I can't wait until Christmas Day!

The new Sherlock Holmes movie comes out on Christmas Day, and we are all excited. He is one of our favorite literary characters of all time. The movie creates a new cinematic type of Holmes, and it looks exciting and action-packed. It is also directed by Guy Ritchie in a very Guy Ritchie-style. As a sidebar, Ritchie also happens to be a fantastic looking Brit who is also recently single again - What was Madonna thinking? Leaving Guy Ritchie for A-Rod? Anyway, we're counting the days.

Happy Birthday, Danny Boy!

OK, so his birthday was on the 12th, but we've been so busy, it took us a while to download the pictures from his party. I can't believe my little Danny is six years old! He had the rockin-est party at Zoinks. Loud, crazy, chaotic - a little boy's dream. We had a total of 30 people, and George got some good pics, but I have to pick out the best ones. Most of the kids were too busy bouncing to pose.

He's too big!

Liam (or Baby Liam as Danny calls him) came. Isn't he cute?


So did big bro Alex. I love the hat.

Annabelle was the ham of the night, it was hard to pick which picture cuz she was in so many!

Maya had a blast, too!

The "Usual Suspects", our neices Kendall, Paige and Savannah were a big help once we were in the party room. They helped pass out things in the chaos.

Cowards!

Megan was so happy for Danny. She got so excited, she started the "we want cake" chant during the cutting-of-the-ice-cream-cake saga. George wanted to throttle the chanters, but when I told him Megan started it, he couldn't be mad any more.

Can you read his thoughts? I'm not used to being the center of attention so I'm going to sit here with this nervous look on my face until everyone stops looking at me. He got over it pretty quickly.

See? Of course, his friend Noah was there to provide support.

He had a blast, and I hope he remembers this birthday for a long time. I'm not doing that again any time soon!

Giada's White Bean Chicken Chili

Today is rainy and cold, and I had to forego two social engagements (TPD's Christmas dinner and Danny's class Christmas party) because of it. As a backup, I brought the White Bean Turkey Chili that I made and froze a month ago. One of George's favorites, it is based on Giada De Laurentiis' White Bean Chicken Chili, but I can never find ground chicken when I'm looking for it. It was so good, I had to share the recipe (the only substitute I make is turkey for the chicken). I tried to snap a picture of it, but it mysteriously disappeared from the bowl before I could get a good shot.

I guess working the camera one-handed while eating might make that happen, huh?

A happy ending to a tough Tuesday...

Last Tuesday, I woke up with a migraine (probably from all of the rain), and threw some clothes on to take the kids to school. As we were pulling in to the school drop-off area, the van started making very loud breakage-type noises. I pulled out of the school, and the temperature gauge started to rise, eventually stopping above the danger zone. The engine seized, and I pulled off onto a side street. After a walk home, a shower, a long wait for the tow truck, a trip to the bank, and about 5 hours at the Toyota dealership, we have a new van. I guess it was worth the horrible day to get the reward, but George was not safe that night as my head and my mood were both raging!

Isn't she beautiful? My color, too!

We miss you Mike!

One of George's fellow officers, Mike Saunders, was killed on Saturday in a hit-and-run accident while he was walking in the morning before work. The Democrat has posted the story here. Mike was very special to George and me because he was the other officer present on the night we met. We will miss him, and we hope he is smiling his big beautiful smile in heaven.