What my sons were doing while my friends recited their vows
My parents are all smiles, dining with the grandkids at the reception
Uncle J, Aunt L, and my littlest niece just 2 months old
K the bride dances with her daddy
How we celebrated most of the reception: outside! So we tried to take a photo on the rare occasion all 4 of us dressed up. How do you think it went?
No, you are not a mountain goat!
Whew, that was close!
Three out of four smiles is pretty good, don't you think?
Hey, there, photographer!
Bro, that guy with the camera makes me nervous
Even if it were straight, still it's not The One. You know, The Christmas Card photo you try to get all year?
This is more like it! Way more fun!
Me and the beautiful bride
Giving K high fives goodbye.
Attending a wedding with two toddlers is something that everyone should do once in their lifetime. I can check it off the list now! Great fun was had by all, especially when it was time to eat cake - if you look closely, you can probably see it all over our clothes (which reminds me I need to take some things out of the washer)! Congratulations and best wishes, K and J! We love you!
With the boys' and hubs' birthday just 9 days apart, we can stretch the birthday celebrations for over a week! If I haven't read your Facebook posts or replied to your texts or voicemails, it's because we've been partying and prepping for more partying this weekend. (Sorry!)
Last weekend we celebrated with our Michigan families and tonight we celebrated with our Minnesota friends. It was the first time we had so many people in our new house and it was fun to introduce our friends to each other - we had multiples' families, church friends, old friends, new friends and new neighbors (they fall into the new friends category, too!) gathered to celebrate God's many blessings. Here are just a few of the hundreds or so pictures snapped tonight. These were taken the second half of our party by Aunt L - beginning with cake eating, on our Nikon, whose software was FINALLY uploaded to the dino-desktop tonight. Please be patient and I'll work on some more this week. A very gracious friend will have a boatload of good ones from the beginning!
I love you, bro! (My favorite shot:)
Clean mud, eh? I'm sure I can make a mess of it.
Cake! Cake, Bug cake! More candies? Pweeze?
Fireman N helps with the hose
I missed you so much! Welcome! M greets our friends at the door.
A perfect evening for picnicing in our backyard. What beautiful weather and wonderful friends.
BUG CAKE
I love cake!
Daddy and M share a hug
TP + Ivory Soap + H20 + a whole bunch of two year old twins = Clean Mud
The making of the mud
First water balloon fight! Okay, it wasn't much of a fight, but it was funny!
More clean mud making - I had to teach them how to squish it together.
N tiptoes through the shark pool sprinkler
How many two year olds fit into a shark pool? About 9!
Four tired but very happy people say good-bye, friends! Come again!
Oh, yeah....and somebody peed in the pool! I'll leave you guessing if you haven't already heard! :)
"Choo-Choo is coming! WHAAAAHHH! WHAAAAAH!"
That was how Hubs and I woke up at 5:30 this morning. Think the boys were excited for their Thomas the Train themed birthday party? The "WHAAAHHH!" sound is my sons imitating the noise the REAL trains make as they blast the horn going through our new town. They already know trains don't say "chugga-chugga" or "choo-choo" - they know they are LOUD and startling!
Our two families gathered at a nearby park and shared a picnic together this afternoon. Despite threatening weather, the rain held off until the chicken, salads, baked beans, and three delicious cakes were eaten and all the presents were opened.
What cracks me up about toddlers is that really, they just need ONE toy for a holiday or birthday. They simply aren't interested in the clothes (that I'm THRILLED they're receiving)! Or they just need some dirt and sticks, like they found at the park!
Thank you to our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who braved the storm clouds to celebrate our sons' lives. We love you and are grateful that you can be a part of their special day! Enjoy a few of the lovely photos taken by our amateur photographer auntie:
M is all smiles, welcoming our guests.
3 fantastic cakes!
"I'll help you, brother."
Thanks for the presents!
Make a wish!
Best Friends Forever
Yummy!
Up, up and away!
For You!
Our son, Goldilocks
Happy Birthday, boys! You are the answer to our prayers. We love you and are proud to be your parents. So please sleep in tomorrow.
We did it again. We cooked something crazy - Beouf Bourguignon. Inspired by Julie Powell's 2005 book "Julie and Julia," and the 2009 movie of the same name, L and I cooked up a batch of it today. Likely, we are the only Americans who ate something so heavenly for our Super Bowl Sunday dinner.
Imagine beef stew that died and went to heaven. It tasted like beef stew's heavenly body - the perfect one that it will possess for all eternity.
And it wasn't even Julia Child's recipe - it was from my "Food Bible." L and were quite shocked that something WE cooked tasted so amazing, especially since none of the ingredients were unusual. We're not quite sure how we did it, but it went like this. It can also be found on page 99 of The All New Good Housekeeping Cookbook, 2001. (Insert thank you to the Michelson family for this bridal shower treasure - who knew?)
Boeuf Borguingnon Another French Classic that has become an American Classic (that's really what it says, but neither L nor I have ever eaten it and we've been eating American food for a combined 56 years)
Prep: 30 minutes, Cook: 2 hours 45 min
2 slices bacon, chopped
2 lbs. lean boneless beef chuck, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 large (12 oz) onion, chopped
2 carrots,peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbs. all purpose flour
2 tsp. tomato paste
2 c. dry red wine
1/2 bay leaf
1 tsp. plus pinch salt
1/4 tsp plus pinch ground black pepper
1 lb small white onions peeled
3 tbs. butter or margarine
1 c. water
1 lb mushrooms, trimmed and cut into quarters if large
1. In nonreactive 5 quart Dutch oven, cook bacon over med. heat until just beginning to brown. With slotted spoon, transfer bacon to med. bowl.
2. Pat beef dry with paper towels. Add 1 tsp. oil to Dutch oven and increase heat to med hi. Add beef in batches, to bacon drippings and cook until well browned, using slotted spoon to transfer beef as it is browned to bowl with bacon. Add remaining 1 tsp. oil if necessary.
3. Reduce heat to med. Add chopped onion, carrots, and garlic to Dutch oven; cook until onion and carrots are tender, about 8 min. Stir in flour, cook 1 min. Stir in tomato paste, cook 1 min. Add wine, bay leaf, 1 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper, stirring until browned bits are loosened. Return beef and bacon to Dutch oven; heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until beef is very tender, about 1 hr, 30 min. Remove bay leaf. Skim and discard fat.
4. Meanwhile, in 10 in skillet, combine small white onions, 1 Tbs. butter, sugar, and water. Heat to boiling; cover and simmer until onions are just tender, about 10 min. Remove comer and cook over med hi heat, swirling (swirling! I love this!) pan occasionally, until water has evaporated and onions are golden. Transfer to bowl; keep warm.
5. In same skillet, melt remaining 2 Tbs. butter over med hi heat. Add mushrooms and remaining pinch salt and pepper; cook, stirring, until mushrooms are tender and liquid has evaporated. Stir onions and mushrooms into stew. Makes 6 main dish servings.
Because we have no French bakery nearby, we cheated by baking a Pillsbury canned loaf of French bread, which I'm sure the French think is an abomination to French breadmaking and probably is, but it sure was fantastic to have a hot loaf of French bread to sop up the heavenly mess of stew.
And because no blog is complete without a photo of my sons, here they are eating the chocolate cupcakes that Auntie L made for them this weekend. Because, sadly, they were NOT fans of the Beouf Borguignon.
