William's 2nd Birthday, Avocado Massaged Kale Salad, Maple Pumpkin Spiced Chex Mix and Lots 'O Fun!

On the plate: Avocado massaged kale salad and maple pumpkin spiced Chex mix

Soundtrack to cook to:  Meghan Trainor's Title.  Lots of fun and sassy pop tunes with a Doo-Wop influence.  Don't hate on me because I sometimes listen to what the teeny boppers listen to (I think I'm officially old when I refer to the younger generation as "teeny boppers").

Woo Hoo!!  We're in the month of November 2014!  Makin' our way through the fall, for sure.  This month was filled with TONS O' FUN!!  We celebrated William's 2nd birthday and shortly after that, we went on a two week vacation!  (But that's for the next post. ;-) )  Enjoy the first half (and last half - Thanksgiving) of November!

I had to quietly sneak up on these guys and catch them
being cute and snuggly with one another on the couch.
This.rarely.happens.  But when it does, it's very sweet.

Mmmm!  Healthy salad time!  Our friend Ai-ris got us hooked on kale salad 4 1/2 years ago when she dropped off an entire meal of healthy foods for us after Alex was born (she's incredible!).  Since then, we've been addicted to kale salad and found an amazing one at Whole Foods.  After having it so many times, I looked up "look alike" salad recipes on the Internet and found one!  Here it is, just for you and your loved ones....or you can save it all for yourself.  ;-)

Ingredients:

• 2 avocados, pitted and halved
• 2 lemons, zest and juice
• 1 red pepper
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 lb kale, chopped
• 3-4 beets, diced
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Place the avocados, lemon zest and juice, into a large bowl and mash together until the avocado is nice and smooth.
2. Place the rest of the ingredients into the large bowl and mix together with your hands, making sure to massage the avocado into the kale leaves.
3. Serve and enjoy!!

The yummy and creamy avocados, ready to be smooshed to smithereens
with some lemon zest and juice.

How beautiful is this??  So delicious and nutritious and it's even
BETTER the next day, after the ingredients have been able to marinate
overnight. 

In preparation for William's birthday party, I found an easy recipe for maple pumpkin spiced Chex mix that I thought would be nice to set out for guests to munch on.  While the little one was napping, my helpful and handsome sous chef assisted me in the kitchen.  The beauty of this recipe is that it's made entirely in a crock pot!  Whhhhaaaaat??  I know....ridiculous.  So easy and delicious.

Ingredients:

•  6 cups Chex cereal (3 cups rice Chex and 3 cups Honey Nut Chex)
• 2 cups dried cranberries
• 2 cups honey roasted almonds
• 2 cups pretzels
• 5 chocolate pizzelles (or you can use graham crackers)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (it seems like a lot, but you really need that much to get the pumpkiny flavor)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a 5 to 6-quart crock pot pour in the Chex cereal, cranberries, almonds, pretzels, and pizzelles.
2. Melt the butter in a microwave-safe container.
3. Add the maple syrup, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla into the butter, and whisk to combine.
4. Slowly pour the butter mixture over the cereal mixture in the crock pot.  Use a silicone spatula to stir and coat the cereal mixture evenly.
5. Cook covered on high for about 1 hour, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes.  
6. Turn it down to low and cook for another hour, stirring occasionally so the bottom parts don't burn.  Cook until there's no visible liquid pooling and pieces have dried out. They will not be completely dry after 2 hours. 
7. Pour the Chex mix onto a baking tray and allow to dry for at least 2 hours, but overnight is better.

My handsome sous chef, helping me to measure out the ingredients
and put them into the crock pot.

Our handsome little cook.  :-)

Yummy in the tummy and ready to be coated with butter and cooked!

Mmmmm!  Can I take a bath in this?  Butter, sugar, and spice mixture,
prepped and ready to evenly coat the Chex mix!
This Chex mix was juuuuust delicious!  The perfect mixture of salty and sweet
with some yummy, juicy little bites of tart cranberry.  A perfect little snack.

