Silent night

Is it bad manners to take pictures in church?

More Christmas party

We've partied a lot today, and it's only 3pm.
Today was the neighborhood Breakfast With Santa, which Bob and Parker attended, and immediately afterward, we headed to Addison for Bob's work Christmas party.  It's always a pretty fun time as Christmas parties go.  Parker enjoys herself more and more each year.  They have great face painters...she got snowflakes.  There's also a polar bear on her cheek from the first party.  Glad she stuck with a theme.

 

Bowling is always our favorite part of the party.  This is the first time in a couple years that we've bowled though...usually we have a marathon/half marathon to run the next day and  we are too worried that we'll tire out our legs.  Parker manages to do pretty well (there are bumpers for her) despite pretty slow ball speed.

 I'm sure Bob will hack into this and delete the scoreboard pic.  The last 3 scores are Parker's, mine and his respectively.  He finally caught up at the very end to win by just a couple points....picking up a spare on the last frame I think.  I'm sure next year he'll do a little more training.

 

Facepainting at the Christmas party

Artwork on display

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.