2010 Goals Recap & New Goals for 2011

Tonight we will usher out 2010 and get started on 2011.  2010 was a pretty normal, uneventful year for us. Last year I wrote a post saying goodbye to 2009 & put forward some goals for 2010.  Honestly I haven't looked at them too often so I thought it would be fun to see how I did.

Goals for 2009 (in no particular order)

• Potty train Evan (he currently has NO INTEREST) - DONE....even at night time!  Woot!
• Teach Evan his ABCs. - Nope, not even close. He is learning them at preschool though.
• Go visit somewhere warm preferably while it's cold here in Calgary - We went to Mexico in February! We just booked our return trip for this year.
• Become a better wife - I dunno how I did on this one. Dewey is still alive & kicking.  Also, he's still in the band & having fun with that so I guess I did ok.
• Become a better mom & stepmom. - I still need to work on this.  Evan has been driving me nuts lately.  Will & Nicole are good though there are some new issues cropping up since they are nearing teen age/puberty.  Fun times.
• Work on being less crabby (sometimes I can be a real crabapple!). Nope....still a crabapple.
• Floss more.  I floss sometimes definitely not every day. Guess I need to work on this next year too!
• Get back into shape. I don't care if I'm not skinny but I should exercise more (or...ahem...at all).  I did pretty good on this the last half of the year.  I joined a bootcamp at work & went 3 days per week.  November & December got me off track b/c of work but I'm starting back in January.  Yay!
• Keep up my blogging. I like blogging more though everyday is probably only acheivable for short periods of time.  I posted 273 blog posts this year which is 67 posts more than last year.  Definitely an improvement & I will keep this up in 2011!
• Get our basement finished (with no manual labor on my part!) - Done! We still need to do some decorating but mostly it is done & we have a functioning spare bedroom for guests.  Yay!

So what about next year?

Goals for 2010 (in no particular order)

• Participate 365 Day Photo project.  I want to take one picture per day for the whole year.  Hopefully my iPod will help with this b/c I take it everywhere with me!
• Keep Blogging (just keep blogging, just keep blogging....sung in a Dori voice)
• Attend a blogging conference - I hope to go to BlogHer 2011
• Keep moving in 2011 for better health
• Floss More
• Work on being a better mom & stepmom
• Work on being a better wife
• Read more
• Learn to knit & crochet more
• Cook more meals at home

So how about you?  Did you have goals for 2010?  Did you meet them?  How about for 2011?

Have a Happy New Year!

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2010 Recap

Wow! Is 2010 really already over?  It just FLEW by!  As a recap, here is the first line of the first post of each month for 2010.  Sound familiar?  I also recapped 2009 this way & thought it was kind of cool.


January

Well, as you know my pictures of Christmas Day got eaten by my memory card/card reader.

February

Well, I finally did it, I've recorded my first vlog (video blog).

March

We arrived back in Calgary late (very late) last night after a wonderful week in Mexico.


April

Dewey took Evan to get his hair cut today.


May

I'm baaaaaaaacccccckkkkkk!


June

Making granola bars. 

July

Today is Canada's 143rd birthday.

August

I had all of last week off so we met our friends the C's (Jeff (aka Coz), Andrea, Kate & Lauren) and the R's (Terry, Heather, Owen & Jake) at Long Lake Provincial park for a few days of camping. 

September

Karen over at Notes From the Cookie Jar has renamed her recipe section Chasing Tomatoes to chronicle her new year long focus on eating less processed food and eating more local food. 

October

We lived in Austin for 5 years.

November

There are so many great blog posts out there about Halloween that I thought "What the heck! Might as well have one more day of Halloween fun!"

December

One day down....only 24 to go.


So far this year I've posted 272 posts which is up from 2009.  Here's hoping for another great blogging year in 2011.  I would love to hear from you what you would like to see more or less of.  Thanks for reading!

Remember you can follow me with Google Friend Connect (see right side of my blog) to have this blog in your Google Reader or "Like" my blog on Facebook to have links to my post show up on your News Feed!

