Can I get fries with that?

Okay. Here's what I've learned this week.

A) Don't ever blog about how you hope your kids don't catch the flu that's been going around. You WILL have puking kids within a day.

B) Food is yummier when you have good friends to share it with.

C) Puppies are still cute even when they poop on the floor.

To be honest I haven't done much cooking with Tyler to talk about. The other night we were being lazy, too lazy to even go get take out, so I decided to try some macaroni and cheese.

The Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese with Peas and Bacon
page 176 of Tyler's Ultimate
I have always loved Mac and Cheese. It is seriously the ultimate comfort food. There is nothing better than Grandma's Macaroni and after making Tyler's version I think Grandma's is still better. Don't get me wrong, Tyler's is a very close second.

When you make this you mix the mac and cheese together (with a good dose of cream and butter, naturally) and throw it in the oven. This dish has 5 1/2 cups of cheese. That's right. 5 1/2 cups. Wow. This is not your low-cal dinner by any means. Anyway, while it's in the oven, you need to fry up the bacon with some fresh thyme and add the peas. When it's done you pile the peas/bacon on top and dig in. Tyler describes the flavor of the peas/bacon as "smokey" and I think he hit it on the head. This particular mac and cheese took comfort food to a whole new level. Plus with the layer of peas I didn't feel as bad eating all the bacon and cheese and noodles. Add veggies to anything and it becomes healthy, right? I also found it funny when I was reading in another of Tyler's books he said, "this isn't a diet book, it's a cookbook." No false advertising here.

Last week we invited our good friends the Harris' over for dinner. Here's what we had:

Scallop Saltimbocca
page 62 of Tyler's Ultimate
They are basically bacon wrapped scallops with apples. I'm sorry but I don't have a picture of these scallops. When I turned around to take a picture they were gone! I'll take that as a good sign. You know, I'm not really a fan of scallops but these were really good. It kept the hungry mob busy while we were making the rest of the food.

The Ultimate Burger with fixin's from The Burger Bar
pages 94-97 of Tyler's Ultimate
If you want a really good burger, try adding new things on top of it. My idea of an amazing burger is to add mushrooms. You can't go wrong with mushrooms. The sides we added included Sauteed Mushrooms, Carmelized Onions, Tomatoes with Olive oil and chives, and Bacon with Rosemary. We also added Swiss Cheese to the burgers while they were cooking. Mmmmmmm. Nothing beats a good burger. The kids all loved these burgers too which is always a bonus.

Tolan's Mom's Potato Salad
page 190 of Tyler's Ultimate
My friend Kim made the potato salad while I was making the burger sides. Way to go Kimberly! I think you're hired! Here on the farm, I think we're potato salad snobs. Ryan's mom makes the best potato salad so it's hard to try new versions. This one was pretty good. I'm probably not going to make it the new family standard but it was a nice change. It had capers in it. If you've never had capers, try them. They look like pickled peas. It just added a different tang. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was boiling the potatoes whole in the skin. It does add a different flavor to the potatoes but it was just too hard to tell if they were cooked all the way through (which they weren't). Not to mention how long it takes for a pot of whole potatoes in the skin to boil. Here's what Dinner with the Harris' looked like and I'm going to apologize in advance for the sideways picture. I tried everything to turn it around and it just isn't working. Don't judge me, just turn your head sideways.


Yummy! I'm still playing it pretty safe in choosing the recipes I'm using. I haven't braved into he seafood section yet. I'm still trying to talk myself into it. Kind of like on Pee Wee's Big Adventure when the pet shop is on fire and he keeps walking past the snakes with the stink face on. He knows he's going to have to go there eventually, but he makes sure all the safe things are out of the way before saving the snakes. That's how I feel about the crabs. I keep flipping through those pages with a stink face but eventually I'm going to HAVE to make it. I'm not brave enough yet, but soon.....

Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey

I made spaghetti and meatballs on Sunday night. They were hands down the best (and biggest) meatballs I've ever made/eaten. For reals.

The Ultimate Spaghetti and Meatballs
page 172 of Tyler's Ultimate
Here's a secret I'm gonna let you in on: if you want moist, good meatballs, stop using dry breadcrumbs. Take some bread (a little stale is best) and cut it into cubes. Then just before you need to add them to your meat, soak them in some whole milk. Don't soak them too long because they'll be too mushy. Then squeeze the extra milk out of them and add to your meat. When you're mixing them together, only mix until everything is combined. If you over-work the meatballs they'll be tough. This seriously makes such a difference.


When I was ready to cook my spaghetti, I realized I had no spaghetti. How embarrassing. I just substituted fettuccini. The only problem was, the meatballs were huge and we got full after only one! The fam loved this meal. Definitely something we're going to add to our regular menu.

Side note: I think my cute puppy is less cute. Here's what she did while we were gone for an hour:


What a jerk. She's a bad baby. This was my favorite plant. It was a corn tree. Seeing that we're corn farmers, it was a cool (and manditory) house plant. RIP corn tree. The worst part is it died once already and I brought it back to life. I don't think anything can be done this time though. My powers aren't that strong. But put the bets away, I'm not getting rid of Ruby. And no the plant wasn't there when it got attacked, I just put it there to get the picture. And the extra stuff (sock, block, toilet paper roll, and plastic bag) was all brought to the crime scene by Ruby too. The whole area was clean when we left. I'm just sayin. Not cute.

Anywho, you're probably wondering why this post says eggs and bakey and there has been no mention of either. Well, last night I FINALLY had a good nights sleep. I haven't been sleeping too good lately because I've been having some jacked up dreams (stupid Paranormal Activity). The final straw was Monday night. Let me tell you about my dream. Any of you who are dream interpreters, only interpret this dream if it means I'm gonna be famous or rich or something good. I don't need any more nightmares. Okay, here's my dream.

During the night I woke up about every 45 minutes because I kept thinking something was wrong. We've had water pump problems and furnace problems and a new puppy so I just couldn't settle. Plus there's a flu going around and I don't want puking kids to surprise me. ANYWAY....This time when I woke up I was really still dreaming. You know those dreams that feel super real? Well this one felt real. I woke up in my dream because Katie came into my room and was just standing at the door and creeping me out (see Paranormal Activity). She was scared so I told her to come into our bed for a few minutes. Then Luke came in, saying he wasn't feeling very good. Just as he was getting into bed with us Emily comes tearing into our room screaming and crying. This finally woke Ryan up and he was mad because suddenly we have a crowded bed and Emily is losing her mind. She tells us there's a guy in the living room trying to talk to her. Ryan gets his "Ryan Eyes" on (if you haven't seen RJ when he gets excited/mad, his eyes get HUGE so there's more white than color. The first time I saw his "eyes" I have to admit I was pretty nervous. Now I just tell him to put the whites away...something along the lines of his bark is worse than his bite... love you Ry-Ry!).

So Ry gets up to go see this guy while I'm trying to work up the courage to go with him. When I got there, he was talking to this guy like we all knew him. Did I mention he looked and smelled like he broke up with his shower a while ago? He was gross. "It's okay hon. It's just Victor." Who the H is Victor? I seriously had no idea who he was and he was way too creepy to be one of my friends. I have pretty high standards. FYI Ryan, some random smelly guy letting himself in our house to have a conversation with our 5 yr old at 3 in the morning is NOT my definition of "okay". It was at this time that I woke up for realsies. To Emily screaming and crying from downstairs, "GET OUT OF MY ROOM!!" Ryan wouldn't wake up (how convenient) so I had to get the courage to go see her all by myself. I'm not even kidding, this was one of the worst parenting moments of my life. I considered letting her work out her own problems, ghost or creepy guy and all. But since I'm such a good mom, I went downstairs. When I got down there she was yelling at Luke to leave her alone. It turned out funny because she was telling her brother off in her sleep, but let me tell you it was a LONG time before I got back to sleep that night.

That brings us back to the Eggs and Bacon. Like I said before, I finally got a good night's sleep last night so I woke up this morning and decided to try this recipe that I've been eyeing for a while now.

