Thanksgiving 2008

We just said goodbye to our Thanksgiving visitors - Rob's sisters Kim and Ally, and Ally's husband Vince. It was so great of them to travel all the way to Seattle. What a fun time we had. Ally and Vince arrived on Tuesday from Salt Lake. We walked down to Fremont, checked out Dusty Strings and a couple of other fabulous stores, ordered Sushi from Musashi's, played Boggle, and enjoyed some Jasper entertainment. On Wednesday morning, we took a little walk around the neighborhood then headed down to the Aquarium. The Seattle Aquarium is great. Jasper loves all the fish and birds and wildlife. Afterward, we had to eat at the the Egbert's nostalgic Steamers joint. We spent the evening walking around Ballard and stopped into Cupcake Royal and a few other shops. Kim flew in that evening from Chicago so we all stayed up rather late talking and catching up. We started our Thanksgiving festivities with the 1st Annual Tour de Turkey (a bike ride around Seattle our friend George Durham spearheaded). It was seriously the best way to start off Thanksgiving. I always feel sick and yucky after an entire day spent in the kitchen cooking and then followed by all the eating. It was great to get some fresh air and work up an appetite for the feast. (Editorial note: many passers-by as well as their fellow riders were awestruck by the 7- and 8-month pregnant women (Kathleen and Sara) pedaling along on the 8+ mile bike ride). After our bike ride, we all dove into our individual cooking assignments. We didn't eat until 7:30 pm!! All the food turned out perfect! Really, every dish was delish. The only thing was the pumpkin pie and custard that we made from scratch and they ended up being just a bit stringy- better luck next year. Here is the run down of what our menu consisted of and who did what:
Turkey- Rob and Kim
Gravy- Kim
Homemade rolls- Sara (Aunt Jean's recipe)
Cornbread and wild rice Stuffing- Vince
Cranberry Sauce- Kim
Mashed Potatoes- Ally
Roasted Thyme Sweet potatoes- Sara
Cranberry Jello- Rob and Kim (Egbert's special recipe)
Hot citrus punch- Kim
Pumpkin Pie- Sara and Vince
Custard- Kim
Sour Cherry Pie- Kim

Here are photos of the food prep:


Our crowded, small kitchen


The turkey


Pumpkins


Our elegant table


The turkey masters




Yum, yum. What a great meal. What wonderful guests.I want them to come live with us or at least near us. Yesterday, we went to the zoo in the morning and Pikes Market in the evening.

Here are the photos from the week:


The zoo


Pike Place market




The gingerbread displays


Jasper pushing Kim in the stroller

Tour de Turkey:

Projects

I made some curtains for Jasper and baby on the way's room. I'm really happy with the way they turned out. They are reversible- stripes on one side (which match the quilt that Aunt Elena made for Jasper) and stars on the other (because at some point their room will have an outerspace theme):





I wanted some fall time decorations, so I did this project in about five minutes:


I just gathered some leaves from my neighborhood last week, stuck them in a book, pulled them out tonight, glued them to a straw wreath frame I got at JoAnn's for $2, and I was done!

Random fall pictures

Here are some photos I stole off Rob's iPhone:


picking up sticks at the arboretum


jasper doing important stick work


love his legs


Riding bike

Veteran's Day

Rob decided to take most of Tuesday to spend some time with Jasper and I since he'd been gone the past week. We decided to go check out the Museum of Flight. It was really the perfect place to spend Veteran's Day because they have a whole exhibit devoted to WWI and WWII. We left feeling very patriotic and having learned some new facts about our country and world. Jasper loved the airplanes, especially the ones he could climb inside. By the end of the trip, he had perfected his own, little airplane noise.

Fun with Jasper

Rob has been out of town since Tuesday and will be gone till next week. I've been trying to stay busy so that I'll miss him less. It works pretty well during the day because Jasper is the best little buddy a mother could ask for, but getting into bed alone sucks. Anyway, here are some pictures of our week thus far:

Election night:




We went to the Seattle Aquarium with Jasper's friends Max and Colm








Loyal Heights Community Center open play was AWESOME today:

Too excited to sleep

Congratulations President Obama! It feels really good to say the words "president" and "Obama" joined together like that. What an amazing night! I feel too excited for sleep. Just got home from an election party at our friends the Durhams. It was a fabulous gathering. Good company, good food, good conversation, and best of all- good results! Anyway, I better try and hit the sack.

Happy birthday sis!

So, it was my big sister's birthday yesterday.

I just wanted to write a post about how much I love and admire her. She and I are two years apart and practically all my childhood memories are of she and I playing together. We grew up on a street called Chipmunk and spent our life riding our bikes around the caldasac, setting up trading posts with the other kids in the neighborhood, dressing up like fairies and running through the woods behind our house, playing with our barbies in the creek, and setting up and sliding down the slip 'n slide everyday of the summer.

One of our favorite things to do was to re-arrange our room. We would work our little bums off pushing our furniture around the room just to see how we liked it in a different configuration. We both LOVED the feeling of waking up in our "new" room.

At Christmas time, we always wanted to have our own tree in our room. One year we decided to go out in the yard and cut one down. We cut down the perfectly sized tree for us, a baby fir tree about 4 feet tall. What we didn't know was that my dad had actually planted that tree on our hillside a few years earlier to help stabilize the soil from erosion. Ooops! We got in a bit of trouble- but I have to say it really was a beautiful all lit up with multi-colored Christmas lights.

With adulthood, I have gained such a respect and love for my sister Anna which runs much deeper than barbies and dress up. My sister has been such a wonderful example to me of service and strength. Just thinking about what she has been through brings tears to my eyes. Both of her sons have been born with cleft lip and palates. She has taken this hardship and used it to bless the lives of so many others.

Here is a post from her blog about her experience volunteering at Operation Smile while living in China. Anna also started a blog devoted to helping people understand cleft deformities better. I think my sister is amazing. I could write 100 more reasons, but I hear Jasper waking up and calling out "mommy!" I love you Anna banana. Happy birthday.