our little area was one of the hardest hit but luckily our house wasn’t damaged at all and from what we’ve heard there were no serious injuries and no one was killed. The damage started about 5 houses down from ours and appeared to have had a diagonal path. You’ll see National Guardsmen and their humvees in a few pictures. These were taken from our front porch. The Guard had every entrance into our neighborhood blocked off and we had to show our driver’s license to get past them.
When you get to the website you'll have to enter the password which is battreal. Also, you can bypass the registration/log in screen by clicking on the "View Pictures" button.

http://lifeofjimandkatie.shutterfly.com

Puppy Chow!

A friend of mine called me a couple of days ago asking for my recipe for Puppy Chow. I'm not sure how the tradition started but we used to make this for road trips all the time and they are leaving for vacation on Sunday. I had forgotten all about it until she called asking for the recipe! If you've never had it you really must make it soon! It's awesome! If you decide to take this on a road trip with kiddos be sure to pack the extra wet wipes or your car might look like a snow storm hit!

Puppy Chow
• 1(12ounce)bag chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1(12ounce)box Crispix cereal or similar cereal
• 1 lb confectioners' sugar
Directions
Melt chocolate chips, butter & peanut butter over medium heat. Stir to blend.
Pour over Crispix in large bowl.
Pour confectioners sugar in paper grocery bag.
Add Crispix and shake vigorously until it breaks apart.

MH and HC

Thought I'd share one of the latest pictures I have of Mary Haven and Hannah Clare! They are precious!

Wonderful Arkansas Weather!

So, I'm a little late posting these but I had to share our fun snow day pictures from last Friday!
We took a drive down by the river and watched some kiddos have a snowball fight...then we came home and had our own snowball fight! By the way, if you are ever in the middle of a snowball fight and someone says "watch this!" while throwing a snowball in the air whatever you do don't look up!!! You will get pelted by another snowball and you won't be prepared! Thanks Jim for teaching me a valuable lesson! After our snowball fight we built a snowman...we named him Fred and he has no arms...oops!

We also enjoyed watching the birds enjoy the seed we put out. They were very grateful...especially this fat little Robin!

Pink Elephants, Pink Floyd, Expensive Wine, Black Jack and Love

I spent last week in Las Vegas...
I got there last Sunday and attended a Pink Elephant ITIL conference at the Bellagio. ITIL stands for the Information Technology Infrastructure Library and is a set of best practices that my team at work uses to implement processes for the IT department. I learned a lot about the framework, leadership, team dynamics and most importantly that every person there has struggled with the aches and pains of implementing processes that aren't well received in the world of IT. The conference's theme was "Another Brick in the Wall" and was centered around Pink Floyd. I heard the song Comfortably Numb way too many times and found the chairs we sat in during the sessions comfortably numbing! Overall the conference was very encouraging and extremely informational and the Bellagio is an amazing hotel! I'm pretty sure that the bathroom in our room was as big as our bedroom!

Now, on the fun parts! I sat at the same video poker machine the first couple of nights I was there. It was a nice break from the information overload of the conference! I actually did well these first couple of nights too! Left the machine after breaking even and a couple of hours of fun! Jim came later in the week and since he is a huge Pink Floyd fan I was able to get him into the closing night's Pink Floyd tribute band concert. He loved it! After that we decided to go play and as usual, our intention was to play a few games and go to bed at a decent hour...didn't happen! That night we played black jack until the early morning and when we left the table I left $10 richer than when I sat down! We were at a really fun table full of really fun people! I sat next to a guy from New Jersey who does my same job and was also there for the conference. I think we probably sat there and played for more than 4 hours! If you've ever been to Vegas and you enjoy gambling you know this is very easy to do! You completely lose all sense of time!

On Friday night we went to the Venetian for a belated Valentine's dinner at Mario Batali's restaurant B&B Ristorante. When we got there we were taken to a very quaint table located in what looked like a wine cellar.



After looking at the wine menu and flat out laughing at the prices we estimated that we were probably surrounded by about a million dollars worth of wine and the space wasn't huge! After speaking with our venetian waiter, a waiter who knew a lot about the SEC (he thinks McFaden will play for the Cowboys...yuck!) and the Sommelier we settled on a bottle of wine that didn't break our bank and was actually very good! Of course I can't remember the name of it...even after googling what I think it might have been! The menu of this restaurant allowed for appetizers, first course, second course, third course with side dishes and finally dessert. Not too uncommon...we actually consider ourselves somewhat foodies and were looking forward to trying new things...however, this menu was quite interesting. We only made it through the appetizer and first course and what we ordered was outstanding!!!!!! We had the goat cheese truffles and calamari and seppi fritti for an appetizer and I had the homemade orecchiete with sweet sauage and rapini and Jim had the spaghettini with spicy budding chives, sweet garlic and one-pound lobster for our first courses. Had we made it to the other courses I'm sure the barbecued squab, fennel dusted sweetbread or, branzino would have been wonderful (that is if I knew what any of them were! I do know that sweetbread has nothing to do with bread!). I'm still kicking myself for not ordering the Duck Egg with Guanciale and Truffle Vinaigrette or Lamb's Brain "Francobolli" with Lemon and Sage for my appetizer and first course! Time warp back to Junior High and I'll say "NOT"! Again, we consider ourselves foodies and we love good food and wine but this was a bit much for us! However, like I said what we ordered was outstanding so maybe next time we should branch out...maybe. Here is a link to the menu. If any of you are braver than us let me know what you might have ordered...
http://www.venetian.com/venetianeng/Assets/Files/BB_Menu.pdf