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What's Cooking Wednesday - Favorite Recipes of 2010

Well, it's almost 2011.....


Here are our favorite recipes of 2010 (not necessarily published this year...more of what we made a lot of).  I hope to continue to post recipes throughout 2011.  Definitely let me know if there is anything you would like to see a recipe for (or types of recipes).

• Evan is a BIG fan of cinnamon rolls.  If you need just a few here's the recipe for you but if you need A LOT here's the way to go.

• Need a kid friendly dinner that is AWESOME the next day as leftovers?  Mini meatloaves are for you.  Make some mashed potatoes to go with it & this is a crowd pleaser.  Yum!
• Kid friendly pasta what you need?  How about Cheeseburger pasta....it tastes so much like a real cheeseburger?  Want something more Italian?  How about Italian Sausage Baked Pasta?  Yummy!
• Slow Cooker/Crockpot Favorites were Pulled BBQ Chicken, Crockpot Roast Beef with Yorkshire Puddings and Crockpot Apple Butter.

• Side Dishes - Definitely Broccoli Salad or Cornbread Stuffing
• Have a sweet tooth?  Try Apple Crisp or even better.... Carrot Cake

Nothing tickling your fancy? Check out my Recipe Index for all the recipes ever posted on Merry With Children!

Other recipe roundups to check out:

Top 10 Recipes of 2010 at Two Peas and Their Pod

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Post Christmas Hangover - An iPod Photo Holiday Review

Please forgive me....all of these pictures were taken with my iPod Touch. I promise to download pictures taken with an honest to goodness camera soon but not right now.  :)

First we headed to Cluny, AB to see Nana & Papa Don.  

We visited our friends Lindy, Adrian & Matt....and took pictures of their trees....then I got busy talking & drinking Grantinis so no pictures to be found of them.

Santa brought Evan Kung Zhu hamsters.  They are very cute but also very noise especially when they are buried in a bag on a bumpy car ride.  

I started learning to knit. I still have a LONG way to go though!

Evan and Nicole LOVE their Pillow Pets....It's a pillow, it's a pet...it's a PILLOWPET!

Evan didn't do nearly enough of this.

We drove across the prairies to visit Dewey's Dad though at times I would have sworn we were on the moon.

Though the sunset sure was pretty.

That's is a REALLY long road!

All those toys & Evan wanted to play with a spray bottle & the dish brushes.  

He *may* have subsisted completely on sugar through the holidays.

We managed to put together this monster 1000 piece puzzle while at Nana's.

Ugh...here's the pile of STUFF that needs to be put away.  

And don't forget the laundry. Thankfully Nana did a bit for us before we left or it would be twice the amount.

Oh and this guy....I threatened to sell him to the gypsies at least two or three times per day.  Too many new people + too little sleep + too much sugar left us with a crabby little boy! (Who has now woken up & is screaming at me because he wants to go to McDonalds.)

So how was your Christmas?

Linked up for Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom.

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Merry Christmas!

From Our House to Yours

We Wish You a Merry Christmas 

and 

A Happy and Prosperous 2011!


I would love it if you would take a minute to say "Hi"!


And because I can't not post some pictures....here's Christmas Eve in pictures!

Spreading the Reindeer Dust

O Christmas Tree

New Jammies!

Nicole loves hers!

Cool car that follows any black line you draw

Lego!

Getting set up for Santa

Chocolate Chip Cookies & Chocolate Milk

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What's Cooking Thursday - Overnight Breakfast Enchiladas

A great recipe to make the night before!

Overnight Breakfast Enchiladas

2 cups ground ham
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup finely chopped bell peppers
2 Tbsp oil
12 - 14 corn or flour tortillas
2 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese (divided)
4 eggs
2 cups 2% milk
1 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2-3 drops hot sauce

Spray large casserole dish (11X17) with cooking spray.

Saute ham, onion and peppers in oil until onions & pepper are soft.

If you are using corn tortillas....microwave in a damp paper towel for ~1 minute or until soft & pliable.

Fill each tortilla with 2-3 Tbsp of filling and top with cheese (about another 2 Tbsp).  Roll and place seam side down in casserole dish.  Continue until pan is full.

