Holiday Baking - Part Two

Thursday, 12-31-09

Amy & I didn't have an opportunity to bake anymore Christmas cookies last week before Christmas. However, I still had the cookie dough in the freezer and thought this week would be a good time to not only have Amy help me cut out the cookie dough but also to help decorate. So, that is what we did today! Amy was a huge help, as always. She understood the cookie cutting process better this time and enjoyed using the cookie cutters on the dough, though she seemed to enjoy banging the cookie cutter into the dough rather than pushing the cutter down into the dough. But, it worked out. After the cookies had cooled, we began decorating them. I frosted the cookies while Amy sprinkled them with red and/or green sprinkles. After awhile, it became clear that Amy's favorite color of the two was red. In fact, she added red sprinkles to the cookies that had green sprinkles on them. For one cookie, there is a LOT of sprinkles as she continued to add sprinkles and more sprinkles to that cookie. Amy also thought there wasn't any need for icing as she sprinkled some of the cookies before they were iced. Amy seemed to enjoy decorating the cookies, though she did not like getting sprinkles on her hands. She would have me wipe her hands anytime there was even one sprinkle on them! Amy occasionally would put the entire top of the sprinkle jar into the cookie, so we had to take the top off and clean it out so we could get some more sprinkles out. After decorating all of the cookies, we had to sample our work!! She is just a joy and I love doing these things with her!!

2009 Running Recap

Thursday, 12-31-09

I'm not sure if I had specific goals in terms of running when 2009 began 12 months ago. I had some vague goals of improving my time in the half-marathon, staying injury-free, etc. Overall, I think I did well with those vague goals - I ran two half-marathons this year, both times improving my time by several minutes. I didn't suffer any injuries other than an occasional ache and/or stiffness. In the back of my mind, I wanted to break 1,000+ miles for the year and thought this would be a realistic goal since I ran 982.30 miles in 2008. Well, I ran this morning and then counted up the miles for the year - 1, 239.25 miles for the year. Pretty good. I guess my goal for 2010 will be to run 1, 250 miles. I ran pretty consistently throughout the year, only taking a week off after each half-marathon. I didn't drastically increase my mileage and/or speed, which probably helped me stay injury-free. Looking ahead at 2010, I can't decide if I want to try a full marathon or not. I tried once before and it resulted in a stress fracture and no running for 2 months. No fun. I've already signed up for the Mini-Marathon in Indy this May, so if I were to run a marathon it would be a fall race. So, I have plenty of time to decide. Either way, my two main running goals for 2010 are to remain injury free and to continue to improve as a runner.

Christmas at the Meyer's

We celebrated Christmas with the Meyer family on Sunday, 12-27-09. Kurt's sister, Cheryl, flew in from Texas to help with the celebrations, though we missed her family! As is typical with the Meyer family, there is never a dull moment and there was much laughter and smiles!


The Meyer clan

Some of the younger nieces & nephews

The Murphy Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with the Murphy's on Saturday, 12-26-09, though we traveled there after lunch on Christmas Day. Amy enjoyed playing with Grandma and Granddad on Friday and told them all about "ho ho" bringing her bananas on Christmas morning. Saturday morning, we went over to play at Tim's house with Samantha. Amy enjoyed playing with all of Samantha's toys! Thuydung received a Wii for Christmas, so Tim hooked it up and almost everyone took a turn playing Wii tennis. Some did better than others! We celebrated Christmas later that day at my parents' house. Amy & Samantha enjoyed helping pass out the presents and then opening all of their gifts. What wonderful family time!

Playing at Uncle Tim's house

Samantha & Amy passing out gifts

Christmas at Home

12-24-09 through 12-25-09

I absolutely LOVE Christmas time with Amy. She is simply so sweet and excited about things and is starting to "get it" in terms of Santa. This year, we went as a family to church on Christmas Eve. Amy went to her giraffe class while Kurt and I went to the church service. I am so thankful to attend a church that speaks to me and constantly reminds me what this season is all about. After church, we returned home for dinner and then we allowed Amy to open up two of her gifts. She so enjoyed playing with Elmo (though secretly I think Kurt enjoyed playing with Elmo even more!). She also got Elmo's tickle hands - although she was a little unsure of the hand that tickled, she loved putting the other hand on and showing it to us. Amy enjoyed putting cookies out on a plate for Santa, though she had to have a nibble of some cookie before bedtime.

