Thanksgiving Dinner and a Recipe

So, here are few shots of Thanksgiving at Uncle Phil's house. The final headcount was around 54 according to reputable sources.

We took over the living room....

...and the dining room

...and the hallway

6 of everything for every table

getting ready to dig in!

games afterward

and the recipe that a couple of people were asking for

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving. As you can see by the state of my kitchen preparations began yesterday.  This year we're celebrating with the Knight Clan and expect around 60!  I have therefore made SIX corn cheese and chile pies. Today I'm planning on doing the cranberries and (maybe) some carrot pineapple salad...whew. 

Here is what the pies look like (before they're cooked)

Here's my messy kitchen...recipe in foreground.

Farm Fresh Eggs! We're ordering them through a guy Nathan works with...only $2.00/dozen!

!

My little artist, busy making thanksgiving cards for friends and family while mama cooks.

Art Wednesdays

Doesn't that sound just like a perfect organized 'mom' thing to declare..."Art Wednesdays?"  Sorry to disappoint this was an on-the-fly project to get the kids busy doing SOMETHING (though it required much clean up afterwards) while I got my own tasks completed. Yes, I'd already used the TV card and couldn't have them watch any more so had to do something else.

Evelyne and Gilbert LOVE to paint and it really keeps them going for quite a long time. They even share paint pots with each other and swap paints off an on which does unfortunately result in many floor drips.
The end results are always fun. Gilbert said he made his for grandma and evelyne made hers for grandpa. If they don't declare an owner I sometimes use the paper to wrap kid gifts in for friends (now see, that's a good organized mom thing to do, right).

So, thankfully, we don't always have "Art Wednesdays" here at the Good Knight Castle but it is fun to do it once in a while.

Gilbert goes to Build-a-Bear

I never knew that Build-A-Bear could be such a sweet and special thing.  Grandma Gigi took Gilbert for his birthday to the Build-A-Bear shop last Wednesday.  He got to select a bear, name it, give it a heart, select clothes and give it a hug. So sweet.

He picked the black bear right away; didn't even look around much.  He decided to call him 'dimples' and picked out an 'explorer' outfit and fishing pole. Amazing at age 3 he is so decisive.

So, our newest family member, dimples now giggles and sits with us at the dinner table.  He even goes potty with Gilbert when he needs to.

A great memory for grandma and gilbert both....

Last weekend; my girl, my boy, and loss of my sanity

Last weekend was a whirlwind of activity: Evelyne (and coach Nathan's) last soccer game, Halloween (of course) and the celebration of Gilbert turning 3.  Whew..I felt like I was running a marathon of events, costumes, prizes, candy...oh and where was that bloody mary....??? Wow, crazy times.  It was fun though.

Friday we had a Fall Festival at Evelyne's School.  Thanks to a very organized parent volunteer, it was a fabulous event...

Then of course we had to carve our pumpkins

Evelyne's soccer team, "the wildcats" did great despite a muddy trodding through the fields at Willamette Park. The girls really starting playing like a real team towards the end; I'm really proud of all of them and proud of coach Nathan in his patience and kind persistence, he really is great with girls.  The team all received award certificates, trophies, and coach Nathan gave them all "championship rings" because they were all champions of their first season in his book.

Then on to Halloween Night.  Of course our neighborhood, the fabulous place that it is, had an event...the "VilleBoo Monster March" a great time to view everyone's costumes before trick or treating began.  Evelyne was with me and Gilbert was with Nathan. We had to split up because of the sheer urgency our children had to be with "their respective posses" which totally didn't coincide.  Cat & the Hat went with the Wizard and the "other mother" went with Alice who HAD to be with the Vampire of her DREAMS Shane Bresnahan. I swear she ran all night to keep up with him...I quickly trotted along trying not to spill my drink in the mayhem. A big thank you to grandma's Joni and Gigi for manning the door at our home during this time.

Finally, Gilbert's birthday..oh what fun.  I think it's the most fun I've ever had at a kid's party and I was the HOST! We did a carnival themed birthday with stations of a "prize wheel of wow" "fishing game" "penny in the jar game" and "cookie walk." Kids had so much fun playing all the games the parents actually got a chance to walk around and visit! Best of all, Gilbert was surrounded by friends and family and LOVED his birthday.

Life is crazy as a parent, but often you get to experience the joys of childhood again through your children...what fun; even if it's a bit tougher at 35 than 5 or 3 for that matter.....
I need a nap....

So, last funny thing.  Nathan was looking for Gilbert on Sunday evening after cleaning up and couldn't find him.  Ended up he had fallen asleep in his bedroom curled up between his bed and the wall!  Poor boy was POOPED!

Whew..what a weekend!

blast from the past

I came across these photos the other night and just had to post them....so fun.