THANKSGIVING 2013 PART 2

Sloane started saying 'no' this past weekend and I know I won't feel this way for long but it is the cutest thing right now. She usually says it with a 'y' between the two letters, so what comes out is a squeaky 'NYOOOOO', said with such indignation and the firmest of insistence. I have to keep from dissolving into a fit of giggles because it is so darn cute. It's mostly funny because it doesn't seem like someone her size should be saying no with so much conviction and zest, but there she is.  Sometimes I'll make a learning moment but saying, 'Sloane can you say 'yes' instead?' And she will readily comply with a 'ISSS' and an enthusiastic nod of the head.

You see the table up there ? That's what happens every Thanksgiving at Ken's moms house and it is a tradition I am a fan of. I mean, who wouldn't be? She sets the table for a hot pot meal, which is similar to shabu shabu or fondue in that there is a pot of boiling broth in the middle of the table and lots of meats and vegetables that each person can put into the pot to cook. It was all so delicious; Sloane also approves.

Sloane loves visiting with her grandma and great grandma and it makes my heart glad to see all the love between them. 

In other news, she participates happily in the hip hip hoorays, which is what I shout out whenever I'm taking a photo of her these days to get that big sweet smile on her face.

THANKSGIVING 2013

On Thanksgiving morning, I inadvertently put Sloane in this shirt and when my sister saw her she immediately pointed out that I had dressed her as a pilgrim and that's how I saw her for the rest of the day - a baby pilgrim amongst us, to remind us of a tradition of thanks.   I was so happy and excited to have my sister Eunice and her husband Val spend Thanksgiving Day with us; it was a laid back day filled with cooking and eating (which we later ramped up into a hectic day of pre-black Friday shopping.)

The baby pilgrim starting with an early breakfast

The adult breakfast happened a little later, in front of the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Day Parade

While I cooked, Eunice baked us our delicious cake, which I wish I had some more of right now as I type...

Our Thanksgiving meal consisted of grilled ribeye steaks (we all vetoed the turkey this year), turnips gratin, acorn squash wedges, green bean casserole, corn pudding, and gourgeres.

Sloane had eaten earlier, so she feasted on an apple while we ate.

After dinner, we relaxed with some reading.

And a walk around the neighborhood...

Dessert time!  This was a root beer float cake with chocolate expresso frosting and I could have eaten this entire thing. 

We topped it all off with a game of Dominion and Val won both games, although Sloane might have been a close contender.

FRIENDSGIVING 2013

Are we ready for Thanksgiving?? Surprisingly, I think I am! What helped get me in the mood was the Friendsgiving feast we had this past weekend. These are friends who all worked together at one point in time - some of us don't all work together anymore, but we make a point to get together to catch up and doing a potluck for Thanksgiving has naturally just become a thing (now three years in a row!). We're doing it and we're doing it hard.  

Inspired by Oh Joy's "cone-a-copia", I put together this centerpiece for our table using ice cream cones, winter greens, dried orange baby's breath that I had around and white paper flowers (yes...from my wedding).

I also did a few simple things to jazz up the table: handmade simple place mats out of burlap (and by handmade I mean I measured, cut and fringed them- easiest placemats ever),  gold ribbons around mason jars, pine cones as stands for name cards and paper napkins with a fun geometric pattern (from Target). 

Happy Thanksgiving all! 

A GIRLS WEEKEND

I was in a crummy mood today. The one-two punch of a really cold day and a Monday at the office got me real good. It's the kind of mood that warrants making a giant bowl of aglio e olio and eating it hot and steamy. Or making a pan of fried rice and eating it straight out is the pan, standing up, next to the stove. Or going to town on a loaf of fresh bread, smothered in butter. As I later told Ken, these cravings might be my body's way of trying to fatten me up for the winter. I did end up making some fried rice for dinner but I'm proud to say I refrained from getting all dramatic with it. More importantly, at the end of the day, I get to pick up sloane the brave, who is a balm for my cranky soul. Great huge grins from my daughter, a warm house, and some leftovers from the night before's friendsgiving feast wore down some of my crankiness and got me closer to a thankful state of mind, which is where I always hope to be.

It's usually slower and sometimes harder to run errands with a toddler, but it is also  more fun with a side kick who is 100% committed to their sidekick role for an errand-filled Saturday. This past weekend found just us girls alone while Ken was out of town. On Friday, we shared an apple together while I told her of my Saturday to-do list and on Saturday morning, we got dressed, took our time eating our breakfast, and then looked at each other, took a deep breath and went at it.  That day we hit up two grocery stores, two thrift stores, a children's consignment store, the dollar tree, the mall, and chipotle…with a nap somewhere in the middle of all that.  

Some other noteworthy things, she started saying "wee!" when doing certain things that warrant such an emotion, i.e. sliding off the chair, running into the next room, finding a ball. It's too much for words.

It  also got real cold this past weekend and I showed her how the cold sometimes makes me hug myself and say, "brrr it's cold!" Watching her imitate me do that was maybe the highlight of the whole day. 

Also, Sloane learned how to jump. She demands that we jump around together, sporadically. 

I love that I get to share my joy of eating apples with her.  As she eats the apple with glee and such efficiency, I'm like, 'yes! I know, isn't it SO good?!' 

On the left, right before we set out for the day. 

On the right, we took a break and came back home so that she could take a nap and this is right before she uncharacteristically put up a very big fuss about having to nap. i imagined she was saying, 'but mama, we're not done!'

She is usually in the shopping cart when we go to the grocery store, but on this particular trip, i only needed to pick up one or two things so she was eye-level with all of the flowers and we must have spent a good 10 minutes in the floral section because she needed to sniff each and every flower and plant.

Dinner after a long day of errands…(we tried out chipotle's kid's menu!) she had brown rice, black beans and some of a pork and cheese quesedilla. 

When she saw these mannequins at the store she stared long and hard and went up to investigate.  She pointed to the dog and said "ruh run!" (for rusty) and I was tickled by how still she was standing there so still. We had a couple of people walk by and get surprised because they thought she was part of the display.

And something else that bullies down those winter blues: yellow tights to brighten up the dark and remind you of sunny days: