Wednesday, April 3, 2013
EGGS-TRAVAGANZA FUN
We were over the moon excited for Kensi to dye her first Easter eggs this year. We have a tradition where we always color our eggs on the floor and drink our beers. This all started a few years ago when we lived in Maryland and our apartment flooded leaving us with a torn up living room and one cold concrete floor. We had to make the most of our situation; what do you know....it turned into a tradition!
We put Kensi in a white onesie, yes you read that right, I said white. We wanted to showcase her mess in all its glory! Although, after she dyed her first egg in green and I realized that she would not be wearing tights with her dress in the morning, we switched to light colors to avoid further staining on her skin.
Little weirdo, she is so my child. Of course she had to put the newly dyed egg into her mouth with vinegar and all!
Even though this picture shows Kensi giving us the "whiskey tango" face, she went back for more vinegar with her fingers and the egg many, many, many times!
You may think we're crazy, but I love the mess from the dye on the white towel. It will get added to each year, as long as I can keep the stains on it.
Pure Braden-Style.
We ended the night with a little treat. This was mine and Kensi's first taste of a peep. How have I gone so long without trying these sugar coated mallows???? All I can say is watch out next year Peeps, because you're definitely getting used!
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
FIRST EASTER BACK HOME
We hope you all had a very blessed Easter! This was our first Easter celebrating back home in Omaha in 5 years! We were excited as usual for Kensi to experience yet another holiday especially with so many cousins. We had our usual brunch with my family and did an egg hunt in the front yard. Later, we spent time with Mike's family and were able to GRILL OUT! The weather was absolutely gorgeous over the weekend, but it wouldn't be Nebraska without some weird flippin' weather fiasco.....it snowed Sunday night, so that took care of that!
This is the first family picture we've taken in quite some time. Don't you just love her 'scrunchy' face here?!?!?!
Kensi was so excited to finally be able to play with the things in her basket. She found it a few days earlier and everytime she would try and take the bunny with the tutu, I wouldn't let her play with it so after many tears it felt so good to actually let her have it on Sunday.
Her scented Jelly Bean Bags were a HUGE HIT! She literally sucked the life out of the yellow one, it must have tasted/smelled good.
There was so much excitement once the family came over. With so many people Kensi refused to nap and when she did, it was difficult for her to sleep with the kidlits running around the house. So we had to work in a meltdown.
Her first egg hunt was so exciting. She had no clue what to do and probably thought we had lost our minds when we were looking for plastic eggs, but she loved picking up the eggs and throwing them straight to the ground as they popped open with quarters spilling out everywhere.
I ended up picking up the rest of her eggs once she finally got bored.
To finish the day we tried so hard to get a cute picture of Kensi with her cousin Josie. They're about 9 months apart. I thought taking a picture of wiggly Kensi was difficult...nope these two proved me wrong....two is WAY more complicated and they made sure I knew!
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
CORNED BEEF AND VEGGIES
Every year I toss the corned beef into my crockpot, throw in some potatoes and cabbage and cover it with beer. I like corned beef, but it's alway so salty and I find myself making this only once a year. This year I decided to search for a recipe and I found this one on allrecipes.com.
This will now be my corned beef recipe. It wasn't nearly as salty as it usually is and I found myself eating it for lunch and dinner the next day.
Corned Beef & Veggies
4 1/2 lbs Corned Beef Brisket
5 Black Peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Onion, peeled and cut in half
2 Bay Leaves
1 pinch of Salt
1 small head of Cabbage, cored and cut into wedges
6 large Potatoes, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces
4 large Carrots, sliced
1/4 cup Parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1 bottle of Dark Beer
Water
Using a CrockPot, place the beef brisket, peppercorns, garlic powder, onion, bay leaves, salt, potatoes and beer inside. Use water to cover the rest of the meat. Set CrockPot on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours. In the last hour toss in carrots and cabbage.
When meat is done and carrots are fork tender, remove the meat and let it rest for 10 minutes. Slice the meat against the grain. I like to put the meat back inside the crockpot. Add the butter and parsley and serve! It's best with a cold one ;)
Our March has been nothing less than madness. Kensi started the month off with a bad cough that turned into an even worse cold that she happily passed to Mike, my mom and me with all of the kisses she insisted on giving us. On top of the colds, Kensi also decided to start pushing her second and third tooth through. For all you mamas out there who are awaiting your little's first teeth, be patient and get ready for lots of holding, rocking and snuggling. It's such a bittersweet stage because your heart breaks for their discomfort but the snuggles are so sweet.
We finally broke down and ordered Kensi's 'big girl' carseat. She was such a great helper trying to rip the booklet out of Mike's hands. We went with the Britax Advocate 70-GE and we all love it! Kensi looks so big in it now, it must also be really comfortable because every time we go anywhere Kensi is passed out.
We also celebrated St. Patrick's day. We ended up doing a little grocery shopping at Whole Foods on the 16th, which was the best decision we ever made. Why do you ask? Because they were serving up some cold ones while you shopped! Another reason to LOVE Whole Foods.
I love love LOVE celebrating holidays, but our breakfast did not go as planned whatsoever! We made our festive green pancakes (which was the only thing that turned out), green eggs (something, I'm not sure what, went wrong), and Irish potatoes (denser than crap!).
To write words for your pancakes, use a plastic sauce bottle. I picked mine up at Target in the utensil aisle.
For dinner we headed over to Mike's parents for Ruebens which were delicious, but Mike's mom was not feeling well and either was I....so much for a great day. Oh but we did finish the weekend off with a couple green beers which totally made up for everything else.
When we celebrate a holiday, we celebrate all month long. I found these super fun shamrock shaped ravioli from Costco...they were absolutely delicious!
I also made the boys the traditional corned beef and cabbage and this was so much better than what I've done in the past. Kensi enjoyed it too which surprised me....and on that note....my little foodie is back!
Check out my recipe!
This past week my mom went to AZ to visit my sister so Kensi and I had the house to ourselves all week long. I loved having complete one-on-one time with my baby girl. We did a lot of baking, playing and reading.
We finally broke down and ordered Kensi's 'big girl' carseat. She was such a great helper trying to rip the booklet out of Mike's hands. We went with the Britax Advocate 70-GE and we all love it! Kensi looks so big in it now, it must also be really comfortable because every time we go anywhere Kensi is passed out.
I love love LOVE celebrating holidays, but our breakfast did not go as planned whatsoever! We made our festive green pancakes (which was the only thing that turned out), green eggs (something, I'm not sure what, went wrong), and Irish potatoes (denser than crap!).
To write words for your pancakes, use a plastic sauce bottle. I picked mine up at Target in the utensil aisle.
For dinner we headed over to Mike's parents for Ruebens which were delicious, but Mike's mom was not feeling well and either was I....so much for a great day. Oh but we did finish the weekend off with a couple green beers which totally made up for everything else.
When we celebrate a holiday, we celebrate all month long. I found these super fun shamrock shaped ravioli from Costco...they were absolutely delicious!
I also made the boys the traditional corned beef and cabbage and this was so much better than what I've done in the past. Kensi enjoyed it too which surprised me....and on that note....my little foodie is back!
This past week my mom went to AZ to visit my sister so Kensi and I had the house to ourselves all week long. I loved having complete one-on-one time with my baby girl. We did a lot of baking, playing and reading.
Although she definitely surprised me one evening when I was cleaning up the kitchen before the boys came home. She has this new thing about opening the cabinets and pulling everything out. Don't you remember how much fun that was when you were little? Well not only is she completely entertained by this, she thinks its hilarious. I turned around after finishing up some dishes and found this lovely mess...
Just outside of the picture, there are also mixing bowls, toys, kitchen utensils, sippy cups, bottles, the whole works! At least she knows how to get her own snacks :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
