Are you ready for another...

....BIRTHDAY PHOTO MONTAGE?!?  Call me lame or not so creative, but this is the best and most fun way for me to show those I love how much they mean to me on their birthdays while I'm far away.  Happy bird-day to my big sister KHud!  I hope you are having a splendid and marvelous day in Tennessee!!!  Hope you enjoy these select pictures I found rummaging through the old picture files.  Since the dawn of digital photography occurred when we were already in college, most of the pictures are limited to summers and Christmas visits....

I believe this was days after I got my braces off in my freshman year at Tech...KHud just got her's on for the second time! (Winter 2002?)

We are cruising home from Decatur in Clifford before his untimely collision and subsequent death.  You can see Miss Foo's knee beside my cheek and behind the driver's seat.  Sister QT before I moved to France the first time in the summer of 2004!

Same day~KHud holding Biscuit, our lovely puppy.  I really like this picture.

4th of July in Marietta, Summer 2005~why did we choose to where purple?  Not so patriotic...

A beach trip just in time to get some sun before KHud married BHud in 2005!

Same trip, but  this time we are clean and enjoying a boat ride probably to a fancy dinner out with the fam.  Want to do a Florida vacation with us when Kyle & I get home?

KHud received her MDiv in May 2006~I'm proud to say that I'm the only sister to have attended all 3 of KHud's graduations (did anyone attend Miss Foo's high school graduation?)

Jump ahead to my favorite picture of my sisters and me of all time in Fall 2008.  So boss...

KHud's rockin' the head of the table at my bridesmaid luncheon last spring.  Lovely ladies, indeed.

 

Though this isn't exactly a picture of us together (you can spot my elbow jabbing Donovan in the tummy), I thoroughly enjoy this picture of KHud.  Looking good in my neighborhood! (This one came from my wedding rehearsal in Spring 2009)

As an additional birthday gift, I want to recommend to all my readers to check out KHud's new blog, Reflective Reformers!   I'm super thrilled she started writing; once upon a time she blogged when she lived in St. Andrews, but I was busy being a self-involved senior in high school to bother to read about her Scottish lifestyle.  Thanks again, KHud, for that season while you were overseas where you let me use your cell phone and Ford Explorer (named Rufus). Sorry I got hit in Rufus twice by my lame-o boyfriend at the time; I promise it'll never happen again.  Also, sorry I didn't read your blog then.  Anywho, everyone who is not KHud ought to check out her blog pronto.  You'll likely find that she's a better writer than I am and talks about more interesting things... Happy birthday Mrs. Hudler!!!

A Veritable Menagerie

Show and tell~  I love sharing my class art with the readers.  This week yielded some zoo inspired drawings...

une autruche

deux zebres (sideways...blogspot is being difficult and keep rotating my image against my will...we'll assume it adds to the picture's whimsy...)

You Not Alonne O World Squirrel (i.e. un ecureuil)  I think this one's pretty good.

Enjoy my super cute drawings and hopefully I'll have more to showcase next week...

My husband turns 26!!

This blog is birthday central!  My big sister's is tomorrow, but before we get to that, I'd like to share Kyle's birthday with yall.  It was Wednesday, but we started Tuesday and worked it through Thursday.  Birthdays should always last a little longer than a day.  Tuesday Kyle kicked it off with something special and treated himself to a haircut and a new winter hat.  We also crafted his marvelous chocolate eclair cake and completed it in time to enjoy a Taco Night with a group of Tech PhD students (though Kyle's only a master student, we like to rub elbows with the upper echelon!)  Not having to cook dinner or clean dishes is a birthday gift in and of itself.

Birthday boy ready to get it started

Wednesday Kyle only has one class in the evening, and I don't work at all.  We slept in, and for breakfast I made pain perdu.  Here I must correct myself from an old post; I had said before that the French don't have french toast... turns out it's pain perdu.  It's quite brilliant;  everybody eats baguettes with dinner, but if all the bread isn't eaten, it is rock hard by the next morning.  It's essentially lost because no one in their right mind would crack a tooth to try and eat it all.  However, you can use your lost bread (in French~pain perdu) to make french toast.  It actually makes the toast tastier than when you just use sandwich bread slices.  It was perfect with the Log Cabin syrup we just received in the mail.

I may have mixed too many eggs and had to throw some Wonder bread in the mix...

Kyle spent the afternoon doing some homework and playing guitar while I got some things ready for school and blogged a bit (blogging about blogging...I'm getting lamer by the second!).  In the evening we bundled up for a fancy dinner out to a restaurant which has been recommended to us a number of times called Le Bouche-a-Oreille (coincidentally meaning "word of mouth").  Kyle and I had a beer and a large spread of cold cuts, potatoes, bread, and salad to enjoy with cheese fondue.  It was tasty and filling.  I would never have guessed before moving here how common eating cheesy potatoes with salami or prosciutto is here... very odd but good.  It was quite a cute restaurant, too.

So much cheese~Kyle's up to the challenge

Feeling French & cheesy!

The highlight of the night happened once we returned home.  Kyle opened his gifts and received some lovely things.

He can hardly wait to get into the gifts

Using his Christmas scissors to break into Gift #1

Bow tie?

Didn't I get this already on Christmas morning?

3.... 2.... 1....

DRAW!!! (he's diggin his new apron w/ pockets.)

