Tyler's car

About a week ago, Drew was looking out the front window and asked what happened to Tyler's car? We thought 'Oh no, had he been in an accident?'
We went out to look and saw that his car had some new...ummm...artwork on the windows?!





Tyler was tagged by a friend in facebook being the friend most likely to be president someday- so this back window is a little play on that. :)



Later that evening he was outside scrubbing the paint off of the windows when the two girls (that had 'secretly' drawn on the windows the night before) had brought him a warm piece of homemade pie.



So I think all the work getting the paint off the windows was worth it! :)

giving thanks

It was a weekend of giving thanks.

Spending time with family.
(We spent Thanksgiving day at my parents house and had a wonderful day even though we very much missed my sister and her family!)



Eating fabulous food.





Watching football. Relaxing. Shopping.

Watching lots of hockey games.
(Jake and Drew were both in tournaments this weekend.)



Starting to decorate for Christmas.



It was a nice weekend.

~Thanksgiving~
Giving Thanks
is the perfect way to start the holiday season!

thanksgiving

friends and creme brulee

One night last week I met a couple of friends for a fun evening of cooking.

My friend Heidi had been wanting to try making Creme Brulee, and my friend Deb and I had never made it before either, so we thought we would all get together and try making this fun dessert!







And they gave me this as a birthday present! Now I can make creme brulee any tine I want! :) And this adorable apron that my friend Deb made!



So cute!



Thanks ladies for a fun night and I can't wait to do it again soon!!
___________________________________________________________

Here is the recipe we used from Alton Brown on Food Network:

Ingredients:
1 quart heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 cup vanilla sugar, divided
6 large egg yolks
2 quarts hot water
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve for another use.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

Remove the creme brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Divide the remaining 1/2 cup vanilla sugar equally among the 6 dishes and spread evenly on top. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the creme brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

pioneer woman

My friend Deb and I decided to head out to Mall of America today for Pioneer Woman's cookbook signing.



Pioneer Woman was scheduled to start at 1pm so we thought if we got there early we would get through the line pretty quickly. Ha! This is what it looked like when we walked up at 11:15!



Lots of people! Lots and lots of people!! And this picture is only part of the line and taken early on. There were hundreds and hundreds of people waiting for the Pioneer Woman!

Never in my wildest dreams did I think the line would be this long! I really thought there can't be that many people in the Minneapolis area that blog and that would know about her. Ha! Let's just say that there ARE a lot of bloggers from Minnesota and now I know!

We watied in this line for a long time!!! 5 hours to be exact!!! My feet hurt- but it was worth it!!!!(right Deb?!?!) I was so excited to finally meet the Pioneer Woman!!!!

And we met some lovely ladies in line.

And we got to see Marlbaro Man, and their 2 completely adorable sons who were signing books at a table outside of the roped off area where the line was. So this all entertained us for a little while.





And then there was a little bomb scare. Seriously. When we were almost to the very front of the line, someone noticed a suspicious unattended bag that was way off against a wall. Securtiy came. They started moving people way back and were waiting for dogs to come to check the bag out when a young lady farther back in line said that it was her bag and it just had cloth diapers in it!!! I have to admit that I was just a little nervous there for a minnute or so and after almost 5 hours of waiting I really didn't want miss my chance to meet Ree and get my cookbook signed! =0)

Now I can't wait to sit down and look through the cookbook and find some good new recipes to try!

a sweet birthday

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday and started the day with my favorite coffee,



and some nice presents,



and going out to lunch at a nice little restaurant in downtown St.Paul,



a little shopping,

dinner out with the family at a favorite restaurant,



and my favorite birthday cake.



But probably the sweetest part of the day was when I went up to bed for the night and saw this laying on my bed from Drew. (He always leaves me these notes on special days and they mean the world to me!)



It was a perfect day!

holly hobby

One of my favorite childhood birthday memories is from the year I turned 7.



I absolutely loved 'Holly Hobby' at this age! One of my presents that year was a Holly Hobby doll that my mom had made for me. I remember carrying that doll around forever and thinking she was just the prettiest doll ever!

I still have the doll in my cedar chest although she is missing her bonnet, apron and shoes....Let's just say she was very loved!!



This homemade, from the heart, doll was so special to me and will always be a special birthday memory!

I am joining Scottsville today for "A Walk Down Memory Lane."

a hockey weekend

Friday afternoon we headed out of town for a hockey weekend. Drew's hockey team was having some team events Friday and Saturday in a quaint little town of New Ulm.

Friday night Drew's team and the dads went to a Mankato State hockey game.



On Saturday, they had a scrimmage and a practice.



And had some fun in the hotel.



I had never been to this old little German town before so it was fun to explore the new sights and to take some pictures.



::the historical society-musuem::



::a church::



::the Glockenspiel- the door opens up on the bottom several times a day to produce some additional figures and bell chimes::



::an antique store::



::these next photos are from the Schell Brewery which was suprisingly a beautiful place on goregeos grounds::











It was a fun weekend for the boys and for the parents!

Cowboy Cookies

I made these Cowboy Cookies recently and oh they were good!



1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 2/3 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 cup M&M's
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, chopped

Mix sugars, butter, eggs and vanilla in mixing bowl. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then stir in oatmeal, m&m's, chocoalte chips, and pecans. Roll cookie dough inot 1 1/2 inch balls and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

a fall memory

This photo is one of my favorite photos taken of my sister and me when we were little. I am not really sure why I love this picture so much- but over the years, whenever I come across this photo, I always stop and look an extra second or two.

This picture was taken in the fall of 1972. My sister was 1 1/2 and I was almost 4 years old.

I am joining Scottsville today for "A Walk Down Memory Lane."

Notre Dame weekend

This past weekend, while we were busy celebrating birthdays, Jake had the opportunity to go to Notre Dame with his good friend. Jake and his friend R met in preschool and have been friends ever since.

over the years R has invited Jake many times to go to Notre Dame with him and his family but for various reasons it has never worked out. Until this weekend! Jake had so much fun!

And I was so happy when Jake came home with pictures from the weekend! His friend's mom had taken a bunch of pictures and even had them printed out before they came home! Yeah!







This next picture is of Jake making the touchdown sign in front of "Touchdown Jesus".

Wikipedia says: The stadium is known for its view of "Touchdown Jesus", a nickname given to the large mural by Millard Sheets of the resurrected Jesus entitled "The Word of Life", located on Hesburgh Library, which looms over the stadium mirroring the raised arms of a referee signifying a touchdown. The stadium expansion had the side effect of partially obscuring the view of Touchdown Jesus from the field.

Jake and R at the football game.



Jake had such a great time and came home with a lot of great stories and memories!