A Happy Thanksgiving

Thursday afternoon our turkey was ready to eat, so I buttered some toast, pulled out the pretzel sticks and jelly beans and our Thanksgiving lunch was ready! 

Last year we started a tradition of having a "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Lunch".  It is a perfect little snack to eat before having the big dinner.  (Since we usually have dinner a bit earlier than normal dinners, we don't want to eat a big lunch.)

Seth, Cody, Mark and Paul ready to eat!

Jane finished off the drumsticks!

The turkey was so much fun to make. It is made of one large and two small paper bags. It is easy to make and I think that it has made its way into our tradition. When I cut open the top and the boys saw the popcorn inside they were super happy! We had a lot of fun asking someone to pass the turkey when we wanted to eat popcorn. 

Our Thanksgiving dinner was delicious!  This year I purchased a turkey breast and cooked it in the crock pot.  It turned out really moist and perfect!  I made my own cranberry sauce and it was wonderful!  It is a lot of work to make everything for the dinner, but I was able to do a lot of preparation a few days before, so I didn't feel super stressed out making everything and I actually enjoyed the solitude I had in the kitchen.  (How do people who only have one oven survive Thanksgiving in their kitchen?- I was so grateful for my double oven on Thursday!)

After dinner we went over to my sister's house for dessert (Thanks Kim!). I made sweet potato pie and a lemon meringue pie.  I had never made a lemon meringue before and the first one didn't turn out well at all- it was a lemon soup with fluff on top.  I made a second one and it was beautiful!  It was just the right mix of sweet and sour.  (I used Alton Brown's recipe) Lemon meringue pie is really easy to make dairy free!  I tried out a new pie crust from Gluten Free Easily and it was exactly what I have been looking for!  It is a press-in crust, so I don't have to try to roll it.  Gluten free pie crusts are notorious for being really crumbly and difficult to work with, so I am really happy to have found a good crust recipe!   

Jane sat down in front of the tree and watched the train go around at Kim's house.  She was really good not to bother the train or the tree.

Jane discovered whipped cream in a can and she loved it! 

Because Kim lives really close to me and Daniel had stayed home because he wasn't feeling well, I took Jane home, put her in bed and went back over to Kim's house to visit.  It was a nice, relaxed day. My belly is full of good foods and my heart is full of gratitude for my family. 

Froggy

I have had brain fog all week. I have been on an antibacterial medication (for a lovely UTI- blech) and it has really messed me up. The bottle warns that "This medication may cause drowsiness" and it was right.  I can hardly function for a few hours after I take the medicine (2x/day).  My mind is in a fog and I have felt off kilter all week long.  I thought that Monday was Saturday (the boys are off-track, so they were home) and all day on Wednesday I thought that it was Thursday.  I lived through 2 1/2 Thursdays this week.   I feel all turned around and loopy. I finished the last dose on Friday and I'm starting to feel better. 

Due to the loopiness I have neglected to post about a few things this past week, so here comes another random post.  (When we lived in Georgia, Paul would look out the window and if it was foggy, he would call out, "It is a froggy day")

A Froggy Day in Georgia

This is the message that Paul wrote down for the family.  I changed it to say 9:00, but they didn't heed that change.  They have been sleeping in until 7 though, so I am happy about that!

This past Tuesday was my little Seth's 7th birthday.  He was so excited to be out of school on his birthday!  We had a little party for him last Friday and he loved being able to celebrate his birthday twice! 

The boys with their 'light sabers',  We used Otterpops for the light and I made felt handles to keep their hands warm.   

At his party the kids played "Duck, Duck, Goose". Seth renamed the game to be called "Dark, Dark, Light" because it was a Star Wars party!  Jane sat and watched them play and before too long, she took a turn tapping kids on the head and then running around the circle.  We were all amazed that she figured out how the game worked.  She is one smart little cookie! 

I actually used something that I found on Pinterest for Seth's party.  Before the party, I took the ice cream and scooped it into muffin liners in a muffin pan and then put it in the freezer.  When it was time for the ice cream, I just pulled out the muffin pan and put one liner/scoop on each plate!  It was marvelous!  Hurray for Pinterest!



I mentioned that Jane wasn't very cooperative at the photo session and you wouldn't know it by the few pictures that we got, but here is what a lot of the pictures looked like: 

Mark had his belt test for Tae Kwon Do and he is now a purple belt!  He has his mind made up to work for a black belt, and I am excited for him.  It was fun to watch him do the test.  He has wonderful form and his flexibility is getting better. 

Daniel has also been taking Tae Kwon Do and he advanced to his yellow belt.  Mark and Daniel take the class together and I think that it has been a great way for them to spend time together.  (Besides, I don't have to drive Mark to class since Daniel is going! Seth just signed up, so I'll have to take him to the younger class, but it sure is nice to split up driving!) 

Mark breaking a board

Master Lee, Daniel, Mark, Seth, Master Hong

Master Lee, Daniel, Master Hong

I filled the middle apothecary jar with candy corns and I was curious to see if anyone would eat them. The level dropped down a bit, but nothing significant. Still, it was obvious to me that someone had been sneaking the candy. It became really obvious that someone had been eating it when I happened to look at the jar from the side.

The original candy level was about two inches higher than it is in this photo.

Look at the back, it isn't as high up as the front!

I turned the jar around in this picture so you can see how the candy thief made sure to take candy from the back and leave the front built up enough to look full.  The thief was Paul (I was pretty sure it was him all along) and he confessed willingly. 

Mark has written a new language code and we have been exchanging notes using some of the letters in the code.  I am really impressed with his artwork and creativity with this project. 

