We had ordered an extra big gift for Rori that should have arrived two days before Christmas, but due to the storms, it was delayed. And because of the back up with all of the orders that were delayed, it took until today for it to finally arrive. So when Ryan got home from work today, he locked himself in the playroom and put together Rori's new kitchen center.
He wanted to keep it a surprise until it was totally finished, and when he was done, we had her put on her new little chef's hat and apron (which she was happy about even without knowing what was coming next) before going in to see her surprise.
As soon as she saw her new kitchen, she was all over it! She was so into it, that it was really hard to get a picture of her - all I could see was the back of her! Soon she was hard at work, cooking food and sharing it with all of us. It was adorable! Ryan got it all on film, but for now you'll have to see it through these pics.
Now, don't worry, Acadia wasn't completely left out of the gifting fun. We also had a couple gift cards for her - she LOVES gift cards! So, earlier today we went out to Barnes and Noble where she bought a book that she's been asking me for. We also went to Target where she bought a couple more Littlest Pet Shops (because apparently she doesn't have enough yet, lol) and some Christmas PJs on clearance. She still has balances on both gift cards so she's excited that she'll get to go shopping again another time.
As we speak, Cadi and her friend, RaeAnne (who has been spending a few days with us), are cooking up a storm with Rori. They keep bringing out plates of food from Chef Rori for Ryan and I to eat. They are all having a lot of fun with this!
It is a tradition for our family to have Lentil Soup at the beginning of each new year. Ryan's mom is the one who started us on it. I'm not sure where it came from, but the story goes that by eating Lentil Soup at the turn of the year, you will have financial success in the year to come. We're not superstitious and we do not believe eating soup will affect our finances at all, but the soup is really, really good and we like it a lot, so we've continued the tradition simply because it's so yummy. I also tend to make this soup around Easter... and really, any other time I have a craving for it. lol
Lentil Soup
10 cups water
1 lb lentils
8 bacon slices
2 cups chopped leek
1 cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped carrot
½ cup chopped red pepper
1 can v8 vegetable juice *or 16 tomato juice
2 cups chopped ham
4T oil
4 T flour
1 ½ can condensed chicken broth
2 t salt
4 T vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 t pepper
pinch of thyme
Put water and lentils in crockpot. Simmer for 3-4 hours.
Put oil in skillet, stir in flour until smooth, then gradually stir in broth. Add salt, vinegar, pepper, bay leaves, and thyme and bring to boiling point, stirring. Pour into lentils; simmer for 30 minutes.
You may recall my mention of being a winner in a 12 day of Christmas giveaway by Elfster.com, at the time I knew I had won but I didn't know what. This week a package arrived and in it was a Christmas gift, all wrapped up and hand labeled to me from the elves at Elfster. And the prize was...
YUM! We love pretzels around here... in fact, earlier this month we enjoyed some yummy apple filled pretzels sprinkled in cinnamon and sugar... Delish!
Because they sent me a Christmas gift, and because of our very positive experience using Elfster this year, I want to give a shout out to them. My family used Elfster to organize our Christmas gift exchanges (we had a homemade exchange as well as a store bought exchange). It was easy - they allowed us to limit who could be assigned to who (we didn't want people in the same household to get each other), we were able to ask each other annonymous questions, and post wish lists, etc. We really enjoyed the exchanges and are definitely going to do this again - and I'm sure we will be using Elfster again. I recently learned that Elfster is family runned, too. That made me like it even more! So check it out sometime and see if it might be helpful to you! :)
We usually make a french toast casserole for breakfast Christmas morning. I love them because you make it the day before and let it sit in the fridge until you're ready to bake it in the morning. We've tried a few different recipes and so far, this one is our favorite.
Baked Apple French Toast Casserole
•20 slices French bread (1 inch thick)
•1 can (21 ounces) apple pie filling
•8 eggs
•2 cups milk
•2 teaspoons vanilla extract
•1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•TOPPING:
•1 cup packed brown sugar
•1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
•1 cup chopped pecans
Arrange 10 slices of bread in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Spread with pie filling; top with remaining bread. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour over bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Meanwhile, place brown sugar in a small bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in pecans. Sprinkle over French toast.
Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
...my true love and I had a fight! And so I chopped the pear tree down and burned it just for spite! And with a single cartridge, I shot that blasted partridge my true love, my true love, my true love gave to me."
lol, I love that song. Haven't you heard it? Oh, well if you haven't, watch this:
Happy Day After Christmas! I have a bunch of pics to share (of course)!
The girls woke up around 7am yesterday. We went out to check our stockings and see what Santa had left us. We had a lot of presents to open, so we got right to it! Everyone loved their gifts and we all had a fun time.
After we opened presents, we went to my aunt's house. This proved challenging as we approached her house; she lives in the hills and you need to take a few backroads to get there. Things were fine until we got to the last half mile or so. After getting stuck, getting unstuck, turning around, and finding a place near the main road to park, my Grandpa came in his truck to shuttle us to my aunt's house. Once there, we had a wonderful visit! Dinner was delicious! It was fun to talk and watch the snow. I was finally able to meet my grandpa's new wife and she is very, very nice. I look forward to getting to know her better.
Later, as my grandpa was coming back from shuttling my cousins out to their car so they could leave, his truck slid into a ditch had got stuck. Unfortunately, he was blocking the road so no traffic could pass. It was about an hour until nightfall so we decided to hike the half mile or so to our car before dark instead of waiting and running the risk of not making it home that night. About half way to the car, we met up with my Grandpa's truck and Ryan and my uncles decided they could dig him out. It took about an hour, maybe a little more and it was dark before they finished, but they did it! We didn't want to risk getting it stuck again, so we borrowed a flashlight and finished our night hike. Getting our car out wasn't too bad, but after plowing through a pile of snow trying to get onto the main road, a couple of our car lights came on. The same couple of lights that had come on two weeks ago just before we lost our transmission. That's not good. Fortunately, my uncle was right behind us, so he followed us back to town in case we had any problems. And even more fortunately, we didn't have any problems.
(Ryan ran a diagnostic on it today and there didn't show any problems. We think/hope that plowing through the snow bank just jostled something and made our car mad for awhile. Now that she's had time to "sleep it off", she's not as mad anymore. ;) Ryan cleared the codes and the car's running fine; we'll just watch for the next few days/weeks to see if any of them come back on.)
We wish we could have stayed at my aunt's longer, we didn't even get to eat the dessert I had made! I decided to leave it there because I didn't want to carry it out to the car when I had enough stuff to carry already. I hope they liked it! lol When we got home we watched a couple of the movies Santa had brought us: Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E.
As you'll see in the pics, we had a lot of cleaning to do today! Of course, not until after I hit some after-Christmas sales! lol We also managed to watch a couple more movies and play a little Wii.
In short (yeah, I know - too late for that! lol), Christmas was eventful but still wonderful and the first day after Christmas was pretty good, too.
And for the record, my true love and I did NOT have a fight! ;)
The problem with adding last minute gifts to your plan is when there are huge snowstorms both in your area as well as in other parts of the country, you risk not getting that item in time for Christmas. Oh well.
I had already gotten all of our shopping done but last week decided at the extremely last minute to get Rori a kitchen center. I found a really nice one, much like our friends have, which is really sturdy and Rori loves... but it hasn't come in yet. Looks like it will be a post-Christmas gift. Drats. :S
We're just trying to share Holiday Cheer to every car repair shop in the Pacific NorthWest.
For the record, I didn't think this was a good idea but Ryan kept saying it would be fine...
And now we have an appointment to take my car into the glass shop tomorrow. Yeah, that's another couple hundred dollars to make someone else's Christmas a little brighter. Hope it helps.
Yesterday's forecast said that we'd have freezing rain that would turn to normal rain in the afternoon today. From then on out, we'd just have rain which would wash all our snow and ice away.
Surprise, surprise, the forecast has changed yet again! We did have freezing rain earlier, but then we got some more snow. Not a lot, but a healthy dusting. We're just now getting more precipitation and we're just waiting to see which form it comes in. It could be either up to another 1/2 inch of ice (which is worse case scenerio) or a few more inches of snow (the better case scenerio). As I type this, we're getting a mix of freezing rain and large snowflakes. lol Regardless, we are definitely not thawing out today. At this point, it's questionable if we'll thaw out within the next couple of days!
Perhaps, just maybe, could we hold onto some of this white stuff to have another White Christmas? We shall see!
