Recent Date Nights

We don't have cable or dish or anything to get TV channels, so Jacob & I watch our shows online after they air on TV.  Last week was the season premiere of The Office!  To make the premiere a little more fun, we had an office-themed party! (Just me & Jacob... but it's still a party.)  I got the ideas & printables from The Dating Divas (I just LOVE their blog, if you haven't noticed).  Jacob had been sick all week & was feeling really rotten, but we still had a good time. 

Our office-themed food:  Stanley's Free Pretzel, Big Tuna Sandwiches, & Dunder Muffins

Saturday we had our first date night from Jacob's birthday present, which I explained in my last post (in case you have no idea what I'm talking about).  Our date night was Jamaican-themed, so I made Jerk Chicken.  The recipe I used was not authentic Jamaican Jerk, but it sure was delicious!  I was a little worried as I was blending all of the ingredients into a gross-looking greenish slop to pour on top of the chicken, but it was SO good.  I started getting excited as it was cooking because it smelled amazing.  (You're also supposed to make jerk chicken on the grill, but we don't have a grill, so we had to settle for baked.)  We had rice and zucchini with the chicken--no special Jamaican recipes there, just normal rice & zucchini.  I also tried a recipe for baked plantains with cinnamon & sugar, but they were awful.  Most of the recipes fry them, but I didn't want to stand over the stove getting scalded by hot oil, so I went with the oven recipe.  Maybe they would have been better fried, but I don't think I'll ever buy plantains again to try... they just tasted so bad.  Anyway, we also listened to Jamaican music on the computer as we ate.  After dinner, we watched Cool Runnings, which was even better than I remembered from when I would watch it as a kid.  I was worried it would be one of those movies that aren't as fun to watch as an adult, but it's definitely not.  It was even funnier than I remembered.

Sadly, I took no photos of our dinner or of anything else on our date night.  It had been an awful day, and the kids had been terrible, and it was hard enough just to get everything ready for the date and get the kids in bed so that we could have our kid-free date night, so I didn't bother with taking any pictures.  I regret it now, but oh well!  For our next date, I'll definitely make sure I get some pictures.  In October, we go to Germany for Oktoberfest! 

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Saturday June 9th was our third wedding anniversary!  I had planned a big steak dinner for our special anniversary dinner, but Jess & I had a busy day planned, so she treated us to Steak 'n Shake instead!  Jacob & I had really wanted her to experience Steak 'n Shake while she was here, and I think she liked it!

 

We were so full from Steak 'n Shake on Saturday that we never got around to eating the cake I had bought for our anniversary dessert.  So we had the cake after our Sunday dinner, and then Jess & I made the steak dinner on Tuesday, so Jacob and I got to drag our anniversary celebration over 3 different days.  I've decided that we should do that from now on for all of the special days--anniversaries, birthdays, other big holidays... everything is going to get a week-long celebration!

Red Velvet Cake... yummy.

Us eating dinner... I'm pretty sure Naomi took this picture.
And that's sparkling grape juice.  Don't worry.  :)

This wasn't part of our anniversary celebration... I just added it cuz she's cute.  And I was going to photoshop that little booger out of her nose, but then I thought, "nah!" :)

Pasta & Spinach Gratin

In addition to trying to be more fun as a mother, I have been trying really hard lately to cook more yummy meals.  I have found that if I don't plan ahead of time what I am going to cook, then when dinnertime rolls around and I'm starving, I end up cooking some crappy frozen meal because it's fast and easy.  So I've been planning our meals weekly, and it has helped me a ton!

In one of my google searches for easy dinner ideas, I found this recipe for Pasta & Spinach Gratin, and it looked yummy, so we tried it tonight.  I loved it!  Naomi wouldn't touch it, but I just never know what she will eat.  It seems to depend on the day and on her mood.  I think Jacob liked it--he had 3 helpings.  Between the two of us, we ate 3/4 of it, and it filled my 9x13 casserole dish!

Since it has lots of spinach, it made me feel like I was being healthy, but I'm thinking it was pretty fattening with all of the butter and cream that I used (I chose to use heavy cream--yum!!).

Doesn't it look pretty?

It was easy & yummy... definitely a dish that I will make again sometime!

Memorial Day

We decided to stay home for our Memorial Day, so we spent the day playing and being a little lazy.  Some of us also decided it was time to catch up on some sleep--Naomi went down for a late nap last night after church at 5:00, and slept through the night until 7 this morning!  Then she took a 4 hour nap in the afternoon.  So in one 24-hour period, Naomi slept 18 hours.  Pretty crazy!

