Crabby Mama

At least so far.

Friday night Mike gathered our neighbors for some delicious cookie cake, always my choice in cakes.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Golden Corral for a birthday brunch buffet with the Maddexes. One of the things I love is a breakfast buffet. I hate having to decide what to eat for breakfast. Buffets allow me to have a taste of everything, which is what I love. It was Laurie’s idea, so thanks for thinking of me and knowing me so well!

And here are the long-awaited pics of Mike & I on our date night.

What do you think of the dress and boots? I had a long jacket (but not a short enough skirt, if you know what I mean) in black to go over it and I was not at all cold uptown.

Dinner was awesome. If you have never been to a Brazilian steakhouse, you should go. There were 16 kinds of meat, and that is not an exaggeration. You sit down and can immediately eat from the salad bar stuff like fresh mozzarella and tomatoes, smoked salmon, creamy vegetable soup, and tabouleh. Then the meat starts coming around. The “gauchos” have the different kinds on long skewers and they just slice off small portions onto your plate. I ate Parmesan pork loin, garlic tenderloin, salmon, leg of lamb, prime rib, top sirloin, and the butteriest filet mignon I have ever had. They even served me a tiramisu-style cake because it was my birthday. Mike and I were in pain just a bit when we left because of the vast quantities of food we consumed.

Then we headed to the movie theater. They actually card at the theater because after 7pm it becomes over 21. Inside the theater is a restaurant and 2 bars. You can bring any of the food and your drinks into the theater. I had a pomegranite martini while watching the movie. The seats were in sets of two together with no armrest between and they were extra-wide and cushy. Each set of two seats had a little table on either side for your drinks and food. AND the seats were assigned, you chose them when bought the tickets.

After the show, we walked around the complex. There is a Howl at the Moon in there and a dance club called Whiskey River. We felt like we were in college again just being there. My boots, while pretty comfy, were not made for dancing so we didn’t hit up the club. BUT we want to go back sometime. Anybody up for visiting and dancing?

On the train back, we each received a $50 ticket for not having a train ticket in our possession. Mike claims that he was under the impression his bus pass would also work for the train, but the officers were not under the same impression. Ahhh, well. Still all in all a fabulous birthday.

Mike decided to count today as part of my birthday weekend so we headed off to do some shopping at my request. I wanted to find a winter dress. All of the dresses I have are for warmer weather. It sucks when you have something specific in mind because it is really hard to find what you are looking for. Eventually I was about to find exactly what I wanted at Penney’s for 40% off!

We are headed to Chima Brazilian Steakhouse tomorrow night for my birthday dinner and then to a movie at the Epicentre Theaters in Uptown. I am so psyched to wear my new dress for a night on the town. I will post a picture of me in my new dress after my big night out.

My dad and step-mom arrived today. I LOVE when my dad is here because we cook all kinds of stuff together and plan menus and go to the grocery together every day. It’s like a little bit of heaven for me. About an hour after they arrived, my dad couldn’t stand it anymore and made us all open our presents. The living room exploded yet again with paper and toys and clothes. My kids got a RIDICULOUS haul this year and I don’t see it slowing down in future years. They are lucky enough to have 3 sets of grandparents and two holidays at the same time of year to celebrate. I don’t think they will ever want for ANYTHING.

I was just thinking, yet again, about how it sucks to have your birthday so close to Christmas (hear me, Tiff and Christina?). Basically I get all the presents I am going to get all year in 3 days, then I have to wait an ENTIRE year for it to happen again. Mike and my girls have a much better deal, all of their birthdays are closer to the halfway point. It is nice to get presents at different times of year. Oh well, I have lived with it for 30 years now, I guess I will continue to deal.

Here are some photos from the last few days here in the Gallers household:

We had an awesome time with Mom, Lauren, and Carly here. I hope they enjoyed themselves as much as we enjoyed having them. It was so nice to actually kinda “get to know” my sisters a bit. Now we have a small breather before PawPaw and Mimi get here tomorrow night.

Santa was very good to us this year. Leah and Erin got a train table (built by Daddy, shhhhh) AND a Jump-o-lene. What is that, you ask? Well, here it is in action:

Leah also got a kids’ digital camera from Grammy, a Belle tea set from Aunt Carly, and the book Polar Express from Aunt Lauren (a family favorite).

We have eaten Berry French Toast and leftover brisket so far today. I am not cooking again until my dad gets here tomorrow night. He and I will decide the menu together for the next week (one of the things we always look forward to).

