These are A Few of Our Favorite Things

{This is the final post in the Things We Love series! To catch all the fun, you can click HERE to begin with the first post.}


When we began to think about all of the Things We Love at The Wright Place each family member contributed an idea that centered on the general theme of "favorite things" and it is with that simple idea, that we wrap up all of the February fun.

So in list and link form, these are a few of our FAVORITE things: (click on the colored links for more information if you are interested!)

Our favorite restaurant...the local Mexican restaurant with The Olive Garden coming a close second

Some of My Man's Favorite movies...The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Black Hawk Down, Sherlock Holmes

Some of my favs...When Harry Met Sally, The Holiday, The Egg and I, You've Got Mail, Adam's Rib

Darrin's favorite books...David by Chuck Swindoll, Disciplines of a Godly Man by Kent Hughes, Finishing Strong by Steve Farrar

Some of my favorites...I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, The Mitford Series by Jan Karon, Flavia de Luce mysteries by Alan Bradley, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer, The Ark by Margot Benary-Isbert, Daddy-Long-Legs by Jane Webster, and especially 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff.

Cole's favorite authors...Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and other series, John Feinstein's sports books for kids, and all books by the writing team of Ridley Pearson and Dave Berry especially the Peter and the Starcatchers series.

Megan's favorites...Jenna Lucado, Max Lucado & Andrew Clements' The Keepers of the School series

Kate enjoys reading lots of chapter books, especially Ivy and Bean books by Annie Barrows

Molly is currently smitten with The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones and narrated by her daddy!

Our favorite TV shows...Castle, NCIS, White Collar, The West Wing, The Unit

The kids' favorite shows...anything on ESPN (Cole), Good Luck Charlie, WipeOut and America's Funniest Home Videos

Our favorite ice cream flavors: Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch, Ben & Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk, Mango Island Sorbet, & Moose Tracks

We also enjoy Starbucks Caramel Macchiatos and Sheets Seriously Dark Roast Coffee while the kids especially like the vanilla hot chocolate at both establishments!

There you have it...some of our favorite things!

The last Thing We Love? Our Readers!!

Thanks so much for reading The Wright Place this February as we've shared some of the Things We Love! Now, onward into SPRING!!

Read With the One Who Brung Ya!

We're cruising down the homestretch of the February series Things We Love. As always, you can access the first post of the series {here}.

Our little home, as you may imagine, is a very busy, loud, rambunctious, dusty, full, active and did I already say LOUD place. And as you may also imagine, my Man and I enjoy stepping away from the mass chaos every now and then for an occasion that we lovingly refer to as Praise-the-Lord-It's-Finally-DATE-NIGHT!

Last week, our resident Child Whisperer, appeared and my Man and I were off to parts unknown...OK not really unknown, but it did take a bit of effort to decide exactly what parts of the land we'd be off to. As we are modern parents (ha!), we've taken to texting for a major part of our communications, less chance of being overheard by the children, proof of exactly what was said, the ability to add pictures to one's sentiments...textin' fools we are.

Texting does streamline communication at times, but it does not, unfortunately, solve age-old issue of where a weary, long-married couple should go on their Praise-the-Lord-It's-Finally-DATE-NIGHT.

It is an age-old problem, but after reading the following text conversation, I tend to think that what we have instead is an old-age problem...you decide...

{The white cloud is Darrin, the blue is me...}

Of course, during all of that decision making, I was learning how to make Chocolate Pudding from scratch and my Man was writing a sermon on the topic of "Let Your Yes Be Yes and Your No Be  No" {Just kidding...that was the week before...really!} 

Decisions finally, sorta kinda made, we were off.

We ate dinner at a Thai restaurant that I enjoy and then headed to the bookstore that we BOTH enjoy. After browsing our perspective sections we settled into a pair of cozy chairs that were situated on either side of a small end table and soaked up the peace.

