Thanksgiving 2007

"Gobble, gobble"..dying last words of turkey! I roasted my very first turkey this year. I'm usually not a big fan of turkey because it's usually dry, but I brined mine this year, tucked butter under the turkey breast skin, and used one of those roasting bags and mmmwha! yummy!, if I do say so myself! My dad and stepmom came and celebrated the holiday with us, even though we know Ben is the real reason they came..hehe. Even though I had worked a couple of hours each day leading up to Thursday, my stepmom Cheri and I worked right up until lunch time. But we were eating before 1pm so I think it was all a success! We had turkey with stuffing, giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, dressing, cranberry sauce, squash casserole, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, yeast rolls, apple butter, apple butter pumpkin pie, and pecan pie. Ok, so maybe I went a little overboard, ok, ok, maybe a lot overboard, but we had great time enjoying one other's company, watching Ben play with his toy turkey, and it was so nice to be able to cook a nice dinner for a few of the people I love! I'm so grateful for all of my family and friends, for my baby boy and husband, and for my Savior and am looking forward to Christmas and watching Ben experience a little magic in the form of a red suit and beard. Being the mom of a kid is ALMOST as fun as being a kid again myself! (More so in a lot of ways..)Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some leftovers to go eat!


The doting grandparents


Adam fell asleep (remote in hand) watching the game and waiting for the turkey. (He's going to KILL me for posting this picture!)


A banquet fit for a king! (Too bad all he got was cereal and prunes..hehe!)


The man of the house carving the turkey! Doesn't it make you want to do the Tim Allen growl?!






Hours and hours of preparation...snarfed down in 20 minutes.

Halloween 2007

Ok! I'm finally getting around to posting about our Halloween this year. (Here it is after Thanksgiving!) I ended up carving our jack-o-latern on Halloween day while Adam was at work. We meant to do it as a family but just never had gotten around to it. Ben had fun avoiding touching the pumpkin guts at all costs. I don't think he liked the texture too much. Boomer made up for it though by sniffing and eating anything that got near his shoved-in pug nose. Paybacks are heck though when Boomer was Adam's prisoner at the church trunk-or-treat. Adam was animal control, I was a cat, and Ben was a puppy. I had the cutest bear costume for Ben, but I just couldnt make him wear it since it was so hot. So we took pictures in it the next day. If you look closely at the last picture, you can kind of see Ben's first two teeth!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

I just LOVE this time of year! The cooler weather, leaves beginning to change, all the fun fall festivals and events, not to mention Halloween and the search for the "great pumpkin". On Saturday, we took a little day trip to Calera, AL (between Birmingham and Montgomery) where we rode a 97-year-old train complete with red caboose out to a pumpkin patch and hay ride.




Ben wasn't even scared of the whistles and screeching; he was just really curious about what was going on. He even got to meet the conductor and wear his hat! (Naturally, the conductor's pocket watch went straight into Ben's mouth just after the picture was taken!)





When we arrived to the patch, there were lots of people waving and welcoming us. We had a great time searching for the pumpkin that was the most round and smooth for carving and had the longest stem. It didn't take us long to find the perfect one.





Ben had fun seeing all the bright orange everywhere. Adam would say that is to be expected from the littlest Vols fan though! :-) He took a little taste of some hay and met a scarecrow in the patch too!




While at the patch, we also rode the hay ride around a field and got a nice view of the grapevines.




Then it was time to go! On the way back to the station, we rode in an outside cab of the train. Ben took in all the sights and sounds and just seemed to thoroughly enjoy the ride. It was so cute to watch him with the wind on his face swing his little bare feet while his Daddy held him tight!





The ride took us through some pretty scenery, including a pond and a golf course where we saw a bunch of turkeys. They ran as soon as the train went by. They must know what other holiday is coming up!




Fall has just got to be the best time of year!