Happy 2nd birthday, William Billiam!!!  On November 2, 2014, we had a small celebration for William.  He said that he wanted a Thomas the train engine themed party (sound familiar?)  Lol!  Alex had a Thomas the train engine themed party for his 2nd birthday, too!  Great minds think alike, I suppose.  It was a cold day and we even got our first snow! 
William's birthday always sneaks up on me, and I just couldn't believe that it was already time to plan his second birthday celebration.  Time needs to slooowwww down. 

The food spread!  Since it was a cold day,
I decided to put together a chili bar with all the fixings,
salad, turkey pepperoni pizza rolls, Brazilian cheese bread,
maple pumpkin spiced Chex mix, and a pumpkin pecan brie en croute.

A perfect little spread for our small celebration.

If you look closely, I had a Thomas train on the table that had little
train cars filled with snacks and the Brazilian cheese bread.
Thank you, Pinterest for all the great ideas!

The set up, complete with my sister Kristen snacking before the guests came.  :-p

Kristen and Pete got William chocolate and vanilla Thomas the train
cupcakes and a red velvet cake to enjoy later.  Just the perfect size for
each guest to have a little bite. 
Thanks for always getting the best cakes and treats for our birthdays, Kristen and Pete!

And now the guests arrive...

The star of the show (other than the birthday boy) was definitely the adorable Rohan, son of our
friends Gaurav and Shikha.  He is so stinking adorable!

My sister Kristen adores him...but really, how could
you resist that little smile??!

Rohan, sitting on the train tracks that I had placed on the floor using
painter's tape.  All of the kids (and adults) loved following the tracks throughout the house.

Alex and Rohan really hit it off.

The beautiful Shikha with her adorable son.

And now it's cake time!!!

William, sitting in his chair and listening to everyone sing, "Happy birthday!" to him.

He loved it.

Our little two year old.  :-)

William and Joseph, ready to blow out the candle!

William attempted to, but Joseph was successful in blowing out the candles.

William couldn't WAIT to dig in!

There he goes!

Annnnd back for more!

Love that face full of frosting!

Whoa!  Little man, digging in!

LOL!!!  A beautiful frosting mustache!  Love it!

So adorable!

Alex, following his brother's lead.

Later on, our dear friend Roshni visited with her handsome son Arhan.
These two beautiful boys have known each other since they were infants.

Look at that love they have for each other!
So sweet.  :-)

Now that the guests are gone, it's time to open some gifts!

My men, ready to help open William's presents.

Oscar LOVES to help the kids open their gifts.

William didn't want Oscar's help, though.

So Oscar just supervised....

....until William let Oscar do some ripping as well.

Team work!

Now it's time for William's birthday celebration at school!  He brought nut-free cupcakes and fresh watermelon for his friends as a treat.  They.ate.everything!!  And might I add that he only has 5 kids (including himself) in his classroom??!  A bunch of ravenous toddlers ready to party!

William, digging into a cupcake.  Bon anniversaire!

William, celebrating with his buddies.

This kid could eat endless melon...of any kind.

Our little prince enjoying his jus de pomme (he goes to a French speaking school).

William Billiam on his new scooter that he got
for his birthday from his Grandpa and Mama B.
Thanks so much!  He loves it!  It's much better than
the hand-me-down one he so graciously got from our neighbors.

Cutie patootie!

Fun on his new scooter!

Happy birthday to meeeeeeee!

How big is William?  Soooooooooo big!
Happy 2nd birthday, big guy!  We love you so much!

William, getting his big cake on his actual birthday,
November 5, 2014.  Because one must ALWAYS
blow out a candle on their actual birthday in our household.

"Hooooraaaayyy!"

Make a wish, my darling!

Why so serious??

And now it's time for a random collage of our adventures:

Alex with a busty Lego cheerleader at Lego Land.

Fun at Lego Land!

William's 2 year check up!

