Laugh or Cry?

Last night's dinner started out as a nightmare! I was trying a new recipe from Pampered Chef called White Chicken Chili. Whenever I follow a recipe for the first time, I am usually a little more stressed, since I'm not familiar with it yet. Plus, I am a neat freak in the kitchen (remember that for later). Needless to say, things were going well.....at first. I had cooked the garlic, diced the pepper, onion, and chicken and then it happened. Just as I was carrying the bowl of garlic, it slipped from my fingers and shattered at my feet! Hundreds of pieces of blue glass covered my kitchen floor as I quickly grabbed Isaiah and secured him in the high chair and warned Eli to "stay back!" After taking a deep breath, I tediously salvaged what I could of the garlic and swept up the glass (cutting myself only once in the process). A thorough mopping, and we were good to go!

Okay, that wasn't so bad.....just rinse the garlic of any micro sized glass particles that might remain, and keep going. I proceeded to grab the next ingredient, salsa verde, and gave the jar a little shake before opening it. Yep, catastrophe #2....I guess I had already unscrewed the lid before dropping the bowl. Before I knw what had happened, I found myself with salsa running down my arm and streaked across the counter AND my freshly mopped floor. This is the part where I just froze and didn't know how to react....cry...nope...more like bang my head against the wall (I didn't, don't worry). With as much patience as I could muster, I wiped up the mess, once again, still in disbelief that I had basically thrown salsa all over the kitchen!

Well, the good news is that I still got dinner on the table by 6pm and it tasted great (no glass to be found)! To my relief, Jerry was not present for this charade....I would never have heard the end of it! I did tell him about it later that night and he thought it was hillarious. I guess it kinda was funny when I look back....live and learn. That is my life story.

Grandma Carolyn

A few days after Christmas, my mom flew out for a visit. We had not seen her since last year, so it was nice to have her. Of course with Grandma Carolyn comes presents---and a lot of them! One of Eli's favorite was a robot jacket, which he insisted on wearing whenever we were out of the house. (Halloween costume for next year??? Just a thought...)

The highlight of the trip was taking Eli to visit an exhibit called "Dinosuaurs Alive!" It was basically an outdoor trail featuring several animatronic dinosaurs that moved, roared, and one that even sprayed water out it's mouth.

Eli was curious but made sure not to get too close, as he thought the dinosaurs might bite him :) After explaining how they were "just machines" I was finally able to convince him to touch a dinosaur, which was a great feat for this non-risk taking little boy (he takes after his momma). Eli might be more adventurous if we take some friends along next time. Peer pressure can be a powerful tool!

Hope you had a good time, Grandma Carolyn! We enjoyed having you (and your fun presents)!

Christmas

This year we drove out to spend Christmas with our friend Melisa and her family in Quitman, TX. Eli was very excited to know that we would be sleeping in "The Bunkhouse" for a couple of nights (given there are bunk beds). Isaiah, on the other hand, didn't sleep as well....but that's part of traveling, I guess!

Our morning was spent eating Mack's delectable apple pancakes, opening presents, and enjoying time to relax with friends. That night we were served an authentic Mexican dinner of Tamales, Beans, and Rice---which was great, since Jerry and I were both "turkeyed out" from Thanksgiving. I even got the recipes for the rice and beans, which turned out great on my first try at home!

On the last day of our stay, Jerry and Mack spent the day fishing out on Lake Fork. I'm not sure it was a successful trip, but Jerry did catch a few, as usual. (I've never known Jerry to come home without getting at least one bite).

So after a few fun but tiring days, we headed home to get ready for Grandma Carolyn to arrive the very next afternoon. Thank you for sharing your home, Mack and Dee! We are glad to have spent our Christmas with your family.