2011 in Review from Cracker and Cheese on Vimeo.

Since we are already a month into 2012, it’s time for us to review what happened in 2011! Totally makes sense, doesn’t it?

Thanksgiving weekend, the start of the holiday season. I kick it off with the girls’ pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving and I love it. It’s a great way for all of us to gear up for a month of gluttony. It was different this year, we had it in a new house and we did have a guy attend (but he is the exception, he is too young to play poker). Then on Thanksgiving, it was the Ameristar Thanksgiving buffet. Excellent dinner and not too bad with the lines for turkey. That evening, we then went to another Thanksgiving to pick up Ben, who apparently was wiped from all the tryptophan:

Rough life, isn’t it, kid? To be snuggled with and loved on all night.

Saturday night was round two of the turkey-eatin’, Ben-lovin’ extravaganza. There was more food and more baby-holding. We even got to meet the newest addition to the Menkhus clan:

December took off like a bat out of hell. It was go, go, go and we never looked back. You would think that having a child would slow us down, nope. Instead, we are even more exhausted, more cranky and more stressed than ever before. Time management was not on our side. We went out to dinner for Bob’s birthday, celebrated another friend’s birthday, went to the Peimanns’ annual Ugly Sweater Party (with a sweater I found that night), had the Sherron Christmas party to attend and made sure Ben had his first photo with Santa:

And here’s the kicker, we hosted Christmas this year with Bob’s side of the family! Talk about one ball of stress for me! Can you imagine? Cleaning a house for a party? It’s a struggle for me to clean even when I didn’t have a baby. But it all worked out. The Sam’s ham was wonderful, everyone brought a dish, it worked out perfectly. And I think we are going to start a new tradition:

So, in a nutshell, time flew by so quickly and now I just need to take some time and sleep for 3 days straight.

One of my fondest memories was playing games with my dad in the evenings after work. Many summer nights, we’d play catch in the backyard, but if the weather didn’t cooperate, we’d often head to the basement and play ping pong. Now, nobody wins in a game of catch. Ping pong, on the other hand is a different story. My dad taught me how to lose graciously for many years. When I finally did beat him it was the best feeling in the world.

Last month, I had the opportunity to pick up a used foosball table from a friend who was about to move. My dad came over and helped me put it together and we played a few games for old times sake. I’m still working on teaching Benjamin good sportsmanship — right now he just cries like a baby when I demolish him 10-0. But more than anything, I’m looking forward to the time when he beats me at my own game.

I just hope it isn’t too soon.

Oh, why, hello, hello, welcome back to Sweetville, USA, the gooey center of Tootsie Pop County! I’m so glad you could come by once again to see our beautiful, snowy-sugared town. Come, take a walk with me and I’ll show you the sights.

In the center of town, you have City Hall, a gathering place for politicians and plebians alike. While the city council argues the placement of this year’s iced Gingerbread Christmas tree or whether the town should pave a caramel yellow brick road, you have the traffic violators paying their fines for parking in front of the candy corn cones or speeding down Peppermint Patty Lane.

Ah, and there is the Royal Order of the Mousse Lodge, an organization dedicated to preserving the history of Sweetville and keeping the town sugar-coated for years to come. The members are very involved in the community, whether it is cleaning the streets of sprinkles, working in a soup kitchen serving Boston Baked Beans or even passing out Altoids for those with a touch of halitosis. The Order is very selective though, not anyone can join. I hear you have to be able make a tasty s’more (and knowing Mike-n-Ike doesn’t hurt either).

This is Sweetville Heights, the newest addition to the city. Fast and furious building started in the beginning of the year, but like everywhere else, Sweetville was not immune to the economic downturn.

Our first foreclosure — how sad. The poor guy didn’t even have a Bit-o-Honey to fix up his Hershey pick-up. Although construction has slowed, the residents of Sweetville Heights are enjoying the amenities that it offers such as a Pop-Rock fireworks display and lazy afternoons by the Swedish Fishing hole.

The Sweetville Heights development also built this quaint church for it’s residents. Here is the church, there is the pretzel steeple, open the iced candied door and look at all the gingerbread people.

And we cannot touch on the economic crisis without visiting what many believe to be the root cause: The Bank of Sweetville. For years, basically any gingerbread man or woman could get loans to build larger and more elaborate houses — using the finest graham crackers and imported icing, of course — regardless of whether or not they could pay back the 100 Grand. What they didn’t realize was that unless their homes were properly lacquered, they would decrease in value exponentially. Of course, The Bank of Sweetville then bundled up these spoiled assets, slapped on a fraudulent Nutrition Facts label, and sold these empty calories to anyone who had the money. As you can see, the result of this skullduggery is the Occupy Sweetville movement. While these Gummi Bears are 99% corn syrup they are hopping mad about being misled. To show their displeasure, they have set up their Fruit Roll-up tents and are basically loitering in front of this tastefully decorated bank.