California Bacon and Eggs
page 90 of Stirring the Pot

The layers go as follows: the green stuff at the bottom is a celery pesto, followed by a crispy potato pancake, then a sunny-side up egg that I chose to fry all the way through because I don't like slimy stuff, and then bacon. We were all a bit nervous about the pesto but this turned out unbelievable. I think my potato pancakes were too thick but that's okay. The pesto was gross by itself but with the pancake it was amazing. When you make the pancake, you have to shred the potatoes and then squeeze the moisture out as best as you can. I think I was a bit dysfunctional this morning because when I was putting my potatoes into a cloth, I totally dumped the whole bowl onto my cookbook. Then I burnt my first attempt at eggs. Then I burnt my second attempt at eggs. Stupid eggs. Normally I make killer fried eggs but it just wasn't happening today. I finally got the eggs done and all in all it turned out delicious. This is why I waited until I had a good night's sleep to attempt this dish. Even refreshed I was struggling!

The best part about cooking with Tyler (besides the obvious bonus of eating all this amazing food) is that I'm learning tips and tricks to change how I cook regular food. I won't be making meatballs the old way ever again. I'm not going to make mashed potatoes with skim milk and margarine ever again. There's so many things I've learned how to incorporate into my everyday cooking. And I've only just begun....

Chicken Licken

I haven't been a very good cook this week but we'll talk about that in a sec. Let's talk about the cutest thing ever first:


Meet Ruby. She's our new fur baby and I love her! Ruby is seriously the best puppy ever. She is already potty-trained and she knows how to sit! I know, I know, not the best picture. I just haven't bothered to make an appointment yet for our baby pictures. I want to do one of those shots with me and Ryan holding her in our clasped hands with a black background, but I think she might be too dark for that to work. I'll keep you posted.

Settle down, I'm just kidding. I'm not a fan of people who treat their puppies like babies either so don't worry. Just because I may or may not call her my baby I'm fully aware that I did not give birth to her. Don't judge me if she shows up with the occasional bow in her hair. I won't ever put clothes on her though because that's gross.

Moving on....

Friday night I cooked a chicken. Not just "a chicken" but,
The Ultimate Roast Chicken Provencal
page 132 of Tyler's Ultimate

I don't speak French but I'm thinking "Provencal" means "Tastes like throw-up" in English. The chicken itself was good for the most part. I'm just not sure tomatoes and lemons should be friends. At all. This chicken started out on the right track by calling for a fresh herb paste to be rubbed all over it. Then it was stuffed with a lemon that was cut in half. I think that's when things started to go downhill. It then calls for cut tomatoes, zucchini, onions, lemons, and fresh thyme to be put around it and roasted. It was okay and the fam ate it (a little begrudgingly), I just think I'll skip the lemon next time. Oh well. You can't win 'em all.


It looks yummy though doesn't it? The kids weren't fans of the veggies either. They tasted weird. Maybe I should have added broccoli on the side. Speaking of broccoli, has anyone seen those commercials about broccoli? There's one where a lady and her husband are covered in brand new babies and saying how much of a miracle it was to have 8 babies! The broccoli guy is sitting in the corner (of their bedroom! Ha!) and puts them straight because that wasn't a miracle, broccoli is a miracle because it has 12 essential nutrients. Then creepy guy shushes and rocks his broccoli. Okay....maybe it lost some of the funny-magic by me scripting it out, but still. Super funny. Check it out.

So the other night Ry and I went out to eat with some friends. The waitress was super nice but she was a bit uptight. We kept trying to joke around with her but she was a pretty tough crowd. I've never seen so much frownsmiling in my life. When she brought our food, I looked over to her saying, "Oh, oh! Please no....." followed by a crash of dishes.

She dropped our food.

I was a waitress (all famous actresses are before being discovered) and I could literally feel her embarrassment. Poor girl. The worst part was, Ryan got the brunt of it. He was literally wearing the food. You know what RJ did? He laughed about it. I don't like seeing movies where people scream at the waiter/waitress after getting dumped on. I just don't get it. The embarrassment of it is punishment enough. I guess my point is just that people need to be nicer in general. That's all.

