Snuggling with Da on Christmas

A very rare event happened on Christmas Day.  Moose actually snuggled.  He laid on his Da's chest for about 10 minutes.  It was adorable!

Pomegranate Romaine Salad

Ingredients:

• 6 cups torn romaine lettuce
• 1/3 cup diced red onion
• 1 pomegranate, cut in half
• 3/4 cup purchased raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing

Preparation:

Place lettuce and onion in salad bowl. Then take a wooden spoon and hold the pomegranate halves upside down over the lettuce, one at a time. Hit the round side of the pomegranate with the wooden spoon to release the seeds. Repeat with second half. Squeeze the pomegranate halves over the lettuce to release the juice. Toss gently and serve with salad dressing. 6 servings

Taken from:  http://busycooks.about.com/od/greensidesalads/r/pomegranatesala.htm

Another delicious Mexican meal!

Tonight my parents came over for dinner.  They came early so that my Mom could play with Moose and my Dad could help me cook the meal.  My Dad and I love cooking together!  Dinner turned out really well.  The Chile Verde was flavorful and spicy, and the Refried beans were so yummy.  We ate it wrapped up in fresh tortillas, with Mom's homemade chocolate pie on the side.  Delicious!  Like the other Mexican meal I made, it's a bit labor intensive, but the result is totally worth the effort.  Give it a try!

Moose's first haircut

Moose's long, curly locks got cut off today.  He has a little boy haircut now!  He looks so adorable, but he looks less like my little baby and more like a little man.  He's growing up too fast!

Playing with the trains waiting for his turn.

Last look at his cute, curly locks!

His hair is wetted down and ready to be cut.

And the cutting begins...

His stylist showed him how the razor would feel so he wouldn't be scared.

Holding very still for the "zzzt zzzt" of the razor!

Little Tebow Moose with his new haircut!

Lovely Christmas Day!

We had a wonderful Christmas!  We woke up early and went to a delicious breakfast buffet here in town, then drove out to my parents' place to spend the day with them, Todd, and Beth.  We spent a fun filled day opening presents, laughing at Moose, running around with all of the dogs, eating wonderful food, relaxing, and playing games!  It was sunny, beautiful, and we had a great day!  I hope that everyone else had a very "Merry Christmas" as well!  (I only got a few pictures.  I kept meaning to take more, but kept getting caught up in having fun and all of a sudden the day was over!)

This baby is so funny!

Moose was being a silly little baby during snack time.  Even funnier, when we watched the video together afterward, he was laughing at the video! LOL

Absolutely delicious dinner!

I made my first authentic Mexican meal tonight, and it was absolutely delicious!  I made Braised Short Ribs in Tomatillo Sauce.  I followed the recipe exactly as written, other than leaving out the avocado leaves.  I had no idea where to get those, and it said optional anyway, so I just left them out.  The Arbol peppers are dried and are found in the Mexican aisle.  I found them at 3 separate stores, so it seems they are readily available.  The flavor in the finished dish was amazing, and it wasn't overly spicy at all.  I cannot recommend enough putting in the time to make this recipe.  It's wonderful!

To go along with them I made Basic Mexican Pinto Beans.  The only change I made was I added a piece of bacon during the cooking, and just left it in there to boil.  I think it added an extra little kick of taste.  Branden had to work 2 1/2 hours late tonight, and I ate, hmm, several bowls of beans waiting for him.  I just couldn't stop eating them.  They were very good!

I was planning to have Branden pick up some fresh tortillas from a Mexican bakery on his way home, but by the time he got off work it was already closed.  So instead we ate the meat on tortilla chips, and I must say it was really good that way.  In the future I'm not sure I'd even want tortillas with it, and may just go for the tortilla chips again!

The Shortribs take a bit of time and labor to make, but are so totally worth it.  The beans are extremely easy to make, so that helps balance out the time spent on the meal.  Definitely give this one a try.  You will not regret it!  We had a little bit of the Shortribs left over, so I am going to mix it with scrambled eggs in the morning.  Totally looking forward to that as well!

Sick and it's almost Christmas!

We have all three been really sick with the flu since last Friday.  Moose had the mildest case, but has been sick the longest.  As usual I was the most intensely sick, but got better relatively quick.  Branden is somewhere in the middle, and still not feeling well at all, nor is Moose.  Hopefully in the next day or two all of us are feeling 100% again.  I am tired of being cooped up and feeling icky!

