The GVZs: A New Year's Celebration

Last monster post, I promise.....

After winding down Christmas, we headed to Austin to ring in the new year. I spent a considerable amount of time preparing for our trip, including at least an hour making and packing a lunch bag full of healthy meals and snacks for the plane ride (normally we fly non-stop, but had Southwest vouchers we had to use and so the journey was going to be longer than normal). Of course, I promptly forgot said lunch bag in the fridge at home, as well as Norah's lovey (bear), blanket she sleeps with, baby monitor, and other miscellaneous necessities. So, for a 6 hour trip, all I had to feed my child was a bag of chemically altered yogurt melts and a squeeze tube of pureed fruit).

Oh, and I forgot her thermos of milk too. Thankfully, when we stopped in LAX even though we didn't change planes, the flight attendant let us off for 10 minutes to scrounge up something to eat.

And it happened. In my defense, I had no choice. It was either this or she might starve. Sigh. I fed my 18 month old an Egg McMuffin. And then I ate a McGriddle (which was disgustingly awesome). She just kind of picked at the bread with cheese and then drank a ton of milk, so I am hoping this means I haven't opened a Pandora's Box after all.

The flight wasn't full (thank goodness) and so Norah could do a bit of wandering between 4 attentive adults.

We got to Austin and it was a cousin reunion love-fest. Trevor and Megan have DS games and Norah isn't interested in them at all.

We had a fun and lively gift exchange (thanks everyone for your generosity and kindness), and Norah got her new favorite thing in the entire world.

All I hear 900 times a day now is 'Baby, Baby, Baby, Baaaaaaaaabeeeeeeeeeeee.'

Trevor got maybe the most awesome present in the history of the universe.

A mo-hawk for Rock Band.

Megan proved herself to be an excellent and innovative baby sitter.

On New Year's Eve we held our annual cooking competition (usually it is on Christmas Eve, but this was the only time everyone was together). It is serious business. The day before the contest everyone draws a course out of a hat. We had 8 people participating this year so there was appetizer, 2 sides, 2 main courses, 2 desserts, and a wild card. Each person was then responsible for researching a recipe, shopping for their groceries, and preparing their dish. At the conclusion of the meal, everyone votes by secret ballot and assigns 5 points to their favorite dish, then 4, 3, 2, and 1, respectively. The person with the most overall points is declared the winner. Amy was the reigning champion with last year's pork tenderloin with mango chutney. It was game on.

BVZ made his traditional cosmos, of course.

The kids had kid wine.

Megan and Norah played a few duets.

And played some Super Mario Brothers.

Mark showed off his guitar skills.

And we remembered those who couldn't be there, but live on in our hearts.

Norah doesn't love her cousins much at all.

The kids got to watch cartoons while the adults got their party on.

First up were Amy's appetizers, a roasted red pepper stuffed with manchego cheese, and a fresh mozzerela and pesto layer.

Lynn made a spicy beef salad.

Poor BVZ. He had such great expectations and even purchased an electric fryer and made a tempura batter from scratch. He then battered and fryed onions, brocolli, and zucchini. It was a hot, hot mess.

Kristin was the wild card and did a sausage pasta in cream sauce.

I did a pan seared halibut with a pesto butter.

Mark did a slow roasted carnitas taco.

Steph did an amaretto, ricotta, and strawberry parfait.

And Andy did a cranberry and apple oatmeal cobbler. The greatest moment of the night came when we discovered Andy's cobbler ready to go in the oven. I casually asked him why it was all piled to one side of the baking dish. He said the recipe called for an 8x8 pan and he didn't have one, so he 'made' an 8x8 pan by squishing all the fruit to one side. As you can imagine, we probably won't ever let him live that one down.

The final product, served with Bluebell ice cream.

With the exception of BVZ's fry disaster (it isn't just me being mean either, he didn't get a single point), all of the dishes were excellent. But the most excellent? ME! I won! My triumph!

We watched the ball in Times Square drop with the kids (well, Norah went to bed about 9), and then played Rock Band until the wee hours of the night.

New Years Day was spent with more cooking, more eating, and more hanging out.

We thought Norah was just really into giving hugs, but no, she was really into wrestling. Trevor was a good sport about it because she gave him quite a pounding.