*Side note: the above link doesn't have anything to do with this particular story, it's just a super funny blog that I'm in love with.*

You wanna know what does make me scream? Going to Ikea. Whenever I go there I get the shakes. There's just too much stuff in one place and it turns into a stimulation overload. I seriously get all shaky as if I just guzzled a 2L Coke (all the pretty colors in Avatar made me feel like that too by the way). Anyway, I'm going to Ikea soon and I'm already feeling a bit shaky. I think that's because I looked online to make my list. My kitchen is gonna be equipped to the max after this trip. I might even get a big-girl knife. I can't wait. Does that make me lame? I don't even care.....

So I've been thinking

I think we put too much stock into New Year's resolutions. Why do we make goals about depriving ourselves only to fail by Valentine's day? Then we beat ourselves up because we have only done what we knew we would do to begin with. My wise sister-in-law Julie posted about this on her blog. I have to agree that we should plan on doing things that will make us happier, not make us feel worse about ourselves. Let me also throw in that I'm not advocating over-indulgence. Too much of a good thing is still not wise.

Here's my list of things I'm going to do:

I'm going to enjoy my life more.

This means I'm going to enjoy food more. This does not mean I'm going to gorge on anything anytime I want, it just means I'm going to make yummier food and enjoy every single bite. Dinner time should be an experience not a race.

I'm going to enjoy exercising more. Let me just say that this in itself isn't a resolution. I already enjoy exercising, especially Adventure Bootcamp, I just want to learn new things.

I want to play with my kids more often. And teach them not to cry when Mommy wins every time. And not cry in front of them when (if) they beat me.

I want to spend more time with my friends and family. One of the main reasons of building a bigger house was so we could entertain more. I plan on doing this a lot this year. Who's coming for dinner?

I'm going to go to movies more often. Yes I've seen Avatar (twice) and yes I thought it was amazing. I didn't however think Paranormal Activity was amazing. That was way too much for me. I STILL have to sleep with the lights on. We went to Sherlock Holmes last night and it was good. I just want to say that Robert Downey Jr. is super cute. And that's all I'm going to say about that. ;)

I want to enjoy the outdoors more. I'm probably the biggest baby when it comes to cold weather so I'm going to make a point of enjoying the warm seasons more.

I'm going to enjoy music more. Live from my piano room or recorded from my ipod. And concerts. I need more concerts in my life.

Anyway, that's what I want to do this year. It's not anything new or profound, I just want to make the most of every day. It's the climb, right Miley? I challenge you to do the same. Find things you want more of, not things to deprive yourselves of.

Dinner yesterday was only one item:
The Ultimate Lasagna Bolognese
page 22 of Dinner At My Place
Lasagna holds a special place in my heart. When we were growing up my Mom made a HUGE deal about our birthdays. One of the things she did was we had a birthday place setting that included a home-made place mat that said "You're Special". Yes I AM special, thank you very much! We also got to pick out our own menu for the day. This always included a sugar blasted cereal (my parents only ever bought plain Cheerios or Corn Flakes so yes, this was a big deal), lunch from Dairy Queen (hand delivered by Dad to the school), and our choice for dinner. We almost always picked lasagna. I think the reason this was such a novelty for us is because my Mom took all day to make it. Literally. All day. We were just so impressed that she loved us enough to spend a day making food for us.

When I moved out and cooked lasagna for the first time I was shocked and surprised that it only took me an hour and a half to make. I thought for sure I left something out and it was going to taste wrong. Nope. Lasagna wasn't as big a deal as my Mom led us to believe! This is now a joke between me and my siblings about Mom's all-day lasagna. For the record my Mom still makes the best lasagna ever. And no I'm not just saying that to get a wicked birthday present. (Love you Mom!)

