Baby You Can Drive My Car

beep, beep, beep, beep, yah!

Christmas Happenings 2010 cont.

Part 3: Christmas Dinner

Adam is a trained chef...yet he rarely cooks for us. Well...Christmas he went all out and prepared a decedent Christmas feast. Rib roast, "flemming" potatoes, a fruit platter, and caprese salad. yum! It was awesome! He really needs to cook for us more often!

Chef Adam carving the Rib Roast

The Fruit Salad - chic eh?

yum...gotta love a good caprese

Nothing says "Christmas" quite like a huge pan of cheesy "Flemming's" Potatoes
Cutest little guy EVER


And this is us having fun with the "smart shot" option on my new camera...It senses when someone smiles and snaps the picture automatically - sweet.

Christmas Happenings 2010

On Christmas morning, I woke Emmie up and told her that Santa had come. She responded, "wow". The night before she had a hard time sleeping - she kept poking her head out to see if Santa had come yet. Finally after an hour or so of needing to "go to the bathroom" she dozed off. sweet girl. Santa did not disappoint this year. He brought Emmie exactly what she asked for - a dolly and a teddy bear (and then he brought her a doggy too...because it was WAY cuter than the teddy bear).

Part 1: Christmas at home:

This year I finally did it - I found a gift for Matt that was as good as the first gift I ever gave him (I got him a deluxe tool box and since then have not been able to top it - he's hard to shop for) This year I got him a Shop Vac. He's in love and has been busy vacuuming the garage since Christmas.

Matt bought his own Martinelli's...2 just for him so he wouldn't have to share - he did give me a sip...but only because I'm his wife.

Part 2: Christmas at Dadoo and Grandma's with Ceri, John, Adam, Monson, and Finn:

To infinity - and beyond!

She's such a ham...every time I take a picture of her she's gives me a new emotion...this is "sad" cutest sad face I've ever seen

Monson in his new Radio Flyer car - he LOVES it!

Monson was kind enough to give Emmie a turn

Mom and her new ipad!

Ceri and Monson

John and Baby Finn - I love their faces. ha!

Prime needed a food break...all this present opening made him hungry!

awesome

Prime playing with his new drum

...and just for proof that I was there - me and Prime.

Christmas was wonderful this year! very low key - very calm - I loved it!
My parents bought me a new camera that I'm totally psyched about - many more pictures to come!

Something about the season

Remember last year when Emmie insisted on wearing her puppy costume all Christmas season - The one she refused to wear at Halloween?

(Emmie - Christmas Eve 2009)

Well...Here she is tonight. Emmie insisted on wearing her Giraffe costume. (The one I bought her for Halloween. When she put on for the first time and buckled the hood under her chin she ran to the end of the hallway and cried for 10 minutes because she hated it so much.) As of tonight she's had a change of heart. Giraffes are cool. Santa liked it too.

When we take a break...

...I really do miss them, and I'll be happy on January 3rd when I go back. But for now I'm so excited to hang out with these folks (and possibly not change out of my jimjams for an entire day!)

(okay...so I know I posted this picture a few months back - but it's a good one, right? I mean, just look at their faces - classic)

Pie and Pillows

I got a big bite of humble pie yesterday as I was attempting to make a new tree skirt for the Christmas tree. When you think of a tree skirt it doesn't sound that complicated right? I was keeping it simple - cutting out some wedges sewing them into a doughnut shape and quilting it - piece of cake. Ha! After numerous hours of failed attempts to salvege my mistakes I threw in the towel. But, I definitely learned some things....first and foremost that I am not above a pattern... My efforts didn't all go to waste though - I made some pillows out of the wreckage. I LOVE the Christmas shopper pattern!

I {heart} Prime

Come Monday, my little man will be 8 months old. Prime is just the sweetest little kid. I think this may be one of my favorite stages. Everything is a new discovery - I love watching his face as he examines a piece of paper...or a ball...or a spoon...anything and everything is fascinating.

These are a few of his favorite things right now:

1. Mommy
2. Laughing
3. Mommy
4. Car Rides
5. Mommy
6. Bread
7. Mommy
8. Crawling
9. Mommy
10. Anything that makes a crinkle noise
11. Mommy
12. The blue wrap
13. Mommy

So...The kid loves his mom. And I can't complain a bit. It does a working mom's heart good to know that although I don't get to spend the hours I wish I could with him, that I'm still #1.
Matt doesn't seem to mind.

*Photo above by Heidi (scroll down her site to see some of our family pictures I have yet to post) It's awesome to have a photographer as a best friend!*

Food on the Brain

I've been on a major pumpkin kick lately and have been indulging in all the wonderful foods I have not been eating for the past 8 months since Prime's birth and the whole "no dairy" thing...Did I blog about that? That's a whole post on it's own...anyways, long story short - I'm enjoying dairy again! whoo-hoo! I came up with this dish last night. Usually I'm not a huge "breakfast for dinner fan" but this one may convert me. I found a basic recipe, tweaked it....and voila! make and enjoy....really...you should do it...

