Mama Spud: December 2009

Friday, December 11, 2009

46 Weeks

Just in case you don't get my Christmas card this year....

Silent Night...
Holy Night...

Happy Holidays!
Spud, Mama Spud, Tater Tot
Lily & Luci

(Little Nugget Card Co. Spudsboro, KY)

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, from one messy little Tater Tot!

What a great day! I made my grandmother's (famous) Jello Salad, and while no one else seems to like it, it's one of my favorite foods ever. I can eat it for days and days after holidays and it never gets old. Thank goodness we make a large pan of it!

Granny French Fry's Jello Salad

2 packages of strawberry, lime, or cranberry Jello (not sugar free)
1 package of lemon Jello
1 8oz package of cream cheese (cubed)
1 small package of walnuts or pecans
1 small flat can of crushed pineapple

Combine 3 pkgs of Jello with 3 cups of boiling water and 2 cups of cold water in a large bowl. Stir and put in refrigerator to thicken for 30 minutes. Mixture should still be liquid.

While thickening, combine cubed cream cheese, pineapple, and crushed nuts in another bowl. Add Jello mixture to this and mix with a hand blender for 2 minutes (until frothy). Pour into 9x13 Pyrex pan and refrigerate overnight. Makes 12 4x4 squares.

Looks like puke, but is delicious!!!

43.5 Weeks

It's time for the annual Owensboro Christmas parade! It was slowing getting colder, but we had a lot of fun watching the lights and sirens go by. She was so good!

Making friends! This little girl looks like her cousin, Hash Brown, and is even the same age! Too bad Tater Tot kept wanting to eat her Cheerios....

Time to go home! She loves sitting on her daddy's shoulders.

42 Weeks

And, we're mobile. Walking (a few steps), standing, climbing, stretching.... The fun begins.

A Potato Story

Spud and Mama Spud met when she was a freshman in high school, and he was a sophomore. They met during a Thespian Troupe spring production of "School House Rock! Live!" Mama was in the chorus and Spud worked behind the scenes. Although neither of them could remember the exact moment they met, they soon became fast friends and stayed that way for the rest of high school.

During Mama's sophomore year, they even went on a date to Italian Oven. As Spud remembers, they had a Pizza Rustica for dinner, drove to visit some friends, and he scared her by taking a turn a little too fast.

After the date, though, they remained friends and hung out often at parties, during plays, and with other theatre friends. They even dated each others close friends.

During Mama's senior year of high school, Spud went an hour away to college. They chatted via Instant Messanger and spent weekends and summers working on plays. Then, the summer before Mama went to college, they both found themselves unattached. After a brief courtship with a "rebound guy," she realized that the person she really should have been with was Spud.

Mama came to visit Spud at college and during their first visit, they had their first kiss. During the second visit, they discussed seeing each other on a regular basis, what it would do to their friendship, and how they really felt about each other. They decided to "give it a shot" on September 29th, 2001, the date written on a bottle of Parrot Bay Rum to remind them.

Two summers later, they moved into an apartment together and got engaged on September 29th, 2003 - their 2nd anniversary. They were married two years later on a North Carolina beach on August 6th, 2005 with the sand in their toes and surrounded by close friends and family.

The Spudly's moved from the apartment to a small apartment in a residence hall so Spud could start his Graduate Assistant-ship in Residence Life. They stayed two years in an apartment the size of three dorm rooms and finally moved to Ohio for a Director position that included a house with three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, and a back yard.

They also acquired an ill fated black lab puppy with anger management issues named Riley, and a orange and white striped cat, named Lily.

Just after the school year ended, Mama Spud found out she was 4.5 weeks pregnant with Tater Tot. She actually thought she had a bladder infection! Within 4 weeks, Spud put out resumes, found a higher paying job, packed the house, fostered out the dog, loaded the truck and moved the growing family to Kentucky, where they reside now.

They also confiscated a kitten from the residence halls and when she was abandoned by the owners, they adopted her and named her Luci - short for Lucifer because she was (and is!) a hellion!

Tater Tot was born on January 21st, 2009 at 12:56pm after 17 hours of labor. She weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 18 inches long. Story of Tot's Birth Spud and Mama will celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary in August and will have been together for 9 years at the end of September.

On Tater Tot's first birthday (and Mama's 27th!) we found out that we're expecting another baby! Baby girl "Small Fry"came into the world three weeks early Story of Fry's Birth while Big Sister Tot was only 19.5 months old! Small Fry weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and was 19.5 inches long. She was born on September 2nd at 2:58am after 12 hours (and 3 days) of labor.

And when Small Fry was just a month shy of her first birthday, we found out we were expecting again! Baby Boy Sprout was born March 8, 2012 at 7:30am, was 8 lbs, 7 oz and 22 inches long. The harrowing story of his birth by crash c-section can be found in the Story of Baby Sprout's Birth