Being sick has messed up my Christmas plans.  Finally tonight I got the gifts wrapped, though I still have several homemade gifts left to make.  I was fully intending to get the gifts for California in the mail last week, but somehow it's almost Wednesday and not only aren't they mailed, they aren't even finished.  My plan is to get those off tomorrow, but that is pending how everyone feels.  I guess they will arrive when they arrive!

I hope everyone is healthy and happy, and nearly ready for Christmas!  We are supposed to get snow tomorrow, and I hope it sticks so that we have some snow for Christmas.  The weather has been pretty warm, especially over the weekend.  I was so bummed that we had to miss such a lovely weekend by being sick inside.  We'll be anxiously waiting for the next warm days as well as more snow.  We get a little bit of everything over here!  I'll leave you with our Christmas card from this year.  I didn't get as many sent out as I wanted to, but I wanted to share it here anyway.  Merry almost Christmas!!

Moose "learning" not to touch the Christmas tree!

Apparently being told "no" by Da is really funny!

Moose met Santa Claus!

I think it's obvious what he thinks of Santa Claus!

Pitiful little guy

Moose didn't feel well last night or today.  He slept a LOT and threw up once.  When he woke up from his morning nap he had thrown up and it was all over in the crib, his hair, and his pajamas.  He quickly got a bath.  His Grandma brought some Gatorade over for him, which he gladly drank.  After that he really wanted to go to sleep, but he had to wait for his sheets to finish drying.  I snapped the below picture of him looking pitiful waiting to go back to bed.  Poor guy!

After sleeping the majority of the day, he felt significantly better.  He had a fried egg and a pancake for dinner.  The pancake was definitely his favorite!  While I was cooking his dinner we had music playing and were dancing together.  He looked so cute dancing with his bottle that I had to take a short video.  I think you'll be able to tell that he is feeling much better!

Baked Fiesta Lime Tilapia

Baked Fiesta Lime Tilapia

4 Tilapia fillets

1/2 cube of butter

Mrs. Dash's Fiesta Lime seasoning

salt

fresh parsley, finely chopped

Melt the butter in the bottom of a glass baking pan.  Lay the tilapia fillets in the butter and liberally season with Fiesta Lime seasoning.  Sprinkle lightly with salt.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes, or until flaky and white.  Sprinkle with fresh parsley during the last few minutes of baking.

I made this for dinner tonight.  It's so simple it almost doesn't count as a recipe!  But it's so moist, flaky, healthy, and delicious!  I wish I would have taken a picture of it, but we had already eaten it by the time I thought about it.  Just imagine it looking very fresh and yummy!

Moose and Da

Moose loves "helping" Da play computer games! :)

"Hanging out" with Da!  Moose LOVES being upside down!

Silly little bubble blower!

This afternoon Moose took a very long bath.  He was thrilled to be playing with all of his bath toys, throwing cups of water on the floor, and standing on tippy toes to try to reach the clippers and razors (which had to "magically" disappear).  By the time he got out his hands and feet were all pruny, but he was a happy little boy!

In between getting doused by Mommy with cups of water and trying his hardest to figure out how to turn on the faucet himself, he discovered the most hilarious game he had ever come up with (at least in his mind!).  He would look at me and grin, then lean over, put his face into the water, blow a bubble, and come up nearly hysterical with laughter!  He did it over and over, and I so wish I'd had a camera or at least my phone to get a picture!  It was so funny and incredibly cute!

After his bath he helped me clean house for a little while.  The "vacuum monster" was terrifying to him.  He used to like it, but today he was immobilized with fear when I turned it on.  Branden says that a sign that I don't use it often enough! :)  Other than that little hiccup, he had a lot of fun helping clean house.  It wasn't long though before this is what I saw:

Yup, a sleepy little baby laying flat out on the floor with his blankie!  He went down for a nap and is peacefully sleeping still.  Such a precious little angel!

Christmas Parade and Snow Sculptures

This evening Moose and I went with Grandma and Grandpa to the Parade of Lights.  It was a cute little parade!  Moose had huge eyes through the whole things, especially for the extra lit up floats!
 

Moose fueling up for the parade.

Watching floats go by!

Hi Santa Claus!

