Videos from Santa

We have believers here, and I love it. (Although with Paxton being in the middle school, I'm pretty sure this could be the last year of his innocence involving Santa). A couple of years ago, a friend told me about PNP, or "Portable North Pole" where you can go, enter a few pertinent facts about your child and they will create a video from Santa. Watching the kids faces as they watch what Santa has to say to them is priceless. He "knows" that Paxton is supposed to be trying his best when doing his homework and that Beckett is supposed to by working on being nice to his brother. He knows just where we live, so he can find up on Christmas Eve too. There is also an option to make a video for a naughty child, but fortunately we've never had to click on that option =)

Cousins!!

For Thanksgiving this year, the little boys were fortunate enough to get to have some cousin time! Kurt's cousin lives in Minnesota, so the kids unfortunately, don't get to see each other often enough. But its fun when they DO get to! Carson is an athlete's athlete. And Beckett? Well, Beckett is NOT. But Carson was so patient in showing Beckett the right way to throw the football and didn't get annoyed once they he only caught about 3% of Beckett's crappy throws, HA!

Meal Planning Monday

Honestly, this week is going to be SO lame in the meal-planning that I'm not even linking up today--HA! Monday Kurt had fire, Tuesday I've over-scheduled myself, so I plan to be SLEEPING when it's dinner time and my lovely husband is going to be in charge!! Beckett has been wanting tacos, so maybe that'll be for Wednesday night, Thursday I'll pull something out of the freezer, because that sucker is FULL. Friday I'm headed to my Bestie's house to do our annual Christmas shopping, so that'll wipe out the weekend!! Told you it was NOT impressive!!!

Best Buds

Grandpa and his little buddy!!!

What's for Supper Saturday?

Pinterest is one of my favorite websites of all times--and I know I'm not alone in thinking that, HA! I get LOTS of recipes from pinning, and I have to say, MOST of them have been hits. This was for dinner a couple of weeks ago, everything was super simple: The chicken breasts were dijon mustard, maple syrup, red wine vineagar, S&P and rosemary. Sprinkle with S&P, mix the mustard, syrup and vinegar, pour over the chicken and bake, when done sprinkle with rosemary. The taters: boil baby reds until almost done. Brush a baking sheet with olive oil, put the taters on the baking sheet and smash them down a bit brush with olive oil, sprinkle with cracked pepper, kosher salt and rosemary, pop in the oven to crisp them up a bit! Then I just made some glazed carrots to go along with. It was a darn yummy meal if I do say so myself =)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Turkey day to all!!!!! We'll be enjoying the day with family, the way I wish everyone could....

Cyber Shopping!

I was starting to feel a little stressed about the upcoming Christmas season. I hadn't done a bit of shopping and didn't seem to have many ideas on what I should even be looking for. I am NOT a Black Friday shopper. That scene is NOT for me. I just KNOW I would be headlining the nightly news on every network as the shopper who got shanked while lining up outside of a Toys R Us at 4am in order to save $3 on a lego set. Yep, not that big of a risk taker. Plus, I firmly believe that as the big day draws closer, stores will do anything to get consumers through their doors with plastic in hand in order to move merchandise---including slash prices to Black Friday proportions. I FINALLY got some cooperation from a few people on my list and last night/this morning while working, I got busy on some websites and made an incredible dent on my list. EVERTHING was on sale, a few things at 50% off even and I got free shipping on every item I got. AND, by late afternoon today, I had gotten email confirmation that every gift I bought had left the warehouse and was on its way to me =) I still have to hit brick and mortar stores for some things, and I do that on a weekend shopping binge with my bestie during the first weekend in December. Starting to feel good about this years season now!!

Menu Planning Monday

OK, technically it's now Tuesday, but I'm still linking up with and the hundreds of other bloggers who post their weekly menus. Singletons to families, vegetarian, gluten-free, with recipes--you will find it all over there! Obviously, it's Thanksgiving week, so that cuts down on some cooking that I'll be doing--HA! What we ARE having though: Monday: We worked on leftovers! Tuesday: Bacon-wrapped steak on the grill, baked taters, veggie Wednesday: Chicken breasts with a Pinterest recipe of some sort, sides Thursday: Turkey Day!!! Friday: Shrimp via Pinterest, rice, green beans Saturday: Pork chops in the crock pot (Pinterest!), taters, peas Sunday: Goulash from the freezer, rolls A LOT of my meal inspirations come from Pinterest, as you may have noticed. If you're not on it, you really need to be =)

Four Thumbs-up!!

