Easter 2012

The night before Easter, we decorated Easter Eggs.

The Easter Bunny came to our house during the night and left a surprise.

The Bunny Puppy was a big hit!

Eggs were found that the Easter Bunny had hidden around the living room.

Daddy had trouble waking up since we started the Easter Egg hunt during the 5 o'clock hour! He tried to sleep on the couch but Ethan wouldn't let him miss any of the fun.

We got dressed up and headed to church. I am so blessed to have these handsome boys in my life! (and the 8th month of pregnancy)

I volunteered make special treats for our church congregation following the Sunday Morning Service. 

Bunny Cake Pops

 Bird Nests (mini brownies with frosting, malted milk eggs and peeps to decorate the platter)

Bunny Tails (powdered sugar doughnuts)

 Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

My mom ended up coming down with Pink Eye, so we weren't able to have Easter Dinner with the Mason side of the family as we had originally planned. We ended up enjoying a nice meal at Jim's parents that they graciously allowed us to crash at the last minute. After making all those church treats, I wasn't overly eager to have to make Easter Dinner myself.

Here's to the promises that Easter holds and the new beginnings that come with the Spring season.

Valentine's Day

I was a very lucky girl this year for Valentine's Day and my loved ones made me feel very special.

Jim and I typically don't make much of a fuss for the holiday but we still like to recognize the special day for each other.

I kicked off Valentine's Day by asking Ethan what he wanted for his breakfast. I told him I'd make him anything he wanted and gave him some ideas of cinnamon rolls, heart toast, and scrambled eggs. His special breakfast choice? Half Cinnamon Toast Crunch and half Cheerios cereal for breakfast. I guess he had been thinking about how cool it would be to mix together different types of cereal. So I got off easy with no morning cooking or baking required.

When I got home from work, this basket of home made treats was waiting for me in the living room from my Mom and Dad.

One of my Mom's co-workers sells these gift baskets and I was a lucky recipient of one. I had one of the cookies today after lunch and it was very good - buttery and just the right amount of sweetness.

I had tweeted this earlier in the day:

Jim knows what my heart desires and this gorgeous box of Harry London chocolates were just what I was hoping for! I also love the packaging layout of the chocolates and that they aren't just laid out in standard rows. Plus, it came with a picture guide...I hate when assorted chocolates don't come with a guide. I was even more excited when I looked at the guide and liked every kind that was included - no weird flavors and no coconut.



I also received these roses. Don't worry, they aren't this blurry in person.

For Jim, I made him a card. Sappy Valentine's cards just don't fit his personality or our relationship. (For instance, he gave me a joint card with Ethan and it featured Spider Man.)

The card featured a picture of cupid shooting arrows at a target and I put "My husband is a better shot than cupid." I then gave him a gift certificate that he could pick out his Valentine's Day gift at this weekend's Gun Show event. I tied it to the card by saying that I wanted to keep his accuracy up so that his love would always find its' target and that he better have the right equipment and supplies.

We wrapped up Valentine's Day by watching Charlie Brown's Valentine's Day special as a family. We will, hopefully, go out to a restaurant this weekend since we didn't want to face the crowds yesterday.

I hope you all had a very special Valentine's Day!

Christmas Recap...2 months late

I've been a total slacker to this blog lately. So I'm recapping Christmas by just posting a few pictures. It seems silly to post them now, so late and untimely, but I like having the family record that this blog provides so I've decided to post them anyway.

Ethan's stack of presents at Papa & Grandma Knowles' home on Christmas Eve.

Transformer from Papa & Grandma Knowles.

Santa brought a Transformer, too!

Biggest hits on Christmas Day - Angry Birds game and Hot Wheels track.

My Christmas gift from Jim - a new glider for the baby. It is so comfortable!

Gingerbread House Party

Earlier this month, Ethan hosted a Christmas party for his friends from daycare. 

We started off the party with hot chocolate and sugar cookies. Following our snack, we played Pin the Red Nose on Rudolph. 

The main event was decorating candy houses that I assembled the day before out of graham crackers. 

Each child received an apron that they could take home and got to work on their creations.

I wrapped each house up in a cellophane bag so the kids could take home their candy cottages. 

The party was a success and I was so thankful to my Mom and good friend/fellow mommy, Samantha, for helping with the house assembly. Their extra sets of hands came in very useful for piping on frosting and holding on candy to dry.

Thanksgiving Family Pictures & Recap

I loved Thanksgiving this year! I had an excuse to eat for two and wore elastic waist pants with no shame. I may wear elastic waist pants every year, pregnant or not, going forward. 

When we arrived at my parent's home for dinner, I grabbed my nephew and made him take some quick pictures of my little family in the backyard. I can't remember the last time we had a picture with all three of us in it at the same time. (Actually, I guess it's all four of us ---> check out that baby bump below.)