After dinner we went to see Cirque Du Soleil Love. This was an awesome show and I recommend it to everyone! The artists are phenomenal and the costumes have to been seen to be believed! There really aren't many words to describe it...at least none I have time to think of. It really was unbelievable to see the acrobatics, props and the way they used actual recordings of the Beatles talking and such was amazing!



We got back yesterday and while we had a wonderful time I'm glad to be home!

Oh, and I bought a few books that I can't wait to read...one of them that I actually already read is called "The Dog Poop Initiative" by Kirk Weisler. This is a very funny book with a very good lesson that inspires action, commitment, community and change! I encourage any of you who work in an office...or anywhere for that matter to read it and share it with your co-workers! Having said that I also think that someday when we have a family I will read this to our kiddos to teach them a valuable lesson! Check it out for yourself!
http://dogpoopinitiative.com/

Tax Rebates and Personal Finance...

I found this article today and found it interesting...

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/Advice/TheDetailsOnTaxRebates.aspx

Liz Pulliam Weston is one of my favorite columnist on MSN. She is "the web's #1 personal finance columnist" and I always find her columns very informative and easy to read. I have a link to her blog in my friend's list if you'd like to check her out.

Hannah Clare Hankins

Our new niece arrived on January 17th and she is absolutely precious! She looks a lot like her big sister looked when she was born and has a head full of the cutest brown hair you've ever seen! We were so excited to meet her and we are so excited that we get to watch she and her big sister Mary Haven grow up!

Last night we went to visit them and Mary Haven was so much fun! We ate pizza and played a game I'd never heard of called Hullabaloo! We also played hide and seek, beauty shop and I got a personal tour of Mary Haven's closet. She loves her outfits and carefully describes each one and I love it!

Here is a picture of Hannah Clare the day she was born.

Sarah Bussey Photography

I just found our wedding photographer's blog and wanted to share it with you! She is an amazing photographer and so much fun to work with! She posted a blog with some pictures from our wedding on July 1st. So fun!

http://sarahbusseyphotography.blogspot.com

One of my favorite things that she does is pet portraits! They are under "Furry Friends" on our website and here is one of my favorites! She is amazing...I mean really, have you ever tried to get your pet to sit still for a picture?

http://www.sarahbusseyphotography.com/

JOY! Our Charming House in Cammack Village

Yes, of course the word joy is associated with the upcoming holiday and I am filled with joy when I think about how absolutely blessed I am to be able to spend Christmas with the ones I love. However, the JOY I speak of today has come from my going through and organizing the things that were in the last 2 boxes from my condo! I probably shouldn't be too proud of this considering we have lived here in this house together for almost 6 months now but alas, I am so super excited!! We still have a long way to go to bring this house up to the level of organization that my sometimes type A personality requires but we have come a LONG way! When I moved in after the wedding you could not even see our dining room for all of the wedding gifts. Definitely a blessing yes, but I thought we'd never find a place for it all! We did and we celebrated with a bottle of wine! THEN, I found a renter for the condo I lived in prior to the wedding...yes, another blessing indeed! However, all of the stuff crammed into a 2 story condo had to go somewhere and again, the dining room disappeared...as did the living room, guest room, "back" room, breakfast area and kitchen. It felt like it would never end but of course after a lot of work and a lot of compromise* it finally did (sort of!). I am not posting pictures of the "mad house" (other than the Christmas ones already posted) until we have a "not mad house"...and our new furniture arrives! I just had to get this all out and thought this the perfect place!

*There are still too many ducks (never alive and used to be alive) in this house for me and I fear the antlers in the picture below will require a spot on a wall one day soon...but I hear compromise is a good thing in a marraige! :)

Merry Christmas!

So, almost 2 months later I'm finally posting a new blog!
We've been staying quite busy these days! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our families and soon after we went to Kansas to visit my grandparents and so Jim could deer hunt. He is happy to report that he got the biggest deer of the week and I'm just happy that our freezer will be full of what I pretend is meat that comes from the "grocery store". Since, we've been getting ready for Christmas. We finally decorated our house and our cute little tree. We didn't get the lights up on the outside of the house this year because we just ran out of time. Hopefully next year we'll do that again because I just love our big colored lights on our cute little house!

