Happy Birthday, McHusband!

December 26th was – well, is – the McHusband’s birthday.  Yep, he’s 32 now and old like me.

So his birthday started much like Christmas Day – gifts and breakfast except this time it was gifts AT breakfast.

(I promise, I didn’t actually give him a box of Triscuits; I just used the box for the DVD so it wasn’t obvious what the gift was.)

A shark fin-style antenna.  Or antenna cover, something like that.

The McDad’s birthday was – still is – December 31st so he also opened his gift from Kevin, Jenny, the McHusband and me.  In case your curiosity’s killing you, we got him hood shocks.

Kevin and Jenny took the Chase and Leah to her parents’ house so we could have an adults-only dinner.  Before we left the house, we kids all sat on the big red couch and two of us may or may not have enjoyed a rum and diet Coke while we waited until it was time to go.

We went to Sir Edmond Halley’s, a restaurant in the back of a shopping center.  I mean, really, it couldn’t BE in a worse location.  But luckily the food was really good so they must depend on satisfied customers to spread the word.

Jenny enjoyed her Woodchuck Cider – she especially enjoyed the second one – and her fish and chips.

After dinner, we kids headed to Selwyn Pub where some friends who were in Charlotte for Christmas were headed after their dinner.  This place seemed to have more patio space than indoor space, and they had those vertical heaters plus each table had a fire pit in the middle so the patio could be utilized practically year-round.

Self-portrait of the McWives!

So who were we hanging out with?

That’s Alex and John on the left.  They got engaged in early December so we’re of course very happy for them.

Then Erin, Mark, Rick and Sabrina.  A quick aside: Erin got married to a guy with her same last name so she didn’t have to go through the usual hassle that we newly wedded women have to deal with regarding name changes.  I thought I was doing pretty good keeping my monogram.

Kevin ordered five Yager shots, and I was one of the unlucky recipients.

The McHusband and Mark. (I feel like I owe Mark this picture since the candid one of him above wasn’t the greatest.)

Hope you had a great birthday, McHusband!  I love you!

Christmas 2011: Christmas Night

I know, I know – the decorations are down, it’s the New Year, we’re ready to move on already.  I apologize for my tardiness.  Hopefully a “better late than never” philosophy applies so just bear with me.

I went for a six-mile run between seeing We Bought a Zoo with my mom and dinner so I finally got around to showering at about 5:30.  While I was getting ready in the bathroom that’s between the McHusband’s room and the playroom, I was checking in with the McHusband and Chase.  The former was squeezing in a few reps while the latter was riding the horse.

I love this video of Chase explaining why he’s wearing his hat.

For safety!

After dinner, the McMom needed a flashlight to check something in the TV cabinet.  Tucker sorta has a thing for flashlights so he immediately zeroed in on the beam and proceeded to be oh-so-helpful.

Too soon, Christmas was ending for the little ones.  They got baths…

…and a story.

Once they were off to bed, we broke out dessert.  The McMom made this very impressive Layered Peppermint Cheesecake that she and I had seen in my Southern Living magazine when they visited in November.

You couldn’t cut a PIECE of cake – they were slabs!

With full stomachs and cups, we headed toward the couch.

First there was one…

Then two…

Then three!

As everyone settled down in the den, Morgan found a comfy spot in the too-small-for-her dog bed.

That left the other dog bed for Tucker and the McHusband to share.

I don’t think we were up much past when this photo was taken.  Everyone was tired from an exciting day of opening presents and visiting with family, and the sugar highs were wearing off (and maybe a couple of those holiday beverages were catching up to us).

Next up: the McHusband’s birthday.

Date Night

Sorry, I don’t have a real blog post for you today.  I had my standing 10:00 Wednesday-night date with Orville so my fingers were too busy cramming popcorn in my mouth to type up a post about the McHusband’s birthday or his new friend.

By the way – Happy Birthday, Chelle!

Recipe Recap: Root Beer Chocolate Cake

Raise your hand if 2012 found you:

• Resolving to give up dessert
• Promising to steer clear of your coworker’s candy jar
• Deciding to choose fruit over chocolate

I wish I could say this post is about a healthy treat that will support one of those undertakings, but it’s not even close to doing that.  In all fairness, I did make this in 2011 so…

I had a two-liter of root beer left over from the holiday soiree and I remembered several recipes from my Google Reader.  I could go with these Root Beer Float Brownies, or I could choose this Root Beer Float Cake.  I came across the cake on another blog, too, so I decided that was a sign that I needed to try it myself.  Well, that and the fact that it’s chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  I really didn’t need any other reason.

The recipe calls for dark unsweetened cocoa powder.  Look how the cake turns out almost black.

