Thursday, February 17, 2011

Ice, Ice Baby! (Plus Oxtail Soup)

The Casa de Weez, as seen from the Lake
Well, I've successfully dated myself using the title of my post, so there's nowhere to go but up.

Last weekend marked a monumental event in the family - a huge ice fishing + German food + quasi family reunion at Aunt Louise's house.

Unfortunately, I was (and still am) battling some sort of sickness, so I wasn't my usual peppy self.  But that didn't stop us from having an awesome time!

I got had my first experience ice fishing...and by 'experience,' I mean that I trudged out onto the ice with my camera in tow and happily snapped the following pictures:

Take note of the short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt while ice fishing.  I heart my hubby.

We even had a hot dog roller

Daisy was crazy - she must've ran around the ENTIRE lake at least 15 times while I was there

We always knew where the boys were by seeing Hubs' hat

Where were all the fish?

Theresa joined us!

They even have cameras that go under water now


I'm not sure what this sport is even called...snow surfing?

A neighbor, Braddy, Braddy's dad, and Hubs enjoying their 'boy time'
But sitting out on the ice only lasted so long, especially since I was sick and that probably wasn't the best place for me to be. (I'm practical like that.)

So I headed inside where a whole lotta German cooking was going on, courtesy of Theresa. She had quite the feast all planned out, and judging by the sheer amount of people that showed up, it's a good thing she did! So I happily rolled up my sleeves and got to work, helping wherever I could.

Kneading out dough for the best dinner rolls ever

Dinner rolls after first rise

...Unfortunately, that also meant that I didn't get to take many pictures since we were so busy. Luckily, Hubs came to the rescue after coming in from fishing and was able to snap away (and not on continuous shooting mode for once!).

Spatzle in progress (never again)
Spatzle in progress

Spatzle in progress

Spatzle in progress

Checking on the ham buns (similar to our Dutch Ham Buns!)
Okay, I just have to stop for a second to recognize how flipping awesome these dinner rolls were.  We debated making them because it was a 3 hour process (they had to rise twice), but OH. MY. GOODNESS. they were AMAZING and totally worth it.  Since it was the first time either Theresa or myself had made yeast rolls (shocking, I know), we were a bit apprehensive...but there was no need to be.


The oxtails from the oxtail soup

Cheesy noodles that Aunt Louise needs to give us the recipe for *cough cough wink*

The rolls from heaven

The pain in the you-know-where spatzle

The oxtail soup
Of course, dinner was delicious (awesome job, T!) and good times were had by all.

Our gracious hosts in front of the "spread"

After dinner, you guessed it, came a few games...after everyone changed into their COMFY PANTS!  (for those of you who weren't there, it's a long story)
Braddy's dad (Pops) even joined in on some CatchPhrase

The boys were stuffed

The day (as ambitious as it was) was a smashing success...and we look forward to the next time!
"We ROCK!"
...maybe by then, everyone will have a pair of comfy pants.

Quarantined.

My coworkers seem to be rebelling against my lingering cold/sinus infection/stupid undetermined sickness. I found this sign posted outside my cube this morning.


I haz a sad.

(Aside from the chuckle I got from the misspelling of 'quarantine.')

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Superbowl is Clearly About Babies

When you're just not that into the Superbowl, you really have no choice but to snap some pictures of the adorableness in front of you.  In my case, it happened to be little Jeremiah, and his big brother Joshua.

Can you believe he is only 3.5 months old?  Tall baby!


These babies belong to our good friends Emmanuel and Afia, and letmetellyou, these kids are adorable.

LOVE this picture.

Luckily, Hubs isn't all that into football either, so he was able to entertain Joshua for most of the night.

Of course, who needs Hubs to entertain you when a simple camera click can bring out this priceless look on Jeremiah's face?

Thanks for having us over, you two! We can't think of a better way to spend the Superbowl. Can't wait to see you in 2 weeks!

{Check out more pics here}

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

{Featured} Dutch Literacy Program

One of my BFFs, Amy, started a blog about her adventures after leaving the ho-hum IT world in a journey to pursue one of her passions - becoming a (super hot) librarian.

Anyhow, while browsing Etsy (search term: Dutch), I came across this awesome T-shirt.


Turns out, it's based off a Dutch literacy program titled "Tijd voor lezen" ("Time for reading").   I decided to send the quasi-story to Amy in case she wanted to feature it on her blog...and whaddya know?  She actually did.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Plastic Boyfriends

I came across these at Target the other day. It seems like Mattel finally got the picture that you can market Barbie stuff to a larger audience than just little girls.




Reusable plastic bags...


Gift bags...

And the best one...



Sweet Talkin' Ken. Yes, you read that correctly - you record the message in your voice and he repeats the message in his voice.

Mine would say, "Sure, honey. We can go back to Hawaii any time you want."

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Cutting Tile (Or, 'Look How Classy We Are')

After Sebastian's birthday party, I was summoned to Braddy and Theresa's house for some tile cutting fun. You see, we're trying to put a countertop on these:

2

Originally, we were going to use an identical countertop to our existing countertops. But we ran into a bit of an issue because the corner of the cabinets is not a 45 degree angle, thereby rendering the use of our prefab countertops impossible.  So Hubs excitedly suggested a tile countertop (he is quite the tile cutter as of late).

Andddd after attempting to cut said tile while crouched in our tiny master bathroom, Hubs gave in and called Theresa asking for the use of her garage. Turns out, cutting tile is pretty darn loud and probably not appreciated by our neighbors.

When I arrived, I was greeted with some promising progress. Corners were cut, the pattern was arranged, and everyone was drinking a Big Flats (AKA Walgreens' brand beer that was just announced last week).


It was pretty flipping cold outside, but that didn't deter Hubs from his tile cutting.


To the neighbors? We must have looked like white trash hobos. Note:

Folding chairs out on the driveway in the middle of February
Bonfire (my coat STILL smells like it) where I had my first Pudgie Pie (DELICIOUS!  Good job, T!)
Hubs cutting tile in dress shoes
...until I made him change into boots

...and of course, Big Flats. $2.99 for a six pack.

Classy.