On Monday, Dec. 14. 2009 Ashten was running late for the bus (socializing you know) after school. He ran to catch the bus, slipped on the wet floor and smashed his knee into the metal frame of the doorway spraining it badly.
Below are the photos.
On December 9, 2009 we had a huge snowstorm across the entire state of WI. Schools were closed, traffic was bad, etc!
At our house the roads had not been plowed yet, so our driveway was also not plowed (we have someone do it for us). The power went out shortly after 8 am, which also meant we had no water. The plow came through around 9:30ish and cleaned out the driveway, but with no power it also meant we couldn’t get out of the garage (the door is HEAVY). The power came back on around 2pm, it was cold in the house by then around 62. We still did not have cable for a couple more hours after that.
At any rate the boys and Cleveland had a great time in the snow. View the pics below.
Ryan really enjoys helping out in the kitchen, so this weekend he and I made Christmas cookies. Definitely lots of fun.
View the rest of our Christmas cookie photos
We used the following recipe to make the cookies Mary’s Sugar Cookies
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Mary’s Sugar Cookies
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Submitted By: Pat
Photo By: What a Dish!
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“This is an old fashioned sugar cookie with a hit of almond flavor. Cut into your favorite shapes with cookie cutters and sprinkle with colored sugar for special occasions.”
Ingredients:
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1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
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2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup granulated sugar for decoration
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Directions:
| 1. | In a large bowl, cream together the butter and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and stir in the vanilla and almond extract. Combine the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar; blend into the creamed mixture. Cover and chill for at least two hours. |
| 2. | Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the dough into two parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece of the dough out to 3/16 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Sprinkle cookies with plain or colored granulated sugar. |
| 3. | Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. |
This year was a ton of fun. Ashten was a “Scary Jester”, Ryan was “Yoda”, and Tanner was a “S.W.A.T” team member. Elke used Selene from “Underworld” as inspiration and was a gothic vampire, winning the contest at work for the best group costume.
Another school year has begun. This time around all THREE boys are in school. Exciting times for us as Ryan starts kindergarten. Here’s to a great school year!
Our upstairs bathroom was in much need of repair.
The boys had broken one of the drawers coupled with the fact that the original blinds were now old and in need of replacing.
I wanted something that would feel fresh, clean and modern. I used their shower curtain (jungle theme) as inspiration for the colors I chose.
The shower area was painted using Laura Ashley Apple #5, purchased at Lowes.
The sink area was painted using Martha Stewart Farmhouse Blue.
My father-in-law was awesome and helped to install the mirrors and also fixed the molding behind the doorway. The original owner had left the area between the two doors with no molding and had not finished the drywall either.
The mirrors in the sink room are called the “Neal Medicine Cabinet”, while the mirrors over the toilet were purchased at Target.
It was that time of year again, Blizzcon 2009! This is the penultimimate moment for any Blizzard Games fan. To make it more juicy, Blizzcon opened on my birthday this year 
Talk about a present!
This year Ashten and I were joined by old friends and some new ones! Matt (Gutzies), Alex (Eviandorian) — both of Aenima fame — and Jesse (Dömökun) who I knew from the TNOSC in Hawaii came, and then we met up with Brett (Sao) on Friday. On Friday I also ran into Rob (Sykö) — Kill Order — and his girlfriend Elaine. It was totally random and was not expecting to see him there, but was very exciting to see them!
While waiting in line for our tickets on Thursday I was interviewed by WoW Radio. The link to the podcast with my interview is located here, my portion starts around 4:45.
So many exciting things happened this time around I can’t even explain it all! We ran into Felicia Day, Vincent Caso, and Michele Boyd in the hotel the night before the show began. For those not in the know, they are from the web series “The Guild“. They were super awesome, very nice and we talked for a bit. They allowed us to take a photo with them, for which I am incredibly grateful. Felicia and I talked about how she has a dwarf priest, but that she thinks that when they allow cross-faction transfers that she may flip to Horde because blood elves are so pretty (they are).
Jay Mohr was the MC again, he did an awesome job and I look forward to seeing him at future Blizzcon events. Ozzy Osbourne closed out the show, it was my first time seeing him and Ashten’s first “real” concert period.
Pictures are below.
Blizzcon Pre Event – Thursday
Blizzcon Day #1
Blizzcon Day #2
This weekend we decided to go visit the Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, WI. The museum contains all kinds of great exhibits as well as a tour of a real WWII Submarine, the USS-Cobia. We also visited the Berner’s Ice Cream shop which claims to be the first to invent the ice cream sundae!
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