Last Post of the Year

I didn't post as much as I wanted to this year but oh well. Our Christmas was really nice. We spend  Christmas Eve with Hector's side of the family so there were lots of people and children. Of course, we say we should get together more often and end up seeing each other this one day out of the year. I will make more of an effort to have a gathering and spend more time with them!

Christmas day was exhausting yet fun. Hector and I were up until 3 am doing Santa's work then the kids were up early at 7am to check out their presents. I decided to make a rotisserie turkey in my Ronco Showtime and the turkey comes out great. I can fit a 12 lb bird in there and all I do is rub kosher salt all over it, inside and out. The bird is salted through and the skin is golden and crispy. Yum.

My mom came over to celebrate with us along with Carlos and we had a great time. I'm slow in discovering my inner chef and over the last 10 years I have been getting more and more comfortable in the kitchen. This was my first year making a pumpkin pie. Shocking, I know! Marie Callendar made the pie crust and I did the rest but it got some enthhusiastic thumbs up from my pumpkin pie lover Tyler.

December 26 I decided to make dumplings (potstickers) which is simple enough but tedious in the chopping of everything then stuffing the filling into the wrappers but it ends with the sweet satisfaction of having dozens of potstickers frozen ready to be cooked when I feel like having some. My cousins Hannah and Matt came over to help out and have some tamales.  We don't discriminate with our food, no siree!

December 27 is Joshua's birthday and he is now a proud 7 year old. It's a kind of hard to celebrate properly and we will do a official party soon. Josh is super easy going so he knows the time will come.

On the 28th we had an opportunity to have a family skate day with Bailey the mascot of the Los Angeles Kings. At first I thought we could skate at Staples center but no the event was held at LA Live on a tiny rink which was fine. The kids had never ice skated before and I skated once before. I was a bit nervous since I had 2 kids to deal with and Tyler's recent broken wrist in the back of my mind. Once Josh was on the ice he was off like a shot but didn't know how to stop. He stops like he's on roller blades. :)

Tyler is not as athletically inclined as Josh but he gave it a good try. I did try to help him skate and he ended taking me down with him. Uff. He did manage to go around the rink a few times, took a big spill and that was the end of that. Hector does want Tyler to learn so we'll leave that to him. Bailey did stop to take a picture with Tyler before the big spill so he's all smiles.

Joshua definitely took to the ice...he knows how to inline skate and loves it so this was a fairly easy transition. Now that he likes ice skating I asked Joshua about how he feels about learning ice hockey and got a big YES! I saw him fall a few times and get right back up so he has that determined attitude. We will get through basketball season first and then try hockey.

We actually have NYE plans this year. My cousin Hannah will be having a Brazillian bbq tonight so we will chow down on some great food. The kids are looking forward to staying up until midnight and sociallizing.
Have a Happy New Year and be safe tonight if you're going out....

See ya next year!!