I'm still alive!

It's funny because I can always make time to READ blogs, but to actually sit down & write one I always have the "I'll do it later" mentality. So, my sweet nieces have grown SO much since I last blogged. I love them so much. I just wish I got to see precious Margot more often than I do!

Dusty & Alex holding each others babies...aren't they sweet!

Love her hair bow

 I took a Wilton Cake Decorating Class with one of my good friends, Susan, from work. We had a blast. It was a 4 week class with one class a week from 5:30-7:30. So much fun. It was a very small class (4 students total) so that made it even more fun because we got to talk to everyone & it was a really chill learning environment. Susan & I didn't end up signing up for the 2nd class, but plan on signing up for the 3rd class which is Fondant. Should be fun!

I made cupcakes for my friend Kelly's birthday

Playing in class with the different tips

My final cake for the 1st class.

 I now have a new found love for sushi...who would have thought it?? I've always been known as the "picky eater" of the family...so me loving sushi is just too weird. The other day I was actually craving it. Sara tried it and really liked it too. Our favorite is the Eel cucumber roll. Yum!

I can't believe it's just about summer time. I can't wait for the pool to be open & days of floating around in the pool with no worries! Ok, there's never NO worries, but still we can put them to the back of our minds, right??! : )

Christmas & babies! : )

So, now that it's January 11th 19th I figured it'd be a good time to do a little update ; ) Christmas was great as always. Love spending time with my family! Christmas Eve my Mom's sister & her family came to our house to celebrate & exchange gifts. The tradition used to be that our family would go to my Nanny's house on Christmas Eve and have dinner and open gifts from her. She definitely spoiled us! We got just as much from her as we got from "Santa." I really miss her a lot. Working in a nursing home makes me wish I had taken more time with my Grandparents and LISTENED to them more rather than telling them mundane things about my life. I know they enjoyed it, but still...it's one of those things you don't think about until it's too late I guess. Plus, as a kid you don't appreciate the little things like that.

My siblings & I on Christmas Eve

I love Mom's Christmas tree

Sara, me, & Carrie Christmas morning

Anyways, new tradition is that my Aunt & her family come to our house Christmas Eve. Christmas day used to be we would open gifts from Santa then go to my Grandma & Grandaddy's house, who just happened to live next door, to have Christmas lunch with them and the extended family. Now on Christmas Day we just hang out with the immediate family and open gifts that morning & have a big lunch later on. I really enjoyed this Christmas because we did a Christmas breakfast which is something we don't usually do. Mom used to always make sausage balls and we'd eat on that while opening gifts and of course snack on our candy from our stockings. That was because Grandma wanted us at her house at 11a.m. for lunch! Well, she still made sausage balls & they were delicious. In addition, Sara & I made some stuff too. Sara made a crockpot recipe....not really sure what all was in it because I'm super picky & didn't eat it because it had onions in it lol. Everyone else really enjoyed it though. And I made a french toast bake. I got the recipe from my coworker, Jill. I totally need to post the recipe I got from Jill....hopefully I will remember that!

My sweet cousins!

Now about baby Charlotte : ) My first niece! I couldn't be more THRILLED! She was born on New Years Eve, which also happens to have been my Nanny's birthday.  She is the cutest little baby EVER! She seriously looks like a little doll baby...love her! : ) I can't wait until she gets a little older and can stay awake lol. Seriously, she's asleep every time I go see her. I've been lucky enough to catch her awake a couple of times...but not many! It's awesome, because my brother, Alex, & his wife, Carrie, live right next door to us (my parents, sister, & I) so we get to see Charlotte quite often. : ) And THEN my first cousin, Olyvia, had her first child...a sweet baby boy named Matthew. He is precious! Soon, my other sister-in-law, Susan, will be having a little baby girl...can't wait to meet her. : ) Babies everywhere!

Alex & my Nanny. Miss her like crazy.

Roughly 12 Hours old : )

Proud Aunts & Uncle!

Love this picture of Alex and Charlotte.

Doesn't she look like a little doll baby??

Chinese Hot Pot

Tonight I got to experience a Chinese Hot Pot! My cousin Dean that is in for a visit from Taiwan, invited my family & I over for dinner. I had such a good time. I wasn't quite sure what a Hot Pot entailed, but I loved it! Dean had made a really big batch of broth (not sure what else you would call it) with veggies in it. There were two tables set up and on each table there was a pot in the middle that was on and had the broth boiling hot. There were all kinds of things to cook like shrimp balls, meatballs, chicken, steak, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, corn, brussel sprouts, etc. You would just pick out what you wanted and throw it in the pot for it to cook. It didn't take long at all for the food to get ready, but it was a lot of fun chit chatting while the food cooked and then getting to try different things. I thought it was really sweet of them to have us over and give us the awesome experience.

