Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we did something we've been wanted to do since we bought this house: have the entire family over for the holiday!  Our house was bursting with love and people and FOOD and attention for the kids and festive spirit... and gratefulness.  

Since our parents (the kids' grandparents) are often together with us, we decided it was a good idea to give them different names.  The opportunity was there, since Andrew is starting to remember things like that.  Indeed, by the end of the weekend, he knew exactly who everyone was, and he was quizzed on it!

Travis's parents (now officially known as Grandma and Grandpa - or possibly Gma and Gpa in blog shorthand) rolled in the week prior and got in some grandkid time.  Andrew refused to sit in his chair to eat dinner for the first few days that they were here - he just wanted to sit on their laps.

The weekend prior to the holiday I made my Costco and grocery runs and loaded up on food. Turns out it takes a large volume to feed 8-13 people for 4-5 days.

My mom (now Nana) came in on Tuesday, and we got straight to work making pies.  Andrew is, of course, a very eager kitchen helper, and very good at beating eggs, actually.

Apple pie - known as it was made as the "ugliest pie ever" - my first attempt at double crust.

Uncle Devin and Aunt Kathleen came in on Wednesday evening, and Kathleen helped me construct the "fruit turkey."  Yay, Pinterest!  Andrew said, "Cheese and grapes!  My two favorite things!"

Uncle Devin made chili for lunch on Friday

Aunt Kathleen takes lovely pictures.  Here's her website.

My dad (Papa), Uncle Tyler, and Aunt Monique arrived on Thursday.  Ty and Monique drove like the wind from Oklahoma and surprised us by walking in the door so early!  They brought their gorgeous weimaraner, Callahan, to round out the party.

Everybody chipped in to help get our massive dinner on the table.  We had ham, turkey, sausage and mushroom stuffing, twice baked butternut squash, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (ala Grandma and Grandpa), creamy corn, homemade noodles from Monique and her mom, orange-scented cranberry sauce, and rolls.  The squash was my favorite.  Here is the recipe.

I brined the turkey, which was my first time trying that.  To be quite honest, I couldn't tell the difference.  The turkey wasn't dry, but it wasn't particularly mind-blowingly moist, either.  It was just normal turkey.  So... I'm not sure if I'll put in that effort in future years.

For dessert, there was mile high apple pie, PW pecan pie (for my hubby), and a pumpkin pudding/mousse thingy.

It was definitely a day to feel incredibly blessed, happy, and thankful.

Early November

Lots of cute pictures...

I know it's not quite in focus, but... love the grin!

Big brother is SO FUNNY

Who doesn't like to read the paper while sitting on the throne?

This is Andrew's camera smile

We went for a walk in the snow to visit our neighbors.  They were butchering a deer and gave us some venison.  Yum!!

Andrew is getting more adventurous in the kitchen.  Here he decides to bake a turnip in the toaster oven....

...and saute up some goldfish crackers.

I have a much longer blog to do on our most recent home improvement project, but for now... aren't these the cutest safety glasses and ear protection you've ever seen?

Some Andrew Stuff

About two weeks ago, we finished up the 18-month sleep regression.  (At least, I hope it was the 18 month sleep regression, because if we have another 6 week period of non-sleep and screaming in the near future, I might have to quit my job.)  But as Frans Plooij can tell you, after regression comes a leap.  And this weekend I am seeing Andrew think with a whole new level of complexity, it's really incredible

Today in the bath, I unplugged the drain and told him that when the water was gone, it was time to get out.  He looked at the drain, looked at me, and then re-plugged the drain.  When I unplugged the drain again, he tried to turn on the faucet to run more water in the tub.  Creative!

We bought some new snow boots, in celebration of the first real snow of the year:

Andrew brings them to me and wants to wear them around the house.  He's brought shoes before, when he wants to go outside.  But this somehow seems different, like he's really attached to these boots.  Like he thinks they are really cool.

Today, we made snickerdoodles.  I rolled the dough into balls and handed them to him, and he coated them with cinnamon and sugar.  He experimented with many different ways of doing this.  First, he rolled them in the bowl, like I showed him.  Next he let the dough ball sit in the bowl and sprinkled the mixture over them with a spoon.  Then he put the dough ball in the spoon and tossed it up in the air, like he was throwing a pizza.  Near the end he pressed the ball into the mixture, changing its shape.

He has done experimentation before, but this seemed more creative, more varied, and more consistently effective than in the past.  It was pretty fascinating.  Also, he stayed on task incredibly well.  He complained if I didn't hand him new dough balls fast enough, and wanted to "trade" me when he felt he had them sufficiently coated.

After his regression, he's back to giving hugs and kisses, and seems to give them more liberally than before.  He's always keeping an eye out for his sister.  He likes to wake her up from naps, helps to feed her (when mommy's not around and she gets a bottle), and always says "hello" to her when he wakes up from sleep.  He actually asks to have a bath with her - they both go in the baby tub together, and she kicks his chest the whole time - which is the cutest thing.

He's getting more words, and he's using the words he has more often and with more precision.  His new words this weekend are "egg" (favorite breakfast item) and "shh" (used specifically to indicate quiet or to calm Clara down).  His favorite words are "up" (to be picked up, to stand at the kitchen counter and help cook, to go upstairs), "yuck" (for the trash can, the diaper pail, anything with a weird texture, and just because he likes the sound of the word), and "done" (which he alternates with the "all done" sign).  By my count he has about 16 words, although a handful of those are animal sounds, which may or may not actually count.

He'll be 18 months old tomorrow, my little man.

Too many cute pictures...

 We welcomed our new sitter Maggie as mommy goes back to work.

Maggie learns the Moby

Miss Jessica came over for dinner, along with Mr. Edaan and Mr. Leor

A new favorite thing is climbing into the end table, shutting the doors, then bursting out of it.

Signing "Again!!"

We got purple cauliflower in the CSA, and made purple cauliflower and white bean puree

Andrew is becoming quite helpful in the kitchen.  We bake a lot.  The other day, I peeled and chopped potatoes for mashed potatoes, and he put the potato chunks into the pot for me.  He also likes to open up the door to the spice cabinet (above where he usually stands) and pretends to shake spices into the dishes.  A budding gourmand!

Andrew also likes to help give Clara her baths

...and mug for the camera

He looks so much like his great-grandpa Arnold in this picture, I can't get over it.  He had soaked all of his grilled cheese in his tomato soup before eating it at lunch.

First hair doodad.  She doesn't seem too sure about it...