Food & Family

Christmas Break started off early with a few snow days! I tried my hand at a few new dinners on those days. On Thursday, I made Taco Pie. The pie crust was taco meat mixed with crushed tortilla chips. The filling was spanish rice, corn, salsa, beans, and taco sauce. I didn't take a picture - and it's probably a good thing because it didn't look that spectacular. Brown and tan food doesn't photograph that well... BUT it did taste good!

Friday night I cooked up Chicken Caprese with Bacon.

Of course we had to add bacon because Zach loves anything with bacon.

I actually took pictures of this one as I went.

First, I thawed out 3 chicken breasts and put them on a piece of foil in a 9x13 pan. Then I brushed them with oil and sprinkled them with salt and pepper.

Next, the recipe said to top with a slice of fresh tomato and a fresh basil leaf... well, I didn't have either of those so I had to improvise. I topped them with canned diced tomatoes (that I drained first) and then sprinkled about 3/4 tsp. dried basil on top. (*Tip: if you rub the dried spices between your hands before adding it to the dish, it brings out the flavor more!)

Then came the bacon. The recipe had me cook it in the oven for a few minutes so it was partially cooked but still flexible before criss-crossing it over the chicken.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until no longer pink. Top with a slice of mozzarella cheese and put back in the over for about 1 minute (until cheese melts).

I served these with a salad on the side. Delicious!

We celebrated Cook Christmas on Saturday the 22nd in Frankenmuth at Zehnder's. There was a little room reserved for us and they served us a delicious, family-style dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't get to eat very much of it because my stomach wasn't feeling very well. I think I ate something bad a lunch the day before and had an upset stomach for the rest of the day. It got worse when I was trying to sleep and woke up every hour until I threw up around 1AM. Ick. I hate throwing up. But I felt better. When I got up in the morning, there was a purplish-blotchy rash all over my chin and up around my mouth. It looked like a bad 5 o'clock shadow... I did my best to cover it with makeup but it didn't really help. I called a nurse friend and asked about it. Since I hadn't started any new lotions, shampoos, or medicines, she thought it could be broken blood vessels from the vomiting. That's what it probably was since there were broken blood vessels in my eyes too. If those are the after effects of one vomiting episode - I'm not thrilled about what might happen when I have to push out a baby in April... Anyways, it was great to see everyone and catch up with them. Aunt Linda & Uncle Wayne got us a cute box of baby socks, a baby outfit, and this adorable little lamb stuffed animal.

Here's a week 25 belly shot. I've been told that it looks bigger in person that in the photos - so it's getting bigger than it looks! :)

25 weeks

The day before Christmas we got a package from Candace with this adorable pink John Deere onesie and socks. This baby girl is loved. :)

Christmas Eve was spent with my parents and family. Here's a picture of Simba hanging out under their tree.

Christmas Cat

Christmas Day (morning) we spend with Zach's family. I got a few things I was really excited about! One was an iPad from Zach! It's great and I've been trying to find time to play on it and use it often. The second was the Pioneer Woman Cookbook!

I first started following her blog a year ago or so. I liked that she put pictures of each step of her recipes on the blog and she also included step by step pictures in the cookbook too. There is a breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers, beverages, and canning section.

Later on Christmas Day, we drove to Farmington Hills for Thorne Christmas. We headed back home that night because Zach had to work the next day. My parents stayed a few days and it was a good thing they did because my grandpa ended up going into the hospital. He coughed really bad all night, nobody slept, and my dad helped my grandma take him to the hospital in the morning. They admitted him and put him on a lot of antibiotics and did a few breathing treatments and he started to get better. Doctors think it was bad bronchitis. All his symptoms were almost identical to what happened to him the day after Katie's wedding in June. He spent a few days in the hospital before they discharged him on Sunday afternoon.

Zach and I went to Livonia on Saturday the 29 for O'Neill Christmas. My grandparents live about 10 miles from there so we went and spent the night with Grandma then went and visited Papa on Sunday.

We celebrated Tyler's birthday by eating dinner at Pizza Hut then going back to Zach's parents for dessert and presents. Instead of giving him a gift card or big bills in cash, we took 27 one-dollar bills and taped them together then rolled them up and put them in a box. So when he opened it he kept pulling out more money. It was hilarious! And much more fun than a gift card!

Happy 27th Birthday!

We spent New Year's Eve at the Morse's house with a bunch of family and friends. Katie & Kyle came up from Illinois again and Rachel & Jared were even there too! (The only one we were missing was Amy, who went to a college conference called "Urbana" for a week.) We had people sacked out all over our house so I got up and made a big breakfast New Years Day before we went out to my parents' house to watch bowl games and play some backyard football. Pregnancy has limited the contact sports for me for awhile so I stayed inside. It was either that or stand outside and freeze playing referee...

Well, that's all for now. Next post I'll add the mini pineapple upside down cakes I made as well as some nursery ideas I've got rolling around.

Love,

Sarah

Belly & Buckeyes

Most people in the area planned on a snow day Friday due to this big winter storm/blizzard thing - and they have already called it off in most places. But today was a little bit of a surprise! We got a snow day today too! My school called it kinda late (6:30AM-ish) but apparently it was bad out there. Big Rapids Public Schools didn't close in the morning and ended up closing down early and sent kids home at noon. 

I spent my day doing things around the house. It's days like today I wish our dog could come in the house and keep me company! Since we're renting and the lease clearly states "No pets indoors," and our landlords live right across the road :) , we can't really break that rule. Junebug had to stay in her kennel in the garage. 

Even if my dog couldn't keep me company, my bulging belly did! Ha ha! She was moving around in there a whole lot today!

24 weeks

Zach still had to go to work; he made appointments with customers and they had to install a new tank of some kind at the office - which had to be hauled up way into the air by a crane - which had to be unattached by someone in a harness when it got up there- which happened to be Zach... I don't think I would have worried as much on any other day but with the rain/sleet and high winds today, I was not thrilled to get a picture via text of this huge tank going up into the air... then when he came home he told me that they didn't have a harness so they rented a lift. But the lift didn't go high enough. So they used a ladder on top of that... in the high winds and rain. Good grief!

Later this afternoon I went down to my in-laws and helped make buckeyes! MMMMM! My favorite Christmas treat! Tyler, my brother-in-law, is usually the one in charge of rolling up the little peanut butter balls but since he was living out of state last year, I took over the job. He's since moved back home so we both sat at the kitchen table rolling buckeye balls. Once the chocolate on the stove melted, I dunked them in and put them on a cookie sheet to cool. I had to dip mine into the chocolate because I rolled the balls too big and they kept falling apart & making things difficult on mom. Whoops! They looked small when I rolled them!

Buckeyes

Currently, Zach is in the basement putting a coat of polyurethane on a buffet table we ordered from a local store called "Bare Furniture". The store sells wood items such as tables, beds, end tables and orders everything "bare" aka: no stain or polyurethane. So you either have to pay for them to stain/polyurethane it for you or you do it yourself and since my husband is so handy, he is doing that job in our basement. He must be enjoying it because I can hear him whistling and humming as I sit upstairs on the couch. :) Anyway, the buffet table is a light wood and will go in our kitchen. We commissioned a family friend do a set of paintings (which turned out AMAZING!) for us to hang above it. 

Four Seasons Paintings by Deb Rutkowski

It's a series of four paintings; each canvas is a season with countryside trees or a house or barn or tractors. They're very neat and we're so happy with how they turned out! Can't wait to hang them up!

Yesterday Zach said that if they cancel school Friday then he would take the day off work too - and they did! So we'll both be home tomorrow! This does NOT happen very often at all so I'm very excited. 

Our Christmas Tree - 2012

Well, I'm off to watch the last Christmas movie on our list: The Grinch with Zach. The others included: Elf, Home Alone, and A Christmas Story - which I had never seen until this year. Thanks to Katie & Kyle for renting it and bringing it over while you were here!

Love,

Sarah

Cook Christmas & Progressive Dinner

Saturday afternoon was Cook Christmas.

pretty tree

Grandma & Grandpa Cook

chatting

The Cooks

We had dinner catered at a country club then went back to my Aunt & Uncle's home nearby for desserts and conversation.

