Connor's 9th birthday party

These are pictures from Connor's birthday party, not to be confused with his birthday dinner. The kids always get a special meal on their actual birth date and then a family party on the weekend. We had friends and family over for pizza (Domino's) and cake.

Nothing says class, and practicality, like boxed wine.

Connor's birthday cake! I made this.


For Connor's third birthday, my dad gave him a snake that he found in his yard. It was elegantly presented to him in an old bucket. Connor wasn't scared of the snake, rather offended by the gift. He promptly dumped the snake in to the yard and stomped away. This year, my dad gave Connor a brown paper bag containing a mystery gift... Make sure that you read the poem stapled to the bag...


What could it be? The anticipation was almost too much to take....


It was a bag of mushrooms from my dad's yard!

Connor's 9th birthday dinner

Alright, these pictures are old. Over a month old. But I'm going to post them anyway because they are from Connor's 9th birthday dinner. He chose carryout from Roadhouse Wings & Grill as his birthday meal. As always, he ordered 10 wings with medium sauce.

Connor is showing off for the camera here.


Here's my meal - chicken tenders with extra hot sauce and a side of wedge fries.



I banned Tony from my blog several months ago. He was starting to pose for the camera and seeking out opportunities to get his picture posted. His ego is already big enough and I didn't want to encourage his antics. BUT this picture was too funny not to post. He had 10 hot wings.

Here is the birthday boy with a very un-homemade cupcake!

Connor's 9th Birthday Cakes

Happy 9th birthday to Connor! I usually outsource birthday cakes, but I made these myself. One cake is chocolate with chocolate frosting and the other is vanilla cake with buttercream frosting - both covered in KitKats and M&Ms.

Pre-Christmas Festivities!

I made about 10 dozen cookies for the holidays. I rarely ever bake, so this was a big undertaking for me. The plan was for the kids to help out, but they could not have been less interested. When given the choice of playing video games, playing in the snow, or helping mom bake cookies, the first two win out every time.

We always host our families on Christmas Eve and that requires me to cook my ass off. I like to save my energy for "the big show" in the days preceding Christmas Eve, and that means that we order pizza so that I don't have to cook or clean. This pie is from Flyer's.

Here's Ian at his first grade class Winter party. As is typical at public schools, the Winter party is non-specific to any holiday or religious event (as it should be). I had a great time helping out and hanging out with the kids.

I also joined Connor's third grade class for their party. Oddly enough, theirs was Christmas specific. The teacher even read a book about Christmas and the Christ child's birthday. I've been to half a dozen Winter parties at the kids' school and this is the first one that was specific to Christmas. Looks like someone's teacher decided to pull a Sara Palin and go rogue... The kids didn't seem to notice the non-secular nature of the party and had a great time.

Public Service Announcement: IHOP SUCKS

We ate at the IHOP in Manhattan Kansas a few weeks ago when we were in town for a wedding. There are no IHOPs in Columbus, but their commercials are on TV constantly. Their food looks yummy. Their core competency is breakfast foods. It should be good, right?

Excitement builds as we enter IHOP!

Orders are placed, we are all looking forward to the arrival of our meals! And then - disappointment. The food sucked. See that bread on my plate? Yeah, it was supposed to be TOAST but it was neither warm nor crispy, so I can't say that it was toasted at all. Eggs, runny and cold. Hash browns, unseasoned and cold. I didn't even bother taking a picture of Tony's food, but suffice it to say that it involved partially cooked bacon.

Ian and Connor had pancakes. I hate pancakes and didn't taste these so I can't say for sure whether they were good or not. Ian seemed to like his. Connor barely touched his. Note to IHOP: If you are going to put 5 different syrups on the table, could you PLEASE INCLUDE MAPLE? I really shouldn't have to ASK for maple syrup, m'kay?

On a positive note, here are the fellas looking handsome at Tony's sister's wedding.

Mom of the Year

Connor and Ian's first day back to school! Ian is in first grade and Connor is in third. Ian is obsessed with WWE Wrestling nowadays and his favorite wrestler is Jeff Hardy. That thing that Ian is doing with his hands in this picture is apparently Jeff Hardy's "sign". I am developing a deep resentment against the WWE and Jeff Hardy just for the simple fact that the damn "sign" is ruining every picture that I have taken of Ian in the past 4 weeks. He feels compelled to throw that hand gesture in every photo.




