A Holiday Feast

For Valentines Day, Kevin wanted to make me a Chinese New Year Feast to celebrate, and I do not turn down husband-made food. My man can cook! :) He wanted everything to be a surprise, so he went off shopping on his own, and came back with vast quantities of Chinese ingredients, and set to work at 10am! First on the menu were pork pot stickers, or Jiaozi, which are said to resemble gold nuggets and bring wealth in the new year! Let me tell you, once you have had homemade potstickers, the frozen ones from Costco just won't cut it anymore! Luckily, he made lots, so we have some frozen for when my next pot sticker craving strikes!

Pork+ginger+garlic+green onions=YUM!

What a pro! Perfectly filled!

Yeah, you can start drooling anytime now!

The final one was a fatty, needed to be photoed!

He served these as appetizers before he got down to the business of dinner cooking! I just kept "mmmmmm, mmmmmm"ing the entire time I was eating them!

On the menu for dinner was Chow Fun, a beef, bell pepper, and noodle pile of deliciousness! It is traditional to eat noodles for the new year, and one is supposed to eat each noodle without breaking it. This is difficult for the chopstick-impaired! I couldn't believe how good this tasted, and I have been thoroughly enjoying leftovers! We also had Jiangcai, which were amazing sauteed bok choy and broccoli veggies in oyster sauce.

For dessert, he made nian gao, which was...interesting. It wasn't the best thing on the menu, but it satisfied the need for dessert nonetheless! :) Overall, a totally amazing New Year/Valnetines celebration! Thank you for spoiling me, Kevin! :)

Yesterday, Kevin had the day off to celebrate some presidents or something, so he took some gorgeous photos in the yard while the sun was shining! Everything is so pretty! So excited to continue seeing what comes up in the yard!

Camellia I mean azalea, thanks Susan!

Vinca

A much better photo of the pink thing!

Crocus

Pussywillow!

The crocuses just keep coming!

In addition to viewing the Olympics, I'm also participating in them. The Knitting Olympics that is! I know, I'm such a nerd! :) Basically, the idea is to knit something that will be challenging to complete between the lighting and extinguishing of the Olympic torch. I don't have the greatest sense of how much I can knit when I set my mind to it, but I think I chose a good project. I can't show exactly what I'm making, because it's a present for my baby niece coming in July (squeeeeeeal, a girl!!!!!) but here's a sneak peek at it! It's coming along quite nicely, and I have full faith that I will be able to finish before the torch is extinguished at the end of the Vancouver Games.

Babysitting Corbin!

Kevin and I had been feeling like we don't get enough Corbin time what with living 90 miles away, so we offered to go up to Bellingham this weekend to babysit him. Adam and Erin got some much needed alone time, plus baby-free shopping, dinner, and a movie! Kevin and I got to hang out with our littlest nephew, and he is so much fun!!! We had a blast with him, playing with his trucks, drawing, tickling, learning all kinds of words he knows, eating yummy food, and getting a good love in with him. We even put him to bed, without a single cry!

He pretty much calls me "Mae Mae" which is what most little guys call me, although several times we got him to say "Meghan" after we said it to him a few times. But I like being called Mae Mae, so its great either way! He calls Kevin something like "Kahkee." It sounds a lot like "daddy" which we thought he was saying for awhile since Kevin and Adam look so much alike with their beards, but we finally figured out that he was trying to say "Kevin." I bet after Christmas, he'll have a lot better annunciation. But he definitely knows who we each are, which is really exciting!

He knows so many words, I couldn't possibly list them! He knows things like alligator, octopus, and Santa! Such a smartie!

Busy coloring, he likes to draw lots of circles!

What are you doing with a monkey around your neck? :)

Blueberries! Doesn't he look like such a big boy with his new haircut? :)

Helping Dad make pancakes for breakfast this morning!

We hope to make these trips a more regular thing, he's growing up so quickly, and we love being apart of his life! Thanks for loaning us your kid, Adam and Erin!

When we left, it had just started snowing in Bellingham, and continued to dump until we got to Marysville. There were lots of accidents and cars that had spun off the road, so it took a really long time to drive down, but we made it home safe and sound!

It took so long we actually had to go to a rest stop for a bathroom break! Photo op for snow accumulation!

We got home, had some lunch, and immediately headed off in search of Christmas lights! We got a fancy ladder from Kevin's parents last week, and finally had a chance to put them up today. It took many, many, many stores, but we finally got what we needed, and got them up on the house! We still need a couple strands on the tree at the front of the property, but we are pleased with how it all turned out!

It's Christmas time in full swing at our house! Music going all the time, starting to get into the baking spirit, presents getting wrapped and put under the tree, and enjoying finding little ways to decorate our home! :) Can't believe it's only 12 days away!

More Holiday Cheer!

We awoke Saturday morning to the news that we were going to have a second Thanksgiving celebration with Kevin's parents, who were heading home from Bellingham. We were charged with the task of getting the turkey started, and between us and Neal, I think we did a mighty fine job! It was a beautiful turkey, and tasted awesome, too! We stuffed it and everything! Yay us!

