I made up for it with Thanksgiving

Well, breakfast may have been "terrible" the other day, but I made up for it with Thanksgiving.  

It was a quiet day with just us.  Mark's mom had to work, and my family was in ND.  We had no place to be, no plans at all, in fact.  

Except, that I planned to make a Thanksgiving feast all by myself.  

My morning began at 5:30 am with starting the bread in the bread machine.  Then I got the cranberry-walnut stuffing/dressing going in the slow cooker.  

Moving on to the homemade seitan roast.  Oops!  Forgot to buy more onion powder at the store.  Oh well, I'll just chop an onion, saute it a bit, and grind it up in the Magic Bullet with the rest of the wet ingredients.  No problem (and, it wasn't!).  

Time to cut, scrape, peel and chop a butternut squash or two for the butternut squash casserole.  (The recipe is for a sweet potato pie casserole, but I was out of sweet potatoes, so I replaced with the squash).  I won't even miss the pumpkin pie after eating this!  (Mark sort of boycotts orange vegetables, not consciously necessarily.  It just seems as though he doesn't like anything edible that color, unless it's some sort of pepper.)

Making the cranberry sauce.  So easy, and I've always wanted to try the variation with apple cider in place of the water.  Yummy!

Got the apple crisp in the oven, and now it's time to watch a little football before I start the mashed potatoes.  Whew!  My.  Feet.  Are.  Sore!

Gravy is done.  Had to make my own fake "chicken" seasoning though.  And, I'm dangerously low on coarse kosher salt (my salt of choice most of the time).  A small squirt of Bragg Liquid Aminos (unfermented soy sauce) did the trick.  Perfect! 

Okay, potatoes are peeled and boiling. 

Oh wait...it's possible I should change out of my pajamas too.  (Hey, I've been just a wee bit busy this morning!)

Time to smash the potatoes and add in the sour cream and cream cheese.  Dee-lish!  

And, it's eating time!

It took 8 hours to prepare it all and about 20 minutes to eat, but that's okay.  It was a fun, relaxed day.  No one was rushing, the girls played happily.  The Detroit Lions were slaughtered, and I don't have to cook anything for the next couple of days.  Sabbath lunch will be leftovers with Mark's family!  YIPPEE!  

Mark's comment was that this was the first Thanksgiving he can remember where he didn't have turkey at all.  It was also my first Almost Vegan Thanksgiving.  I did use real butter in some of the recipes (it was cheaper than buying all that Earth Balance), and we had ice cream with our apple crisp, but I did have vegan caramel sauce to top it with.

Hope you all had a wonderful day as well.  

  

  

"Mommy, breakfast was TERRIBLE this morning!"

That's exactly what Elise said to me earlier as I was preparing lunch. She was excited to see PB&J after the "terrible" breakfast I'd served them earlier. I bet now you'd really like to know what it was that I made. What on earth was so terrible? Okay, I'll tell you, but I will preface by saying: I did not buy this, nor have I bought anything like this in years! Mark bought this for himself because it's one of his favorites.

To cut back on the amount of sugary cereal the girls were getting, I did mix it half and half with Cheerios, which they heartily eat all the time without an issue.  Apparently, however, Elise thinks Lucky Charms is "terrible!"  The Cheerios part she liked.    

I can't help it!  I have to laugh!  My kid would hate Lucky Charms....   This is almost - but not quite - as funny as the time Elise pointed to the McDonalds golden arches and shouted, "Look Mommy!  Bananas!"   

Sugery and more surgery

Tonsils AKA "Ice Cream"

Leah had her tonsils and adenoids removed on Monday.  We checked into the hospital at 6:15 am, and we were home by noon.  She was very brave.  Several times after finding out she would need to have them taken out, Leah asked me about the surgery and what would happen to her.  I explained the best I could.  Thankfully, or sadly, depending on your viewpoint, we have a much greater understanding of how the surgical process works than the average folk.  I was able to explain to her all about checking into the hospital, anesthesia, (I skimmed over the cutting out of the tonsils pretty fast) to mommy and daddy being able to be with her as soon as she woke up, to getting lots of ice cream and popsicles and pain medicine to help with her sore throat.  

On the day of surgery, Leah told several people that she was going to have her tonsils taken out.  She happily played with Barbies, My Little Ponies, and the doll house while we waited for the OR to be ready for her.  Following surgery, Leah got to pick a movie to watch (she chose Cinderella) while having her popsicles.  Waking up to an IV in her arm was an unpleasant surprise for her, but I am always thankful they don't put them in until the kids are asleep from the gas.   

You know your kids have been in the hospital one too many times when they start counting all the things they want to do WHILE there.  I think Leah had the idea she would be there LONGER.  So, when the nurse told us we could go home if we were comfortable, Leah said, "No, I want to watch another movie and play with play-dough."  She was also rather disappointed that she didn't get to keep her hospital jammies.  (Lily has a couple of pairs of them from our numerous trips and stays).  

All-in-all, we've had our moments, but Leah has been a trouper.  She hates the liquid pain meds though, so sometimes I have to make her take them.  When she starts spitting out her saliva instead of swallowing, I know we've gone too long between doses!  Poor baby.  