Dean getting the hot pot ready

Tis the Season

I love Christmas time. I had a great time with family this weekend. We had my Dad's side of the family over for our annual Christmas lunch. My cousin, Dean, flew in from Taiwain & surprised everyone. We hadn't seen him in three years so it was an awesome surprise. I really have missed him.

Dean playing on the stomp rockets my parents got my 2nd cousins

Hanging out before lunch

Love Mom's Gingerbread tree

Right now I'm all cozy in my bed watching a Christmas movie on the Family Channel with my sister. Love lazy Sundays....well, I do have a load of laundry in the washer right now..so that's not completely lazy, right? : )

I must say I absolutely LOVE my new camera. It's awesome & was so worth getting up early Black Friday. I took pictures of some cookies I made for a cookie exchange party and they turned out a lot clearer than my old camera.

Pumpkin mini muffins I made for the brunch

These cookies had cranraisins, pecans, & lemon zest in them..with a lemon glaze on top

I originally made peppermint sugar cookies and they didn't turn out like I thought they would, so Mom suggested I make these easy "cookies." It's just ritz crackers with peanut butter in the middle, dipped in chocolate...very simple & good! 

Well, I'm going to publish this & finish watching this Christmas movie...it has Zack Morris in it from Saved by the Bell! haha....sad, but I don't know his real name!

Black Friday

It's almost Thanksgiving...and to be honest I'm not really looking forward to Thanksgiving, but the day after. Usually I do look forward to Thanksgiving day, but this year it'll just be Dad, Mom, me & Sara. I'm sure our boyfriends will come over later. Alex is working so I'm not sure what time he will be getting off and Dusty & Susan are doing Thanksgiving with her family this year. It's kind of depressing that we don't have any grandparents that are alive. I'm very thankful for the family I DO have though.

Anyways, the plan this year is my friend, Elizabeth, & I are going to go Black Friday shopping before going into work at 9a.m. We did that the year before last & it made for a looong work day lol. It was worth it though. Last year we took a vacation day; I wasn't able to do that this year though because my coworker had dibs on it. The only big ticket item I want this year is a digital camera. Elizabeth might look for a tv, she hasn't decided yet.

Have you seen the Target Black Friday commercial for this year? It is hilarious!

Happy Thanksgiving! And Happy Shopping! : )

Weird Pizzas

So, the other day I decided to cook lunch for the family. I was being a bum and still in pjs (hey, it was Sunday!) so I definitely wasn't up to going to the store for ingredients so I just used what I had. 

Sara wanted a regular pizza...but since we didn't have pizza sauce I used spaghetti sauce. We also didn't have mozzarella cheese ...so cheddar cheese it was! I also put black olives, pepperonis, yellow peppers, and some left over meatballs from the baby shower lol. It was a very random pizza. Can't say I will make it again, but I thought it was good.

So not a healthy pizza!

Up close

The other pizza I made was a chicken bbq pizza. Oh yeah, for the crust for both pizzas I made it in my Mom's bread machine & added garlic to the crust as well. I boiled chicken until done then sliced it into small pieces. Then I added Italian dressing to the chicken, bbq sauce, and garlic. I mixed it up really well then put it on the crust. Then I added cheddar cheese, pineapple tid bits, and yellow peppers. This pizza was my favorite out of the two weird concoctions lol.

Love cheddar cheese

Yum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cake Pops for the Baby Shower

I made cake pops for the triple baby shower this weekend. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. I ended up making about 50 cake pops. It was getting late & I was getting tired so my sister, Sara, & her boyfriend, Timmy, helped me decorate some of them...we were getting kind of goofy so some of them turned out not so cute lol.

I doubt I will be making any more cake pops for a good while lol.

And on a totally non-related note...I can't get over the fact that Ashton Kutcher had been cheating on Demi Moore! I'm sitting here watching Two and a Half Men and it made me think about it. I really thought Ashton & Demi were in it for the long haul. I know the odds were against them with their age difference & all but still.... I guess that's Hollywood for ya though.

*sigh* I've always had a thing for him since That 70's Show

I seriously doubt Two & a Half Men is going to make it without Charlie Sheen (winning!), but at least there's some eye candy for now : )