pumpkin pie and birthday cake

 

For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving has always been a loud day filled with laughter, a bit of chaos, and a lot of family. And it has been one of my favorite days of the year. This Thanksgiving was one of the few times we celebrated at home. The last time we did turkey day here was when we brought Addie home from the hospital. She was born on the 27th and the holiday fell on the 28th that year. My mom took the big girls to my sister's and exhausted Dan and I had a lovely quiet meal with our sleeping newborn. A super sweet friend brought over dinner complete with turkey, green beans, stuffing and sparkling cider. We felt so loved. That was one of my favorite Thanksgivings. 

I have to say that even though I miss my big loud family terribly, this Thanksgiving was really nice too. Dan and I prepped and cooked together pretty much all morning while the kids played. I cranked up the Christmas music cuz why not? We rarely cook together. I think we're going to do more of that in the future. There's something so gratifying about working together to put dinner on the table and then sitting down and enjoying your delicious teamwork.

The prep did not go perfectly, however. Dan worked the day before Thanksgiving so I did the brining of the turkey. It was just a turkey breast since it was only our family of 6 eating. I had never brined before. So, following Dan's instructions, I removed the plastic wrapper from the turkey breast. There was also a net/rope thing that was wrapped around it. So I cut that off and threw the clump of turkey in the brine and put it in the fridge. 

When Dan fished it out the next day, the turkey breast was in pieces. Apparently, that's not supposed to happen and the net ensures that the turkey breast stays together. So, he went to plan B and pan-fried it. It turned out great!

Also, we had another near mishap. The stuffing recipe called for dried cranberries so I bought some and put them in the pantry. Dan grabbed my fresh cranberries out of the fridge that I bought for homemade cranberry sauce, thinking I mistakenly bought those instead of dried ones, and not wanting to hurt my feelings, tossed them into his pan with the butter and onions. In his defense, I'm pretty sensitive about my ability to buy the correct items at the grocery store. 

"Wait, those are my cranberries! I need those!" I told him. He quickly fished them out and apologized for the oniony taste he might have given them. I rinsed them off and the cranberry sauce came out great. And so did the stuffing, complete with dried cranberries from the pantry. All is well that ends well.

All the food was delicious. Dan and I stuffed ourselves and the kids picked at their food. I didn't really expect them to eat most of it. They did, however, love the storebought rolls, the canned corn, and the sparkling apple cider. But I was not mad about all the leftovers we had (and still have).

Oh and I found some cute little mini pies at Vons. A pumpkin for me and a pecan for Dan. The kids didn't like either of them.

Yesterday was Addie's birthday. This is our 3rd Covid kid's birthday. I've felt so bad that they can't celebrate with their friends at a fun place so I've been trying to make it extra special for each kid. I've been buying those helium balloon kits at Target and waking up super early to blow up all the balloons before the birthday kid wakes up which is always way earlier than I do. 

So, for Addie's birthday, I set my alarm for 5AM and got started on the balloons. Winter woke up a few minutes after I did so I put her in charge of the blueberry muffins Addie requested for breakfast. I walked her through it from the couch where I was on balloon duty. Winter put all the ingredients in a bowl, spooned them into cupcake liners and I put them in the oven. After about 15 minutes it occurred to me that we never mixed in the blueberries and sauce that comes in the box. It is in a separate little can I forgot to tell Winter to open and put in the bowl. 

So I pulled out the blueberry-less muffins and poured the blueberry sauce over the top. "Good enough," I said and put them back in to fully bake. The kids said they were the best muffins ever. Dan was very disappointed. "The blueberries in the muffin are the best part," he said sadly. I told him it wasn't his birthday and I'd make him some muffins with big ol' blueberries in the middle next time. 

Addie woke up to 50 balloons floating in the family room and the smell of blueberry muffins filling the house. Again, all is well that ends well.

Addie requested Lunchables for lunch which the kids ate at a near-by park followed by Yogurtland. She requested Trader Joe's teriyaki chicken and spaghetti with no sauce for dinner. Dan could have made her a 5-star quality meal but that's not what she wanted. So he reluctantly pulled out the frozen bag of Trader Joe's Teriyaki chicken and a box of pasta and threw it together for her and the kids. They were all very pleased.

Addie helped make her cake and decorated it herself which has become a tradition around here.

So happy we are all singing to her...

 But then Winter told her she had one wish so she'd better make it a good one. Oh the pressure.

Happy Saturday and happy Christmas shopping!

shoot, there's a car in my hair

Dan took Mya to Hume Lake's father-daughter retreat last weekend. Last year she was supposed to go but got sick the day they were supposed to leave so he took Winter instead. This year, we weren't sure it would happen but it did. It was a bit different of course but they had an awesome time. Mya is a daddy's girl so she was beyond excited to have him all to herself for a weekend.

Back at home, here is Winter playing paw patrol in her leopard vest and matching heels.

Angus was driving his car around and thought he'd drive into Addie's hair. It got impressively stuck. 

This is our neighbor Star. She likes to sunbathe on our sunny side of the street. She lives on the shady side.

The girls have never once had any interest in where the water goes. Angus is obsessed.

"I feel like my arms and my shoulders are just so cute."

