Thanksgiving

Grandma and Grandpa's grave.

Sophie sitting in the cats' bed. Eddy the dog likes to lay there too.

I had this funny realization in the middle of our Thanksgiving that I never could have imagined years ago when the Twinners and I were kids that someday when we grew up we'd live in Ohio (or close to it)and get to celebrate our holidays together with our kids and my husbands' family! Pretty close to heaven if you ask me (especially because we weren't sick!).

Gotta get in and "Amy sandwich" pic!

Happy Birthday to Jack! How lucky is he that the whole country takes a holiday from work and has a huge feast just for his birthday. Wish they'd do that for me!

Pin the hat on the turkey was lots of fun, but I don't think any of the kids new that the turkey was supposed to wear his hat on his HEAD! :>

Laney was commissioned to color Zeb's turkey placemat.

Here's the "after" pic of the pie baking (and the "before" pic of us digging in).

Craig and the kids rode the train at the Lodi outlets while Sophie and went to Carters to get her winter/spring clothes.

Yummy lunch!

We had such a wonderful trip down to Ohio for Thanksgiving (I'm so glad we were sick BEFORE we went down so we didn't have to be sick WHILE we were there this year!). We drove down Tuesday night and on Wednesday we took a quick trip to the outlet mall to try to find Craig some new work duds. We didn't have much luck for him, but I cleaned up for Sophie at Carter's (not hard to do). It was so fun to catch some lunch and Craig and the kids rode the train and I got the BEST piece of peppermint bark that lasted nibble by nibble until the trip home!

Wednesday evening Mommo and I made tons of food and then we went to bed and got up the next morning and made even MORE food! You can see the "after" pic of the apple pie I made and on Mommo's blog(yaya and papa), you can see the "before" pic. It was so good that Craig and I had some on Wednesday night before going to bed!

Thursday Phil and Amanda, Jack and Steph, Leisy and Kent, and Laney and Taylor and all the kids came for dinner around 1:30pm. We were all WELL fed as we always are. It was so fun to hang out and eat way too much and laugh about everything and nothing. I had also brought some games for the kiddos and some turkey placemats for them to color. It was a fabulous way to spend the holiday! Thanks to Mommo and Dad for putting up with all of us and our crazy babies!

Friday we took the kids down to Home Hardware (where Craig has his first job) and saw Santa and Mrs Claus. We also drove past Craig's old house so the kids could see where Craig lived as a kid and took them to the Cemetary to visit Grandma and Grandpa Starkeys' grave.

Incognito

This is "Flint Lockwood" from "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". He is making his plans to build his spaceship. He was talking about how he didn't have the right metal and didn't work at GE so he didn't really know how to build the rocketship. It was frustrating to him and really amusing to me!
They insist that the "hat" (actually silicone cake form)is a "condo hat" for ladies who live in condos!! WHAT??? So funny!

He's being Harry Potter.
Now he's a rock star at the "rockstar" birthday party he and Katie attended on Friday night!
I feel like the kids have spent so much time dressed up in costumes recently that they are undercover! Right now as I type, Sophie is dressed as a dancing cow and Taylor is being "Flint Lockwood" from "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", Katie is sporting pink cateye glasses that apparently she wore all day at school and told everybody she was blind without them (and crossed her eyes every time she took them off).

Katie got assigned to make bread sticks for an activity day girls service project lat week so I got a recipe and we made these. They are soooo good! Here's the recipe:

Soft Garlic Breadsticks

Ingredients

• 1 1/8 cups water (70 to 80 degrees F)
• 2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoon minced fresh basil
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine, melted

• Directions

  1. In bread machine pan, place the first nine ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select dough setting (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed). When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 20 portions. Shape each into a ball; roll each into a 9-in. rope. Place on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 40 minutes or until doubled. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks. Brush warm breadsticks with butter.

I made two batches. One in the bread machine and one on my own (just let the yeast "bloom" in the water for 10min). Both turned out great. I liked how if I had the time I could have the bread machine make the dough and knead it, but if you're in a hurry, then do it on your own.

Last week

Sophie on Saturday all dressed up and ready to go out on the town!

After I finished arguing with the insurance company I found Sophie here...

and Taylor here.

Last week. It was horrible. Probably one of the most miserable weeks I can ever recall. It started on Sunday night, Sophie puked all over our rug and chair, and all over Craig and the kitchen sink. Ewwww.... I knew that was a bad omen because, of course, Craig had to go out of town. So, just as expected after Craig when out of town, Taylor and I started simultaneously puking. It was a long horrible night full of cleaning up and messes and visits to the bathroom for both of us. By morning, thankfully, I was done being violently ill and okay enough to haul us all to Walgreens to buy all types of sick food. Ginger ale, jello, sprite, pedialyte, and gatorade. We also got some movies from Redbox. Then we just stayed home and I did laundry and the kids slept off and on while I argued with the Dr.'s office and the insurance company about the medication I keep getting prescribed that the insurance company doesn't want to cover. Really a red-letter day for me. Craig came home as soon as everybody was in bed (the beds which had all been remade about 3x's each) and the laundry was all done and folded and put away. Right on time.

Someday, it's gonna be me who skips town as soon as the puking begins.

On a happier note, Katie was the star student of the week a couple weeks ago. I don't think any other student in her class will ever have a poster that out-sparkles hers! Also Taylor flying the moon is pretty fabulous!

Happy Halloween!

How's the blood punch???

so spooky!
Creepy!!

Sophie was an ewok. People kept referring to her as a boy, even with the costume I think she looks like a girl.


I haven't been a very diligent blogger recently. Computer problems + life with kids and a calling in the youth program have me fried most of the time, but here are some pix of our Halloween. We went to a great pumpkin patch and got some pumpkins and carved them and then went to trunk or treat the church on Wednesday before Halloween. The weekend before Halloween we also went to Ohio and got to go to Craig's parents Halloween party. It was amazing! Great weather and just the perfect time to visit.
We also attended the kids Halloween parade and their parties at the school the Thursday before Halloween. Our trick or treating for our neighborhood was on Saturday and we had so much fun doing that all together. We did a star wars theme this year as you can tell. Sorry for the blurry picture, our camera (that I just got last year) keeps turning up crummy pix.