November | 2011 | Sweet and Tart

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

November 29, 2011 at 9:43 pm | Posted in Deliciousness, Family, Home | Leave a comment
Tags: Thanksgiving

We’re in the holiday spirit here in the B household! We had a nice low-key Thanksgiving at home for the first time since W and I have been together. We spent our first Thanksgiving as an engaged couple in Korea. For our first Thanksgiving as a married couple we drove 13 hours to visit W’s grandparents and the next year we saw the Lions play (my first pro football game!) and last year W was deployed so Duncan and I were here alone. So, even though we couldn’t be with our families this year, I was really looking forward to just being home and eating turkey at my own table.

I restrained myself from making ALL the sides I’d normally love, but we had a delicious meal nonetheless. We feasted on:

Bourbon-Molasses Glazed Turkey
Maple Pecan Sweet Potatoes
Sauteed Carrots with Sage
Apple Cornbread Stuffing
Crescent Rolls (from a can, y’all)
Pumpkin Crunch Cake

We got most of the Christmas decorations up this weekend and I finally finished my Advent wreath last night (only a day late!) after multiple trips to Michaels/Hobby Lobby. We have a faux tree this year for several reasons, but I REALLY miss having a real tree. Growing up we’d always drive to a tree farm and cut down our own tree. I’d really like to do that with LC when we actually live somewhere where trees grow 🙂 I also loved driving around to look at lights after the Christmas Eve service and having our special Christmas Eve “party” where everyone got to pick their favorite appetizer and we’d eat the appetizers and Christmas cookies and fudge for dinner.

Now that we have a baby I’m really looking forward to creating our own family traditions. What are some of your favorite Christmas/holiday traditions?

November Randoms, pt.1

November 4, 2011 at 2:22 pm | Posted in Family, Life | Leave a comment

1. W got me an iPad for our anniversary and I was sort of annoyed because: 1. It’s too expensive, 2. I don’t really need one (I have a laptop, a Kindle, and now an iPhone) and 3. I specifically told him I wanted family photos done as my gift and so I felt like he just ignored me ( which, yeah, he sort of did. BUT, I have used it a lot and really enjoy it so far. Look at me blogging on it! Wheee!

2. So I still really wanted to have pics done, but the budget was blown on that. Fortunately, I found a photog that does mini-sessions for a good price. I don’t need 5000 photos of our family from one session, just a couple to frame, so this should be perfect for that. Tomorrow is the day!

3. I keep hitting the “n” key on the iPad instead of the space bar. Does that happen to you?

4. I’ve been all about pumpkin this week: pumpkin granola and pumpkin muffins. Also, Dorie Greenspan’s Spinach and Bacon Quiche with homemade pâte brisée. A bit time consuming, but totally worth it.

5. I want to be Dorie Greenspan when I grow up.

6. There is an Army ball coming up in a couple of weeks. Suggestions as to where I could get an inexpensive formal dress? Also I think we’re going to leave LC at one of the post daycare centers while we go. I’m completely anxious about this even though it’s only for a few hours and Hubs and I clearly need some adult time (last time we went out alone together? June 9th. Haha.) Anyone have any advice on how to get your baby to take a bottle? More on this later.

7. I just can’t believe how fast our girl is growing. She LOVES books, much to our delight, and she rarely stops moving. Her favorite thing lately is to crawl from the living room to underneath the jumperoo in the kitchen and then just crawl in circles. I love this age so much. Tonight in the bath I dropped her duckie from up high so it splashed and she thought it was hilarious…she just grinned and laughed and splashed. My heart is full!

That’s all for now…here are a couple from her 7 month shoot.