The tiniest & cutest cooking timer of all time (he broke the one from his stocking hours after receiving it!)

Jazz man~10 cds in 1 pack!

Saving the best for last, Kyle got a mega dose of chocolate eclair cake right before bedtime.  Yum!

A flaming "K" for KHam!  Better than 26 candles...

Thursday the bash continued; another U.S. package arrived from the folks in Georgia.  My mom made the box fun by wrapping some of the pharmacy items we had requested for her to include in the box.  On this day Kyle also bought himself a new saucepan for our induction stove top~pretty spiffy.

The spread: cards and candy~gifts and granola

The French should make funnier cards... Kyle is ambivalent about a monkey on a trike smoking a pipe...

Hooray Kroger Nasal Decongestant!!!

New shirt, new apron, new kitchen tools....same goofy picture gimmick...

DRAW! (like you didn't see that coming...)

Fancy tumbler, mister!

Hmm... the last gift he opened was birth control & I think he's a little let down.  I feel like there is deeper meaning here, but I'm not willing to explore it.

I wanted to end with one more photo (and I'm crossing my finger that blogspot won't struggle while I upload every picture I've ever taken...)  Here's a flashback to Kyle's 25th birthday.  It's been an incredible year since then, and I just love Kyle so much.  What a joy he is to have as a husband.

He's very sweet... Here's to many more birthdays together!

Party On, Miss Crooks!

This entry is to honor my dear friend Ashley who is 24 years old today!  I clicked through some photo albums to find some highlights of our friendship over the years.  I miss Ash a bunch, and it's always a loss for those who don't celebrate a birthday with her.  She's too much fun!  Alors....

Taking it back a few years~ we enjoyed a Tech football away game on CCF's projector!  I look crazy...or disturbed.  Sorry for messing up the pic, Ashley!

The night we dropped Ash's super cool phone in brownie mix and met her bizaaro neighbors

Que guapas somos nosotras!

Ashley lit the candles on my cake when I turned 23...heavens, how time flies!

Finals breakfast at CCF~Christmas 2007

Different finals breakfast~Christmas 2007...Aren't we festive?

Hannah, Ashley, and me on the big wedding day.  Ashley caught my bouquet!  In truth, she is the best bouquet catcher in all of Georgia, I'm pretty sure!

Ashley~hope you have a marvelous birthday.  Look forward to seeing you soon (have I mentioned she's moving to Paris for the summer?  We're practically neighbors again!)  A bientot mes amis!

Humors & Body Parts

Well, the more I teach the students, the more I marvel at how they stumble over some of the most humorous language mix-ups.  Typically they happen to say something along the lines of, "I am 10 toes" or "I don't like my beard" (none of them have beards...although there is one with a mustache...) While that makes me chuckle, their most hilarious English errors appeared on their last test covering feelings and anatomy vocabulary as well as the verb "to be".  Please enjoy these nameless children's responses:

Check out the answer to #6.  There must have been a glare on the chalkboard when he incorrectly recorded and memorized the word "sick".

This one forgot that subjects are followed by verbs.  I like to read them as questions; my personal favorite is again #6.  Is she in love?  It brings new meaning to being love sickness.

I saved the best for last~ #17.  I believe this is a combination of the words "toe" and "foot" or "feet" as the case may be.  Little did this student know that they stumbled upon anatomy vocab which I didn't teach. 

Giggling as I grade

In other news, today is Kyle's birthday!  I fully expect to write a little more about this day once it's complete; we haven't opened presents yet or had the fancy dinner out or eaten cake.  Yesterday, a package arrived from Kyle's parents with some pretty cool surprises!

Lots of candies!  Kyle loves Heath & Reese's

All the staples~plus some very funky PB&J + chocolate M&M's

Holy moly!  Candied bacon popcorn.  Be still my beating heart!  Yum!!!!

As if the plethora of overseas sweeties weren't enough, Kyle and I perfected a special edition of Chocolate Eclair cake.  It is his all-time favorite, and thankfully it is a no bake cake which is super easy to prepare.  We had instant vanilla pudding thanks to Kyle's parents.  Kyle whipped up some homemade imitation Cool Whip (emphasis on the "h" in whip for Anna) with his favorite Christmas gift~the immersion blender from my folks.  Is it imitation when it's homemade?  Anyways, I folded the pudding & whipped cream together and spread it over our butter cookies we found at the store.  The recipe typically calls for graham crackers, but I think our substitute will be quite good.  After layering the goods, we poured a delicious cocoa, butter, sugar, and some other good things topping all over the layers of cookies and pudding.  It's insane delicious...but we are saving it for after dinner.  Here's some pictures of the process....

Insta-pudding waiting for the milk!

Cookies, pudding, more cookies...bring on more pudding!

This photo came out funky...Kyle's working the chocolate topping.

Pre-butter chocolate...still so good!

Pouring very carefully!

Wowsers~talk about to the brim!

The perfect chocolate reflects our kitchen utensils.  A happy birthday treat indeed!

Since Kyle & I couldn't eat this all in a million bajillion years by ourselves, we are looking forward to sharing it with our Thursday night Bible study crowd.  Hopefully they'll like it, but how could they not?  On a greedy wife note~ if you get the chance please wish my sweet husband a happy birthday either on facebook or by email (kylebhamilton@gmail.com).  He would love it, and I would truly appreciate it.  A bientot!