A quiet Thanksgiving

Hudson and Lily spent Thanksgiving with their mother, so Randy and I had a quiet day, I cooked and Randy watched. Hahaha! He's a good re-heater, but as far as cooking, I'd rather do it alone! So all in all, we had a nice peaceful day, with just enough food for the two of us! I forgot to take a picture of my homemade cheesecakes! It was scrumptious! And we still have one left!

Say hello to Tom, or goodbye really. He was delicious! I'll be honest, while I have roasted plenty of whole chickens, I knew Tom here would be completely different. But after watching the Food Network the weekend before, I found what makes the turkey keep its moisture and flavor! It's called brining. And if you ever cook a turkey, please take the time to brine the silly bird! You won't be sorry!

Here's our spread! Just enough for the two of us! And it was quite tasty! The only pre-made thing we ate were the brown-and-serve dinner rolls. Some herb bread would've been nice, but I have no clue (Mom!) how to make that stuff! Anyways, I had a great time trying new recipes and enjoying myself in the kitchen. I even made the stuffing from scratch! So, our menu was: turkey, corn, rolls, butternut squash, stuffing, and cream potatoes (for you northerners, cream potatoes are really just mashed potatoes with cream, butter, cheese, and I throw in a secret ingredient along with some herbs). And of course the cheesecake for dessert!

School Parties

The day before Thanksgiving Hudson and Lily's classes each had parties. Lily's class had a feast of all different foods, even sushi, yummo! And Hudson's class had a pie bash. Hudson ate six different pieces of pie! Yikes! But we all had a fun time!


Lily decided to tell me the morning of the party that she needed a pilgrim costume! Oh the joys of motherhood! I knew I at least had to make a hat! Couldn't let her be the only one without! So what did I do, you wonder? Grabbed some elmer's glue, some construction paper, and yarn, and headed to work to look up directions on how to make a pilgrim hat! Well, I suppose it turned out all right, you tell me! And in case you were wondering, not many kids dressed up, and Lily was the only one with a hat!

After five minutes of coaxing, she finally made a half-way serious face!

Lily and one of her girlfriends.

Hudson and his boys trying to wait patiently for their pie!

Clearly this was after the pie! Can you say sugar buzz?!

Our field trip to the goat ranch and apiary

On Friday, I went with the kids on their field trip to Whispering Dove Goat Ranch and Apiary. We had such a great time, and it was a rare treat to have both their classes going together! We saw tons of animals, free range, all organic and healthy animals. They even had bees! Hudson, who is normally scared to death of goats, actually pet two of them! I was so surprised! And Lily, of course, was not afraid of anything, and would have taken them all home had I allowed it! We went to the park after the ranch tour, where we ate lunch and played for quite awhile. I even ventured out with about 30 kids on the nature trail! Talk about chaos! But we had a great day! It was gorgeous outside, sunny and 75!

Hudson and his boys with their collections of feathers from the free range chickens and hens.

Lily petting the baby rabbit she would have put in her pocket if no one was paying attention!

This rooster gave us all a scare as he darted around the corner just a few feet away!

Hudson petting a goat! A first for him!

Lily on the swings at the park after lunch.

A few pics from Hudson's race

Hudson just coming out of the starting gate, he is the third racer on the right.


Hudson taking back the start of the race. And no, he is not about to fall over, that is how far he leans the bike over to get around the corners when he is going sooo fast! Crazy, huh!?

Hudson jumping a big table-top jump! Talk about getting some air!

Another shot of the table-top jump at the finish line. Sorry about that crazy guy with no shirt, I have no clue who that is!

Hudson landing after the table-top.

Halloween

Lily the cow, and Hudson as Yoda.

Hudson as Yoda, with the light saber that broke before we even left the house!

Lily, who has begged to milk a cow for three years! That is always her only wish! We have yet to find a dairy farm that actually allows for milking by hand. Not sure why she insisted on posing with the play rifle.

Yoda about to take out the cow.

My two little trick or treaters. It won't be long before we won't get to go anymore. They grow soooo fast!

Frosted Pumpkin Softies

Since Mom didn't believe that I have a cookbook by Debbie Mum, well, here's a picture for proof!

And here are some pictures of the super tasty Frosted Pumpkin Softies from the book! Lily and I had so much fun making cookies for her bake sale at school! And all the proceeds go to their missionary pen pal! How wonderful! And don't you just love the flavors of fall!

I know I do!

Fair

Here are some pictures from our adventures at the Onslow County Fair last night. We went early in the afternoon and met up with Kenny and Stacy, and their kids Mitchell and Miranda. We had such a great time, played a few games, ate some good ole fair food, and rode rides. I ate the best funnel cake I've ever had last night. It was so thick, hot, a little crispy on the outside, but still a little gooey on the inside! Wonderful! Also had a bite of a fried snickers for the first time, yummo! We had a blast, Hudson and Lily talked about it all the way to school this morning! You know kids, they were dreaming of living there!

Lily's first ride of the evening, the Frog Hopper!

Lily and me on Pharaoh's Fury

Lily's attempt to climb the ladder

Didn't quite make it!


Hudson's attempt to climb the ladder!

So close!

Bumper cars! This was one of the favorite things to do! They had an excuse to hit each other!

The caterpillar roller coaster, Lily in front, Hudson in back.

Hudson and Lily on the swings

Hudson's favorite ride, the Cliff Hanger! (Mitchell, Lily, Hudson)

Miranda and Lily on the Fun Slide!

Mitchell and Hudson took a turn on the slide.

And then Stacy and I decided we ought to take a turn too!

They got a little bored waiting for the pizza, so we had a photo shoot! The silly face picture is much more fun than the serious face pose!

Lily's favorite ride, The Disko! She is my dare devil, would've ridden everything if we let her!

Dinner last night

So last night I had some extra time on my hands, which I probably should have used to clean, but instead I decided to use my time to make two meals, tri-colored peppers stuffed with meatloaf, topped with tomatoes and tomato sauce, pasta with corn and tomatoes on the side, and a breakfast casserole for us to eat this week in the mornings. I thought the meatloaf stuffed peppers were too cute, so here are a few pictures. And Mom, in case you were wondering, there is no rice in these peppers, although I thought about it, I wanted pasta on the side. And no, the meat filling does not really taste like traditional meatloaf, it was WAY better!

Alright Meg, here it is...

Okay, so Megan asked for a picture of me with my new bag and shoes. Well, here's me with my new bag. But since black does not go with navy, my shirt underneath my jacket, I clearly could not wear my new black flats today. I guess my purse is bigger than I thought, these pictures make it look huge!