He tried a sour patch kid for the first time. Not a fan.

Monopoly. Winter's losing.

Looking too grown up and too fabulous.

Have you seen The Queen's Gambit yet? It's a mini-series on Netflix. If you're bothered by some language and adult content, it may not be for you. But it is so well done. Each one-hour episode is like watching a movie in the theater. It's good. The kid from love actually is in it and he's all grown up. But the main actresses (both the young and grown-up versions of Beth) did an amazing job. The whole cast was pretty impressive actually. I didn't think I'd like it but I loved it.

Watch the trailer here.

Happy Thanksgiving week to you all! I'm just as happy as the kids are to get a break from school.

If you have a minute, make a list of everything you can think of to be thankful for today. I promise it will give you a better perspective.

 

mya's monkey muffins and much more

Wow, what a couple of weeks it has been. Both in the country and in our lives. Every day I had more to add to this blog post and it just kept growing. So it's a bit long. 

Mya dreams of opening a bakery one day called "Mya's Monkey Muffins and Much More." So I'm having her get in on the baking these days. Our next item in our cookbook was biscuits and gravy. It came out great. I like the biscuits. Very buttery. The gravy was a little heavy on the sausage because I accidentally put in way more than I was supposed to. Dan says you can never have too much sausage though. It was supposed to be pork sausage but I used turkey since I don't eat pig. It would have probably tasted better if I used the pork kind.

And after that I made a spinach, swiss cheese, mushroom quiche. (The next item in the cookbook) It turned out amazing. And I made the pie crust. I already know it's going to be a favorite of mine. Unfortunately, no one in my house will eat breakfast casseroles so I gave most of it away to an appreciative friend. Something I've learned about quiches and most egg casseroles over the years is that they almost always take longer than the recipe says they're going to take. I usually cook them for about 15 minutes longer on average.

Winter loves grown-up lady things like makeup, high heels, and fake nails. These are her first press on fake nails and she couldn't love them more. She also loves bugs, dirt, Roblox and playing cops and robbers with Angus. She's balanced.

Speaking of dirt...

That works too...

My mom is in town! And my aunt Debie (mom's sis). I didn't tell the kids and it was the sweetest surprise ever. We haven't seen them since March. The kids had never gone even two weeks without hugging their grandma. This was a hard 6 months too.

My mom has watched this video about 30 times. It's the best.

For Halloween, I made them work with what we had in the house this year. We didn't buy anything since there wasn't really anywhere to wear the costumes.

Mya was Princess Leah. We used my white blouse, a white sheet, and a gray pillowcase for her dress. And for her hair, I braided brown felt together to plumpen up her braided buns. I felt more creative than I have in years.

Addie has been sporting "mixed up girl" for over a year now and she's very proud of the costume.

Winter was a jaguar for the 3rd or 4th year in a row. I lost track. And Angus was a red power ranger. Then he was a blue power ranger and also a swat guy. They did some church trick-or-treating and some covid friendly neighborhood trick or treating and we had more candy left over than ever so I think the kids were happy. Oh and I bought some Halloween easter eggs and we did a Halloween egg hunt in the back yard.

The neighbor dropped off this Halloween gingerbread house that the kids put together all by themselves while I went for a walk with my mom. I can't say it enough. I love that Mya and Winter are old enough to do this stuff without my help.

Crazy hair day. Celebrating the letter C.

These two continue to be the cutest little buddies.

Addie continues to impress me with her art skills. This is Jonah and the whale.

Sometimes Addie jumps in and joins Angus's Kinder art assignments.

Sometimes when Mya is bored, she puts on theme outfits... 

like "farm Mya."

and "beach Mya."

Speaking of the beach, Dan and I took advantage of the free babysitter staying with us and headed down to the beach for the afternoon.

Mom and Deb came to town for a wedding. My little bro's wedding! We're so happy for you Mike and Haide!

And after the wedding, we said good-bye and they moved to Arkansas! We'll miss you guys! But not a bad time to move. I'm jealous of all the city noise you'll be getting away from.

I have lots of recommendations.

This stuff has been around for years and it's delish and I can't believe I've never recommended it. If you like the sweet corn taste, this is your salsa. I eat it with quesadillas, nachos and anything Mexican food related. Sometimes just tortilla chips is a good enough excuse to dig in. It's kind of spicy. I'd say medium. It's one of my fave TJ's things.

These nuts are weird and delightful. But only if you like the taste of rosemary. I like them on a charcuterie plate. Cheese and some sweet jam and other little bits of goodness compliment these nicely.

I found this at Target. If it's still there, buy it immediately. It's the best coffee drink I've had in a long time.

I tried this at someone's house the other day and it is delicious. Maybe a little too delicious. So if you're in the mood for something festive and boozy, you can find it at Aldi.

And since my vegan mom is in town, we got some dairy-free ice cream. I was so confused and pleasantly surprised to try this heavenly dairy-free ice cream. I'm slightly lactose intolerant. That never ever stops me from inhaling ice cream or milkshakes because they're worth the pain. But this stuff is some of the BEST ice cream I think I've ever had, ever. Please buy it as soon as possible. You can find it at any grocery store or Target.

Happy Thursday Night! (Or Friday depending on when you're reading this)