Just Coming Out Of A Turkey Coma.....

Hello, and welcome to today's episode of Newspapers and Broccoli, where Megan rambles on about her long Thanksgiving weekend. We begin today's post with a brief recap of the food that we all made. There was roasted turkey, smoked turkey (muy bien!!), mashed potatoes and stuffing, zweiback (German rolls), and a whole variety of delicious pies. It sure was good, and I couldn't help but think of how much (like...over-the-top much) we have. I heard someone say on the radio that if someone in a third world country could sit down to an American feast, they wouldn't be able to fathom it. He said that they would not be able to comprehend that all that food was to be eaten in the same day, on the same meal. So sad. I would invite them all over if I could. That would be a full house! And speaking of full houses, there were a lot of people at our Thanksgiving soiree. Aunt Sal made her debut at the Thanksgiving table, and Con-Rachel made a late appearance as well. My sister-in-law's family also came toting marshmallow guns, new and improved. Moving on to the marshmallow fight, I have made a few observations as a participant in the epic battle of puffy white balls of corn syrup. It has been determined that the guys have an advantage in lung capacity. My marshmallows could be seeing lazily floating along, stopping to make a daisy chain or two before descending to their targets (which sounds oddly reminiscent of my short-lived softball career). The men launched one punishing marshmallow after another. Ouch!!! I was the unlucky recipient of three to the face. Let me tell you, marshmallows really sting! I thought that I was going to have a welt, but fortunately I didn't. Another thing that I established is that your fingers will cease to have the capacity to load marshmallows once frozen. It is at that point that it is best to bow out gracefully, and go warm up inside.Tyler spent half the day napping in Jeff's arms. Jeff has the magic touch. Its quite amazing and handy. Once awake, Tyler spend the afternoon mooching chocolate off of Grammy, who is known to be a sucker when it comes to those sorts of things. A few times I spotted Tyler with the dead giveaway: a chocolate goatee! :) James and Katie made little pumpkin pies with Grammy, and otherwise remained relatively quiet. Thursday we Skyped Jeff's sister and were surprised to end up talking to Jeff's Mom. That was the first time in 2 1/2 years, and it was awkward, strange and very sad. We did get to see all my nieces and nephews (via skype) and that was very nice! My two youngest nephews both have lost their front teeth, leaving a big and adorable gap in their smiles. I wanted to hug them through the screen, but it didn't work out very well. ;) Ah, well, I think I have pretty much exhausted what little brain power I have left after my Turkey Coma, not to mention your attention span. Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh, and I almost forgot!! Jeff has some tips to add for how to make sure no one comes back for seconds. I asked him to crack some eggs for me. He decided that the most efficient way was to crack them all, then pick out the shells. Let me say that eggs should not crunch. I fed the leftovers to Jeff this morning and he realized that he may have left a 'few' egg shells in the eggs.

Happy Thanksgiving!

1000th Post?!?!

Its my 1000th post! Should that make me happy? Embarrassed? Confused? Well, I really don't know how I have managed to spout off that many blog posts, or how y'all have managed to keep reading! 1000 posts is a whole lot of drivel. :) That being said, here are links to a few random favorites:

My First Blog Post Ever (Almost as interesting as reading 'The Pocket Guide to Earwigs)

Horns In A Bag (Great Idea for Christmas Gift Giving!)

The Tragic Frozen Steer Incident (In which Jeff and I romantically ice skate around some frozen beef)

The Lady In The Tuna Boat (The saga of finding a suitable renter)

Our Rental, Before and After (Don't view while eating)

Jeff's Antenna Of Doom Part One and Part Two

Jeffrey's Capers: Doing the Devil's Work for Mormon Missionaries


And I feel the need to share this with you, if for no other reason but for you to laugh at me. I made a big batch of Zweiback yesterday (German rolls...a family tradition). I was feeling all industrious and stuff, making my Thanksgiving stuff ahead of time. I put the bowl in the oven to rise, like I always do. My friend Erin called (!!!) and we chatted away for an obscene amount of time. While we were talking, I made pumpkin bars, and when I went to put them in the oven, I realized that yes, I had preheated my oven with the dough inside. It was partially baked, and while I did salvage enough for couple pans of rolls, I will be making another batch tomorrow. Nevertheless I had fun talking to Erin about all manner of things, the likes of which include pickles, mammograms, and relatives.

Why Ask Why?

Jeff is an engineer. That being said, sometimes he clings too dearly to logic. He tries to make sense of it all, because after all, there is a logical reason for everything. Right? Wrong. At least not when you are dealing with a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and a 1 year old. He asks questions like 'Why is there a petrified apple core in your houseplant? Why are there Lincoln Logs in our bed? Why is my cell phone out of place?' And what am I supposed to say? Um...the kids did it. That should explain it. The other night he took a look inside James' piggy bank and asked, fully expecting a logical answer, 'Why is there a Butterfinger wrapper in here?' In response he got a blank stare from James, and a helpful 'Well, I'm thinking one of the kids put it in there because they could' from me. Poor Jeff. Sometimes you just can't win. Now if only someone could tell me why I just found the TV remote floating in the toilet?