Eventually, my Man rose from his chair saying, "I'll be back," and headed once more to the religion section. I continued reading the book that I'd unearthed from the reference section whilst the helpful bookstore employee had gone off to consult the computer. I was knee-deep into an essay about school lunches and how the sandwiches were central to the whole production and how when said sandwiches were assembled by fathers they were generally a mess, the sandwiches, not the fathers.

My man, in his quiet way, returned and settled right back into his chair beside me and we continued on in our companionable silence that we've grown to enjoy in our years together, each involved with our respective books, enjoying the soft sweet music of Rod Stewart as he sang, "Beyond the Sea."

"What a nice evening this has been for us," I thought and settled deeper into my cozy chair and venturing on further into my book which had just taken a turn into such funny territory that I felt an overwhelming need to share the humor with my date. Stifling a chuckle, I raised my hand in a swooping motion toward my Man and followed that grand gesture with my eyes, preparing to read aloud the book I was enjoying. When my eyes met their mark, however, I found myself looking at a moderately alarmed gentleman dressed in much the same fashion as my Man had been the last time I'd seen him! My new date stared at me, wondering I'm sure what was so funny and exciting.

I stopped my eager self mid-exclaimation and returned my wide eyes directly to my book, not passing go, not collecting $200, not believing that the man beside me was not my Man. Apparently my Man was still over in the religion section. Eventually he would return and buy me the book with which I was so enthralled. A book that I read to him all the way home, only stopping long enough for him to get out of the car to pump gas. When he returned to the car after filling the tank, you can bet I looked up to make sure it was him!

The next day I was sharing with a friend that I'd been out on a date the night before. Joking, she said, "Oh yea? With who?"

"Funny you should ask..."

Unexpectedly Wiser

Today, a pause in the Things We Love in February series, {first post here}, for a book review.

When I agreed to review Rules of Inheritance it was with great trepidation because this book is ultimately about death and dying.

Not, perhaps, a book one should take on in the midst of the winter doldrums.

Not, perhaps a book for one who is, at heart, a happy endings kinda gal.

Not at all, the kind of book one should cozy up with when she is, a fiction enthusiast.

And especially not a book one spends her time reading when she'd rather be playing sleuth in a mystery novel.

Yet, there I sat, book in hand, telling my Man I'd be to bed shortly, that I needed to begin reading "this book" so that I could complete it by the deadline. My plan was to read the first chapter and then escape the sad tale by drifting off to sleep. However, next time I looked up, it was 2:00 a.m. and I'd completed 40% of the book, the non-fiction, memoir, with language that, at times, curled my ears and situations that broke my heart. I would go on to finish this powerful, honest work in just a few more sittings, weeks before the deadline, with the author's words still in my ears for days to come...

Grief holds my hand as I walk down the sidewalk, and grief doesn't mind when I cry....Grief wraps itself around me in the morning when I wake from a dream of my mother, and grief holds me back when I lean too far over the edge....Grief acts like a jealous friend, reminding me that no one else will love me as much as it does. Grief whispers in my ear that no one understands me. Grief is possessive and doesn't let me go anywhere without it.

Rules of Inheritance is a skillfully written memoir, by Claire Bidwell Smith, an only child, who, when she was but fourteen years old was dealt the reality of losing both of her parents early in life as both were diagnosed with cancer within a few months of each other. Claire's mom would succumb during Claire's freshman year of college when the author was already making desperate life choices as a result of the impending losses looming in her future.

The memoir is arranged not in chronological order, but instead is divided into the five stages of grief, written about by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, who is quoted at the beginning of each section of Smith's account. I liked the unconventional arrangement because just as Claire's life became way-too-intense for me in my white-pickett-fenced life, the story would shift to another phase and setting and ease the pressure, if only for a time.

It was with great trepidation, I said, that I began this book and it is with the same trepidation that I say...

  the reading of this book was good for me. 

