New Recipes

I'm really into food these days. I have found some great recipes on Pinterest. Here are some of the ones that we have tried.

Delicious peanut butter cookies! They remind me of my grandma. She used to make them sometimes.

This salsa recipe is a winner. Throw some Rotel, canned diced tomatoes, onion, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, cumin, garlic in the Cuisinart and pulse for deliciousness. Really good, quick and easy recipe we both like and I will definitely make again! This one isn't my pic, the Pinterest pic was better so I am posting it instead.

I used the homemade salsa for this recipe below instead of store-bought jar salsa. Black bean, spinach and corn enchiladas made in the crock pot. Not my pic either.

Santa Fe crock pot chicken recipe. It was ok, didn't taste as good as this pic looks.

Potato, beef and quinoa soup. This is a good one for keeping warm during these cold months.

So many good recipes out there! Just need a few more people to cook for and more time to make and eat the creations.

Saturday Morning

Last Saturday morning, I woke up at 7:15 and was starving. Mike wasn't ready to get up yet, so I tried to quietly entertain myself. After checking People.com, Facebook status updates, Tweets from all of the Real Housewives and Kardashians, playing Hanging with Friends and Words with Friends, and pinning some new recipes on Pinterest, I decided to get up and eat. Here is my breakfast in the making (turkey bacon to share). Those are my new Le Creuset pans. They deserve a blog post of their own.

I made coffee and brought some to Mike, but he said he would be down in 3 minutes. I decided to go ahead and eat. Good thing I did, because he didn't surface for over an hour! Who says you can't have a candlelight breakfast? Everything on this table made up a great start to the day.

View to my left: beggar #1.

View to my right: beggar #2. This is Winston Schneider. He came over for a play date on Friday and stayed for a slumber party. Winston is a counter surfer. I went to pick up Mike from the airport on Friday... he was returning from an IU recruiting trip. When I got home, there were a few thick stems on the kitchen floor. I realized our bunch of 5 bananas was missing. Winnie ate all of them, peels included -- but I guess he didn't like the stems. One time he ate an entire large Papa Murphy's pizza from the Schneider's counter. Hope he doesn't teach Riley that trick!

Mikey is up! Beggar #1 has relocated for prime sniff position.

Besties! After breakfast, all 4 of us went on a walk. Family fun day!!



Riley's Winter Playground

Here are some shots from Riley's favorite activity at his favorite elementary school.

game time.

watch and learn.



i dare you.



heaven on earth..

waiting patiently..

 He met a new friend - Caroline. He liked her.. although she couldn't chuck the ball very far... he was ready for me to take the helm again......

snow fox.

until next time.

Caroline told us there's an 8 week old golden in the neighborhood named Kevin. Sounds like an interesting character.. even with the name - Riley wants to meet him.

Countdown

Some of us seem to enjoy the snow...

... while others have started vacation countdowns.
9 days until SSI, and 46 days until Maui!! Aloha!

Gangsta in the Making

As evidenced by Mike's Holiday highlights post, we got to spend a lot of time with Ethan over the holidays. He really is a gangsta in the making. He is so enamored by Eminem it's amazing. Everytime he spotted my iPad he reached for it, unlocked it, clicked the video icon, and pressed play on an Eminem music video. Like clockwork. I'm not even sure how I have the video to begin with, but too bad he doesn't find age-appropriate material equally as entertaining. Here is a video of him watching Eminem. I'm not even sure he blinks. My favorite part is the end of the video when Carolyn walks into the room (you can't see her on camera) and Ethan looks over at her and asks her to come sit by him. Sure kid, Grandma wants to watch Eminem too.

Be sure to turn up the volume to hear Ethan's musical selection.

Tuesday Night at Our House

Dad is busy studying for an exam, and Riley already knows all the material (he's Harvard bound) so he just wants to stare at the camera.

This leaves me free to catch up on trashy tv and work on our social calendar. Speaking of trashy tv -- I read Reality Steve's spoiler blog for the Bachelor series (disclaimer: it can become additcting). Tonight I saw a familiar logo pop up at the top of the page: Sea Island. Now you know where your dues are going... they are being put towards advertising on Reality Steve's Bachelor spoilers blog. I couldn't believe it!

On another note, now that we are back from the holidays, we have lots of fun things to plan. Last Saturday, we went out to dinner and watched an NFL playoff game with my friend Adam from home along with some of his med school resident friends. Sunday, we got to meet baby Cate Schneider (and Krissy gave me some maternity clothes... winning! Between her and Anne, I have really lucked out!). This weekend, we are planning to get together with Christie, Matt and Annabelle Millis, and next weekend we are going to hang out with Laura and Scott Johnson. Columbus couples everywhere! We need to get in touch with the Grants soon to plan our evening with them. Lauren and I are starting a Stitch n' Bitch spinoff, Minneapolis style. I found a Groupon for a class at Make it Sew and we are going to do it together. Lauren has a sewing machine she got for Christmas 2010 that is still in the box, so she is the supply house. Or we may try quilting. I'll just bring the booze (after June). It may be called "Ditch n' Bitch"... because we're ditching our husbands for the night. Not sure, club name needs some work.

Early to bed tonight... exciting doctor appointment in the morning -- 20 week ultrasound!

Holiday highlights

What a fun week of holidays. Here are some highlights from the holidays taken from our new toy.. thanks Mom & Dad!! We were lucky enough to get some great quality time with Ethan. He's a fun photography subject!! Happy 2012. Look forward to sharing ours with you.