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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Year In Review

January 2008
February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

Confessional

While I'm confessing and all, I must own up to what I did yesterday.

Last night, I went to the grocery store late (9:00ish). What a pleasant place H.E.B. was on a Tuesday night! I was passing the bakery looking for an Angel Food Cake to go with my Chocolate Fondue I'm taking to a New Years Eve party tonight and stumbled across a blast from the past--Cream Horns, now with a new and improved fancy name--French Vanilla Twirls.

Well, it was all I could do to NOT open them there in the store, but that wouldn't be pretty, eating a cylindrical shaped object in the middle of H.E.B. at 10:00 in the evening now, would it?

I have self control....especially with food! (Though I do recall being 14 months pregnant and eating half of a bag of peanut M&Ms while shopping at Target--but I promise I have never eaten at the grocery store--unless Riley handed me a Goldfish.)

That is, UNTIL I was putting my recyclable bags in the back of my car and just happened to notice that they put the Cream Horns right on top!!

Can you guess what I did? I took them, along with my purse, to the front of my car and proceeded to GOBBLE one up on my way home. Like a food addict you see on 60 minutes, right? It's only bad if I don't tell anyone, right?

Monday, December 29, 2008

Out With the Old

My email inbox is out of control. At this moment there are 3,564 messages in it. 631 of those haven't even been opened. AAAAAAH! Recipes I requested, sales I missed, recipes shared, emails I replied to...in my head, but never actually typed the words (sorry, friends!)

I want to delete my entire inbox to start 2009. Aaaah, I felt relief just saying it.

I don't want to lose pictures or recipes, those are the things I'll have to save or print. Other things I'm worried about are address book updates. I can ask for those again without being a nuisance, right?

I think "empty inbox" has been on my To Do list for over a year now. January 1, 2009 is the day I actually do it AND cross it off my list.

UPDATE: There are now 3,566 emails in my inbox!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

December Traditions

We decorate the house for Christmas after Thanksgiving....hopefully it's finished by Sunday night! Riley "helped" with the tree this year and had his first cup of hot chocolate to add to the festivities!






Russ does a fabulous job on the lights as usual. Riley helped him turn them on for the first peek. He was in awe of all of the Christmas lights this year.


A new tradition that we started this year is opening the first gift of the Christmas season on December 1st! Riley gets to open a big box of Christmas books. I put all of his Christmas books away with the decorations and on December 1, he opens them all again--books that he's had and new books we've added since last Christmas!


December 1 also brings forth The Christmas Calendar! Last Christmas, Riley loved it so much, we were still giving him two Skittles every day in March. We didn't know how to stop it!! Riley points to it often and says, "This is for after dinner." He loves counting from one up to the date. He's pretty strong up until "fifiteen, fifteen, fifteen..." (13, 14, 15).


This year, we thought Riley was ready to enjoy the Christmas movies we grew up on--Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. For us, it was officially the Christmas season when those movies came on t.v. Each of us enjoyed watching them this year!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!

WARNING: These videos are indeed sideways, there is nothing wrong with your head!
(

I'm much better with photos than videos (duh)so bear with me. When will I learn that you can't take video vertically? Ugh.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Stupid and What's His Name

Stupid has reared its ugly head again at my house. This time, with a friend--Poo Poo Head.

"Poo Poo Head and Stupid!" is Riley's new phrase of choice. Oh dear.

Russ and I are wondering--who is Poo Poo Head and who is Stupid?

Or am I both? ;-)

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Southern Comfort

I made Chicken Pot Pie Tuesday night when that cold front blew in. The timing couldn't have been better...and I'm sure that's part of the reason I went back for seconds--twice (and had it for lunch 2 days following)!

The recipe is from a dear friend that I've known for a long time--Little MKV. She delivered us two for dinner when we brought Riley home from the hospital. One to eat for dinner that night and one to freeze. I'd forgotten how good they were until I made them. The recipe is the easiest I've tried and by far the tastiest. I have to share. I hope it's okay...

Chicken Pot Pie

1 pkg. frozen peas and carrots (I used a mixed veggie with lima beans and corn too)
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup onion (she asked me very nicely to put these in, but if you know me at all, I don't even let onions into my house!)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 1/2-3 cups chopped, cooked chicken (or turkey)(I used canned, rinsed and flaked it)
2 refrigerated pie crusts (use Pillsbury in the red box, refrigerated section)

Rinse frozen veggies under running cold water to separate; drain.

Heat butter in 2 quart saucepan over low heat until melted. Stir in flour, onion (blech), salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in broth and milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in chicken and vegetables.

Place 1 prepared pie crust in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Pour chicken mixture into pie plate. Place remaining crust over filling. Turn edges under and flute. (NOT my specialty, by the way.) Poke holes with a fork in the top to vent. Bake at 425 degrees until golden brown, about 35 minutes.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Good Times in Grapevine

We rather suddenly decided to drive to Flower Mound to visit Robbye and Mike last weekend. They had gone to see ICE at the Gaylord Texan a few years ago and really enjoyed it. We thought Riley was at the age where he would enjoy it, so we took a chance!

It was a winter wonderland of ice. In a tent. Kept at 9 degrees Celsius. We had hats, scarves, gloves, coats...we had everything! Then put an Eskimo parka on top of all that. My little pengiun waddled the whole way through!



Everything us ice--except us!






There was a slide made of ice! Russ was a pro and Riley got stuck and had to be rescued...and wanted to do it again!



That night Robbye tried a new dessert recipe. We made Banana S'Mores--recipe courtesy of Sandra Lee.

Yummy!!

The next day we headed back to Grapevine, but this time went downtown. What a quaint little place. Great shopping and some cute lunch venues--we had to skip out and get Riley in the car seat for his nap and our drive home.

We saw Santa Claus!! Riley would NOT sit in his lap, "No thank you," but would shake his hand and accept a furry little stuffed animal!