The house-Christmasified

Back in October we showed you some pictures of our new diggs. We figured we've gussied up our place a bit and now you deserve to see the new and improved (and much less pink) DeClercq home. We painted, got a few new pieces of furniture (some new and some just new to us), and for these shots put up some Christmas spirit.

*These pictures are pretty much in the same order as the previous post, and I tried to replicate the perspective as best I could.*

Here is the living room. Some nice green and white walls.

The dining room. Here we have some tan walls and new book shelves. (sorry for the mess on the table I didn't bother to clean up before taking some pictures.)

The Kitchen with its lovely tree. Not a huge change here, but we do have white walls instead of pink. However, we still have pink outlets. We just can't get rid of that pink.

The master bedroom. We put up some pictures in here and painted the walls a tan color. Depending on the time of day though, it looks split-pea soup green, baby diahreah brown, mold-on-the-hamburger-you-forgot-about-in-the-back-of-the-refridgerator-blue, and very rarely tan.

The to-be-nursery. Here we still have a lovely creeping vine and faux-shelf. Yes, we are still trying to place item on it. And yes, they still drop to the floor. The only addition to this room so far is the ironing board.

The guest bathroom. The pink is gone...mostly. I can still see hints of it which drives me crazy, but it is a huge improvement over the neon magenta that haunted this water closet.

A few bonus pictures. Notice the Christmas cheer.

In the bottom right you can see this year's Christmas tree.

And that concludes the tour. Stop by any time and say hello. Don't worry, this guy, Ricky, probably won't be around, unless Laura is making ribs. But Bobby is friendly and will gladly cuddle up next to you.

Sweet or Salty?

I forgot to post this during my original dinner party report. But, it was quite hilarious...

During dinner, coffee and hot apple cider were being served. I poured some milk into a creamer and grabbed the church's big sugar shaker and poured some into a sugar bowl.

About 10 minutes later the dining room exploded in laughter. One of the elders came back into the kitchen carrying the sugar bowl and a cup of coffee. Apparently, I had sent out a bowl of salt... not sugar. It took about 10 people to finally discover that the guests were scooping salt into their cups of coffee. Oops.

Cranberry Bliss Bars by Laura

Cranberry Bliss Bars by Laura
Originally uploaded by ilovefremont2001

What can I say? I'm a proud husband. I love my wife and I love what she can make! Today I came home to carmel corn and almond roca. Yesterday she made cranberry bliss bars and fudge. The day before that it was snickerdoodles. Laura rocks!

Dinner Party

I was privileged to cater another party last weekend. The elders of our church threw a Christmas party for the staff. 40 people we invited.

The menu was as follows:

Hot Appetizer
Roasted Tomato Soup
a delicious blend of roasted tomatoes, onion, and garlic pureed with herbs and cream to bring you comfort in a bowl

Cold Appetizer
Autumn Salad
mixed greens tossed with pears, red onion, Gorgonzola, candied pecans, and finished with a red wine vinaigrette

Entree
Stuffed Pork Tenderloin alongside Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
pork tenderloin stuffed with apricots and cranberries- fruity, flavorful and festive

Dessert
Trio of Cake Dips
dark chocolate covered cheesecake, triple chocolate with mint, and white chocolate pumpkin spice

I am happy to report that even at nearly 6 months pregnant, I kept up with Jen (my most amazing assistant EVER) in the kitchen. Although by the end of the evening I had developed quite a maternity waddle and I was unable to stand in the shower. But, the evening was very well-received and we were bestowed with many compliments.

I know, I know

... we need to blog more. What can I say? Our lives seem so much less interesting now that we live in California again. But, to satisfy the curious... here is a picture of the only thing that seems to be changing around here.

The baby and therefore the belly seems to be bigger everyday. Literally, EVERYDAY.


We hosted Thanksgiving for our families this year. We have tons of space, but no place to sit. So we borrowed enough chairs to seat all 10 of us and eat all day. What better way to spend Thanksgiving?

This is my favorite picture from Thanksgiving: Adam carving a turkey for the first time. He did splendidly... although he did destroy that shirt.