Happy Thanksgiving

This was my first year to try cooking the Thanksgiving meal. I did a ton of prep work and Bob handled the turkey situation, and it all turned out quite nicely. The way we reconfigured the counter tops (moving the cooktop off the island) really give me a lot more functional counter space for time like this.

Last minute preparations

Turkey breast carving lessons

The finished spread. (I put everything in the bar next to the dining room for easy access to seconds)

The menu was:

Herb Roasted Turkey Breast and Gravy
A spicy and a traditional Cornbread Dressing (store bought)
Green Beans w/ bacon and shallots
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Sweet Potatoes with Streusel Topping
Roasted Root Veggies with Orange Maple Glaze
Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Relish (regular and chipotle, both store bought)
Homemade Sourdough Rosemary Focciaca bread.

Luckily , we got a head start on Christmas, because we're going to use the rest of the weekend for napping.

Oldie but goodie

I can't believe they were ever this litte!

Learning to focus

 

Bob got me a new camera for my birthday a while back.  It's the kind where you can focus it yourself....I'm still learning how to do that.  Notice Parker in the background wearing the Happy Meal box upside down on her head. 

Links for Norma

Parker's aunt Norma asked for the recipe for the tarts.  Since she's far away, and it's unlikely we'll show up at the same bake sale, I'll go ahead and share my recipes.  :-)

For the little tarts, I basically followed what this gal did on her blog (the underlined words are the links to the websites).  I added some little dot of butter before baking and some sanding sugar and brushed them with melted apricot jam when they came out....it seals it and give it a golden color.  I've also tried it with apples, cinnamon, etc and it was great.  Pears are good too.  A fancy variation I haven't had a chance to try yet would be to add some cheese under the filling....gorgonzola w/ pears or sharp cheddar or brie with apples.  I found it easier to form the tarts and then add the filling.  If you put too much filling and don't fold the edges over enough, they fall apart in the oven.  Bob is the happy consumer of the 'ugly tarts'.
I've also gotten ooh and aaah over using Ina Garten's French Apple Tart recipe too...I've done it full size and half size. I think it needs a bit of an edge to it though, so keep everything from running all over the baking pan.
I like to spread out the labor....make the dough and roll and cut one day, and then make the filling, form tarts and bake the next day....so it's about an hour each day, minus the baking time.

Here's the link for the Pumpkin Pie Bites.  The filling shrinks down quite a bit after they bake.  I had the same pumpkin cookie cutter she did, but I'm sure you can get away with just using a circle.  I used store bought pie dough and I thought it needed something to make it more brown/shiny....maybe brush with egg wash?  In the link, the gal piped chocolate on hers for the faces, but I used cream cheese frosting, chocolate didn't sound good to me. 

Happy baking!!

Fall baking

 

I hosted book club recently and made some fall treats.  I think the pumpkins are the cutest...but I got more compliments on the peach tarts. 

Reading log request

Attn: teacher types

I'm in need of a printable reading log for Parker to chart how much she reads per week. I think we are going to do it by minutes per day....and have a goal of x minutes per week. Her teacher says she should be doing 15-20 minutes/day of reading. I can whip something up on Excel easy enough, but if anyone has a handy link to one, send it on. My plan B will be to just have her write her minutes down on a sticker and put it on the calendar, then add up the minutes each week, but that's sort of boring.

Thanks in advance. Here's a quick picture to enjoy. Bob and Parker both playing their favorite game, Angry Birds.

Fall Foliage

 

Aren't the trees pretty this year?  Ours are some of the first to begin to turn.  I think the stress of the dry summer helps their color. 

No interesting news around here.  We made it through the busy Halloween weekend and now we're gearing up for the rest of the holidays.

Parker funny:  she was at a friends house yesterday and when she came home, she mentioned that the neighbor had given them some M&M's.  I know the neighbor, so it's no big deal, but I took the opportunity for a 'teachable moment' and told Parker if we're not with her, she should not take candy from anyone, even neighbors, blah blah blah.

Without missing a beat Parker said "ok.  I need to go write myself a note that says "no trick or treating next year."  When Bob and I closed our jaws, we reminded her that technically, we go with her to trick or treat, so that doesn't count.  Little smarty pants.

More pics

(written last night)

I'm going to try to get some pictures posted ...in between trips up the stairs for "my tummy hurts".  Halloween is a rough time for those with reflux.

  Parker, Sarah and "Cujo", smeared with fake blood.  Parker would like you to notice her new Roxy hightops

The 'little girls' of the group.  Sarah had already ditched her shoes. 

Big girls and little girls

  Are you wondering "what about bob?".... he had an opportunity to go to the World Series tonight, so that's why he's conspicuously absent.  He's had the decency not to send me any pictures of himself cheering Rangers, holding up #1, yelling woohoo, so I have none to post.  I don't begrudge him one bit for going, I enthusiastically encouraged it....too bad he wasn't more of a good luck charm though. 

Halloween pic

Here's a quick pic taken earlier. We've just returned from Trick or Treating and I'm about to try the impossible task of getting Parker bathed and into bed. She has school tomorrow morning, which will be very pretty I'm sure.

Kitchen drapery, Parker knits

The drapery install guy came just now and put up the drapes in the kitchen dining nook.  They look really nice and really help bring some warmth to that back corner.  The fabric is a print, you can't really tell until you are close up.  Here's a scan of it.

...it reminds me of a dress I used to have when I was little  that my mom or sister made  (although the dress was purple).  Looks a little busy close up like that, but from a distance, it 'reads' as a solid.

And here's a quick Parker pic, working on her latest craft project.  I got her a long loom and she's 'knitting' a scarf for her stuffed animal.  You have to wrap the yarn around the loom just so, and then use the little hook to slip one loop over the other.  We watched some Youtube videos for instruction and she can nearly do all the wrapping part by herself, but she needs someone to check her work just be sure it's wrapped right.  The slipping of the loops with the tool she can do totally on her own.  Her legs look so long in the picture!

Answer for Emily

 

On the previous post/picture, Emily asked,  "Oh! So beautiful! Did you straighten her hair or has it just gotten that straight since it has been growing? " 

Yes, I straightened it for the school picture, by her special request.  It looked way better when she left the house.  The picture above is her normal hair in its natural state. 

 

Seeing Red

These are Parker's school pictures. Is it just me, or do they have their color correction slider a bit too far towards the red head side?

I've had some uploading troubles lately...hopefully if this makes it to the internet, I'm back in blog business.

Library tip

Parker:  "I'd like to get a book about dogs from the school library."

Me:  "Really?!  I was there today for volunteer orientation!  Did you know that to find a book about dogs, you look for the shelf that has a stuffed dog above it?"

Parker:  "oh.  I usually just look in Non-Fiction."

Choosing Battles

A long time ago Parker's grandmother brought her this big stuffed chicken, with the explanation of "every little girl needs a big stuffed chicken", or something like that. He is really cute, I can see how it was a difficult purchase to resist. He made his way to the bottom of the toy basket, but has recently bubbled to the surface and become the favored animal that Parker drags around the house with her. And he's even big enough to have his own pillow to rest his head at night in her bed.
On friday she came home with a note that said since she had gotten x number of reward 'bucks' at school, she gets to choose a reward....one of which is bringing a stuffed animal from home to sit on her desk all day (*cough* cheapskate teacher) .
One guess which one she wants to bring.

I'm all for letting her express herself, but I'm drawing the line at Big Chicken going to school.

Kitchen Pictures

We are FINALLY nearly complete. There are still some decorative things I need to get done and the kitchen table needs to be moved back in.
More comentary coming soon.

Wiggly tooth

Not the cutest picture, but I was anxious to post it.  Parker has her first loose tooth.  It's not totally loose on it's own accord...she somehow bit her finger and that loosened it, but I'm assuming it will eventually come out.  She's a little freaked out about it, and so am I.

Hurricane, hurricane go away.

We've had a super rainy day today, I think they said 6 inches fell in a 24 hour period at the airport, but I bet we got more than that out here.  During dinner time, it get very tornado-y around the Dallas area, but it all fell apart before it got to us, thankfully.

Doing homework

Carla
- via mobile phone

Progress

The kitchen is still sloooowly creeping along.  Today someone was here for several hours just filling in nail holes with wood putty. I think he has turtle DNA.

We finally have a couple areas that we can 'move in' to this weekend if we want. The bar and the laundry room are pretty much complete.  There are a million areas over the entire kitchen that need little bits of trim or little paint or caulk touch ups...and that's before Bob make HIS punch list. 

Parker is a first grader!

I'm a little sore from doing handsprings and clicking my heels in the air, but I'll try to write a little something.  

Drop off went well....when we got there, most of the class were there already (translation:  we were running a little late), so Parker seemed a little shell shocked, but she found her seat and the place to put her backpack, and that was it. 

Here are the traditional pictures.  I think next year I'm going to change the tradition and post the pictures on the SECOND day of school.  Usually on the first day, by the time I get everything edited and put together just so, half my day is gone, and I'm way behind on all the things I had planned for the day:  hearing myself think, completing a task without interruption, and a lot of other NOTHING. 

I did my best to line things up and scale them the same, but it's still not quite a 1:1 comparison because she doesn't always stand the same distance away from the door.  Also this year, we've added the hip out/slouch pose. Remember, you can click on the pictures to see them larger in their own window.

I feel like I should have made her dress up more, but this is her uniform right now:  denim shorts and tshirt with a cat or dog on the front.  As soon as I let her, we'll change that to tshirts and jeans.  I sort of wish she'd want to get more dressed up, but it's hard to complain about only buying $5 tshirts.  You can also see how much my standards have dropped when you look at her footwear.  It doesn't show, but I did at least give her a fresh coat of polish on her toenails.