How The Boy spent Thanksgiving

 Technically I think this is the night before..but the reading material  choice is so, um, interesting...

This also is the day before...abut 3:00, approximately 15 minutes before he said, "um....I feel sweaty and gross...I'm going to go change out of these jammies"

 4th grade turkey project:  Write a story about how your turkey is going to hide on Thanksgiving and then dress the turkey accordingly..can you guess who this is?

 Thanksgiving morning...in pajamas that were changed into because the others were sweaty..(see above)...having a lollipop for breakfast

In new pajamas (again), helping Mr. IM put the turkey in a paper sack to bake.

Where is The Girl?  Sleeping....or hiding....I'm sure she will appear at some point...



I think the most entertaining part is the parade of pajamas....he kept changing...but never into clothes...today they are all dressed and skiing/snowboarding....and the pajamas are all in the laundry!

Thanksgiving Present

Last year's Thanksgiving post was about Thanksgivings Past...This year I bring to you Thanksgiving Present (not to be confused with presents on Thanksgiving...see last year's post for some of those).

We decided late last week that staying home is the way to go--we have two invitations to join friends, but decided that all of us will benefit from cooking at home and hanging out in our jammies.  And this way we'll have leftoevers....yum!  IM says we all have to get dressed before lunch, but I'm thinking of testing that ultimatum.  The kids and I picked up about 5 movies at the library, so I figure between that and football...we're good.  Especially since we'll probably have to get dressed and leave the house at some point anyway.

Here's our tentative menu...some recipes included below:
Breakfast...hmm..I'm thinking something in the cinnamon roll family?

Turkey (family recipe--see below)
sweet potatoes
gravy
green beans
green bean cassarole
key lime pie (ok, fake key lime)
pumpkin cheesecake
smashed potatoes
rolls
cranberry sauce
stuffing
roasted vegetables

I'm sure I'm forgetting something important...but I think we'll be good!
Turkey--Mr IM's grandma's "famous" recipe:

Key Lime Pie ---My mom actually makes this with sugar free ingredients and makes a strawberry version as well--very tasty! (and easy)

6-8 ServingsPrep/Total Time: 30 min.

Ingredients

• 1 package (3 ounces) lime gelatin
• 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) key lime pie yogurt
• 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 graham cracker crust (9 inches)

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine gelatin powder and yogurt. Fold in whipped
• topping. Spread into crust. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes
• before serving. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Pumpkin Cheesecake 

Cranberry Sauce

Time keeps on ticking...

Are you all singing the song now?

This is one of those days where I have a hard time being patient--the Monday before Thankgiving break.  It is one of the days when it is tempting to want time to fly by and get us to break sooner...but easy to forget to be in the moment.

When I was in college I attended a Bible Study where we talked about knowing that earth is not our home, but to also be in the moment while we are here.  A hard lesson to follow...

Say a prayer for me today, that I remember to be in the moment with my students and co-workers today and tomorrow--that I be who and what they need now, here, in this moment.

Santa Bread

It is a little early for Christmas stuff...but this is too cute (and I have a running joke about gnomes with a couple friends).  I came across this recipe last week and thought I'd try it....Here are my results:


 This is Santa before  he was baked and below is one after.  I made him as a gnome instead of Santa, because Santa would be seasonally inappropriate. This time I used the bread recipe included and followed all the directions--I'm not thrilled with how the egg brush turned out on his beard.  I think the next time I'll use my grandma's coffee cake recipe and maybe only the egg brush on the colored portions of his face..  I also made four smaller Santas from the recipe that says makes one large Santa --I think that they were a good size to share with a friend...I might make them slightly smaller and serve the mas a holiday breakfast.

Good-bye, Indy Dog

Indy Dog's health has deteriorated quickly in the past few months.  In addition to "all the usual" old dog problems (arthritis, some slight liver issues), she developed a tumor on her face.  The vet has been wonderful, working with us to decide what to do and which issues to treat and how to treat them.  She had a long and happy life--almost doubling her mother (Truffle Dog)'s lifespan of 8 years.  We consider ourselves blessed that we had such a great pet, a protector (at least against squirrels...and that one time when the motion sensor lights went on in the middle of the night), a playmate for the kids, and the softest fur ever.  She provided us with years of entertainment, romping through the woods, looking for bunnies, and Christmas trees. Indy was the receiver of The Girl's first sentence ("Not for you, Dog!") and we're pretty sure used to help Tigger get in the trash can.  And we know that she helped both kids learn to walk...and she never met a baby gate that could hold her (well, at least not until the last year).

Last night, when I arrived home at 10 pm after a very long (good, but long) day, I found Mr. IM almost in Indy's kennel with her--her tumor had burst or been torn and she had bled all over the house.  He had her cleaned up, and her and the kids calmed down, but it was clear that this is probably it.  She wasn't walking well and was obviously in pain so we made the difficult decision to have her put to sleep.