Our week has been filled with coloring, rainbow sherbet, PBS, popsicles, Wall-E (it came out on DVD Tuesday), juice boxes, Anne of Green Gables, more popsicles, more sherbet, and lots of snuggling in our jammies.  Oh, and ice packs!  Thank goodness for the ice wraps Mark bought for his knees several years ago.  They've been a lifesaver!  

On to More Surgery

My mom had surgery Monday as well. (No, we didn't plan it that way!)  She had an elbow scope to scrape out the scar tissue that had developed there.  Her surgeon felt that was, perhaps, the reason my mom's range of motion has been exceedingly slow in returning.  Even almost 6 months post op, she still really hadn't been able to increase it.  The pain had gotten much worse too and was radiating into her shoulder.  

It's been a couple of days since I talked to my mom, but even a few short hours after surgery, her range of motion had improved.  She also told me the pain was less than it had been since the injury itself.  We hope and pray this takes care of it, and additional surgeries won't be needed.  

Reflections and a Proud Mommy Moment

I can't remember who took this picture.  It was either Leah or me.  Regardless, I really like the softness of it.  Elise and Leah both *love* to tote the camera around and take pictures of whatever they like.  Sometimes, it's masterful what their little minds capture on "film" (or digital, in our case), and other times we get a lot of fuzzy pictures of feet and random shots of nostrils and other various undesirable shots.  While it makes both Mark and I a bit nervous to allow them to go off with our very nice piece of equipment, as long as they keep the camera hanging around their necks, we try to give them the freedom to explore, experience, and get excited by whatever inspires their creativity.  

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We go to the early church service these days because it just seems to work out better for our family.  As we were leaving, after SS, Elise had gotten a snack (3 vanilla wafers).  She then proceeded to give one to each of her sisters, explaining that she felt bad that she got cookies and they didn't, so she ate one, then saved the other 2 for them to eat on the way home.  Mark and I both felt our hearts swell with the sweetness of that moment.  We have to revel in this sweetness and be encouraged by it because I know, only too well, how quickly the tide can change.  

 

Not Me Monday!

It's been a pretty quiet week, as far as weeks go around here.  Occasionally, I'll call one of the girls to make a request of some variety, and when they respond with a " 'What?' "  I definitely do not have to suppress an overwhelming urge to say, " 'Chicken's butt.' "  Similarly, when preparing the girls for trick-or-treating at Great Grandma's senior building, I did not have to squash down the urge to chant in a sing-song voice " Trick-or-treat.  Smell my feet.  Give me something good to eat.  If you don't, I don't care.  I'll pull down your underwear'."  Goodness sakes!  I'm an adult, and way over that crass, childish humor!  Seriously, there is no way any of this happened!  

Lastly, while not looking at the mountainous peaks of laundry I have overflowing the laundry hampers, both in the hall and in the laundry room, I did not sit down and figure out just how many loads of laundry I would actually have to do.  That figure was most definitely not somewhere in the 13 range.  I always keep up on my laundry, so this is just ridiculous.  Of course, knowing that my dryer takes at least 5 hours to dry one load of clothes, I did not sit down and try to figure out how many days it would take me to complete the laundry if I did approximately 2 loads a day at least 4-5 days a week, knowing we create an additional load or so per day.  So, basically, barring illness, I will not have to wait until sometime before Christmas until I'm completely caught up again.  I will not because, of course, as you know, I don't get behind on stuff.  Who me?!  Not on your life!   

Elise-isms

"Well, you know I'm going to be 10 soon."  [Ummm, yeah kid--in THREE years!]

[Spoken while leaving Great Grandma's house after trick-or-treating.]

"I don't know why royal princesses need to stay up so late [it was 8 pm at this point, which is late if you're usually in bed by 7:30].  Royal princesses need their beauty sleep, you know."

I swear, sometimes she really is 7 going on 10!  

Fall Fun

Leah

Lily

Elise

Leah

At the apple orchard (Lily refused to get in the picture)

I used sheer coercion to get Lily in the picture, but I needed more than that in order for her to actually look at the camera.

Kubota - Mark is partial to these little orange tractors after he was employed by a company that did work for Kubota.

Leah

Elise

Lily

Belle is my parents' new puppy.  I absolutely LOVE this picture, even though it's fuzzy.  The humorous story behind the scenes is Belle had actually snuck out the door without getting her leash on.  She was loose and cavorting through the leaves like a dog on speed.  It's that look of sheer joy on her face as she's running out of the viewfinder that I think I love.  (We did finally catch her, after one hysterical chase scene through the neighborhood.)  

Leah

Helping Grandpa rake leaves

Elise actually did a lot of work that day.

Love those two little blonde heads.

Grandpa

Another favorite of Elise

My sister, Keatyn (2, almost 3), and Masen (almost 6 months)

Lily

Leah

Keatyn

Elise

Mark & Me

My parents

Lily & Keatyn

Trick-or-treating at Great Grandma's building (Elise as Princess Belle, Leah as Madeline, and Lily as a bumble bee)

"See Mommy?  My jack-o-lantern can wear my Madeline hat!"

Counting candy

Lily & Great Grandma