Buddy's hair is getting long but we love him when he looks unkept

His teeth...

This is Bentley who Chloe trained last week.  He's one smart yellow lab

No words

Chloe had me get a shot of Buddy following her (I'm not sure why)

Chloe's props for a Buddy photo shoot....
Dr. Calico always has a look on his face like "ya'll are wasting my time and yours"

Hilarious....milk bones on a silver platter and Legolis on a coffee mug....lol

Great shot of Biscuit...his hair....lol

Gumball

Michael and Bentley, the brothers stayed with us one weekend, tons of training and fun

Great shot of Buddy, when he runs, he really has all four feet off the ground at the same time

Michael

This is Addy, we fostered her around Jan 1 and she left Thursday to live with a family on a house
boat in Kennebunkport, Maine.  She's insecure mostly because she spent two years tied up to a tree in Trumann, Ark.
Chloe and all of us helped her with her self confidence.  We're glad she made it to Maine.  Here she is on the house boat
after leaving Thursday from Forrest City, she got there Saturday at 4 pm.  We hope to hear from her adopters again.

Chloe had a piano recital Friday.  She was the only high schooler there.  She had a mild panic attack about the piece
but of course, she did really great.  I'm glad she's still taking piano and she hopes for tougher stuff to play.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Chloe's been busy dog training and boarding, I don't think we have been without a boarder or foster dog since the beginning of the year.  She started an Instagram account for Buddy similar to an Instagrammer from Aspen that features a cute Golden Retriever.  I've shared some of her photos on here, she's really good with a camera.

Buddy's Instagram Page:

buddy_the_birdeye_poodle

Buddy Blissful Smith

 🔸adopted 💼working at a vet clinic💼 🐿squirrel chasing is my game🐿love hiking and cheeseburgers🍔 try to top my hair💯 Arkansas is my backyard 🌏

Here's a link to Chloe's website: http://chloemsmith01.wix.com/chloes-dog-boarding

Happy Birthday Harmon and Jeanie, Birdeye

Happy Birthday Memaw and Grandad!  Sorry about Stella's eyes closed and missing Whit and August

The Whisper Challenge....Chloe and I love to copy off of Jimmy Fallon's games on his show.  This is where you have
head phones on and have to read lips....we had funny things like, "How do you get to sesame street," "Brett Bilema",
"Uptown funk you up", "10 minutes can save you on car insurance," etc....tons of fun!

Whit had a flute-a-phone recital for their birthday celebration, it was really good!

Somehow the afghan Pharoah ended up on the couch and August lost his shirt....lol!  Here we are watching the movie
Chloe made of last weekend when we had the cousins over...Chloe's a great movie maker

Whit and Stella playing the Whisper Challenge

Pictionary

Stella dressed up for their filming...I love that I got the portrait of Biscuit and Chloe in the background 

The kids lip syncing is a lot of fun to watch...Chloe's IPAD was hooked up to our TV so we could all watch it....

Another one....hahahahaha!

Sunday morning Chloe and I took her boarding dogs down the back roads for exercise.  Here's Michael and Bentley

Buddy in the back has all four paws off the ground at the same time...hilarious.  That is how he runs all the time :)

Sunday, January 31, 2016

We celebrated Memaw and Granddad's birthday Saturday night.  Kara made bread and blueberry pie and I made salad and manicotti.  Jackie made the comment, of course, that manicotti is my usual crowd meal and it is because I make it ahead of time.  Kara brought her new, DELICIOUS, bread and of course, her blueberry pie was wonderful.  We had a fun time eating and playing games.

January 2016 in Pictures, Birdeye

Since we're getting ready for the Little Rock Half Marathon,
I've been taking Buddy running with me, he loves to wear a backpack
and it's good for me too cause he can carry my juice if I get a low blood sugar.
He loves, loves going with me...I took him recently on the Village Creek
10K Trail run... he did better than I did in the rain!

Chloe got a drone for Christmas from her Matt and MeMe...this is
its first voyage....and we've learned to never take it up unless there
is absolutely no wind....it takes great photos with her Go Pro

Chloe was the liturgist at church two Sundays during Christmas....she is a great public speaker

August fighting a huge Darth Vador in Target....hahahaha!  We kept Whit, Stella and August last weekend when Kara
and Martin were out of town....we had a blast....school was out Friday and we had an epic, I mean epic and long monopoly game with smores over the fire so Saturday we took the kids to Chick-fil-a and a movie

Photo booth at the Jonesboro Mall....TONS of fun!

Chloe helped me with Children's Church a couple Sundays ago, our
lesson was on Lazarus...this is Katie Bradshaw

August, Stella and Caroline Curtis doing a skit

We played Twister after the lesson

August giving Yoda the force.....lol!

Whit, Chloe, Stella and August

I get blamed for a lot of stuff around here like feeding Biscuit too much but look at this shot I got of all the dogs begging
for Jackie to feed them....Thank goodness for this evidence...

This is Michael, a lab Chloe's been training....she's taught him a ton of obedience.  He loves to ride in the floor board...

