Easter with Matt's Family!

We celebrated Easter early with Matt's family!

One of the first things we all have to do is find our Easter baskets hidden in the house! Aubrey found hers!

Cuddling with her Easter bunny!

Aubrey and Sara

Our nephew, Tyler (obviously a teenager that makes his own statement)!

Our niece, Teagan. She did her own hair today! Isin't it beautiful!

Aubrey wearing bunny ears.

Aubrey on her first Easter Egg Hunt! She wasn't too fond of the uneven grass. You'd be surprised at how many young kids have a phobia to grass! It's hard to walk on this stuff as a beginner-walker! She found all of her eggs, though!

She found one!

The Easter Bunny hid Tyler's eggs high up in the tree.

Carrying her Easter basket.

Aubrey and mommy. She has Elmo Bunny shaped Easter eggs.

Looking inside the eggs.

Matt & Aubrey

Matt making weird faces at Aubrey. What a goofy Uncle!

The famous Jello eggs! Mmmmmm!

We also celebrated Jerry's Birthday! He has a duck on his cake because he can speak in a Donald Duck voice!

The Valance Has Been Installed!

One of my favorite features is the window-like door; it also has a glass shelf inside!

Oooh, ahhhh.... the lights are so beautiful! The plumbing has also been hooked up. Now we just have to finish the tiling to the left of the vanity.

The Vanity is Installed!

Matt and his dad installed the vanity in the bathroom! They had to do a lot of leveling and scribing to get it just perfect. We still have to attach the valance on top, and hook up the plumbing to it. I was very worried at how the counter top would match the rest of the bathroom, but I think it's absolutely gorgeous! Way to go, Matt and Jerry!

Grouting the Walls

We brought home our doors from Menards! They're so beautiful and smell great! They sure do make the rooms look a lot smaller, though. They almost touch the ceiling!
Matt grouted the tile on the walls in half the bathroom. He had to be very careful next to the ceiling.

Before

Before

After

After

His hands got all wrinkly because he was wearing latex gloves all day long! Eeeewww!

We also brought home all the parts to our vanity that we had been storing at Matt's parents' house!

"IT'S A MAJOR AWARD!"

(Famous line from the movie "A Christmas Story")

Matt & Matt - The Cop Duo!

Matt was invited to go on a ride-along with his friend, Matt who is a cop. Here's his friend in his squad car.
The car is completey unmarked except for the small badge on the passenger side.

They patrolled the tough streets of Deephaven for 8 hours on Saturday.

By the end of the night, Matt was getting roudy and had to get locked up! (J/K) "I didn't do it Ociffer!"

"Pull Over!" "No, it's a cardigan, but thanks for noticing."

I'm the most fabulous cook EVER!

I found this recipe on parents.com and it is fabulous! It is the best thing I've ever made! I just have to share the recipe with you! You have to like spicy though, or you could omit the jalepenos, but I don't think it would be the same. I changed the recipe to more jalepenos and more corn, this is with my changes. You have to try it!

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast (cut off fat)
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 jalepeno chiles, seeded and chopped
• 1 3/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with chiles, drained
• 2 cups frozen corn, thawed
• 2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons stone-dround cornmeal
• Shredded Monteray Jack cheese for on top

Directions

1. In a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker, combine onion, chicken, low-sodium broth, green pepper, jalepeno, 1 1/2 tsp of the cumin, 1/4 tsp of the cayenne, and 1/4 tsp of the salt.
2. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 6 hours.
3. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and allow to cool slightly. Shred the chicken and return it to the slow cooker with remaining 1/4 tsp each of cumin and cayenne, and the tomatoes, corn and beans. Gently mash 1 can of the beans in the can before adding it in (this thickens it).
4. Stir in the cornmeal and remaining 1/2 tsp salt. Let sit for a few minutes to soften the cornmeal.
5. Serve sprinkled with a little of the Monteray Jack Cheese and cornbread on the side.

*If you only have a small 3 qt. crockpot like me, you can still cook all of #1 in your slow cooker, and then transfer it to a large chili pot when adding the other ingredients on medium heat.

*If you're in a hurry and can't wait the full 4 hours, you can just take the temp of the chicken, when it's at the right temp that's good enough.

Cute Photos!

Sara reading a book to Aubrey.
These are photos from our Christmas get-together at Matt's cousin's house. I got Aubrey to take a nap. Lucy is sitting with us.

So precious!

Aubrey's 1st Birthday!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to our niece Aubrey!

One of her favorite gifts was her new plushy Elmo. (It was an Elmo-themed birthday after all.)

Her Elmo birthday cake made by Matt's mom Kathy.




One of her favorite things to do is smile and squint her eyes as hard as she can! It's so cute!

What a funny face! Her first taste of cold ice cream! Brrrrrr!

Grandma Kathy reading Aubrey the book we got her, Rainbow Fish.

Eating her birthday cake...very daintily!

I'm Renting Matt Out

My sister, Kacie, and her husband, Eric, are finishing off their basement too. They "hired" Matt to design and put in the duct work. Today they finished most of the "supply", next time they'll put in the "return". (Nice suspenders Eric!)
The furnace exhaust outside their house has an artistic streak in building ice sculptures! It's about 3 feet tall!

Matt risks his life for a stupid piece of metal

The scene where it all took place. Doesn't look like much, Sara just took out one and a half poles. You can kind of see the parts of her bumper.

After Sara's car accident, we had a slight predicament.

Problem solved. Most cars on this highway go about 65-70 mph. He was lucky. Yes, we know this was a stupid act, but Matt is my knight in shining armor.

Sara's Exciting Day

The median cable barrier got the best of the Stratus:

Barrier - 1, Stratus - 0.

Cruising down the highway on her way to work at only 30 mph, traffic stopped, but the car didn't. She slid on solid ice, first left, then right, then left again hitting the cable barrier. Luckily she didn't hit anyone else. There were 4 other cars in the ditch about 1/4 mile ahead of her, and one was upside down. She was the lucky one, someone is definitely watching out for her.

The back end was no match either:

Barrier - 2, Stratus - 0.
You got to love the new safe barriers; now a $75 tow turns into extensive damage.

Floor is Grouted

Matt grouting the floor (oh joy).
OOO . . . AHHH

More Progress...

We installed the vents in the ceilings in the living room. No more holes in the ceiling!

Matt - sick and tired of tiling.

Before - looking towards the shower.


Before - looking towards the future toilet.

After - the giant whole is where the access panel will go. Matt plans on tiling the panel so that it will blend right in.

After - looking great!

New Year's Party!

Happy New Year! We went to my sister Amy's house New Year's Eve. It's nice that she lives so close.
We all brought a couple appetizers to eat. Jon made very spicy buffalo chicken wings! They were obviously very messy!

Now that's a look! We also played one of our favorite games, Catch Phrase. Of course we all start yelling at each other with the answers, and it got kindof loud for Trevor so he went and watched a movie in his room.

Kacie, Eric and Amy. (Kacie's horse Nykolus in the foreground)

Me, Trevor and Amy.

My nephew, Trevor, is starting to potty train, so for Christmas I got him a couple books about it. He loves to have people read them to him. This is Amy reading Once Upon a Potty. It's a very bold book that tells it like it is, which I think is what kids need. Matt and my brother-in-law Eric make their own comments in the background.

Trevor is singing his ABC's while playing with his brand new kitchen from Aunt Kacie and Uncle Eric. He gets a little distracted half way through, and I have to help him continue singing. He also keeps trying to see himself on my camera. Trevor's getting so big!