Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has/had a very Merry Christmas!  I'm about 3 blog posts behind, so maybe you'll see Christmas photos in a few weeks!  Here is one of our tree I took last night after playing Santa.

Another CJ classic

Emma was over the other day when the UPS man made a delivery.  CJ thinks everytime the UPS man comes he's delivering more Christmas presents to be wrapped and placed under the tree.

Emma: CJ what is it
CJ:  **recognizing the Medtronic logo on the box**  oh, it's just stuff for my mom's diarrhea
Me: Diabetes, it's diabetes CJ

Beginner Hockey Checklist

1) Silly parents willing to shell out $300 for hockey registration
2) Over-exuberant dad and 1 trip to Hockey Giant for hockey gear, another $300 spent
3) An alarm clock for those early morning hockey practice times
4) 1 flexible life schedule to be rearranged 10 times to accommadate the changing hockey schedule
5) 1 mom to volunteer to spend 3 hours (x4) in the concession stand to recoup her $100 volunteer fee
6) Lipstick for said mom, since that is the only thing that seperates us from a pitbull - at least according to Sarah Palin!   ***Edited for Mara***
'
It's all worth it, he loves it and is pretty stinkin' cute in all his gear!

Go #17!

Pony Black Team

Oops!

Next up on the list - a garter to hold up those hockey socks!  And unfortunatley I'm not kidding, he now has a garter belt to hold up his hockey socks.

Huh?

Very short blog...too funny not to share...I promise the hockey pictures are coming soon.

Today CJ got home from school and said he wanted to look at weapons on the computer.  Excuse me? 
Me: why
CJ: *makes sound of I don't know* (not sure how to type that out)  uuuuuhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaauuuuhhhhhhhh
Me: CJ I think that's a little inapporpriate
CJ: No it's not (with much attitude)
Me: Why would you want to look at pictures of guns and stuff
CJ: (with the most "mom you are an idiot" tone) They're not guns they're like little stuffed animals
Me: huh
CJ: webkons
Me:  oooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, webkinz!

**whispers** I see dead people

After my 2nd (or so I thought) encounter with "ghosts" in the last month, I figured it was blog worthy.

Back in November while the guys were at the Vikings game, the kids and I hung out with Mara and the girls in Forest Lake.  Into the afternoon the kids (and dogs) were in some definate need of outside time and we decided to go for a walk.  Now why the typical Bain walk usually includes the cemetary loop, I'm not sure but we're always up for whatever and it hadn't been our first trek into the cemetary.  In the back section of the cemetary is a children's memorial garden area with nice plantings, statues and benches.  On this particular day there was a woman sitting completely errect at the top of the slope looking down into the garden area.  She never moved, there wasn't a car in sight and more oddly she looked like she had just stepped out of a bad 80's music video.  Tightly permed, blond, big hair, matching stone/acid washed denim jacket and jeans.  Freaked Mara and I out, we wondered where she came from? why she never moved? was she real?  had she died in the 80s and was a ghost?  had she lost a child and come to grieve in the cemetery?  Very strange...

Fast forward to this month and for some reason while driving by the cemetery in Apple Valley I noticed a car in the drive.  There was a man standing looking at a grave.  I'm not sure why this even caught my attention, maybe because I don't usually see people in there and I drive past it everyday.  A few days later I happened to notice the man again, but this time there was no car.  Same jacket, same grave, same stance.  Now I was a little freaked out especially given the previous encounter in Forest Lake.  The next day I looked again and he was there again!  So with no traffic in sight I slowed down to get a really good look and noticed.... it's a freaking statue!  Totally looks like a back view of a guy standing there wearing a tan hooded sweatshirt possibly holding a cup of coffee.

Dork.

But I'm still not convinced on the Forest Lake incident...unless there was a mixup at the statuary and they got the 80s rocker chic instead of the angel statue.

A Most Happy Thanksgiving!

If one can judge the success of a Thanksgiving weekend by the quantity of butter consumed, this weekend would surely be deemed a SUCCESS!  Allow me to lead you on a pictoral and culinary tour of our weekend.

The true Thanksgiving prep began weeks before with the creation of "The Thanksgiving File", an Excel document complete with guest list, menu, shopping list, and timeline (will be so handy in 2 years when I host Thanksgiving again).  Wednesday morning I started my turkey in its brine.  FACT:  after 5 years Ziplock Big Bags deteriorate.  But despite the holes, ripped seams and brined kitchen floor, it still yielded a great turkey. 
We had 20 for Thanksgiving dinner!  After some creative table arranging we all fit!  Dinner was delicious!

