Flashback Friday

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving Dinner

Since it was just the three of us for Thanksgiving Dinner, I thought you might like to virtually join us for the meal...

Rachael has a homemade roll, and is ready for some raspberry freezer jam

And of course, we had our jello.

The gravy! Easily the best turkey gravy I have made yet. Years of practice are not going to waste here.

And the garlic mashed potatoes. Very tasty, (yukon golds - yum!) but the one low point on the table this year. My pressure cooker is acting crazy, so I panicked that perhaps it was overcooking the potatoes, when in fact they were not quite done. Which left a few "crunchy" bits in the mashed potatoes. Oh well.

Ryan's famous sausage & mushroom stuffing.

(It has made me a convert to homemade stuffing, over Stove Top).

New for this year... cranberry pomegranate sauce. Delicious.

The pièce de résistance... brined turkey.

And everyone's favorite - pumpkin pie! With your choice of whipped cream or it's evil relative, Cool Whip.

Thanks for joining us!

Rainbow Jello

A How-To guide by Rachael

First, talk your mother into making rainbow jello for Thanksgiving. Because you are cute and charming and you love jello. Next, buy six boxes of jello from the store. Be sure to start the day before Thanksgiving, as this is a time-consuming project.

Start early! Each layer needs 45 minutes to an hour to set up, so jump right on it first thing.
(Make each layer by mixing 1 box jello into 3/4 cup boiling water. Then pour out 3/8 cup into a measuring cup, add 3/8 cup cold water to the measuring cup. Add 3/8 cup canned milk to the rest left in the pan. We poured the clear layer, let set for 1 hour, poured the milk layer, let set for 45 minutes.)

Check your progress regularly.

On to the blue layer! We're really cooking now.

And, of course, progress check.

Take a break for the green layer and let your mom handle it. After all, you have important commitments to attend to. (Playgroup).

Next: yellow! Insist on helping pour hot jello on already established layers.
Then take a picture.

Check your progress! The yellow clear layer looks a lot better with the opaque layer on top.

Descend from your throne to help with the orange layer.

Wow, it's really coming along!

Almost there! Good thing, it's almost bedtime.

Wowzers!

Finish with a little Cool Whip and serve for Thanksgiving dinner.

Now.... taste the rainbow!

We are Thankful

Yesterday for family home evening we made a "Thankful Turkey." Ryan taught a short lesson on gratitude and then we each thought of things we were thankful for. I'm not sure Rachael understands the concept completely - she's always thankful for Jello. (Really.)
Not to be outdone, she decided to make a Thankful Sheep. (Everyone thinks of sheep when they think of Thanksgiving, right?) She drew it on red paper, then cut geometric shapes of white paper and glued them on. She wanted to know what we were all thankful for, and wrote that on the sheep. Well, wrote all the correct letters, anyway. The letters for FAMILY (mine), HEARTS (hers), and FISHING (Ryan's) are all on there, but in no particular arrangement. It's an alphabet soup thankful sheep.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Rachaelisms

A couple of days ago I got a bloody nose - dry air, blah blah blah. Rachael was fascinated by the way it looked. She's hoping for one herself one day.

"One day when I'm a parent I'll get a bloody nose, too."


She doesn't "hand" things to you when you need them (or vice versa), she "handles" them:

"You handle those to me, and I'll put them away."


My favorite one lately... she has been obsessed with weddings and getting married. Somewhere she heard part of the tune, "Here Comes the Bride." I really like the version she sings to herself while she pretends to get married. (And be woe unto anyone who corrects her!)

"Here comes the bride,
There goes the groom."

Along with the wedding fascination, she asked me a few days ago if she could marry anyone she wanted. I considered it for a moment and told her she could marry anyone that could take her to the temple. (She's only four, you know). She thoughtfully considered all her options and announced, "I choose Alex."

Look out, Alex. You've been betrothed.

Flashback Friday

More Disney Flashback. Because it was such a great trip!

Flashback Disney

One year ago today...

Dear Denver Broncos

On the advice of friends, my mommy painted my toes orange and blue during halftime. I wanted pink, but she convinced me to help out the team.

I did my part.

It looks like you will just have to learn to actually play football if you intend to win any more games.

Good luck!

Rachael

Vote: Broncos Toes - Yes or No?

This is the current state of Rachael's Broncos toes.

Nine weeks ago, when football season started, we watched the first game on Sunday afternoon. (Which is something of a rarity where we live. We get all the Bengals games, but the Broncos, not so much. But I digress). To keep Rachael occupied, I painted her toenails while the game was going on. (Remember this was the girl who held still for an hour for 'boingy' hair. She loves girly stuff). They were orange with blue, and her big toes had a white stripe down the middle like a helmet.

The Broncos played hard but looked like they would lose the first game. But then, thanks to a miracle, they pulled out a win. And then another. And then on to 6 in a row. I was tempted to paint her toes for Halloween, but knowing the superstitious nature of sports lovers, we left the toes painted the way they were.

Then came the bye week. Followed by two losses.

So the question is: obviously the toes need to be painted again. Do we salute the Donkeys again? Or go with something else? (Which, if she has a choice, will probably be pink). Leave your comments. We'll paint them on Sunday.

Flashback Friday

Rachael's Halloween Costumes

2005 - Yoda
(mock if you will. it was made of fleece and really warm!)

2006 - Tinkerbell

2007 - Minnie Mouse
(dig those awesome yellow shoes!)

2008 - Cinderella

2009 - Fancy Nancy

Bye Bye Princess Chair

I have been selling stuff from around the house on Craigslist this year, partly because we're working on reducing our debt and it's a good way to make money, and mostly because we have a lot of stuff.

The pink chair was definitely stuff; I bought it years ago to match the sofa (which it does!) but since we got our mahogany piano, it has never looked quite right. And since moving to KY it really hasn't fit in the room anywhere, either. So I put it up on Craigslist.

It sold! To a nice man moving his mother into an assisted living facility. (The drama - wow. Another story). We loaded up into his car and he drove away.

To my total surprise Rachael was in tears! She wanted to know if he would bring it back. (Um, no.) She was despondent. Turns out it was her favorite chair in the whole house and she loved it - it was her princess chair. I told her that the man to took it was giving to his grandma (she's probably named Grandma, right?) and she would like it. Rachael insisted that she herself would like it more. Eventually I distracted her by talking about Christmas (never too early to pull out the jolly old elf). Hopefully she won't complain that it's gone, but I'll bet she asks about it again.

At least she will have a good story to tell her therapist when she gets older. I had the hardest time keeping a straight face.