A recent evening at home. I got out Laedyn's quilt (made by Lori Maxwell) so she could do some tummy time. It's not really her favorite thing to do.

Laedyn thought I was a crazy lady laying on the floor trying to get her to look at me.

Brandon saw Laedyn on the quilt and was SURE it was HIS quilt! We had to go in his room to make sure it wasn't. Then he wanted to have his out in the living room to lay on too. And since Laedyn had a pillow, Brandon thought he needed one too. He was happy that his quilt was slightly larger than hers. Aren't they beautiful??? I mean the quilts, but the kids are too...hahahaha

Here's a link to a funny video my cousin sent me in an e-mail.

glumbert - Best wedding first dance ever

Happy Thanksgiving

It was alot of work, but delicious. I guess I was too busy in the kitchen to take a ton of photos, but I did get a couple. Mom bought a 13 pound turkey & Nick did the initial prep work -defrosting it & pulling out all the yucky parts. Then he carefully peeled the skin away from the meat & stuffed pats of butter between them. This was the suggestion in America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. Anyone who hasn't checked out his book would be well advised to do so - it has ALWAYS been right! This time was no different. (Kudos to Mike & Lori Maxwell for giving the book to us several years ago. We love it!) Needless to say, the turkey was FABULOUS!!!!

After Nick had the bird settled into the roasting pan (on top of a couple metal cooling racks), I poured melted butter over top and sprinkled it with season salt. Then I poured a can of chicken broth into the roaster with some diced carrots, onions and celery. Once the turkey came out of the oven it was falling off the bones - literally. We all thought the bits of carrots were really yummy too!
The night before, I made mini corn muffins and a pumpkin pie. We used Marie Callendar's frozen pie crust & it was really good. Better than those Pillsbury roll out ones. Mom also made a pecan pie. I found a recipe that called for Maple Syrup on top of what's normally in a pecan pie. How could you go wrong with Maple Syrup??? (we're talking the real stuff that originates in a tree here) Well - this was DEFINATELY the WRONG way to go. I compared it to a toxic dirty diaper. It had this HORRIBLE aftertaste. I shudder to think of it even now as I am writing about it. We had to throw the whole pie away. SO the moral of the story is - DO NOT add maple syrup to a perfectly good pecan pie - no matter how reasonable the recipe makes it sound... You'll be sorely diappointed. I might have to make a decent pecan pie this weekend, just to make up for the fiasco!
Here's the complete spread (well the pies are in the kitchen & the toxicity of the pecan pie is as yet undiscovered). I made sour cream mashed potatoes - just because there was a partial container of sour cream in the fridge that needed a purpose. Mom made a Waldorf Salad and steamed some freh green beans. I think the Waldorf Salad was Brandon's favorite part of dinner. I also made fresh cranberries (with Splenda), gravy, and sweet potato casserole covered in marshmallows. Brandon was getting really excited about eating & banged his head. You can see he's holding a kids cold pack on it. He cried a bit, but once food was on his plate, his injury was forgotten.
After dinner we had chocolate martinis. The first batch I mixed 2 shots of vanilla vodka + 1 shot Godiva white chocolate liquor + 1 shot kaluah. Then a poured chocolate syrup on the inside of the class in an artistic design. They were pretty strong. The second batch I changed to 1 shot of vodka and 2 shots of Godiva plus the 1 shot of kahlua instead. That was a much better combination - if I remember correctly. (hahahaha. Yes that's the correct recipe.) Try it - you'll like it! Although I didn't take any pictures of it, we played some Mexican Train too. That was fun for a change. Nick doesn't like to play games, so it's nice to have someone to play with for a change.