My lasagna I made looked like this:


I have to say, this looks just like the picture in Tyler's book! And it tasted even better! The family loved it too. I've been eyeballing this recipe ever since I met Tyler. I was pretty skeptical because he uses ingredients that aren't on my usual list of things to put in lasagna. Bechamel sauce isn't something I've even heard of until now. Turns out I've used it in many different things, but never for lasagna. It's kind of a glorified white sauce.

You know what else is funny? It didn't take me all day to make it either....it took TWO days! Part of this is because when I was elbows deep in bolognese sauce, Ryan came home and announced we were going out with his brother and his wife in an hour and a half. I had to stop and put everything in the fridge for another time.

The sauce is made from scratch which means putting a bunch of veggies in the food processor and then simmering all the ingredients for about two hours. The noodles are also from scratch. This wasn't as traumatizing because it was basically the same noodle recipe as my Mom uses for her amazing home-made chicken noodle soup. The noodles did however take another two hours to make the dough, let the dough rest, roll it out, and hang dry.

All in all it took about 6 hours to make. I don't think I'll make it with as much bechamel sauce because it was a bit too creamy for me, but I will definitely be making this again.

Tonight we're going to Ryan's parent's house for dinner. Here's what I'm bringing:


Pear Cobbler with Cranberry Streusel
page 224 of Tyler's Ultimate
It is made with halved pears on the bottom of a sugared pan topped with a cranberry crumble. It smells amazing and I can't wait to eat it. Good thing I don't have a resolution to lose weight because I'm going to turn into a Creamy Butterball with all the cream and butter I've been cooking with. You are what you eat, right? I just hope Ryan's mom is making salad for dinner because with the lasagna we had for lunch and this for dessert...I don't know. But I do know my jeans are starting to hate me....

Dinner at my house.

Dinner last night went well. The in-laws came over to watch the World Junior Gold Medal Game between who else but Canada and US. Sadly, Canada lost in a very intense overtime. I'm not a hockey fan and even I was impressed.

Dinner however was amazing, if I do say so myself.


Sorry, but my "plating" needs work. I was hungry and this picture was a last-minute grab and snap with the camera. Here's the menu:

Bacon-Wrapped Roast Beef With Yorkshire Pudding and Gravy
Found on page 54 of Stirring the Pot.
This is a garlic infused bacon-wrapped roast cooked until medium rare (medium well for us). The flavor was amazing. I'm thinking bacon really is the answer. I seriously have to try this roast again with a better cut of meat. The roast I got was the only one they had at Safeway. I think I'm going to only do one or two of these meals a week and make sure I have had time to go shopping at some real stores that have what I need.

The side dishes were:
Velvet Potato Puree
page 198 of Tyler's Ultimate
Amazing. My friend Kyla is as gourmet as they come. She once said that she couldn't believe people used skim milk and margarine to make mashed potatoes. I was horrified because 1) I use skim milk and margarine for my potatoes and 2) there's another way to make them? Well there is and she's on the same page as Tyler. If any of you take anything away from this, let it be the following: Only make mashed potatoes with heavy cream and butter. Put that milk and margarine away and do it properly. There's a trick though. You HAVE to warm your cream and butter up before adding to your hot potatoes. Trust me, it's the only way.

Brussels Sprouts Salad With Pancetta and Cranberries
page 230 of Stirring the Pot
In this recipe Tyler says to trick everyone by taking a few minutes to separate the leaves on the Brussels Sprouts. I thought it sounded like a good idea, they're just little cabbages so how hard can it be? Really hard! Not anything like peeling a cabbage. Those little leaves are tighter than....well, they're tight. It took me almost 2 hours to get them all peeled! Totally worth it though. He says in the write up before the recipe that your kids who hate Brussels Sprouts will love this dish. Well I have a 32 yr old kid who HATES Brussels Sprouts and he actually loved this dish. Everyone really enjoyed this meal. I omitted the yorkshire puddings because I couldn't be bothered.


I seriously cannot believe that there are clean plates! That rarely happens. You know what though? I think I tricked the kids into eating. I've hyped this up so much that it's the excitement of it, along with the good food of course, but the excitement makes it taste better.

