Baby It's Cold Outside...

But the oven is roaring and it's hot in here.

Sean: "I decided what we will do as gifts for my employees."

Sean: "I decided what you will be doing as gifts for my employees" wink, wink.

Me: "What?"

Sean: "Bake cookies"

14 cookie tins full...

I was in a little time crunch on the baking since we were snowed/iced in.

The day I needed to buy supplies, the weather report said "travel not advised."

Rain, sleet or snow.... or icy roads... the baker will get through.

A few hundred cut out Almond Vanilla Cookies, a little colored icing...
some sticky messes...

and decorating was on it's way.
This was the first time I ever used flood icing and it was quite fun.
I added a little sparkle to my octopi snowflake cookies.

A hundred or so dipped pretzel rods.
A couple sheets of Chocolate Bark.

A few batches of Espresso Chocolate Snow Caps

Finally, a couple of batches of Peppermint Fudge and some Ginger Molasses cookies to top it off.

Mr. C.

Braeden was visited by a very special person 2 nights before Christmas.

Mr. C., Mr. Clause.

aka Mr. Gary Christensen.

Mail carrier by day, Santa by night.

Gary is a "real" Santa and when Christmas-time rolls around, he fills his spare time putting smiles on the faces of the littlest believers.

Braeden spared no time in telling him everything he wanted for Christmas.
One of the things he asked for was a "Lotso Huggin' Bear" from the Toy Story 3 movie.

It just happened that Santa had one in his bag.

Here was a conversation between Santa and Braeden:

Santa: "Are you a good boy?"

Braeden: "Yes"

Santa: "And you help mom around the house?"

Braeden: "Yes"

Santa: "Are you good to your brother?"

Braeden: "Yes"

Santa: "Do you do a good job at keeping your room clean?"

Braeden: cricket... cricket...

and a look of panic in his eyes wondering that if he said no.. did that mean he would not get anything for Christmas?

Gary is the husband of my mom's good friend Sunny. He took the time away from his family to do this for us. How awesome is that!

As he was leaving my mom handed him a little something and a tray of mini cheesecakes to take home to his "elves".

As Santa was one foot out the door, Braeden put down Lotso and headed towards him. Waving his hands in the air yelling "wait.. wait.. I almost forgot. I want an RC car with a remote control and a Mr. Potato Head with the eyes that pop off and....."

What a great end to a special night with a little boy full of excitement and parents and grandparents with tears of joy and laughter in their eyes.

Thanks Gary!

Apple Pie, Thanksgiving and some crazy kids.

A few years ago, my sister-in-law made the most delicious apple pie.

I had to have the recipe for Thanksgiving. Pretty tasty for my first attempt.

Whoops... how did those photos get in there? Here is one more :)

This is what our storm door looks like every morning... covered in ice.


The past few Thanksgivings were a mess. Bland turkeys, not totally cooked turkeys.
I had not put much effort into making Thanksgiving a special day for us. It is hard to get into the spirit of a holiday when the holiday is centered around spending it with family and friends.
I was determined to change that this year.

I brined a turkey, made a fresh green bean casserole, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, Parker house rolls

(http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/11/parker-house-rolls/),

apple pie and I worked really hard to get my cranberries to look like the ones that come from a can!

I even purchased some linens, put out the fine china and polished my antique silverware.

Oh MY GOODNESS! Parker House Rolls! Buttery, melt in your mouth fluffy heaven.

I was going to make rolls... then not make rolls. I decided last minute to go for it.

Every year from here on out, I will make these rolls. They take a total time of about 6 hours since they rise so many times. After the dough circles are cut out, you dip them in melted butter. Then just before you eat them, you open them up and put in some more butter.

Thanksgiving is not meant to be a healthy dinner.... right?

Here is Braeden with his plate of food. The only thing he ate were the rolls. I survived as a kid on rolls and cranberries at Thanksgiving so I was not going to push it.
Miles did enjoy a little bit of everything.

On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, we were headed out to Waterloo for a Target trip. Yes, we were going to brave the crazy shopping crowds but I needed a dose of "people".

We started talking about what we should have done for the rest of the weekend. We turned around, packed our suitcases and left for Chicago!

5 hours later and I was about to have a panic attack.

SO many people, stop lights, freeways, traffic.

I had my dose of people alright.

I guess I was more used to my rural living than I thought. (although that does not mean that I am enjoying it. At All.)

We did some driving around suburbia getting a feel for the areas since it could possibly be a future move and we took the kids to the Aquarium..... Thanksgiving weekend.

If you go to the aquarium and plan to see any exhibits, do not go Thanksgiving weekend.

We did manage to get in a show and a 12 minute 4-D version of The Polar Express. It was very weird to have the theatre smelling like hot cocoa and water being sprayed in our faces.

What a weekend.

4 Years Old

What does every little boy want to be when they are 4?

A Superhero, that's what.

Braeden had been requesting a Spiderman costume for weeks. Grammy had bought him one... but the original plan was to keep it until Christmas.

Grammy can't keep a secret, she couldn't keep Spiderman a secret for another month either.

So, when the box from my Mom arrived on the back porch the day before Braeden's birthday, we let him open one gift and I pulled the one that I knew was the costume.

For days, Braeden had disappeared and there was a mysterious spider lurking in the corners of my house.

On November 14th, we celebrated the 4th birthday of my big (little) boy. At his checkup he barely cleared 31 pounds.

His favorite things these days are Spiderman, Toy Story and Dragons.

I caught some great faces as he opened his gifts.

Birthday Dinner request: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
Toy Story Alien and sparkler candles were awesome!

Miles made sure to stay awake for our little party and he had fun getting in on the excitement.

Fiberglass

Back in March, my cousin Meghan and her daughter Madeline came to visit us while we were still living in New York.

Making a trip to Niagara Falls was the thing to do when we would have out of town visitors.

For some reason I thought that Niagara Falls was on the 7 Wonders of the World list.

I just looked it up and I could not find it, so I don't know where I got that idea.

So, let's just say that Niagara Falls is one of the 7 Wonders of the World.

I was able to give her that experience.

Last week, they came to visit us in Iowa. Rural Iowa.

I was so excited that I was again able to show her the sights.

Did you know that Strawberry Point is home to the 8th Wonder of the World?? No??

Well, here it is.... the 8th Wonder of the World.

The World's Largest Strawberry... made out of fiberglass.

Take it in. Take it all in.