Soundtrack to cook to: Alexander's Disney music mix
Joseph's had a pretty laid back schedule this month and last, as he's doing research right now and is able to be home by 2 or 3 in the afternoon. It's been lovely having him home so much and he's getting some quality bonding time in with the boys. Here's a few pictures (that I thought were hilarious) and just had to share:
 |
| Alexander, Joseph, and I were hanging out in the kitchen and Joseph said, "Hey Alex! Thumbs up, dude!" To which Alexander stuck both of his index fingers up in the air and said, "Thumbs up, Daddy!" Joseph and I just both died laughing and Alexander was so pleased with himself. |
 |
| Here's the two guys doing "thumbs up" again. We'll work on it. :) |
 |
In a medium bowl, whisk together the following ingredients:
|
 |
In a standing mixer, mix the following ingredients:
|
 |
| Voila! The result is a delightfully spicy, sweet, and soft gingerbread cookie. These satiated my cravings for holiday cookies and went along quite nicely with an ice cold glass of milk. An added bonus was that while they were baking, they made the house smell Christmasy. :) |
 |
| On December 23, my mom and I took William and Alexander to go and see Santa. I was so proud when Alexander told Santa that he wanted a book for Christmas. The teacher in me was beaming with pride. :) |
 |
| Here's Santa, reading a book to the boys. |
 |
| The official picture with Santa Claus. I LOVE that William has such a pensive look to him, like he's deep in thought. Too funny! |
The boys with Santa Claus 2012
Alexander, playing around
We wanted to continue our little family tradition of going ice skating and having hot chocolate afterwards. Joseph and I took Alexander, while my mom watched William at home. It was pretty chilly that day, but we had so much fun. We made it around the rink 3 1/2 times (the same as last year) before we had to call it a day. Hopefully next year, Alexander will be able to balance and skate a little bit more.
 |
| Mommy and Alexander, ready to get our skate on. |
 |
| Alexander and Daddy, balancing on their skates and waiting for the zamboni to smooth out the ice. |
 |
| Alexander and Joseph "skating" on the ice. We mostly just dragged Alexander across the ice (he was in between the two of us, holding our hands), but he really did have a lot of fun! |
 |
| Mommy and Alexander skating together |
Mommy and Alexander skating together
Drinking hot chocolate...Mmmmmm!!!!!
 |
| Since my sister had to spend Christmas Day with her boyfriend's family, we decided to have our big Christmas dinner on Christmas eve. We were very fortunate to also have my friend Vena come over to help us dig in. |
 |
| Here's our lively table. I cooked the same exact meal for Christmas Eve as I did for Thanksgiving. :) I still maintain that my stuffing is my favorite of all of the leftovers. |
 |
| Merry Christmas 2012!!! Here's our little Christmas tree with all of the presents ready to be unwrapped. We were so happy to see that it was a white Christmas morning with beautifully light and fluffy snow falling. |
 |
| Before Alexander got into all of the presents.... |
 |
| This was the scene that Alexander woke up to in the morning. It's so much fun being a parent and seeing Christmas through a child's eyes. I think I was more excited than he was for all of this. There was a note from Santa Claus and Santa's footprints for Alexander and William in the morning. |
 |
| Santa's note and footprints |
 |
| The little man, digging into his presents. He kept going through and pointing to all of the presents saying, "Present for Alex...present for Alex." This little guy is such a character. |
 |
| Alexander unwrapping presents while Joseph, my mom, William, sister Kristen and her boyfriend Pete watch. |
 |
| Alexander was very excited to see what was inside each of the boxes. |
 |
| "Present for Alex...present for Alex." :) |
 |
| William, laying in the bouncer with his beautifully monogrammed playmat from the Long family. |
 |
| Alexander playing with his Bounce Bounce Tigger toy. |
 |
| The Christmas chaos |
 |
| Oscar is modeling his collar and tie that he got for Christmas. |
 |
| Our beautiful boys on Christmas day |
 |
| Woo hoo! It's my first Christmas!! |
 |
| Our little boo boo bear :) |
 |
| Alexander loved looking through all of his books. |
Alexander playing with his toys
 |
| Since it was snowing and chilly outside, I thought Alexander would have fun decorating a gingerbread train. I figured a train would be much more appealing to him than a typical gingerbread house. I bought a little kit and this kid had a blast! It held his interest for a solid 30 minutes!! He's never worked on a project for that long. |
 |
| Here's Alexander smiling, mid-decorating. It was interesting to see how detail-oriented and methodical he was in putting the candies in their respective places. |
 |
| "Mommy! I like this special activity!" |
Alexander decorating the gingerbread train
He loved this so much that he started singing to himself
 |
| The finished product!! He was seriously SO proud of himself for decorating the gingerbread "Thomas" train, as he dubbed it. |
 |
| "Cheeeese!!" Hooray! He actually looked at the camera this time. :) |
 |
| That same day, my sister Kristen and her boyfriend Pete came over to watch William so that Joseph and I could take Alexander sledding for the first time this year. Here's our little guy all bundled up and ready to play in the snow. |
 |
| Joseph and Alexander, getting ready to go sledding. |
The Franses men sledding
 |
| Mommy and Alexander, ready to fly down the hill |
Here we go!!! :)
 |
| This is how the guys play together with one another. :) |
 |
| Here's our smiley guy at 8 weeks old. |
 |
| 1 1/2 cups of panko bread crumbs, 1 tbsp Italian seasoning, 2 tbsp parmesan cheese, salt and pepper |
 |
| Take 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts and butterfly them. Beat one egg and dredge each of the chicken breasts in the egg, then coat the chicken breasts in the bread crumb mixture. Coat the bottom of a crock pot in olive oil and place the breaded chicken breasts in the bottom of the pot. |
 |
| Take about 3/4 cup of shredded cheese and sprinkle it on top of the chicken along with some freshly chopped basil. |
 |
| Top the chicken with 1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce. I prefer any type of Rao's marinara sauce. Put on the lid and then you can turn your crock pot on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3 hours. |
 |
| Since there were no vegetables in the recipe, in a separate pan, I cooked up some onions, peppers, mushrooms, and broccoli that were seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. |
 |
| Ta-da!! The chicken parmesan is so soft and tender and melts in your mouth! So good and incredibly easy to make! |
 |
| I took some of the sauce from the crock pot and mixed it in with the vegetables to serve alongside the chicken. Dinner was a success! |
 |
| Here's another little gem from our 8 week old William Billiam Boo. :) |
Alexander being a sweet older brother
William being cute
 |
| Joseph and I were watching a movie while trying to get William to sleep. I looked over and this is what I saw - my two men, fast asleep and with their mouths wide open. Too cute! |
 |
| William getting in some tummy time while his big brother Oscar watched over him. |
 |
| Since we didn't toast the tree with egg nog when we put it up, we toasted the tree with egg nog when we took it down. Here's Alexander and Joseph saying, "Cheers!" Alexander loved the "egg not" as he called it. :) |
 |
| Little William, out cold. |
 |
| Joseph holding William while Oscar gives him a nice kiss. Oscar really loves our two boys so much. He's such a sweet dog. :) We still refer to him as our first born. |
We had such a great holiday season and were surrounded with loved ones, carried on traditions, and started some new ones of our own. I absolutely love this time of year! Until next time...
Love and kisses,
Nikki
No comments:
Post a Comment