I cannot imagine that anyone's life trajectory could be more of a counterpoint to Claire Bidwell Smith's than mine, growing up with two parents and two sisters, all of our lives intertwined one with another. My life is still very much this way, all intertwined with sisters and daughters, a son and husband, my mother and father. Claire lost the small amount of intertwined goodness that she possessed at the beginning of her life and in her formative, growing, maturing years, she had to function out of a void as she explains, in what could be the thesis of her work:

I often wonder who I would be had my parents not died. I watch my friends, envying the security they feel in their lives. They don't even realize they feel so safe, but I can see it in the way they try out different career paths and relationships. In the ways they move toward each mile marker with a seeming confidence that it will be there when they arrive.                        

Losing one's parents is perhaps one of the most painful things to encounter in life and this memoir is of a young girl who by the age of 25 has done it twice. I understand loss in a better way now, I understand better how a person is affected by such loss, not just for a season, but for life. I also understand now, by being allowed, through the reading of this book, how one can come up out of the grief of "being no one's important person" to experiencing life on the other side of the pain and becoming "an important person" to many. I didn't expect to be any wiser as a result of reading such a book, yet here I am, unexpectedly so.

"Losing someone you love is akin to a deep physical wound. It will eventually heal but there will always be a scar. It's not that the loss goes away. It's just that you learn to live with it." 

~Claire Bidwell Smith, author.

Disclosure Statement: I received this book for the purposes of a compensated review for BlogHer Book Club. The opinions stated within are, happily and totally my own!

Laughing at Everyday

{Here's another of the Things We Love series in February. To begin at the very beginning...go here!}

We love to LAUGH!

"Honey, you've got your hands full!" 

I've heard it 4 million 5 hundred 17 thousand, 623 times in the produce aisle, at the pharmacy, in the library and every other place you might imagine. I'm never sure what the person saying that to me is really attempting to communicate. Obviously, I know that my hands are full and I LOVE it.

I smile as I watch people watch my little gang when we are out about town, counting each child as they walk by. Some folks smile, others look at us like we've got green skin and purple ears, still others are studying us so intently that I'm convinced that they are trying to figure out which child belongs to our neighbors. Mostly though, people really really just want to tell me that my hands are full.

I usually try to respond, "Yes my hands are full, and so is my heart," and then we have to move quickly on because by that time one of those little handfuls is about to go solo into a busy street, or pick up a china plate to use as a frisbee, or begin a spiffy dance move which will involve spinning "tail up" in the middle of a crowded mall.

It's just another of those everyday things. People are gonna say things, odd things, and I'd rather laugh about it than do anything else. I try to find the funny in the everyday things in life but sometimes it's difficult because those everyday things are so...everyday. {Deep, I know.} Some of the everyday stuff is hard to laugh at...dishwashers that are ever full of dirty dishes, kitchen windows that refuse to clean themselves, clean shelves that insist on collecting piles of dust, laundry that is completely finished and put away one day then mysteriously becomes six bulging loads the next. Everyday. Everyday. Everyday.

I was lamenting my laundry situation to a young friend, a mama to three very young children, and she so kindly changed my perspective. "The laundry! I know!" she agreed, and then leveled me, "I'm just so thankful for the clothes I get to wash, it means my kids have enough to wear."

And the older mother of four said, "Amen." Perspective changed.

You know what else is an everyday thing? Toothpaste in the sink. Used toothpaste. Used dried-up been-there-since-morning toothpaste in my shiny white sink. This does not bother me much anymore though because...how it gets there makes me laugh a little...EVERYDAY...

{Please make sure your volume is turned up.}

Everyday, every time she brushes her teeth, I laugh deeply and then rinse out the sink. 

Everyday.

"A day without laughter is wasted." ~Charlie Chaplin

Check out "The Funny Pages" tab at the top of the page if you could use another grin or two!


For the next post in the Things We Love Series...{click here}

That Episode at WalMart...

{February's Things We Love series began HERE if you want to start at the beginning! 

The Thing We Love today is our favorite post which was written in October 2010 that got lots of love from family and friends alike. This is one of our favorite memories...sorta!}

Every time we wonder why we attempt it, yet each week we find ourselves there again--at Walmart with all of the kids.  We say to one another after each harrowing episode as we drive back home, "Next time, you go and I'll stay at home with them." 

