Bowling with the Hansen's

So cute!

Sunset Margaritas

Julie and Dave took us to a great Mexican place yesterday and man oh man were the margaritas good!  After finishing just ONE, we were feeling pretty good!

Playing with the Kids

Joe loooooves his little nephew, Ethan, and now so do I!  Such a cutie!

Red Robin

Grace and Ethan being Silly!

All Tuckered Out!

On our way to NY from IN, Joe took this adorable photo (with his new camera he got for Christmas, I might add!) of Gordon sleeping on my lap.  He is the cutest! Gotta love his little Green Bay jersey :)

A Battles Christmas

After a McKenna Christmas in the afternoon, Joe and I drove to Merrillville to see some of his family.

Joe has a big family, so it's tough  for everyone to get together, but a lot of them were there.  Joe's sister Sarah and her husband Jon came from Chicago, his sister Andrea came up from OH with her adorable daughter Kylar, and Joe's mom and dad drove all the way up from FL!  It was nice to see everyone!

Sarah and Kylar

Kylar and me

McKenna Christmas

The day after Christmas we headed over to my cousin's house, which is literally across the street from my parent's neighborhood, and had mimosas and brunch... yum yum!

Joe got to meet my cousins Laura and Keith and their kids, Sam and Max.  Lots more McKenna's were supposed to come, but all the roads from Illnois to Indiana were closed because of the terrible ice- bummer!

It was good to see you guys!

Our First Christmas Photo

Our first Christmas photo! :)

Joe put on his Class A's and it was lovely.

This is Me... Baking!

This won't happen very often, but I actually baked cookies AND muffins today!

I made Katie's Banana Muffins with Honey Cinnamon Frosting and Kate's Chocolate Cookies, and they were both extremely tasty. But I didn't get to have too many because these weren't for me, I made them for Joe and the other troops at Ft. Detrick. They were soooo good, though.

Thanks for the amazing recipes, girls!

Katie's Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 c. mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas)
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
-In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
-Make a well in center of flour mixture.
-In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla.
-Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not over mix).
-Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.
-Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
-Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.
-Spread tops with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting.

Honey Cinnamon Frosting

Ingredients
1 1/4 c. confectioners' sugar
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp honey
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions
-In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat confectioners' sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes

Kate's Soft and Crispy Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar, plus more for dipping
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
-In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
-In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar until fluffy, then add the eggs and vanilla.
-Turn the mixer on low speed and gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.
-Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge at least one hour, but preferably overnight.
-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
-Pinch off a small piece of the dough and roll into a 1 inch ball. Dip the top of the ball in granulated sugar. Place on baking sheet. Leave 1 1/2 inches between cookies, they will spread out a lot.
-Bake cookies 8-12 minutes, or until spread out and slightly puffed in the center. (The cookies will "fall" after baking, which gives them the appearance pictured).
-Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

When I got home from Mexico, Joe had a tree set up for me in the living room! So sweet!

I was super excited to get started decorating our new place. The tree took awhile (but thanks mom for a TON of awesome ornaments!) but I love it! We also put a decal above the fireplace, which I think turned out great. To top it all off, we have our stockings plus three stocking for the little furry part of our family- yay! Oh, and we also have a celtic nativity scene (to the left on the table there) which is really nice.

I am so excited for the holidays!

Christmas Cards!

We finally finished our Christmas cards!  I had to go out and buy more because we ran out!

[iPhone photo]

Happy Birthday, Kate!

Happy Birthday, Kate!

Tonight we ate at the fancy pants "Eat Bar" in Arlington to celebrate Kate's birthday with some of her friends.

The food was soooo good, and the company was good, too ;-)

Joe's dinner

My dinner- pumpkin ravioli!

Joe and the Furry Family

When Joe gets home from work, I love just lounging for a bit before we start dinner.  There's always some sort of furry creature on his lap.  I love it!  

Flying Dog Brewery

Joe & I, along with Kate & Nic, headed up to Flying Dog Brewery to check it out.  The locals were less than friendly, but it was still fun!

Welcome, Gordon!

Welcome to our family, Gordon!

We adopted a lovely little puppy yesterday- little Gordon!

Gordon weighs a whole 6 pounds and is a mini dauschund.  We love him already! :)

Road Trip Back to Maryland

We're finally on our way to Maryland!

Joe and I stopped at South of the Border... a curiosity that both Joe and I have wondered about for years every time we've passed it.  We can honestly say it's gross and silly and not worth the stop, but hey, it was fun!

Crime & Punishment Museum

Joe and I explored the newest Museum in DC today, the Crime & Punishment Museum.  It was OK, nothing to get to0 excited about, but it was pretty fun.

Hello From Florida

Hello from Sunny Florida!

Joe and I are down here to get his car and drive it back up to Maryland for his new post in Frederick, and we decided to stay for a few days to visit his mom and dad.

We checked out St. Augustine yesterday and it's the cutest little town!

Birthday Flowers

Look what I got today! :)

Too bad Joe is in Georgia for my birthday, but I'll see him soon!  Thanks, Joe! 

MWAH!

Long Distance Dating...

Dating someone in the armed forces is hard enough, but doing it long distance is even more difficult. We're on totally different schedules, work way different hours, and it's just plain frustrating sometimes!

Luckily Yahoo Messenger has been great for us- we can at least see each other and chat for a few minutes a day. This is what my screen looks like every night around 6pm- editing a wedding on the right, chatting with Joe on the left!

Labor Day in Chicago

Joe and I had a great time in Chicago over the long weekend for Labor Day.  It was so nice to see him!  :)  It was also great to meet one of Joe's sisters, Sarah, and her fiance, Jon.  

The only bad part of the weekend was the fact that Joe last his wallet at the airport.  It sucked, but because he's in the Army, they let him get on the plane, despite not having ID- whew!

Trip to Augusta, Georgia

I finally drove down to see Joe in Augusta.  It was a long stinkin' drive, but a beautiful one down 95.  We had a lot of fun and I really liked meeting all his new buddies from AIT.