I frosted the cake as far down the inside as I went down the outside.  And I still wish I had more frosting.  I wasn’t the only one; Heather agreed that the frosting made the cake.

I shared this cake at Chelle and Jeremy’s when we got together for NYE Eve.  Even my chocolate-hating McHusband said it was an awfully good cake.  (Okay, maybe “awfully” is my word as the McHusband isn’t one to mince words, and I tend to like mine, um, un-minced.)

See the lighter areas in the cake?

The recipe made it very clear that the batter should NOT be overmixed and that it would probably still be lumpy.  So those lighter areas are where the flour wasn’t thoroughly mixed in because tough cookies may be okay, but tough cake isn’t.

Mmm, frosting.

I think the McHusband didn’t mind this cake’s chocolate flavor was because it was made using the dark unsweetened cocoa, and the frosting used that same cocoa plus a very dark chocolate that I chopped and melted.  So all together, it wasn’t overly sweet or sugary.  Which left room on the taste buds for some vanilla ice cream.  I’m just sayin’…

I was paranoid about the cake not being fully baked so I think those last three minutes where I put the cake back in the oven were unnecessary and probably led to the cake being not quite as moist as I was hoping for.  I’m not sure if anyone else noticed, but I would still like to make this again minus those last few minutes added on to the baking time.

Let’s try this again.  Raise your hand if the end of this post finds you:

• Craving a piece of cake
• Adding root beer to your grocery list
• Hating me for messing with your resolutions (It’s okay, I can take it.)

Personally, I think this cake is worth breaking your resolution(s) four days into the new year.  Try it.  Tell me it wasn’t worth it, I dare you.

{Recipe here}

Christmas 2011: Christmas at Grammie’s

When we woke up Christmas morning, we saw that Santa hadn’t forgotten us overnight.

I think Chase needed more hands so he could put one on all the Santa (unwrapped) gifts.

Leah was a little bit reserved at first, but it didn’t take her long to get in on the gift-opening action.

The McMom was more excited than the proverbial kid on Christmas morning about the remote-controlled monkey she got for the kids.  Her plan was for Chase to use the remote to make the monkey make noise so that he could find it. 

Chase didn’t quite get the game but we all had fun encouraging him.

Getting warmer…

Found it!

Time to open some presents.  Chase and his pile…

And Leah in front of hers.

Chase got a whoopee cushion, too.

Look at my stack o’ gifts.  Notice anything particularly McWifely about the paper?

Leah doing her princess wave from Kevin’s new jack.

After presents, we took the dogs on a walk.  First, though, I couldn’t help but torture Tucker a little bit with Chase’s new grabber.

Why couldn’t I help but torture him?  See for yourself.  This is how he reacted to it back at our house after we brought it home.

Tucker does NOT love the grabber toy

By the way, Happy New Year!  Sorry that I didn’t get all of Christmas 2011 posted the year it happened.  I even still have the McHusband’s birthday to do.  You would’ve thought with all the time off I had, I could’ve at least been on top of my blogging.  Oh well, you should only have to put up with my belated posts for a couple more days.

Christmas Staycation: Day 6

The last day of my staycation is here.  Not only is it here, but it’s more than half over.  {Insert sad face emoticon here.}  The McHusband had to work today so while he was off makin’ the bacon, I was here being productive.  I didn’t really have a choice as my DVR was all but empty, my dirty clothes were outnumbering the clean ones, and the kitchen floor needed mopped.

What I did today:

Got up with my alarm.

Cereal (for breakfast!).

Laundry.

Vacuumed the stairs and upstairs.

Had a tuna melt for lunch.

Watched a Jeri Ryan Lifetime movie.

Blogged.

Washed dog beds.

Steam-mopped the kitchen floor.

Emptied the dishwasher.

Still to do:

Take my usual Monday-night PHX class at the Y.

Stop by Walmart for some essentials.

Cereal (for dinner!).

Shower and get ready for the real world tomorrow.

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Hope your week and 2012 is off to a great start!

Christmas Staycation: Day 5

What I’ve done today:

Got home from Ryan and Sandra’s around two, took some self-portraits before going to bed.

Slept in.

Ate a banana with peanut butter and drank two cups of water.

Watched Remember Me.

Got started taking down the Christmas tree.  Under strict supervision.

Lunch with the McHusband at our favorite sandwich place.

Finished the tree.

Swept the hardwoods and used my new mop for the first time.  Thanks, McMom!

Vacuumed the den.

What I haven’t done:

Showered.

Written the next Christmas blog post.

Made and eaten dinner.

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Only one day of staycation left.  What a bummer.