Christmas through pictures

Christmas Update

Christmas #1: Boyer Family of Four
we exchanged presents on Friday the 23rd and oh what fun did we have :) The boys were tickled pink with their presents. Afterwards we went over for an impromptu cookie decorating with the Bartlett family followed by BC Pizza out and off to see White's Winter Wonderland. If you have never been, it is a neat spot to see! The fella decorates his entire house/yard with lights and decorations and then times it to Christmas Music, which you get on your radio dial :) Afterwards, all five children came to play at our house :) Loud, Laughter and fun!

Christmas #2: Janik Family Christmas at OUR house
my parents, john. lynda and the dog gunnar came to stay at our house! we had a mexican fiesta (MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM) along with a few of the "traditional" janik family foods (olives, red apple rings, cottage cheese). we relaxed, we played wii, we opened presents, we relaxed some more! it was stress free and enjoyable :) we made it to mass at the country mission church st.margaret's with 13 minutes to spare!!! we also went and watched the same light show that we took the boys too--my mom and sister really enjoyed it! we wrote letters to santa, got out the cookies we made earlier and all headed to bed :)

Christmas #3: Christmas Morning Santa Came!
it was so fun to have my parents and sister/hubby here for Christmas morning--they have not watched the boys open Santa presents in the past and there is something magical about the joy in a child on this special morning. we had a big breakfast and enjoyed the time together (plus watched Kung Fu Panda)

Christmas #4: Boyer Family Celebration at the Farm
we headed over Christmas afternoon to Josh's parents' house for our last celebration. it was wonderful to spend time with his sister, her hubby and their adorable little guy owen :) he is at such a fun age of 11 months--trying to get into everything, moving super fast and giving lots of smiles! we ate an amazing meal, opened presents, played, relaxed, watched movies, ate some more, played some more, relaxed some more.

all in all we are blessed! we had such an amazing and relaxing Christmas. we could not ask for a better family--afterall that is what counts, not the presents but the people who love us :)

hope your holiday was bright and cheery!


PS pictures to come!

SKATES

many of you know that i was practically born on roller skates.... my first pair were a set of those white "hard bottomed" leather baby shoes that my uncle roger put a set of trucks with wheels on the bottom. i was "allowed" to cruise around in my walker with my skates on. yes folks, my parents owned a roller rink until i was 13 (almost 14) years old and it was a huge part of my life..... another saga for another day.

here is a youtube link of my boys today--they got skates from grandma tractor and this is the first day they have ever tried to skate! great progress for one day boys! you have janik blood in you :)

AMAZING

i have an amazing hubby! tonight he took  me on what might be considered the most perfect date to celebrate my masters degree and christmas....... and for preservation's sake, i am going to blog in detail :)

dress: 
i wore my black/white patterned dress with red cuffs/bottom hem. josh looked dapper in a dress shirt and dress khakis :)


dinner:

we had reservations at red's on the river in rockford. this was the third celebratory dinner for my master's degree {yes i said third...}

appetizer: beef carpacio--our first time experiencing this yummy-ness! it is a raw piece of beef pounded thin...super thin! served with some super yummy stuff like green marinaded peppercorns (?), some sort of red pepper aeoli, etc. mmmmmm  and served with little heavenly costini bites!

wine: a st.charle's pieceporter and some sort of red for josh (block 9?)

bread: yummy

dinner: josh had scallops with a mushroom risotto and i had a seared new york stip with asparagus and mashed potatoes. i ordered lump crab and bernaise on the side. mmmm we shared even steven :)

coffee: french press amazingness

dessert: a chocolate mousse "cake".....and our server had them put congratulations on the plate in hardened chocolate :) thoughtful!!

show!
cirque de noel de la symponie! grand rapids symphony orchestra played and performers from cirque de soleil performed! it was beyond amazing. absolutely entrancing to hear the christmas music and watch these men and women perform feats beyond what the human body should be able to do. having my honey by my side made it even more amazing.

kids!
safe in the loving care of grandma and grandpa tractor enjoying a date of their own to see arthur christmas and a dinner out. add in a few games of sorry, some snuggles and there were two very happy little guys.



what a lucky mama i am to be able to have a night out and know our children are safe and loved with grandparents. 

tonight was an amazing night! 

everything's better with bacon......

MMMMMM good!
one of my favorite candy bars of ALL times.....which happens to cost two arms and one leg, is a dark chocolate bacon with sea salt. so when i heard from a friend a recipe for a bacon chocolate bark, i jumped at the chance to try it!!!

i took her recipe and tweaked it to fit me :)

NEED:
2 bags ghiradeli milk choc chips
2 bars ghiradeli dark choc bars
1 package cooked bacon (cut into small bits with scissors before cooking)--drained and cooled
1 bag kraft caramels (unwrapped) and missing a few that your spouse ate
splash of half and half
coarse sea salt
parchment paper


DO:
over a double boiler (fancy way of saying a pot of water with a metal bowl on top) melt the two chocolates together--stirring OFTEN!

pour onto parchment paper lined baking sheet. smooth out. sprinkle with bacon. place in freezer.

melt caramels with the splash of the half and half--in the microwave--stirring every 30 seconds until melted

take the bark out of the freezer. drizzle with caramel. sprinkle with sea salt and then place back in the freezer.

break up it into chunks when nice and hard! ENJOY!

off to see the wizard!

one of my favorite Christmas traditions started five years ago--an outing with my sis in law and mother in law. it all started when mom b took us to chicago and surprised us with a beautiful dinner out and out to see THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!!! it was amazing! since then we take turns taking each other out for a surprise show :)

we have see: south pacific, point of grace, white christmas, the nutcracker, the phantom of the opera and as of last night: the wizard of oz!

oh what fun we have :) next year is my turn.... not sure what it will be yet :) stay tuned!

gno

oh girls nights out are so wonderful, fun and needed!

last night my sister and i gathered some of our friends together--the two sets have never met and it turned out to be a blast! :) we had a dinner/appetizer/drink night at republic :) the drinks were wonderful, the sushi was fantastic and the laughter was heavenly!

here's to another night soon and inviting more friends :)

running fool(s)

thank you cortizone shot for allowing me to run again! hopefully this works for more than a day...it felt so good to run today.

maxie has now gone with me three times and LOVES LOVES LOVE running! she is a running fool! i love that the "women" in the boyer family are the runners :)

woo hoo for maxie and i for being running fools together

through the eyes of jack

jack is our little photographer. i love to see what he sees. enjoy!

victor

have i introduced you yet to our elf victor? he joined our family thanksgiving weekend and ever since then he has been providing santa with updates on our family. we have found him in the morning in all sorts of locations....hanging from the light in the kitchen, using the mixer as a jungle gym, peeking out from behind a plant, snuggling with baby Jesus in the nativity set....and tomorrow he will have brought back snowflakes from the north pole..... with darth vader and storm trooper heads cut into them. no their super awesome daddy did not make them, victor brought them back.

oh and victor wrote a note of apology when he broke the leg off of one of the very special sheep from the nativity set..............................

a fancy dinner!

my college bestie :)

vickie and gordon were in our neck of the woods over thanksgiving weekend so we met up :) jack and luke were tickled pink that we were going for a "fancy dinner" at the flat river grille--they were SUPER well behaved and we had such a nice visit! 

dang nabbit, would have been perfect if i had not looked down. me, my boys, vick's sis in law, vickie, carter and a baby in vick's tummy :)