Two Turkey Days

Call me crazy, but for years I've wanted to try cooking Thanksgiving dinner, even though plenty of capable relatives are happy to do it for me.  I guess I just wanted to see if I could pull it off.

Last weekend I finally did it.  I prepped as much as possible the night before, then Phillip tended the kids Saturday afternoon while I cooked for an hour and a half.  I made turkey breast in the pressure cooker, mashed potatoes on the stove, sweet potato casserole in the oven, and steamed broccoli in the microwave.  Everything turned out pretty well, but I'm not in a hurry to do it all again.

Today we headed to my parents' home and let the experts handle the feast.  Grandma cooked the turkey, Grandpa carved it (88 years young and he's still got the knack), . . .

. . . Phillip rinsed the dishes, . . .

. . . and Sean and Heather took tryptophan-induced naps (if you look closely at Heather's heels, you'll notice they're about six inches tall; it was kind of weird to look my short sister in the eye when she was standing).

Yes, the food was great tonight, but my favorite part was just spending the holiday with family.  I feel so blessed.

Grease Monkeys

Anna helped Daddy take care of his bike this morning.

First Daddy examined the tires, . . .

. . . then Anna provided a careful second opinion.

They checked the chain tension . . .

. . . then cleaned the chain.  It's never too early to teach the value of a clean chain.

Hiccups and a Lobster

Latest news from the Six Hendricksons:

Joy loves to cuddle Todd (who wouldn't?).

Papa came to visit the day he arrived home from Colorado.  Apparently he was still pretty wiped out from his trip, or maybe he just thought Todd made napping look fun.  Either way, we're touched that he came even though he was tired.

It's lobster week at Daniel's preschool, and a few days ago he came home wearing this awesome hat.  I love it.

Last but not least, Todd got hiccups tonight, which the big sibs thought was absolutely hilarious.

Hello, Baby!

We'd like to introduce you to somebody.

His name is Todd . . .

. . . and he weighed 9 pounds and (almost) 3 ounces when he was born this morning.

He's already got lots of adoring fans: Daddy, . . .

. . . Mama, his sibs, . . . 

. . . (though Anna was more interested in the stuff in my hospital room than in the little, red-faced kid in the receiving blanket), . . .

. . . one grandma, . . .

. . . and another grandma.

Papa would have visited, too, but he was in Colorado bagging a big whitetail this morning (nice shot, Dad).

Welcome to the family, Todd!

Pill Bug on Parade

Joy had planned to be Darth Maul for her school's Halloween parade (and I had braced myself to get up an hour early and paint her face), but a few days ago I realized that her school doesn't allow weapons (fake or otherwise) in the parade.  Joy didn't want to be a Sith sans light saber, so we brainstormed alternative costume ideas and Joy decided to be . . .

. . . a pill bug (rollie pollie), cuz she's kind of obsessed with them lately.  She originally asked me to paint her face black and attach a bunch of pipe cleaner legs to her shirt, but as the morning wore on she decided that she didn't want to deal with face paint, and the legs were a hassle (she pulled them off in the car on the way to school).

In the end, she just wore black clothes and pipe cleaner antennae headband, but she was the happiest pill bug in the parade.

Here she is post-parade, with her kitty cat teacher and one of the Dallas Cowboys.  Incidentally, someone asked me if Captain America's shield should be allowed at school, since he technically uses it as a weapon.  Some questions in life may never be answered.

Speaking of pill bugs, Joy brought one home today so she could start keeping it as a pet.  We did a little research about proper care and feeding of pill bugs, and it looks like this little guy will help us polish off our vegetable scraps in the coming months.

This evening Phillip took Anna on a date to Target (because toddling around a store is as much fun as going to Disneyland when you're two years old), and I took the Pill Bug and the Prince trick-or-treating.  Good times were had by all.