This evening, Naomi and I made and decorated sugar cookies for Memorial Day!  I wasn't sure how it would go, but Naomi had a lot of fun!  While I flattened the dough (I didn't realize I had no rolling pin, so I did my best with my hands) and cut out cookies, Naomi mostly played with the flour and made a HUGE mess.  She kept spooning more flour onto the table and then spreading it all over the table in front of her until she eventually pushed it all onto the floor.  When I finally put the flour away, there was flour EVERYWHERE.

Making the dough

She's saying, "Cheese!"  She is covered in flour!

For the decorating, I kept some of the icing white and colored the rest blue, and I bought red, blue, and white sprinkles.  I iced some cookies for Naomi and gave a bowl with each kind of sprinkles.  I tried to show her how to sprinkle them onto the cookie, but she decided she'd rather dump a huge pile onto the cookie, and of course make an even bigger mess.  She would dump a pile onto the cookie, spend a few minutes eating some of the sprinkles, and then dump a bunch of the sprinkles onto her chair.  Eventually, the cookie stuff was everywhere, and Naomi was completely covered in flour and colored sprinkles and icing, so I put the rest of the cookies away for me to decorate later.

"Where are all my sprinkles?"

It was definitely a successful activity in that Naomi had a ton of fun, but oh, what a mess she made!  I had decided before we started that I was just going to let Naomi play and have fun--no matter how much of a mess she was making.  So I let her dump the flour and cover herself and me with cookie dough & flour and dump the sprinkles all over the floor and grind them into her chair with her feet... and I'm glad I did. Because she had fun!  It took forever to clean up though.  I wish I had taken a picture of the table and floor before I cleaned it up, because it was terrible.  I also forgot to take a picture of Naomi's face before I wiped it all off--her mouth and cheeks were COVERED in blue from the sprinkles.

Keep in mind, this was AFTER I wiped Naomi's face off.  You can see the mess she made of her chair behind her.

This is what her feet looked like when we were finished.

Our finished cookies!  I actually had to throw away the ones Naomi decorated because she dumped them onto the floor, icing-side down.

Disappointed

I signed up for Groupon months & months ago, and I would check every once in a while to see what kind of awesome deals they had, but since we really had no money to spend, I never bought any of their deals.  Then a few months ago I got an email from them saying that they missed me and were giving me 10 free Groupon Bucks to use toward one of their deals.  I'm not sure how they missed me considering I'd never given them any business, but I wasn't complaining!  A few days later, they were offering a deal in Kansas City for a place called Big Momma's Bakery Cafe--pay $7 for $14 worth of yummies.  I'd heard my sister-in-law Jen rave about their cinnamon rolls on numerous occasions, so I bought the deal!  And since I was using my free Groupon Bucks, I was basically getting 14 dollars worth of bakery yumminess for free!

Jacob & I first tried to use our Groupon last month.  We were in the Kansas City area for the weekend so that we could go to the open house for the new LDS temple.  Jacob's mom watched the kiddos for us, so we decided to make the most of our kid-free outing and stopped at Big Momma's on our way home.  Sadly, when we got to the bakery, they were pretty much sold out of everything.  I was really disappointed and pretty annoyed, especially since we arrived 2 hours before they were supposed to close.  I feel like it's pretty poor planning on their part to be completely sold out hours before closing time.  So we drove home empty-handed & hungry!

This past weekend, we were in the Kansas City area once more visiting Jacob's family, so we decided to try again.  This time, we went on a weekday around noon in hopes of avoiding the problem we ran into last time.  Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was a little disappointed in their selection.  They had their famous cinnamon rolls--the HUGE Big Momma, then smaller ones, and then these little minis.  Other than that, they really didn't offer a whole lot.  A couple kinds of cupcakes, some rolls, and a few cookies were all that I really noticed.   So we spent all 14 dollars on cinnamon rolls--a Big Momma for us to share, a 4-pack of smaller rolls to take home, and a couple minis.

The Big Momma was (I hate to use this word yet again, but it is fitting) a big disappointment.  The middle was doughy and gross.  The rest of it was alright, but it wasn't anything incredible--just a decent cinnamon bun.  The 4-pack was better because they were all completely cooked, and we reheated them in the oven, which I think also made them yummier.  But again, they weren't anything extraordinary--I've had cinnamon buns from the grocery store that I liked as much.