The next morning, Amy's gift to us was sleeping in until about 7:30am! I'm not sure the last time that Kurt & I were able to sleep in until 7am. When we came downstairs, Amy was delighted to see that Santa had left her several bananas in her stocking. Plus, she noticed that the cookies were gone that we had left for Santa. Throughout the morning, she would point to the plate where the cookies had been and then say "ho ho" for Santa. Amy had been asking for bananas from Santa and she received a bunch of them! She took delight in taking the bananas out of her stocking and then putting them on the Christmas tree.

I feel so lucky to have Amy in our lives and couldn't ask for a better Christmas. We opened presents and had our Christmas morning breakfast of cinnamon rolls - first time that Amy had cinnamon rolls and she LOVED them! We left after lunch for my parents' house to celebrate Christmas with them. More on that to come!

Picture with Mommy before church

Picture time with Daddy before church

Family picture after church

After Santa's visit at our house...notice the bananas

Amy was so excited to get bananas from Santa

Excited to open presents from Santa

Basement Remodel is Finished...well, almost!

Wednesday, 12-23-09

Our basement is done!! We hired someone to finish our basement and he started at the beginning of November. We were hopeful that it would be completed by Christmas, though we weren't sure if this was realistic or not. Well, it is finished...almost!! I say almost because we still have to get carpet and flooring for the work-out room along with furniture and decor. But, the big stuff is done. We are in the process of getting carpet and we hope to have that completed by mid-January, depending on how long it takes for the carpet to arrive. We are so excited about the extra space...and I am ready to have my house back again. We had to move all the stuff out of the basement while they finished it which means that certain rooms have been a little more crowded than normal. For example, the living room - in addition to our normal couch, side tables, and piano, the living room has housed my exercise balls, weights, and some of Amy's toys. It will be so nice when we can move some of the "stuff" throughout the house to the downstairs. We're excited to have people over to entertain. Our first big "party" will be our usual Super Bowl party - hopefully we will actually have furniture and a TV to watch the game on!! :) I'm including a few before and after pictures.

Holiday Baking - Part One

Tuesday, 12-22-09

Today, I did much of my holiday baking. Every year, I typically bake several different cookies/candies for the holidays to share with family and friends. I enjoy baking the different items (as well as tasting the finished product!!). I typically try at least one new recipe each year, just to try something different. The list for 2009 includes Buckeyes, Rolo Nut Candies, Chocolate Cookie Bark, Marbled Chocolate Treats, Sweet Cereal Clusters, Sugar Cookies with buttercream icing, Blizzard Party Mix, and Cheesecake Bars. So far, I have made all of them with the exception of the Blizzard Party Mix and Cheesecake Bars. I made some sugar cookies last week with Amy's help. This week, I used a different recipe and it didn't turn out very well. The dough was too soft for me to roll out for cookie cutter cookies. So, I simply dropped them on the baking sheet. Not as festive, but still very tasty! Amy helped with the Sweet Cereal Clusters. She enjoys dumping the different ingredients into the bowl and then "stirring" the items. We still haven't decorated cookies together yet. Hopefully, we'll be able to do that tomorrow.


Buckeyes

Rolo Nut Candies

Marbled Chocolate Treats

Chocolate Cookie Bar

Amy helping with the sweet cereal clusters

Sweet Cereal Clusters

Baking Cookies

Thursday, 12-17-09

Amy & I made cut-out sugar cookies for Christmas today. I previously had made the cookie dough, so all we had to do was cut-out the cookies and decorate them. At first, Amy wasn't too sure about what we were doing (see first picture below!). But, once she realized what we were doing, she enjoyed it. Or should I say, she enjoyed hitting the cookie cutter against the dough...as well as the already cut-out cookies on the baking sheet, the counter top, etc. Although I had every intention of Amy helping me decorate the cookies, we got into a bit of a time crunch. So, I ended up decorating the cookies during Amy's nap. However, I have some more cookie dough in the freezer that I plan to use next week and Amy will help decorate those cookies, although I'm already dreading the potential...or should I say inevitable, mess that will result. But, think of the memories!! :)

Amy has enjoyed visiting with Santa this holiday season. She has shown no fear of the jolly old man. Amy visited with Santa at the mall and then again at our neighborhood Christmas party. When Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas, Amy responded with a banana!Amy calls Santa "ho ho" and will point out "ho ho" whenever she sees him, i.e., at the mall, on a card, etc.