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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving, Part 2

Phase 2 of "Turkey Day, Huffman-style" included a pinch of this:


a dash of this:


a sprinkle of this:



and a few glasses of yummy wine mixed with sparkling blueberry goodness:



All while (Dave and?) I worked on this:



Our first "solo family" Thanksgiving was (mainly) a success. We had one minor glitch in the stuffing department, but I'm all for letting go and moving on. So many hours spent walking around in an apron, feeling all Martha Stewart-y. . .and now it's all over!

On our kids' thankful lists:

Keller. . ."bread, in all of its forms"
Casey. . . "TV! Oh, and Keller"
Marley very sweetly named all of us, and her grandparents. Then gave a whopper fake burp to end her sentiment. That's my girl!

We had two unfortunate losses in the family today. While I cooked away, unaware of her actions, Marley apparently tried to teach her Zhu-Zhu pets to swim. RIP, you noisy rodents:

Thanksgiving, Part 1

Our little crew decided to spend Thanksgiving at home this year, with just the five of us. It's barely noon and we've already made a few memories that will last a life time, for better or worse ;)

My cooking assistants: (Casey would not participate because he is sad about turkeys being killed. We thought we had a budding vegetarian in the family, until I reminded him that his much beloved bacon comes from a pig, and that said pig does not tend to live through the experience of having the bacon removed!)

Our berry crumb pie "after" picture ("after" Marley pulled it off the counter and dropped it onto Juno's food and water bowls):

Keller is known to be an out-of-the-box thinker. Not so much this morning:

Stay tuned. . .

Monday, November 1, 2010

Just pictures

I've got lots of pictures, but not lots of time to write, so enjoy the photos and brief, yet fascinating captions, from the past two weeks!

Marley, my sister, my mom and I went to Berkeley Springs, WV for the weekend to celebrate a milestone birthday for my mom. Marley never figured out that the weekend wasn't actually meant to be a celebration for HER ;)






Casey's kindergarten class took a trip to Ticonderoga Farm

We took our annual family trip to Cox Farms Fall Festival, where I tried unsuccessfully to take a nice picture of all 3 kids smiling and looking at the camera. Why do I even try?!



We took a hike out at SNP Saturday and were rewarded with awesome views from the top, an incredible sunset, and an amazing and exciting encounter with a baby black bear! Don't worry, we were safely inside the van and happened to spot it in the woods, just 20 feet or so away from the road.






Anyone who knows Keller knows he loves to go vertical. Yesterday I searched the house for him, sure that his silence meant he was sneaking screen time somewhere. And then I spotted him. I'm going to require him to wear his climbing gear 24/7.

Alfred E. Neuman, a stealthy ninja, and a very sassy cheerleader descended upon the neighborhood last night for trick-or-treat.




Marley earned her entrance into Stitch Club last night after an excited post-trick-or-treat dash into the living room that ended with eyebrow-to-coffee table contact. We snuggled on a bed in the ER and watched the Steelers game together for two hours. I can't believe we made it 8 years with no stitches in the family--just hoping that her brothers don't rush to join this particular club!