Overall, Jacob & I give Big Momma's 2 stars out of 5.  The 2 stars are because the cinnamon buns were pretty good.  Everything else about the place is why we didn't give more stars.  The doughy, uncooked center of the Big Momma... the fact that they were sold out hours before closing... the small variety of baked goods... and the prices weren't great ($6.25 for a Big Momma and $6.25 also for a 4-pack).  Also, the location, at least in my mind, isn't the best because of the parking.  It's at the Crown Center, which seemed like a cool place, but the parking fees are outrageous.  It's 4 bucks for only 30 minutes!  You can get 3 hours of free parking with validation, but that means you have to actually purchase something somewhere, so you better not just be window-shopping or you'll be paying ridiculous parking prices.

So for our second unofficial Romney Restaurant Review, we give Big Momma's 2 stars.  I doubt we will ever go again, and I probably wouldn't recommend it to my friends.  Go to the grocery store and get an equally yummy cinnamon roll for way less money--that's what we'll be doing next time!

P.S.  Sorry about the lack of photos.  I didn't think about taking any until we'd eaten all of cinnamon rolls.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Almost every day that Jacob hasn't had an early class, he has gotten up with Naomi and let me stay in bed with the baby. So I let him sleep in today while I took care of the kiddos & made Valentine's day French toast. Yum!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Christmas Day

My parents got Naomi a Disney Princess play tent for Christmas, and Jacob and I set it up on Christmas Eve so that it would already be up when Naomi came downstairs on Christmas morning. She was excited when she first saw it, but she wouldn't go inside until Jacob & I both went inside. Sine then, we've barely seen her out of it! She spent most of Christmas day playing in her tent, dragging toys & blocks inside, and peeking out of the windows & the crawl hole... when Jacob put a show on TV for her, she lay down inside the tent and watched the show through the crawl hole in the side of the tent.





When we finally got Naomi out of the Princess tent, we opened presents. It was fun this year because Naomi was old enough to open her presents herself (for the most part). Naomi got her tent & a big thing of megablocks from my parents, and we got her a set of 12 hand puppets (13 bucks on Amazon!), some play dough, and a giant coloring book (play dough & coloring book from the Dollar Tree... I love the Dollar Tree!). We are also making her a puppet theater out of a cardboard presentation board, but we haven't had the time to finish it. With Aleta's arrival, things have just been a little too busy! I'm hoping we can finish it this week, and then I will post pictures. I was also able to get a double stroller for the girls, which I am way excited about! The double stroller that fits our infant car seat was $150, which we couldn't afford, but Babies R Us had it on sale before Christmas for $110, and then we got a gift card for the girls from some family, so I was able to get the stroller for only 85 bucks! For that price, I couldn't pass it up. I'm excited that I will be able to take the girls on walks & outings now!

For the rest of the day, Naomi played with her new toys, Jacob relaxed and played with Naomi and played some video games, and I spent a lot of time cooking! I made a bacon, egg, & cheese breakfast quiche for brunch, which was delicious! Then for dinner, we had a 9 lb. (it was the smallest I could find!) spiral honey glazed ham, mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans, fruit salad w/cool whip, and rolls w/butter & honey. Yum!! Oh, and cherry pie for dessert, which I did not make. I had planned on making it myself, but with the craziness of having a baby a week before Christmas, I decided to make it easier on myself and buy a pie instead. I also made peanut butter fudge for myself after dinner (I'm not a big pie fan), and in the last day, I've eaten half the pan myself. I love fudge... yum!!

My quiche! (The beautiful flowers are from my parents)

Christmas Dinner!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, too!

Summer

I can't believe that summer has already come & gone! Jacob is back in school full-time at Mizzou (taking 18 credits of nuclear medicine classes and physics... it will be a tough semester!), and I've been busy with chasing after Naomi and attempting (and failing, usually) to keep our place clean and organized.

Most of our summer, sadly, was spent inside our little townhouse, trying to stay cool. I had big plans of taking Naomi to the Columbia parks every day, and going on little family outings, and taking Naomi to the free splash parks. But as it turned out, Naomi is TERRIFIED of water unless it's in the tub, and for most of the summer, we had extreme heat warnings and temperatures in the 100's. So we settled with staying at home and playing in our nice, air-conditioned home.