I gave Mike Wii Music and he got Raving Rabbids from Lauren. Wii Music is pretty fun, except I am apparently horrible at handbells. Who knew? And the Rabbids game is ridiculous. It consists of various activities like flipping burgers into the mouth of a monster and dancing to Austin Powers-type music. It is hilarious to watch.

We are having a relaxing day, just taking walks with our new wagon, playing Wii, and jumping. Hope you all got what you wanted from Santa!

I took Erin to the doctor yesterday because I did not want to have to bring her to the emergency room on Christmas if something was wrong. I am SO glad I did, because she has a double ear infection, poor thing. Mike kept telling me he thought she had one, but I didn’t think so because she has never really had one before. Anyway, she is on amoxicillin now and will be back to her usual self by Christmas.

Last night I went with Mike for the first time to play volleyball at this church where they have pick up games every Tues/Thurs. Now I have not played volleyball in YEARS except to bump back and forth with Mike so I was quite nervous about how I would perform in front a bunch of strangers. But I actually did pretty well. Obviously I am not a hitter (no height, duh) BUT I can put a pass in the right place to set up a hit probably 8 out of 10 times. And all my serves went over. AND someone asked Mike who the college girl was that he brought. COLLEGE GIRL!!! No one would believe we were married. I guess I have not aged a day since I graduated, which is starting to be a good thing in my old (30 in 3 days) age.

Today I am cooking a Christmas eve early afternoon dinner, then the kids are going to open their presents from Grammy and their aunts, THEN we are going to take a ride and look at Christmas lights. What a lovely Christmas eve! I hope all of you have a lovely day too.

My two girls are currently coughing fiends at night. They are in the middle of a raging cold and the drainage is awful. BOTH of them have coughing fits that last upwards of an hour at night. Thank goodness lately Leah’s have been coming AFTER she wakes up in the morning, but Erin’s came last night RIGHT after I had finally dropped off to sleep at 12:30. She cried and cried while coughing, so I went in and rocked her during which she promptly fell asleep. This happened 4 more times over a 2 hour period. Then when Leah wandered in at 7am, she laid in our bed and hacked up a lung for like 20 minutes. Over the monitor I could hear Erin start in too and all I could think was, Oh sweet Jesus, please save me from the coughing.

Channukah dinner is complete and mostly a success. I tried to make it as vegan/vegetarian as possible so I used an egg replacement for the latkes and to make the matzo balls. The latkes came out well. The matzo balls not so much. While they were cooking they pretty much imploded. So the soup ended up being more like a stoup (a la Rachael Ray), but it still tasted good. I decided to make the green beans today instead because Lauren wants to make brussel sprouts. The brisket was a tad dry but if you poured the juices over it, it was yummy. So check, check, and check.

My sister Brittany just got engaged to a wonderful man named Jimmy. We are SO excited for him to be a part of our family. Check this out:

He fits right in. Anyway, Brittany just called me and asked me to be a bridesmaid in the wedding (which is set for January 16, 2010) AND asked the girls to be her flower girls! How cute is that?!?!? I am so excited to be part of planning another wedding and my girls get to be part of it too. What a great Christmas present for us.

Love you to the mountains, sis!

I think Erin has the same problem Leah had (and has). Whenever either of them get a cold, they have GIANT coughing fits in the middle of the night. The past 4 or so nights almost always at about 3:30am, Erin wakes herself up violently coughing. Good thing it does not make her throw up like it does Leah. Tonight I tried the steamy shower thing and it seemed to help. Last night I tried taking her out into the night air, which did NOT help. It just seems like the coughing runs its course with the cold.

I know we all thought Leah had cough-variant asthma, and I guess she may, but it only surfaces when she has a cold. So it didn’t seem like it was necessary to keep her on daily medication just on the off chance she caught a cold. And anyway it didn’t prevent the coughing completely, it just lessened the severity of the attack. I really feel Erin has the same issue.

Leah has been coughing some the last few nights too, but not nearly as bad as Erin. Maybe the cold isn’t as bad or maybe she is outgrowing it a bit. Here’s hoping…

I am FINALLY finished my cupcake platters and we delivered them this evening. I have one more kind to make, a vegan one, for my sister who arrives tomorrow. And I have to make rugelach on Saturday. But those are my last two baked goods this holiday season. Oh wait, I forgot about the butter balls we are going to make with my mom. Maybe I will just “let” her make them with Leah. Anyway, here are the promised cupcake pictures.