Hello Winter 2011!

 According to the powers that be, the official first day of winter falls on December 22, 2011.
I'm not quite sure who or how or when this all first came about but I skimmed over the topic here and it has something to do with the distance of the earth from the sun and Julius Caesar and tropical year and the pope and the Council of Nicea...
basically a lot of information I just do not have the room for in my brain right now...

...Caleb is officially a toddler you see...and I still have a full time job...and a full time marriage...so astronomy really doesn't fit in the top of my priority list right now.

...so I've decided that in my universe the first day of winter shall be December 1st...because that fits with my 12 months / 4 seasons = 3 months per season:
So as I see it December, January and February are winter
March, April, May are spring
June, July and August are summer
and September, October and November are fall.
This is how things have always been in my mind...I don't know when this winter solstice = first day of winter business began but I'll tell you right now it is false. 
Says me.

That being said, we'll proceed with this post.
You may have noticed that there has not been much to notice here on this blog...that's because this little fishbowl of ours has been jumpin' this fall.

We've had holidays:

pumpkin carving

picking out the perfect pumpkin

family photo op at the pumpkin patch

With Grandma having our pre-Thanksgiving

hunting for pecans at Grandma's

We've had sporting events:

"Hey!  I need more cowbell!"

visiting Mamma and Dadda 's alma mater

checking out Bully

"So there really ARE other bulldog fans.!  I was beginning to wonder if everybody but me yelled Roll Tide or War Eagle."

"Woo Pig Sooie!!!"  

We've hunted wild game:

Delta boy at heart!

Walks among the fall foliage:

Plus, we've had birthdays:

Our best buddy Bryce turned 1 year old!

Great-Grandma Fisher's big birthday get together

Uncle Mark was pretty funny!

In fact, the biggest event in our little fall was Caleb's first birthday!!!
He had a blast with all of our wonderful friends and family!

And now that the BEST SEASON of the YEAR (autumn) has come to a close it is time to buckle down and get ready for some serious winter festivities!  We have quite a winter planned and can't wait to begin!

And since December 1st is officially the first day of winter in the fishbowl a certain special little fellow made his debut:

Meet Nerwin Twizzlebottom,
the Fisher family elf:

Poor fellow must have been pretty chilly waiting all morning out on the front porch to be let in!




See ya next year Autumn, and Hello Winter!

The most beautiful cake in the world!

Today is my birthday!

We won't discuss which birthday exactly.

Although it has been said:
"You either get older or you don't."
and I don't prefer the don't!


To celebrate, the Hubbs made me a cake!
From scratch!

He searched and searched for a recipe with berries...
you see I love cakes with berries...
strawberries,
blackberries,
raspberries,
blueberries...
you get the picture.

He found a recipe that sounded fantastic!
(from here)

Blueberry Buttercream Cake with Blueberry Filling

He slaved away...
scoured my extremely unorganized and crowded pantry for all sorts of exotic ingredients...
such as baking powder,
baking soda,
cornstarch,
cake flour,
vanilla extract...
you get the picture.

He made the cake from scratch...
he made the blueberry glaze filling from scratch...
he made the blueberry-buttercream icing from scratch...
and I'll tell you what,
that cake tastes fantastic!

However, making buttercream icing is a little tough if you've never had the experience before...
and when your wife decides to put the whisk attachment to the mixer in the dishwasher just before you begin to make the buttercream icing...
and when your wife doesn't really know the exact reason that the paddle attachment won't work quite as well as the whisk attachment so she lets you proceed with making buttercream icing with a paddle rather than a whisk...

...so the blueberry-buttercream icing was a bit more of a blueberry-buttercream glaze?


but it's the thought and the taste that count in the end!

AND THEY WERE BOTH FABULOUS!!!!

Thanks Hubbs!!!

It was WAY better than Sugarbakers (and that's pretty impressive)!

Wrapping up 2010

I hope everybody had a very merry Christmas! 

We had a quiet, calm and white Christmas - just the three of us. 
It was great! 
I tried to make it difficult throughout the month but my husband and child didn't allow it...
thank goodness. 
next year I can decorate more,
next year I can cook more,
next year we can be better with starting and continuing traditions...
but this year we took it easy.
I did finish Caleb's Christmas stocking though!

I think he approves!

No big breakfast, no big dinners, no rushing, no dressing up, nobody to worry about pleasing except for our little troop.
I don't expect this to happen again for a very very very long time...like ever.
Don't get me wrong...I love the hustle and bustle of the holidays.  I love the idea of gathering in a nice warm home with a big, smiley, happy family...feasting on a beautiful spread just like you see in Southern Living.
...But that just don't happen!

Maybe those magazines and Christmas cards depicting that are liars...(or maybe I'm just used to something a little more dysfunctional   ;)  ) 

Either way...it always turns out a little less than perfect
(although in my memory my parents and grandparents made all Christmases storybook perfect) 

This Christmas was a break from it all. 
Without either of our parents able to join us for the Christmas or Christmas eve festivities, we got to do exactly what we wanted, when we wanted and how we wanted.
No where to be and no specific time line.
It was a different kind of perfect!

