Turning 6 in Monster Truck Style

This year for Charley's birthday we decided to do an event instead of a party. It lined up perfectly that Monster Jam was in town on the exact right weekend. We gathered up several family members and made a group thing of it. It was a lot of fun and perfect for turning 6.

Cousins, Aunt and Uncle, Mamaw and Papaw, Great Aunt....oh and Mom, Dad and Sister of course. Charley had quite the crowd to join him.

He didn't know where we were going until we gave him the toy monster truck at the restaurant. And even then I don't think he really got it until we were there.

For his real birthday on Tuesday we stayed a little low key. Donut for breakfast, dinosaur shaped erasers for his classmates, and a trip to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and a free yee-haw from the wait staff.

We had bought this lego set on clearance sale last July and it's been collecting dust in our closet ever since. I think Jeremy is the one really dying to put it together.

And with that, Charley is 6! Happy Birthday big guy!

New Year's Day 2015 and the Best Dinner Ever?

Since we spend out New Year's Eve with a very sick Jeremy, and barely made it to 10:30pm for celebrations, I decided to make a nice 'fancy dinner' for New Year's Day as a means for extra celebration. When you have 5 and 7 year old kids, 'fancy dinner' really means...we're setting the table, using nice plates and trying not to fart at the table or knock anything over. While we eat dinner at the table together several nights a week let's just say....we rarely ever use these perimeters.

I spent most of the whole day tearing down Christmas and organizing it with  my trusty label maker. While I was doing that our lamb roast was curing in a delicious smelling rub for many hours.

Our lamb roast with all kinds of goodies added to the dutch oven before cooking all afternoon....

....and after

While the family played Wii, I set the table including candles, napkin rings and chargers.

Jeremy said that this lamb dish was the best thing that I have EVER produced in this kitchen. Really? This kitchen that I have cooked in for almost 10 years? Like...ever ever? I'm not sure if that was the food talking or the fact that his bronchitis had kept him from eating a real meal for far too long.

Either way, I'll be making it again.

Yes we are all in pajamas and the kids have wet hair from an afternoon bath. Doesn't mean we weren't still being fancy. 

On my goal list for 2015....

...more fancy dinners.

A couple of people have asked for the recipe. It's from cookbook and I couldn't find it online. So just because I'm feeling nice...here it is typed out for you all!

Lamb, Prune and Almond Tagine

Ingredients:
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1tbsp paprika
5 garlic cloves, chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
3 pounds lamb cutlets
1/3 cup clarified butter (I just used regular)
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 carrot, coarsely chopped
3.5 cups lamb stock (I just used beef)
2 1/3 cup prunes
4 cinnamon sticks
4 bay leaves
1/2 cup almond meal
12 shallots
1 tbsp honey
salt and ground black pepper
toasted almonds and fresh parsley to garnish. 

Steps:
1) Using a mortar and pestle or a blender, combine the coriander and cumin seeds, chili powder, paprika, turmeric, garlic and 1/4 cup of oil. Coat the lamb with the paste, then cover and chill for at least 5 hours.  

2) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large Dutch oven. Add the onions and carrot and cook until soft. Remove and put to one side. Cook the paste-coated lamb on both sides in the remaining butter. Add a little of the stock and bring to a boil, scraping up the sediment from the bottom of the pot. Put the onions and carrot back in the pot and add one-third of the prunes. Add the remaining stock with the cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and almond meal. Season, cover and bake in the oven for 2 hours or until the meat is really tender. 

3) Meanwhile, saute the shallots in the remaining oil and the honey until they turn a deep golden brown. Add to the pot 30-40 minutes before the end of the cooking time. 

4) Take the lamb out of the sauce and put to one side. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce tot a thick consistency. Put the lamb back in the casserole, add the remaining prunes, and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Garnish with the almonds and parsley. Serve with couscous. (I chose the Trader Joe's harvest grain blend instead because we loooove it).

