Christmas 2009

Above please find some of the highlights from our Christmas. We celebrated Christmas Eve with our good friends Joe and Laurel. Helen loved the musical piano Nana and Grandpa got for her, and Miles loved the Stratego game Nana and Grandpa gave him. He couldn't wait to play against Daddy. Christmas morning found Miles and Helen having a tea party with her tea set from Aunt Barbara.
Miles loved the improvements Daddy made to his cricket 22.
Helen was very intrigued by her chatter phone, and Miles loved his tommy 20 nerf gun. Tom received several items to make his sewing projects easier, and Sara got herself a nifty stand mixer.
All in all we had a good Christmas. There is still more celebrating to do as the Glausers from San Diego will be arriving tomorrow 12/27 to celebrate with us.
We hope everyone had a great Christmas and has recovered enough to celebrate New Year's.

Morgan's Rifles Christmas Party

On December the 12th, we celebrated the Christmas Season with our good friends from Morgan's Rifles. An elaborate meal was made and eaten, and gifts were exchanged. Fun times through and through.

Helen's First Haircut

On Friday December 4th, Helen went to the hairdressers for her first haircut. She did wonderful, even helped Mommy collect some baby locks for the baby book.

A day at the Santa Barbara Zoo

Thanks to Tom's job, we were treated to a free day at the Santa Barbara Zoo to celebrate Emergency Responders Week. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast. As we were walking through the Gorilla Exhibit, Helen finally decided to say the word DaDa,( for up until now Tom has been known as Mama) however when she decided to say DaDa, she didn't exactly get it right. She pointed to the glass and the gorilla behind it and screamed loudly DADA!!!!! Needless to say Tom was not happy to be referred to as a gorilla. It did make for a funny moment though.

As you can see from the pictures our kids are getting huge. Also, you can see what a typical November Day looks like it. Don't be too jealous, the rain is coming, we hope.

Tom's Make-It-Up Soup

Tom's Make-It-Up Soup

Brown 1/2 lb bacon, chop up
Brown 1 lb bulk sausage, crumble up (Keep doing this in the same pot)
Brown 1 chopped onion (Minus the chopped onion your 18-month old steals off the chopping board [note 1])
Toss in a package fresh chopped mushrooms
Toss in some chopped carrots
Toss in some chopped celery
Toss in 1 package black beans, soaked for a few hours (or use those canned ones)
Now we need liquid:
Add in (almost all) 1 bottle good beer, the rest goes in the cook
Water to cover everything, more if you like broth
About 1/2 cup ketchup
About 3 tbsp vinegar (just eyeball it, like all the other measurements)
About 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp liquid smoke
As much garlic as you can stand

Simmer for as long as you can take it without drooling all over yourself. Serve with fresh cornbread and enjoy the lack of turkey!

Why? My requirements for dinner were 3-fold:
1) NO MORE TURKEY
2) Use whatever else is on hand
3) Make it a soup because it is so much cooler today. Sorry my Toledo friends, but we have a cooling trend here. It only reached 72 today.

[note 1]: Yes, the toddler did grab fresh chopped onion right off the board. Being the 'learn by experience' Dad that I am, I let her go. Damn kid chowed it all down and came back for more!

I'll let you know soon how it turned out, I'm drooling on the keyboard from the smell...