Moment of the Week

'nuf said

status report

**just started my 7th load of wash... atleast 3 more to do today, possible 5

**Dave has his head in the oven, mumbling something about cleaning the oven is as bad as working on aircraft.(this is his first time ever cleaning the oven, not sure why he decided to, but I'm not complaining!)

**Bathtub full of ammonia soaking greasy stuff

**Atleast 6 boxes packed today

**Suitcases are open and are being packed

Painting begins tomorrow....gulp
Movers arrive Thursday morning
Cable and internet gets turned off tomorrow..... so if you don't hear from us, you know why!

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas

Hope your Christmas was full of YES!! moments.

Nathan so loves all of his gifts! Everyone really spoils him!

A video should be coming soon.

Moment of the Week-Special Christmas Eve edition

Traditions

Had Pizza. Watched Elf.

Opened one gift.(Nate wanted to open the choo choo (he poked his finger in the wrapping and peeked earlier this week))

Opened The Night Before Christmas. Then read it.

Set out cookies for Santa :))

Nate wasn't a big fan of this part, he was near tears whining,"me!me!me!"

Moment of the Week part1

Merry Christmas Eve!

I think we will have a special Christmas edition of Moment of the Week this evening.

Our gift to you! LOL

my list

xmas in 3 days
9th anniversary in 5 days
packers in 8 days
move to billeting in 10 days
pick up uhaul in 11 days
turn in Shingle Loop keys 12 days
hit the road for SD in 13 days
arrive in Rapid City in 14 days
house hunting begins in 15 days
Nate turns 3 in 48 days

Moment of the Week

Less than 3 weeks until we depart on our 2 day drive to South Dakota.

The boxes are really piling up!

But we are still enjoying ourselves!

theme song

This is sort of playing in my head all the time. Less than 3 weeks until we hit the road.

Moment of the Week

I should have saved the photo with Santa for the Friday post. Oh well, this was a big deal too.

Blue-Dee survives the wash. And smells much better.

(Nate rubs the bear's ears through his toes. ack)

We are going to Dave's Office Christmas Party tonight. Nathan is going to play with a bunch of kids ( he will prob pick up the barfs, and we will have a delightful couple of days.) But anyhow, it's should be a fun time.

HoHoHo

Nate went to see Santa Claus today. There were NO tears, but Nathan really didn't enjoy the big man.

2009

2008

Nathan is a big fan

Nathan loves watching sports. He really enjoyed our game of wii bowling last night!

Christmas Cookies

Today was an exciting day! We made lots of cookies

Nate was very helpful.

I baked and frosted, Dave did sprinkles and 'prewashed' anything that had frosting on it, and Nate checked to be sure both of us did a good job. Quality assurance ;)

They are pretty.

And we are shipping some of them out. And two have gone in the freezer until Christmas Eve, they will be for Santa. And the rest will go to work with Dave or be after dinner treats :)

Getting ready...

..to live out of these again.

And FYI if your thinking how tacky their luggage is all mismatched, we had a big set of nice matching luggage, but they only travel overseas and back so many times before they are busted up and dead. No matter how much they cost.

Moment of the Week

brought to you today by CANDY CANES ON THE TREE!!(which Nathan calls the 'ho ho ho')

Grinding Meat

This seems silly, but I have had several people ask me how I grind meat. So I thought I would share pics of the process, and helpful hints.

I buy really inexpensive meat. This cut of top round was $2.41 per pound when I bought it. Sometimes its even less than 2 dollars. This cut is pretty lean. That's okay for us. I would rather be browning beef that's so lean I sometimes need to add a teaspoon of olive oil, rather than use meat that has to be drained.

I set up a big bowl to grind into, and a medium bowl with all of the meat cut into strips. See that fat I left on it? That's fine. Alot of the fat will get caught on the blade, plus, that amount of fat is tiny compared to what you buy at the store with a super lean sticker on it. Plus guess what this meat will not have in it.... ANYTHING else they toss in! This meat will have no hard little bits of stuff in it. Biting into a piece of cow hip ruins my dinner every time! And also just a fun tidbit for you, due to the mad cow issue the FDA made a rule that no cow brains or spinal cords are allowed in beef that is over 30 months when butchered. Scary that if a cow were younger it could have those things in it?? ACK! No thanks (here is a link to the FDA)

I highly recommend you rig a piece of cling wrap over the spout. This is juicy meat, and it will spit all over, this completely solves this problem and makes clean up a breeze.

