Hello

I have a great husband. I shouldn't brag, but I feel I must. Last night my husband ran the dishwasher which I know sounds like a simple task and still I often forget to do it, but he doesn't. He then started the oven cleaner -- it worked for him and as you may recall, just before Thanksgiving it didn't work for me -- I thought it was busted.

This morning, do you know what my husband did? He emptied the dishwasher then proceeded to clean the tiny bits of charred crumbs out of the oven using a Shark vacuum cleaner. Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that. I would have been inside the oven, sponge in hand, cleaning it all bit by bit.

I shouldn't seem so surprised because he does stuff like this all the time. He truly is a remarkable man, and I just had to share this with the world -- and by world, I mean the five of you reading this. Hi, mom! (insert goofy wave here)

On Sunday morning we took the girls to the ice skating rink in Bellevue. It was a private event so the rink stayed fairly sparse allowing my girls to skate with the kind of freedom not seen during normal public skating hours. I rented skates and had hoped to skate with my girls but my tummy felt awful -- it felt queasy and not good at all.

I watched as my girls skated along the perimeter of the rink clawing their way along with big grins on their faces when suddenly I felt much too sick to stay. We had to cut our morning skate short which made me feel worse.

For the rest of the day I stayed home ill. Lucky for me it was just a 24 hour bug. It was gone by the next morning. Whew.

In other news, I'm working toward getting the house ready for winter break. I'm making sure we have glue sticks, pens, pencils, crayons, paper, books, etc. If my girls complain that they have nothing to do, I'm going to point them to the art station, the puzzles, the Littlest Pet Shop toys, and much more. Bored, I don't think so.

 

We've also started a painting project. Well, actually, it started off like this...

...my girls were screaming and yelling, tattling, snatching things from each other, crying and simply making a big fuss over nothing. Then of course I got in on it too. I started yelling and tattling and snatching all in an effort to diffuse the situation and needless to say, the situation escalated to more screaming and snatching. After a few minutes of this I said, in my eerie subdued voice, "Sammy, you're going to get a piece of paper and a pencil. Together, the three of us are going to come up with a list of House Rules. C'mon, chop chop, get the paper and pencil." I said, waving my hand gesturing the universal sign for, hop to it. 

Together we came up with rules about how to behave as a family. No Yelling is a rule we came up with along with, listen and allow others to be heard. There are many others including this one from Alex, No Pigs Allowed Because They'll Stink Up The Place. I know it sounds silly, but I guarantee you, she's right -- pigs are P.U.

We got out a small canvas for the girls to paint a rainbow of bright colors; upon which we'll write in the rules. I'll show you the finished product just as soon as it's done.

I don't think the House Rules will have much impact on our day to day, but what I am hoping is that the next time we have a big blow-out family feud, I'll be able to point to the rules and say, "No Yelling. See? It says so on our House Rules."

We will see. Winter break will be a good test.

And then lastly, Alex is reading so much lately. Every evening she piles books into her bed and reads. I'm thrilled but also a little worried that the reason why tempers are short after dinner is because Alex isn't getting enough sleep at  night. Hmmm, what to do? 

Thankful

Today is the last day of Thanksgiving break. It's been a soggy seven days with wind stripping away what leaves remained on sagging branches. Without the benefit of bushy shrubs to the east, our new neighbor's windows have full view of our bedrooms leaving us with very little, if any, privacy. On this Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for window treatments.

This year, both of my rascals helped make Thanksgiving dinner! Hurray! Together, we made the stuffing. It was such a thrill to have my girls working by my side cutting, chopping, squeezing, mixing, and stirring -- they really did a fantastic job. Alex practically made the cranberry sauce all by herself.

I had planned to tell you a story about why I put orange slices in the water pitcher, but considering how uneventful the story really is, I decided against it. Perhaps another time.

This year, Thanksgiving fell on Jon's birthday.

Every year we celebrate Jon's birthday, and his sister's birthday, on Thanksgiving because they both have November birthdays. But this year it was extra special and so I made a Chocolate Mocha Cake. You can find the recipe {here}. I also made the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting which you can find, {here}.

My sister-in-law brought homemade mini donuts sprinkled with all kinds of goodness. And to balance out the sweets, she made this amazing salad to go along with dinner.

Now. Let's talk turkey.

Each year I make the same thing. Roasted turkey breasts, corn bread stuffing, Bourbon yams, etc. etc. I have the menu down to a science -- it always comes out pretty well. Only this year, my meat thermometer failed me. It stayed stuck at 155 degrees and would not go beyond that. After we realized the thermometer wasn't working, Jon tested the turkey with his high-tech digital thermometer that he uses for grilling and discovered that the turkey was more than done -- it was overcooked. Blargh!

By this time, my guests were hungry. They ate the dry turkey smothered in gravy and didn't complain once. They were super sweet to me despite the mishap. I am so incredibly thankful for their unconditional love.