Jacob and I celebrated our second anniversary on June 9th. We didn't have a babysitter for Naomi, and we didn't have any money to go out and do anything spectacular, so we celebrated here at home. Jacob put Naomi to bed while I ran out and picked up dinner to-go from Chili's, and we ate dinner by candlelight and then watched a movie on Netflix. Jessica, one of my old roommates from Provo and one of my very best friends came to visit us in the middle of July for an entire week! We had so much fun having her here, and we even managed to get out of the house a couple times despite the heat. We took Naomi to the pool one day and forced her to face her fear of water, but she whined and cried as soon as even one toe would touch the water. She LOVES her bathtime, but the pool for some reason terrifies her.

We all loved having Jessica here and were sad to see her go. Naomi especially enjoyed having a new person to play with and entertain her. We love you, Jess!!
Shortly after Jess left, my parents drove out from Pennsylvania to visit for a few days! We all went out to Steak 'N Shake for my 26th birthday, and my mom made a delicious cake--chocolate, chocolate chip cake with buttercream icing. Yum! I loved being able to spend my birthday with them. The last time I got to spend my birthday with my parents was the summer I turned 21, after my freshmen year of college. So it had been a while!

Valentine's Day 2011

Jacob's brother Ben & his wife Kalie came to visit for the weekend, so Kalie and I celebrated Valentine's Day with our men on Saturday. We had heart-shaped pizzas & caesar salad for dinner and then watched a movie after Naomi went to bed. I was a little nervous about how the heart-shaped pizzas were going to work because we had to start with rectangular dough, but they actually turned out pretty good!

The HuHot Mongolian Grill

When Jacob's family was helping us move our things into our new place, Lorenzo (Jacob's dad) noticed the HuHot Mongolian Grill right down the street and asked us to test it out for him and report back. We were happy to oblige, especially since it meant a free meal for us!

So here is our unofficial Romney Restaurant Review (I'm loving the alliteration):

The HuHot was not your traditional "order from a menu" type restaurant, so at first I felt a little self-conscious and uncomfortable. When I go out to eat, I usually prefer to be seated, order from my menu, and have my food brought to me so that I don't ever have to leave the security of my table. It's the reason that I've never really liked buffets--they force me out of my comfort zone by requiring me to wander the restaurant in search of what I want to eat. Maybe that sounds weird, but that's me. I also prefer booths instead of tables, because I feel too open at a table, like everyone in the restaurant can see me. Booths feel more secluded. But that has nothing at all to do with this post... just a random fact about me!

So back to the HuHot... the food is set up into three buffet-like stations. At the first station, they have different kinds of meats (all uncooked) cut into thin slices--sausage, pork, chicken, beef, lamb-- as well as different types of noodles. So you grab a bowl and throw in whatever strikes your fancy. At the second station they have vegetables, like cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, and those tiny corn cob things that are often in stir-frys (I obviously have no idea what they are called). So you plop some veggies into your bowl to pretend that you're healthy or something. Then at the last station, you create your sauce. This is the station where you can really get crazy. They have around a dozen already prepared sauces in addition to a bunch of make-your-own-sauce ingredients, and you can mix and match to create your own little concoction! It was exciting and also a little terrifying to be in charge of making my own sauce. My first time around, I stuck with a few ladels each of two prepared sauces, but I got braver later on and made some of my own creations.

Finally, after you've covered your bowl of goodies with at least 5 ladels of sauce, you hand your food to the grill-man to fire it all up. He takes a couple minutes to cook the food, and then he hands you your plate of stir-fry yummies.

It was delicious! Jacob went up twice, and I went up three times (I am a breastfeeding mother, after all). Jacob even fed Naomi a little from his plate, and she loved it, too. Overall, we'd say the HuHot gets 4 stars out of 5... 5 stars is reserved for especially awesome restaurants, like Fogo de Chao in Kansas City. Oh man, that place is amazing! But we're reviewing the HuHot Mongolian Grill here, so enough about that.

And actually, I might be inclined to up my HuHot rating to 4.5, because their menu gave us a chuckle.

(In case you can't read it, the menu says, "How to Pillage like the Mongols. Step 1: Prepare for battle. Step 2: Control your destiny. Step 3: Pour on the flavor. Step 4: Advance to the grill. Step 5: Take back the bounty. Step 6: Relive the conquest.")

P.S. Although I wrote this review today, we went to the HuHot weeks ago! So don't be thinking that we were breaking the Sabbath... I promise we went on a weekday.