How I spent my Friday evening.
Menu planning, complete with a Coke, no bakes and an ok chick flick.
How about you? Please tell me your Friday night was less boring than mine.
I’m starting to scare myself….
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Little Man Bash
He’s one!!!
I’d had an idea in my head to throw him a “Little Man” themed party for a while. He is just our little man! So I gathered a few ideas, put together a “little man” menu with Cheddar Bacon Sliders with a Garlic Aoli, sweet potato fries and cupcakes… I kept it super simple! And thanks to the help of Chris’ lovely aunt and cousins, it all came together!
I have wonderful and talented friends Taylor made the adorable birthday hat and Brooke made the scrumptious cupcakes!
We are so grateful to the family and friends that came to celebrate with us.
Even if the birthday boy was cranky beyond measure….until we stuck that cupcake in his face!
And then he got spoiled TO DEATH! Seriously, what does “no presents” mean to you??? (My favorite is the picture in the bottom middle… This one was directed toward his brother!)
Such a wonderful day! Thank you to all who came to celebrate!!!
Favorite Indulginces
I have a really bad love affair with popcorn.
I blame my dad.
I especially love the Christmas tin cheddar variety….
YUM FAKE CHEESE!
Anyway, I promised some friends I’d put up my recipe for my latest obsession… flavored toppings for my homemade popcorn.
Spicy:
1/2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
I typically half the Cayenne with Chili powder, because full on Cayenne can sometimes cause me to run for the milk jug in the fridge. But it all depends on your spice tolerance.
Sweet:
3 Tbs Instant Cocoa Mix
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon.
(Go generous with this one, I found that it needed to be fairly heavy to get the full effect.)
Toss both with 10-12 cups popped corn (only the good kind, microwave wont do!) and 2 Tbsp melted butter.
Enjoy!
Watch out! Here he comes!
My baby took his first steps today…. It’s just not fair!
Migration
Gav usually has some pretty funny one-liners.
Tonight as I was washing dishes he came up with a doozie.
G: “Mom, what is migrating?”
T: “Migrating is when a person or an animal goes to a different place. Like birds migrate south to be warm for the winter.”
G: “Oh. (his voice got really faint.. I could tell he was in either the bathroom or his room.) Where do they go for Easter?”
T: “what!?”
G: “Where do they go for Easter!?”(he is yelling at this point) ”
T: unable to control my laughter at this point “I don’t know… Where do you think they go for Easter?”
G: “I don’t know either! I’m going potty!”
Oh my that child…
How Far???
Chris is known for his detours. Especially when it looks like we could be getting home from a road trip early…
We took a little detour into Zions National Park on our way home from Vegas. We were slated to get home at around 6 originally…. I think it was 11 when we finally rolled into our driveway.
BUT! We did manage to see some really cool territory that we haven’t seen before.
We thought we’d head up the tour that you usually only get to see by bus to the Narrows and on our way we saw some deer…. I probably could have touched one by sticking my hand out the window if I had wanted… They were that close.
The views were amazing and the hike to the opening of the Narrows…. well it was cool! Thankfully I had packed coats, but we didn’t take a flashlight… and the end of the hike back to the car was in the dark. Hehe it’s always an adventure! We did have fun and we realized that since Chris and I have been exercising more, the little (2.5 mile) jaunt we took wasn’t nearly so taxing! It was awesome!
Christmas version 2011
I vowed to take more pictures this Christmas…
Didn’t happen.
I did get a few… The boys opening their Christmas jammies. Red flannel with white piping… pure Christmas!
Santa Came!!!
My Inlaws have a beautiful tree! My favorite piece of hers is one I saw for the first time this year. It’s this white ceramic tree she bought from a lady in her neighborhood when Chris was just a baby. Tiny tiny candles sit on doves on the tree. (I love things that have a story!) Thankfully it escaped near disaster from a flying train.
Christmas morning, Gav had to wait a bit before he could go downstairs but he was SOOO good and was pretty patient with us. I think he danced a little when he saw that Santa brought his number one thing on his list: A HexBug racetrack.
It was so nice and peaceful, we took it slow and had tons of fun!
That afternoon, before the cousins came over, Papa and Gaga wanted to open presents with just us before everyone got lost in the hustle and bustle. Gav got Lego’s and Anders got a sports center! And clothes, always an adorable outfit from Gaga! Thanks Papa and Gaga!!!
I think he has a couple of fans.
When the cousins came, the real fun started. Everyone ate great food, opened some presents, played, got into mischief (as only a good party would have!)
Then came Auntie Becky’s birthday party!
Ryan’s always good for an adventure! (note to self: more than 20 relighting candles and the frosting for german chocolate cake… not a great mix….)
Santa’s Little Helper?
Gav’s preschoolput on an adorable Christmas program for the parents on the last day of school before the break.
He’d been practicing his songs so hard and his line was PERFECT! (I’ll upload the video when I can find the cord to the video camera.)
I was so excited to actually get pictures of the boys in front of the tree before we had to leave for the program. (love the look on A’s face in the second one… he’s just thrilled!)
We were running on time, going to get seats and everything! But before we could hit the first major intersection (6 minutes from our house) Gav spills water all over his lap… his light grey jeans were now dark grey in the area one would automatically assume as a bathroom accident (promise, it was a water bottle he thought had frozen but wasn’t quite fully there…) I had to run into Walmart (5 minutes from our house) and get him new pants. This didn’t take me very long, but long enough to make us late for the program. Thankfully, they were running behind as well and I had time to strip the wet pants off my kid in the back of the gym, put the new ones on him and he only missed the first song!
I was manning both cameras while G said his line, and thankfully the video camera wasn’t the one that took the hit, it was my still camera, so I don’t have a picture of him saying his cute little line, SOLO!
But he really loves his teacher, Mrs. Watson. She’s so sweet and has really made preschool an amazing experience for G.
Birthday Baby and his Chocolate Cupcake!
Anders birthday was pretty low key.
We slept in a little, hung out a little…. then went for a little lunch and a little cupcake.
At Dippidee…
He was itching to go!
He and Brother in the car… hambones!
Not so sure at first. Then he remembered the taste. (Thanks Uncle Chickie!)
He grabbed onto my hand with both of his for dear life. He was NOT letting me pull that cupcake away from his face. The noises coming from him were hillarious. I don’t think he was swallowing, he was inhaling that bad boy!
Then, once all the frosting was gone, and his sugar high was on full speed, he let go of my hands, put his hands up in the air and we all clapeed for him. It was hillarious!
After we got him cleaned up and loaded up, he crashed. HARD!
Merry Christmas!!
We hope everyone’s Christmas was full of love, joy and magic!
