Catching up...

This time of year gets pretty busy for everyone, and I have been busily documenting some of the highlights from our lives on my handy camera phone. Here's what's been going on in November and the first days of December...

Cate lost tooth number two. The Tooth Fairy was just as kind to her and left her two $1 dollar gold coins in her pillow.

I was in a bit of a fender bender during rush-hour traffic on may way home from a difficult work day. The "funny" part about the accident was that I crashed into a guy I went to grade school with. It's not my ideal way of reconnecting with fellow alumni, but oh well. Both of us were safe and he was very nice about the whole thing. Given the age of the car, it was deemed "totaled". I now drive a sporty Toyota Matrix.

Our Annual Cookie Baking night was Friday, November 20. This is the first year without Aunt Lola, who passed away in April, so it was a bittersweet evening for all of us. My nephew Nick came back for the second year and dear friend Jen came as a special guest this year.

Cate was a huge help in quickly getting all the Hershey's Kisses on the peanut butter blossoms. I think her tiny fingers gave her a nice advantage.

In total, 9 varieties of cookies are made, of which 5 are rotated through one oven...yielding over 2000 cookies each year!

Last Monday, after a very frustrating weekend with the kids, we instilled no TV weekdays. To replace the TV time, we have Family Fun time. Max is fascinated with my beads, so Monday night we all made a piece of jewelry. Max wears his self-made bracelet daily.

Friday, December 4, Kyle and I got out for a date. We enjoyed dinner and a Chris Botti concert at Orchestra Hall. We had box seats just to stage right (I think it's stage right, right?). Chris is an excellent entertainer who effectively showcases the talents of his group mates (such as it would be for a jazz ensemble) and special guests. He's also a good story teller.

On our way home, it occurred to me that this particular evening, being the first Friday of December, marked the 19th anniversary of our first date. My how our lives have changed...

We continued our Family Fun time by making gingerbread cookies together. I'm sad, yet proud to admit that I made the dough and icing from scratch. The kids had fun choosing which cut-out to use.

Last night, we finished off by decorating the cookies. Being the aspirational thinker I am, I had delusions that I could decorate the cookies as swell as the ones pictured in the Betty Crocker magazine I got the recipes from. So when the kids got distracted and dumped sprinkles on the cookies, I "fired" them and proceeded to finish the job myself.

Then reality hit. I was no better than they were. It doesn't help that I don't have a steady hand, so the piping became more of a wavy line. I then called in cool-hand Kyle to help out. His finishing touches were much more of what I was looking for.

Oh well. They're just going to get eaten, right?

Well, the first storm of the season is barreling in. We'll have to pull out the shovels and get the kettle on for hot cocoa. Looks like movie nights are in our near future...

Stay warm and safe!

Presto Pesto!

This summer is the first time we've grown herbs and vegetables in our garden. I'm generally all about pretty flowers and that's it. We have cilantro, rosemary, basil, San Marzano tomatoes, fajita peppers. I feel that's pretty ambitious considering we don't cook so much and have no idea how we'll be able to use all of it.

Jen came over today and taught me how to make pesto. I had no idea how easy it would be to make something so very tasty and "gourmet-ish"? Cate even got into the action and trimmed basil, supervised the browning of the pine nuts, and pulsing the Cuisinart. We used the tiniest Cuisinart ever made, but it worked out just fine.

While we were prepping the ingredients, Jolene called, so we invited her to join us for dinner. Kyle grilled shrimp and chicken that topped our pesto and noodles. We also had more caprese salad and fresh veggies with dip. And beer bread. I know, it doesn't go with anything else, but I just felt like making it. To finish it off, we had a kid favorite--s'mores for dessert. Mmmm.

Pesto Recipe

Cate watching Jen brown the pine nuts

"Jen Squared" cooking in the kitchen

Cate pulsing the Cuisinart with one hand, covering ear with the other hand

Jen whisking the mixture

Can Max's face be any messier?

Church, Stories, Rides, Games, Dinner

One Sunday each summer, our church participates in the local ecumenical church service schedule at the Lake Harriet Bandshell. This year, our church partnered with Christ the King, a neighboring parish. Participation in the service is a family affair: my dad, Jolene, Jeanine, and Jeanine's son, Jack all sang in the choir; Mom coordinated a variety of volunteers; we stayed to pour lemonade. Cate thought "outside church" was interesting. My nephew Charlie accompanied Max and Cate up for Children's Time, a moment after the homily that I have yet to see a Catholic community do successfully. Yet another, all too long presentation by a lay person who expects little ones to have more than five minute attention spans. Cate was out of there in less than two minutes. Oh well. The freedom of an open worship space, I guess.

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After the service, it was "Jack time." For Jack's birthday last August, our gift to him was the gift of time. We finally made good on the gift. We enjoyed lunch at D'Amico & Sons. On the way back to our house, Cate convinced Jack to tell her a story. For a guy who said he didn't tell very good stories, he sure had the car laughing non-stop.

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After dropping Kyle and the kids home, Jack and I headed off to the Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America for some indoor amusement fun. It's been a long time since I've been to an amusement park and I really had a great time. As an adult, it's important to just get into the mood and channel your inner kid. It rocked!

We hit all the 6 point rides (the highest thrill rides vs 0 point rides for families or little tots). Our mutual favorite ride was the "Avatar Bender." I think I left my stomach on that ride. Jack had the shakes afterwards. On our last ride, we rode with another very charismatic young teen who said his parents didn't like riding these sort of rides. So as we sat in our car waiting for the ride to begin, I said I hoped I didn't embarrass him with all of my screaming. His reply: "My parents are WAY more embarrassing!" Hmm, so I'm only slightly embarrassing...I'll take it! When I brought Jack back to his house, he so graciously thanked me for such an awesome time and gave me a huge hug. It was an impressive act of appreciation for an almost fourteen-year-old, I'd say.

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We had yet another fabulous dinner menu planned, so we wanted to share our experience. My mom was away quilting, so we invited my dad over. It was a last minute call, so I was very pleased when he agreed to come over. Our timing was off, but he was more than happy to play with the kids while we pulled everything together. He was an incredibly good sport and played "Candyland" with the kids--Max's first time. I don't know who won, but there was peace and harmony flowing from the living room, so who really cares!
Our dinner was fantastic--marinated flank steak, roasted potatoes (Coleman's: we're addicted!), green beans, baguettes. The only thing not-so-great was dessert: a banana / chocolate chip cake I made from an "Amish Friendship Bread" batter. It had good flavor, but it was too moist in texture.

Papa left after dinner and we got the kids ready for bed. Max is short on summer pj's, so I'm still squishing him into onesies. Poor guy, it's as if I'm secretly trying to shorten his torso and re-distribute his body proportions!
Cate played with her "friends" in the top bunk until Max was ready to go to bed as well.
After many "Mommy!" and "Daddy!" hollers from behind the closed door, it seems they have finally settled in for the evening. I think they were just like us--they didn't want the great weekend to end.