December 3rd, 2010

We are headed to the Ozarks for a vacation!  Trent’s parents have a time share dealy bob thing that I don’t understand, but it involves some point system and they knew they would have extra points.  One of the properties offered was at the Ozarks, but they were completely booked during the summer/fall and we decided a weekend away in December would be fun.  Kirk booked the trip in June and reserved the whole week knowing we would probably just go for the weekend.  A couple weeks ago Trent discovered he had extra vacation days, so happily we extended the weekend.  We were staying at a condo that had a full kitchen, so I decided to cook our meals for most of our stay.  Sydney requested cheeseburgers for our first meal. 

And ate one bite.  I made sliders for the girls and regular sized cheeseburgers for Trent and I. 

I had a package of bath markers I hadn’t busted out for some reason, so I took them to the Ozarks and the girls had alot of fun being artistic while bathing.

And I also liked the mess wasn’t in our own tub.

The girls were going to sleep in a queen bed together.  I think that’s Trent praying it was going to work out.  The first night they got out of bed about 4 times, mostly it was Lauren complaining that Sydney was talking and bothering her.  You can kinda see it on Sydney’s face she’s not remotely tired and in the mood to be feisty. 

 

December 2nd, 2010

The majority of my life, I was not a fan of cous cous.  My mom really never made it and I considered it this crazy exotic grain that people in faraway places ate by the sea.  Honestly, I only had it once at a banquet and thought it was mushy and bland.  But what isn’t mushy and bland at a banquet.  Half of the time you don’t even need to have teeth for those meals.  When I was pregnant with Lauren I had it again when I worked at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant and even in my first trimester nauseous phase, loved it!  But I still thought it was exotic and something regular people couldn’t make without some crazy Julia Child type diagram recipe.  Then I saw Rachel Ray make it.  She boiled chicken stock, threw in some cous cous, covered the lid for 5 minutes, fluffed it with a fork.  Now that I can do and have been doing ever since.

Roasted chicken, whole wheat cous cous with roasted asparagus and mushrooms, and salad.  And there wasn’t even seaside dining required.

December 1st, 2010

Thanksgiving ham!  Sally gave us a good amount of leftovers.  I made ham sandwiches for my lunch for a couple days and then made

Split Pea Soup and

parmesan cheesy toasts. 

I LOVE leftovers and making a whole other meal out of them.  I also love split pea soup, thankfully so does the rest of my family.  It shocks me because the color green is like kryptonite to the kids, they assume green means it tastes disgusting. 

November 27th, 2010

Thankful celebration number 3 for us!  Julie and Ben had us, the Sadicarios, Ryan, and Kevin over for dinner.  Julie made a mean batch of french onion soup, bread, and all kinds of tasty sides.

and

At Julie and Ben’s house you’re always served tasty food and drink really good wine.  It’s a good thing all around.

November 24th, 2010

My absolute favorite meal of all times is Thanksgiving.  For me it’s not one dish that is my favorite, but the combination of all the classics that meet on my plate for one night a year (and sometimes a couple nights after that thanks to my generous mother in law sending us home with yummy leftovers).  I love everything about Thanksgiving, the family time, cousins playing together, the cooking, and what I hope will be a new tradition, Michelle, Kiki, and I running the Turkey Trot 5k together that morning.  Kiki’s been doing the run for a decade and it was the first year Michelle and I joined in (along with Kiki’s husband, Mickey).  It was freezing outside, but a fun run that kicked off the day great with more family time.  Kirk and Sally host Thanksgiving and everyone is pretty much at their house around 5 for cocktails and appetizers.

Sally made her traditional BV dip (cream cheese mixed with BV sauce, which is a kinda like a liquid version of a bouillon cube, I have never heard of it until I started dating Trent and it’s a staple at a Bond get together.  My niece Elizabeth would make a meal out of it if Michelle let her.), a horseradish dip, and Michelle made a fruit platter with a dip. 

Sally went crazy this year and did a turkey and a ham, both were delicious.

Kirk doing the manly duty of turkey carving. 

Managing oven space, oven temperature, and cooking times.

Pictorial tour of Thanksgiving dinner. 

And now for our dessert bar, for some reason this year we all made a dessert and Sally made 3, so we had almost as many dessert options as we did for dinner, it was quite something!

This is Michelle’s doing.  The most ridiculously delicious flourless cake I’ve ever had.  Definitely the perfect culinary ending to my favorite meal of the year. 

(Warning: I’m going to get cheesy, and I don’t mean parmesan.)

I am so thankful for all aspects of my life.  My family, my friends, my daughters who teach me the definition of love, and most of all my husband who is the happiest and most selfless person I know.  He’s a joy and lives life with wonderment and gratitude.  He works so hard for our family and plays equally as hard.  Also he puts up with me and that in itself is a miracle.  I am one lucky lady and do not take it for granted.  I am thankful. 

November 24th, 2010

My Aunt Cathy sometimes gives me back issues of Taste of Home magazine.  I take them to the YMCA when I work out because it’s fun to look at the pictures while I work out. I get crazy ADD when I work out, I have music, TV, and magazines to make time go by faster.  I saw a picture of these cookies back in August and cut them out.  I can’t believe I remembered to make them, but they were so easy, so cute, and VERY popular with the kids (and also the adults).  The orange “hat buckle” is an orange Tic Tac.  The cookies are keebler fudge stripes and you just put the mini reeses peanut butter cup on it upside down with some icing.

I gave a couple batches away to friends and packed the rest up to take to Kansas City for Thanksgiving.  Gobble Gobble!

November 23rd, 2010

The girls had swim lessons and I normally end up eating dinner with them beforehand.  Then I give the girls showers at the Y after their lessons and they come home all clean, cuddly, and ready for bed.  After we get them down, I make Trent dinner.  We have a ton of lettuce from the garden that’s about to go south with the frost.  So a big salad with salami it is.  I could put salami on top of a pile of chalk and Trent would probably still eat it.

November 21st, 2010

I turned around, did a cartwheel, chewed some gum, and all of a sudden my baby is turning 3.  I have no idea how that happened, I mean when I joined Facebook she was still crawling.  When I voted for the 2008 election, I brought her with me in the front carrier.  Both of these events don’t seem that long ago.  But no matter if I think the time line is accurate or not, celebrating needs to be done because she’s very deserving of a party.  Sydney is my willful child that packs a crazy amount of personality in a little body.  She’s clever, goofy, happy, curious, and very lovable.

Trent and I decided to have the family over to the house for a brunch to celebrate.  Sydney is a huge fan of pancakes and bacon, so it was appropriate.

Sydney wanted a chocolate cake with My Little Ponies on it.  I am SO NOT a cake decorator.  I am the girl that throws some sprinkles on and calls it a day.  But I have yet to have a chocolate cake from a bakery that I liked and have a killer chocolate cake and frosting recipe thanks to the back of the Hersey's Cocoa Box.  It’s crazy good and crazy easy.  So for the first time ever, I actually made the birthday cake instead of calling Lubeley’s (my favorite local bakery). 

Fruit, pancakes, bacon, and egg casserole was the menu.

It’s hard not to constantly kiss, squeeze, or pinch this child.

For dinner Sydney requested tacos, probably the family favorite meal where every eats happily.

I mix the meat and seasonings with a can of refried beans and set out the toppings.

Happy Happy Birthday Ms Syd Syd!  We love you!