Food on the Brain

Continuing on with the spirit of her little Thanksgiving "poem," here is the list of everything we had yesterday.

turkey
gravy
stuffing
oyster stuffing
fruit salad
cole slaw
mashed potatoes
mashed sweet potatoes
sweet potatoes with marshmallows
4 kinds of cranberries (plus a 5th we forgot to get out of the fridge for the meal)
rolls
green bean casserole
pickles and olives
chips and crackers with Fiesta Party dip
apple pie
pumpkin pie
pecan pie
homemade vanilla ice cream
homemade cranberry sorbet
cool whip

Our turkey was a "fresh" turkey. What exactly is a "fresh" turkey? I didn't have to thaw it exactly; it wasn't frozen through. The insides (where the giblets and neck were stored) felt as cold as frozen - cold enough to hurt your fingers - so, how is that "fresh"? Also, it was big. We had 16 people over including 3 young kids (mine) and it was a 19 pound turkey. Lots of leftovers.

Oh, and one of our friends told Spitz the other day that she's never cooked a turkey, ever, because she's scared she'd mess it up. So every year, she orders a turkey from somewhere. I just want to say here and now, turkey is easy. Easy-peasy. The key is to use an oven bag (be sure to buy the really big, turkey-sized ones). You rub a little oil or butter on the bird; put it into the bag. Tie it shut and cut a few small vent holes (so it doesn't pop); set it in a roasting pan and cook. The result is a turkey that is not dry because the bag holds in the juices without having to baste at all. In addition, the cooking time is shorter (I'm pondering that one at the moment; I'm not sure what law of chemistry or physics causes that.). There's no labor involved other than sticking a thermometer in toward the end of the time to verify you've reached 170 degrees.
So, to sum that up: cook the turkey in a cooking bag. You get a yummy, not-dry turkey in less time with less labor.

For our meal, I took care of the turkey, house preparation (we hosted), and pie baking while Spitz made the ice cream and sorbet. It was his family we hosted and before I joined the family, all desserts at all family gatherings were store-bought. My only reaction to that is YUCK. I come from a family where everyone made dessert for gatherings. Usually all at once, so we had as much dessert as non-dessert food. (This is probably related to why many in my extended family are overweight. Hmmm) I cannot stand to purchase dessert when making it myself is so much fun and also tastes so much better. So, I insist on making desserts, especially birthday cakes. It's taken the family about a decade to get used to this. Spitz' mother bought him a birthday cake on his last birthday. I was incensed (not that I'm saying I was reasonable about it). Not only was it my job, not hers, to take care of my husband's birthday cake, she went and BOUGHT a cake! *deep breath* Okay, I'm better. I know that in the grand scheme of life, this is very insignificant. But, back to the point, I enjoy making dessert, so I made a bunch of pies. Wednesday night, Spitz thought up the ice cream idea and I ran out for the ingredients. As a result, we have tons of leftover dessert! What could be better?

May 7.3's Ode to Thanksgiving

turkey. pumpkin pie, stuffing, cookies, beef, mashed potatoes, pie, cherry pie, apple pie, ice cream, corn bread, chicken, pancakes, beans, and turkey

Praise God from whom all blessings flow

We will remember, we will remember
We will remember the works of Your hands
We will stop and give you praise
For great is Thy faithfulness*

When I try to stop and think of all I'm thankful for, I immediately start singing. Whatever song lyrics my mind pulls up, doesn't seem to matter much, thinking of all I have, all I've been blessed by God, makes me want to sing. And I've always felt that singing and crying are just a step apart. When I was pregnant and had that extra dose of hormones running around inside me, I always had trouble singing without crying. I'd be in church trying to sing the hymns as part of the service and doing my best to keep those around me from noticing that tears were running down my face.

