On the last Monday in November, the city had this big event--Santa's Arrival. Of course Corey had to work the night shift, so we trudged through the heavy snow over to City Hall without him and stood in line to see Santa. Since we got there right at the beginning, we managed to only have to wait about 30 minutes in line. The kids sat on Santa's lap and then we went outside and got some hot chocolate. We ended up not staying because the kids were grumbly and they kept spilling their hot chocolate. But it was fun to go. Maybe next year Corey will have the night off and he can come too. I'm not sure I'll do it again with FIVE kids!
For Thanksgiving, we just stayed at our house and had our own little feast. Corey was off work because that is one of the three days a year that In-N-Out is closed. He had worked on Tuesday day, then stayed the night in Orem because of the blizzard, and then worked Wednesday day. He did have to go back to work on Friday very early for Black Friday.
Anyway, we prepared the usual spread: turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, rolls (we cheated and did the Rhodes frozen rolls), and yams and apples (my grandma's recipe). This year we added a cranberry jello salad recipe that my cousin sent me. The adults all loved it, but the kids didn't really like it at all. Not sure if we'll use it again next year. Maybe if I can make half of what the recipe calls for I will, since we had so much left over.
I also baked three pies: pumpkin, apple crumb, and cherry. My family is not very fond of pies. Corey likes cream pies and the kids do too. Caleb and Westley like pumpkin pie. Corey will usually eat a slice of apple pie, but other than that, they just don't eat it. But I like to have a variety of pies at Thanksgiving. Not that I grew up with that--usually we just had pumpkin and sometimes cherry, depending on when my dad's birthday fell around Thanksgiving and if we were having his pie on that day or another day (his birthday is the 24th). But I have found that since becoming an adult, I am a fruit pie person. I definitely like the chocolate cream pies, but I like fruit pies much better than cream pies. So I like to make the pies. The problem is, after about one slice of each, I'm good on pie until the next time I decide to bake one a few months later. So we always end up with a ton of pie after Thanksgiving that nobody will eat.
Anyway, I baked my other grandma's recipe of cherry pie that my mom has always made for my dad's birthday. The pie tasted delicious, but the edges pulled away from the sides while baking and it looked really funny coming out of the oven.
We still have 7 pieces of the cherry pie left (I was the only one who would eat a piece) and half the apple pie left. I decided that I really do love this cherry pie of my grandma's and might want to make it my official birthday dessert. It really is very good. But maybe I will have to figure out a way to downsize it to a single serving or two, since nobody else will eat it.
So back to Thanksgiving. We had Corey's sister Jamie over for our meal. After the meal, we played some games, both with and without the kids. Then some friends came over, some people Jamie had met on her mission in Phoenix who had moved up to Utah and have been living here. They came and we played more games. It was a nice Thanksgiving. I do love spending time with lots of family and if we lived closer to family, we'd probably do that, but I also love the nice, quiet, at home Thanksgiving dinners like the ones I grew up with (since we always lived far away from extended family).
And while we're at it, I was thinking last night that I'm very grateful for both the family that I grew up in and the family that I have now. Having such a traditional family these days is quite rare, and I'm grateful that we are able to give this to our children--a strong traditional family with a father at the head of the household and a mother whose primary role is to nurture the children. I love that we are able to teach strong values and morals and that we are making our home the hub of our children's lives and hope that we can continue to do so. I sure am grateful that I was able to grow up in such a family.
Last week, we had a late start to Family Home Evening, so we just did an activity instead of a lesson AND activity. Corey was in charge of the activity and refreshments, so he combined the two and we made chocolate chip cookies. Each child got to put part of the ingredients into the Bosch and then help mix it. We talked about teamwork during the baking, so it was kind of a mini-lesson, and then we had fresh-baked cookies. The kids LOVE to help out in the kitchen, so they had a lot of fun.
On November 11th, Aunt Jamie treated us to Disney on Ice. We rode the train into Salt Lake City and went to dinner at Buca di Beppo. Then we walked over to the Energy Solutions Arena and watched the show and then took the train back. It was a great night, and it was cool too because the kids were out of school the next day, so the late night was no big deal! Eliza especially loved the part with the Little Mermaid, which is her favorite Disney princess movie right now. I didn't take very many pictures, even though I thought I did, and this is pretty much all I got.
I went in to check on Eliza just before going to bed myself the other night, and this is how I found her sleeping, so I took a picture. It didn't look very comfortable, but she was sound asleep so I let her be. What a cutie!
For Halloween, we made these spiders and bats out of construction paper and googly eyes. We also used toilet paper rolls for the bat's bodies and black yarn to hang them. The kids enjoyed the projects. Westley actually headed them up after I demonstrated to him how to do it. They were also happy that we had some Halloween decorations--we aren't really that into Halloween, so we don't usually decorate other than one jack-o-lantern for the porch.
On the last Monday in November, the city had this big event--Santa's Arrival. Of course Corey had to work the night shift, so we trudged through the heavy snow over to City Hall without him and stood in line to see Santa. Since we got there right at the beginning, we managed to only have to wait about 30 minutes in line. The kids sat on Santa's lap and then we went outside and got some hot chocolate. We ended up not staying because the kids were grumbly and they kept spilling their hot chocolate. But it was fun to go. Maybe next year Corey will have the night off and he can come too. I'm not sure I'll do it again with FIVE kids!