Not bad for our first try! It was nice to have a no pressure attempt, as everyone has already had Thanksgiving round 1!

Kevin learning the ways of hacking, ahem, carving the turkey!

Stir that gravy sir!

Voila! Dinner is served! What lucky people we are to have so much family and love to share! Thank you to Susan, Mark, and Neal for celebrating with us!

On Sunday, Erin drove down from Bellingham with Melissa and Joanne, and we girls all headed off to make wreaths at Bainbridge Gardens, one of my favorite new traditions! I love getting to spend a bit of time with Susan and enjoy all the the wonderful clippings from her gardens, and at the end of the day, I get to take home a wonderful wreath!

Erin, Melissa, and Joanne take a break from the wreath extravaganza. Joanne is a record pace setting wreath maker, and Melissa kept stride right with her. Susan, Erin, and I are a bit slower, but I still managed to get two wreaths done this year!

Wreath #1 for my door

And Wreath #2 for my mom and dad's door!

We headed back to Shoreline Sunday night, after we picked out and cut our tree down from the few remaining trees from the Christmas tree farm that Kevin's family had when he was young. Kevin and I love to decorate our tree, sip a little eggnog, and listen to tons of Christmas music! Our tree looks perfect in our new house!

I like this, Kevin looks like a giant!

Sadly, my wreath does not get to hang on the front door as I had daydreamed about, because when we went to put a nail in, we discovered that the door is actually metal! Whoops! It has found a nice home next to the door though, and I am pleased with how festive our house is beginning to look! Now to get started on all the shopping!

Turkey Day!

We headed to the island to spend Thanksgiving with my family after work on Wednesday. But first, Mr. Midge made his amazingly scrumptious pies! Two pumpkins and an apple, so beautiful, so delicious!


We arrived at my parents house on Thursday morning for a big family breakfast. Most everyone was there and awake for it, and we enjoyed hanging out with the munchkins before dad, Kevin, and I got down to the serious business of cooking Thanksgiving dinner!

Jackson got his first haircut last week, doesn't he look so handsome!? His curls were over 7 inches long when straighten out, it was definitely time to let them go. He looks like such a big boy now! And see Joe in the background, first time I've seen him for 5 months! He had a great trip to Europe, and I'm so glad to have him home!

My happy little guy! He finally said "ball" on Thursday, that was a tough one to get him to say. I think he is playing us all, and he can actually speak full sentences, but he doesn't think we are worthy of hearing them! :)

So cute! I love my little men! Nate has his first girlfriend!

Jackson loves coloring, although I think he likes throwing the crayons most! And he does it lefty sometimes!

The whole family minus me! We had such a wonderful dinner, and really enjoyed everyone's company. This was the first time we had to have a second table, our family has grown so much in the last few years, but we haven't all been together! It made it a lot more comfortable!

Kevin and I both had to head to work early on Friday, which was rough, but now we are back on the island at his parents' house, cooking up another round of Thanksgiving dinner while they drive down from Bellingham Thanksgiving with Adam, Erin, and Corbin. We're sad that we don't get to see them for Turkey Day, one of the drawbacks to alternating which holidays we spend with each family. We'll get the hang of it! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. " -Proust

A Belated Bunny Post

Kevin and I spent the Easter weekend on Bainbridge, splitting time between his parents' house and mine. It was a great weekend, lots of food, egg dying, sports watching, game playing, and visiting with our great families!

Let the egg dying begin!

What a pretty batch of eggs!

Kevin got pretty cheeky with some of his...

While I remained ever sappy!

Mark found a miniature chicken egg AND a huge goose egg! He ate the goose for breakfast, it was tasty, much like chicken egg only gigantic and a little more chewy.

The Easter Bunny led us on a scavenger hunt for our baskets! We had to figure out clues all throughout the house and outside, and Kevin and I found ours in the greenhouse!

Off to my parents' house, where I snatched up a little bunny of my own! Jackson was darling as ever, and I had a great time playing around with the little man!

Egg dying round #2! Nate joined in the fun this time, and made some great colors!

Kevin and Jackson hard at work!

Loveliness!

Jackson LOVES to play the guitar. We spent a good long time just strumming along, and it was so much fun to watch him light up when he figured out how to make a new sound. We definitely have a musician on our hands!

This afternoon, Kevin and I headed to Safeco for the Mariner's home opener versus the Angels. It was a great day to be at the ballpark, gorgeous blue skies, albeit a little chilly. It was really exciting to hear everyone cheering when Griffey came onto the field! And they played him at DH, which is exactly where Kevin and I want him to play!

It was an exciting game, Silva pitched well, we had some good hits, and it was pretty much tied most of the game. It ended up going into extra innings, and we won in the 10th inning off a sacrifice bunt by Yuniesky Betancourt after Franklin Gutierrez laid down a double. It was a crazy end, and I think I may have ripped a hole in my larynx screaming my head off! The M's are now 6-2, winning tonight 3-2 tonight! Huzzah! First place in the AL West, tied for first in the AL! What a great way to start the season!