3 beautiful little girls
a loving husband
2 cats that are no trouble at all
(<--- I just can't say here that I'm thankful for the dog. Maybe if she learns not to pee on my carpets by next year, she can be on this list.)
a close friend in Cin
the home and other resources we have
Mrs. I, who really loves May and is the best teacher we've had yet

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.**

my health
the improvement in Spitz' back since the spring
seeing Rose pull up to standing
the birth of a new baby cousin
Ruth's question, "What does this say?" as she holds out a page upon which she has carefully written a long line of letters which reads ABCDEFIqitSKITkmR my ABc'SS
hearing May tell a joke
the cry of a waking baby

Well, that cry signals the end of this list. But that's just as well, because I have to stop crying now. And truthfully, the list doesn't have a real end.

* from Tommy Walker's song "We Will Remember"
** from "In Christ Alone" by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Surprise visit from Grandparents

We visited Columbus, OH this weekend to visit my family. It was a good weekend. We got some babysitting time from Grandma and a chance to go shopping just us grownups. Anyone without kids might not understand how HUGE that is. Spitz and I wandered a mall for about 2 hours and went clothing and shoe shopping for OURSELVES! We had some serious needs. My tennis shoes (that I live in, by the way. I am all for comfy shoes. No gorgeous, but painful shoes for me.) were completely shot; by that I mean they squeaked even when I walked across carpet. Spitz was in dire need of new dress shirts to wear to work. (He'd be in dire need of dress pants, too, but I've found the best way to get those is to order from Lands' End online and get the exact measurements he needs. He's so slender, it's hard to find his size.)
And to top it off, we got smoothies. That solidified that what we were really on was a date. You have to take them when you can get them when you have 3 kids!

Then we came home yesterday and my parents came too - a last minute plan to our happy surprise. My mother and I made pie crusts to freeze in preparation for Thanksgiving. Homemade crusts are sooooo much better than store-bought ones. May and Ruth had a great time mixing the left over bits with sugar and cinnamon which we'll bake in the morning for their breakfast. That part is a new experiment; hope they are edible!!

25 Times the Love

I have 9 daughters named May (one of them is named Emily) and 7 daughters named Ruth. They tell me now that we have 8 puppies named Peanut.

Yes, my girls have built a duplicator. It was simple really. All it took was a big empty box, some crayons, scissors, paper and glue. And let me tell you, the efforts they undertook to duplicate the dog were quite entertaining. At one point, Ruth 4.6 was luring the dog closer by dangling a ribbon out in front of her and then trying to toss the box on top of her before she escaped. And the box is bigger than Ruth is. Spitz was hiding his face as he lost his composure and laughed at her.

Seriously, for the last few days, May periodically disappears and returns in a bit in a different outfit and says that she is Duplicate Number 4 and asks "What was May working on before she left?" She's come up with all their names (one is Liandra). They each have a number.

And now we have more dogs than we know what to do with!

Brrrr

I was right. It was FREEZING. Really, the timing was very unfortunate because last weekend was sooooo beautiful; we could have really raked in the cash last weekend. But yesterday, I was having trouble making change for people buying tickets because my fingers were so stiff from cold. No one wanted to hang out in bouncies (with no shoes on!), although the kids seemed to mind it much less than the adults. No one wanted to get tattoos because they didn't want to expose skin! Fortunately, the chili and the craft booths were inside, but overall attendance was undoubtedly poor compared to a warmer day.

I've just now finished thawing out! I came home and helped put kids to bed. Then I couldn't keep my eyes open and went to bed at 9:30.

Busy Little Bees

This weekend is a fall festival for both May and Ruth's schools. They go to different schools, by the way. May 7.2 goes to a private Christian elementary school, while Ruth 4.6 attends a Montessori school for preschool. May also attended a Montessori school for preschool and kindergarten before switching to her current school.
The Montessori method is really awesome. Instead of leaving your child to play with toys, color with crayons and learn silly little songs, your child can spend her morning learning to wash dishes, sweep, read, manipulate objects with mathematics implications they don't even realize they are learning. The children are given responsibility to find their own work, practice their own work, clean up their own work, and even teach other children how to perform the work. Multiple ages are in each room (3-5 year olds, for example) so that they can learn from each other. And I use the word "work," which is also the term the teachers use, but the children love it. It's not a burden at all. They take a tray to a table or set it out on a rug on the floor and move colored water from one container to the next using a little dropper (teaches proper pencil grip). They use beads or little round plastic circles to lay out a pattern that ultimately teaches what odd and even numbers are. They taste test foods that preschool-age children rarely eat. They learn songs (yes, of course, some fun little silly ones because they are kids after all) both fun and with lyrics that teach them the names of continents. They learn the sounds letters make and have fun tracing them in sand. They polish rocks or wood, learning how to remember and follow sets of instructions to complete a task. Basically, the room is full of little activities, books, projects, that are all fun for a child to do, but secretly teach something interesting.
Ruth is constantly (and May did this too) popping out sentences that you would never hear come out of a non-Montessori trained child. None of which I can think of at the moment, but this is an ongoing blog which will undoubtedly have many posts about so-and-so "saying something hilarious today!"
So, why is May in a Christian school rather than Montessori (because, yes, the Montessori school goes up to 8th grade and the learning and projects completed at elementary levels are just as impressive - more like a younger version of college with all it's independent work/research/presentations)? At the end of her kindergarten year (a time when she'd face transition anyway out of the 3-5 room and into the 1st-3rd grade room), we opted to move her to a Christian school. She is incredibly bright and will learn anywhere, and so we decided that in the grand scheme of life, having an education based in God's word and surrounded by staff that love God and model that love to our daughter was more important than all the benefits (or maybe a better word is differences) a Montessori school offered over the Christian one.
Back to my original intent for this post. We have a festival today with inflatables, concessions, silent auction, craft bazaar, games, face painting, etc. Then tomorrow we have another festival with inflatables, games, tattoos, chili supper, craft booths, etc. And, after a week of 70 degree weather, these 2 days have a high of 50 degrees. Brrr! I'm volunteering for an hour today and for about 5 hours tomorrow.
I predict a stress headache on Monday.

All of Us

Ok, I had to find one that included Spitz. (-:

Halloween

Well, we had a busy weekend starting with Halloween. I'll see if I can't dig up a picture for this. May and Ruth were dressed as the co-stars of the newest Barbie movie, The Diamond Castle. They were in fancy dresses, tiaras, and heart necklaces; Princess Liana and Princess Alexa deserved no less. Oh, and Spitz was dressed as one of the male counterparts from the movie, Jeremy. (He looked like he was wearing a pirate costume less all the pirate-y parts like the weapons and eye-patch -- which he was.)
Rose 0.10 was a cute little pink bunny rabbit; the costume was worn by May 7.2 back when she was just 1.2. I decided to match her by finding an adult bunny costume. Fortunately, I was just looking for ears, not a full costume, because the adult bunny costumes (and they are plentiful) are not PG. In fact, there are very few female adult costumes that aren't a bit scandalous, not to mention sized for skinny women. Anyway, I did find a set of ears, tail and gloves. When the gloves turned out to have about 2-inch fingers, I pitched them, but the ears and the little pin-on puff-ball tail were just perfect.
The night was beautiful, near 70 degrees, perfect for lots of neighbors to be out and sociable. Ruth didn't make it too far before the bag was too heavy for her and she wanted to come home, so Rose and I walked back with her while Spitz and May continued on. Grandma and Grandpa were holding down the fort at home, handing out the candy.
May and Ruth were allowed to eat to their hearts' content until bedtime. Spitz and I topped off the night with the Heroes season 3 opener which we had DVR'd and just gotten up to (finally finished season 2). [Total side note: O.O what were they thinking with this season? Ack! ]

Edit: Added the photo - It's Ruth, May, Rose & I and also Spitz' sister (the gypsy).