Fast forward a week and the conversation goes something like this:

"We are out of milk, coffee creamer, paper towel, pepperoni, cereal, syrup. . .do you think we should head to the store this evening?"

And before you know it there are six people in the van in various states of dress, headed to Walmart.  Not one of them wanting to go. 

It was in this very situation that we found ourselves one evening this weekend.  We'd been out running errands for some time but just as we were reaching the peak of crankiness, my Man surprised us with a nice dinner out-dessert too! 

High on waiter-served dinner and chocolate cake we trekked into Walmart and visited a moment with the greeter, who always recognizes us and takes a good look to see what we look like "before" this adventure.  He's very familiar with our "after" shots--it's probably an entertaining way to pass the time if you think about it.  I wonder how many times each day he sees a fresh, hopeful mom enter the store with her children in tow only to see the same poor disheveled woman stomping out of the store teeth clinched, dragging a howling four year old by the arm with her two foot long receipt waving and her value pack of toilet paper precariously balanced on the mountain of groceries in the shopping cart.

After visiting with Mr. Greeter, we promise the kids, who have already lodged their protests, that with help and teamwork, this will be fast and painless.  Unfortunately, by the time we reach the back of the store, but not the end of our list, that old familiar feeling is settling in..."Why are we here with everybody--AGAIN??"

We reach the end of the grocery section and turn to maneuver our caravan (a stroller and a fullish shopping cart and a 10 year old and a 9 year old and a 4 year old and a daddy and a mommy carrying a  28 pound one year old who has decided that she's way toooo cool to be pushed in a stroller-the one year old, not the mommy) through the clothing aisles.

Traffic had gotten a bit congested in this area so Darrin said, "You take this one and this one and go get the soap, I'll take this one and that one to get his football pants.  Meet me up front."  Agreeing, I set off at a clip and stepped on something which I didn't see because of the 28 pounder on my hip.  I tried to step up higher to step over what ever it was but that only proved to worsen the situation.  Down, down, down I sank onto what ever had tripped me up.  Landing, I discovered that Kate had made a quick cut in front of me and was the object over which I had stumbled.

Stumbled sounds so "garden partyish" compared with what actually happened.  I hit that concrete floor with such a thud that my Man stopped and turned to see what the noise was.  I bought it big time.  Right there in the middle of Walmart.  Molly landed on me and never touched the floor.  She was upset because Kate was upset, very upset.  I had with my first step landed on Kate's ankle and in my attempt to step "over" her I stepped on her leg, then nearly landed on her.

We looked up to see that a crowd had gathered.  After the choruses of "are you all ok?".  One gentleman said, "At least you fell very gracefully."

Really?  And what does one say in response to that?  "Oh thank you, as I was in mid air trying not to land on my four year old and preparing to have my one year old land on my stomach while aiming my most cushioned part for the concrete, my greatest concern was that my technique was skillful." Bless his heart, he tried.

Before my Man was able to haul my form up from the floor, it was necessary to hand Molly off to a concerned bystander who had what appeared to be a one year old with her also.  This poor little fella was very troubled over the whole incident and came closer to check on Kate.  The drama!

As the crowd began to disperse, Cole came closer with a pink and white football jersey in his hands and yelling over Kate's screams said, "Hey guys, look at this, it's a GIANTS girl football jersey."  We told Cole, with tenderness, I'm certain, to put the thing back and follow us.

Kate was fine.  Molly was fine.  I was fine.  Appreciating our narrow escape from injury we left Walmart having commandeered our toilet paper and salsa, but having left our pride in the clothing section.  I'm sure our friend, the greeter will take good care of it for us as he surely noticed that we were without it as we exited.

On the way home we renewed our vow for the 82nd week in a row..."Never again...all of us...Walmart...never ends well."


{Go HERE for the next post in the Things We Love series!}

Hungry? Us Too!!

