Being Thankful

Alfred is done. He looks cooked. He has been cooking for 12 hours now. He really should be done. We aren't eating until 1 though. Not very good timing, I admit, but I am very THANKFUL he is fully cooked! One family who was coming is no longer coming because they are puking. I am very THANKFUL they are puking there instead of here. It is a gorgeous day and my sister's clan is on their way and I am very THANKFUL for that too. My hubby is cleaning the bathrooms, my youngest is playing Life and the oldest is having a great time doing school. I am THANKFUL that we are all healthy, happy and here together. Oh, and the post is done for the countertop and I am THANKFUL for that too! And I am very THANKFUL that Thanksgiving is almost over so we can move on to my most favorite holiday season! And I am THANKFUL I am almost done shopping so now I can smile at those around me instead of being a grabby grouch in the stores. Have a great THANKSGIVING!

Turkey

I am in the process of cooking my turkey. Why did I ever think this would be a simple and easy thing to do. It started off with me going to the grocery store on Sunday to get the turkey.
"Oh, maybe I should get this great big one", I thought to myself. "Yes, this is a very good turkey. What a great choice."
Ryland agreed, so off we went. We got it home.
"Oh, this is a very heavy turkey", I said to my husband.
"How big is it?" he says to me.
"Big, 24 pounds."
"What are we going to do with a 24 pound turkey?"
"I guess cook it. The lady at the store said it would be really easy. Just get it ready the night before and cook it on 200 the whole night. Turn it up a couple of hours before you are ready to eat and it will be perfect! She has been doing it for 20 years," I tell my husband.
"Okay."

So the night is upon me and my friend Heather has to come over and show me because I really have no idea. I knew nothing about turkeys or all of their misc body parts that come with them. We prepare it and then find out the USDA does not approve of cooking a turkey under 325. Great. Now what. Well, right now we have decided to cook it for the most part quickly at 450 and then pretty much keep it warm (above 225 which is well above the temp for bacteria to really take off) for the next 12 hours. Whatever. It might be dry tomorrow, but it is in a pretty nifty bag. I am really not sure I am going to be able to eat it after all of that. And his name is Alfred.

Flicking

Today Ryland asked me how to flick. I showed him and he said, "My flick doesn't hurt." I asked him why he wanted to hurt himself with a flick. He said, "I am practicing so when I have kids and they do things wrong, I can flick them." Great... So I continued down this line of questioning and said, "Do you think your kids will do things wrong?" He shakes his head yes. "They won't know what to do yet. I will flick them so they can learn to be nice." Great...talk about some great parenting on my part...knife in heart....twist....kids sure don't sugar-coat things.

Turkey

I bought a 24 pound turkey yesterday. I don't know what to do with it, but there it is, sitting in my fridge...because the grocery store lady told me I needed to start defrosting it...already...This is going to be interesting...I hope I get it cooked all the way through...I hope it fits in the bag and in the pan...Too bad I am trying this out on people who aren't close enough to me to just laugh it off...They probably think I am a great cook or something...Why else would I have offered to host Thanksgiving...And to make matters worse, my sister is sick and isn't sure they will make it either! So, if I go down in flames, it's going to be all by myself. Oh, Abeline....what a stupid town for all of the people who would understand (and cooked for me) to be going to. Even if it is my fault they are going:(

Blast from the past

I opened my email today and had a few pictures sent to me from my brother, so I thought I would have a blast from the past posting. (And because I waited outside of the New Moon premiere for 5 hours, 3 out, 2 in, like I was a teenager with no kids to get me up in the morning at 630.) And because we were talking about facial hair last night at the movies, I thought I would post one of my hubby's most memorable facial hair moments. And I say moments because he only had it for a moment. (One of the biggest perks of the AF) And I wasn't sure if I had ever posted Ry's first day of School pictures (going to our co-op). And the golfing pictures are from my brother from this summer. Collin loves golfing, Ryland loves running over the course and the cart. He even thought he should pull it up all by himself... actually, I think they both tried that at least once. They are going to be amazing drivers when they grow up with all this practice...or have too much confidence in their driving... And a picture of Collin this summer when he was still in his, "I am not a big boy. I am the baby!" phase.