This is how Seth and Jane spent Friday morning.  They were so cute together!  I love Jane's curly hair and crazy ponytail! 

I am in denial that Thanksgiving is this Thursday.  Okay, not really in denial, because I have purchased a lot of the food for the meal, but it doesn't seem real that it is so soon!   It seems impossible to me that November is nearly over.  I seriously don't know where the time went!  We are having a dinner here at the house with just my little family and then we are going to my sister's house for dessert.  I am so excited to have some sweet potato pie!  Yummmm!

Family Photos

Well, we finally did it- we had family pictures taken!  Daniel isn't a huge fan of getting his picture taken (mainly because he gets embarrassed when he sees what he looks like because he wants to loose weight- he is working on it, so I tell him that it is good to have before/after pictures!)

The last time we had our pictures taken professionally as a family, Seth was 8 months old!  Yes, we were way overdue for a picture!  Jane was a total pill today, she wanted nothing to do with sitting and being cute (she does it all of the time at home, why not right now for the pictures? Why?)  The boys were awesome to hold their position while we fussed with Jane and tried to get her ready.  FotoFly managed to get some good pictures and were good to work with an ornery 18 month old. (FotoFly is a great place- they charge $79 per session and you get the images on a cd that you own.  They will print the pictures for you at $4 a sheet, or you can print them yourself!) I am happy with the pictures and so glad that we got it done! 

Seth made me laugh when the photographer asked him to say "Girls are cute".  He winced, wrinkled his nose and mumbled, "girlsarecute" through clenched teeth.  He didn't want to disobey the photographer, but he didn't want to say what she asked either! 
Without further ado, here are the pictures!

The Taylor Family 2011

Daniel and Sherron

The kids- Seth, Paul, Mark, Jane

Paul (check out his beautiful curly hair!)

Mark

Jane

Jane

Seth (I love the missing bottom tooth!)

A Pain in the Rear

Coccydynia is a pain in the butt- literally!

Today I started physical therapy on my tailbone for coccydynia.  My tailbone has been hurting ever since Jane was born.  The pain has always been while sitting or laying on my back, but it has gotten worse over the last year and after trying a few different kind of adjustments with my chiropractor, he referred me to a physician to see what the problem is.  I was diagnoised with coccydynia, (which is the fancy name for when the coccyx hurts) and referred to a physical therapist.  If things don't improve with the therapy, then I will try steroid injections to help with the pain. 

I am sore from the treatment, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (mainly because we only did external manipulation).  The muscles surrounding the tailbone are really tight on the left side and that is what we beleive is causing the pain (the muscles won't allow the tailbone to move/curve the way it needs to when I sit, so I wind up sitting directly on top of the tailbone).

 I am anxious to be able to sit down for longer than 5 minutes without being uncomfortable.  I am anxious to sit in the car and not be in near tears while trying to get out of the seat.  I am anxious to go to a movie and actually enjoy sitting through the credits. 

I've heard that if you walk out of physical therapy feeling worse than you did when you walked in, that they are doing their job right.  I am sore, but I think that the meds are helping me to feel better than I would be otherwise.  I might be singing a different story tomorrow. 

As a side note, it is costing me half as much money to be a self-pay patient rather than going through my insurance ($60/visit vs $120-140/visit).  My insurance doesn't cover this physical therapy office, so I would be 'out of network' and we have such a high deductable, that I just asked what it would cost to not go through insurance and I was floored!  Self-pay it is! 

A Thanksgiving Makeover

I couldn't bear the thought of taking the Halloween window display down, but I didn't want to keep up a Halloween decoration.  After a few moments of thought, I discovered a way to give Snoopy and Woodstock a makeover.  It worked out quite well, I think.  (However Snoopy might need to work off a few pounds after eating so much!) 

So here we go with our makeover.  Here is the before:

And here is the after:

To answer a few questions about painting on the windows.  I just used acrylic craft paint.  It has to be taken off using a razor blade, so it is a bit of work.  The cold weather makes the job a bit more challenging, but it is an easy, yet messy,  job.  Madeleine drew up the art on paper and we hung it on the inside of the window and she followed the outlines with paint on the window.  

Ladies and Gentlemen

I was cleaning out my blog posts and found a post that I never published.  This was taken in December of 2009. 




The boys finally discovered that our window seat doubles as a cool stage!

Paul and Seth put on a little play for.  They started it out with the curtains closed and  Paul said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, gather around for some entertainment!". What fun kids!

October Activities

October was a blur for me.  It seemed to come and go while I was blinking (or spending the better part of 2 weeks being sick- blah).  I wanted to share pictures of the things we did this month. 

Jane looks so grown up in this picture.  Where did my baby girl go?

Jane climbed into the sink and played around.

She talked to the little girl in the mirror and had a blast

Of course, as soon as I turned the camera on to record her, she stopped and stared at me.  Go figure.  I can never capture her with the camcorder doing the super cute stuff.

I had a girl's night out at my house with my aunts, cousins and sisters.  We made these cute paper witch shoes.  This is the only picture that turned out that night.  Sigh.

We went to the pumpkin farm just down from our house to pick pumpkins.  It was fun to watch the pumpkins grow and then go pick one out!

Jane had a nack for finding rotting pumpkins and picking them up.  Yuck!

My sweet Paul

Look at those cute kids!

The boys humored me and went to Garner Village with me. We picked a super crowded day to go, so we didn't stay long.(I don't think that Daniel minded much!)

Halloween costumes.  Yah, we went all out this year!