Until a month ago, I never drove to Lincoln to see Bre. Instead, I would wait until she came back home to visit with her, in order to give her her space at college; I didn't want her to feel as if I was honing in on her life at school.

Soon, my Bre started asking things like, "How come no one ever comes to see me at school?" and after the third time she mentioned it, I decided that maybe – just maybe – she would like it if I visited her once in a while and took her to lunch.

So I decided to start visiting her every two weeks, and I'd let her choose where we'd eat. What I was not expecting, however, was for my sweet Bre to drag me into Target after lunch so we could spend some quality time together grocery shopping (turns out the cafeteria has "nothing nutritious at all, Mom!"), then on to the mall just in case I needed something (I've never been much of a mall person), and then walking all over downtown Lincoln in the bitter cold, searching for a boutique called Black Market bc she heard it would have amazing things that I would love (and in the process being confronted by a somewhat crazed man, asking if we had a nickel he could have).

Twice I've been to have lunch with my sweet Bre, and twice I've been dragged by my hair all around the capital city. Oh – and twice I've driven back home wondering how it is that I have much less money than I started the day with.

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me thrice? that's my Bre.

I am a sucker for that girl.

Yesterday was one of the busier days I've seen in a while. When I came downstairs for my morning coffee, there were two notes taped to the microwave for me:

As you may remember, Sophie is really handy in the kitchen, and is a very eager student.

And Sabrina? Well… one can't choose their children.

(Btw, I love how Sophie spelled pico de gallo.)

On the menu were chicken wings with buffalo, honey bbq, and Asian sauces, pico de gallo, guacamole, little smokies, Rotel dip and lime chips, BLT's, Oreo Freeze, and tortilla rollups, which is what Sophie made, all by herself…

…In between texting, of course…

And did I mention birthday cake? We had a belated celebration for Mike, since Bre was able to come home…

(Btw, I can't thank you all enough for all of your birthday messages to Mike! He got such a kick out of listening to your greetings on the phone – especially those that reminded him that he deserved a bored game or two. My favorite one was the message that said he already had the best birthday gift anyone could hope for: ME! Oh – and the Katherine Hepburn one? Hilarious! You all made Mike's day… again, thank you so very much!)

Bre picked up my camera and started snapping pictures with it. Here's one she got of me in the kitchen, in the middle of cooking and trying to watch a Superbowl commercial at the same time…

Then Mike decided to pick up Sophie's camera, and they had a photo-taking battle… here was one Bre took…

And here was one Mike took… when the battle was over, I think Bre ended up snapping the most photos. (Btw, if you're confused, so am I. I'd never in my life witnessed a snap-off until last night.)

Besides the birthday boy, we had a special guest last night. Those of you who have read my blog long enough and actually stuck with it (thank you very much!) may remember Breanna's high school boyfriend, Cody. He's always been the son I never had (again, besides the birthday boy), so I was thrilled to death when he showed up at halftime. I think someone must have told him there'd be Oreo Freeze…

(Mike got nervous bc he heard a camera clicking, and was afraid that photos were being taken without his being in front of the lens.)

During the halftime performance by the Black-Eyed Peas, Mike and Sophie started dancing in front of the television, trying to mimick the backup dancers. This got quite a laugh out of Cody, who was trying not to spit his food out, but for Bre, it was just another day in the Stewart House…

It was a lot of fun having these two friends in my kitchen again. Despite their silliness, it's been a sad time for Cody. His dad, Jeff, was as much a Steelers fan as Mike is a Cowboys fan, and in just a few weeks it will be the one-year mark of his passing.

Football season is over, which is a bummer. I love all the crazy game-day cooking, and I especially look forward to each fall when menfolk start buzzing about fantasy football lineups and the streets start getting traffic-jammed from high school games. It's then that I start organizing all of the menus in my head, and knowing that one day soon we will all be on cholesterol meds bc of it.

It's all Sophie's fault though.