In addition to the economic woes, Sweetville was also the victim of a cotton candy cyclone. While most buildings escaped harm, some of the less sturdy structures were damaged. This was the worst natural disaster to a candy town since Timmy Thomas realized he was going to lose a game of Candy Land to his little sister and flipped the board in a fit of poor sportsmanship. In a show of support, the citizens came through with extra frosting and Twizzlers to patch the damaged roof of this home. If the marshmallow snowman in the front is any indication, this is going to be a very merry Christmas indeed!

There is the official town Christmas tree, I guess the council has decided to place it here, along Main Street. Many people come to help decorate, it’s tradition. You can’t go wrong with a red Twizzler garland, little candied ornaments and a Peep snowman. On Christmas Eve, families gather around with their hot chocolate, apple cider and other warm, delicious concoctions, sing Christmas carols and frolic beneath the frosting of its branches.

Over yonder is the Mars Bars Inn, a well-known dining establishment, a staple in this town since 1911. If you are looking for comfort food, a cozy atmosphere and good conversations, this is where you will find it. The specialty here is the Skittles Steak, served with a heaping mound of creamy mashed potatoes and perfectly grilled asparagus. If you have room for dessert, you must order the Milky Way Delight. I would tell you what it is, but then it would ruin the experience. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Although there have been some some misfortunes this year, the community hasn’t let it melt their spirits, hence the folks are always welcoming and Sweetville is just simply irresistible. That is all the time that we have today. I hope you enjoyed your visit and please, swing on by anytime. And if you have any friends who would like a tour, you can see the rest of the town here, here, and here.

Congratulations, Katy on winning the baby pool! She had guessed a boy on September 15 at 2:00pm. No one actually got the correct date except for Bob’s cousin, but she had the wrong gender so she received a consolation prize. Katy, enjoy your Magic 8-Ball and $25 gift card for being on “Target.”

And also, for your viewing pleasure, a few outtakes from the photoshoot:

Come for the domino action, stay for the puppy at the end.

Breakfast for dinner, my favorite!

Entree: Stuffed French Toast. Absolutely wonderful! Delicious! Tasty! And easy too! I used strawberry jam and along with cut up strawberries for the “stuffing.” I took another reader’s suggestion and doubled the recipe for the cream cheese mixture and was able to not be stingy on stuffing these bad boys.

Side Dish: Bacon and Cheese Egg Cups. Another delicious and easy recipe to make. And it’s a perfect dish if you are having a brunch at the house. Note, though, eggs to keep cooking so if you want runny yolks, watch the time in the oven and make sure you take it out of the muffin tins immediately.

A perfect Sunday morning breakfast/brunch menu.

Dream #1: Bob wakes up, freaked out. Why? Because apparently we had triplets and they were sleeping in bed with us and he rolled over one of them.

Dream #2: Bob wakes up, freaked out. He’s fumbling around in the sheets frantically. I wake up after only 15 minutes of sleep to him asking me, “Where’s the baby? Where’s the baby?” Apparently, he was holding the baby and lost him in the bed.

Dream #3: After feeding Ben, I go back to bed and tug on the comforter because Bob has it all bunched up. He holds on to the comforter in a tight grip and won’t let go.

Bob: “Stop pulling on the baby!”
Jen: “I’m not pulling on the baby! Wake up!”
Bob: “Stop pulling on the baby!” He tugs harder.
Jen: “Wake up!” I shake him awake.
Bob: He sits up, looks around, confused. “What happened to the baby?”
Jen: “You never had the baby.”
Bob: “What happened to the baby?”
Jen: Annoyed. “Wake up, you never had the baby.”
Bob: “Oh, okay.” He lays back down. 30 seconds later, “Seriously, what happened to the baby?”
Jen: Sigh. I give up and go to sleep.

Besides the dreams, Bob also is very confused and discombobulated whenever you wake him up to tend to Ben. It is pretty hilarious. I’ll wake him up and he’ll ask me such crazy and random things. Or he’ll pop up out of bed and walk away without the baby. Or he’ll just sit up, look at me and then lay back to to go to sleep. After 8 weeks of Ben, he still can’t wake up properly.

I do have to say one thing about all of this, Bob’s antics do add some comic relief to the late night feedings.

We celebrated Ben’s first Halloween by attending the Shi’s Halloween party. He got to party with:

Michael Jackson and his new pet

A Crazy Mad Doctor with his monk in tow

A Reno 911 officer with his lady

A Burglar

And his friend, Max.

Hope you had fun Halloween and got lots of candy, we already ate ours!