{Continuing with the Things We Love series... Throughout February The Wright Place is focusing on Things We Love and if you want to begin at the beginning...start here.}

We LOVE a cozy evening snack...and a mid-morning snack...and one for late afternoon...

On Wednesday evenings, my family is involved in AWANA at our church. Never has a program reaped such benefits for our children. The amount of Scripture that they have placed in their growing hearts is amazing.

A tricky thing with evening activities, be they AWANA or sports practices or meetings, is finding time to eat dinner. We can either eat before our activities which will require a snack before bed, or we can wait and eat after our activities which will require a snack before leaving home. Either way its dinner + a snack. I'm always on the look out for a belly filling snack that will tide us over until our next eating opportunity and this is destined to be one of our favorites!

Irish Soda Bread...

It's easy. It's hearty. It's what fills bellies of all shapes and sizes here. Left overs are always good toasted for breakfast the next morning too!

Irish Soda Bread
{Printable Recipe Here!}
{only very slightly adapted from
In The Kitchen With A Good Appetite by Melissa Clark}

DRY ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon balking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

WET ingredients:
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
4 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled just a bit

1 cup raisins (optional)
2 additional tablespoons melted butter

Preheat Oven to 350˚. 

Combine the DRY ingredients in a large bowl. 

In a separate bowl, combine the WET ingredients and stir well. 

Add the WET ingredients to the DRY ingredients... 

...mix JUST until combined.

Add raisins and stir to combine.

Pour batter into a greased or sprayed 9 inch circular cake pan 

and pour two tablespoons of melted butter over the top of the batter and brush over the top. 

Bake for about one hour until the top is golden and is firm to the touch.

Cool ten minutes and then slice to serve.

Happy snacking!

{For the next post in the Things We Love series click HERE!!}

A Little Valentine's Love...

{Continuing with the Things We Love series... Throughout February The Wright Place is focusing on Things We Love and if you want to begin at the beginning...start here.}

Last February, I shared my about my Dad's endearing Valentine's practice of sending my sisters and I each a box of chocolates. It's so wonderfully sweet, so wonderfully thoughtful, so wonderfully steady, so wonderfully touching especially from a man who, when my Man asked for my hand in marriage said, "Yes, but remember, there are no returns." He was serious. Thankfully, so were the intentions of my Man, who this very afternoon, called from the front door, "Looks like you've got your special Valentine in the mail."

This year marks my 40th Valentine's Day and probably my 36th or 37th Valentine box of candy from my Dad. Every year, I'm still as thrilled to open that package. Some years, the package is addressed in my Dad's barely decipherable handwriting, some years my Mom's lovely looping script decorates the front. I asked Mom once if she was Dad's agent in all of the Valentine's goodness. She assured me that Dad does the shopping and she sometimes handles the mailing and addressing.

The best part {aside from being made to feel special by my Dad each and every year...} is that these boxes of chocolates are the same size and variety that my sisters and I have been receiving forever. Dad chooses three different boxes with different images on the front of them which he feels best fits the character of the daughter to which he will mail it. That fact alone, makes the unveiling of the Valentine quite a personal event.

This year however, I ripped into the mailing envelope to find...

Sweet huh? I am the oldest of my siblings...and therefore Number 1. My Dad, like most parents I know (including me), had difficulty calling the correct name of the daughter he wished to appear in front of him when we were growing up. My Dad, the accountant, devised a genius solution for his problem...he began calling us by number. I was called Number One, my next youngest sister was Number Two and my youngest sister was Number Three.  When I married my Man, my Man became Number Four. My sisters' husbands were added, likewise, to the family roster. This family accounting has been a fact of life for ever...until...

...until my son, the first grandchild was born. Then, in a world ONLY understood by grandparents and definitely NOT understood by first-born-children, my son became Number 1 and I moved down to Number 2, my sisters accordingly dropped to 3 and 4.