This is Goliath, one of the pets that Chloe and her friend have raised money for people that can't afford to get their pets
spayed or neutered...They're helping her with 10 spays/neuters.  THAT'S A LOT OF DOGS!

This is Jake, another one

I got this of my arugula and spinach beds...I love growing greens in the winter

Stella loved having Chloe do a bun for her on Sunday....I think it turned out pretty good!

Photo by Chloe from Friday's snow....she's got talent and yes, I'm bragging,,,

Chloe got this shot of Buddy at Village Creek State Park recently

We had a blast! Buddy is hooked up to the sled with his harness from the cart that Memaw and Grandad got her for Christmas

Chloe and Whit let his dogs out while they were at our house over the weekend...She got
this shot of Kara's bike covered in ice

Sunday, January 24, 2016

We've had a great January, it's hard to believe it's February on Monday!  Chloe's been busy training dogs, studying and enjoyed being out of school last Friday for the snow.  We're proud of her, she got only 1 B last semester...she's in all advanced classes and doing publications for the high school so she hasn't been bored.  We are also taking our third semester of yoga at the community college in Wynne after school.  It's a great class full of teachers, grandmothers and other students.  We are looking forward to spring break and then summer, of course!

2015 Quotes

Dec. 30, 2015

You know I love to write down the hilarious quotes and things that happen in Birdeye so here's this year's list...prepare to pee your pants...

Last January-while shopping at the Tractor Supply Store in Wynne for Memaw and Grandad's birthday gifts, Jackie said at least 15 times, "I'm not..." referring to the fact that Chloe and I were shopping for his chickens some special scratch and other avian items...I had to turn around with Chloe and just laugh out loud because it was so obnoxious!  We bring up "I'm not..." all the time to him...

Later in January, I sent Jackie with our broken down wheel barrel to Graham to get the wheel fixed, "Don't do that to me again, that was something you needed to handle".  I did pick it up and it was something I should've handled.  Hilarious!

In NYC this summer with Stella and Chloe tons of quotes came from that long weekend: hahahahaha as I type these....
   -"My friend speaks Mexican," Stella referring to her Spanish speaking classmate
   -"Medium Rare" Kara to the waiter ordering Stella's filet, "Are you serious?", he asked, and the answer was yes!
   -"Ever since my hair went 80's style, she's not allowed to touch it," Emmy Burton said to Stella
   -"We look like we belong in the trunk," Tara Burton said when we walked up to the Soho Trump Hotel and asked the doorman to hail a cab but he offered their personal driver instead.  Vladamir was fancy in his Prada Sunglasses and 3 piece suit as he drove us 8 blocks to Battery Park to catch the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty in Trumps shiny black extra long Cadillac Escalade
  -"Let's get the shopping over with," Chloe said to Audrey and I when we were fired up about shopping on 5th avenue
  -"Kara, do you have a foam hand," I asked her at LaGuardia after watching Jimmy Fallon's Slap Jack game on YouTube.  I said it across the table and a pilot nearby looked at me like I was crazy because I couldn't stop laughing and getting excited about playing that game with Whit and Stella


 Other quotes from this year:

"Birdeye is a dog park, who would you need a fence?" Martin said to Chloe and I's idea of putting in a dog park for Cross County at Birdeye

"Dad needs to be on a leash," Chloe said after dinner at Charlie Gitto's in St Louis after a cardinals game.  He blessed a horse and buggy on the way back to the hotel....

"That's the reason to have fenders," Kyle Killough pointing to my backside at our Kentucky Bourbon Trail bike ride....it was rainy and I had a muddy skid mark up my back...hahahahahaha!

"This will be a real test, see if a paying customer can get kicked out of a restaurant," Kyle referring to how loud our table was after the races at Keeneland

"HERE IT IS!," my mother said when she found Chloe's IPAD in the floor board of our car after we left for home and drove back to her house to find it and it was in our car the whole time.  Somehow I still got blamed for her not finding the IPAD!

"You feel that?  It smells like a bunch of hot sauce in here..." Jackie referring to the Zaxby's chicken we picked up in Van Buren on our way back home....He did say feel not smell!

"She's homely, you know, kinda looks Pentecostal," Kara during a summer bike ride...I cracked up!

"I couldn't train the Great Pyrenees, Granddad's too soft," Chloe wanted to train the two new pups that Granddad and memaw got this summer

"Who's going to watch them?" Jackie referring to me wanting to buy fireworks and shoot them off...hahahaha

"Your mom's deciding how many apple fritters she's going to get..." Jackie to me in the line at Daylight Donuts on Father's Day before church with cousin Cooper Stovall in the car...

"Why'd you buy this rice (Jasmine)?  We've got rice all around us..." Jackie referring to the rice I make Chloe all the time....it does come from Vietnam

"There's an OLD MAN with a dog," Kenny Whorley, the Midsouth Marathon finish line announcer referring to Jackie and Buddy out on the course of the kids marathon on the loud speaker! hahahaha!

Rotary Toy Drive wrapping at EACC, Josie Westmoreland was helping Chloe and I wrap a big box and she said, "it smells like the bathroom over here" (at our table). It was Chloe passing gas, we laughed all night long....