In a large bowl beat eggs.  Add milk, flour, garlic powder & hot sauce.  Mix well.

Pour over enchiladas & cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate overnight.

Remove enchiladas from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to baking.  Remove plastic wrap before baking!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake enchiladas for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Sprinkle with a bit of additional cheese and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.  Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Serves 6 to 8

Recipe Notes:  This recipe tastes awesome!  Use baked ham & put through a meat grinder for ground ham.  You could also used finely chopped ham if you don't have a grinder.

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Happy Birthday to Me!

It was a great day!  I got to:

• get my hair done
• pick up scones and stollen from Aviv of Sidewalk Citizen bakery
• find Evan a stocking since his went missing sometime in the last year
• buy five boxes of Candy Cane Lane tea which I've been looking EVERYWHERE for
• yummy dinner at Nana & Papa Don's
• German Chocolate cake which was AWESOME!
• presents, presents and more presents.  
• Overall a great day!

Keeping Nicole from giving me rabbit ears....

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Mostly Wordless Wednesday - 35 Ai Yai Yai

35 years ago my mom gave birth to me (actually tomorrow but this is a Wednesday post....December 22nd).  Thanks Mom!

When this guy is 35 I will be MUCH older than my mom is!  I still feel like I'm 25....not sure where all the years keep running off to!

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Top Ten Tuesday - My Favorite Christmas Vacation Activities

I'm on VACATION until January 4th.....YAY ME!  I love vacation time because you get to do all those things that get pushed by the wayside when life gets busy.  Here are some of my favorite vacation activities (in no particular order)!

1.  Reading - We're headed out to my in-laws' (Nana's) house for Christmas.  I am on the internet much less there so I get to catch up on reading.  I am taking The House at Riverton by Kate Morton and House Rules by Jodi Picoult to read while I'm there.

2.  Baking - Not sure how much of this I'll do while we're at Nana's house but I bet we'll bake cookies at some point!

3.  Visiting with Family & Friends - When you unplug & step away from work it is so much easier to engage with family and friends.  This is my favorite part of the holidays!

4.  Crosswords - I love doing crosswords with Papa Don.  I don't ever do them at home because it is so much more fun when you have more than one person working on it.

5.  Puzzles - I've just recently remembered how much I love doing jigsaw puzzles.  I bought 3 new puzzles to take to Nana & Papa Don's house.  Two are folk art paintings and one is a photograph of hot air balloons.

6.  Crocheting - I love to crochet but it has really fallen by the wayside lately.  I bought all the yarn to make a big afghan and I think that has me overwhelmed.  I'm going to take some yarn to make dish cloths while we're away.  That should get me back in the swing of things without making me commit to a big project.

7.  Cooking - I love helping Nana cook because she gets to decide what we make & when we need to start.  I just get to be along for the ride.  Cooking fun without the stress!  I bet we'll be making yummy Turnip Puff for Christmas!

8.  Shopping - I admit it....I love Christmas shopping. Yesterday I had a few things to pick up but I stayed at the mall just wandering around looking at things & people watching.  I so rarely have the time/opportunity to shop these days.

9.  Coffee Dates - When working I don't get to meet friends for coffee very often.  Vacation is the perfect time to make coffee dates to see all those people I haven't caught up with in a while.  So fun!

10.  Photography - I find myself taking fewer and fewer pictures these days.  When I do take pictures they end up being with my iTouch (so not the best quality).  One reason is because my Nikon's D70 lens got broken.  We just bought another one yesterday so I'm excited to take some pictures of the kids & maybe even some nature photography.

Are you taking any time off this Christmas holiday season?  What are you hoping to get to do?

This post is linked up at Oh Amanda for Top Ten Tuesday!

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Love Thy Neighbor The Pioneer Woman Way!

So yesterday I blogged about the Crockpot Apple Butter I made.  Well, though it's a great gift, I wanted to do a bit more for our neighbors.  Enter The Pioneer Woman.....  Oh, you haven't met the lovely Ree?  She is lovely and so are her recipes.  You might get a bit fat if you ate her food all the time but it IS Christmas.

