Santa Visit

Christmas is so much more fun when you have little kids! With 2 kids this year, we decided to go visit Santa. Eva has obviously never seen Santa before and Ethan only has once. Boy was it a traumatizing experience. He was 16 months old and wouldn't go anywhere near the man. When he got close, he started bawling and wouldn't go on his lap, so I didn't get a picture.

Now that he's 3 and a self proclaimed "big boy", we decided to give it another go. It was a success! Noone cried and Ethan very happily asked the man in red for "Ned and a cement mixer". For those of you who don't know, Ned is an excavator type truck from the Thomas and Friends series. 

As for Eva, she just stared and then smiled.

The Santa visit went really smoothly - it was in a little Santa "house" in our downtown area. Mrs. Claus handed out goody bags to the kids while we waited in line. We got there right when it opened at 5:30, so we were the 3rd family in line. And best of all, it was free! Free is a parents' favorite word :) Seriously though, it was nice because there was no pressure to buy some ridiculously over priced picture package. Santa was very serious looking though, but it didn't faze my kids.

Can't wait until the Santa visit next year!

"I want Ned and a cement mixer!"

Ethan and Santa

Kiddos and Santa

Eva and Santa

December Fun, Ethan style!

This is an Ethan only post with fun things that Ethan has been up to so far in December!

We went to arts and crafts at Home Depot (not pictured here), Lowe's and Anthropologie (they even had snacks for the kids there!). We made and decorated cookies from a mix so Ethan could do it all. And then we made a wonderful gingerbread house!

Being very careful with the hammer

A wonderful gingerbread house 

Painting at Anthropologie

Stirring the cookies

Such wonderful cookies!

Ready for another gingerbread house! Home Depot had reasonably priced kits!

Carefully placing the candy on the roof

One side done!

Front of the house

Top of the house - like how the frosting is all gloppy? It wasn't coming out of the icing bag very well

The back of the house :P

The side of the house

The other side of the house

Thanksgiving

I know Thanksgiving was 3 weeks ago, but I had some nice pictures I wanted to share!

It was a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year - just the 4 of us and my brother, Kevin. I thought dinner turned out pretty well, especially my gorgeous turkey! Eva was also big enough to enjoy dinner as well - I cut up bits of turkey and butternut squash to feed her! 

The day after was also nice. Our new little tradition is to head out to Grandpa and Grandma Barber's house!

My super helper crumbling the cornbread

The kiddos with Uncle Kevin

My beautiful turkey

Mashed potatoes, gravy, roasted squash and brussel sprouts, stuffing (the best part!) and turkey

Miss Eva enjoying her dinner

Ethan enjoying his dinner too!

Pumpkin pie from scratch - I bought a pumpkin, cooked it down and pureed it!

What a young girl needs to be happy - Grandpa and a big cuddly bear!

What a 3 year old needs to be happy - cheese and crackers

Scrounged Fruit and Veggie Smoothie

Day 1 and I'm already in love! With my new Vitamix that is. My chef friends have been raving about them for years, and Chris finally agreed that I could have one as a combination anniversary/birthday/Christmas present! 

In simple terms, it's a high powered blender. It requires minimal to no liquid to turn your fruits/veggies into a wonderfully creamy smoothie. I know it can do much more, but I have't played around with it yet.

I had some fruit that's been around a while (still edible, just starting to look a little aged), so it was smoothie time!

Ingredients
soy milk
1 apple, cored and quartered
1 pear, cored and quartered
1 banana, peeled
1 orange, peeled
2 big handfuls baby spinach

Instructions
-Place the apple, pear, banana orange and spinach into the blender. Add a splash of soy milk. Blend until desired consistency is reached.
-If you don't have a Vitamix, you'll probably want to rough chop your hard fruits and add more liquids to help your blender get going.
-This made enough for 2 big grown up servings and one small toddler serving.

Someone loved their smoothie!

The Grilled French Onion

While we were in the car coming home from Lowe's (hooray for free arts and crafts!), my mind began to wander. Naturally, it wandered to food! I started thinking about how good caramelized onions are, how we had a loaf of bread that needed to be used up and what we were going to have for lunch. It hit me - a grilled cheese sandwich!

This is no ordinary grilled cheese sandwich though, as you may have guessed from the blog title, but a decadent, yet simple, grilled French onion sandwich! It tastes just like French onion soup in a bread bowl!

Kelli - I think your daughter would like this :)

Ingredients

-3 medium onions, thinly sliced

-2 TB butter (more or less is fine)

-olive oil

-salt

-8 slices Swiss cheese (grated Gruyere/Emmentaler/Comte would all be tasty options, just be sure to use something Swiss-y)

-8 slices bread (I used a whole grain bread, but sourdough would also be tasty)

Instructions

-Melt butter in a stainless steel pot over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add a splash of olive oil, the onions and a pinch of salt.

-Stir occasionally until the onions turn a golden brown color. Be aware this will take a long time! The longer you cook the onions, the tastier they'll be! I only cooked mine 30 minutes (I was hungry), so they didn't turn the deep golden brown, but they were still tasty.

-Preheat grill pan (or skillet, but the grill lines just make your sandwich look prettier!) over medium heat.

-Assemble your sandwiches! Lay out 4 slices of bread. Top each slice of bread with onions, 2 slices of cheese and the second piece of bread.

-Grill 3-4 minutes per side.

-Slice and enjoy!

9 months old!

I love my Eva! I am so grateful that I have been able to stay home with her to witness all these moments.

Weight - 15lb 10oz (12%), this is how much Ethan weighed at 6 months!
Height - I was right last month in suspecting a little growth spurt - Eva is no longer off the charts short, just short :) She is a whopping 26.5 inches (13%), which means that she's grown 2.5 inches in 3 months.
***Random note, Eva's head measured at just under 18 inches, putting it in the 88th percentile!!!
Clothes - we are still in 6 month clothes. 9 month is still big, but we can wear it sometimes depending on the outfit. We are getting tons of wear out of her 6 month wardrobe!
Diapers - smallest setting for cloth diapers still. She really has not gotten much wider!
Sleep - Still a great sleeper! The routine has not changed much from last month. She wakes up around 6am. First nap is 12:30pm (after I nurse her) until 3/3:30pm. Nap #2 is 6:30/7pm (Ethan and Eva go to bed at the same time) until whenever my bedtime is.
Eating - you name it, she'll eat it! We've started a few meats (she's a big fan of turkey and chicken) and are working on finger foods.
Likes - peekaboo, being admired :)
Dislikes - daddy when mommy's in sight, other people eating in front of her (same as last month!)
New tricks - my lazy girl is FINALLY crawling! She has lost interest in standing on her own, but will occasionally attempt to cruise. She will also walk across the room with a push toy.

And now for the best part of the monthly post...pictures!

Silly faces!

Pretty girl and her big brother!

"Hmm...I wonder if this is tasty!"

"I wasn't trying to eat this!"

"This sign is so fascinating!"

What I am Thankful For...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!