WHAT?!

I just saw a commercial for a bath tub with a door to it. WHAT???!!!!

Who taps the water in while they're IN the bath? Then you get in the bath all naked and cold. You never get that amazing, "ahhhh, its nice and warm" feeling. You're like the frog who slowly gets boiled and never realizes it.

Maybe I'm silly and everyone but me does that.

Just saying.

This week's goals

Happy New Year!! Cameron, Malone and I brought in the New Year like the part-ay animals we all know we are...asleep by 10pm. We just like to think that we are saving up all our party energy for years to come.

I know it is traditional to reflect on the past year, evaluate personal goals and set new ones for the year to come. Actually, this is a family tradition of mine that stretches back to what I'm sure was the beginning of my life. But since I'm not sure what the next month will hold, never mind the year, I will start with weekly goals. Some might call them "to-do" lists, but I want to jump on the New Year's bandwagon too and call them goals. So here we go, in no particular order:

1) Pack my hospital bag- Unpreparedness makes me nervous. Plus, who wants to try to remember socks and extra toothpaste when you're in labor? Not me, that's who.

2) Clean every room in my house, from top to bottom- All of a sudden last night, it was like a veil was lifted from my eyes. The scales of cleanliness fell off of them, and I realized there were greasy fingerprints all over the oven, little splatters of something in the microwave, some sort of weird dirt collection on the inside of the dishwasher door and little bits of food in the cracks between the counter and the stove. And that was only in the kitchen. Nesting much?

3) Spend some good, quality, play time with Malone- She's kinda fun like that, so it doesn't take much extra effort.

4) Grocery shop- Not really that exciting of a goal, but a necessary one nonetheless.

5) Research some organic/grass fed/real free range, meat options- More to come on this later, but one of our big family goals this year is to ensure that we are being responsible with what we put in our bodies, not only for the effects it has on us but also system wide. I'm not really a natural hippie kind of person, but some things are hard to ignore. But like I said, more to come on this subject at a later time.

6) Plan Malone's birthday party- Her birthday is in 2 weeks and since baby will be coming shortly after her birthday (can I hope for before her birthday?) I want to make sure to really make her birthday special for her. So this week, I need to think through all that....invites, presents, decorations, theme (?). I'll keep you updated.

7) Spend some good time doing this week's bible study- Have I told you about the fabulous bible study I'm a part of? Its a bunch of girls from Cameron's squadron (and a few not), and we're doing a Beth Moore study on the Tabernacle. Its been soooo good. And I always find that when I really spend the time doing the homework, meditating on it, that I get so much out of it.

8) Get last minute items for baby- I'm kind of excited to go to Target (which I love and have a gift card for) and buy some of the little last minute things we still need. On my list: some blankets, hats, Boppy cover, and pacifiers. Easy, eh?

9) If Cameron is here, have a baby. If Cameron is not here, do not have a baby. Ok, scratch that. Actively work on being patient in waiting for the most healthy time to have the baby - Blah, blah, blah. This might be the hardest of them all.

Well there you go. I know you all are just brimming with excitement over my weekly to-do...ahem....goals. I'll give you an update next week on what I actually accomplished.

1+1+1= 3

Eating at P.F. Chang's


+


Running from one end of Denver International Airport to the other (and back again) because Frontier isn't particularly organized at checking people in and DIA closes the security line closest to us and our plane home is about to board in...like....NOW!!!

+


Being 36 weeks pregnant


=


Gross/puffy/weird looking/kinda hurting/wish it would have never happened/I'm done being pregnant/I'll spare you the pictures, swollen feet


the end.

Christmas 2009

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas full of family, love, food, laughter, relaxation and celebrating the birth of Jesus. Around here, we had a great Christmas and luckily for us, our "Christmas" will be extended just a little longer, as we're leaving tomorrow to see Cameron's family in Wyoming. Yay!I was preparing all last week for the upcoming celebration feasts I had planned. Here's what our menu turned out to be:

Christmas Eve: French Onion Soup, Pear & Avocado Salad, and for dessert, Croquembouche.
Christmas Morning: Homemade Cinnamon rolls, fruit, and breakfast casserole
Christmas Dinner: Prime Rib, Au Jus, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, pumpkin fritters and a hypothetical almond cake which I never made.

It all turned out great....except for the Croquembouche. After all my hard work, one batch of my little cream puffs didn't exactly "puff". In all actuality, they were as flat as pancakes. See, they should have been on the cover of Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat.But I made some more, still not quite like they should be, but it worked. I made the cream custard, filled them, made the caramel "glue" and put it all together. The end result looked great and tasted even better.
Here's the prime rib. Ummm...why have I not made this before?!! It was sooooo easy and soooo good! BEFORE:
AFTER:
Our Christmas dinner:

Now, onto more important things....PEOPLE. We were lucky enough to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas day with Cameron's good friend, Beau Suder. We were so glad that he could be a part of our family (which he already is) for this special occasion.

This is Beau enjoying his Christmas presents from us.After dinner, we read the story of Jesus' birth and then opened our stockings. Apparently, Santa comes early to our house.
Christmas morning of course was a bit earlier than it used to be. But exciting nonetheless. We handed out our gifts and took turns opening them one by one. Malone didn't quite understand this situation and just wanted to open all of them at once. We all were so blessed by all the gifts we received. My personal favorite was some pretty little earrings from Cameron.I gave Cameron some new wine glasses and a decanter.

My favorite gift to give was definitely Malone's box! Christmas eve, after she was in a deep slumber, we had to put it together. With lots of help from Cameron and Beau, we finally finished it. It was awesome!! It has a door, windows, curtains and even a roof. Granted, it does look a little ghetto with it only being partly painted...spray painted, that is...apparently there's not as much paint in a can of spray paint as you'd think. But still, its AWESOME!After gifts, we had breakfast, relaxed all day and I finished cooking dinner. Here's Cameron and I about to eat breakfast....still in our pjs. Once we were sufficiently stuffed from dinner, we headed over to our friends, the Scheuermans', where we solved world hunger problems, wars, government and then played Settlers of Catan until the wee hours.

It was a perfect ending!

Our own Christmas Traditions

This year we will be alone for Christmas. Our own little family. We will miss our families dearly and wish we could all be together for this time of year. But, there is something about starting our own traditions, building those memories with our own children that I'm excited about.

As we've been preparing for this holiday season Cameron and I have often talked about what traditions we would like to incorporate into our little family. You've already read about how we decorated the house, put up the tree and made cookies. Well, now we're really onto the nitty gritty of Christmas Eve, Christmas morning, the presents, Santa and of course the food. So here's a couple of things we're gonna try this year:

- Presents: I read somewhere & heard about it from Stephanie, about doing 4 presents for the kids. One they want, one they wear, one they read, one they need. Cute, economical, just right for us, I think. However, since Malone is so little she's getting a book, a box and some fun little stocking stuffers. Sh.... don't tell her. I'll explain the book and box when they're finished. You'll want to see this for sure.

- Food: I'm working on the menus right now. I think we're doing something light for Christmas eve dinner (maybe soup & salad) and this beauty called Croquembouche (they're little cream puffs made into a tower) for dessert. Christmas morning, I'm thinking fruit and homemade cinnamon rolls. And for Christmas lunch/dinner, ribeye roast. Still working on the details. Plus, I kind of want it to be a surprise for Cameron.

- Christmas morning: I love reading the story of Jesus' birth. Then, opening presents. Then, thanking the Lord for what our gifts represent, His gift to us, Jesus.

I want to hear from you! What Christmas traditions do you love from your family? Any food ideas? PS: I have to warn you, I might steal your ideas.

