Catch Up!

Wow, it's been a long time since we updated! December is officially the busiest month of the year! Since our last post we finished decorating the house, went to McKinney for Tony's company Christmas party, finished Christmas shopping and wrapping, hosted Christmas and caught up on lots of naps and good food! With all the food we've eaten we also managed to fit in some exercise! I'll try to catch up on what's been going on. It may be a long post...

Before the break our kids made a Rudolph t-shirt to wear on the last day of school before winter break (or Christmas break as I call it). It turned out really cute!

Tony and I also made some yummy treats to give to our co-workers before the break started. We made white chocolate covered oreos and chocolate & smashed m&m covered pretzels.

They are so easy and we had fun making them while listening to Christmas music!

On Christmas eve we went to Christmas eve service at our church. It was beautiful and such a great way to welcome in Christmas. Afterwards we came home and ate delicious lasagna and then went out to look at Christmas lights. Great night!

Christmas this year was different for us because we had both of our families at our house that morning for gift opening and lunch. I was in charge of lunch but we had our mom's bring in sides and a couple of desserts. Lucky for me one of the gifts we won at Tony's party was a Honeybaked ham for Christmas! It was absolutely delicious and came fully cooked! I wish I would have taken a picture of the food setup because we had sooo many delicious things! A pot of homemade beans, homemade stuffing, Tony's delicious mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, fried corn, wild rice salad, rolls, two pecan pies, punch bowl cake, and of course the ham! We ate until it wasn't safe to eat anymore and then a few hours later we did it again!

The day after Christmas Tony and I got up early and went to the after Christmas sale at Target. We were blessed to have received so many Target gift cards both from our families and my students at school so we were able to get everything we wanted for next year! We got storage tubs, outdoor lights, tree skirts, more ornaments, decorative things, fancy wrapping paper, candle holders, and wreath storage tubs.

At first Tony wasn't 100% sold on going so early on one of his days off but when he was loading up our truck he was so pumped at how much of a great deal we got on things we really wanted but weren't going to buy them at full price. He told me he wanted to laugh when he pushed the cart to the holiday section and saw that there were nothing but women back there digging in carts and displays for the best deals. I was proud he came and we made a great team dividing and conquering! I'm excited to decorate our house next year! It will be fabulous!

Tony had to go in a few days during his vacation to help with some deadlines so I kept myself busy reading and watching movies. I loved Julie and Julia. It's based off a woman who started a blog and cooked her way through Julia Child's the Joy of Cooking.

While I couldn't see myself cooking every single recipe in one particular cookbook, I did relate to one of the quotes in the movie:

"You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say nothing, I mean nothing. You can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. That is such a comfort."

Watching the movie made me realize how far I've come since the first time I watched the Food network in college while home for Christmas break and made my first recipe. I remember going to my hometown HEB and spending a fortune to get all the ingredients and then only half liking the dish when it was finished. I still have lots to learn about cooking and baking, but I do love that when Tony and I are working in the kitchen, the deadlines and meetings and parent emails just disappear and I could care less about anything going on at work. It's really nice to sit down and enjoy something that's not takeout or from the freezer.

I also finished up the book Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. A few teachers at my school are starting a book club and this was the first book to read. It's not a book I would ordinarily pick up and read but I thought I'd give it a try. I was really surprised how much I liked it and how close I felt to the characters by the books end (which I had a lot of time to do this because the book's close to 500 pages long).

It's a great story about the friendship between two women that spans their lives. I found myself thinking of many different friends I've made as I read this book. I definitely recommend it and I'm waiting for Mary Ruth to read it and let me know her thoughts (now you're bound to reading it!)! If you read it let me know what you think!

Anyway, when the family left we went back to ordinary life and started on the mountain of laundry that comes with having people stay with you.

As you can see from the picture in two days we went through lots of towels!

Finally, I'll leave you with a recipe that's in our two-three week rotation. I found it in a church cookbook passed on to me in my senior year at A&M by a wonderful lady I worked with at the vet school. You can tweak it, leave out the chicken, substitute beef or fish, and add in some tomatoes. Enjoy!

