I am Thankful for...

Gentry
sleep
no workout schedule for Thanksgiving
Grandma and Grandpa
tree houses
beautiful fall days
the Riviera
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
my kids
a break from my kids
pumpkin pie for breakfast

the Spirit in our home
cousins that live so close

baby teeth

technology to be "close" to those far away

cozy fires

forgiveness
dancing

books

Wii

sweaters

and love I asked the kids and these are the answers I got.
Court said: family, education and holidays
Tate said: turkey, songs and "bear feet"
Peaches said: snuggle baby, my Isabel and Princesses

Happy Thanksgiving!

And as my friend Karen said,

"may your hearts be thankful and your stomachs be stretchy"

Two Wheeler

Tate is riding his two wheeler now without the training wheels.
I took the training wheels off and tried running along side of him, hanging on to the seat but he was to scared to trust me. He kept turning to look at me and make sure that I was there for him. After three of four times up and down the street he finally started trying for to actually ride. He got it really quick but noticed in our shadow that I wasn't hanging on just running along side and threw a fit. He was so mad at me and wouldn't let me help him any more.
I went in and got Gentry and ten minutes later was called back out to see Tate giving Daddy all the credit for teaching him how to ride a two wheeler.
There is no credit for the mommy.
He couldn't be prouder of himself

And I couldn't be prouder of him.
Good Job Tate!
You ROCK!
He even got the special plate for dinner.

Mishaps

Yesterday night I took some treats around to the ladies I visit teach and of course I stayed and chatted. When I did get home, this is what I found:


Luckily when she was all cleaned up, she looked like this:


So not as bad as it first seemed, but when I was scrubbing the carpet and couldn't get all the blood out I was sure thankful that I wasn't home at the time.
Gentry is just so level headed about this kind of thing.
I am not.
Enough said.

Roasted Chickens

I bought the two whole chickens from Costco. They are one of my favorite food buys. I made them yesterday and I have to say I am proud of how they turned out.



ROASTED CHICKEN

2 chickens , 4 1/2 to 5 pounds each
3 lemons and an orange
Poultry spice, parsley and oregano
1 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup juice from lemon and orange (don't discard lemon rinds)

Preheat oven to 425°
Make marinade: Place mustard, soy and juice in a bowl. Mix ingredients well.
Pull out the stuff in the stomach of the chicken and cut out the neck.
Stuff cavities with lemon and orange rinds and a generous amount of the herbs.
Place each chicken in its own baking dish.
Pour marinade over chicken. Add cracked pepper to the top of each chicken.
Cover with aluminum foil. Place on the lower rack of the oven.
Bake for 2 hours.

It took me only about 10 mins to get this in the oven. I also wrapped some potatoes and threw them in after about an hour of the chickens cooking.

We ate one all up and since there are two... I have an extra one. Any ideas of what to do with it? I made chicken noodle soup with two other chickens about a week ago, so I can't do that. If you have any great chicken enchilada recipes or some other idea's I would love that recipe! Thanks.

Nativity Quiet Book

I have been busy, busy, busy and loving every minute of it. It has been too long since I have had a fun project to work on. This week I have had four. My house is messier than usual, my kids have watched a little too much TV, the laundry is piled up, and I haven’t written on my blog for almost a week, but I still feel like I have gotten a lot done.
On last Saturday I was on etsy. I love that site. I found the cutest patterns for Quiet Books. Bought it, and then spent the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday working on it. I spent a few more hours work finish it up yesterday and it turned out SO cute.







I know these pictures aren't that great. I don't really know how to take pictures of items like this.
I am going to give this to my nieces one week when we are sitting in church and they seem to need something to do.
I figured out what I am making everyone for Christmas. This is HUGE! (I will talk more about this at a later post) So I also started working on my sister’s Christmas gift. But I cannot post pictures of that because it needs to be a surprise. It really has been a great week.
What holiday projects are you working on? Any idea's for future projects? Send me the link!