That would be 2 from me and 2 from Kurt! We had a little date night last night for my birthday since he'll be working on the ACTUAL day. We both really wanted to see Lincoln and then we buzzed to Galena for a nice dinner. I've read a couple of places that Daniel Day-Lewis will win an Oscar for best actor, no matter who else is in the category, which I agree with. I also think that Tommy Lee Jones will be snagging a nomination for best supporting. We'll find out if I'm right, LOL!!!

Flashback Friday

This picture is 3 years old already! I can't even lift one of these boys now, much less two. I know Daddy can handle one easily--not so sure he can reproduce this pose though =)

City Boys on the Farm

Once a month, my extended family on my Dad's side gets together on a Sunday for lunch, rotating amongst different Aunts and Uncles houses. A couple of weeks ago it was at my Aunt Denise's and just up the road is a little farmette that had a new 2-day old donkey. That meant taking a tiny road trip to go see him =) Besides the donkey's there were lots of sheep, some goats and a few kittens. Parker wondered if the goats were safe because they were "staring him down" (his words, HA!) Beckett was so proud of himself because he was able to catch the kitty he is holding all by himself. There was LOTS of looking down while we walked, if you know what I mean!!!!

Menu Planning Monday

Another Monday, another weekly posting of what will be served at Casa Tuescher for the next week. Last week we only had one little hitch when Kurt had to attend a visitation during dinner so we resorted to take-out, but this RARELY happens when I meal plan!! My Pinterest tries last week were also hits (I thought), so I think we'll be seeing them again in the future. I'm linking up, as always to where at least a couple of hundred other blogs link up each week too. For us this week: Monday: Kurt had fire, the boys mooched, I had Cheerios =) Tuesday: Spaghetti and Meatballs, salad, garlic bread Wednesday: A Pinterest creation with Chicken breasts, red potatoes and green beans Thursday: Potato soup in the crock pot (Pinterest), Crusty bread Friday: Barbecue on buns, french fries (maybe homemade), baked beans Saturday: Steaks on the grill, baked taters, corn (Pinterest) Sunday: TBD, will pull something from the freezer!!

Date Night (in the Afternoon)

This afternoon Arielle was sweet enough to come sit with the little boys so Kurt and I could go see Argo. We've been wanting to see it and had heard great things--and we agreed. We both enjoyed it. Suspenseful even though I KNEW how it was going to end =) Our last movie was Hotel Translyvania and next weekend we want to see "Lincoln". Our movie tastes are all over the map!

A boy and a dirt pile

Can a boy resist a whole trough of dirt? Not if they're one of ours. There is a built in planter/flower box that runs along a big window at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The boys are allowed to dig all they want until flowers are living there! I can live with a little dirt when the kid doing the digging looks so darn cute in a puffer vest =)

Decision 2012

Well, election day is behind us!!! And to be done with all of the ads (You're DAMN right, in Wisconsin comes to mind), the endless phone calls and smack talk on facebook (seriously, people unfriend each other over this stuff! For Pete's sake, I married a man who often votes differently than I do!), makes me very happy. But I'm happy most of all that we have the freedom to make the decision of who will work to lead this country. I'm also happy that Arielle and Parker chose to exercise their right to vote as well. We all went at separate times, with Arielle having to wait in line the longest---she couldn't even see the area where our district votes when she walked in the building, HA! And, I'm pretty happy that "my" guy is sticking around so that Big Bird can stick around!

Menu Planning Monday

Well, after having the last 2 weeks off (funny how vaction fell right in the middle of 2 weeks of meal planning--HA!), I am back at it and linking up to (and I have to get that fixed too!!!) where you can find many more great ideas for dinners. For us this week: Monday: Taco pasta (pinterest!), tossed salad Tuesday: Hawaiian chicken in crockpot (pinterest!), rice, veggie Wednesday: Ham, potatoes, green bean casserole Thursday: Burgers on the grill, potato salad, deviled eggs Friday: Chicken breasts (worlds best--pinterest), stuffing, skillet corn Saturday: Something with leftover ham Sunday: chicken/broccoli casserole with leftover chicken, rolls

After the Storm

Eventually Sandy ran out of steam in NC and took her destructive self to the North and we were left with flat, wet, smooth beach. We had to brave a little water to get to it, as Brigette demonstrates, but it was worth wet feet. Chris and I found lots of shells to take home to our boys, a few unopened clams and SpongeBob Squarepants' friend Patrick Star, who clearly lost his green boxer shorts in the storm!!