The dessert I had planned finally made an appearance. It was modified but still yummy.
Strawberry-Lemon Puddings
page 81 of Dinner At My Place
I turned it into more of a trifle and it worked. I made too much cake but the filling was super good. I'm doing this one again too. The lemony whipped cream was so fresh. PS it was good for breakfast this morning too.


Here's what I've learned so far.

1) Tyler Florence loves him some olive oil. It's everywhere. I'm not complaining, just observing.

2) Nothing beats fresh garlic. Hand cut, not pressed through a garlic press either.

3) You really can't substitute low fat milk for cream. It might resemble the real deal but it sure won't taste as good. If you're worried about calories or weight gain, just eat a little bit of something real. Aren't we all supposed to eat small portions anyway? Think of the skinny Europeans as you're enjoying your food.

I also just found out Tyler has two more cookbooks. I'm gonna go check them out tomorrow. Maybe we'll have a few more exciting meals to add....

Success is MINE!

Last night I cooked my first meal. Here was the menu:

To start
The Ultimate Chicken Wings with Curry-Lime Butter
found on page 16 of Tyler's Ultimate
These are wings that are baked then tossed with, surprise surprise, curry and lime and butter.

Main dish
Baked Rigatoni With Eggplant And Pork Sausage
found on page 162 of Tyler's Ultimate
Again this is pretty self explanatory.

Dessert
Strawberry-Lemon Puddings
found on page 81 of Dinner At My Place
This recipe had me at hello. I really like the tangy goodness of any lemon or lime dessert. Mmmm.

Here's how the meal really went:

To start
NOTHING
My teeny-tiny town is severely ill-equipped for this kind of cooking. I spent two and a half frustrating hours combing the shelves of the two grocery stores in town. A friend made a good observation, "Ummm, isn't that your first clue? The TWO grocery stores?". Yeah, I guess I should be a little less surprised by this. But really, no chicken wings? That's not an exotic ingredient by any means. The curry paste was there, but I'm still not sure if it's the right kind. He asks for Thai curry paste and there was anything there BUT Thai curry paste. So I guessed.

Moving on.

Main Dish
Baked Rigatoni With Eggplant and Pork Sausage
This actually went well. Who needs a starter anyway? I found all the ingredients and it was relatively easy to make. The eggplant was a bit scary though. I'm not too familiar with eggplant so I decided to get some history on it. Here's what I found.

The Eggplant is also known as the Aubergine. It's more common name came from early European varieties that were smaller and white. Botanically it's a fruit but it's used as a vegetable in cooking. Eggplant originated in India and was introduced into Asian kitchens about 3AD. In 11AD it was introduced into Europe where superstitious people believed it induced insanity, even giving it the nickname "Mad Apple". They thought this because it's in the same family as the deadly nightshade. Eggplant is a close relative of the tomato, potato, and pepper. In 16th century Spain, the people there had great respect for the fruit/veg because it was thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac. Those silly Spaniards named it the "Love Apple" (only in Spain, right?). Thomas Jefferson introduced it into the States from a friend from France. It started out as a table ornament until about 1950 when it became more popular as a food. Eggplant is also a popular with vegetarians as a meat substitute because like tofu, it is bland in taste and soaks up the flavors around it. Eat up!

I have to admit, I'm not a fan. It's okay, but I'm not going to get to excited about dishes that include eggplant. I asked my family to rate the dish and here's what they said.

Luke: 1.5 thumbs up. "It's sooo good except for the squishy eggnog thingy. I love it though!"

Katie: 2 thumbs up. "Yummmy!"

Emily: 2 thumbs down (rude). "I don't like anything....can I have a brownie?"

Ryan: 2 thumbs way up. He had no comment at this time, but did go back for seconds. And thirds later that night!

Me: 1.5 thumbs up. I agree with Luke. The rest of the food was really good, but the eggplant wasn't my fav.

Oh yeah. Here's what it looked like:
I even included a picture of the recipe. Looks the same, right? Yay me! We will definitely have this meal again. Moving on...