Nick looking cute in his Thanksgiving garb

Dad tries to explain to Diego the meaning of Thanksgiving, "you see there were these pilgrims..."

Jason discovers the reason they invented turkey lifters...a hot turkey is well...hot.

CJ wonders where all the food and other kids are at the children's table.

Reagan

Yum!

Need some new recipes?

Best turkey recipe ever : Martha Stewart's Perfect Roast Turkey
Mashed Potatoes - these are the best because you can make them the day before
Tarragon Green Beans
Sweet Potatoes
Cranberries

I don't know why I didn't take pictures of our glorious desserts but they were...
Pecan Pie
Apple Pie
Chocolate Pie (chocolate flavored butter)

And you need lots of wine!

Emily and Mark

Nick succumbs to the power of the turkey

Rich plays Sommelier

Looks like Mark's in trouble, CJ has him in handcuffs and Rylee has a gun.

Mom and Emily

Black Friday ads were devoured

Lists were made

Then CJ convinced me to let him take control of the camera! He got some great pictures!

Nice picture of Charlie, cheesy picture of me

Grandma Pattie and Nicholas

Papa Chuck

Rylee and Sophia

I think Sara needs more wine

Papa Craig

Reagan

Rylee

Jason

Rich

Diego

 

Charlie sets up a Facebook account for his mom...everyone befriend Pattie LeFebvre!

Wow, I'm impressed at CJs photos!

Friday morning we were up for our tradition of Black Friday shopping!  No photos were taken, but many a deal was scored!

Friday afternoon the guys went to the Wild game with Uncle Don.  Great-Grandma Dora and Aunt Phyllis came to visit - not sure where the camera was!

Friday evenings dinner consisted of:
Chicken in Potato Baskets (yum!) and a salad
They were supposed to be Turkey, but oops, no leftover turkey.  So, after the biggest poultry consumption day of the year, I'm at Target buying rotisserie chickens!

Saturday morning we were up and making Cinnamon Rolls and Breakfast Pizza.
Yum...the best cinnamon rolls ever!

Saturday afternoon the Bains headed out (with CJ in tow) and the remainder of us headed to the Hollidazzle Parade.

Emily, Mark & Brooke

Look at the crowd!  Good thing we got there early to claim our spots!

Nick and Brooke all bundled up waiting for the parade to start!

Look at Nick in his cute cold weather outfit

Nick LOVED the parade, I think the trains were his favorite...he would say "choo choo" and "more!"

Whew...I'm tired!  A great weekend!  And that butter tally, 7 1/2 pounds!  Time to hit the gym.

More family photo fun!

Got Sleep?

Nick is in that fun annoying stage of transitioning from taking a nap to no nap, although I think before the age of 2 is a bit too early in my book. 

Yesterday we were outside while Clark Charlie was hanging Christmas lights on the house.  Nick apparently didn't agree when it was time to go inside to get ready for dinner.  He had a full blown kick-my-legs, throw-my-head melt down on the stairs.  Things went quiet and this is what I found... (and yes he's alive)

Guess he's maybe not so ready to give up that nap afterall, just try convincing him of that!

Things to do in life...Meet Pioneer Woman...Check!

What a day! When I heard Ree (Pioneer Woman) was coming to the MOA for a book signing, I knew I HAD to be there. Of course (as do most great events) it was on a day I had to work. There was great stress into the decision on when to arrive for the signing. She was to sign between 1 and 3, Mall opens at 10:00 (but earlier for walkers), didn't want to miss it...yada yada yada. We (Emily and I) came to the decision that 9:00am would be about right. And boy were we spot on! #2 in line (well actually #3, #1 had went to buy her book). According to the story Trish Van Pilsum did for Channel 9 there were 550 people there for the signing! As usual, all best summed up in pictures.

We met some new friends along the way!

The suspense of waiting at the end about killed us, what side would she enter from, what was she going to wear, was she as nervous as we were!

Isn't she beautiful!

Emily and Mark's PW photo turned out great...mine not so much. I guess that is what you get for handing your camera over to someone else to drive!

Here is a pic of the two of us...I think she was saying "Watch it lady, or I'll stick my pen in your eye." Not really, she was FAR too kind for that!

Isn't this a great "signing" shot!

Great experience, I'd love to do it all over again!

A few of my Owen favorites...so far!

I wanted to take this little guy home. So cute! And I think they need some captions...

Hey Ladies!

Watch out big city, here I come!

I'm sure I'll be posting more, I've just started processing these!