The (Not-So) Ordinary Life and Times...

Happy Holidays!

I love the holiday season, and this year was no different.

My first holiday season at Omaha Children's Museum has been great. We do a really fun light show set to Mannheim Steamroller music on a big screen and snow machines...the kids go nuts for it!

Dan and I went to Sioux City for Christmas this year. We spent Christmas Eve with Ray and Susan. Ray took us for lunch at a bar called Miles' to have Charlie Boys and Schooners! I had never:

a) been to a bar on Christmas Eve ( I thought it would be dead. We couldn't hardly MOVE it was so packed!!) 

b) had a schooner of beer (It's like a big goblet thingy)

c) eaten a Charlie Boy. It's kind of like a sloppy joe with onions and cheese and pickles. Yummy

We had a lot of fun. Then it was time for mass. Sara Majorka (Susan's oldest daughter) and her husband Josh brought 10-month-old Isabella with them, and she is just a doll! She liked making  faces at me and playing with my hair!

After church we had a yummy dinner of potato soup, chili, and of course, traditional Ukranian pierogies. I have the recipe, I need to make them. They are SO delicious. I could eat a whole pot of them! After dinner it was present time! Dan and I got some really great gifts, including a new vacuum (thank goodness!!), a heated mattress pad, some sheets, clothes, gift cards, etc. It was a really fun Christmas!

We then headed over to Leigh and Ken's house to sleep - and that's exactly what we did! I've been so tired lately. I counted the days, and I've worked at either one or both of my jobs for 27 days straight! It felt great to sleep.

Christmas morning was fun opening stockings and gifts with Leigh, Ken, Erin, Megan, Kris, Dan, Nanny and Papa. I got some more really nice, things, my family spoils me! We ate a delicious breakfast and then headed over to Ken's parents house for a little visit. After an hour or so there, Erin and Megan went over to Ray and Ken's for a bit and Dan and I stayed at Leigh's house. Then it was a big Christmas dinner of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, etc. Delicious!

On Boxing Day we had some bad news - Ken's father had passed away in the night. It was very sudden, but we felt lucky to have been able to spend some time with him on Christmas Day.

We're gearing up for our New Year's Eve event, First Night of Play. This is one of our biggest events of the year, so I'm really excited to see how it all goes. After the event on Friday night, Dan and I are having dinner with my parents at Crave and then heading to Erin's house for some midnight champagne. We'll probably just head home after that.

January 1st is my dad's birthday! We'll be going to Red Oak for some birthday festivities on Saturday, and then spending Sunday and Monday having Christmas with my parents.

I can't believe it's almost 2011! Happy New Year to all!

Pops for Paws

My friend Gordon is at it again...he requested 200 cake pops for a Nebraska Humane Society volunteer event! I had my friend (and marketing intern) Kayla came over to help me make them. We did chocolate and pink champagne pops!

 

 
If you ever wanted to know what 200 cakepops looks like...here ya go.

 
My fabulous friend and cake pop elf Kayla!

 

Purple and gold, the NE Humane Society colors!

The Wind is Gone!

Or rather, I've finished Gone With the Wind! It's a big weight (literally) off of me to have it finished. Dan told me to read it to enjoy it, not to conquer it. He was right, but it does feel really good to complete a big project like that.

I began really identifying with Scarlett throughout the book. She works and works and works for financial security and in the process, ruins her relationships with others. And then I start thinking about how much I work and I never see my husband and I don't have many friends here and I get all freaked out!!

Anyway. It feels good to be done, and it's a great story. Maybe I can convince Dan to watch the movie with me tonight. Fiddle-dee-dee!!

Adoption Day!

My adoption day was Dec. 10 and we got to go to lunch with mom and dad on Saturday. Adoption day has always been a big deal at our house, and my parents always get me a gift. This year I got a NOOK!

 

I'm so excited, I can't wait to start using it. I'm still plugging away at Gone With the Wind, but I only have about 50 pages left in that one.

The first book I bought was Room by Emma Donoghue.  It's for book club, so I thought that would be a good one to start with. I also bought a ridiculously expensive Kate Spade cover for my Nook. The covers were 30% off, but this one was still pricey. I just couldn't find another one I liked as much. I used some birthday money to buy it so I don't feel that bad :)

Maybe lunchtime today will give me a chance to finish Gone With The Wind, then it's on to Nook!

Mormons and Manicotti

Have you had enough of the alliterated post titles yet? This one was too good to pass up.

If you haven't had Christina Kahler's manicotti, you haven't lived. Just saying.

Christina invited me to join her book club, and seeing as how I have barely a life and know probably 6 people in all of Omaha, I thought it would be a good way to meet some new people and talk about reading, something else I don't have time to do but love.

Then she told me it's not really a book club, more of a sit-around-and-chat club. I'm like, ok, no problem. Who doesn't want to have a glass of wine and shoot the breeze? I get it.

Let's just say I'm learning more about being a mother than I ever thought possible. As the only book clubber without kids, I definitely was in the mommy minority. But hey, they say you can never be too prepared, so let's hope I pick up some good tips before I start having kids.

It was fun to sit with some new people and chat. The book they had read for this get together was The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. This book was really interesting and I read it quite a while ago so I was trying to remember details. It intertwined two stories of Mormons and polygamy. One true, one fiction, both fascinating.

Thanks for inviting me to book club, Christina, and can't wait till next time!

 

Cake and congratulations

My sister-in-law Megan and her boyfriend Kris got engaged on Friday night! Tonight we're going to my other sister-in-law's (Erin) house to have a celebratory dinner for them. I was in charge of making an appetizer and dessert, so I thought I would make something holiday-like and festive. Erin gave me a bundt pan for my birthday so I thought I would give it a test run. The family is going to be my dessert guinea pigs, but it sounds really yummy! I made Candy Cane Cake! I'll have to post another photo once we cut into it, it has a red peppermint ribbon through the cake.

 

Speaking of congratulations, Dan and I have been together for five years as of Friday! I feel like we've come a long way in that time, and looking forward to many more celebrations together.

New picture! This is what it looks like inside:

 

Holiday pops!

Getting into the Christmas spirit is barely a stretch past a normal day for me, so needless to say I love holiday baking. I made some snowmen for Tom and Gordon's dinner party and Gordon is also hosting an open house at the Humane Society where he will sell some of my cake pops! These were really fun to make, if not a little time consuming (darn my perfectionist tendencies!).

 
The new and improved frosty...now with arms and scarf.

 

 

Holiday pops!