And it was a good movie. I will be seeing it again next week when my sister comes, but we are going to watch Twilight first. This movie improved by leaps and bounds from the acting and special effects of the first one. I can't wait for the next 2 now. It kind of makes me wish I hadn't found this series until the movies were all out. I don't want to wait 2 years to see the last two. Ahh, patience is a virtue...

Acorns

Yesterday we decided it was time to tackle the yard after our vacation. I asked Ryland to help me pick up the acorns that had fallen and I told him that I would give him a dollar for every bucket full he picked up. Boy, did I ever underestimate the amount of acorns that were on the ground. I had started raking them into a pile and he took some and filled his bucket. When I saw how much, or should I say, how little a dent it made in the pile, I figured I needed to help or he wouldn't need Christmas this year because he could buy every toy he wanted. All in all, he made $20. Pretty good haul for a 5 year old. Especially considering it only took him an hour.

Eye surgery and some more Disney pictures

The green power ranger was really into his role. Whenever he moved or punched or whatever he made the sounds to go with it.

Onto the eye surgery. Hubby has been a champion of rest these past few days and because of it, hasn't had any trouble with pain or anything. He has been following the directions exactly and his recovery has been really smooth. His eye sight is good enough now that he is legally able to drive in all 50 states and should continue to get sharper as the days go by. The light is still a bit of a bother though and he prefers to be indoors when the sun is out. (or maybe he is just getting geared up for New Moon!) He has to wear sunglasses outdoors for the next year constantly and use eye drops as much as possible. But all in all, a success and he is really excited about the results. I got to watch it and I am up for it too. I kept waiting for them to offer, but it never happened. Too bad. I think when I am 30, it will be a great time for me to have it done too.....

A few more pictures

A few more pictures from the trip. Hubby found a few new shirts so I suggested some old ones go in the trash. He agreed, Ryland did not. He put it on and said he was going to keep it until he was big...just like his dad. "Look Mom, it still works! I'll just keep it until I'm a dad." Yep, a chip off the old block there. (The shirt has to be from before 2001. It is time for it to go!) It did manage to find its way to the trash after bedtime.







When Uncle Dayton and Nicole came down for the weekend, they managed (or should I say my dad managed) to get an free upgrade for their car. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of it, but my dad has a habit of trying to embarrass us whenever possible (he focuses most of it on Dayton nowadays though). When we were at Universal, he bought a Men in Black shirt that looked like a suit coat w tie. Then he cut off the sleeves. Then he had a blue visor with a grey sticky out hair wig attached to it. Then he paired that with a pair of jean shorts. (unfortunately not cut offs) Then he went to meet them at the airport. He was a huge hit with my brother...but anyway, they went down to get the rental and he asked if they had any other cars than the Malibu and the lady said yes, and said it was all because of the tie that they got the free upgrade! Well, the two big kids loved the car and Ryland rode everywhere he could in it and thinks we should get one too. My dad also had a worker from Disney tell him what a great shirt it was, but dad didn't mention he got it at Universal.

The boys are out golfing in this picture. Both of them managed to get a hole in one. Which is pretty impressive considering Collin doesn't slow down to set up the ball, swing, stance, anything. He pretty much holds the club backwards and tries to hit it from the little end. But he did it anyway. They had a boys night out at the golf course while Kyra went to Disney's Not so scary Halloween. (which was still a little scary.)

Here they are in the thing shirts...1,2,3,4. We tried to get them to hold up their fingers for what number they were, but we should have just focused on getting them all to look at the camera. 40 pictures later and this is the best we could do. Thank goodness for digital pictures.

Ryland's favorite thing about Disney was seeing the Indiana Jones stunt show. He loved it! Then we went into this shop that sold pictures of Mickey as Indiana Jones and he really wanted it. Too bad it was a hand painted picture. Starting at $125 unframed, the best we were going to do was take a picture of it. Sorry buddy.