My Baby Bird

The other day Tyler woke up with 'bed head.' His hair was sticking out all over the place and he reminded me of a little baby bird with its soft fluff. I know I am biased but I think he's darn cute! My friend Jenni and her kids came over last night and we were talking about how adorable our kids are and how we look at them and can't believe how stinkin' cute they are.

If I Haven't Apologized Already....

Coming up with new bedtime stories each night can be a chore. Often, it involves dredging up long forgotten stories. The story I remembered tonight was one that made me feel like perhaps the worst sister ever. We used to go out tramping in the fields. We would find toads along the irrigation ditches. Did you know that toads make little burrows in the mud along ditches? Pretty cool. We would search for toads, and we perfected our technique for capturing them without letting them pee on us. A very important life skill, but I digress. One of the things we did with the toads was make Rachel kiss them. Yes, that was very mean, and yes, I feel very bad. (Sorry, Rach!) We would tell her that if she didn't kiss the toad, we would leave her out in the field. Since she was the little sister, the prospect of being left out in some alfalfa field alone was quite frightening to her. We got her to kiss a lot of toads that way. Maybe that's why she made fun of me relentlessly in high school. Alas, we both survived to be the best of friends!

I Am Fank-You Fay-air....

We started playing this new game, the Thankful game. Original, no? The kids and I take turns saying what we are thankful for. Katie says, every time, I am fank-you faaaaaay-air my _____. Not thankful, but her version of Thank You. I am happy to say that the kids love this game and ask to play it at almost every meal, and sometimes in between. They have no shortage of things they are thankful for. A few of my favorites are 'lions and tigers,' 'mushrooms,' 'Ty-weer's chubby wittle hands,' 'my silo,' and my all-time favorite: 'hugs from Mommy.' Yes!!! I'll take that.

No!!!!

Yesterday James told me he didn't need me to tuck him in for his nap. Every few days he has been telling me this. So yesterday, he told me that he liked to tuck himself in because it makes him feel like a big boy. No!!!!! I could seriously sit down and cry, just thinking about how fast he is growing up and how someday, apparently soon, he won't need or want me to tuck him in. (At least he still wants me to tuck him in every night....) On top of that I keep thinking about him starting Kindergarten, and how that will be the beginning of new independence. That will be good for him. The things I don't look forward to are him learning about bullies and social 'clicks.' I am most dreading is the whole comparison thing. I don't want him to start thinking 'Well, so-and-so is better at this than I am.' I don't want him to give up what he loves because he isn't good enough, or because the other kids are doing something different. I know that its all part of life but sometimes I wish we could move to some very remote location where nothing bad ever happens. (OK, there is no such place, but...)

In other news, the little Menace, AKA Tyler, has learned to crawl up in the bay window without climbing on anything else. He stands on the baseboard, reaches up with his little grippy toes, and hauls himself up. It really is quite a feat since the window isn't exactly low to the ground!

Pictures

Its a beautiful fall day today. I really feel like sitting out in the sun and reading a book. But, alas, here I am inside with things to do. Without further ado, here are a few pictures from the week.

Here are the kids working on their leaf turkeys. It turns out that the boys are a little bit distracted when it comes to art lessons, because all they can think about is PLAY! WRESTLE! RUN!! James was mostly cooperative and Noah had to be enthusiastically encouraged (does that sound better than 'forced'? ;) Emma has officially earned herself the title of Glue Stick Destroyer. And Amanda, being the star pupil, produced not one, but two splendid looking turkeys.



Every few weeks we go and visit the animals at the farm. I am in love with the chickens, especially the one pictured below. I really want one like that, but I have heard that those kind require extra care due to the spectacular feathered fro they have. As soon as the snow flies, or maybe sooner, I will start solidifying my plans for chicken ownership.

And in case you need a little deliciousness on your Friday, check out Tyler after he happily plowed through the chocolate bar our neighbor gave him after James saved the day. Ain't he cute?!

Super James!

This morning part of our art lesson involved the need to scavenge for leaves. (Pictures to come) I took the kids down to the green belt, or 'the swamp' as Noah calls it. (Oh, yay, I really love the swamp!!! Noah said) As we were coming back we saw my adorable elderly neighbor lady and her granddaughter. Turns out they got locked out of her house. The neighbor that could have helped was away on vacation and it was a dilemma to be sure! I told her I thought I could coax James to go through a window and open the door. The window was pretty high, but James said he would do it. When he got cold feet, I did what any self-respecting mother would do and whispered in his ear 'I'll give you a dollar!' Well, that did it. I hoisted him up and he was able to go in, open the front door and save the day!! She was so happy and kept saying in her sweet German accent 'Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!' She then proceeded to invite all six kids inside, where she first gave James candy, and then the rest of them, and then another round for good measure. Then she went back to her cabinets and gave James an entire package of E.L. Fudge cookies (a blast from my past!). By the time we left we were loaded up with more treats than Halloween, and the kids didn't know what had hit them! James got many hugs from her, and it wasn't too long later she sent her granddaughter back with a spare key and another bag of lollipops. Fortunately we still had time to finish our project. What a morning!

There's A First Time For Everything

Yes, we showed up at church an hour early yesterday. I always loved sitting at the kitchen window as kid, watching to see who would show up early at Daylight Savings time. (Pastor's kids have demented senses of humor, or maybe it just runs in the family) Anyway, I was blissfully ignorant of the time change, and Jeff assumed that his fancy-schmancy Blackberry would change the time (he uses it for his alarm). However, the fancy-schmancy Blackberry decided to run out of batteries overnight, and neither one of us thought twice about it. When we got to church the parking lot was deserted and we realized our error. Darn! We could have used that extra hour of sleep.

Happy Friday!

Frolicking in the leaves!!

Peanut Butter and Spiders

Katie is a fan of peanut butter. She gets it from me. Jeff doesn't like to eat it because, and I quote, it "makes him thirsty." Katie asks for peanut butter on everything. Our conversation will go something like this: "Katie, you can have a burrito, or some soup. What would you like?" "Um, I'll have a burrito....wif peanut buttair." "Cereal, wif peanut buttair." "Apple swices, wif peanut buttair!" That's my girl!

James has come up with a new game, which he finds to be most hysterical. He will play as many rounds of it as I will cooperate. It goes like this: "Mommy! Mommy, you have a spider in your nose!!!!" I pretend to freak out and swat the spider from my nose. He dissolves in a fit of giggles. Then he composes himself, and says "Mommy!!! You have a spider in your pants!" I repeat the routine, which never ceases to amuse him. This continues over and over until I finally get tired of swatting imaginary spiders from various appendages.

And on a random side note, yesterday was art lesson day. It is so much fun to have these, and the kids seem to enjoy it. Yesterday we learned about texture, and I promised them I would take pictures of their creations. Amanda did not like the idea that she couldn't keep each and every creation that she made with her play dough. I kept trying to explain to her that I didn't have enough play dough for that. (I already made a quadruple batch!) She was happy when I told her I would take pictures of each thing she made. Tyler will only sit in his chair for so long before he revolts. For some reason, every week, he insists on climbing on to Noah's chair, over and over. Noah is a good sport about it. Usually about 30-45 minutes into it James and Noah start getting antsy to go out and wrestle and run around. They got to play in our leaf pile yesterday and they stuffed James' clothes full of leaves so he could be a scarecrow. It was pretty funny.

I Really Need To Post More Often

This post is filled with the various shenanigans of the last few days, but first!! FIRST!!!! We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post to make an announcement:

My Dad is officially a Doctor as of today. He reminded me that it is an Doctorate of Education, not a Ph.D., but whatever! He got his doctorate after 8 years of hard work. Yay, Dad!!!!!! I don't care what the rest of the family says about you...you're alright! ;)

Now that I got that off my chest, let's move on, shall we? Halloween. I gave up. No one was cooperating with my whole 'themed costume' idea. It won't come to a shock to you that James dressed up as a farmer. How is that different then any other day, you ask? It isn't. He just threw on his farmer gear, loaded up the stick horse and he was good to go. I do have to say that, yes, his pants are way too short. Time to start cruising ebay for some new Wranglers for him. Katie was a princess, and finally wore the dress I slaved away over for the first time. Tyler was a gorilla, for no other reason than we already had the costume. It has now been through a few cousins, James, and Tyler. We took them to a few houses to go trick-or-treating, and Jeff and I have been late night beneficiaries of their gleanings. We prefer to call it 'quality sampling.'

Over the weekend Jeff cleaned out his 'treasures' from the garage. He came in, with a somewhat sheepish look on his face, and said 'You're never going to believe this!' I gave him a worried look. He said 'I found a fourth lawn mower I didn't even know I had!' Yes, because we all need four lawnmowers in our lives. I **thought***that he would get rid of a few while he was cleaning out, but no, he found a spot for all four of them in the shed. Each lawnmower, Jeff informed me, is a strange amalgamation of the next. A severe case of lawnmower inbreeding, if you will. Every time one breaks, he swipes a part off another. One of these lawnmowers actually caught on fire two summers ago, but of course, he got it running again. This is all part of Jeff's solemn vow never to pay money for a lawnmower. He's weird. What can I say?? :)

Enough for now. I'll post the rest tomorrow since this is getting rather cumbersome. Enjoy your day!