This was a problem to be sure, but I was busy being a new mom and barely noticed my fall from grace, even when I'd call home and my Dad would answer the phone and then declare to my Mom, "It's Number 2!" When Megan, grandchild number two, came along the next year, I dropped another notch to Number 3 and my sisters to 4 and 5 and our husbands to 6, 7, and 8.

With the addition of each new grandchild, my plummet from Number 1 continued until Molly, the last grandchild, was added to the pack. Molly, my very own baby girl put me into double digits. So, according to my Dad, Mr. Valentine, I am Number 10.

 I, who grew up Number 1, am now Number 10.

This is a problem which keeps me up at night,

which my Dad delights in,

{please note his art work in blue marker...} and...

...which doesn't seem to bother my sisters in the least

{but really, why should it bother them, they were never Number 1....just saying'}.

THERE IS A BETTER WAY!

How 'bout if I retain my crown position as Number 1 and my children can be 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D. My next sister can remain Number 2 with her kiddos answering to 2A and 2B, and my youngest sister can keep her lofty title of Number 3 and her girls can be 3A, 3B, and 3C.

So simple, so pure, so right...

...and it keeps everyone out of double digits!

Yes, yes, this will indeed work...I'm gonna call my congressman...see if we can all get rolling on this...

Hey Dad, don't fret, I know you really meant for me to go by the written words (see red arrows)  on the box...and not get confused by that blue bubble you drew by me (the Number 1). Other folks, who aren't as perceptive as I am, might have mistaken that little bubble as a zero on a number 10! 

How silly! Good thing I'm so smart.

Happy Valentine's Day!

{Mom & Dad with Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9!}


{To continue to the next post in the Things We Love series...click here}

Kitchen Readin'

{On we go with the Things We Love series! To begin at the beginning, click {HERE}.
Thanks to all of you who've commented and emailed (see "Contact Us!" button above to do so) I so enjoy hearing from you about the things YOU love!}

We LOVE cookbooks...well, I LOVE cookbooks, my kids enjoy turning the pages too, looking for dessert possibilities usually--my Man...let's just say he loves me and I LOVE LOVE LOVE cookbooks! My Man does his best not to break out into a sweat when I bring bags of fresh cookbooks home from the library but I can always see the red flags waving behind his skeptical eyes!

John Thorne, an American food writer once said,

"Americans, more than any other culture on earth, are cookbook cooks; we learn to make our meals not from any oral tradition, but from a text. The just-wed cook brings to the new household no carefully copied collection of the family's cherished recipes, but a spanking new edition of ‘Fannie Farmer’ or ‘The Joy of Cooking’."

I entered married life with a few new cookbooks in hand, none more cherished than the one my Ant Sab compiled for me with family recipes tucked safely inside. I've added to that cookbook over these 17 years and I've also added many cookbooks to the shelves beside it.

I've been crazy interested in last year's best and brightest cookbook offerings and I've found some favorites...

I've already gushed about Cook This Now by Melissa Clark

with its Honey-Roasted Carrot Salad.

It seems that Ms. Clark had already written another cookbook called, 

In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite,

which I've found to be just as charming and menu-perking as Cook This Now.

Another cookbook that has had a recurring role in my kitchen lately has been this one by Heidi Swanson,

Super Natural Every Day:

Well-Loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen.

I am neither a vegetarian nor an all-natural foods kind of gal, HOWEVER, after seeing this particular cookbook referenced on more than one of my favorite food blogs, and on many of 2011's Best Of...lists, I had to check it out. I've made two or three recipes from this book (including tonight's cozy baked oatmeal) and have not been disappointed in the least. For a free sampling of Ms. Swanson's cookbook which includes lovely photography and six delicious new takes on natural foods, click {here}.

 Fair Warning: there are some new and interesting ingredients and recipes in Super Natural Every Day, however, I've discovered some great new ingredients and some new ways to use the more regular ingredients already in my pantry. There are also some cozy & traditional recipes in here too including the aforementioned baked oatmeal which is very worth your time!

Finally, there's this one...

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home

...which has my son researching the best ice cream makers available for purchase!

