Holiday Festivities

I know I'm a little late with this post but I figure I have a 30 day grace period before it's to late to post.

This year we kept it pretty low key for Christmas and New years just hanging out at home. We did however manage to put up a tree this year. I think this is the first year we had a real tree and I loved it. Christmas morning I made our traditional eggs benedict with hash browns, sausage and a baked berry french toast. We had planned on going to Sushi for dinner but were so stuffed from brunch we just lounged around and watched movies the rest of the day.

The following Monday I went to lunch with Nana, Beaner and Suhaila at Joe's Stone Crab at Caesars Forum Shops. This was my first time eating there and it was everything I heard it would be and more. We chose either a fillet mignon or the stone crab. I chose the stone crab and coleslaw. The crab meat was so tender and had the best flavor it was worth picking through all the shells to get to the meat. The coleslaw is mixed table side which I have never seen before and was the best I have ever had. To finish off the best meal ever we had a slice of banana cream pie. OMG! again the best ever, I think the thing that put it over the top was the homemade caramel sauce drizzled on top. After lunch we walk trough the Forum Shops to walk off some of the calories.

The next day Vannessa and the 3 older kids stopped by on their way home. Holidays are not the same without kids so we were so happy to have a few monkeys here to open presents and play with. A couple of weeks before Christmas Leo called to see when they would be coming to our house next because he wanted to put in his "food order". He said he wanted French toast and bacon so I made that along with eggs, rice and hashbrowns. I love that he makes random phone calls like that. After brunch they ate themselves silly with the goodies Kevin's mom sent them from Hawaii.

New Years we decided to stay in. We were going to drive out and watch the fireworks but realized we would have the best view in bed watching tv plus it was so cold. Since we were vegging out we decided to break out the deep fryer and make our own party. We had crab wantons, lumpia, dumplings, coconut shrimp egg rolls and chinese noodles. This was a great way to end the year, relaxing and spending time with family.

A Night in Paris

On Christmas Eve's Eve I was invited to see the Nutcracker at the Paris Hotel with Nana and the girls. I have never seen the Nutcracker or been to the ballet so I was totally excited. We had a little time before the performance so we stopped at the Creperie for some delicious Crepes. These were not your ordinary crepes either, they were huge and smothered in goodness. We had a mushroom and spinach, a shrimp and a ham and cheese crepe which were all topped with a creamy bechamel sauce. On the sweet side there was a chocolate and cream, a mixed berry and cream and a raspberry with lemon curd which were to die for. After stuffing our faces with utter bliss we headed to The Nutcracker. It was so cute to see all of the little kids dressed up and excited to see the ballerinas. ( I was a little excited my self) We had great seats and I was surprised how fast the show went by. The dancers were so graceful and their bodies are unbelievable. I would love to have arms like that. I think the baby mice stole the show, who doesn't love watching kids dressed up as chubby little mice jumping around a stage. It was absolutely a night to remember.

Thanksgiving weekend

I know I'm a little late but as they say "better late than never". Thanksgiving weekend was awesome on so many levels, first I cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner(with some extras for the brownies) and we had our first guests over for dinner (that's right Van you are not a guest your my sister), that night we picked up 3 monkeys for a sleepover and 1 monkey insisted on sleeping on the bed which didn't help as I woke up at 3am for Black Friday. Black Friday shopping was cold, crowded, and there was endless waiting in lines but as always I enjoyed every minute. Early Friday morning Tan had the cutest baby boy which was the highlight of the holiday. Kellee, Van and Crazy Mama were also here for the weekend so it was good times eating, hanging with family and eating some more.( I didn't get any pictures, I don't know what I was thinking)

Sunday we celebrated Bear and Maika's birthdays with lunch and a chocolate fountain.(one of the Black Friday finds)

Design on a Dime (literally)

No staple gun so we used our regular stapler

One of the arm chairs we bought didn't have a foam piece that fit so we had to ghetto rig this with a little extra felt I had.

No sewing machine so we did the nip tuck safety pin technique. Just wrapped it like a present and pinned away.

This back piece was glued to the chair and there was no way of getting it off without making a bigger mess so we did a little fold over and pinning technique. I figured no one will see the back so why not.



The finished product. We're not winning any Home & Garden awards but its definitely better than what we had.


In a hurry to make our humble abode somewhat presentable for Thanksgiving we did our version of Design on a Dime. Last Saturday we picked up a couple of arm chairs that oddly enough match our existing side chairs that I picked up at another garage sale over a year ago. In an attempt to make them all match we purchased a few yards of discount fabric at Jo Ann's and did our best at recovering them. When I say, "our best", I mean our best with out a staple gun or sewing machine. I do have to say they are a little ghetto because we had to use a regular office stapler and used the good old tuck and fold technique but they should at least get us through Thanksgiving dinner. 5 chairs $15, 6 yards of Fabric $14, 14 safety pins, staples free, uncontrollable laughter while completing this thrifty(ghetto)project, PRICELESS.

Garaging

Growing up in Avon Lake,OH I remember my mom and my aunt piling all the kids in the station wagon and going "Garaging"(hitting up garage sales). I think because of this I feel compelled to check out every garage sale sign I come across. So today we set out with a budget of $20 and this is what we came home with, 2 chairs that I will be recovering, 1 set of 4 tv dinner tables, Cuisinart food processor with all the blades, lamp, desk organizer, portable toilet(great for camping or for the valley) and 4 yams(a cute little grandma was giving them away at one of the garage sales). Everything needs a little cleaning up but definitely worth the $20 we spent today.

A Very Crismon Day

CHARLES CRISMON








SUPER CUTE!!!







We have been in Goodyear, AZ for the last couple of days spending time with Kevin's Mom who is receiving Chemo treatments at The Cancer Treatment Centers of America(I'll post more on that later). Today she was feeling really good and wanted to go for a drive so we set out for Mesa(about 35min away) to find everything Crismon. We stopped by the statue depicting the four founding fathers of Mesa ,Charles Crismon being one of the four men which is Kevin's Great great grandfather. Then we cruised down Crismon Rd and came across a cute little community called Crismon Crossing. After cruising down the road, which is quite a loooong road we stopped at Crismon Elementary which was SOOOOOOOO CUTE! We went inside to see if they had any T-Shirts or pencils or something with Crismon on it for sale. Can I just say I want to move there and have our kids go to that school. We were able to pick up a couple of shirts and they gave us a cute pendant and water bottle with the Crismon Cougar's logo on it, again sooo cute. We next went to Crismon Flowers and Crismon Baby Boutique which is owned and operated by Kevin's 2nd cousin's family. We had a quick visit with the family and found out a little more genealogy. Today was great day all around, Mom is feeling good and we got to discover more of our family history.