Nov 25, 2011

turkey dinner, turkey dinner

Me:  Hey Cade want to come look at the turkey in the oven?

Cade:  Sure!

Me:  Opening the door...... 

Cade:  (looking in) Is that like a turkey that says, "gobble, gobble?" 

Me:  well... it was.

Cade:  Did he like being cooked?

Me:   How about you go play until lunch is ready!

Needless to say he didn't eat any turkey.

We had a great lunch.  Mom and Daddy came and Lewis, Travis' dad joined us too.

Cade came down with a nasty respiratory infection with fever and all but he is feeling better today..... still a little scratchy voice but much more perky than yesterday.

Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! 

A post about Black Friday 2011 will come later. 

Nov 22, 2011

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2011 will be hosted at my house for the second time.

Of course no Thanksgiving is really complete with out my lovely Grandma but I think she'll be with my favorite Aunt Maxine this year in San Antonio.  I have a feeling we'll all be together for Christmas which is my favorite time of year!

The Thanksgiving menu this year will consist of:  Roasted Butter Herb Turkey, SkinnyCrockpot Girls Cranberry Sauce, Green bean bundles, Travis' Great Grandmother's homemade yeast rolls, mudslide pie, mashed potatoes and stuffing.  Quite the feast!

I just pulled out our 11.6lb turkey to defrost.  Over the weekend I made the cranberries (stove top way) and the bundles.  So easy and so good!  By the way, if you love green beans then fresh is the way to go- Costco sells a nice sized package of green beans and those are the ones I'll be serving.

I definitely think tradition is important at family mealtime.   I remember when Travis and I were dating and I was invited to spend Thanksgiving with his family.  Everything was great until the table was set and I excused myself to make a call to my mom to say that I couldn't believe they didn't have fresh cranberries.... I may or may not have been crying.  I was just so used to having fresh jelly cranberry sauce on the table and to not have that piece for some reason affected me.  Good thing the next year I spent with them we had fresh cranberries on the table. 

As a child growing up I remember breaking the wishbone apart with my family or later on in life with my Grandma.  Grandma and I would pull so hard I hands would almost slip off of it.

I also love to do something special for our table setting.  Last year I made little cards for each person and wrote down interesting (nonsense) facts about thanksgiving day on one side and then why I was thankful for them on the other side. 

This year we have some cute handprint turkeys that will have the bible verse: 1Thessalonians 5:16-18
(Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is Gods will for you in Christ) written on it.

This year I'm busting out with our wedding china.  It has been sitting in the box unused, untouched for 5 1/2 years. It's time for it to see the light of day!

Happy early Thanksgiving!

Nov 20, 2011

camping

Two Fridays ago we loaded up the car and headed to Lake Livingston for an overnight camping trip.  It was almost ridiculous how much stuff we "needed" to take to go away for one night.  Phones, dvd player, glow sticks, flashlights, lanterns, 2 quilts, 1 set of sheets, 3 pillows, a dog bed, crayons, a grill kit, fishing poles, our luggage, food, water, and first aid kit were some of the must haves this trip. 

Once we got there and noticed what other campers brought I made note of what we need to bring next time- Christmas lights (for outdoor lighting), a table cloth, and a broom with pan (we had to borrow from the campers next to us). 

Travis and I used to go camping when we dated and when he brought up this trip I wasn't really interested in going at first.  But I decided to tough it out and join in the fun! Besides, Cade wanted me to go! 

We borrowed Julie's 17x10ft tent (that is bigger than Cade's room)  for our first camping trip as a family of 3~  or 4 if you count Ladybird.  Yes, she went and she was really very good. I know. I'm shocked too.  The key was keeping her on a leash.

We arrived around 4 set up the tent rather quickly.  We made hot dogs for dinner and smores for dessert.  We played with glow sticks and told 3 not really scary - scary ghost stories.

Were in bed by in bed by 8.....and fell asleep watching Tangled.   We made it through the chilly night- I think the low was 44.  We were the first to rise the next morning.  We made breakfast tacos-- or at least Travis did while I got the dog to do her thing and entertained Cade with a walk through the woods!
After breakfast we tore down our campsite and loaded up.  We went up the road and tried to fish- but they just weren't biting.  So we headed out to geochache.  There are 14 caches on Lake Livingston.  Of those we set out to find 2, and we did. 

If you haven't heard about geochaching you are missing out!  It's really fun! It's like treasure hunting.  A random person hides a container that has a piece of paper of in it and usually some tokens/treasures.  You use your GPS device to locate the hidden item. Once found, you open it, sign a piece of paper that has been folded inside (a film canister, jelly jar, small pill box) container and decide if you want to take the treasure and leave something of yours or do nothing but sign the paper.  We of course took their treasure and left something of ours.  I think we left confetti from the playground at school.  Yeah, it's kind of dorky but it was fun for us... which I guess means we are a family of dorks but oh well- so are a bunch of other families!

This week is Thanksgiving at our house and then Black Friday with Julie and Susan.

I'm a little mad that the stores are opening early.  We might be home by 3.  Lame.