Sunday in MS with Family, Friends, and Basketball

MSU wins the SEC championship!


The cousins visiting their great-grandmother.


Shelly, Brennan, Thomas, Danielle (2), and Natalie (5)

Sweet Danielle

Sweet Jonah Evans (2)

After the photo shoot...

My sister Shelly really wanted to get photos taken of our kids and the grandparents. Although it was a little like herding cats, the photos turned out really well. Here's the silliness going on after the official photo shoot.

Nintendo DS with Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Don

Santa brought Nintendo DS's to the boys for Christmas. About the only time they break them out is on long car trips. Brennan wasn't as interested in his but this trip he has really enjoyed it. (Thomas would play his all day if he could.)

It's always fun to teach someone a new game!

Could these boys be any more comfortable?

Vanderbilt Study

On the drive south we stopped for a 4 hour visit to Vanderbilt University. We are participating in a genetic study on autism. David and I spent about 2 hours answering questions about Brennan while we watched Brennan through a 2-way mirror as he was being asked all sorts of things for 2 hours. Thomas spent this time playing games on the coordinator's computer.

Brennan really seemed to enjoy the experience - all sorts of "games" that would help the researchers in their study of how genes and environment play a role in autism. He of course has no issue talking to anyone for 2 hours and loved the attention I'm sure. If the researchers felt that Brennan was indeed somewhere on the spectrum, then we knew that the next step was to have blood drawn.

I'll never forget walking into the room to collect Brennan when we finished our questions. The lead researcher said, "Maybe you already know this but Brennan is really bright. I mean really, really bright." We just smiled - yes we know it and it's always funny to hear new therapists and psychologists after they've worked with Brennan a little while. He understands a lot more for his age than you might expect. Gotta love that.

Vanderbilt Hospital

The blood draw (or "blood shot" as Brennan was calling it) was just another fun experience in this fun city of Nashville, TN for our boys. We walked across campus to the hospital with Liz, one of the researchers. Watching the squirrels, checking out the beautiful crocuses coming up, fascinated by the beautiful stone buildings. And then our own hospital rooms with ADJUSTABLE BEDS and a remote control right there on the bed for you! It was all very exciting until the needle. It freaked them both out but they did well. After it was over they admitted it wasn't so bad and would do it again if they needed to. I was so proud of them - they took 5 tubes from each of us! Brennan's main concern is that they were going to take all of his.

Funniest moment, when the very patient nurse told Brennan that his body is always making blood. He said, "yes, I know, it's made in the bones." Surprised looks all around again.

Brennan pre-needle.

We were happy to participate in the study because we know that the best researchers who are devoting their lives to this still don't have the answers they need. We've read so much on autism (David especially) and know that the best thing we can do for Brennan is to help him navigate the world he's in. He's doing so well as he gets older - it's so worth those 5 tubes (which freaked me out a little too!)

Thomas ready for his turn.

The Japanese Slipper

"For a green, fruity drink, it's not bad!" ~~ David Boatwright

I was looking for a green drink, in honor of St. Patrick's Day. I found the popular Midori cocktail - the Japanese Slipper - and decided to try it out.

Midori was first manufactured by Suntory (which I remember fondly from the movie "Lost in Translation") in 1978. It's coming out party was held at the famous Studio54 club in Manhattan. It was originally manufactured in Japan, but is now made exclusively in Mexico.

Midori is Japanese for Green. And green it definitely is. The Japanese Slipper is one of a handful of typical cocktails made with Midori. Midori is so sweet that the flavors have to be balanced with something a little tart.

David's Swizzle Stick Ratings:
The Japanese Slipper - 3 Swizzle Sticks

If it hadn't been green, he probably would have given it more, which was a total surprise to me.

The Japanese Slipper - 3 oz. Midori, 3 oz. Cointreau, 1 oz. lemon juice. Chill a Martini cocktail glass. In a shaker mix the Midori, Cointreau and lemon juice with crushed ice. Place a maraschino cherry in the bottom of the chilled glass and strain the cocktail into the glass.

I liked this one as well. And really, what else am I going to do with all this Midori leftover?

Re-Purposing #2

We did another re-purposing project yesterday.

These pictures make it pretty hard to tell but we have a unique pantry. It's a closet with shelves on either side. There was a lot of wasted space on the wall ahead of you when you open the doors. In my quest to fix up the house during Spring Cleaning, I wondered if there was a way to get more pantry space.

I couldn't add shelves because they would block the shelves on either side. I thought about those half baskets - maybe to hold snacks or something? I've been looking and looking and really didn't find anything other than some shelves that were really not what I hoped for.

I gave up when David remembered these two white shelves attached to the inside of the guest bedroom closet. I'm sure no one had used them in the 12 years they'd been hanging there - certainly we haven't in the last 4 years that we've owned the house.

So David hung these and voila! Another re-purposed solution that was FREE!