Guest Blogger - Aunt Cat visits for the holiday

Three generations of red-heads on Christmas Eve

Addy & Lilly have said "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!" approximately 400 times since I arrived last Wednesday. On Christmas Eve we went to church and they walked up to the nativity and wished Baby Jesus a happy birthday and then proceeded to have a little wrestling match over who got to hold Baby Jesus. They also enjoyed the electric candles at the service and kept turning them on and off. All in all I think they were very good at church; however, the irony of the two of them singing Silent Night was not lost on anyone in the congregation.

We left some cookies for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer and an Addy & Lilly dictated note that said (verbatim):

Writing our letter to Santa...

Dear Santa, Will you please bring me & sissy some gummis and some toys and some wine for Grandma and some french fries? Give Rudolph some carrots and enjoy the cookies and milk!

We had a little bit of a discussion about what Santa would like to drink, Lilly thought Santa would like a "cold beer." I think maybe someone needs to have an intervention with Addy & Lilly's mom & dad and grandparents.

On Christmas morning they were really excited to see if Santa ate the cookies and they got a note from Santa that thanked them for being such good girls and told them to have fun on their new bikes! So they ran into the family room and saw their new bikes - no tricycles here! They figured out that a much more fun way to ride a bike is to be pushed on the bike by an adult and have a race with sissy all over the house:)

The loot...Santa was good to everyone!

Lilly loved opening all her new books and gave them a quick flip through to make sure the books were to her liking. Addy loved opening up all her dolls for her dollhouse. They quickly zeroed in on their interests. They loved their magic fingerpaints from Uncle Jon - the fingerpaints only work on the magic paper - otherwise I think Mommy would have put Uncle Jon in a timeout. We made cupcakes together which was a little bit like the blind leading the blind - I told them I would have been better off making toast. A Christmas miracle happened and the cupcakes actually turned out pretty good!

Addy with a few of her new dolls

Baking Christmas cupcakes with Aunt Cat

Lilly with her new blanket from Jeremy's Aunt Cindy

Sadly they refused a nap on Christmas Day - but they were troopers through our 20 person dinner! They had a wonderful time at the party and seeing their family and "helping" to open up more presents.

My brillant, beautiful nieces are growing up though - they have opinions and god help you if you don't listen to them. They do operate on the whoever talks the loudest gets to speak rule. They each have a bit of a dictatorial streak in them and I think there is general consensus that they get that from their mom! They are so kind and loving - always giving hugs and kisses. I think we need to get Addy & Lilly run & hug on tv! They actually run at each other (olympic speed) and crash into a hug - all the while screaming at the top of their lungs "RUN AND HUG - RUN AND HUG!"

Addy & Lilly - I love you two! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - Happy Birthday Baby Jesus! I cannot wait until I see you again - don't grow up too fast and try for the sake of your mommy and daddy to get some sleep - I think if you slept a little bit more mommy might need a little less wine and daddy might need a little less cold beer:)

Grandpa Ian with Lilly, Aunt Cat with Addy, checking out Baby Jesus in the church nativity

Pumpkins aren't just for carving...

Those who knew me well in college will think its pretty entertaining that I'm putting recipes up on my blog considering I lived off of grilled chicken breasts for most of my 20's. However, with 1 picky eater and 1 who will eat almost anything, I've had to get creative, especially when it comes to sneaking in different flavors and veggies. It's bad enough that they ask for chicken nuggets every time we pass the golden arches. Anyway, here's what we've been cooking...

(DISCLAIMER--THE GRIDLE WAS NOT PLUGGED IN ON THE COUNTER)Pumpkin Pancakes--Recipe courtesy of 4tunate

2 cups pure canned pumpkin

6 eggs

1 cup flour

2/3 cup milk

6 T brown sugar

1 t baking soda

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t salt

1/2 t nutmeg

4 T Butter

*Combine all the ingrediants in a large bowl, stir until blended, add butter & batter to a hot skillet and flip when set.

Addy gave it 2 thumbs up!

Pumpkin Penne--Recipe courtesy of the November issue of PARENTS magazine

1, 12 oz box whole wheat penne

1 T olive oil

1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup fat free evaporated milk

1, 15 oz can pumpkin

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 t pumpkin pie spice

1/4 t salt

1/4 t pepper

Fresh parsley to garnish

1 1/2 oz grated parmesan cheese

Cook pasta, drain, return to pot, cover to keep warm

*Meanwhile, heat oil on medium. Whisk in broth, evaporated milk, pumpkin, and spices. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, simmer, uncovered for 4-5 minutes, occasionally stirring.

Toss pasta with the sauce and cheese, spoon into bowls and top with parsley...yum, yum!

Lilly LOVED this dish!

Bloghop...favorite recipe

I'm going to try participating in this bloghop today, just for some fun! Here's a fav recipe in our house.

Potato-chip crusted salmon

What you'll need: 1 side of salmon (this recipe is for 3 lbs, but you can do less or more), fresh ground pepper, 5.5 ounce bag kettle cooked potato chips, lime for zest, 1/3 cup chopped dill and 2 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 F, line a baking sheet with alumninum foil. Lay salmon, skin side down on the sheet, season with salt & pepper. Crush potato chips, lime zest and dill in a bowln until the chips resemble bread crumbs (you can also bag in a ziploc and have your kids help you crush). Mix in olive oil. Then coat the salmon with a thin, even layer of crumbs, pat gently so they stay put. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until chip coating is browned. Use 2 spatulas to transfer onto a platter or plates.

Enjoy!

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