In the meantime, it's really making a mess of the highways around here. It's a good thing we're not going anywhere. And it's also a good thing that we have chains to get anywhere we do need to go. I do feel bad for friends who were either planning on going to family or having them come here though, their Christmas plans have really been altered. :(
I know it's Sunday, but we let Cadi go out to play in the snow with the neighbors today. We rarely get this much snow at once and we don't really expect it to last much longer. Though, now it looks like it'll be around longer than we had originally thought.
I went out with my camera to take more pics...
To me, this picture just screams "Christmas!"...
I tried to take this pic to show you how thick some of this ice is, but it's kind of out of focus so it's hard to tell. A lot of the ice is about 1/4", but this piece I picked up was at least 1/2"!
We've been enjoying quite the storm here this weekend! We got about 8 inches of snow yesterday! It was very powdery so we didn't get to build snowforts, snowmen, or even snowballs. But it's still beautiful! Overnight, we switched from snow to freezing rain, so now there is a nice layer of ice covering everything. It was almost comical to watch Simon go out this morning to do his "business". He'd take a step, slip, then you'd hear a thud as he fell through the ice layer and into the snow. Poor pup... lol. I wish I had gotten it on video. (I know, I'm mean. lol)
The girls and I have been having fun winter evenings cozy in our home watching Christmas "chick flicks" with the neighbor girls. On Friday night, we watched Holiday Inn and last night we watched White Christmas. Quite appropriate, as we kept glancing out the window to see this:
Here are some more winter weather pics... too bad it's just going to start raining later and wash it all away before Christmas. :(
This is a cute little turtle figurine that goes at the bottom of our rainspout right by our front door. It's under the house eave so it didn't get completely covered by snow, but I love that it is halfway covered, lol.
Ryan's been at work all night, covering for a co-worker who was taking it off for the holiday. He should be on his way home now; he had to give another co-worker a ride in because they didn't have chains for their car and chains are required on all vehicles on all streets in the Portland area. Fun times! lol
Needless to say, church has been cancelled today. We fell behind on some of our daily Christmas devotionals this week, so I think we'll catch up on those today. I hope wherever you are, you are keeping safe and warm!
In the last 5 minutes, Rori has taken one of my delicate ornaments off the front room tree, licked the back porch light switch, and shown a bright LED flashlight into her eyes... all on purpose.
Bedtime isn't for another two hours. Wish me luck... in fact, wish us both luck.
We had this for dinner tonight and it was so yummy and easy to make, I thought I'd share it.
Fast Chicken Soup Base
2 quarts chicken broth
1 quart water
1 store bought roast chicken
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, cut into medium dice
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into rounds (I used baby carrots cut into rounds)
2 large celery stalks, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
Bring broth and water to a simmer over medium-high heat in a large soup kettle. Meanwhile, separate chicken meat from skin and bones; reserve meat. Add skin and bones to the simmering broth. Reduce heat to low, partially cover and simmer until bones release their flavor, 20 to 30 minutes.
Strain broth through a colander into a large container; reserve broth and discard skin and bones. Return kettle to burner set on medium high.
Add oil, then onions, carrots, and celery. Saute until soft, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add chicken, broth, and thyme. Bring to a simmer. (Can be refrigerated up to 3 days in advance. Return to a simmer before adding the extras of your choice.)
** I made this base last night and refrigerated it until this afternoon. I added a tablespoon or two of dried parsley flakes and some black pepper to taste, and after the soup was brought to a simmer, I added 3 cups of uncooked egg noddles. I let it continue simmering for about 30 minutes. It was perfect!
My suicidal husband didn't get enough winter driving yesterday. Tonight he's covering someone's shift and is planning on going in around 6pm. We're in the middle of the biggest storm this week. I think he's been a little too adventurous lately. lol
Yesterday's rescue mission to get my car from La Grande went well, except for one little spin off that Ryan's friend took off the road into a snowbank. Thankfully, he and the car were undamaged and he was able to back out and back onto the road without problem. Ryan just watched from behind in my car and promises me that he didn't fishtail at all during the drive home.