Dessert
NOTHING
Again, the 2 grocery stores didn't have what I needed. They didn't have lemons. Really? Wow. I was super annoyed. The recipe also called for store bought lemon curd and store bought pound cake, you know, to make my life easier. These ingredients did not make my life easier, thank you very much. Anyone who I asked hadn't even heard of lemon curd. When I got home, I decided to make my own variation of this recipe because how hard could it be?

Well, here's how hard. The cake I made didn't cook all the way through because I just assumed it was done. Oops. I just popped it back into the oven and it finished cooking. But not in time for dessert. The lemon curd that I made took too long to cool too so I think we'll try for this dessert again tonight.

All in all, Day 1 was a success. We have yummy leftovers for lunch today too!

Did I mention Ryan's parents are coming for dinner tonight? No pressure or anything....not the best time to try new recipes. Wish me luck....

2010? Bring it.

Since today is January 1, I thought you might all be interested in what was for dinner.


Looks pretty gourmet, right?

Wrong. It was frozen a couple minutes ago. I haven't started my ride with Tyler yet because Ryan is out of town and he's probably the only one around here who will appreciate my efforts. When he gets back I'm starting for real. Monday night.

Speaking of Ryan, I thought I would post a picture of what he brought home for me on our anniversary. Can't beat Roses and McDonald's. That, ladies and gentlemen, is true love.

Before I start on the Christmas update, let me just inform you that a couple days before the holidays, there was a 54 degree difference from inside my house to outside. Now do you understand when I say it feels like Old Man Winter punches you in the face when you walk outside? It's COLD!!

Christmas was eventful as always, full of family and friends. It always seems to sneak up on me and then when I've gotten everything ready, it's over. Just like that. Christmas feels more and more anticlimactic every year. Maybe this is me getting old. This was also the first year I haven't had to wake the kids up. I think my back being out of sorts and being drugged up had something to do with it, but it was certainly refreshing to wake up at 8am and see Katie and Luke already scanning all the loot. Emily was still sleeping like always. The best part of Christmas in my opinion, is seeing the kids in the middle of the magic with the sparkle in their eyes. I love it.

Once again I managed to get the perfect present for Ryan. Well, almost.

Last year I got him his old '72 Chevy back. A little history: Ryan's dad bought an old truck and restored it. He gave it to Ryan and he drove it until we out-grew it as a family. It was really hard for him to get rid of it.

The friend he sold it to called me to see if Ryan was interested in buying it back because he now too outgrew it with his young family. I jumped on this opportunity and secretly bought it and hid it until Christmas. He had no idea! Ryan likes to pretend every year that he knows what I got him, I think in some way he's trying to get me to admit what I got, but it never works. Silly Ryan. He was so surprised, to say the least. His dad even high-fived me because it was the best present ever.

That brings us to this year. Ryan has a "Man Room". He claimed the bonus room above the garage as a no-girls-moms-ok room. The other day I was getting my hair did and was explaining to my amazing hairdresser (who is also named Ryan) that we got a TV for the man room and couldn't wait to get the pool table and lazy-boy chairs to complete the room. He said he had a pool table that I could have if I just came and got it and that was that. The price was right and Ryan's brother agreed to help me sneak it into the "Man Room". Long story short, it didn't work out and Ryan ended up going to help his brother get it...early Christmas present. But that's okay.

Ryan usually works up until a couple days before Christmas so he always has to do last-minute shopping to surprise me. This year he must have heard me talk about my needing some supplies for my cooking and he got me this:


Now I can cook like all the other professionals!

I'm gonna let you in on a secret. Ryan is the worst at hiding presents (I love you Ryan!). He get's an "A" for effort. On Christmas eve we were getting everything ready before bed and I went out to my car to grab something. There sitting on the stairs was the food processor. Then I told him I needed the stockings that were upstairs. When I got there, hiding behind the boxes was the food processor again! Everywhere I looked it was there! I swear I wasn't looking Ryan. The ipod touch was a surprise though. It wasn't jumping out at me anywhere.

All in all it was a good week. New Year's Eve was fun and now we're gonna relax and get back to schedule. And soon, we'll eat some yummy food too....