happy new years!

we managed to pull off our new year's eve dinner, even though we ended up not having everything and my head was definitely not in the game. mom picked up a few things that we needed, which helped us avert total disaster. i was excited to get home and start cooking, since i hadn't made anything recently. everything started off splendidly, until i realized the amount of meat we had just wasn't going to be enough. i had followed the recipe, and remember thinking it seemed a little low, but i trusted the recipe (should have known better!). bryan ran out and got us some more meat, and we were able to make the beef rendang, which turned out pretty darn tasty. we served that with rice and rice noodles (which ended up plain). the terong belado (eggplant with chilli sauce) was delicious. the tomato sauce was pretty spicy, but even hannah liked it. the eggplant were roasted perfectly! the gado gado (mixed vegetable salad with peanut sauce) was a huge hit. even shannon, who generally doesn't like any dressing on her salad, had 3 helpings. :) shannon brought some pecan pie for dessert, which had butter so i skipped it. bryan also skipped it, seeing as how he had eaten all but 1 slice of the leftover pineapple cake from sunday (which was a half a cake!). so, even though we didn't have everything, and i was pretty spaced out from the lack of sleep, it worked out.

i didn't make it up to midnight, but hannah did! she and bryan stayed up... took a short nap but were up to see the ball drop at midnight. she was pretty excited since she had never been able to do so before.

it was nice to have new year's day off from work. i had figured we would watch movies and play games all day, but managed to accomplish none of that. :) hannah played in the snow for awhile, i reviewed our medical bills from the hospital and took a nap, and somehow managed to get nothing else done. bryan, however, got a lot done - he made a chicken stock, turkey stock (for soup later this week), and split pea soup with leftover ham from christmas. AND he made dinner!


and what a dinner it was! he had made greens the day before, boiled corned beef, cooked some black eyed peas along with some ham, and made some carrots since i had never found greens that i liked. well, bryan managed to change that last night - the greens were pretty awesome! i had never liked the over boiled GREEN taste of greens, nor the bitterness. whatever he did to these worked, however, as they were not over cooked tasting, nor in texture (they were still firm enough but not crunchy), and not bitter at all. they had a great flavor, and were even better with some pepper vinegar. i even had a second helping - as did hannah. we're officially converts :) overall, dinner was just awesome. hannah and i had some words over the last few pieces of corned beef, but managed to come to an agreement that left us both happy. ;) i wasn't thrilled about the black eyed peas, but i don't much like beans to begin with. bryan assured me that they were, in fact, quite delicious. any time we clear our plates, the menu is definitely a keeper, and we have definitely started yet another family tradition with this meal.


after dinner, bryan got hannah started with a movie, and we gave oliver a bath, which he enjoyed as usual. i love my clean munchkin!!


then we joined hannah in the living room to watch the game plan, which was pretty cute although totally predictable. the rock is fun, though, so we enjoyed it. although, i crawled up to bed before the end (which i am pretty sure i can predict anyways!). i had asked ollie to sleep for 5 hours and ta da! - he did! :) we went down around 8:30pm and got up at 2am. we were up for not quite 2 hours as he ate a bunch and fussed through some burps. his nose is still a little stuffy, so it was bothering him a bit as well. poor pumpkin.

we got off to a rough start this morning, as i overslept by about an hour. i had wanted to get up EARLY today, and that totally didn't work out. luckily, oliver was agreeable and got ready and strapped in without a fuss. i managed to get him and some supplies to day care shortly after 8. not sure what time i made it to work, though i would guess before 9. i was oh so smart and decided to wear a skirt today, and with the temperature at 16°F (feels like 0°F), my legs completely froze on the walk from the car to the door. i am not looking forward to leaving work today for that reason. my nose is running like crazy, but at least the awful headache i woke up with is gone (knock on wood). i'll get it together yet! :)

hannah is heading over to mom's house today. mom gave her a kid's baking book and made her a hello kitty apron for christmas, so they are baking an apple cake for us, YUM! hannah is learning to knit, as well. we gave her a knit your own scarf kit for christmas, and while i thought she may not have any interest in it, she has REALLY been loving it. it was the first gift she asked to do anything with, and has really applied herself in trying to learn to knit. shannon and mom also want to take her ice skating downtown this afternoon, but we'll see with this cold weather. i told her to pack long johns, so hopefully she found them! :)

i think we're having split pea soup for dinner, which will be great in this freezing weather and for my cold (seeing as how i can only long for some thera flu and not actually have any). and probably rolls, since we have about 60 of them leftover from sunday (i seriously DID NOT order so many!!). other than that, my only goals are to do some laundry and sit on the couch. i am not firing on all cylinders today and shouldn't attempt to do to much lest i just disappoint myself. i am definitely looking forward to heading home, getting in some comfy pjs, and cuddling with my baby!!