Posted on Jul 01, 2009 under Family |
I think it’s neat when families have special, fun traditions. There are many things from childhood that I can’t remember, but one thing I will never forget is our family tradition of stopping by Krispy Kreme to get donuts before we left town for vacation. I was telling Kevin about this the other day and we decided that it is a ritual we simply must continue. We are going home to TN on Friday…and it doesn’t matter that KK is out of the way or that we’re leaving before sunrise, this is way too important!
I’ve been trying to recall other traditions that my family had growing up (and right now I’m talking about non-holiday related). For example, we used to put dibs on who would get to carve a face with a knife whenever a fresh jar of peanut butter was opened. I’ve also told you before about my parents hiding the banana stickers on each other’s clothes (although that was mostly just their thing). Kevin and I sort of have that now with our sock love tradition.
The only thing I can currently think that we’ve started as a married couple is: Sunday mornings in our house always mean muffins for breakfast. *Notice how these all seem to be centered around food…hmm…
Whether it be food or something else, I hope these fun, quirky things continue in our household. Especially once we have kids- traditions are a great way to bond as a family and create good memories.
Posted on Jun 23, 2009 under Family, Marriage |
(There’s a video in this post. Click the link to see the video.) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Apr 14, 2009 under Family |
Last Thursday marked Kevin’s 25th birthday. The celebration began a day before when I surprised him with a birthday meal. My goal was to try and duplicate one of our favorite dinners: Flemings Steakhouse as closely as possible, and to try and do it for about half the cost. I am pleased to say that it turned out very well, and I did it for about 1/3 of the cost!
When we eat at Flemings (once in a blue moon) here is what we typically get: 8-12 oz. filet mignon each, Flemings potatoes to share, bread, and for dessert creme brulee each. So I got to work doing my research several weeks before and this is what I found. My brother Matthew had a steak recipe which he swears is as close to Flemings as it gets. Then I googled “Flemings potatoes” and found this recipe which I believe was spot on. And save the best for last- creme brulee recipe by Alton Brown from the Food Network. This time I used a real vanilla bean instead of just extract…and let me tell you it made all the difference in the world! The best thing about this recipe was that it made 8 total desserts and I still had mixture to spare. So the only thing I was not able to duplicate was the restaurant’s bread, but I’m pretty sure it’s made of magic and I’m not going to attempt that.
Here was the finished product:
There were two very satisfied tummies that night!
The rest of the weekend was very relaxing. We had Kevin’s parents come visit which was fun. Then on Sunday we went to the Easter service at MBCC which was awesome. Took pictures beforehand, and as usual our self portrait was one of the best in my opinion =)
Happy 25th Honey!!
Posted on Mar 26, 2009 under Family, General |
Two unrelated topics, except that they both happened today.
What is it about receiving packages in the mail that is so exciting? Especially when it’s something that I ordered, so I already know what’s going to be inside. It seems silly, but I think it’s the anticipation. So I got two packages today- one at school and one at home. When I order something from school, with a purchase order, there is no telling when it will arrive. Could be one week, could be two months. So finally today my new Kindergarten music curriculum showed up and boy let me tell you how excited I was. I couldn’t wait to rip it open and dive into the world of kiddie songs.
Then, I got home and we had an Amazon box on the door step. Again I already knew what it would be- another book for school and the Fireproof dvd. (If you don’t know about the movie, see my earlier post.) And again, I couldn’t wait to cut the tape, dig through the air bubble packaging, and see my new treasures. It’s not so much about the stuff itself. I think I just really like surprises.
On to my next love: Thursdays. To be specific, Thursday evenings. Because it is date night and it’s not like we always do something incredible and we don’t always go out. But it’s the only night of the week when we just get to be US. No more planning, no homework, no cooking/cleaning or other distractions. It feels so good to just come home, take a load off, and spend time with the two loves of my life =)
Thank you God for creating Thursdays.
Posted on Dec 30, 2008 under Family, Holidays |
Over time I think every married couple develops a “thing.” What I mean by that is something that is special and cute to only the two of you, like an inside joke. I can remember from an early age that my parents’ thing was the banana stickers. Just to be funny one of them would always sneak into the kitchen and steal the Chiquita sticker off a bunch of bananas and hide it somewhere on the other person’s clothes. It might take my mom or dad a minute, a day, a week, or even months to find it. But when they discovered that sticker all would have a good laugh. It was a simple little reminder of “I love you.”
Well for Kevin and I, our thing has become socks. Yep that’s right it is sock love. For pretty much any special occasion now Kevin always gets me socks. Why you ask? It all started back on Valentine’s Day of 2004…
We had been dating almost a year and were celebrating our very first Valentine’s day together. You should know that Kevin is really not into this holiday. Don’t get me wrong, he is incredibly romantic, but it’s just he would rather do something as a romantic surprise on a random Tuesday than be expected to bring home flowers every February 14th. And I don’t blame him it is mostly another day for the greeting card companies. Anyways, we had made a mutual agreement not to really do much in the way of presents for each other. We were just planning to spend a nice weekend together. So late that Saturday night, at an incredibly random moment, Kevin whips out his gift for me. A pair of thick purple socks, slipper socks to be exact. No wrapping paper or bag, he just handed them to me and said “happy Valentine’s Day.” What is a girl to do in this moment? I think I was pretty much speechless and all I could do was laugh. A few seconds later both of us were laughing pretty hard.
Well I look back on that moment with fond memories. I’m sure I gave him a hard time about the socks back then, but now I love the gift because it is “our thing.” What do you think Kevin got me for a wedding present? That’s right, a pair of long green knee-highs (which keep me quite warm in the winter.) Anyone who sees our wedding photos will immediately go “huh? why is she holding socks in her wedding dress?” but I knew exactly what they meant.
And so here is the latest addition to my sock collection: my Christmas presents.
I happened to open the pair on the right first, and was impressed that Kevin has been learning new fashion terms and got me the Argyle socks. Second I opened the pair of music socks. I already started laughing when I saw the treble clef…then when I pulled them all the way out of the bag and saw the keyboard cuffs I was laughing uncontrollably. I told him “wow I guess I’m really a music teacher now!” You could almost say I was laughing my socks off (okay okay that was a little cheesy 
)
Well I think I’ve officially won the award for using the word “socks” the most times in a single blog post.
Ah love…