We're enjoying the storm today. Cadi and Rori have been out to play in the snow. It's too powdery to make snowballs or snowmen, but it's still fun to play. :)
Acadia wanted to do something nice for Ryan, so she used my scraper to brush the snow off of Ryan's car. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was pointless because 1) it was still snowing and 2) we were expecting to get several more inches of snow before he'd be using his car. lol It's the thought that counts. ;)
Ryan and my van :) came home around 8pm tonight. He arrived to find the house invaded by girls (we invited the neighbor girls over) watching a Holiday chick flick (Holiday Inn) in their PJs. Then he joined us to watch Horton Hears a Who.
I'm pretty sure that before he left Vancouver this morning, he bought the entire food supply at our Super Walmart because he came home with a lot of food, even after an 11 hour road trip. So, we had some good munchies for the movie. ;)
At about 2pm, Ryan and Greg pulled into the parking lot of the shop that fixed our car! It only took them about 5 hours! I am breathing a bit easier now. :)
Ryan and his friend/co-worker are venturing 260 miles out through the gorge, braving snowstorms, iced roads, wind gusts, and a mountain range to get my car for me. We weighed our options and there really wasn't anything better. This weekend is going to be even more stormy there (and here) and there's a good chance the roads would be closed at some point. Today was the best option. The original plan was for me to go with Ryan, but thankfully, Greg is just as crazy adventurous as Ryan and he offered to drive Ryan in his SUV. We owe him. Big time.
I'm grateful I can stay safely at home with my girls. I'm nervous about the boys. I'm sure they'll make it okay... slowly, but safely. But I'm still nervous and will be offering up constant prayers until they make it back safely. If you think of it, please offer one or two up for them, too. Thank you!
Yesterday was a snow day, so Acadia stayed home from school. It really was forecasted to be a nasty storm, but it turns out, it was pretty unnecessary; there was a little snow at first, but it never accumulated to much and soon rain washed it all away.
Today started out with a little rain and was supposed to stay too warm for snow, at least until tonight. So, school is open today. Just as Cadi was leaving for school, the snow started to fall. It kept falling for about an hour and now we have as much as we did yesterday, probably more. They didn't close school though, so it's not a snow day. Truthfully, so far neither day seems worthy of a snow day. An inch or so of snow is totally livable and I'd rather send the kid to school today than to stay later in June to make up for a lame snow day.
Rori saw the snow falling today though and got very excited! She ran to get her boots, hat, and mittens. I figured, "Why not?" So we went out to enjoy the big flakes.
We came in when it stopped snowing but now I see it's starting up again. The school just sent a message (they have a great "alert" system, they send a text message to our cell phones/pager and also an e-mail to both of our e-mail accounts) saying that afternoon kindergarten and after school activities are cancelled. But they aren't sending kids home from regular school yet. Maybe Cadi will get to play in the snow at recess. :)
When we were in La Grande, the shop estimated that our car would be ready by Friday. Then came the storms; Portland froze over while we were in Idaho and just had another storm come through today (the transmission was being shipped to Portland and then trucked to La Grande). We assumed that the transmission being shipped would be delayed at least a day. I called the shop today to get an update and they said THE TRANSMISSION IS IN MY CAR ALREADY! They just needed to fine tune everything but it will be ready in the morning!
WOOHOO! Not that we can just go over and pick it up whenever we want; it will take the whole day to drive there and back, but at least we know it is going to be available as soon as we are. Ryan's hoping to take Friday off to make the drive since we have another storm scheduled to come in late on Saturday.
Today is a snow day. We were supposed to get a real nasty storm, and we still might, but for now, it's nice and small. We got a little snow and now it's raining. Freezing rain had been forecasted and it could still happen, but for now, the rain is just slowly washing away the little snow we got. Tonight it should turn back to snow so we might have another snow day tomorrow. But we shall see!
Fortunately, we didn't wait for more snow before heading out to play and take pictures. We played with our friends who are also our neighbors. We had fun and then the girls headed in to have hot cocoa. :)
Rori just loved these pinecones she found on the ground...
Cadi and her friends were dancing in the snow...
There really wasn't much snow, but it didn't stop the girls from trying to make snowballs for a snowball fight!
Of course, there wasn't quite enough for snow angels either, but they still made those, too! lol
Hopefully we'll get more to play in tomorrow, but if not, at least we did what we could with what we had today. ;)
We loved living in Idaho because of the friends we made there; they became our family. Some friends come and go, but fortunately, some friends are forever. :)
