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Megan was gone and it was just the boys at home.  Harry got hungry, so I pulled out a new toy - a cup.  Sure, a cup isn't all that exciting, but Harry had never been expected to drink out of one before.  I filled his cup up with warm milk, positioned his hands on the handles, and he knew just what to do.  He was able to drink all he wanted to and he was really good at controlling the cup - pretty good motor skills for a five month old.

On a side note, if you ever want to read something a little bit different, try out my weird and varying thoughts at davidthesteak.blogspot.com.  I put a handy little link on the side so you can always have a quick way to get there.

My life is soon to get less busy.  I took my second to last final today (Criminal Law) and then I have one more on Thursday (Civil Procedure).  Law School has been good so far - not too stressful but always interesting.  Actually, I've had less home work during Law School than I've had since High School.  Maybe I'm not studying enough, but since we only get one test at the end of the semester, I really won't know how I'm doing until grades come out at the end of January.

  Well I did it.  I did something that probably every mom does sometime in their motherhood.  While clipping Harry's fingernails, I clipped his fingers.  Yes that's right not just one, but two!  After the second one I felt SO bad that I didn't finish the last 3 nails.  I think it was the design of the new clippers I was using (He wasn't even wiggling).  Harry was so sad, and he was bleeding too.  But, I rocked him, fed him, and gave him lots of kisses and it was all better.  I felt so bad, but he seems to have recovered well.  :)  What a good boy.  Now he's just happy as a clam chewin' on his bunny ears!

Last night I went to a "goodie exchange" with some gals in my ward and it was a blast!!  Dave and Harry got to hang out for a while while I was there.  Everyone brought a treat to share, and then some to exchange in the white elephant exchange.  I had been baking up a storm trying to find a great treat to take!  First I tried cocoa sweet rolls (pretty good, but not what I expected from the recipe), then I thought, what about ableskivers?  So I tried a batch, attempting to put jam or cream cheese in the middle, which didn't quite work right, but I did end up making another huge batch of normal ableskivers and coated some with cinnamon and sugar and some with powdered sugar.  They were a hit!  Most people just called them doughnuts, which is okay, because that's pretty much what they tasted like.  The ableskiver pan makes them so easy to make (thank you Jordan and Crystal!).  There were sooo many yummy things to eat there, wow.  Lots of talented cooks!  It was quite the spread- mint fudge, mini strawberry cheesecakes, decorated sugar cookies, key lime pie, no-bake cookies, fruit tray, veggie tray, chocolate satin mint cake, peppermint cookie sandwiches, my ableskivers....it was yummy and impressive too!  Then we had the "white elephant" part and I was so lucky and I got probably the best treat there-CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES!!  (AND RASBERRIES!!)  (In the middle of DECEMBER-and they were nice and red inside too!)  It also came in a cute Christmas bucket.  I definitely scored.  Dave was happy to see what I brought home, too!

My lovely goodies

This is what an ableskiver pan looks like-it's cast iron.  Crystal introduced us to these yummy creations whilst we were all unmarried but dating out future husbands, then they gave us this pan for our wedding.    

Here's our sweet boy....It's hard for me to do a blog without pictures of Harry :)  You can see his hair growing out a little bit.  Look for an upcoming blog from Dave about something he learned while I was at the party.

Harry and Daddy just hanging out.

On Wednesday morning, we woke up to a winter wonderland!  I was so excited-I had been slightly jealous of the first big snow that all the Utah folks had talked about.  Now it seems so much more like Christmas!  These pictures were taken when Harry woke up to eat, about 6:15 in the morning.  I didn't quite catch it before a couple cars came down the street, but there were only a couple car tracks (this is the view from our bedroom window).  So pretty.  By the way, it is great that Harry always goes back to sleep after his early morning feeding-he'll usually go back to sleep until 8:00 or so.  Perfect.

We finally got a crib!!  It only took me a couple hours to set it all up!  I LOVE IT!  I ordered it online, because we don't have a car big enough to fit a crib box in.  I read a ton of reviews and choose this one, the Storkcraft Lennox Stages Crib.  I think it is great, and ya, it was easy to set up.  The color is perfect too-and matches the dresser we got perfectly!

I like this crib a lot.  Thank you so much, Grandma and Grandpa Muhlestein!!! (At my baby shower, I got crib sheets and said they would get us a crib once we moved to Ohio.)  Then there's the dresser.  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Mueller!!!  Where would we be without grandparents.  We are so blessed.  In true lighting, the dresser and crib match like they came from the same set.  Oh, thanks also to Dayna Goates, a friend I used to work with for the hand me down crib bumper and skirt.

Here's the little bug trying out his new bed!  He really likes it!