Here's what they packed for lunch. My little manorexics can be picky eaters. Every single sandwich, piece of fruit, and slice of cheese that I have sent to school with Connor has been returned to me uneaten. Connor and I battled over the contents of his lunch box for the entire first grade school year. By second grade, I had given up. They eat pretty well for breakfast and dinner. Lunch, not so much.

Endless Hours of Fun

Connor really likes football and he really likes to swim. Us vacationing adults really like to sit in the pool and drink cold beverages. What happens when these worlds collide? We sit in the shallow end of the pool and throw the football towards the deep-end while Connor leaps in the air to catch it. Good times, good times.

Roadhouse Wings & Grill - 08.09.2009

This picture speaks for itself. Connor is clearly a wing-eating champion and a total badass.

Cookout - 06.25.2009

We had family over this weekend for a cookout. Ian had a hot dog.


The rest of us had pork, beef, and chicken kabobos. My sister brought her famous baked beans which are another one her trademarks.



We also had corn and grilled veggies.



And cilantro lime rice.

At some point in the evening Connor, Ian, and one of the neighbor's kids formed a band. We thought that they were kidding when they told us that they had a band together, were practicing a song and would be performing for us later. While the adults were inside eating, the kids set up the back yard for a show. They cleared off the patio for a stage and lined all of the chairs up in the grass. As you can see from this video, Ian is a true frontman. He's shirtless. He's a natural! Their band has no name and 3 songs so far. None of the songs last more than 25 seconds. Rock on!

A Very Special Guest Star Comes Over For Dinner - 06.17.2009

The most fabulous and talented Jason Sidwell joined us for dinner last night. Not only is he a good friend, but he's also the brains behind a wildly innovative and explosive rock band called Truth For Sanity. His band mate, and my husband, Tony also was on hand for dinner. It's always a delight when Sidwell comes over! As this picture was taken, Tony actually said "Welcome to the Gun Show!" as he flexed his bicept!



I made Chicken Paprika for dinner. It's a Hungarian dish that involves chicken simmered in stock with garlic, onions, paprika, tomatoes, ground cayenne pepper, flat leaf parsley, and sour cream served over egg noodles tossed that have been tossed with butter and more parsley.



Holy fucking shit, this meal was good. Shockingly, Tony even ate a full plate of this.


In other news, Connor lost another tooth last night. It was the tooth the the left of his front teeth. Thank god he finally lost that tooth because he seriously needs another adult sized tooth to balance out the enormous adult front teeth that he has.

Connor Versus Baked Potatoes with Cheese - 06.04.2009

Connor loves baked potatoes with cheese from Wendy's. Usually he eats two potatoes plus a 5 piece order of chicken nuggets. Yesterday he decided to forgo the nuggets and have 3 baked potatoes. I didn't think that there was a chance in hell of him finishing all 3.



The challenge begins!


One potato down, two to go!


Two down, one left!


And the winner is... Connor!

What important lesson have I learned from this challenge? I've learned that at this rate I had better start saving my money now because Connor is going to eat us out of house and home when he's a teenager.

Connor's 8th Birthday Dinner and Other Stuff That I Forgot to Post

The kids always get to choose whatever dinner they want on their birthdays. For Connor's 8th birthday, he picked Papa John's for his party and Skyline for his actual birth date.



Ian began his meal with a Spongebob ice cream treat from the cooler.




He then moved on to his mad science experiments. It started off with him crushing oyster crackers and added pepper and him politely asking everyone to try his "recipe". I obliged him. It wasn't that bad.



Then Ian started to get fancy. He took a little chili off of Connor's plate and some cheese from mine and added that to the cracker and pepper mix. This is where I had to draw the line and refuse to try his new "recipe".



We eat a lot of pizza. Here's some pizza from Jet's. Tony loves this stuff. It's not anywhere as good as a mom & pop type of place (Iacono's, Dantes, etc.) but it's good considering that it's from a chain.



Every few months I decide to make lasagna, mostly because of a grudge that I have with myself. My mom makes kickass lasagna and mine always turns out just okay, at best. Somehow I manage to dry it out during the baking process no matter how much sauce that I start with. This was no exception.



Tony was off of work last week and asked me to get him up a Big n' Tasty from McDonald's on my way home from picking Ian up from school. I can't even think the words "Big n' Tasty" without giggling a little. I don't know why, but it just cracks me up that Tony requested this sandwich.


This is a chicken pita from My Big Fat Greek Kuzina. Tony and I ate there a couple of weekends ago after David's 30th birthday party. I'm not going to lie to you, I was already pretty drunk when got to the restaurant (and by pretty drunk, I actually mean very drunk). I don't really remember whether this was good or not but it looks yummy.