Natalie opening her card from Papa and Busha

Aunt Marge tearing up at her gift - an arial photo of the family farm

coasters that look like books on a shelf

Aunt Lorraine - also thrilled about the family farm photo

Sunday we had a progressive dinner with our small group. So fun! We piled into a 15-passenger church van so that we could ride together. The men were so thoughtful to decorate the inside of the van with pine branches, strings of lights, and a lighted tree stolen off of LaPreze's porch. :)

Oh yes. Zach and I commemorated Dan's "No Shave November" mustache by wearing a stick on of our own. We got a few good laughs out of these.

Ho-ho-ho?!

Love,

Sarah

A Long Week

This week has been long.

Too long.

My class made Christmas gifts for their families all week... oh my. I don't want to see another popsicle stick, puzzle piece, or speck of glitter until next Christmas. If you're a parent of one of the kids in my class, pretend to be surprised when you open it. :) Here's a few of them:

Wreath Ornament

-Poster board cut in a circle

-Puzzle from Goodwill spray painted green & glued with Elmer's to edges of poster board (two layers of puzzle pieces)

-red sequins for berries

-red ribbon tied in a bow & glued on

-red ribbon hot glued to the back

Snowman Ornament

(this is what it was supposed to look like)

-popsicle sticks held together by a perpendicular popsicle stick hot glued down

-face painted white

-hat painted black then let try

-glue on googley eyes

-glue on carrot nose made from foam paper cut into a triangle

-painted dots for a mouth

How one of them turned out... more like a masked bird. Ha ha!

Jingle Bell Necklace

-ribbon with jingle bell

-4-5 beads per side of the bell

-tie closed to make the necklace

-good thing I waited until Friday to make these because they could make a person go crazy

Luminary

-mason jar

-mix equal parts Elmer's glue and water in a small cup; stir together with a popsicle stick to form a watery glue/paint

-students use a finger to spread paste on jar then place a tissue paper square over top

-spread more pasted over top of squares to make sure all corners are stuck down

-let dry several hours

-spray paint with gold glitter paint

-wrap around a red ribbon and glue with hot glue

-place small tea light candle inside

Puzzle Piece Snowflake

-glue together popsicle sticks with hot glue gun

-spray paint puzzles from thrift store with three different colors & let them dry

-glue on pieces with Elmer's glue (10 piece minimum, 13 is optimal)

-spray paint with gold or sliver spray paint and toss on some silver glitter

-glue on an ornament hook with ribbon

Stockings

-staple together a red and green construction paper

-use a cereal box to create a stocking template that students trace

-cut out and glue red and green stockings together

-punch holes around the edges

-thread through white yarn (oh, they needed so much help with this step)

-tie closed at the top

-write students' names with glitter paint

Reindeer

"I'm grateful for ___________"

The best part of the week was today when I got to watch my students open their presents. I got each of them a book, pencil, candies, and a small toy. They were so excited to see a bag with their name on it under the mini Christmas Tree in our room! They could hardly wait until after snack time to open them. We pushed the desks back to the edges of the room and sat on the floor. Most of them just sprawled out on their tummies waiting for their name to be called open their gift.

Monster trucks!

These glasses were a hit!

If you need a good laugh, head down to the dollar store and buy some false mustaches for your students or children to stick on and wear. It's hilarious! They wore these ALL day! Even to lunch and recess. I forced them to remove them for P.E. and the other specials.

Mr. Cool

It's days like these that I love (as crazy as they are) because it builds friendship and camaraderie with my students that doesn't happen on most days. I can be more candid and relaxed with them. While I sat in the rocking chair and the students opened gifts, one of my little girls sat on my lap giggling and playing with her little ocean animal toys.

ocean animal toys and a blue tongue from Jolly Ranchers

This weekend will fly by --- it always does but even more so when there are Christmas events planned for every day. Tonight is Zach's work party/dinner at a steakhouse in Grand Rapids.

Tomorrow, we're off to Detroit for Cook Christmas. I made Yum-Yum. It lives up to it's name. :) I'll post the recipe some other time.

Sunday is a progressive dinner with our small group.

Monday is back to school then a Christmas Coffee night with some ladies from church.

Party animal.

Well, at least it's a weekend filled with things and people I love.

Love,

Sarah