Defying Conventions

Joy says . . .

. . . why go around a table when it's so much more fun to go under it? . . .

And why wear your jeans on both legs when it's so much more avant-garde to wear them on just one side? (She has the same policy about shoes.)

Brining and Dining

Ah, Thanksgiving. You've got to love a holiday centered around family, food, and gratitude. We spent Wednesday with my side of the family, taking the annual family portrait and catching up with my brother Andrew who is in town for the holiday. Of course, we were so busy snapping group pictures that I forgot to ever get our own camera out of its case. Bleh.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with Phillip's family--or at least, the members of it that are in town.

Joy and Grandma H worked on their fine motor skills, while I worked on . . .

. . . my turkey cooking skills. I've never cooked a turkey before, and I've been curious to try a method called brining, where you soak the meat for several hours before cooking it to add flavor and keep it from drying out. The most basic brines are just salt, water, and usually some sugar, but I found many recipes that add spices, herbs, etc., to the mix. A whole turkey is supposed to soak for 24 hours or so, but since there were only going to be four of us at the table we just cooked a 3-pound half-breast (shown above in its brine bath). The resulting meat was very moist and flavorful (as turkey goes)--not bad for a first attempt. Next time I may try one of the brine recipes that uses apple cider instead of water.

Here we are preparing to devour hours of work in about twenty minutes. Everything was tasty, but I must say my favorite part of the meal was the mashed potatoes. I usually view mashed potatoes as merely a bland vehicle for getting gravy to one's mouth, but these potatoes were good enough to eat on their own. I really must get that recipe from Mom H . . .

In case you're wondering where Joy is, she was actually fast asleep when this picture was taken. Since she has little interest these days in any food that isn't applesauce or Cheerios, we figured it made more sense to let us adults enjoy a peaceful meal, and invite Joy to partake next year when she'll appreciate it more.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Accessories for the Heart

Joy's Grandma Hendrickson recently made her a special necklace. It has a laminated picture of Grandma and another of Joy (with their names printed on the back), and a heart between them. The three "medallions" are connected by a length of ribbon. Depending on which way Joy wears it, it says "Grandma Loves Joy" or "Joy Loves Grandma."

Joy likes necklaces of any sort, but she is particularly fond of this one. She loves looking at the pictures, and holding them up for you if you ask to see them.

Here she's holding Grandma's picture against her cheek so Grandma can give her a kiss. Is that cute or what?

Eating inspired by kids' tastes

As Kimberly mentioned in the last post, we had Anna over a couple of weeks ago, and she and Joy had lots of fun playing together. Anna brought something for dinner that Joy had never tried before - macaroni and cheese. Joy was very interested in this new dish: between feeding Anna bites of mac-and-cheese, she'd try to sneak in bites for herself.

Seeing this brought back memories of my youth when my mom would make a home-made version of mac-and-cheese called pioneer macaroni and cheese: it's prepared in a large pan and cooks in the oven. All of the kids liked it, but my sister Laura, who is a huge cheese lover, would eat it by the plateful. Of course, all of these memories then made me want some pioneer mac-and-cheese for dinner, so soon after Anna's visit, I called my mom and got the recipe. Kimberly was kind enough to prepare it a couple of nights later, and, together with a traditional green salad, I ended up eating a meal that I hadn't eaten in several years. The leftovers were enough to last several days, too, so for the better part of a week, I enjoyed cheesy goodness. Thanks Mom for the recipe & thanks Kimberly for making it!

Big Sister in Training

The other night we hosted little Anna for a few hours while her parents went out for the evening.

The girls had fun playing together. After watching Joy and her buddies play separately for so much of their lives, it still thrills me a little each time I see my daughter playing WITH another child.

Joy also volunteered to help feed Anna her dinner. I'm very curious to see how she'll interact with Little Brother when he arrives in three months (good grief! he's practically here! and anxious to get out, judging from how much he kicks).

Sock It To Me

These days, Joy's really into socks--or "kwahs," as she puts it. Actually, any word with a "k" sound is "kwah" in Joyspeak--socks, blocks, cars, etc. But I digress . . .

Joy loves carrying socks around with her, wearing them on her feet, and . . .

. . . making sure her chair has some for its feet, too.

A Little Dirt Doesn't Hurt

Remember nine months ago when I took Joy to the park for the first time and freaked out over the idea of my precious angel coming in contact with (gasp!) dirt?

My, how things change.

Turning to a Life of Climb

Joy has been getting more adventurous lately . . .

. . . whether she's striding along the Great Wall with Daddy's help . . .

. . . or scaling greater obstacles on her own.

Up . . .

. . . and over!

I don't so much mind that she can climb into the crib (when the side is lowered, at least), but I dread the day she attempts to climb OUT of it.

Just One Word:

WOO-HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Happy Election Day!

Don't forget to vote!!!

Happy Halloween

I think we could all use a holiday from politics. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Actually, our Halloween hasn't been very conventional. Joy still doesn't get the concept of trick-or-treating, and since we live in an apartment complex we rarely have trick-or-treaters come to our door. This year we got a grand total of two: a couple of guys who looked like they could be in college. They weren't even wearing costumes--they just had grocery bags for collecting candy. Sheesh.

We did dress up for the ward's trunk-or-treat activity, though. Here's Angel Joy with Doctor Daddy. I donned cat ears and a tail, but we somehow managed not to get a picture of me, which is not necessarily a huge loss to posterity.

Trick-or-treating at the activity ended up being a family affair. Joy wasn't keen on approaching costumed strangers with spookily decorated car trunks, so Daddy carried our angel and we invited people to hand their candy to her, then she deposited it in the pumpkin bucket I was carrying for her. In the days after the activity, Joy figured out that all those colorful things we collected are actually good to eat. Maybe she'll be more enthusiastic about gathering them herself next year.

A few days later, Joy's playgroup decided to meet at a local indoor playground that was having a Halloween party. Here's Joy striking an angelic pose in the bouncer.

And here are her pals, Red Riding Hood and the Soccer Champ. We tried to get a picture of all the play group kids together, but trying to get kids to pose together is like herding cats. Ah well - memories are worth more than photos, right? :)