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chicken, cooked and diced
• 1/2 cup chicken broth for dipping tortillas
• 12 corn tortillas
• 3/4 cup onion chopped
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/4 cup chicken broth for sour cream sauce
• 1 cup sour cream (we use light to make ourselves feel better)
• sliced jalapenos (or not)
• 1 bag of shredded Monterey Jack cheese or favorite cheese

Directions: In small fry pan, place chicken broth and heat over medium heat. Dip tortillas, one at a time, in hot chicken broth. Remove and place 2 tablespoons cheese, 1 1/2 tablespoons chicken, and 1 tablespoon onion on each tortilla. Roll up tortilla; place seam side down in a single layer in a 9X13 inch casserole pan or lasagna tray.

In saucepan, melt butter; add flour stirring to blend well. Slowly add 1 1/4 cups chicken broth and cook, stirring until mixture thickens. Stir in sour cream and peppers; continue cooking until heated through, but do not boil. Pour over tortillas and place in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle remaining cheese on top, and return to oven for 5 minutes to melt cheese. Ad jalapeños on top. Serve with Mexican rice and beans if desired.

Our Christmas Tradition

The first Christmas Tony and I started dating we realized that we both really loved the Christmas season. We went to Santa's Wonderland in College Station, played Christmas music in our cars all the time, went shopping at the Galleria in Houston the night they lighted the big tree near the ice skating rink, and just altogether enjoyed every part of the Christmas season. That year I decided it would be fun to do an ornament exchange that would represent something that happened in that year between us. Tony was game and with that we started our own Christmas tradition. It has become the most special part of the holidays for us because each year we hunt for the perfect ornament to give each other that is representative of our year together.

Here is a look at our ornaments over the past five years together...

Our first Christmas together I bought a puppy named Ranger. I then realized my roommates didn't want a puppy, nor did I have the time as a full time college student and part time worker to take care of one. Don't worry, we found him an excellent home where he is living large, but this is a reminder of that little guy. This was my ornament to Tony that year.

This was Tony's ornament to me the first year. On our first official date, Tony came to pick me up with a red rose in hand

These were Tony's gift to me the second year we were dating. In that year, we both graduated from A&M.

These little guys cooking were my gift to Tony that year. When Tony accepted a job in Georgetown we spent a lot of weekends in his tiny apartment kitchen cooking up new recipes to save money instead of going out to eat. We had a lot of fun that year making due with his small set of cooking utensils.

Year 3: Tony's gift to me that year was actually two ornaments. The first being the ring as this was the year we got engaged.

He also got this ornament to mark our wedding date.

The married couple was my gift to him for year 3.

Last year's gifts to each other was slightly comical. We were both so excited to be getting into our new home that we both searched for the same theme of ornament online. With tons of options out there who would have thought we'd pick almost the EXACT SAME ONE! This was mine to Tony...I think.

And this was Tony's to me. The only difference is the wording and the placement of the year. Wow! We tried really hard this year to make sure this didn't happen again!

This year we were relieved to find out that we hadn't picked the same ones for each other. Tony gave me the one on the left. It's an ornament to represent my mom selling her home in Victoria and moving to be closer to us. That was her old address and funny enough she had a red door on her home. It was very sweet of him to mark such a special time for our family. Mine to him is the bear grilling on the right. This year Tony got a new grill and spent so much time outside cooking for us! Because of him we've had many, many delicious meals that he and I had never shared together before because we didn't have a grill in our apartment living days.

I love this tradition and I can't wait to look back after 30+ years to see all the ornaments we've collected along our marriage. Every year it is really special to take these ornaments out and reminisce over the years we've spent together and the fun we've had. I'm so glad we started this tradition and I hope that one day our children can see the love we have for each other when they see these up on one of our many trees around the house.

Holiday Fun

Last night we had my mom and grandma over for dinner. After dinner we made smores in the fireplace. It was funny to see my grandma make her smore because she was so afraid her entire marshmallow would be burned completely. We sat around and watched the football game and enjoyed our treats.

My grandma smiling but slightly nervous to light her marshmallow.

Her saying "Hurry, hurry, take the picture before my whole marshmallow burns!"

She had a captive audience just waiting for her to drop something!