Our cuties at the Children's Museum.

Our big boy Alex, getting his 6 month dental check up.

Woo hoo!  No cavities!

He's such a ham.  Love this guy!

:-)

Joseph, reading some classic Curious George to Alex
and William, a.k.a. Elton John's protege.

Fun at the park!

William, checking out what his big brother is up to.

He was proud of himself for riding in a big boy swing.

Our big boy :-)

Time for some belly swinging!

William, playing in the park on a gorgeous fall day.

Oscar likes to romp through the leaves, too.

Some fun with bubbles after bath time.

Love his cheeks in this one!

Before we went on vacation, Alex and his buddies from school had a play date at a local park.

Alex with his buddy and William at the park.

They're really goofy and silly together.  Love it!

Our handsome little men, snuggling and getting
ready to read some books at bed time.  This is quite possibly
the most peaceful and most snuggly time of the day with
both boys.  We love our night-time routine.

Happy Thanksgiving 2014!  I had so much fun preparing a beautiful meal (filled with some of MY favorite dishes...yes, I cook for myself and then expect everyone to like my favorites) for our family, Kristen, Pete, and Ilias who enjoyed his first American Thanksgiving this year.  I loooooove holiday food...it's pretty much the best.

Our spread for Thanksgiving 2014

I found an amazing recipe for a turkey where you
spatchcock it (cut the back bone) and it cooks in half the time!
I put a stuffing in between the skin and the breast meat
and the 15 pound turkey cooked in 2 1/2 hours!  Can you believe it?
It was juicy, delicious, and full of flavor.

Make this recipe for your next holiday meal...trust me,
you'll save yourself some time and will be able to enjoy
a few more glasses of wine with your friends!

Roast turkey

And a beautiful, rich red to go alongside our holiday meal.
Thanks Elias and Linda for this beautiful addition to our holiday meal!

Happy Thanksgiving 2014 from Joseph, Alex, Ilias, Pete, Kristen, and William!!

Alex was super psyched as you can tell.  He loves having family over.

It was Ilias' birthday on November 22, and my sister's birthday is on December 4 (and she and Pete were going to be traveling on her birthday).  We got Ilias and Kristen a little birthday cupcake and sang to them to celebrate.

Happy birthday Kristen and Ilias!!

Time to blow out the candles and make a wish!  :-)

My beautiful friend Kate sent us an incredibly delicious
and decadent caramel cake from South Carolina.
It was simply divine.  When we got the box delivered to
our door, it said on the top, "It's Cake, Y'all!"
I died laughing.  Hilarious.

Out at breakfast one morning.  I love how he's looking
up at Joseph.  So sweet.

Hug and kisses!

Alex and William playing with their dog cousin, Holmes.

They love playing around with him.

Holmes agrees.

Now it's time to beat the crowds and get a picture with Santa!

Alex and William, sweetly holding hands and waiting
their turn to sit with Santa.  Thankfully there was only
one child ahead of us.

They were both so excited!

Alex had to run up to Santa and show him his big muscles.
Alex loves to flex for people, for some reason.

There he goes!

William was also quite excited.

Time for a picture!  Unfortunately, William was
adamant that he would not sit on Santa's lap.  So,
my sister Kristen gave him something to hold and
we coaxed him to just stand near Santa.
Afterwards, Santa's "elves" gave the boys each a
granola bar.  How Cambridge of them!  Lol!  No candy
canes handed out here, just granola bars.  Love it!

This was the best picture (out of 15 shots that were taken)
of our two little men. 
Happy Holidays 2014!!

I can't believe our little panda is already 2 years old!  The time sure has flown.  We had a lot of fun celebrating his birthday, as well as Kristen and Ilias'.  The holiday season is so much fun because we get to see lots of family and celebrate together.  Love it all!
Next up is our two week vacation to Turks and Caicos and Indiana!  Get ready for some fun in the sun....and then back to the chilly weather once again.  Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki