Thanksgivings Day weekend

Last weekend was a big blur. With my Mom's late arrival on a Sunday night and getting everything ready for Thanksgivings Day...

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Kids school had a kids' book reading event on a Tuesday night, where we met the book writer (Mike Thaler) and each kid got a FREE autographed book! What a great deal, and what a great night for the kids.

This week is going by a little slower. Perhaps because I don't have to go to work for five days straight! Yahoo for that!

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We had a great traditional feast this Thursday. With the turkey, the pies, and all the fixings. The only thing I did different this year is cooking turkey in a slow cooker. I tell you what, I think I will stick with it! I got a 13 lb turkey, all defrosted, spiced and looking pretty into a cooker at a low temperature the night before, switched to high temperature first thing in the morning and it was pretty much ready by noon. I let it sit there on low for a bit longer though. By the time I served it, it was falling off the bones. Yummy!! Also, a few hours before being all done, I put a bunch of vegetables inside of it (the turkey opened up like a treasure chest), drained some excess liquids and that just made it that much better!

I also finished my crocheting project that I started last weekend. I super-monkey for Jon. I like the way it came out and I learned quite a lot too ;-)
Now, I have to keep my promise to make a cat for Gabe and a (hmm... I am not sure WHAT it is...) creature by the name of Strawbeary for Larissa. I suppose it is a bear, but I question that ;-)

November 15th weekend

After two weeks of on again, off again raining, we got a sunny breakthrough. Chilly, but gorgeous. Red and yellow colors added to the Fall mood.On Saturday Larissa got tired of having to share her time with "the boys" and held a demonstration, demanding a Girls Day Out with me. It was pretty funny. She made a sign, climbed on a rock across the street, and stood there holding up her sign.

Jon got upset because he just couldn't keep up with the big kids. That only lasted a few minutes and he was right back to his happy self.

Gabe and I had lots of fun jumping over the hula hoop.

I think I had a little too much fun though... (Gabe took this picture of me)

Mission Accomplished!

I finally got around and baked Larissa the kind of cake she has been asking for. For the past few birthdays I got away with something else, but this year I decided it's time. I watched an instruction video on the web and off I went.
Result? I great cake, just the way she wanted it!

Happy 8th Birthday Larissa!

Another mission accomplished was teaching Jon about doing laundry. We had to move a step stool next to the washer and he was pretty excited to drop dirty laundry into it. Yeah!

Other than that, just another rainy weekend in Oregon. We stayed mostly indoors, watched lots of movies and played a lot of video games.

Happy Birthday Tim!

Another year, another birthday.

Happy Birthday Tim!

Due to the very high risk of setting our house on fire we opted out of having the actual amount of candles on the cake, and went with just "a bunch".

I baked a carrot cake and added creamcheese icing on it. Yummy!

Halloween 2008

What is worse than getting sick on Halloween?.. Nothing!

I got a call from Gabe's school, right around when I was heading out to attend his and Larissa's classroom activities, letting me know that after complaining of a headache he is now throwing up.
Needless to say, Gabe didn't go trick or treating that night. Poor kids stayed in bed, rolled into a human ball, only getting up to throw up more. I am kind of glad we didn't spend any money on his Halloween costume...

Larissa, Jon and I had to go out by ourselves. Dad stayed home, taking care of Gabe. Our lute was not large at all. It was probably the smallest we had in years. For some reason most of the houses in our are had their porch lights turned off and weren't giving out the candies. My only guess is that they were out with their kids too...

Saturday and Sunday was better for Gabe, who finally got over being sick, but worse for me because I got a terrible headache. Probably because of the weather changes, rain and all...

Let's just say that there was a lot of baked goodies by the end of the weekend, because that's what I do when I am stuck in the house :-)