Indy, you were a great dog and will be missed.
March 7, 2000 - November 18, 2014

2000

2000, partners in crime

2002, "learning" to chase sticks with The Girl

2005

2010

Her favorite place to sleep until the last few months

September 2014, wearing her fashionable scarf

Other blogs about Indy...

August 2013 blog introduction

Indy's relationship with the others

A Boy-ism

The Girl, "I think maybe I want to be a vet".
The Boy, "You want to be in the military and then get out?"

What I read in October!

My daughter just informed me that she "loves to read my blog, but the 'what I read' blogs are stupid".  Oh, well....enjoy, child :)

1.  39 Clues:  Flashpoint So here's what was really good about this book.  It was the last one in the series.  And the last series in the collection.  So....we really did enjoy listening to the adventures of Amy and Dan as they searched for the 39 Clues and then saved the world over and over again...and I'm glad they can now just be kids.  Until they decide to write another series I guess.  Final opinion on the whole collection?  Worth it--especially as a book on CD--the kids and I enjoyed them, the reader was decent, the storylines entertaining...but I'm glad they are done!
2.  My Sisters, The Saints (Colleen Carroll Campbell) I picked this up at the library after seeing it in a display at church.  Amazon calls it a "spiritual memoir" and I'd say that is accurate.  It tells one woman's story through her young adult life and who her spiritual mentors or role models were at each stage.  It included brief biographies of each of the women, all saints in the Catholic Church as well as stories about the author's life.
3.  The Best of Me (Nicholas Sparks)  Those of you who know me personally know I'm a sucker for a good Nicholas Sparks book...don't bother with this one if you feel the same.  One of my least favorite of his books...I could tell what was coming about half way through.  It was still a tear jerker, but not up to his usual standard.
4.  Legend (Marie Lu)  Ok, Child, if you are reading--read this--loved this book!  It is a young adult, post apocalyptic story about life in what used to be the Western United States.  It has a lot of similarities to the Hunger Games series, but a different twist.  Very entertaining, has a love story, has adventure and part is set in Denver (or maybe that is one of the other two books in the series)
5.  I Will Fear No Evil (Debbie Viguie)  I still want to know "what happens next" in this series...and this book was better than a couple of the others in the series.  I guess there could be up to 8 more...so I won't hold my breath to get to the "happy ending"
6.  Life Before Legend (Marie Lu)  This was free for a few days on Amazon, part of a promotion to get us to buy the trilogy, I suppose!  It gave some back story and character development for the Legend series...if you read the Legend Trilogy, pick this up, too.
7.  Prodigy (Marie Lu) I think I actually held my breath at points, hoping that the story wouldn't "take a turn for the stupid" like other trilogies have.  It was good--still entertaining!
8.  Champion (Marie Lu)  I read an interview with Marie Lu about this book in which she said that she hoped "her fans didn't hate her after reading the ending".  After my experience with Allegient (Argh!  Still makes me frustrated!) I was kind of hesitant...and I have to say I liked the ending!  It isn't what I expected and it was well done. Yay!

Total so far this year?  81...

Next up on the reading list:
Reedemed--the 12th book in that crazy vampire series that I couldn't stop reading last winter  stay tuned... I'm sure it will be an exciting report....
and someday I promise I really will write my report on Drive, I did finish it, sort of (I skipped a couple chapters) so I hadn't included it in my list yet..

Flashback! Spring Break 2012

In honor of us "winning" the Breck cabin again this year, today's post is a flashback to the last week we spent there--I bring you Spring Break 2012!

Last time we did this over a long weekend--actually over Easter.  The kids were off for a four day weekend and I took the time off.  Mr. IM"s dad (Grandude) and his sister and her husband met us at the cabin for some skiing and family time. I love this bear...I really want one...

 This is the view from the back door--just out of sight is the Blue River.  We had great weather...warm spring skiing, nice enough to be outside when not skiing, too!  I spent a lot of time on that deck enjoying the sunshine.

 One of the four bedrooms.  There are three downstairs--one being this one, with not only six single beds (bunk bed style) but also a tv.  And Elmo, face down on the floor.  Poor Elmo.  The other three bedrooms have queen size beds and there are three full baths as well (and I think a half bath?)

 View from the living room.  The cabin is about 3 miles outside of Breckenridge--in a neighborhood, but far enough out of town that there wasn't a lot of traffic or noise --and close enough that running into town was realistic.  From the couch(es) you can see out the windows and watch nature.

 This cabin is really awesome...if I owned it, I'm not sure I'd be able to stand renting it out because I'd want to be there all the time.  It is a great set up for extended family and/or friends--the big table pictured seats 8 and there are two kitchen bars, seating a total of 7 more people, as well as a couple picnic tables outside.  We brought up frozen and easy prep meals so we could do most dinners here and ate lunches on the ski mountain.

 Here are the men folk--Grandude, Uncle M, and Mr. IM, enjoying a quiet evening.  I think Mr IM even broke down and played cards with us.  There is also a tv in this room, but we didn't use it much while the whole family was there, and a fireplace, that we didn't use much because it was so warm!

Oh, and there is a hot tub--big enough for most of us...nice, right?

