Gingerbread Men

Tomorrow Alicia (Jay's co-worker) is having a cookie exchange and movie party. I was going to make Mexican wedding cakes because they are easy and they are always a hit, but I decided to take a stab at making gingerbread cookies, since it's something I've never done before. I went on to www.foodtv.com and downloaded a recipe from Paula Dean (and it only has ONE stick of butter in it!) and set up to bake some little gingerbread men. I only had one cookie cutter, so there were no gingerbread women, but they turned out pretty cute. I need some more practice to get the decorating down, but I think everyone will like them and I enjoyed trying something new.

LaChaine and Associates Christmas Party

Last night Dennis held the first annual LaChaine and Associates Christmas party. We had dinner at Firestone Walker Brewery in Buellton and it was an extremely fun party! Since the company is so small (Dennis Jr., Dennis Sr., Steve, Patrick and myself), there were only 10 of us for dinner. Patrick brought his girlfriend (who is the most adorable, sweet thing) and I got to meet Dennis's mother finally. She is extremely friendly and such a mom! I also got to meet Steve's wife and hang out with Dennis's wife Emily. If you follow this blog, you may recall that Emily and I worked together at C&D and she is the one who told me about this position working for Dennis. After a fabulous dinner we had a gift exchange and Jay and I ended up with two $25 gift certificates for Firestone Walker to go back and have dinner again! Steve doesn't read his email apparently (note to self!) so he felt guilty and went and purchased the gift certificates while we were at the restaurant. When we were finished we went back to Dennis and Emily's for some music and more visiting. Emily and I had a wonderful visit and Dennis picked Jay's brain. Everyone that I introduce to Jay ends up completely fascinated with him, which is not surprising to me, because obviously I find him fascinating. Even after close to 5 years together, the man totally fascinates me. I think that is a good thing :).

Marie, Dennis & Steve's Mom

You know who these people are!

Patrick and his girlfriend Ming-C

Steve and his wife Cathy

Team LAA

Women's Christmas Tea at FCC

Last night I attended the Christmas tea at First Christian Church. Last year was the first year that I attended and I absolutely loved it! First of all, the hostesses make the most elaborate table decorations and the entire room is just filled with Christmas. Second of all, I get to hang out with some amazing women and visit and laugh and share. Third of all, the desserts are scrumptious and we get served by humble men in the church that love to serve. And last, but not least we get a wonderful message and fabulous music.

This year, my neighbor LeAnn picked me up. She lives across the street and we run into each other all the time at events at church and always ask each other why we don't carpool. I saw her last Thursday night at church. We were both helping put up Christmas decorations and decided that for the tea, we would carpool. It made the night even more fun. I went with her to pick up her mother, so I got to meet her and her brother also and we just got a lot of nice visiting in during the car rides. LeAnn and her mom were signed up for a different table so we didn't sit together, but we still got to spend time together throughout the evening. I sat at my friend Michelle Shuman's table. I absolutely LOVE her! We met at Pam's Stampin' Up workshops and have become friends. She moved up the street from me, so she's my neighbor also, and we serve in the coffee shop together on Sunday mornings so we've gotten to know each other quite well. Also at our table was Corey who I adore also! I met her at Pam's also and she recently started coming to our church. Danielle Chavez was at our table as well as 3 people that I met for the first time last night. We had a lot of fun at our table, laughing and sharing and enjoying the atmosphere.

The guest speaker/singer was Carole Brewer. She had so much energy!!!! She has a huge heart and we were glad she was there to share with us. Unfortunately the room was freezing and I was very sleepy so I didn't get as much out of the message as I would have liked, but it was still a wonderful evening all around. I might hostess a table next year but we'll have to see. All of the elaborate table decorations are so intimidating!

This is our table. Don't you love those dishes?

This photo doesn't do the table justice

VERY Christmas-y (is that a word?)

I LOVE the tree on this table. It was breathtaking.

This is Chris Shuman's table (Michelle's Mother in Law). Very classic.

I think the nutcrackers are so cute

This one is so elegant

This is our table. Michelle (our hostess) has the blue shawl on

9Sops Christmas Party 2008

We attended the 9Sops annual Christmas party for Jay's squadron on Saturday. It's always the first Saturday of December since he's in the reserves and most of their squadron is made up of part timers who are only here for the training weekend, which is always the first weekend of the month. The last two years it was held at AJ Spur's, which we love, but his squadron is grown and so we can no longer fit into their banquet room upstairs so this year it was held at Pea Soup Anderson's. I didn't realize it, but they have a really nice banquet room that is HUGE! It's decorated beautifully with a big Christmas tree and lights and wreaths and there was plenty of room for everyone. The folks in charge of the party did an amazing job as usual. There were several games a the beginning of the party to determine which table would go to the buffet first. They had a Christmas movie trivia game, which was a lot of fun! Next, we had a sheet with photos of Christmas songs (for example, a bunch of snowflakes in a square = Let it Snow) and we had to guess the name of each song based on the pictures. They were not easy! There was also a pair of pantyhose and some balloons....these guys will do anything to humiliate one another! The food was good as well. It was a buffet with Prime Rib, some sort of breaded chicken in a lemon gravy (very low cal!) and mashed potatoes, green salad, onion bread, steamed veggies and dill potato salad. I really liked the salad and the bread and the fill potato salad. After the buffet they had the annual elf suit fund raiser. They have this elf suit that belongs to the squadron and every year they hold a fund raiser to raise money for future events for the squadron. You can buy a vote for $1 and the individual (usually a large man) who gets the most votes must wear the elf suit for the remainder of the afternoon as well as hand out gifts to the kids. The competition was close as usual and there was one leader until the very last second. There was also a 50/50 raffle (buy raffle tickets and whatever the pot is at drawing time, the ticket winner gets half and the squadron gets the other half). The 50/50 winner put his entire winnings towards his pick for the competition and so the winner was declared. It's always great fun and everyone that has had to wear the suit has been a good sport about it. They also had all kinds of raffle drawing prizes (movie tickets, gift cards) and some games and prizes for the kids. All in all, it was a really fun day.

