New Year's Eve

I wanted to make New Year's Eve special so I decided to make fondue. I think this is going to become a tradition. We did it pretty simply with just one cheese and one chocolate, but it was more than enough for the four of us. The cheese recipe was delicious and I found myself thinking about it later, so I am going to share that recipe at the bottom of this post.

Edison mushed the bread. Alex didn't try the cheese at all. These boys love their carbs.

Alex has a small obsession with party hats now. He insisted that all of us kept our hats on the entire night. If we switched colors, he would get upset and say, "No! Daddy's hat!" It was adorable. He wore his almost the whole night. Edison ended up ingesting part of his hat so we took it away.

We had a lot of different fruits to dip in the chocolate, but by the time we got to the second course, we were all so full so I only used bananas and strawberries. I made the cheese first, then after we were done eating, I made the chocolate while the boys played in the backyard.. I knew that if I put them both on the table at the same time, Alex would not eat anything besides chocolate and fruit. But once the chocolate was on the table, Alex didn't even want to try it. He only wanted fruit. I had to tell him that it was candy in order to convince him to try it. Then, of course, he drenched himself in it. 

We went to the Sugar Land Town Square NYE party. It was pretty insane. It was family-friendly 7-9pm. There were a lot of little street acts and there were a ton of people. Alex decided to be Mr. Independent and sprint through the crowds. Sam said he had never seen Alex run so fast. We almost lost him a few times. Sam and I got separated because he chased after Alex and I stayed with the stroller.
 

We were showing Alex the motorcycles and then one of the officers said that Alex could sit on it. Alex looks really concerned, but I think he enjoyed it.

Alex loves dogs. This doggy was really nice and we tried to get Alex to pet it but he decided to instead stand a few feet away and point his head toward the ground and then look out of the corner of his eye at the dog. So the dog wouldn't know he was being watched? No idea. Alex is crazy.

You may notice that we are dressed very lightly. It was 72 degrees. It was beautiful.

They did a firework show at 9pm for the kids. It was pretty weak. It lasted for about three minutes. We saw better fireworks on the drive home. People in Texas take their fireworks very seriously. I could not believe how loud it was in our neighborhood. And not just for a few minutes, but for more than an hour! Before and after midnight, people all around were setting off large fireworks.

We got home around 9:30 and transferred Edison into his bed. Alex was not tired at all. I actually considered letting him stay up until midnight. He was bouncing around and was being so cute. We decided it would be best to put him in bed though, since midnight is meaningless to him.

 No pictures from midnight. Kind of lame, but we didn't really want to be screaming with the boys asleep. We had sparkling cider, and headed to bed a little while after that.

Ultimate Cheese Fondue

Source: The Sister's Cafe

2 c. grated Swiss cheese

2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tb cornstarch
Dash of pepper
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth
French bread, cubed
1. Melt Swiss cheese and Monterey Jack cheese in 1 3/4 cups chicken broth with garlic added. Keep broth barely under a boil, stirring until cheese is completely melted (it will be stringy).
2. Combine cornstarch, pepper, salt, nutmeg, Worcestershire sauce in 1/4 cup chicken broth. Add to cheese mixture, stirring until smooth. Put fondue mixture into a preheated fondue pot and keep at temperature hot enough to maintain desired texture without scorching.
3. Cut French bread into chunks. Sourdough rolls are great too. Cut so each bite size piece has a bit of crust on it. It is a good idea to cut the bread and leave it out in the open for awhile before dipping into the fondue.