By the Hammer of Thor!

I will contest that there is nary a taste bud anywhere, on the planet, that is popping with more happiness than mine is right now! My hubby today took our aged family recipe for stuffing to new heights! I mean, this stuffing is so good I wanna take it out behind the high school and get it pregnant! (I will give mad respect to whoever gets that genius reference!) And the turkey! Don't get me started! Usually, we throw the bird into a Reynolds roasting bag and let nature take its course. This morning, however, we realized that we (I) had neglected to buy said bags. IKEA dutch oven to the rescue! We roasted that bird for 2 hours, all the while sucking up the drippings with a poultry syringe and re-injecting said goodness into the breasts. Did I mentioned we shoved a beautiful poultry arrangement of fresh herbs under his skin? O-M-G! Seriously! After 2 hours we tented it for another hour and half and let him alone. Then, Jeremy sliced that bird open like a TonTon and we feated like it was Festivus! (Too many pop culture references?) Picture the most succulent, flavorful, RIDICULOUS bird you have E-V-E-R tasted. THIS was our bird. Mixed with the aforementioned RIDONKULOUS stuffing and the combination was pure O pleasure for food ho's and casual foodies alike! All I gots to say is: secret family recipe! You can look....you can drool.....but you will NEVER know!

Christmas Morning....so far

Christmas Morning thus far has been surprisingly peaceful and low key. We got up at 5:45 to try to beat the kids, but as soon as we walked out, Logan and Phoenix came strolling out. Moise came out 1/2 hour later and we finally had to wake up Cai shortly after that. Each boy had 1 unwrapped present under the tree and were allowed to play with those as well as whatever was in their stockings while Jeremy made breakfast. During breakfast, Jeremy read the Christmas story and then it was present time! Each boy opened one present at a time so mommy could get good pics. Fab idea as it created this calm instead of feeding frenzy! Now, everyone is playing happily and the turkey is about ready to come out. We'll post more pics at the end of the day. Merry Christmas EVERYONE!

Christmas in the Square

Our church held Christmas Eve service in the historic downtown square of Ocala. It is beautiful and every year it gets decorated with millions of lights and the horse-drawn carriages come out to play! It would have made for a picture-perfect Christmas Eve had it not been 82 degrees! In any event, the boys were excited to get to hold candles and sing, but were super disappointed that the whole thing was only 30 minutes. Bummer, indeed. Then we went to KFC for some holiday grub, only to wait 25 minutes in line before being told that when we placed out order they had already run out of food and it would be an additional 30 minutes before any magically appeared! Bah-humbug! (I had other choice words, but we'll stick with Bah-Humbug!) Then we went to Steak and Shake which had already closed for the evening and were forced to seek food in other, less desirable locations. But, I digress. The kids are in bed, sound asleep, and the presents are being placed under the tree presently! I have to go help Mr. Claus now .... maybe there'll be milk and cookies in it for me!

Merry Christmas!

Macro Flowers

Lovin my new Nikon D40 and the beauty of the small things....Please to enjoy the flora and fauna of my mom's backyard.

Our Christmas Weekend...

Let the fun begin!

Geeky Goodness!

Rarely do I share glimpses into the true geek that I am, but I couldn't resist. The trailer for the new Wolverine movie was just released and I felt the need to share. Yeah, I'm a geek! So here it is, X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE HD

Downtown Disney!!

The benefit of living where we live is that Disney and all is glittery, shiny, ooey-gooey goodness is a mere 45 minutes away! This was a weekend a relatively money-less fun, which is ALWAYS a good thing! The weekend started off with the baking of some super yummy peanut butter cookies! The big boys helped with he rolling and the forking (hehe!) and of course, with the taste-testing! Then on Saturday it was off to Orlando for some fun. You have to realize, my kids idea of a grand time is an hour in Smaland at IKEA. And since IKEA is mommy's happy place, we were happy to oblige! I have already bored you with my long-winded ramblings of my love of all things IKEA, so I will spare you this time! After IKEA, we headed to Downtown Disney. By the time we got there, it was already dark, which was really our plan all along! The whole area/marketplace is done up in the beauty and excitement and the gaiety of the holiday season! Lights, street performers, Christmas music, special yumminess to sample and of course, a train ride! The kids LOVED watching the silly husband/wife yoyo team, the jugglers, the Renaissance string trio ad the Toy Soldiers on stilts! All of this goodness would blow any little kids' mind - but for 2 little ones who just came from Haiti - well, there was a glaze and a sparkle in their eyes, a ridiculously large grin and silly dancing any time we stopped for but a moment! Moise's mission was just to get to the train. He's obsessed with trains and to get to ride on one - well, there wa nothing to make him happier! Well, maybe except for the cotton candy and Mickey Mouse lollipops! Oh, and getting to take his picture with his hero, Buzz Lightyear. And, did I mention the "what the heck is that?" discussion he had with Logan upon seeing the life-size Lego Santa Claus? Pretty funny! Even Jeremy had a "happy shiver" moment when he stumbled upon the fully assembled Lego Deathstar in the Lego store! Speaking of Lego store....when putting your child on your shoulders and browsing a store, always, ALWAYS have your spouse check the caboose, lest you end up with a really great photo-op! In case you're wondering about the water- fountain pic - it took him a while to figure out the whole water fountan thing, since it was his first time using one - pretty funny!

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!

Charlie Brown Christmas Revisited from Heather Pihl on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving Pt.2 + Grandparents Weekend

This weekend marked the last of our Thanksgiving celebrations. My parents came up from South Florida and spent the weekend. We also decided to celebrate Mo's birthday. It's not until December 22nd, but we wanted him to have a real birthday experience and not feel either jipped or overwhelmed. So, my parents brought him up his birthday present: a new bike. He was retardedly happy and took off like a rocket! My mom brought up hats and gloves she'd made for the boys and they were in heaven! Their little hands have been SO COLD these past few weeks! We also went and got a Christmas tree and spent the day decorating it. What fun for the boys! Their first Christmas! I wanted to get pics of Mo picking out his first ever Christmas tree, but I had taken my mom's cam since it fit in my purse and failed to realize that my SDHC card wouldn't work in an regular digital SD camera. Grrrr! So, no pics. Anyway, plenty of pics of the decorating and such...so enjoy!!