cookbooks and mall cops

One of the blogs I follow is The Pioneer Woman. My friend Megan turned me on to her blog (and more importantly her recipes) a year or so ago and I have been following her daily every since. Don't think I'm a stalker though. Twenty million other people follow her amazing life as as a rancher's wife, homeschooling mama, photography expert, and cook extraordinaire. I have to admit, I am a bit envious.

PW (that's short for Pioneer Woman) came out with her first cookbook and had a scheduled appearnce the Mall of America. Megan and I thought we'd wait maybe for an hour, or even two for our chance to meet our favorite blogger and get our cookbooks signed.

Boy were we were wrong.

We arrived at 11:30, an hour and a half BEFORE the signing, and were promptly told that the end of the line was behind the stage. Apparently a thousand others in Minnesota love her just as much.

Luckily I left Liam at home with Dad. They went to happy hour, which he probably enjoyed much more that being stuck in line for 5 hours.

But Megan brought David. He was an angel.














Finally! Ree came to the stage. She walked right by us, but I didn't have my camera ready, so this photo of her signing someone else's cookbook will have to suffice.














We made friends with the guys ahead of us. They were here from Seattle for the Vikes/ Seahawks game but promised mom-in-law they'd get some books signed while in town. They sure are nice guys!














I told them they'd be disappointed. But not with PW. Only with the outcome of the game (and they were). SKOL!

Here are their friends (pretty sure they spent the afternoon at Hooters):














Did you know TLC is filming a show called Mall Cops: Mall of America?

I didn't either, but here is the star:














I thought she had on a bit too much makeup for a mall cop.

You wouldn't think much can happen at a mall, but according to one of the security guards I chatted with, it's another world out at the MOA in Bloomington, especially after hours.

So four hours later, we're still in line. At this point I had made a few trips to the lovely restroom in Nordstrom. And along the way found the PERFECT outfit...except I didn't have $750 to put it all together, so I had to leave it for someone else.

Finally, we were getting close.














Sort of. We still had another hour to wait at this point. But we did get to see the mall cops in action. They had to make sure that a diaper bag gone astray did not contain any bombs.

And then, the moment we had been waiting for- thirty second meeting with none other than Ree Drummond...














She was gracious and very lovely (even after signing 300,000 cookbooks).

Was it worth it? You betcha!

treats

Eli and Liam checking out the treats in the dessert case at Ole Cafe in Northfield.

Liam thought everything was a cookie. Just like he thinks all animals are puppies.

What a sweet moment!

punky the monkey

Liam was a monkey for Halloween, which is totally fitting since he will eat five bananas a day if we allow him to. Seriously, I have to hide them in the grocery cart or he will scream for them all the way through the store.

Instead of doing the whole trick-or-treat thing, our friends had a party for those of us that have babies.

Here is a pic of the moms and babies:

Notice my child would not sit on my lap nicely like the other kiddos. What he really wanted to do was play with Lynley's birthday presents (she's the one in orange).

And another with the dads and babies:
This is just plain chaos!!