The Feast

Elizabeth came down for the weekend and we had a full-on Thanksgiving feast (with tons of leftovers!). I dubbed it the Food Network Feast after I realized that half of the recipes that I made were from the Food Network.

I made my first turkey (I forgot to take a picture of it, but it looked nice). Daniel carved his first turkey. Elizabeth made a fantastic gravy and two awesomely-delicious pies.

Dane felt neglected all day because I was running around trying to get everything ready. Cricket got underfoot and scavenged for any dropped food.

Elizabeth's pies (pecan and apple) - YUMMY! Here's the table spread - there was more than this but we had to spread it out on the counter: Turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, rainbow jello, olives, homemade cranberry sauce and homemade cranberry relish, and sparkling holiday punch. The only thing missing were the rolls. But we stuffed ourselves silly without them, so I don't think they were missed that much.

My favorite part of the meal was the stuffing. I used Anne Burrell's cornbread stuffing recipe and the only alteration I made was to leave out the cranberries. A close second was the sweet potatoes - which was Daniel's favorite part. I used the same recipe as I made last year from the Neely's but instead of maple syrup I used apple cider syrup.

The rest of the weekend we just relaxed and had fun. Well, Daniel took a test on Friday - his 3rd CPA test. Elizabeth helped me with a crochet pattern, we played games, watched movies, and had a grand ole time. Dane was sad to see Elizabeth go, they had so much fun playing together.

It was quite the experience doing a whole Thanksgiving feast for the first time. I told Daniel that I won't ever do it again unless I have more than one oven and a bigger kitchen. He said, that's why people invite other people over and assign them to bring something.

Good Intentions

That is a piece of fudge. Not just any fudge mind you, "healthy" fudge, pinto bean fudge. Yes, that is correct, there are pinto beans in the fudge. While this fudge had every good intention of being, well, good and good-for-you, it just didn't deliver. It wasn't bad necessarily, it just wasn't good. In case you're interested in trying it out for yourself, here is the recipe.

Now that, is a deep-fried oreo. And oh, did it deliver!

6 Months

It's hard to believe that Dane has been a part of our family for 6 months already!

He is so cute and it's so fun to see his personality emerge. His favorite things are eating (milk), playing with daddy, and taking baths. His dislikes include, eating (anything other than milk), taking naps, being on his tummy, and getting dressed.

He had his 6 month check-up this past week. He remains in the Feather-weight divsion at 11 lbs 14 oz and 23 inches tall. The doctor said he looked healthy, but wants him to start taking vitamins and eating more solid foods. Yeah, easier said than done, doc. He is sitting up really well, and loves to "walk around" while we hold him up. And the other day he discovered that he can pull himself up! But he still refuses to really roll-over on a regular basis. He'd prefer to cry until someone comes along to get him off his tummy...sigh. We are so blessed and thankful to have this adorable guy in our family!

Project #1 - Nursing Cover Clips

The other day Dane took a nap just long enough for me to work on this little project. I've had intentions of getting a nursing cover but just never got around to it. Then I decided that this would be more practical because I could use it on whatever blanket I had and it takes up less space than a nursing cover.

Materiels:

1 piece of fabric about 16 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide

2 suspender clips

Directions:

Fold the fabric in half lengthwise (with the wrong side facing out) and sew up the open side.

Take a hot iron and press the seam flat.

Pull the tube of fabric right side out. (I put the tube over a crochet hook, tied some of the thread ends around the hook and then pulled the hook back through the fabric)

On each end, fold up the raw edge a 1/4 inch or so and press flat with a hot iron.

Then slip the suspender clip onto each end and fold up the folded edge once more around the suspender clip about a 1/2 inch and sew closed.

You can adjust the length of the fabric to your height and liking.

This was very easy to make for a beginner (me), and very inexpensive. I paid $1.99 for the suspender clips and used left over fabric I had from a different project. I had contemplated using 1 inch wide ribbon instead of the fabric, to make it even easier, but I wanted to do it for as cheap as possible so I stuck with the fabric that I already had. So after tax it only cost $2.15. Sure beats the $8-9 price tag to buy one online.

Let me know if you try this out yourself and if you have any other fun, easy, beginner projects, pass them on. I'm trying to expand my skill set.

Shout Out!

I've had several people comment on our new family picture, so I have to give a big SHOUT OUT to our wonderful cousin, Lanay. As I mentioned before, we went to Dallas at the beginning of October and on a whim Lanay decided to take some pictures. She is exremely talented and we love our pictures! Check out more of her amazing work here and here.