With recipes divided into seasons and flavors which include The Buckeye State Ice Cream (Honeyed Peanut Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Freckles), Cranberry Royale Sorbet, Black Coffee Ice Cream, and Salty Caramel Ice Cream, and, and, and...every so often throughout the pages is a beautifully pictured sundae, original and inviting and begging to be devoured! 

Tuscan Sundae anyone? How 'bout an Oslo Ambrosia? Or maybe this one that really rings my bell, it's called the Farmers' Market Sundae and boasts two scoops of Lemon Frozen Yogurt, fresh seasonal fruits and their syrup with a large spoonful of fresh whipped cream on top! I'm pretty sure this cookbook will find a home on our shelves by spring accompanied with our first ever ice cream maker if Cole ever gets his research finished!

Below are some other cookbooks that I've been enjoying lately...

Anything by Dori Greenspan but especially Around My French Table

The Homesick Texan Cookbook  by Lisa Fain ~ our family's current fixation...Mexican!

Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi ~ uses the flavor of cereal milk in her recipes!

The Simple Art of Eating Well by Jessie Price ~ beautiful and practical.

The cookbook I'm waiting for with much eagerness is one that my sister pre-ordered for me for Christmas...

The Pioneer Woman Cooks:

Food From My Frontier

...arriving in mid-March, I CAN'T WAIT!

I also can't wait to hear about your favorite cookbooks! Drop me a note or leave a comment so that everyone can learn about some new-to-us cooking material! 

{Click here for the next post in the Things We Love series!}

We Love Happy Kids

Continuing the Things We Love Series....
(to begin @ the series' beginning click HERE)

We LOVE happy kids...

and really, who doesn't?

We had a blast as a family watching the Super Bowl last night, especially since my son's favorite team was in it to win it. What a game is was too, down to the last seconds, the suspense heavy in the air...my son's nerves and heart active and alert...the poor kid forgot to eat for the entire fourth quarter...it was fun to watch as the last seconds marched off of the clock and as the opposing team marched down the field in a last minute attempt to snatch victory from the beloved Giants!

Cole was as fun to watch as the game...lemme show ya...

With 1 minute left in the game...

The Patriots last attempt at the end zone fails...

GIANTS Victory!!

Happy Kid!

....er son,

that's our other favorite team!?

Yea Giants! Thanks for the Happy Kid!


{The next post in the Things We Love series is HERE}

Football? Oh Yeah...We Love it!

This February we're featuring "Things We Love" here at the Wright Place. For the rest of the posts in the series, click {here}. To read past posts about football, simply click on the enlarged, colored words between the pictures.

We LOVE football! 

Big time. 

We love the food, 

 we love the sport,

 we love to listen to the ESPN guys on the days between games.

 We love college football ,

  and we love NFL football.

The Wright Place is home to fans of the Cowboys, the Colts, the Broncos, and the Giants. We are very excited about the Giants today because more than all of the football in all the land...

...we love a kid who LOVES THE GIANTS!

{Click here for the next post in the Things We Love series!} 

What We Love...

February!
The month of love!
This month will feature THINGS WE LOVE here at The Wright Place! We hope you'll enjoy them  and maybe, just maybe, you'll share some of the things YOU love too! You can chime in either in the comments section below, or via email if you are a bit shy about commenting "out loud" by clicking the "Contact Us!" tab above. I look forward to hearing from you!

{I was peeking around in the dark recesses of this blog tonight and found one of my favorite posts that displays "something we love" here at The Wright Place---birthday cake! Molly was a little more than 1 1/2 at the time...}

Hey big fella, wha 'cha got there?

Birthday cake and ice cream?  Gimme some!

Mommy usually hides when she eats ice cream. 

I'll show you why...

Thanks for sharing Daddy.

Betcha I can get some more...

Pleeeeease?

Such a push over!

How much more do you have in there?

First snuggle...

...then go for the spoon!

Sweet success!

Girl's got skills!


{Click here for the next post in the What We Love series!}