    During morning nap.  When he woke up this morning, I came in the room and he was gazing at the crab in the corner.  First he tried to grab it with one hand, then with two.  It was so cute, he is so smart.  I love coming in his room in the morning.  I come in quietly, and wait for him to look at me.  Sometimes it takes him a minute to notice me, and when he looks over and sees me there he'll get a beaming smile on his face!  This is a great part of being a mom.  He of course does the same huge smile when dad comes in to pick him up :)

This is our garage.  I post this because every time we go out to the car to take Dave to school in the morning, we think how grateful we are to not have to scrape snow and frost off of the car!!!!!!!!  It is AWESOME!  I wish everyone in the world could have a garage, but especially after not having one, it makes you all the more grateful for it.   

Me and our snuggle bug.  I'll be so sad when the snuggle stage is over, I LOVE it.

Last night we had a big party at our house!!  Dave made pizza and yet again it was SO yummy-a huge hit with all our friends.  We had about 8 couples over and a handful of kids.  It made us so happy to be able to host and enjoy wonderful company.  We have met some great friends out here already, and some we have known for a longer time (from Utah and from Dave's mission etc.  They are in medical school, dental school etc... here at OSU).  I'm grateful for friends and for our home that has a spirit of love in it.  We had a rousing game of Encore, probably our favorite game ever. 

Harry fell asleep with the bunny ear right in his mouth!  He likes this bunny a lot because it has a "crinkly" material in the ears the makes noise when he eats it.  What a cutie. 

These pictures are amazing!  It's the pictures of our house before it was our house-the contractor sent them to us after we asked him if we could see what the house looked like when he purchased it.  You can see what kind of disrepair the home was in.  I tried to match up old/new pictures as closely as possible.  Pretty cool!  We're SO grateful for our home.  Oh, if you didn't catch Dave's fish dish recipe, be sure to scroll down!

For Thanksgiving I was in charge of making one side dish and I decided to make something that's a little less than traditional - seafood.  I invented this dish and after telling my mom about it, she requested the recipe. I decided to post it here to share it with everyone.

As with all my recipes, I don't ever measure anything, so my quantities are approximations.

Ingredients:

1 pound shrimp (I used pre-cooked and pre-peeled because it was cheapest, but use whatever)

1 pound scallops (I used bay scallops - once again because it was cheapest)

1/2 a pound fish (I used cod - feel free to use more than 1/2 a pound)

5 celery stalks

1 pound frozen peas

1 can crab meat (the size of a tuna fish can)

1 can baby corn

1 can water chestnuts

1 can bamboo shoots

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon fish sauce

2/3 cup whipping cream

2/3 cup half and half (use all cream or all half and half as desired - I just had some of each on hand)

2 teaspoons paprika

1 tablespoon golden curry powder

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon ginger powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon soy sauce

salt (to taste)

pepper (to taste)

oil or margarine

chicken bullion cube

Directions:

The secret for lots of oriental dishes (and this definitely has an oriental flavor) is to prepare the different ingredients separately and then put them together at the very end.  That said, you can prepare the following ingredients in any order you like.

Celery - Put the bullion cube in a small pan with about 3 cups of water and turn on medium heat.  Let the bullion dissolve.  Slice the celery into bite-sized pieces and boil in the bullion water until they are soft but still have a little bit of crunch left in them.

Scallops - Put the scallops in a small pan and allow to cook all the way through.  I did this on medium-low heat and just left them while I prepared everything else.  You probably don't need any oil/margarine, but you might want a little bit.

Shrimp - Peel if necessary (I always leave the tails on, but you don't have to).  Cook just like the scallops.

Fish - Cook with a little oil/margarine (I used olive oil) and allow to cook all the way through.  I put a little paprika on mine while it was cooking.  Try to leave it in the oil/margarine until it's completely cooked on one side and flip it only once.  After the fish is cooked, allow to cool and then break it into bite-sized pieces.

Vegetables - Put all the canned vegetables (drain really well before hand) and the frozen peas into a pan and allow to heat evenly on medium heat.  You may need a little tiny bit of water in the bottom of the pan but try to keep things as liquid-free as possible.

Sauce - The sauce takes the longest so you may want to start this first.  Put the milk in a large pot and put it on medium heat.  Add the fish sauce, soy sauce and all the spices (except salt and pepper) and stir until everything is very well dissolved.  Stir in the cream/half and half and the canned crab meat.  Let the pan simmer uncovered until the sauce has thickened to the consistency of a thin gravy.

When all your separate ingredients are prepared, add them all directly to the sauce and stir in.  Add salt and pepper to taste (or, as I do, salt each of the individual ingredients to taste as you are making them).

Serving:

You can serve your Seafood Bonanza anyway you like, but I elected to serve mine in a trazoid bowl with a wooden spoon.  Make sure you serve it soon after it is done because it's a dish best eaten warm.  It is also a great dish to eat over white rice.

Here's a picture of the finished product.