Donelle, Kim (with Sophie and Abby), Alicia and Me!

Kendall had to sit with the Leonards. I guess they're more fun than we are!

"Antlers"

Chief Huntsman is a very good sport!

Kendall had to have her picture taken with the elf

Col. Vengal giving the elf some love

You have to get your photo taken with the cut-outs at Anderson's. I think it's the law

Quick & Easy Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice

I found this recipe in a Campbell's soup advertisement in Every Day with Rachael Ray and it looked really good so I tried it tonight. It's super healthy and my family loved it!

1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used Canola oil)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I used 6 because I knew we'd each want a ful breast)
1 can (10 3/4 oz) Campbell's Condensed Cream of Chicken soup (I used the 98% fat free version)
1 1/2 cups water
4 minced garlic cloves (not in the recipe, added by Shannon)
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups uncooked instant brown rice
2 cups fresh or forzen broccoli flowerets (I used fresh)
Small handful of grated parmesian cheese (not in the recipe, added by Shannon)

1. Heat oil in 10" skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until well browned on both sides. (Inser by Shannon - add garlic during the last minute). Remove chicken from skillet.
2. Stir soup, water, paprika and black pepper in skillet. Heat to a boil.
3. Stir rice and broccoli in skillet. Reduce heat to low. Return chicken to skillet. Sprinkle additional paprika and black pepper over chicken. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender (I found it took more like 10 minutes.)
4. (Insert by Shannon) - Add in parmesian cheese just before serving.

Enjoy!

Kendall's Birthday Party

Kendall had a couple of friends over tonight and had a little birthday party. We just got some take and bake pizza from Albertson's and a cake and the kids were dropped off at around 6:45. They ate dinner and then had cake and presents and were going to watch a movie, but decided to music and dancing instead. After they danced the night away, they played a little Monopoly and are now in Kendall's room playing the guitar.

She has really nice, polite friends, which is such a blessing. And as nice as they are, she is even nicer! I can hear her in the other room being such a polite and gracious hostess. Jay and I have stayed in the back room to allow the kids to have their space, but the door is open so we can hear everything! I always wondered how my parents always knew what was going on. I now know that it was because I had no clue how sound travels!

Kelsey, Kendall and Stephen

Stephen made Kendall a CD of some favorite songs (mixed tape anyone?)

Kelsey's Mom made Kendall a necklace with matching earrings and a bracelet. She even made the box that everything was wrapped in and made the card on her computer. She's very creative!

Kendall making a wish

Kendall's 14th Birthday

Yesterday was Kendall's 14th birthday. Can you believe that? I sure can't. When I met the girls, Kendall was only 9 years old and Nicole was 6. My how they have changed. They went from being little girls, to young ladies in a very short amount of time. Kendall has become so much more independent and social and when I came home from work last night, she had voluntarily (those of you that know her know this is a big deal) put on lip gloss. I don't think Jay cared for it very much, but I was happy to see her "girly" side coming out. She is her own individual and we highly encourage her to be herself, but I love seeing her with earrings on and lip gloss and putting her hair back to show her true beauty. She'll probably always be most comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt and that is her personality and we love her just as she is. Still, I do love to see her at least a little dolled up. Her eyes are brighter and she has a soft glow about her.

Since Kendall had school yesterday and Jay and I worked all day and Kendall went to youth group last night, we didn't do much celebrating. When we got home from work, we let Kendall open her birthday present and card from us. We bought her Guitar Hero for her Nintendo DS. Neither of us even knew they had Guitar Hero for the DS, but Nicole had it with her when she was her for Thanksgiving. Kendall always has a long wish list when birthdays and Christmas come up and the game was not on her wish list, but she always enjoys playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero when she is at youth group, so we took a chance and she loved it! I am always thrilled when gifts we give are big hits. After Kendall opened her present, she went to youth group. She always looks forward to Wednesday nights and we didn't want to take that away from her. She had a great birthday. When we said prayers last night she said, "man, I don't want this day to end." We're so happy she had such a great day.

Tomorrow night we'll have a little party for her. She's going to have a few close friends over and we'll make some take and bake pizza from Albertson's (it's really good!) and put on some music while the kids eat. I'm baking a cake this afternoon and after they eat dinner they are going to play Uno Attack and watch a movie. Then, to continue the celebration, I am taking Kendall and her "boyfriend" Micah to see Twilight on Sunday. I haven't read the books and know very little about the movie, but Kendall and her friends are all reading the books and Kendall had the opportunity to go with Micah to a midnight showing before the official movie release and it was on a Thursday night so we did not let her go. Micah is such a sweetheart that he did not go either because he didn't want to see the movie without Kendall, so we promised we'd take them to go and see it. Jay is working on Sunday so I'll be on my own. Do you think I should sit between them so that I can keep an eye on his hands? Jay would love that! I don't think it's necessary though, Kendall assures me (quite often, because I ask her constantly) that Micah is a complete gentleman and would never touch her inappropriately. Wish us luck!

Oh, and happy birthday Kendall. We're so proud of you and your sister for the lovely young ladies you are both turning out to be.

Kendall's Mom and Rob and Grandparents sent presents with Nicole for Kendall to open. Here she is with her new sweater at the Knott's hotel

Her Grandparents bought her new earrings

Here she is reading the beautiful words her Daddy wrote in her card

Look at that silly smile!

Of course I had to make her a homemade card