The lost has been found

Well, it is with much surprise that I am announcing the return of our cat...alive and well (minus a few lbs)! I know that you, Kyle, will be most excited. Now, where have you been hiding her these past 7 days?

I still have NO IDEA where she has been or what she was doing, but around 12:30 this afternoon she was outside the front door, crying to come in. Once in, she immediately went for food and water. William said, as she entered the house "There she is, mommy." And Hudson let out a nice little chuckle. Now it's as if she was never gone. Weird. Very weird.

In case you're wondering

1. 99 has yet to make her way home. She's either on a Super Secret Mission, found a new home, or gone to kitty heaven. We may never know.

2. If you are interested in my Crafty Crescent Lasagna recipe (ok, ok...it's Pillbury's recipe), just click here.

I love Casserole exchange!

Each month I participate in what's called Casserole Exchange. Once a month some of us ladies get together and exchange casseroles. We each make 5, yummy, somewhat gourmet casseroles/frozen meals. We only bring 4 to the exchange, as we keep 1 for ourselves. Each one should serve 6 people. We have started splitting them b/c so many of us are fairly small families, and there ends up being so much wasted food. It's especially nice b/c that means small families actually get 8 to take home! That's enough for nearly 2 per week.

Our January exchange is this Friday, and during naps this afternoon I made mine. This month I made Crafty Crescent Lasagna. It's one of my favorite recipes, and I have yet to make it for the exchange.

Here are all of my ingredients

before I got started.

Finished product.

Here they are wrapped,

labelled and ready for the freezer.

Old?

Dave's birthday is today, and he is the big 3-0! He thinks he's over the hill now, but of course, life is just beginning! Shoot- we only have 2 kids (and very youngs ones, at that)...and possibly 2 more to go (Lord willing). I have to admit though, it does feel weird that MY husband is 30. I always thought of 30 as being old, but of course, I'd never tell him that. Thank goodness he doesn't read my blog!

Missing...

I hesitate to make this post for fear that it is "final." Our cat, 99, has been missing for nearly 72 hours. Our last sighting of her was Thursday evening during the football game. I don't know if she's in mourning/committed suicide because OU lost or what. She's not one to stay "hidden" for this long. Occasionally, she will bolt out the door, but usually only when the door has been open for long periods of time. This has not happened at all since then. And even when she does go outside she lasts all of about 1 minute. We have looked in all her hiding places and in every little nook and cranny of our house. We are mystified and a little sad too.

For those of you who see me regularly, you know that we have been contemplating giving her a new home. I don't know if I would actually ever go through with it though. I've come the decision that I'm not really a pet person, and my lack of attention to her just isn't fair. But the boys just love her, and surprisingly, she seems to love them in return. But, this isn't the way I would want to give her a new home.

I really would like to find her. But as the hours/days go on I'm becoming skeptical that it's going to happen.

My baby is now 1!!!

I have found that Hudson's first year went MUCH faster than William's first year. He is so much fun. We celebrated his birthday/New Years at my parent's house with the Talkingtons, my cousins who were in town from Houston. One nice thing about having a New Years Eve baby is that Dave will always be home for his birthday. We had a nice day together.He loved his cupcake...as you can see.