Thanksgiving

It's the calm before the storm. I'm hosting dinner for 11 adults and 4 kids tomorrow. Although the shopping is done, I haven't hardly lifted a finger to clean the house...or cook for that matter. I'm in denial.

So, since I know that I won't have any spare down time tomorrow (and possibly won't be all that thankful anyways, ha ha), I thought I would share a few things that I'm really thankful for today while my house is silent (naptime is a beautiful gift), while I have my feet up on the couch, and a candy bar in my hand. : )

This year I'm giving thanks for......

-My sweet husband. He is my everything. I totally adore him and am so grateful for what an amazing husband and father he is. I can't even put into words how much this means to me. He has taught me so much and makes me a better person everyday. He works so incredibly hard to provide for us. I'm so lucky to have him as my best friend.

-Bennett--what can I say? He puts the smile on my face everyday and makes it all too easy for me to forget about my frowns. He has such a fun personality and I love watching him grow everyday. I feel so lucky to be able to stay home with him. He is such a sweet little guy. My favorite quote of the week: "Hey mom, guess what? I love you."

-Baby Sister. Although I'm getting a little tired of the backaches and the unexpected kicks to the rib or punch in the bladder, I'm already so in love with our little girl. With less than 4 weeks to go, this is a bittersweet time. Every day that goes by is one less that I will have Bennett all to myself. But at the same time, I'm so anxious to have her here. I've learned so much in the process of getting this baby to our family. It's been hard and sad and I'll always have a spot in my heart for the ones that we lost. Thankfully, it just makes having this one all the more sweet.

-Family--just a phone call away!! Of course, we'll miss spending time with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. But at least I have had a lot of fun family Thanksgivings in the past. What fun times. I could tell a few stories here....

-Church. Almost goes without saying. Where would I be without this foundation?

-My home. I love my (too often dirty) house. And I love that Keith makes beautiful things to put in it.

-Health. I can only pray that we never know the alternative.

-Fall. It's so stinkin gorgeous! This will be our last Thanksgiving in Philly so I'm savoring how beautiful it is. After 8 years, I think I may actually miss this place!

-Our future. I'm so grateful to have so much to look forward to--new job, new home, new baby! What an adventure we have planned for the next few months!!

I could go on and on but I'll wrap it up with one final thing to be thankful for....PUMPKIN PIE. Bring it on baby! Good thing I'm wearing maternity clothes tomorrow. I won't even be able to feel the stretch from eating too much GOOD FOOD!!!! Anyone need to borrow some of my enviably cool elastic waistband wardrobe? ; )

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Conversations with a 2-year old

Randomly over a PB&J lunch, Bennett announced:

"Mommy, I gotta check my e-mail."

Halloween and yummy food

Ok, so Halloween pretty much rocked. I'm still reaping the rewards due to the huge bowl of candy sitting up in my cupboard. :)

First things first...here is my sweet little blue-eyed zebra.


And in other VERY important news, my apple pie was AWESOME!!! I had to document it...


Also, the aforementioned pumpkin curry soup is a keeper. Honestly, it is SOOO good. Thanks and serious props to my good friend Emily Gray for making this a Halloween tradition for us. There isn't a Halloween in recent memory that this yummy soup wasn't a part of. Since they moved this summer, I had to be the one making it this time. Get out your pens, dear readers, this recipe is calling your name....

PUMPKIN CURRY SOUP
2 small pumpkins or squash
2-3 onions
1/2 stick butter
2 (14.5 oz) cans of chicken broth
3/4 cup light cream
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (or more to taste)
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Cut open small pumpkins or squash and scrape out the seeds and goo. Pierce the pumpkins with a fork and steam them either in the microwave or the oven. (Cover with saran wrap in the microwave and cook for a few minutes or put in the oven at 350 over a 9x13 pan of water for 20 mins or so) The purpose of the steaming is only to make them soft enough to scrape the pumpkin/squash out of the skin.

2. Coursly chop onions ans saute with the butter. Add the pumpkin chunks and enough chicken broth to cover (roughly 2 cans--more or less depending on size of pumpkins). Cook until pumpkin is nice and soft (about 20 minutes).

3. Pour soup into a food processor or blender and blend until it is smooth. Add light cream and curry powder. Salt and pepper to taste.

4. If you want an extra bit of kick, add a bit of ground red pepper or garam masala (indian food spice) to taste.

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!


Seriously, it felt like Halloween was about a week long with all the fun things we had happening. First we had our ward party where Bennett learned the finer art of trick-or-treating. He LOVED it. We invited our neighbor Rilynn (the giraffe). They had a blast running around together.

Bennett and Amity--too cute!!


The next day we went to the zoo for their big halloween bash. We made out like bandits with tons of loot since it was raining. We were so brave and stuck it out in spite of the weather...

Bennett and Addie with the otters.


Bennett also had a fun party with his playgroup on Monday.


Then, of course, Halloween itself. Keith and I took Bennett around the neighborhood and he was such a trooper. He just wanted to keep filling up his bag. People were handing out handfuls of candy everywhere we stopped. Sadly, towards the end, the bag got so heavy that Bennett couldn't carry it anymore. Ha! When we got home to examine the loot, Keith and I were slightly disappointed. It was totally full of chocolate. I remember when getting candy bars were the really good houses to go to. In my old hood, it took HOURS to get a bag full of candy because each house would give you ONE tootsie roll or smarties or maybe a dum-dum sucker. I would end up with piles of smarties and maybe 10 mini candy bars. That's the kind of candy I associate with halloween. People are all getting rich on us these days with nothing but candy bars. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against chocolate. In fact, chocolate and I get along very well. But, I am more of a chewy, fruity kind of girl so chocolate lasts a lot longer around my house. Don't worry, I'm working on it though. It will all be gone in good time.... :)