Okay...back to my story!

Last Christmas I received Ree's book "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" & ever since I have wanted to try her cinnamon roll recipe.  Unfortunately it makes 40-50 (!) cinnamon rolls.  That is WAY to many for me to make normally but at Christmas it is PERFECT!

Because I am being quite LAZY tonight I will send you over to Pioneer Woman land for the recipe.

Before you go here are a few pictures from my very own kitchen.....

Best pastry chef I know

Butter, sugar & cinnamon....yum!

Almost ready to go in the oven

Fresh out of the oven

After adding the ooey gooey icing.  

A few helpful hints.....round foil pans with lids are PERFECT for this.  No matter how ugly your rolls are when you cut them, they turn out beautifully.....oh and these are DIVINE.  You will question giving away a single, solitary pan even though it makes at least 6 pans!

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Homemade Christmas Gifts - Crockpot Apple Butter

I have NOT been feeling the holiday cookie baking this year.  I still wanted to give gifts to the neighbors, though, so I began looking for other things to make.  Here's one that I tried and it turned out awesome!

Crockpot Apple Butter
Adapted from Food.com

12 cups apples, peeled and chopped (I used Granny Smith)
3 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until apples are covered in sugar mixture.  Place in crockpot and cook on high for 1 hour.

Decrease crockpot to low and cook for 9-12 hours or until apples turn brown and thicken.  Stir occasionally during this cooking time.

Use a whisk or a spoon to squish any remaining whole apple pieces.

Remove lid and cook for an additional hour on low.

Spoon into jars or freezer containers leaving 1 inch head space.  Apple butter can be used immediately (and refrigerated) or kept in the freezer for later.  You could also can it for room temp storage but canning is beyond me.  :)

Makes 8 250ml (1 cup) jars with a bit left over.

Recipe Notes:  I used white and brown sugar because I ran out of white sugar (crazy I know!).  I found this very sweet but Dewey loved it.  I think you should definitely cut back on the sugar if you use sweeter apples or if you want a less sweet product.

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Teacher Gift Idea!

So much stress and worry went into picking out a present for Evan's preschool teachers! I have lots of friends who are teachers so I have heard HORROR stories about the downright BAD presents they have received (think dollar store trinkets and glass dolphins).  So when it came time to figure out a gift I phoned a friend (former teacher) and put it out there on Twitter.

Here's what I came up with......  A two part gift....

Part 1:  Something useful and cute

I bought these Christmas nesting dip bowls at Winners (~$10 w/coupon).

Part 2: Something homemade

Sugar Cookies! Recipe here!

Icing even!

Then I drew some candy canes for Evan to paint.  For the stripes, use painters tape & let your little go crazy with paint.  After it's dry, peel off the tape and viola perfect stripes (I saw this on twitter just yesterday but can't remember where....will put reference once I find it).

Cut out the candy canes, glue them on a paper bag.  Put cookies in a Ziploc then into the bags.

Cute!

Put both in a Christmas bag & you've got a great gift for well under $20 (much less if you don't live in Calgary....in the US you can find those bowls for way cheaper).  

What did you give your child's teacher for a gift this year?

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Preschool Concert....Not Much Singing Going On!

There was a concert....Evan just decided that he didn't really need to sing.  He talked to me & Dewey from the stage, he rang his jingle bell, he looked around but no singing.  Well....maybe he sang 3 words in 15 minutes.  I think that is right up there with zero.

The stage was all ready with their reindeer antlers. Awesome part was...each headband had a name on it so you could tell where you should sit to see your little one the best.

There he is! It took him a while to see us.  I think he was worried we forgot.  I took lots of pics but I don't feel right putting pics of other people's kids on my blog if I don't know them.

Evan and Santa...love the Reindeer antlers they made...the antlers are handprints.

He even got a present!

Best part?  After the concert was a par-tay. Complete with chips and cookies.  YUMMY!

Do your little ones participate in school/preschool plays or concerts?  

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