Eat All we can, Sell the rest

For some time now we have wanted to visit the Blue Bell Factory in Brenham, TX. But it was never a good day. Especially since the tours are only given on week days. The factory is closed on the weekends. So, this past Friday was a Teacher inservice day and the kids were off school. We took a drive out to the Blue Bell Factory. (it's about 2 hours from our house) Cameras weren't allowed on the tour so I don't have any behind the scenes photos. We got to see 2 rooms where they were making the ice cream and then filling the containers. It was an awesome sight to see how fast they can fill each of the 1/2 gallon containers. Each production line can make 54 1/2 gallons a minute. We saw Sugar Free Vanilla Bean, Strawberry banana and Strawberry in one room. Blue Bell usues the milk from 500,000 cows every day. All the cows are withing a 200 mile radius of the factory. Probably the most fascinating for me was seeing the ice cream sandwiches being made. They can make 120 sandwiches a minute. They load cookies in 2 different areas and then squirt the ice cream between the 2 and wrap it and it's in a box within seconds. I'll never look at an ice cream sandwich the same again.
After the tour we were treated to a sample of ice cream. We could pick from 24 different flavors. I chose home made vanilla, Zane had Choc. Chip cookie dough, Mia chose Banana Pudding and I don't remember the others. This may have been the highlight portion of the tour.
(Kaylee spent the weekend with Nana and Paw Paw)
And YES the workers are allowed to eat as much ice cream as they want. We took a peak in the break room and saw people mostly eating chips but there was one guy reading the paper and having a mini-moo bar.

Costume Party

David's sister Darla invited all the family over for a Costume Party. The instructions were that EVERYONE dress up. Including the adults. So not only did I have to get 4 costumes the correct size we had to come up with ones of our own. Now I am not opposed to dressing up and enjoy it somewhat but the choices for adult women are downright scary. I am not into witches, and mystical stuff so my choices became even more scarce. After deciding that even though your family is suppose to love you no matter what, I just didn't feel comfortable showing up in the french maid or catholic school girl costume. So, I opted for a cheap but effective butterfly costume with matching metallic blue eyelashes. (see pic)David's costume was equally as challenging. I located a cheap Sumo Wrestler costume and finally had him talked into wearing it. The kind that has the motor and blower inside, but by the time I checked again it had already been sold, and I wasn't paying the big bucks at party city for a new one. So he sported the ever fashionable pirate costume (hand made by moi)
Zane wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy football player. Easy enough and he looked pretty good in the uniform. A little scary for me seeing my ten year old "baby" looking so mature.
Kaylee opted for the classic Snow White. No dwarfs behind her, even though I tried to convice Zane we could each be one. But he and I fought over Sneezy so we knew it was a moot point.
Trent wanted Batman. His costume was so cute, even had the fiber optic light show on his chest. He loved it and wore the whole costume most of the night.
I asked Mia what character she would like to be. I tried to talk her in to being Dora. But she thought a minute and said "I be Elmo." The child had never even seen an Elmo costume but apparently she understood the concept well enough to make an informed decision. So we found the cute little Elmo costume.
We had a great time at Aunt Darla's costume party. The kids looked forward to it for weeks. Kaylee was the most excited about bobbing for apples. We also had a cake walk and there were tons of treats and food for everyone to enjoy. The popcorn balls were a big hit with kids young and old.

She's B A C K

So technically the cat never left. But during the three week stomach flu ailment we realized the cat had a severe flea problem. I couldn't handle all the stomach stuff and the fleas at the same time so the cat was banished to the outdoors. I tried using some flea spray and liquid medicine from Petsmart but we could not get it under control. Kaylee has really wanted Molly back inside with her so I asked around and found out you can have a cat flea dipped. When I talked with the groomer she said this is an option but only after the cat has a bath. I thought, " I am NOT giving the cat a bath." She informed me that she gives the cat a bath. "Whew!" So off we went to the groomer for a bath and flea dip. She smelled much nicer afterward and even felt a little softer. We started her on Advantage flea medicine the next day. So far so good.... Haven't seen a flea yet. And Kaylee is ecstatically happy to have Molly back in the house.

Ode to Debbie

I have a friend in Las Vegas named Debbie. Her son, Grant, and Zane were best friends there. Several days a week we would walk across the street to her apartment and let the boys play on the playground. Every time she would bring a big tub of birdseed. She had all kinds of little toys to play with in the birdseed. If they spilled the seed it didn't matter and it was much easier to get off the kids than sand. The kids thought it was a grand idea. Fast forward six years, I was walking through Wal-Mart and saw a huge bag of birdseed so I purchased it for the kids. It has been a big hit for the past few weeks. And the squirrels have enjoyed the sunflower seeds out of it as well.