Happy Birthday Bill!

Bill has now joined me as a 25 yr. old! Now I don't feel like such a cougar! Just kidding!

He started out the morning with what was supposed to be breakfast in bed, but with Sawyer and Phoebi, who both wanted to be heavily involved in the festivities, it ended up being breakfast in the office :) Bill's parents had come over before work to drop off a gift and write 'Happy Birthday" in the snow that was covering Bill's car. So we sat while he opened up gift cards from my mom and my aunts, shoes from me, Sawyer and Phoebi and enjoyed his first couple hours of being a quarter of a century old!

We went out with Bill's parents to Kobe's Steak House to celebrate his Birthday and him passing his first Actuarial Exam! For those of you who haven't been yet, you should go! So much fun! You sit while these talented chefs cook your food right at the table all the while doing insane tricks~it's really entertaining!

You occasionally have near death experiences there like almost being lit on fire when then light the oil (table behind us having their eyebrows singed off). It's really exciting :)

One of the other fun things that they do is toss freshly cooked shrimp for you to catch in your mouth! Now the last time we went there, the guy threw me like 5 and I didn't catch any....but not this time! I caught two right in a row! Go me! The last time Sawyer went, he was still pretty little and for some reason the guy thought that he would be able to catch one, so he threw it at him and Sawyer just ended up with a hot shrimp stuck to his neck....so when the guy started tossing this time, Sawyer hid under the table!!! It was so funny....

They cook everything to order, so we had a mix of chicken, file mignon and lobster and it was D-Lish!!!!!

Drizzly Day With The Penguins

The nice thing about having a zoo pass is that you don't have to feel guilty about just popping in for a quick visit to your favorite exhibits. So, on a drizzly afternoon in December, we met my good friend Gina and her two kids Caiden and Kayla at the zoo! Even though Sawyer looks less than enthused in the picture, he always LOVES hanging out with them :)

One of our favorite stops is the penguins at the aquarium...they are just so funny! Waddling around and all of a sudden diving into the water with perfect form....just awesome! You can also watch them live via webcam on the zoo website! How cool is that?!?

Sawyer was totally glued to watching them...

Pressed faces against the cool glass with eyes wide with curiosity and amazement.

I love the crooked horn...

And of course everyone's favorite: walking through the aquarium tunnel...no matter how many times you do it, it never gets old. It somehow looks different every time...Sawyer ended up going home with Gina and the kids play for the evening and Bill and I headed down to the Mid Town Crossing Cinedine Theater to celebrate Ron's Birthday!

We stopped to have a drink before the movie and I kept wanting to take pictures of our drinks, but the entire counter lit up in different colors and were constantly changing...so it was very tricky to time it right....

Anyway, we had great dinner while lounging in the comfy chairs.....I hated the movie though. We saw "Tron"...boring.

Chef Ron

We always make it a point to have Bill's sister, Dani's boy friend Ron (wow that's a mouth full!) cook for us while they are here. Why you might ask? It's because he makes scandalously gorgeous, mouth watering, to-die-for food. No recipes, just the pallet of a well trained culinary artist.

The chef hard at work.

The end result was just as good as we had hoped.....it was SO good!

I'm not even quite sure what he called it, but it was amazing chicken with mushrooms, pearl onions and bacon in a white wine sauce....garlic spinach and thick slices of crusty bread.....D-Lish!

I Know, I Know...

That it's been FOREVER since I wrote a blog entry.....I took a little break around Christmas time and as I started having blog friendly moments backing up like a twenty five car pile up, it was hard to get back into it. But, I decided enough is enough and we're just going to cram everything in and move on! So buckle up folks, the whirlwind tour of the Rollins in December and January is about to begin!

Christmas Eve was spent with Bill's Mom's side of the family~they are all hilarious, colorful and definites for having a great time! Bill's sister Dani and her boyfriend Ron made it in from New York that evening and as always, it was awesome to see them* Kathy put together a gorgeous baked potato bar that included beef stroganoff, homemade chili and tons of different veggie toppings....guys it was D-Lish!!!!

We had to get home quick for Santa to have enough time to come and do his imaginary thing at our house :) When Mrs. Clause had come the previous week for a visit, she had told the kids to leave something healthy for Santa because he had been packing on the pounds and not hitting the gym....so this is what Sawyer picked out for him: a candy cane, organic chocolate milk, organic sqweezy applesauce and a gingerbread man (you have to give him a little treat!)

We have never told Sawyer that Santa is real but it's been fun to just do a couple of things here and there to get into the spirit of it. After each time that we did something Santa-related, Sawyer would always come up and say, "But Santa is just pretend right mom?" :)

We woke up the next morning and opened up gifts and stockings here at our house before heading over to Bill's parents for the morning.

I was in charge of breakfast Christmas morning, so I tried out a new breakfast casserole (egg, three cheeses, bacon, black forest ham, spicy sausage and hash browns) A true Dieter's Delight!

We had cinnamon rolls and a fruit salad and toasted the Christmas morning with Mamosas!

What a beautiful tree!

and the gift opening begins....

Fun stuff was opened by all: zuzu pets, car stereos, serving dishes, candles, half of the Anthropologie store, scuba diving gift certificates, stemless wine glasses, clothing, books, jewelry and Pottery Barn treasures!

We spent the afternoon over at Uncle Mike and Aunt Eva's with Bill's Dad's side of the family, playing taboo and air hockey, shoveling in the or'devours and playing darts.

Sawyer's favorite thing about Uncle Mike and Aunt Eva's house are these stackable slides that you can put together and send a marble zig-zagging down!

As if we all hadn't gluttenized enough already, we indulged more in a fabulous soup buffet, fresh rolls and about twenty six bottles of moscato wine......it was a great evening :)

Having family come from around the country to celebrate the birth of God's most precious gift was so special! There's nothing better than spending a snowy winter day surrounded by people you love*

Bhut Jalokia Peppers

For those of you who have been asking me for the video of Bill and his friend Evo eating the Bhut Jalokia peppers, here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pehwkYLJVs4

Bill and some friends ordered peppers from India a few weeks ago and tried them out.....

For those of you who have never heard of it:

Bhut Jolokia also known as Naga Jolokia, Ghost Pepper, or Ghost Chili Pepper, is the hottest chile pepper in the world.


- entered the Guiness Book of Records in 2007


- is over 1,000,000 Scoville units


- originated in the northeastern region of India in Assam.


- the previous hottest chile pepper was the Red Savina Habanero pepper with a Scoville rating of 350,000 - 800,000.


- the Ghost Chili or Bhut Jolokia is 2 - 3 times as hot as a Habanero pepper. In comparison, a jalapeno pepper is between 2,500 - 8,000 Scoville units and an orange Habanero is around 150,000 - 350,000 Scoville units.