Baby Update

Yes folks, I am 33 weeks pregnant with little baby boy Schaefer. My belly feels huge, although I am told its not really that big. My back is sore, maybe due to the nerve in my lower back that he's using as a pillow and my ribs are bruised due to our little athlete's early training program. But otherwise I'm feeling pretty darn good. Here's a good look at the belly.

Its weird to think that in 7 weeks, the playing field will be a bit more even on the Team Kids vs. Team Parents game. We're ready for the most part, just missing a couple of little things like pacifiers and washcloths. Really, I just need to get my butt in gear and go to the store and buy it. Worse comes to worse, who needs pacifiers and washcloths to survive?

We've decided on what kind of double stroller we want, but we'll probably wait until the baby gets here to see if we really need it. For you gear heads, after much research we've decided on the Baby Jogger City Mini Double stroller. Beautiful, I know...but that's not why we're getting it. What kind of researcher would I be if the reason ended there?And I still need to order my baby wrap/sling/thing.

See, having a baby is easy. :) hahaha.

Oh speaking of easy, I had my first appointment with the mid-wife this week. Yes, I took the plunge and switched to the mid-wifery program. I switched for many reasons but mostly for continuity of care within our crazy military medical system. Still not 100% sold on the natural birth, because I just loved the dickens out of my epidural when I had Malone. But we'll see.

Ummm...I was a little concerned however, when we were talking about Malone's birth and I informed the mid-wife that Malone's birth was only 5 hours long (pretty short for a first baby) and I was induced (which I guess usually means labor is longer). She just looked at me and laughed and said, "Well, girl, I wouldn't wait until your contractions get too regular before you come to the hospital! But don't worry, I guess you can always call 911. You wouldn't be the first." What?!!! Plus, we live a good 30-45 minutes from the hospital! Needless to say, my fears about having this baby in the Jeep, in traffic, on the way to the hospital, with Cameron having to cut the umbilical chord with rope or butter knife, was NOT relieved.

On the plus side of things, I get a special maternity parking permit at my next appointment. They have special...aka..super close parking spots reserved for preggos all over the base. I don't usually shop at the Commissary (grocery store) very often, but I will start, just so I can use my handy dandy parking permit.

Anyways, there's the long awaited baby update. I better run. Time to test Cameron on his "delivering a baby in a cinch" procedures. Luckily for him, no flash cards will be used today. Ha Ha. One can never be too prepared.

Cameron's Birthday Feast- Part 2

And the feasting continues!

After I got the beef short ribs in the oven, and they roasted nice and slow for a couple hours, I took it out. Since the ribs rendered so much fat, I transferred the mixture to another bowl and put it in the fridge for a little bit, so that the fat could harden, making it a million times easier to remove. A little bit of fat adds flavor, but no one wants to feel like they are drinking oil.

While the beef was de-fatting (you like that? I just made it up...on the spot...I'm smart like that), it was time to start on desserts. I know, people, I really love my husband. I was in the kitchen, literally, THE WHOLE DAY. No resting for this little pregnant lady.

Chocolate cake is one of Cameron's absolute favorites. So much so, that I had already made another one 2 days earlier for our missional community at church. Aren't they beauties? I wish I liked chocolate cake more.
Selfishly, I made a dessert for me too. I'm a little bit of a fruit fanatic, so when my friend Brittany made this cobbler of the blueberry variety, I knew I was in love. So I made it with blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, all on sale at Safeway for $1.98 a pack. It was meant to be.
Consider this cobbler my rest. Who needs to sit down or take a nap when they can have this?
(This isn't even cooked yet)
Oh yes, and somewhere in here I roasted some vegetables. Zucchini, parsnips (my new fave), potatoes, onions...all until they are nice and golden.

Then it was time to enjoy the fruits of my labor along with our good friend, Beau Suder. Boy, it was good. Its going in my "favorite" recipes file.
Luckily the night didn't end there... dessert was still left and some of our favorite friends showed up to help.
Here's the girls. The boys were WAY too deep in solving the world's problems to be bothered for a picture.

Ahhh, good food + good friends = one great night!