Thanksgiving

My friend Michelle's happy post here made me deeply grateful for God's goodness, and that reminded me that I hadn't shared the pictures from our Thanksgiving.  Bill's dad rolled in from New Jersey on Wednesday and his friend Ros who lives in Topeka came to see him.  As is his custom, he arrived with a generous numebr of gifts for everyone and the living room looked like it had exploded in paper.  Joseph especially enjoyed a book Bill brought called "Rap a Tap Tap" about Bill  "Bojangles" Robinson.  He begged for it to be read to him many times for weeks.

As usual Bill took a moment to record the kids and what they are doing.  This time he had told me that he was going to record them reciting the poetry,  but I thought he was bringing the hand held recorder.  This set up gives really nice audio and the kids did pretty well with the mike.

Before we had to say goodbye on Friday, Bill treated us to a yummy breakfast at the Santa Fe Depot Diner


Here's a picture thought I'll share which repeatedly inspires in me a feeling of thankfulness, my Bill's home-made bike racks:

. 

November--Holidays

Today when James started throwing up, I realized how woefully unprepared I am for the season, Thanksgiving, Christmas or flu.  Since Bill has to make a commissary run for flu supplies anyway, I decided to make a Thanksgiving shopping list too.  But first I had to confirm the menu.  And as a tone of annoyance crept into his voice, I realized what a waste of time it is for us to discuss it.  Not only do we eat basically the same thing every year, I cook it all, so I get to pick!  I sent him to school and wrote down the menu:

Thanksgiving Day:
Breakfast
Empanadas de Calabazas, Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Coffee

Lunch
Roast Beef Sandwiches and Fruit

Dinner--5pm
Turkey with Herbed Stuffing and Cranberry Sauce
Grandma Mapson's Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Spinach and Strawberry Salad
Parker House Rolls
Sparkling Cider, Wine and Water
Chocolate Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie

Of course, then I had to pull out 4 cookbooks and look at multiple websites to 1. discover this is the menu I already had written in my cookbook and 2. double check recipes and ingredients and make a grocery list.  Once the list was compiled, I had to dig through the kitchen to see what we actually need--my least favorite part.  Why, oh why, haven't we just come up with a master list years ago? 

Here it is, although Bill will fix the order so it's shoppable.
Deli
Roast Beef
Cheese

Produce
onion
celery
3 sweet potatoes
6 oranges
10 potatoes
bag of spinach
lettuce
tomatoes

Dry Goods
White wine vinegar
mustard
mayo
shortening
walnuts 1/2 C
1 1/2 C halved pecans
sugar
flour
dark corn syrup
dark brown sugar
yeast
baking powder
confectioner's sugar
semi sweet choc chips
mini marshmellows
poppy seeds
sesame seeds
paprika
salt
pepper
ginger
gr. cloves
thyme
sage
majoram
basil
cinnamon
vanilla
anise
pumpkin pie mix
evaporated milk
can of pumkin puree
6-8 C chicken broth
saltine crackers
canned chicken soup
ramen
7 up
apple juice
sprarkling cider
liquid tylenol
liquid motrin

Meat
Turkey over 10 lbs
bacon

Frozen Foods (if can't find fresh)
2 pkg cranberries
4 C sliced strawberries

Dairy
Milk
36 eggs
2 lb butter
pint heavy whipping cream

Alcohol
Wine
Brandy

Now I just have to get out my Christmas gift spreadsheet, send out lists, and beg for lists so that I can go shopping this weekend.

Veteran's Day with Our Favorite Vet

  Leavenworth has a huge Veteran's Day Parade every year.  This is a community of 35,000 people and Bill says he thinks they were all in the parade.  He and I and the little boys watched and the other kids marched.

No, you aren't supposed to be able to tell who is in all of these pictures.  My scouts will recognize themselves, though.  You can click on the pictures to enlarge them, and in some that will make the subject clear. 

After the parade, we happily fed ourselves at the Santa Fe Depot Diner, an old train station.

This is Maria, Charles and Anthony

This is Thomas, Bill and Joseph

Before we went to a potluck at church tonight, all of the kids begged me to take their picture with Archbishop of Military Services Timothy Broglio, who is visiting. He kindly and cheerfully took a moment to pose, and some friendly parishoners encouraged me and Bill to jump in too.  Anthony thought "it was pretty amazing to touch the garments of an archbishop."

Quotable

"Jesus is not a cookie."  -- 7 year old explaining transubstantiation to the 1 year old

"Mom, do you lay eggs or are you a mammal?"  --the 8 year old, who is now officially failing science

"This sounds like something that might start reproduction."  --the younger 10 year old to his 8 year old friend on the topic of inappropriate music.