Plus, we had white Christmas well...maybe a pastel (?) Christmas
(we got about 1/2 to 1 inch of snow!  Awesome for use down her in the South!)

Also, we decided to take it easy on presents this year
<while we still can with a baby instead of an excited 2+ year old>


As you can see, he was still excited!

"Oh wow!  An ornament!  (and a camera flash)"

Our days consisted of:
eating small easily prepared (and cleaned up) meals
an evening candlelight church service
a warm, cozy fireplace-
just enjoying each other!

And of course a visit from Santa!

First gift from Santa!

Santa always wraps his gifts in brown paper...why should he need fancy paper?  He's Santa for goodness sakes!


But you know you're life has changed when the best things about your Christmas was the Kindle you hubby got you and the exercise mat your baby got!

Love the Kindle (apparently somebody read my Dear Santa!)

LOVE LOVE LOVE watching my funny little baby boy kicking away at the seahorse and octopus dangling near his feet!

also love him learning to swat at the plastic ball hovering over his head then lighting up with glee!

We also got him this blow up penguin but we didn't think he'd be able to enjoy it for a few months...
Wrong!
He likes to kick him too!
The little penguin hoot and hollers and giggles when he gets rocked back and forth and Caleb just loves it!
He kicks him so hard the little penguin goes scooting across the floor hooting the whole way!
Boy is he in for it- first being kicked in the gut by an 11 week old...next punched in the face by a 6 month old!

Here is Caleb daring Santa to take one step closer to those cookies:

"Go ahead...make my day..."   or  "Don't make me get out of this Bumpo."

Today is the first day of 2011, here is a quick review of how we spent the day...
Cheering for the Mississippi State Bulldogs!!!
Whoop-whoop!
<PLEASE disregard the Alabama "A" in the background which does not represent the writer of this blog's collegiate preference...not even if Hell froze over!  Although it may be a smidge better than Ole Miss...>

In closing...here are 2010's newest ornament additions:

Christmas Eve's additions:  Hubby's bulldog ornament, Caleb's official first Santa ornament from Momma and Daddy, and the snowman for me from the hubbs (from left)

Caleb's first Christmas ornament from Momma and Daddy.

Caleb's official bear ornament!  Gran-Bull decided to give him a bear every year too!

Caleb's teddy bear baby's first ornament from his Gran-Bull!

My newest bear!  He's a little scary!

there's a porkchop in the dishwater

Yesterday, my goals were to ice the gingerbread men, make mini glazed gingerbread cakes and to begin making the cake I attempted to make last year...

the same cake that the dogs ate...seriously...there was bloodshed over it.
it must have been good...I'll take their word for it.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store...
fed the baby...
started laundry...
washed & put away a load of dishes...
fed the baby...
cleaned out the fridge...
finally had my morning coffee (4pm)...
put dinner out to thaw...
fed the baby...
sorted my recipes for Christmas and Christmas Eve dinners...
<we're making hamburgers...that's right, hamburgers>
I even found my Christmas china!

but as of 6pm, no cookies were iced and no cakes were made.  

not even dinner.

it was because of him:

he required cuddling! 

<...and feeding>

I did unpack a box of citrus fruits though...they're yummy!

Getting back to the cleaning of the fridge story:  this may be gross...ok it is gross.
brace yourself.
I clean out the fridge only about every 3-4 months...that's right...there are many tupperware containers that get early retirement...we can no longer buy nice food storage containers...

there was left over pork tenderloin, left over chicken and dumplings, left over taco salad, left over black beans and rice, left over lima beans... the rest, unidentifiable.

a porkchop ended up in the dishwater...no kidding.  It was ugly.

the good news:  there were no tupperware casualties...but some came close.
Don't worry, I spared you the pictures.



By the end of the night, however, the baby was bathed (by the hubby I am to report), supper made, a decision to wait on the two cakes until next week, a decision to ice the gingerbread men tomorrow and finally one more batch of cookie dough mixed, wrapped and stored in the fridge.
<its a new cookie recipe that had to be adapted due to lack of anise extract and almond extract...not staples in my kitchen...I'll let you know how it turns out>

and there was egg nog...egg nog with Crown...
eh, what can I say...I like Crown.  and the nog.

Our dinner included an impromptu appearance of fettucini alfredo (or linguine alfredo rather...fettucini also not a staple in this lovely abode.)  

It was my first time with Alfredo
He was alright- but not the type you'd take home to Mom.
I think next time I'll use real Parmesan instead of the green can variety...but as I mentioned before this was a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment addition to our evening.

...my life is exciting isn't it?

On that note, that's all and that's it!
Have a lovely Christmas Eve!
I'm off to feed the baby.





a bear...
<or three>