Playing Catch-Up: Thanksgiving

I don't know why I've been blog-averse lately. Averse to posting on my own blog, that is. I still love checking my reader and seeing what's up with everybody else!

It is such a wonderful, fun-filled time of year, though, I've got to share a bit of what we've been up to, even if I don't feel up to sharing anything insightful! So, here's Thanksgiving and the week or so before it.

 

 Made these little turkey sweets by frosting mini-brownie bites and sticking the last of the candy corn in them. The eyes are Nerds :0)

One morning in late November, we made waffles for breakfast, and I don't know why I was compelled to take pictures, but I managed to catch some of Kate's kooky antics.

 

For some reason, these pictures make a line from Miley Cyrus' recent appearance on SNL come to mind. Someone asks her, "What's up with sticking your tongue out like that all the time?" Miley responds, "I'm having a bunch of tiny strokes, yo."

For Thanksgiving, we went up to my parents' in Louisville. Popi made pine cone bird feeders with the girls, and we played with Legos (Duplos) a lot, and tried to avoid their mean cat who seems to resent my family for making ourselves at home in "her" space. I was around wayyy before you, Cali-Cat. 

 

Mom made a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner, of course, though right about the time it was ready, Kate conked out on the couch.

"What should we do with Big Sister, Mommy?"

We managed to get her up to eat a bit of dinner, and then the pumpkin pie she'd been talking about for weeks. We weren't quite sure she'd ever tried pumpkin pie, so the enthusiasm seemed premature, and sure enough, she did not like it.

 

BGC did not care for much of Thanksgiving dinner, either. Her feeding therapist suggested we try some of the creamy table foods that would be at Thanksgiving dinner, since she gags at any minor chunkiness to her food. She's 14 months old and still mainly eats Stage 2 baby food, thus the feeding therapy (among her many other therapies and doctor appointments—she has the busiest calendar of any one year old I know!) She did okay with the sweet potato casserole, but didn't just gag on mashed potatoes and corn pudding—she barfed all down her bib, twice.

Friday, Popi and I took Kate and Claire to see "Free Birds," which was very cute. Kate didn't like it because it didn't have any princesses. (Arggghh! It's like I'm fighting a losing battle against this Disney-girl culture!) Actually, though I intentionally chose "Free Birds" over "Frozen," I hear the latter is actually very good, so maybe we'll see that around Christmas. There was also a teeny bit of shopping on Black Friday, at about 5 pm, so it hardly counts.

Saturday, we helped Nala and Popi decorate their Christmas tree!

And then we toasted marshmallows and made s'mores around the firebowl before heading back to Nashville!

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving too, and that your Christmas (Advent) season is off to a beautiful start!

Thanksgiving Day

So I'm a little late with the holiday recap, despite the fact that our Thanksgiving weekend included plenty of "lying around time." 

I realized Sunday night how relaxing our holiday had been, having not traveled for Thanksgiving for the first time in . . . well, since leaving home for college, I guess. We went to Matt's parents' house for a big midday meal and hung out until what would have been dinnertime, had we needed to eat again, but otherwise enjoyed a lot of time just being together at home. 

Thanksgiving began with coffee and muffins, and I realized how late the Macy's parade comes on. I guess with grandparents in the house in past years, I got to sleep in until closer to parade time! 

The girls wore their politically-incorrect Indian headbands. (Kate had made hers at school last year, and she and I made Claire's together.)

And I made my one contribution to Thanksgiving dinner: a pumpkin pie with a braided crust. I'm not a foodie at all, putting presentation over culinary skill, so in true Jessica fashion, I used Pillsbury crusts and put my energy instead into dividing, rolling, and braiding strips of dough, then agonizing over the baking process to make sure my creation didn't burn.

It didn't :0)

The real bird was lovely as well.

Claire ate plenty of pumpkin muffins, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and broccoli casserole, while Kate enjoyed the giant turkey leg!

As always, I am most thankful for my beautiful girls.

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!

Keep Thanksgiving Autumnal!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Holiday of cornucopias, turkeys, and pumpkin pie.

So why are Christmas lights and wreaths going up?!?!? And Christmas music playing?! 

For so many people, Christmas begins with Thanksgiving week (or maybe before).

But as for me and my house . . .

There will still be pumpkins . . .

 . . . and leafy garlands.

. . . and even pumpkins dressed up as turkeys!

