Randomness

G'pa, G'ma Sherrie and Tristan gave us a super fun sock puppet kit for Christmas. Carter wouldn't leave me alone until we made puppets! Most of the instructions looked too complicated for my little brain, but we did made 2 puppy dogs and a kitty cat (at least, that's what they are supposed to be!). Woof! Woof!

Look, Gigi! My new sweater set fits and I look so cute!

Captain Drool enjoying one of his new toys...

On Wednesday, Holly's mom had rotator cuff surgery. I offered to keep the kids so she could be at the hospital, but she didn't want to do that. However, she was nervous about what was going on and was feeling stressed out, so I offered (actually insisted) on going to pick up her boys so she could have a little breathing room. The boys were very good and had so much fun playing together! They all loved playing boxing, tennis, and golf on the Wii (hopefully Holly and Jonathan don't hate us now!).

Looking at this picture of Evan and Carter, it's hard to believe they will be 2 years apart in school!

Andrew trying to knock out Evan.

That night was New Year's Eve, and we decided to get a few small fireworks this year. Alan and Carter enjoyed doing the little pop things that you throw on the driveway...Run, Daddy, run! Charlie wasn't too sure about all the stuff going on! He mainly stayed far away in the garage, with Mommy.

Modeling his first robe. Ha!
Thursday was New Year's Day, and I had decided to cook the traditional meal of black eyed peas, collard greens, and cornbread (along with a new meatloaf recipe). I can't remember, but I think this may be the first time I have actually done all of this from scratch... I bought a huge bunch of collards and pulled off all the stems and bad pieces... Then, I broke the leaves and washed them, moving them from one bowl to another (like I've seen my mom do 100 times!). Later, I learned an easier way involving my salad spinner.
I spent almost all day preparing food and was exhausted! However, I was pretty proud of my effort! Nana, Pawpaw and Jacob decided to come over that night to see what Santa brought us. They ate dinner with us and were real troopers - not sure how much they love that kind of food :) Even though it was Nana and Pawpaw's anniversary, they offered to babysit while Alan and I went to a movie. We will NEVER turn down babysitting! We love our boys to death, but we also cherish our "us" time very much. I think it makes us better parents too. Thanks, Nana and Pawpaw!

Back to food, I filled out my weekly meal planner and actually stuck to it...all week! We haven't eaten out for dinner once this week! I have tried lots of new recipes too... I get my recipe/cookbook addiction from my mom. We could pore over cookbooks for hours and not get bored (just hungry)! Out of all the new recipes, I don't think we had a single bad thing - everything was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself! Email me if you'd like any of the recipes... The meatloaf I made had 4 cups of chopped (very finely - using my NEW food processor that I love) vegetables and I couldn't tell they were in there. How deceptively healthy :)

Here is the anniversary chicken I made tonight (pre-baking). It's not really as fattening as it looks, if you use low fat ingredients. Everyone loved it... I took a picture because it looked so colorful and pretty :)

Last, but not least...my new shoes. Holly told me she was getting these for Christmas, and of course I had to have some too! ;) Whenever she shops, I tell her to buy me one of whatever she gets - she has great taste! Alan's parents fooled me and bought these when I couldn't find them in any stores. LOVE them!