Chloe's Cookie Tea...we haven't missed one, this started in Kindergarten.  Thankfully all we do now is exchange an ornament.
Back row: Kelly Glover, Levia Taegtmeyer, Tess Boone, Chloe Thornhill, Sophia Ladd and Anna Claire Dallas
Front row: Maggie Miller, Addie Thornhill, Emily Hirons and our Chloe

The Birdeye Christmas Party was Saturday, Dec. 12.  The girls stayed at our house, the boys at Whit's....
Sophia Weeks, Anna Claire Burrow, Chloe, Stella and Clarah Creighton
I took a ton of photos at the party but every stinking one is blurry, I may have to replace it...

Jackie, Chloe and I started a Birdeye Thanksgiving Day Bike Ride, similar to the Edmond Turkey Trot 5K we always do when there during that week.  This year we all met at Kara's and road up to Bay Village and back about 12 miles.
Left: Kyle Gaines, Jasen Dobson, Mel Harvey, Whit, Stella and Chloe, middle row Jerry Harvey, August, Kara Jeanie,
Lisa Blanton, me and Martin....standing in the back is Bob Hardin (Poor thing, he couldn't make the ride because of a bad
fall a few months ago that landed him in surgery) and Jackie and Chuck Blanton

Christmas Salad, Birdeye

Dec. 26, 2015

I've really slacked on blogging restaurants and recipes due to the bad internet at home.  Since I've found an absolute delicious, easy salad I'm going to take the time to share the recipe.  I found this in my December Southern Living Magazine.  I served it for Christmas Eve supper with mom and Gary and then again on Christmas Day.  I love, love it!  When finding the recipe, it actually came from www.myrecipes.com

Christmas Salad by My Recipes.com

8 ounces thick bacon, coarsely chopped

1 cup sliced red onion

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons honey

1 bunch Lacinato kale, stemmed and coarsely chopped (about 7 cups loosely packed) (I USED MIXED GREENS INSTEAD AND IT WAS PERFECTO!!)

1 bunch red Swiss chard, stemmed and coarsely chopped (about 8 cups loosely packed) (MIXED GREENS)

2 small beets, thinly sliced (Didn't have)

1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup dried cherries (didn't have)

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes or until crisp; remove bacon, using a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels. Reserve 6 Tbsp. drippings in skillet. Add onion, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper, and sauté 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Add red wine vinegar to skillet, and stir to loosen browned bits from bottom of skillet. Whisk in honey.

3. Toss together chopped kale, Swiss chard, onion mixture, and remaining 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. black pepper in a large bowl. Transfer to a serving platter. Top with cooked bacon, beet slices, pumpkin seeds, dried cherries, and feta cheese. Serve immediately.

Christmas 2015, Birdeye

Buddy and Chloe had matching pj's from mom and Gary

Biscuit was so fired up about his Christmas raw hide bone...look at his face, lol!

The hit of Chloe's Christmas was the dog cart she got for Buddy and a drone for her Go Pro camera

The dogs were pumped!

Christmas at Memaw's

This photo cracked me up

Chloe got August a Harry Potter wand

Not sure what August is doing here...

Memaw's game

Chloe was the happy winner of the cash

Stella is hilarious

Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015

Merry Christmas!  We had one of the best Christmas' of all time, I think due to the fact that I paced myself and did things ahead of time.  We had our Christmas with Harmon and Jeanie the Sunday before.  We had a great lunch with tenderloin, potatoes and salad.  Kara made a cheesecake and I brought the kids an Oreo ice cream cake.  We had fun with memaw's secret gift game where we all had to wear gloves and open boxes inside of boxes to get the $100 cash.  Chloe was the proud winner of that game.  Christmas Eve, mom and Gary arrived around dinner time and we had tenderloin with creole mustard, Southern Living's Christmas Salad and ciabatta bread.  We watched half of Christmas Vacation, what a funny movie!  Christmas morning we had waffles on my new waffle iron.  I found a great recipe from Food and Wine called Cornmeal and Ricotta Waffles....they were easy and AWESOME!!  Here's the recipe:


Cornmeal and Ricotta Waffles

• 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese (12 ounces)
• 2 cups milk
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups cake flour
• 1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for serving
• Pure maple syrup, for serving
• Crisp bacon strips, for serving (My key to crisp bacon is to bake in a 375 oven on aluminum foil in jelly roll pans about 25 minutes and drain on paper towels)

1. Heat an 8-inch square waffle iron and preheat the oven to 200°. In a large bowl, whisk the ricotta with the milk, egg yolks and sugar. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Whisk the dry ingredients into the ricotta mixture until combined. Stir in the melted butter.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until firm peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the waffle batter until no streaks remain.
3. Coat the waffle iron with vegetable-oil spray and spoon about 1 1/2 cups of the batter onto the waffle iron. Close and cook until the waffles are golden and crisp. Serve the waffles immediately or transfer them to a rack in the oven to keep warm. Serve the cornmeal waffles with melted butter, maple syrup and crisp bacon.