since-anatomy

this past weekend, my mom, the little boys, and i traveled to cincinnati (ben's version: "since-anatomy") to visit

we made the mistake of taking my mom's

 

instead of my roomy and spacious

 

we learned that driving 5 hours in such a small vehicle left us feeling like

and let me tell you... it was oh so wonderful to hear

 repeat over and over

but, we finally DID get there and while there...my sister, my mom, and myself visited

to experience a gourmet cooking class based on the recipes of

this was a birthday

 to

from amy and i.  you don't have to tell us.  we know we are the best daughters ever. :)

using these ingredients (give or take a few more)...

 we made shrimp and grits...

 that i actually enjoyed so much that i cleaned my

(okok, you caught me...i only ate the grits and i gave my two beautifully prepared shrimp to two beautiful ladies...mom and amy. give me a break, i don't do seafood.)

then there was the orange walnut salad with sweet and sour dressing...

 (umm...there's no clean plate picture of this because...i also don't do lettuce...)

peppered steak over jasmine rice...

 and apple crisp...

the whole evening was a lot of fun!  a highlight of the fun was mom telling our instructor how to make grits.  this lady was from canada and had obviously never made grits... i don't think anyone, besides my mom, in our class of 12 had made them before. (and amy and i discovered that apparently microwaveable cheese grits don't count... ah!  who knew?)  everyone there was from ohio or above.  lucky for them, gayla rae has the 411 when it comes to such southern traditions.  :)

saturday morning we got to see this guy

do a little of this

 and let me just inform you... he is a WILD man on the court!  our little "spark plug" preston.  he may be little, but he is mighty! 

ben just adored spending time with his oldest cousin

 and he loved playing alongside his most age compatible cousin

on the trip home, i wised up and let ben play with my

 it kept him at bay for a bit.  on a bathroom break, i freed the little tiny man from his pumpkin seat long enough to capture his ever smiling face despite cramped quarters.