 We've had a delightful fall. I love it every year . . .

And Thanksgiving will still be decked in oranges and browns (and cute little turkey applique shirts I made with Heat 'n' Bond). The red and green can wait a few more days. Goshdarnit.

So tonight I'm making cranberry sauce, and watching some Thanksgiving episodes of "Friends" . . .

. . . and looking forward to drinking Starbucks Thanksgiving blend coffee while watching the Macy's parade tomorrow morning and baking my pumpkin pies. And while I may set a few holly-and-evergreen arrangements on the bookshelf, you can rest assured it is only to serve as a backdrop for the Christmas card photo we're planning to take—and then they will go back into the closet for at least 24 more hours until the pinnacle of the glorious fall season is passed.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving—and give that lonely pumpkin a salute as it stands watch, humbly reflecting the glow of a neighbor's twinkle lights.

Turkey, Pacis, Lights, and Noise

Our family was on an argyle kick this Thanksgiving, apparently :0)

I told you about Kate's late-night escapades during the first part of our Thanksgiving trip. Here's the rest of our Thanksgiving visit. 

We took Kate to the playground Thanksgiving afternoon (after watching the Macy's parade in the morning, of course!) and she fell asleep in the car on the way home. So, not wanting to risk waking her by carrying her inside, Dad stayed in the car with her and took a nap as well while Matt and I came inside to change our clothes and get Claire dressed for dinner. Kate definitely did not want to wake up to get dressed herself, and I spent cocktail hour pinned to the couch by my still-sleeping girl...

It was just my parents, aunt and uncle, and us for dinner, so not a big crowd, but it was nonetheless lovely and the food was delicious! Our traditional meal is turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, corn pudding, peas and carrots, cranberry sauce, and rolls. What's yours?

After dinner, Kate read the Target toy catalog with Uncle Paul, and the Charlie Brown Christmas e-book on Aunt Liz' Nook. Kate sometimes takes a while to warm up to people she doesn't know very well, so it was a delight to see her enjoy playing with her great aunt and great uncle so much!

And Claire just took a nice snooze with a paci Sister reluctantly let her have. (The Paci Fairy has made several stealth visits to make pacis disappear since "she doesn't like to see big girls using pacis." Claire will just have to deal with only having them while Kate's in bed or at school.)

Friday night, we went to Light Up Louisville downtown, which was great because we didn't have to stand around outside (though it was actually very nice weather!) since Dad's office overlooks the plaza where the event was happening. Kate thought the music and announcements were too loud, so it was especially good that we had an indoor retreat. We visited the kids area and looked at the trees in Metro Hall—Kate liked the "peace" tree best.

Then we watched the parade from the balcony of Old City Hall, where Dad's office is. Kate asked to go inside because of the noise. She's still talking about how loud it was!

We then went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and walked back to the plaza just in time to see the big "light-up" of the city's Christmas lights. A great way to ring in the Christmas season as a family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're here in Louisville with my parents, aunt, and uncle (sadly, my cousins and their young kids decided not to make the trip this year--bummer!) Kate has been a handful, as it's hard to employ our usual yes-you-have-to-go-to-bed techniques in someone else's house, when all four of us are sharing a room and there's too much fun going on downstairs after bedtime. It was 1:00 am one night, and last night, 2:30, after a big fiasco at 1:30 in which wakey-wakey-Kate got into some old ink pads, painted the palms and backs of her hands, and then climbed into the white-sheeted bed with me! It was a hot pink ink pad and her hands were dark red. It took Lava soap to even make a dent in the color. OMG.

This was in the morning (and yes, we've had some trouble with paci-stealing during the big-sister adjustment.)

Otherwise, though, we've just been hanging out, letting Nala and Popi enjoy the kids, visiting with family friends who want to meet Claire, etc. I keep saying that the Macy's parade is my favorite part of Thanksgiving, but of course I've also got to reflect with thanks on these wonderful blessings in my life...

My wonderful family (especially two beautiful children!)...

(this was Matt's birthday last Saturday. All the other pics are from our time in Louisville.)

Watching my kids learn new things and experience milestones (like Kate riding my old tricycle--I think she'll be getting one soon--and Claire's first bath)...

 And keeping in touch with old friends (like my friend Lindsay and her daughter Emmalea)...

Hope you're having a happy Thanksgiving!

Wordless Wednesday: Turkey Art