After Party @ CPC

After Luke's party we went to dinner at the Charlestown Pizza Company. I miss this place terribly. Afterward we walked over to the square where all of the beautiful decorations are. Luke loved the lights. Also, on Sunday after church we had lunch and decorated mom's new tree. Here are a few pictures.Rudolph

Me and Luke

Christy Nick and Luke

Christy putting the ceremonial green bell on the tree.

Mom putting an ornament on the tree

Luke and his mom having a little fun!

Luke's 2nd Birthday!

Here are a few pictures along with some brief cute stories from Luke's party...


Luke and Nana play the piano together all the time. He won't let anyone else like Aunt Rarah or uncle Michael play piano with him, it is a nana thing. Once during the party Luke took Nana's hand and said Nana "pano" and led her to the piano. Naturally my mom didn't just want to start playing with everyone there. After people had started to leave and Luke was off playing somewhere Nana started to play the piano. I was playing with Luke and as soon as he heard the piano he screamed NANA!!! and ran over to where my mom was playing.

Luke and Lex are "fiving" in this picture. Lex is the son of my mom (who is adopted)'s brother Terry's daughter. Terry and my mom lost touch over the years, but we kids have recently begun talking an catching up via facebook. To make a long story short, it was fantastic to see Emily and Amy. I hadn't seen them in 13-15 years!


I'm afraid these last three pictures don't have cute stories behind them.

Luke is more and more amazing every time I visit. He seems to be learning so much here lately! He is sleeping in a big boy bed and will soon be on the way to potty training! I am always happy that he remembers me after periods of absence, and he always does. His little face just lights up when he notices me in a room. He is saying aunt Rarah all the time now and Mike too. Today was the first time that Luke had ever asked Michael to pick him up (I'm not sure Michael knew what to do though).

Luke,
you are the best nephew I could ask for and even though I can't be there all the time just know that you are in my heart every day. You brighten my days and you don't even know it. Every day since you have been born has been a blessing to me!
Love,
Aunt Rarah

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a little different for us this year. Last year I worked the morning shift and we went home and got there in time for dinner. This year I had to work Friday morning so we weren't about to make it home for dinner. So, for the first time ever WE made our own Thanksgiving dinner. See if you guys can guess which plate is which...

Christmas Wreath

Michael and I drove out to a small town just outside of lafayette called Elston. The primary reason being that I wanted to go into Cato ( for those who don't know Cato is a small ladies clothing store, with cheap clothes). We went in and I found nothing, but we decided to go into the dollar tree. Which happened to have all of its Christmas decorations out. We found the makings for a wreath, and even a hanger for the wreath. Here is how it turned out.

Chicago, Chicago!

A week from this past Wednesday Michael and I were talking after church. Here's how that conversation went:

Me: Lafayette is boring I want to go somewhere cool.
Michael: mhm
Me: We only live 2 hours away from Chicago.
Michael: yup
Me: I think it is lame that we have lived here more than a year and haven't been there.
Michael: Me too.
Me: Can we go to Chicago on Sunday?
Michael: (pausing in thought) we could do that.

So go to Chicago we did. We left here around 10:00 on Sunday morning and made our way into town. Our primary goals being 1. go to Michigan Ave shops, 2. have Chicago deep dish pizza, 3. get an idea of whether we need to go back.

We also had a small budget for a Tiffany & Co. item for me. However, the salespeople were incredibly rude to us and we ended up walking out. Michael, being the sweetie he is surprised me with the cat necklace I have been wanting instead.

The necklace I'd been wanting!

I didn't get any pictures of us, but I did get a few from our car.Can you guess why I took this

Not me Monday

I did not make cookies last night and get so frustrated that I almost threw all of the dough away.

I did not accidentally drop the baggie with crushed hazelnuts into the mixer while making said cookies, not me!

When I went to get my car washed a few months ago the automatic car wash did not break with my uber dirty car in it, that would be gross.

I absolutely did not pour my cereal into my diet coke glass last week, I can tell the difference between a glass and a bowl at 6:00 AM. Really!

Penn Station Cheese bread @ home

I am not much of a cook, in fact I attempted to make cookies last night and they were a complete failure. It is fairly accurate to say that the only things I consistently make successfully in the kitchen are messes. I have, however, mastered the art of making Cheese bread that is similar in almost every way to that of Penn Station.

You will need:

1 loaf Kroger Take & Bake french bread
Oregano (use as much or as little as you like)
Parmesian Romano cheese (we use Locatelli Romano, but it is expensive and hard to find)
Any brand provolone cheese

Step 1
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Place entire loaf directly onto oven rack. Bake until you can flick the bottom of the load and it sounds hollow.

Step 2
Allow bread to cool on cooling rack. Then, put bread onto baking sheet. I cover mine in foil so I don't have to clean up a cheesy mess.


Step 3
Place provolone on top center cut bread. Make sure that you get a lot of cheese coverage otherwise the uncovered parts will burn. Crush up oregano between fingers and sprinkle on top of provolone cheese. Grate as little or as much Romano cheese as you like on top (I use lots).
Place in oven that is still at 400 degrees. Let bake about 7 minutes. Check on it periodically.

Note: you can do this will all kinds of toppings, for instance Michael had fried some jalepenos, skillet steak, and mushrooms and did the same sort of thing with swiss cheese. He did not put any Romano or Oregano on his sandwich.