 Grandude rented a mini van, since at this time we'd all fit in one.  Now we have a seven passenger vehicle, too, but since Cousin L has joined the family, we'd have to rent a bigger van or take two cars!  We all piled in the van a couple times--this time to go to Easter Mass--notice The Boy's tie....Another time we all piled in and went downtown for dinner.

 The property is right on the river and has swings to sit on and watch the icebergs float by--it was fairly warm though--note the shorts and fleece...welcome to Colorado!

 Ah, this was the night we went into town for dinner.  We're sitting in a restaurant that used to be a barge and The Girl was hungry and tired...ready for the camera to be out of her face at least...

 She pepped up a bit after dinner--whew!

 This was the reaction of the very back seat when the driver tried to exit the parking lot over a curb and the wrong way...ok, this was after the actual reaction, but I made them re-enact it.

 And this is The Boy's reaction...hysterical giggles...

 After the extended family left, there was some lounging around on the couches and yes, some tv...

 Followed by another dinner trip to town--this time to Bubba Gumps...'cause you know, nothing says landlocked ski town like a seafood restaurant...mmmm....Bubba Gumps...

 Can you tell I'm excited to go back?

The Mane Event

Every year in early November the kids' school has a big fundraiser, usually at a hotel, with a silent auction, dinner, and a live auction.  The last couple years we've stayed at a hotel and The Girl has been in charge of her brother and a couple of his friends for the evening.

This year the event was at the Brown Palace Hotel, in downtown Denver, instead of at a chain in the suburbs.  I was (am?) actually in a bit of trouble, because when I tried to make reservations at the Brown, I found out that there was no way to have adjoining rooms or to guarantee rooms on the same floor to make The Girl's babysitting task easier...however, the Brown is connected to the Comfort Suites, which, amazingly, have suites. With some reluctance (tempered by the fact that a two bedroom two bathroom suite at the "other" hotel was only slightly more than a "Queen bed room" at the Brown) I booked a suite and was assured that the two hotels were connected by the "heated skybridge" so we could easily "run over" and back.  In a long-ish saga, that I'm not even going to try to explain here, we ended up not in the two bedroom suite, but in two one-bedroom suites on the same floor--no worries!  After finally getting into our fancy clothes, we four adults hopped in the elevator and headed for the 2nd floor to traipse across the street via the heated sky bridge.  But, lo and behold...when the elevator doors opened, we discovered that our event was actually on the Comfort Suites side of and on the bridge (yay!). In fact, the elevator was right in the middle of the festivities. Huh, aren't I amazing? Ok, I'm still in trouble because we didn't have the opportunity to stay in a potentially haunted Brown Palace room.  But seriously, a room at the CS could be haunted, too! It took so long to clean so we could get into the second room that we wondered if they were cleaning up after a murder or something...eesh.

The event appears to have been a success--we came home with several silent auction items and a live auction win to this cabin for spring break. We actually "won" it a few years ago, too and spent a week there with Mr IM's Dad, sister, and brother in law.  This time we'll be joined by some families from the kids school and potentially Grandude.

Sunday morning we enjoyed our "free" breakfast (mmm....complimentary continental breakfast), did a little sightseeing of the Brown and headed home to get ready for the week.

As we were leaving we chatted and decided that while the event was awesome and it was really fun to have in a historic venue...that next year we kind of hope they return to the land of suburbia and bigger rooms--it was pretty crowded while we all browsed the silent auction goodies in the hallway and waited for dinner!

Happy (very late) Halloween!

Halloween fell during my fall break, as it often does, so I had the day off.  The kids also had the day off...apparently their school just couldn't deal with the idea of having school on Halloween so they scheduled a teacher work day.  The Girl opted to spend her day shadowing at a high school near our church, so that left The Boy and I to entertain ourselves (and everyone else).


Our festivities started the night before--with The Boy demonstrating what they did at their classroom party ("hello, Mr. Ghost"), carving pumpkins, and making stuff out of the pumpkin parts (spicy pumpkin seeds and real pumpkin pasties).

Halloween morning The Boy and I visited Target to pick up misc stuff (like mac and cheese for dinner and Halloween clearance--no good clearance--boo!) and to stalk all the toys (he had me take about 30 photos to use to write his "I want" list for Christmas and his birthday).

We had lunch at Chick Fil A with some friends and then headed to downtown for Trick or Treat Street.  It takes a lot less time than it used to...I told my friend, T, that it used to be like a death march...taking hours to get through one street.  This year we were done in about an hour...benefit of kids who can walk!













We returned home to meet up with The Girl and Mr. IM--shadow day was successful--and had Halloween mac and cheese and mummy dogs for dinner while The Girl and her friend primped and got ready to go out.  The original plan was for the middle school girls to take their brothers, but one of the boys (not The Boy) wanted his dad to go along, so the girls struck off on their own while the dads took the boys and I passed out candy at home (about 50 kids came by, including my kids and their friends.  Twice.).  Liberty had to hang out in her kennel because she can't be trusted to behave.

Happy Late Halloween!