Category Archives: holiday

Respect the Turkey: The Menu

This is all a little late, I know but Wow! The holiday Season is upon us! Hello even-busier-than-normal life! But, since I “Respect the Turkey” I must make my Thanksgiving posts. There will be a whole series in fact. So get ready and consider yourself warned.
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Our Thanksgiving was, well, pretty awesome. It had all the right stuff. Good Food. Family. Laughter. Wine.

I hosted my first ever Thanksgiving. Originally, I was expecting about 18 people so I made a menu plan, grocery list and to-do list for said 18 people. We ended up with 11 and I never adjusted down so we ended up with a LOT of food. But, I love me some Thanksgiving leftovers so I was not complaining!

My sister and I started cooking on Wednesday night and pretty much didn’t stop until we ate dinner at 4 the next day. After you see the menu, you’ll know why.

Disclaimer here: My mom brought the pies over. And, I know I’m missing something here, but I can’t remember what.

The menu:

Appetizers:
Venison Therringer
Cheese & Crackers
Roasted Garlic and baguette bread
7 layer dip
Mushroom Tart
Veggies & Dill dip
Bacon and Swiss Quiche (actually leftover from breakfast, but whatevs.)

Dinner:
22 lb Turkey {It was Crazy, I know!}
Gravy (duh)
Stuffing
Mac-n-Cheese
Mashed Potatoes
Rolls (sort of)
Cauliflower something yummy
Brussel Sprouts
Green Jello Salad
Green Bean Casserole

Dessert:
Bread Pudding
Lemon Meringue Pie
Chocoloate Pie
Blueberry Cheesecake
Apple Pie

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UPDATE: My lovely sister reminded me what I forgot, so please add the following to the list:
Pumpkin pie
Pumpkin/cranberry muffins
Homemade cranberry sauce
Canned cranberry jelly stuff
Olives
Yams
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The Goods.

Prepping the Appetizers.

The Table Setting.

The Master Chefs taking a quick break.
{I seriously don’t know what I would do without her.}
{And yes, we have matching/coordinating aprons.}
{We’re cool like that.}

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! Here’s to a wonderful holiday season!

Fashiona-bee Late

Because We all Want to be Perfect

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Can you hear that? Listen closely. Still can’t hear it? It’s Christmas music playing ever so faintly in the back of your head. Don’t fight it. Christmas is just around the corner.

Now, normally I am a HUGE advocate for NO CHRISTMAS until AFTER THANKSGIVING!!! {yes, so passionate that it requires all caps}

One of my favorite things about the Christmas season? Christmas cards. Sending and receiving. I especially love them if they include photos. Let’s talk Christmas cards for a minute, shall we?

Everyone wants their Christmas cards to show a perfect little family. Matching, or at least coordinating, outfits. All smiles. All happy. My track record so far isn’t great. Observe…

When I was pregnant with Ry, I was supposed to have my ultrasound to find out her gender the week before Christmas. I had this great plan that in our Christmas cards I would include an ultrasound photo announcing it to all of our friends and family. Then our ultrasound got pushed back until after Christmas and I got so annoyed I didn’t even send out Christmas cards.

The next year…well, actually I can’t remember what happened that year. It’s all a blur.

Last year Ry was so sick in the weeks leading up to Christmas with swine flu and pneumonia that I literally did not have the energy to put Christmas cards in the mail.

But this year? It’s all going to change. I’ve already started planning. I’ve already started shopping. And, we’ve already taken family photos. For your enjoyment I’ve included a link to our blooper reel HERE because we’re not actually all perfect.

It’s never to early to start planning. Remember? I’m kind of Type-A.

Enter: Shutterfly

They have hundreds of holiday cards to choose from. Like I said, the photo ones are my favorite. If you are lucky enough to get more than one “perfect” family shot, they have cards that allow you to display all of them like this one:

However, if you’re like my family, with a 2 year old, a grumpy husband and toss in a dog for good measure, it was hard enough getting one really good one. Luckily, Shutterfly has tons of options if you have to go the one photo route. I love my holiday cards to be simple and classy and not too commercial (ie no Santa). I was not disappointed with the selection. There are two different card designs that I love!

And in my true Type-A style, I can even get matching return address labels. SCORE!

If you want to be ~~anal retentive~~ cool like me and start planning early, Shutterfly is offering 20% off all holiday cards. Just go HERE for more details.

Now, get to planning! But, before you go…help! Which of the 2 designs do you like better?

This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. In exchange for my post I am receiving 50 free holiday cards. If you have a blog and you want to know more, go HERE.

Because we’re not all perfect…

7 Replies

Because sometimes your two-year old doesn’t want to hold Daddy’s hand…

Because sometimes Daddy thinks it’s funny to stick his cold hand down the back of Mommy’s pants…

{Newsflash…it’s not that funny.}

And because sometimes Daddy is just done…

We did in fact get a great photo. And no you can’t see it…yet. It was actually the very first photo we took. Shhh…don’t tell Andy. He hates doing things like this. All in all he was a pretty good sport.

And that’s all you get for now…

Growing Up Sucks…but in a good way. Really.

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Well, another 4th of July is on the books. As I was driving home at 10:00 PM, leaving the party early because Ry was ready to go home, I couldn’t help but think about how my 4th of July’s used to be. I’ve been going out to the Clark’s Independence Day bash for a while now…well, as long as Andy and I have been together, so this would be my ninth year (except for the 1 year I was down in Cali)…so 8 years in all.

Ever since Rylee was born, it’s just been…well, different. Gone are the days of watching the fireworks until 1 in the morning, then staying up until 3 AM playing board games with friends. Not only does Ry need to get to bed, but I don’t think I’d even be able to make it until 3! Our friends who used to come every year have moved away or moved on. It’s amazing how things change as we get older. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss how the 4th of July’s used to be. I miss all of our friends being together, staying up late, laughing, retelling the same of stories again and again (and again).

But, at the same time, I love the day I had with my family today. Playing with Rylee on the teeter-totter, seeing her face drip with watermelon juice, watching her and her “Buddy!” pick up rocks from the driveway and toss them into the dog dish full of water, watching them chase each other around or holding hands, spending time with the “extended family”, reapplying sunscreen, watching Ry “brush it off” after her ump-teenth crash-and-burn. And quite possibly, best of all?…rocking her to sleep (because I never get to do that anymore).

Also, I must add a side-note. I had one of the BEST proud mama-moments yet…a non-biased 3rd party person commented on how cute of a TOM BOY Rylee is! Sa-WEET! Score one for the mama! That’s right…I don’t have a froo-froo little girly-girl…just ask the lady at the party…now if I only knew who she was…

I have been known to be a stick~~-in-the-mud~~-LER about Ry’s bedtime schedule, but this year, I eased up a bit and she got to experience fireworks for the first time! That only actually lasted about 10 minutes before she was ready to go, but hey, baby steps. She did however, totally dig the sparklers…

It’s hard to believe this was two years ago…

Post summary: Different in a good way.

Somewhere In The Middle

Mostly Average Accounts of the World's Okayest Mom.