For being quick pictures taken on my cheap camera by a 16 year old, I think they turned out great!

During the day, I spent lots of time in the kitchen preparing for the big meal. I made dinner rolls, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, a relish tray, and sweet potato gratin. 

I made Bobby Flay's Sweet Potato Chipotle Gratin by popular demand. The recipe only has three ingredients but has such a depth of flavor and has a "wow" factor presentation. The recipe is from my Mesa Grill cookbook by Bobby Flay but you can find the recipe online on Food Network.

I tried a new recipe for dessert this year. It was also from Food Network and is Sunny Anderson's Hazelnut Pumpkin Pie. The pie had a very creamy texture that was a mix between cheesecake and traditional pumpkin pie. I found the recipe on Pinterest and am so glad that I tried it even though I'm not a huge fan of hazelnut. Several people commented to me that it was the best pumpkin pie they had ever tasted. It will likely become my go-to recipe for pumpkin pie in the future.

Food photos from foodnetwork.com. I was so busy running around on Thanksgiving that I completely forgot to take any pictures.

Easter Dinner

So it has been a month since Easter, but I've never been timely on updating this blog so what else could you expect?

Easter Dinner at my parent's home.

Asparagus Tart that I made from our garden using this Martha Stewart recipe. I highly recommend this recipe. It was easy to make, tasted delicious and had a nice presentation.

Fresh Fruit Salad

Pickled Eggs that looked like jewels. Fun for Easter!

Easter Ham

Bars-o-plenty for dessert. The chocolate bars were amazing! (hint: the batter will seem under cooked but will firm up over the cooling process.)

Lemon Bars and Triple Layer Cookies & Cream Crunch Bars

Christmas Eve 2010

For  Christmas Eve, we headed out to the Knowles farm for dinner and presents. We started with a large spread of goodies to munch on while waiting for the chili and oyster stew to finish. By the time the soup was on, we were all pretty full from all the grazing.

I didn't take many pictures this year, keeping up with a very excited four year old took up most of my time this year and I didn't want to take my focus off of what was truly important to hide behind my camera all night.

I did make all the grandsons get together for their annual Christmas photo. They sure are trying to look tough but you can tell their pretty excited that we are about to open presents.

At the Knowles household, they sort out all the gifts into piles and then everyone opens them up at once. (Where at my parent's home, we each took a tour opening a present and watching each other.) Ethan sure is excited by his pile of loot!

Check out that determined face while ripping into his first package.

 Ethan's newest move was holding his prized treasures above his head and shouting "Oh Yea"! It made for some pretty funny moments. (and some peaks at his cute, round toddler tummy)

Once we returned home from the farm, Ethan opened up one package under our tree that contained his new Christmas pjs. A plate of cookies and a mug of milk was prepared for Santa and Ethan also put out a carrot for Santa's reindeer. I never left anything for the reindeer, but I'm sure they really appreciated being included.



Breakfast Party

On the 23rd, I hosted a little breakfast party for my childhood friends and their children that were back in town for the holidays. It was so nice to get together for a bite to eat, some coffee to drink and some girl talk while the little ones played. We missed those that weren't able to make it this year but they were included in spirit.

Most importantly, I finally got to meet my good friend Monica's little girl. I posted a couple of months back about hosting her baby shower and now it was time to get to meet baby Tenley in person. Our good friend Samantha's daughter was fascinated by the baby and loved holding her and taking pictures with her. Ethan, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with the baby and refused to take any pictures. But aren't these two little girls adorable?

It is so nice to get to spend time with people who have had such an impact on your life for so many years. Even though miles, schedules and years have come between us, it's always so easy to pick up where we last left off. Love you gals...and your little mini me's.

My Adorable Angel

Ethan was an absolute angel yesterday...literally!

Yesterday evening, our church held its' Children's Christmas Program. Ethan was the youngest in the program, besides his adorable little cousin that played baby Jesus. He did a fantastic job through the entire hour of the program. He stood patiently, sang the songs and happily invited Grandma Knowles up front to help with the bells performance.

I'm not sure there is anything sweeter than hearing the voices of children singing of the coming of baby Jesus.

Gobble, Gobble

Keeping up with my theme of posting events about a month after they happen, here are some pictures from Thanksgiving. But see, this time I'm only a couple of weeks late. It's called progress and I'll take it, no matter how small.

Ethan and I made these little turkey cookies. He placed all the tail feathers on himself. It was a great project for his little fingers and kept him busy for some time. Cookies + Small Decorations = Developing fine motor skills

 Family gathered at my parents house for Thanksgiving. My Dad is behind the camera and that's Jim hiding behind my big head.