After the parade we walked downtown to the snow and ice sculpture competition.  It was really neat to see the huge snow sculptures that people had made!  The ice sculptures were gorgeous, too!

Moose peeking through a snowman ice sculpture.  I love his little grin!

To warm up we got some hot chocolate then went home to wait for Branden to get home from work.  Moose was so excited to see Da when he got home!  We all had homemade chicken noodle soup and fresh garlic bread for dinner.  It was yummy!  Moose even got to read an Elmo story with Grandma.  I'm not sure who enjoys their time together more...Moose or Grandma! :)

It was a fun evening, and now we're all tired out and heading to bed.  Moose has been out cold for a couple hours already.  I went to check on him a few minutes ago and he was snuggling with his blankie.  Such a darling!

Super Simple Chicken Tacos

Super Simple Chicken Tacos

Old El Paso Stand-n-Stuff Taco Shells

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded

Large can of refried beans, heated

Shredded lettuce

Shredded cheese

Rotel tomatoes or salsa

Spread a spoonful of beans in the bottom of the tacos then cover with rotisserie chicken.  Top with lettuce, cheese, and Rotel or salsa.
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I made these for dinner last night and we really enjoyed them.  I guess you can't really say I "made" them as there's no cooking involved, but I compiled and assembled the ingredients.  They were very easy to put together.  I am having them for lunch again today, and they are just as good reheated.  This is one of those meals that is quicker to do than going through the drive-through, and much healthier!  As a bonus, Moose loved the rotisserie chicken so I didn't have to make anything different for him.  He kept saying "Mmm mmm" after every bite of chicken!

Christmas party!

Our housing complex hosted a Christmas party this evening.  Branden was able to get off work early so that we could go.  I am so glad we did, as we had a wonderful time!  The food was delicious.  We had ham, turkey, all kinds of side dishes, cake, this really good fizzy lemonade, and coffee.  Everything was so good and we are so thankful that we were able to go!

Moose was happy because he got to play with other kids and he got a few gifts.  He got a tricycle helmet, a Beanie bear, and a cute police car.  He played with the police car the majority of the time we were there.  We also helped him make a craft with his name on it.  It turned out really cute!  One of the highlights for the night for him was the baked cranberries.  He ate quite a lot of them, and was clapping his hands to show how much he liked them. 

Throughout the evening they raffled off prizes.  We won a $20 gift card to King Soopers!  I can think of lots of ways to use that right away.  After each prize everyone would clap, and Moose would sit there clapping as hard as he could.  It was absolutely precious, and made my heart completely melt!  It was so neat to see him having so much fun.  He was crawling around, laughing, clapping, and we are pretty sure he thought everyone was there just to see him.  He is such a sweet, precious baby!

Moose loves the little police car he got!

His cute little "Moose" craft. :)

Blurry picture, but you can see how much fun he was having!

Mommy and Moose.  He was fascinated with the decorative snowflake! :)

0 degrees!

It is 0 degrees outside right now!  I have never lived where I have been sitting inside my house while it was 0 degrees out.  To commemorate the event, I ran outside and Branden took my picture in the freezing cold! :)

Yummy bread!

Branden gave me one of my Christmas gifts early!  I got a nifty little bread machine!  I baked a loaf of white bread the first night, which was delicious.  We polished that off, and right now I have a loaf of cracked wheat bread going.  I can't wait to taste it.  Thank you, honey!

Busy baking away!

Checking out what it's doing at each stage.

Mixing the dough.

It's either rising or baking here, I can't remember which.

Christmas Tree!

Yesterday we went to a Christmas tree farm to look for the perfect tree.  Unfortunately, it was not there.  There were plenty of cute trees but they were either not for sale or already sold.  We ended up buying a beautiful, hand-made wreath which looks lovely on our door.  Then we went to another tree place, and there sat the cutest, most perfect little tree!  We snatched that little sucker up, brought it home, and decorated it. Now it sits in the corner looking so Christmas-y and cheery!  So far Moose has only broken one of the little red globes, but is determined to get his little hands on more of them.  This morning when he came downstairs and first saw the tree, his eyes lit up and he said "whoooo whooo."  We quickly realized we had made a bad choice in getting sparkly red globes, as red is Moose's favorite color!  He is mesmerized by them!  The next few days will be interesting, as he learns (hopefully) how to look but not touch, or at least touch gently!