Einstein the other night when the cold front came in. He slept so warm and cozy!

Prep Work for Cold Days and Nights

So firewood at the stores is expensive. We saw a small bundle at HEB of about 6 small logs for $3.99. Wow! Thank goodness Tony's parents have land and have been chopping wood for us to have this winter.

When we went to have Thanksgiving with them Tony loaded up his truck and we brought it home yesterday. Today was the day to unload and we made a pretty good team.

Here it is in the truck.

Tony would bring it in the wheelbarrow like so:

Action shot so of course I like them blurry...

Then he'd dump them here:

My job was to stack them up away from the wood on our home so that hopefully if there are any termite buggies they won't find a new home in our home.

I think I did a pretty good job of stacking. I made it all the way to the last load before some tumbled but it was a quick fix. As soon as we finished it started to pour. The first cold front is supposed to come in tonight and from the sound of the pouring rain outside I think it's here. The good thing about a fireplace is it helps save you money on those cold winter days versus cranking up the heater. So you know we'll be having some fires going in this casa.

I really can't stay.....but baby it's cold outside....I got to go away....but baby it's cold outside... :)

The Reason They Call It Black Friday

Blurry, just like my eyes at this time.

You may have heard that Tony and I really, really wanted a new flat screen for our bedroom. We saved for it and agreed this would be our Christmas gift to each other this year. Ever since we got the Black Beauty in the living room my heart skips a beat when I pass its brothers and sisters at Best Buy or Sears. I'm in love with flat screens and I don't care who knows it!

So we decided this was the year we were going to fight the crowds and the darkness of morning to get the best deal for the TV we wanted. Of course there was lots of research online, price comparisons at stores the weeks before the actual sale, and all the other stuff that goes into making a large purchase in the Estes household.

So we set our alarm to 2:50 and I cried tears of exhaustion when it went off. We stumbled out of bed and into warm sweats and got in the car to head to Best Buy for its 5 am opening. As we were driving to the store we laughed at two scenarios: 1. no one being there at 3 am and 2. everyone in the city of Pflugerville there and waiting. What we saw was a happy medium.

Me thinking ok, a few people in front, not so bad...

This was the side of Best Buy when we showed up at 3am. Clearly some had been there overnight to get the first few spots.

At first it wasn't so cold. But the longer we waited (2 whole hours standing in line!) the chillier it got. I said a bunch of prayers for the homeless people out there because by the end of it I had lost feeling in my left pointer finger and I realized that even though it wasn't very cold the longer you're out there the more of a chill you get.

By 4:45 this was the line behind us. CRAZY!

As the doors opened we ran straight to our baby. We were able to get about a 40% discount off of the original price and that made us very happy!

Here she is about 5 minutes after being plugged in. She's a beauty! Also, here's a picture of Einstein bundled up in Tony's lap as he wraps a few Christmas presents.

Oh and one of Dwight on our new TV.

Christmas Time in the City...

Or the suburbs...

So yes, I'm aware that we've become one of those couples that crosses the line of decorating before the official time. We couldn't stand it though! Our friends Katy and Grant live behind us and last week we peeked out our back window and saw they had their Christmas tree up. Of course it got us in the spirit. So on Sunday after a lazy nap, Tony and I went up to the attic and brought out all the Christmas stuff we own.

Banister before...

Garland before...

Banister and garland after. This was an afternoon shot but it looks absolutely gorgeous at night! We're still not done putting the finishing touches on the garland because we want to put some red bows on it but this is a good start.

Living room window before...

With tree and lights...

Finished minus a star on top and a tree skirt.

Side view...

My view from the couch after a long day of work.

Tony's view from his side of the couch. Yes, Einstein has had a haircut since this picture. Poor guy could barely see under his eyebrows.

Of course you can see I'm also checking out new recipes while this picture was being taken. I'm hoping to try out a few new ones in the next few weeks so I'll post what I find. We also put up another larger tree in the office but I didn't get pictures of that one yet because it's really in the beginning stages of being finished. When we're finished with all the decorations I take some new pictures, but for now hopefully this is enough to get you in the holiday spirit! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

p.s. no clue why it decided to underline half of what I typed!