Something Strange is Happening

We cleaned out the inside of the Mom-mobile.

We fully stocked the freezer and pantry with a wide variety of foods. 

We wrote some instructions about daily life at our house. 

And we spiffed up the the guest bedroom, complete with a fresh autumn sunset Scentsy. 

Could it be....could it be.....that grandparents are coming from Colorado to babysit while Jeremy and I travel to an exciting locale to celebrate our 10 year anniversary (7 months late)?!? Oh yeah baby!!!! See  you on the flip side with pictures. Here's hoping the kids go easy on them!

Better Late Than Never for Fantastic Wedding Dancing?

Sometimes my husband does things and doesn't tell me. Crazy I know, right? Like loading a ton of videos from Jessie's wedding onto my Vimeo account and then never telling me until I stumble upon them myself 2 months later.

Clearly I'm not taking enough videos to know what's on my account, for shame. 

So I just saw this for the first time today....video of Tessa breaking it down at Jess and Mike's wedding in May.She danced like this for at LEAST two hours with very little stopping. And since I hear my own annoying voice telling Jer I'm taking Charley back to the hotel, that also tells me that this was past 10:30pm.

She clearly had more bottled energy than her Mom and brother.


Jess and Tessa dancing King May Wedding from Laura Sargent Bennington on Vimeo.

Excuse the camera going in a out of focus just a bit. It was trying to negotiate the low lighting. It doesn't last long. 

If you follow the Vimeo link there are about a dozen other videos from the wedding too. Enjoy! Better late than never?

This is Indiana

Jess and her new husband Mike came out from NYC to visit over Labor Day weekend. Jess hadn't been here in a while and Mike never had, and being that it's such a quick flight...why not! Jess had requested that we give Mike the full Indiana treatment.

You know, the farm, the country, the guns, the food.

The crazy kids.

We met Mom and Dad down in Hayden for chicken at their firehouse, an old car show and a tour of the Hayden historical museum. This is big time small town living.

Mom has been a teacher at Hayden Elem for like 70 years. Okay maybe more like 40. Either way, she's kind of a big deal. Between her and Dad I think Mike soon realized we weren't joking when we said they knew everyone in the whole town.
 

Firehouse chicken is the best kind of chicken. Charley agrees. If only it weren't 100 degrees that day.

Jess took this pic and posted it on Facebook. Apparently this scene screams 'we aren't in New York anymore!'. Actually it's a pretty good indication that we aren't in the suburbs of Indianapolis either. This is rural Indiana living, how I grew up. My 'boyfriend' from 5th grade was even driving one of the tractors.

Sadly the marksmen didn't have much time to shoot between waiting for it to cool down and the start of some rain showers. Just an excuse for them to come back again.

I was sick with a cold about half the weekend but our guests didn't seem to mind a slow pace which included napping, tv watching and playing Rockband.

 We had been down to the farm just the weekend before that to celebrate nephew Mark's 10th birthday, so here are a couple of bonus pictures.

This picture really makes me want to move out of the burbs. Oh to have a campfire pit in my backyard.

4th of July at Cedar Lake

We spent the 4th where we always do, at Cedar Lake. Drinking cold beverages, relaxing, swimming and setting off enough explosive to start WW3.

This year we were joined by both Mom and Dad AND Andy and family. The cottage is pretty small for 11 of us but Andy brought along his pop up camper and a tent for the boys, so we all fit just fine. 

5 cousins dressed in red white and blue and most shocking of all...posing nicely for a picture together!

Gramaw broke out for a day and visited with us. 

Tessa knows Andy's secret, he's not as tough as he looks. 

This is the part where the lake turns into a war zone.

 

At the end of the fireworks display, Tessa and David both fell asleep and had to be carried back up to the cabin. So much excitement.

We stayed for a five day weekend and had a great time. Hopefully we'll get back to the lake another time this summer but I'm not sure when. Only three weeks left!