Pineapple Popsicles

For Christmas, Axton got me this:


It's a Zoku popsicle maker. And I simply love seeing the reactions on people's faces when I tell them that he got me a 'popsicle maker' for Christmas because the first thing that comes to mind for them is some little children's deal where you pour in your orange juice or kool-aid and let them freeze over night. But nope! Not this one!

This popsicle maker is one that freezes popsicles in about 1o minutes, and there are some pretty fancy popsicle recipes from strawberry banana to cookies-n-creme ice cream to cheesecake. You can also add fresh fruits, make layers and swirls, and a different flavored center. And all of the pops are made from scratch! The possibilities are endless, it only depends on your creativity!

We decided to try it out for our New Year's party, so here is the first batch of pops: PINEAPPLE! :)

A Nerf-Fighting, Paso Doble-Dancing, Ham-Passing, Three Christmas Day

Christmas Day started off early (well, it seemed almost TOO early after a super late night before!) with our first of three Christmases that day in Ankeny. Lillyonna was more than excited to try on all her new clothes by immediately stripping down to try on her new Minnie Mouse pajamas and then her pretty Christmas dress! Cael was anxious to open his ginormous box to find a Nerf gun set, which quickly got put to use and there were Nerf bullets flying EVERYWHERE! We also enjoyed a tasty breakfast of pancakes and bacon before getting ready to head out to our next destination :)


Christmas number two was on the south side of Des Moines where Lilly found her Rockin Elmo from Santa and Kara found her electric drumsticks! So once all the presents were open and lunch was being prepared, all the new toys were put to use right away. Lilly spent the rest of the morning jamming out with Elmo and dancing the Paso Doble with anyone who would dance with her, and Kara was drumming on anything she could find :)


Our third and final destination was Grandma Krueger's house that afternoon. Dinner was almost ready, but everyone needed to sample the ham before we got started. Lilly thought this was a fun game, so she insisted a piece of ham be passed through the divider at least ten times :) We filled our tummies with more delicious food (not that we weren't already STUFFED from eating only a few hours prior!) After the gifts were open, we spent the remainder of the evening enjoying each others company as a family, and of course only picking on each other a few times :)

A Very Meinders Christmas

This year for our annual Meinders Christmas gathering we all met at Uncle Joel and Aunt Karen's house in Prairie City for the second year in a row. The late morning was filled with delicious 'brunch' food items and a crazy 'pass the present' game to the story of Jesus birth many years ago. But most importantly it was a time to get together as a family and enjoy each others company and catch up where we had left off the last time we had been together. Oh, and there was rock/tennis ball/football shooting to be done as well :)


Then we were off to the farm for yet another annual Meinders Christmas! The weather was absolutely beautiful with a temperature around 50, so the only thing the puppies wanted to do was run around outside all afternoon! After all the 'kids' arrived (minus Courtney and her husband Justin) we sat down to devour our Christmas meal of turkey, little smokies, 7-layer lettuce, corn & potatoes. After dinner was cleaned up we got the skype date with the Besteman's going and began the present-opening extravaganza together. It was a day filled with great memories and some amazing family :)

Christmas Painting

It has been forever ago that I was painting as many things as I was, but unfortunately our apartment only has so much wall space, so that has definitely been put on 'hold' for the time being. BUT thankfully my mother-in-law had requested me to paint her something for their apartment, and I decided it would make a great Christmas gift for her! She wanted something 'Zebra' with some kind of "lime green accent." So this is what I came up with! :)

A Minute-to-Win-It Christmas

The Christmas season as officially started, and we kicked off this season with a Christmas gathering with Grandpa Chuck, Grandma Linda, Mike, Dawn & Scotty. And of course, there had to be some kind of unusual twist! After our DELICIOUS Christmas dinner we started out with some trivia about Thanksgiving (since we didn't get together for that) and Christmas. Who ever got the most questions correct got to pick their choice of a 2-liter of soda and a candy bar. From there we moved on to a game where we had to try to bounce a ping-pong ball into a cup. Who ever got the most in out of the 3 rounds got a big bucket of popcorn with a $10 Wal-mart gift card attached to it. The next game was with spagetti and pop cans. You had a partner and had to use your mouth and the spaghetti stick to transfer the pop cans to the other end of the counter and stack them like a pyramid. If they fell or your spaghetti stick broke, you had to start over. Who ever finished this the quickest (averaging their 2 rounds) got a prize of a basket filled with goodies like cheese, summer sausage, crackers, jelly & candy bars. BUT if you didn't want the basket, you could trade it for a $20 bill (which my little brother did!) The last game used empty pop cans and plastic plates. You had to stack them as fast as you could starting with 1 can on the bottom, then a plate, then 2 cans, a plate, 3 cans, a plate, and then 4 cans. It had to stand for 3 seconds to count. AJ won this game and got a $25 Casey's gas card! After the crazy games, we opened our gifts and enjoyed some dessert before heading back home. Here are some photos of the madness! :)

You'll Be Missed

Well, that day finally came. I honestly thought I would end up killing him while AJ was deployed, but he managed to stay part of our little family for nearly 2 years! But it was his time to go, and we'll miss him. It was fun to watch him grow, listen to him chirp and sing (rather loudly sometimes!!), watch him transform from a blob on the window during the day to a frog at night, and watching him hunt his crickets. Alfie, you will be missed! You were pretty much the coolest frog around :)

Potato Salad

WELL, now that it's been basically forever since I've posted about a new recipe I've tried, I figured I should get back on track! I have 4-5 new recipes I'm going to try out this week, so hopefully it will be positive and delicious!

To the potato salad. I've made potato salad before, but it was literally me throwing together what I believe belonged in a potato salad and just completely made it up. But it always seemed like a little something was always missing no matter how many times I changed things up. So, in deciding that perhaps my cooking skills aren't as creative as I would like, I was on the hunt for a recipe to try! Prior to picking this recipe I looked through all the ingredients to be sure it was something we would even like, obviously! I used THIS recipe.

And now for the results: the chopped goods, the mixed sauce, and the final product!


Final verdict: successfully delicious :)

Vikings-Raiders

Axton was selected to represent his deployment Unit at the Vikings-Raiders game on November 20th. He had to report to Camp Dodge by 0415 to get on a bus and ride up to Minnesota, so it was a pretty early morning which made for a VERY long day! He returned home around 9pm that night completely exhausted.

Of course, I watched the game on tv to look for him. And after a lot of squinting at the what seemed like microscopic soldiers across the field desperately trying to find him and even texting him asking where exactly he was sitting we were about to give up on seeing him clearly. He and the other soldiers marched out onto the field during halftime where they were recognized, but of course halftime isn't televised! I was beginning to think I was watching this game for no reason! :) But with 51 seconds left in the 3rd quarter of the game the camera zoomed in and panned across the soldiers and suddenly there he was! It was pretty neat, and his uncle was able to record it so that he could watch it once he returned as well :)

Here are some photos from the game: