Christmas Eve!

I cannot believe it is already time for Christmas! Yay!! We are all very very excited in this house. Jordan finally understands the concept of Santa, so she keeps talking about him bringing presents. Ben has no idea, and that's ok, we're so caught up in Jordan's excitement.

Today will be spent baking on my part, and tomorrow cooking. Here's my menu plan (very non traditional!)

Christmas breakfast of french toast made with homemade bread, eggs, bacon.

Christmas dinner:
Samosas
Garlic naan
Chicken Tikka Masala
Lamb curry
Rice

Dessert:
cake
apple pie

And I have to make peanut butter cookies for Santa with Jordan today. We chose peanut butter because it is in abundance at our house, we have 4 containers of it!

Merry baking/cooking to you all!!

Mocha Latte

My mother in law recently sent us an espresso machine for christmas. We wanted one to try and break our Starbucks habit (spending more money than we should have... evil drive thrus!!). I think I am drinking more lattes than EVER now that my husband has perfected his technique and the recipe he found. He's almost at barista competition level, in my opinion.

Tonight he bought the peppermint syrup from Starbucks... heaven!

I would post more but I'm too hyped up on caffeine.... =)

Baby Mamas (Put a Sling On 'Em)

If you appreciate babywearing, you will like this video!

Grandma Ken

When we still lived in Pittsburgh, Grandpa rocked. He took Jordan outside to rake leaves, play with sticks, kick the soccer ball (which was really a volleyball but who in their right mind is going to correct a toddler??), and played blocks with her. He let her run around with her crayons and watch the movie cars over and over again. He was the COOLEST person in Jordan's mind.

But now Jordan sees Grandma more often. It is far easier for my mom to visit us alone than with my dad, so Jordan plays with Grandma, colors with Grandma, and bakes. I realized when we went back to Pittsburgh that Jordan kept calling my dad Grandma. She just cannot say Grandpa. We tried getting her to say Grandpa Ken, but it just came out as Grandma Ken. My dad suggested she call him Red Beard... only problem with that is his beard has not been red for years. So I asked Jordan to say White Beard... So she went from Grandpa to Grandma to White BEER.

Maybe we should try Papa Ken next?

First Snow of Winter

As you can see, we are now getting snow in Illinois! Very pretty but none of it stuck. Jordan was very upset. She wanted to play in the snow. We even bought snow boots today. Her first pair ever!! I'm sure the typical abundance of Midwest snow will make up for her disappointment over the next few months.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Now that I am properly stuffed, I would like to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving.

We spent the day at home, and had a lovely dinner with some of Dave's coworkers. It was very nice of them to invite us over! Tomorrow we leave early in the morning to fly to Pittsburgh where my parents, sister, brother in law, niece and nephew are waiting for us! I am so excited!!

Ben is such a lucky little dude, how many kids get to experience their first thanksgiving twice?? =)

Getting Ready For Holidays

Now that we exercise in the mall, Jordan has been seeing all the decorations and trees and decided we had to have our tree up. We complied. Here is our small, prelit, fake tree. I love it!! Still need to get some of our ornaments out of the shed.

My mom sent us a gingerbread house kit. I think that this might be a tradition we continue every year. Perhaps one day I'll be brave enough to make the gingerbread from scratch. This year we had to put up with melting the sugar and making the icing. Sugar was difficult. I had to "glue" back together some of the pieces that broke during transit. I was a bit annoyed and I messed up the roof. Chimney was omitted... We ate it while waiting for the sugar to solidify!




We sent Dave to the store three times. Time 1: m&ms; Time 2: more m&ms; Time 3: more powdered sugar for the icing. Jordan insisted that we use pink icing. It was cute. I didn't make the icing thick enough so we had to keep putting the house in the fridge before the icing and m&ms dripped off.


Finished product. It looks bad, but I'm so proud!!!

Another Unwelcomed Guest

I think our house is being hit by another illness... the dreaded cold! Baby is snotting and sounding like a coffee machine, and I just feel completely run down and my throat is sore. So far no fevers. Baby is clingier than normal. I can't tell is I am just tired because I pushed myself harder yesterday and baby is acting out because he could be getting teeth... or we're just getting a cold. Probably the latter. Or all 3.

It seems this year is far worse than all years past in terms of illnesses. Everyone's facebook status seems to involve colds, fevers, flus, or puke. Incidences of the dreaded man colds are on the rise too. ;) It scares me. Normally I am not a germ-a-phobe, but maybe I should be more careful? I have never been one to cancel a playdate because the other child has a runny nose... but maybe I should? Is natural selection mad at modern medical advancement and trying to get things under control by wiping some of us out?? This season scares me, it really does.

We will be boarding a plane in 15 days to visit family for Thanksgiving. God only knows what crazy illnesses will be floating around that airtight cabin of the airplane. EEK.

On a side note, this is my 250th post! GO ME!

Puke-a-rama

Now that the 24 hour stomach bug has gone through our house, I am finally getting our lives back in order. It started with my daughter on Monday, me on Thursday, and husband Friday night. Thank goodness my baby avoided the bug. I was sure he would catch it, seeing as how he was climbing all over his sister and clawing at her face Monday evening, but he was clear! Phew!!

So, a week has gone by and I am finally caught up on laundry. Meals are being cooked instead of bought from Subway or other quick/cheap places located on the street behind our house. Kids are enjoying playing with mommy instead of near mommy, and cleaning is nicely avoided as we all have energy to get out and have fun.

My Daughter's Hero

I already knew my husband was awesome. He provides for us, he is here to support us mentally and physically, he entertains us, and he loves us unconditionally. But this past Monday he showed his true colors... super hero dad!

Jordan got a 24 hour bug, not too long after I picked Dave up from work for lunch time. As I tried to clean Jordan up, I felt myself about to barf, so Dave cleaned her up and I drew her a bath. From that moment on, Dave took over puke cleaning up duties. He held her hair, comforted her with words and hugs, changed her clothes, etc. It was amazing. When she fell asleep on our living room floor at 7pm, Dave agreed he should be the one to sleep on the couch and help her if she threw up at night.

He was completely there for her in her time of need. How many dads would do that? Boy, did I win the husband jackpot with that wonderful man of mine!!