Now you have a big ol bowl of ground beef! You can if want, put it through a second time. I don't. And just in case you are using the same grinder, I use the larger holed disc. Hang on a second, set this over to the side for 30 seconds.

This is a great tip I read on a review of my Kitchen Aid grinder. Keep a little baggie of bread heels in the freezer, and when you grind your meat your going to use the bread as a way to clean out the leftover meat in the grinder.

Grab your empty medium bowl and push the bread through. It cleans out most of the meat from in the worm. After you package your meat you should really clean the grinder super well. In the hottest water you can stand. I have to admit, it only took me about 10 minutes to grind and package up these 5 lbs of beef, but I spent 20 minutes washing the parts, and wiping the mixer and counters.

This is what I got from my 4 packages of top round. I made one of my packages bigger for a meatloaf(and I marked it so I wouldn't loose it). Then they all went into the freezer. This is a months worth for us.

Also FYI I have used the grinder to make ground chicken, using boneless skinless breasts when they are on sale. It comes out soupier, but once you brown it up its a nice texture for replacing beef in your pasta sauces, tacos, and casseroles. So give that a try too. Have fun! Enjoy keeping more of your money, and that super lean beef!

Decking the halls

We decided to put the tree up this year, even though we are packing up right after Christmas.

Nate had a riot putting the bulbs on the tree!

All Finished!

Nate's 2010 ornament

Moment of the Week

Oh how great it is to be tall enough to help one's self

Thanksgiving

We are very thankful! We are very very blessed. Today was a wonderful day. Nathan had a great time. He enjoyed the parade and watching lots of football.

and olives

in a dish on the coffee table... easy to snack on

and mostly Nate loved the pie. I don't know when the last time he had pie was, but when I asked him if he wanted a slice of pie he started jumping and shouting "PIE! PIE! PIE!" and later when our dinner guests had left he turned to me and asked "me more pie momma?" over and over and over again. He loved the pie! Daddy did a great job on the pie I agree!

It was a very Happy Thanksgiving! Hopefully yours was too!

Camping

I was organizing some photos, and found this little video from last June when we spent the weekend at Bottomless Lakes State Park. We are looking forward to using the popup a lot in South Dakota!

Use em up!

Can't very well move the 3 boxes of sparklers left from the 4th.

Kicking the ball around

Moment of the Week

matching video to come...

Packing the china and cars

I was working on packing my china, and Nate started wrapping his cars and adding them to the box. His stuff has to go to South Dakota too you know!!

Moment of the Week

The McMath Men.

P.S. there is a link on the right to the new video I posted last night :)

Nate Turns 2 video

Happy Veterans Day!

Its nice to hear everyone thanking their troops and vets! I am always thankful, to my Airman, and all of the other troops past and present.

We have been caught up in moving stuff.

• Cleaning the outdoor stuff while its still nice out.
• Cruising the listings our realtor has sent us.
• Trying to get little things done now, so we can enjoy Christmas a little more.
• And I've got a start on our new address cards, hopefully that will be a relief when we do get settled. They will already be addressed to family and friends, I'll just fill in our new address and zip them out to everyone.

Did you order your travel guide to South Dakota yet? I'm just saying...

When you move in the winter..

wash your pots really well in the fall...

Can't do it very well at the last minute, you would be in the freezing cold, or washing them in your bathtub... both BAD.

FYI: if your movers show up and your crap is dirty, they can refuse to pack it!!

You get charged for a failed attempt to pack. BAD

Moment of the Week

We are posting a blast from the past this week. 2 years ago

This week has been busy with home buying activities. We went to a first time home buyers briefing, called our bank for our preapproval, spoke to a realtor in the Black Hills, spent hours looking at the first list of houses she sent us....(the homes so far are looking very promising.)

So we didn't snap any photos of Nathan.

But I will share something cute.

In the mornings or after nap, I open the gate to his room, and knock on the door... Nathan opens the door, throws his arms open wide for a hug, and exclaims,"Hey Bubba, Its nice to see you!" Or "Hey bubba, I missed you!"

It is the sweetest thing.