A couple of weekends ago my friend Andrea and her kiddos who live in Springdale came to visit for a fun day of shopping! Her boys are so much fun! Luke will be 3 in March and Sam will be 1 in April. Andrea is such a fun Mom! I really enjoy watching her with her boys. She is teaching them so much and is very patient even though at times she definitely has her hands full as most moms do with little ones! Luke is very smart and likes to talk a lot. Sam is very observant and very laid back. We started the day with lunch at DGP where Luke stuffed is pockets full of pink packages and paper towels...later to be found in the wash! Then we headed to Mid-Towne and Park Plaza to shop with the crazy mass of people! We had so much fun and Luke really enjoyed playing with the kitty and Jim. I think Santa needs to bring him a kitten for Christmas!

We are off to Lavaca to spend some time with my family and friends this Thursday and then we'll be back for Christmas with Jim's family...then we're headed to Dallas for New Year's Eve with a few of our best friends and the guys will be cheering on the Hogs at the Cotton Bowl! WOOO PIG SOOIE!

Here are a few pictures of random happenings in our world...

My Papa, Dad, Brother and Jim with his deer...


Kansas Sky...


Christmas at the Battreal house!




Luke and Sam!


Luke and Jim making funny faces...


Luke playing at Starbucks...


Cute Sam!

Earthquake in California!

I'm in San Francisco for a class...so, tonight I was sitting in Union Square reading and people watching (and rat watching...yes, a "cute" little rat was in the small garden just behind the bench I was sitting on) when I felt the ground shake. I briefly considered the fact that it could be earthquake related since I'm in California but didn't really think too much of it because it was fairly subtle. However, when I got back to the room I turned on the tv and as I flipped through the channels I sadly realized that I missed Charlie Brown - The Great Pumpkin. I love that show and try to watch it every year! After I got over my sadness I noticed text flashing across the screen that confirmed my thought! There was a 5.6 magnitude earthquake 50 miles southeast of San Francisco! So, now I can mark "feel the effects of an earthquake but not get sucked into the ground" off of my list of things to accomplish/experience in my lifetime!

And now, Barry Mannilow is performing "Mandy" on Dancing with the Stars...my evening is complete! ha

Happy Halloween!

I love tradition...one of my favorite "Katie and Jim" traditions is carving jack-o-lanterns for Halloween and then sitting on the front porch to pass out candy to the cute little trick-or-treaters. We've carved jack-o-lanterns almost every year since we started dating. This year I'm going to be in San Francisco for a class on Halloween so we won't get to sit on the porch together...but we did carve our jack-o-lanterns! Jim's is sad because I won't be home this year and mine could use a eyelash brush...looks like a case of the clumpy mascara!

Mary Haven's Soccer Game

Last night Jim and I went to watch our niece Mary Haven's soccer game. Watching 4 year olds play soccer is so much fun! I kind of expected to see them running around unsure of what soccer really was but I have to say, they really knew what was up! The game didn't last very long but they had a half time and they switched directions at the half. At the end of the game everyone got goldfish crackers and juice. Mary Haven was very excited about that. Jim asked her if she was only there for the goldfish and juice and she quickly responded while shrugging her shoulders, "yes". That's my kind of kid! :)

For those of you who don't know Mary Haven, she is #8.

Ready?


YAY!


Look at me go!


Okay coach, time to practice my dance moves!


Fine...I'll practice my moves later. Time to play soccer!


Seriously, I can so do this!


Time for a water break...good game!

Sad little squash...

For the past few years Jim has planted a garden in our backyard. For the entire summer the garden is his baby and he takes care of it almost every day. The first couple of years he grew tomatoes, cucumbers and as always, several varieties of peppers. This year he attempted to grow squash and I'm convinced that he would have been successful had it not been for the craziness of planning a wedding...or maybe...just maybe a rabbit was to blame. What do you think?

Girl's Night!

Friday night I had girl night with my friends Jennifer, Jenny and Jenny's daughter Rachel. We did some shopping and went for sushi. Rachel told me that her favorite thing to shop for is "pink shoes". Sadly, we didn't find any pink shoes but she definitely got the hang of the chopsticks!

Instructions? Yeah, I don't need em!













Look Ma! I have a chicken mustache!













Seriously, I've got this!













See! I told you!














Such a fun evening!

Weekend fun at the lake!

We spent this weekend with our friends Mattson, Karen, Riley and Buddy Wade at their lake house on Cedar Creek Reservoir in Texas. Riley is getting so big and is so much fun! She and Buddy both love the boat and Riley even gets to drive! We had such a fun time and can't wait to visit again!

Zoe the Cat

Zoe has been such a big help around the house lately! She loves to help with boxes and play in baskets at the exact same time I'm trying to move them around and get organized.

The Honeymoon in Jamaica

Bachelorette Party