Eggnog Pumpkin Pancakes

• 2 cups Bisquick
• 2 large eggs
• 1-1/4 cups eggnog
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk (until it's the right consistency)
  
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
  
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Not that anyone needs this next part...but whatevs....

1. Preheat a griddle to 375 degrees F, or heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat.


2. Whisk together all ingredients until well-combined.


3. rest for a bit (you and the batter)
   


4. Turn griddle down to 350 degrees.


5. Ladle quarter-cupfuls of the batter onto the griddle. Cook until the edges of the pancakes start to set and bubbles start to form on the surface of the pancakes.


6. Flip. Cook another 1-3 minutes until pancakes are golden brown on the other side.

Serve immediately with whatever delicious things you like...my fav: Lemon Cream (delish), hot syrup, and Redi whip...my mouth is watering.

So...side note...has anyone else ever noticed that the Orville Redenbacker guy looks like a combo of Don Knott's, Gilbert Godfried, and maybe a even a little of Aunt Jemima?...just saying...

++?=

Friends

I couldn't resist sharing this picture! Isn't Luke so cute? Emmie thinks so too! She LOVES him! We have been having a great time hanging out with some of our favorite people!

This picture was taken on the Saturday before Halloween...hence the purple pants - Luke was the Hulk :)

p.s. isn't our backyard awesome in all of its overgrown glory? Since this picture, the lawn has been mowed and seeded and hopefully soon we will have some wonderful winter grass!

{ruffled cardigan}

I have a serious lack of cute cardigans in my closet...mostly because I can't justify spending upwards of $20 on an "accessory"...are cardigans accessories? I don't know...maybe...I just know they are not necessary for my wardrobe - but I love them and drool over them constantly. So...I took matters into my own hands. Here is one I made from a black t-shirt - 2 actually...the ruffles were tighter than anticipated so I cut up one of Matt's shirts too (don't worry...he was cool about it). I apologize for the picture....it looked even worse in color...maybe some day I'll figure out how to teach Matt how to take cute pictures of me wearing the stuff I make. An actual camera (not a cell phone) might help too! What a good husband for trying!

Anyways, this is not my original idea - click HERE if you want to make one too!

When I asked my sister what she thought about it she told me, "humm...I haven't decided yet." which really means, "that's ugly - but I know you like it so I'm not going to say anything bad." Whatever. I DO love it! And, it's wonderful having a sister who will give me her opinion on things. That's what's sister's are for! (Love you, Ceri!)

Yeah for cute clothes that cost nothing!

{apron}

A few of my students helped me make my new school apron!

I've been needing a new one for a long time (I've been sporting an awesome purple plastic apron that, on a few occasions, my not so tactful students have informed me that my apron is ugly and Ms. Cassie's (my assistant) is nice. So when Cassie came in with a second totally cute apron I needed to step it up). We (2 students and I) took Cassie's apron and traced all of the main parts then labeled them and cut them out. I love how they sounded all the parts out! Can you read 4 year old? so cute!

The next day I brought the fabric to school and the helped me cut all the pieces out. They thought the finished product was pretty cool and get really excited when I wear it. It's nice not to have "the ugly apron" anymore. Plus we had a nice conversation about how clothes are made. cool.

P.S.

Oh... and my co-worker sent me a picture of her whole Cruella costume - totally rad, right?

Fall Fling!

Our school puts on a "Fall Fling" on the Friday before Halloween every year. With the Fall Fling comes Crazy hair day. Emmie wasn't sure about it until she got to school and her teacher gave her a nice doo with blue spray paint and everything. She LOVED it! Emmie had the greatest time!
It's really lucky that her teacher takes pictures for me or I wouldn't have gotten to see how much she enjoyed her self! This year the "Fire Department" came. (It's actually this really cool Faux Fire Dept. company that does birthday parties and other events) She tried on the fire suit, got to sit in the driver seat and pull the loud fire horn, and spray a "burning house"(a big picture of a burning house). SO MUCH FUN!

Then to top it all off we went to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat. Emmie had a HUGE smile on her face and told me, "I love-e the trick and treat". She is dressed as Minnie Mouse. I have yet to get a good picture of her in it. I will. Have Happy Halloweekend Everyone! (I didn't come up with that...I stole it from the Target display....)

Pongo Boy

A co-worker asked me to make her a "Cruella De Ville" coat for her costume party. I had so much fun working on this short project! Here are the pics!

Before:
2 infant/toddler dalmatian costumes from Goodwill and an old red robe

After:
So Fun!A close up of the front

Every time I got out the project to work on it, Emmie would run and get her "Pongo boy" outfit (the 2nd costume that I didn't need to use). I'm wondering when Emmie will realize that Pongo boy is no longer around because I had to give it back. : ( out of sight out of mind...right? We will see when it's time to get ready for the Trunk or Treat! (wish us luck).