These streets will make you feel brand new

Eric and I went to New York this weekend to celebrate our 5th anniversary. I can't believe we've been married for 5 years! I'm turning into a real geezer. hahaha It was a lot of fun and went by way too fast! I'm ready to go back again already!

heart ice sculpture. do you love the mcdonalds cup discarded to the left?

At the New Amsterdam Theatre.

We went to see Mary Poppins. They added some pretty interesting stuff in there that was NOT in the movie. ie: naked (painted silver) statues instead of penguins in the park. Slightly disturbing.

Our hotel room. It was nice, but small (as most new york hotel rooms are) but it was roomy compared to the hotel we stayed at in Paris!

We also went to see Next to Normal. A tear jerker. We won the lottery tickets for this show and got to sit front row center! (downside to front row-you can see the actors spit when they sing and the bruises on their legs)

After the show we hurried over to pinkberry. Do not be deceived by my huge smile. This was before digging in. Laguna Beach talked this place up way too much. Not my favorite dessert i've ever had. At least I can check it off my list and never go there again.

We also did lots of walking (freezing our rumps off-it was SO cold), eating and shopping! Happy Anniversary Honey! I love you!

Valentines Day

Play Group Valentines Party-Sierra didn't want anything to do with the icing getting on her hands. She was digging at her cookie with a popsicle stick so she didnt have to touch it. haha
We were cracking up over how loaded Sarah's little boy's cookies were
look at the sprinkles on that baby!

We had a lovely dinner at Liberatore's
Our Valentine's day Spread
Valentines from Grandma
Valentines from mommy & daddy

In Sierra's words: "Wowee!"

We got TONS of snow this weekend, but at least we were warned and prepared and had lots of good food and entertainment ready for a weekend in. It started Friday night and didnt stop until Saturday afternoon. Sierra LOVED being out in it and didn't want to come back inside. The funniest part was that she had to be standing in a foot of snow. Standing on the steps wasnt good enough.

It may look like she's screaming in terror here, but that is, in fact, a look of delight. She was laughing she loved it so much.

watching daddy shovel snow from the window

Saturday night Ryan and Alyssa came and picked us up with their 4 wheel drive at the end of our street where we trecked through the path in the snow that the boys made for us and drove over to Eric's parents to watch the UFC fight with Kye.
Like our street, their street hadn't been touched by the plows so we found ourselves a little nook on the side of the rode to abandon the car and made our way through the knee deep snow all the way to the house. It was exhausting!

Alyssa and Ryan trecking through the snow back to the car. A horrible picture, I know, but you get the point!

This morning our street was finally cleared out and Eric is outside shoveling our cars out.
our front lawn
It's been fun snow! But please don't come again until next year!

Lemon Tea Cakes Recipe

After many requests (okay, 4)
Here is the recipe for the Lemon Tea Cakes:

1 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon zest of lemon
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

preheat oven to 350 degrees. stir vinegar into milk. cream butter and 3/4 cup sugar until fluffy. add egg and zest; beat well. sift dry ingredients together. add to creamed mixture alternately with the milk, beating smooth after each addition. drop from teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. bake for 12 minutes (until set but not brown). remove at once from baking sheet and immediately brush tops with glaze made from remaining 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice.

do you give credit when the person deserving the credit is being stalked?

Candy Cane Syrup a.k.a quit while you're ahead

Yesterday I decided to make candy cane syrup thanks to a recommendation on my sister's blog.
i made it and it turned out good.
but i wanted it to be a little peppermintier.
so i put it back on the stove on low and added a few more candy canes.
then i took sierra and went to get the mail.
she wanted to walk up and down the sidewalk a few times.
when we got back the syrup was boiling pretty good.
i poured it in my glass jar and it seemed to be hardening.
i was discouraged.
it seemed my candy cane syrup was no longer syrup but some sort of rock candy.
before i chucked it and started a new batch i thought it would be a good idea to try heating it in the microwave to see if it might still taste ok.
once it was liquified i STUCK MY FINGER IN IT to get a taste.
it was boiling hot and i decided to stick my finger in it. who does that? it immediately fused onto my finger and started burning the crap out of it.
so what would be the sensible thing to do?
put it to your lip maybe?
no. probably not. but that's what i did. (who can think clearly when their finger is getting a 3rd degree burn?)
so now i have a burn blister on my finger and my lip.
and no syrup to show for it.
cool huh?
maybe i'll try again today.

'mouse'

My parents went to Florida for a week and picked up a little minnie mouse for the granddaughters while they were there. We got ours in the mail today. Here's Sierra's reaction, mostly for my mom and dad.
who knew my baby voice would get even more hideous as she got older...

Thank you Grandma & Grandpa!