#thankful

In keeping with our Thanksgiving tradition, my Dad, Sheila, Kolby and Eric headed west to celebrate a very snowy thanksgiving with us.  In all the years that they have been coming, 2 years have been snowy enough to toboggan and this was one of them.  It isn't really a bad thing except when your guests underestimate how much snow there is a don't bring the proper footwear!

NOTE: pictures courtesy of Cooper

Each year we do some things the same.  For example, my Dad loves to do a fall river walk. This year it was going to have to be more of a winter stroll  In the end we didn't get a walk in at all.  The mornings were just too darn cold that we opted to do our walking in the mall instead.

We failed at the shopping game this year.  We had a few bags at the end of the day but to put it in perspective, I bought a charcuterie board and a salad spinner.  Not exactly exciting purchases.  Though i could have spent way more time at Home Sense.  I love that store.

We may have started a new tradition this year with a charcuterie board.  I'm not sure that I even know how to say, or spell,  charcuterie board but I do know that I love all the thing that go on it. Meat and cheese, nuts and chocolate.... yes please!

In addition to all the meat and cheese, I asked Sheila to teach me how to make buns. Apparently I was so entertaining that I had an audience.  I did not know that you needed to be so precise when baking.  Like using a knife to scrape off the excess flour of the top of a measuring cup and a little hit to get rid of the air bubbles kind of precise.  That would explain why my baking never turns out.  Ever.

This year we mixed friends and family and hosted 16 for turkey dinner.  When you have help it doesn't seem like that big of a task.  I did the sides first thing in the morning after a 630 am hockey practice for Cooper, Sheila did the turkey, James did the stuffing, Marla did the pies, James' brother brought the potatoes... what did you do again Kolby?  Right, the brie cheese. Ha!

I am so thankful.  Thankful for family. Thankful for friends.  Thankful for our health.  Thankful for the table full of food and our hearts full of love.  Thankful for kids that drive me crazy and 630am hockey practices.  Thankful for a husband that loves me. Just plain thankful.

I hope your thanksgiving was as filled with food and family as mine was.

Things I am Thankful for

This weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving with a table full of family, a fat turkey and full bellies.  We have so much to be thankful for.

I am so thankful to live in such a beautiful country.  We spent Friday, the day that was supposed to be the nicest of the 3 day long weekend, walking around the reservoir.  By walking I mean walking to the nearest park and watching the kids play.

I am thankful for my goofy dad that gave Grady bunny ears in the photo and Grady didn't even notice.  Do kids even do bunny ears anymore?

I am thankful that our family loves our kids so much that they didn't mind rink hopping while we watched 3 hockey games over 24 hours.  Some arenas were colder than others...

I am thankful for Sheila's baking that she brings each year.  This year we decorated cake pops instead of cookies and there were enjoyed just as much.  Don't worry, she still brought cookies that we didn't have to decorate.  I kept the cookies and gave her back the containers because I was taught to always give the containers back if you want the to come back filled again.  Ha!

I am thankful for my siblings. My boys are so lucky to have such great aunts (and uncles too!).  Not many other aunts I know would play mini sticks because that's what the boys wanted to do.

I am thankful for men that help out in the kitchen.  My Dad is particular about his potatoes and took on that task 100% this year while James makes the stuffing and always carves the turkey.  Bo saved the day when she found the cord for the turkey carver in the last of 2 boxes to be unpacked in our dining room.  I was ready to replace the old yellow one we inherited from James' parents.  It appears the carver will live on!

I am thankful that Cooper took over the seating arrangements this year with a little help from Aunty Bo.  He of course was at the head of the table and I had the pleasure of sitting right beside him.

I am thankful that our nephew dog was found quickly after he got off his leash while chasing a rabbit.  After that sprint he needed a nap.

I am thankful for a working oven and a turkey done on time.  This was our first time making a turkey in the new house and the oven would shut off when the timer went off.  Who knew?  While only Sheila is seen checking out the meat thermometer, you can see the reflection of Marla and Bo in the oven.  We thought we were going to have a repeat of the year we ate dinner at 8pm. Oy.

I am thankful for Cooper's growing love of reading.  He is working so hard to learn and I love hearing him read to me and to see him reading to others.

I am thankful to be making memories in our new home.  It has been a struggle to find that warm fuzzy feeling in a house that has mostly new things and very few memories.  We are finally changing that with weekend visitors and hosting dinners.

I am thankful for a full table of family sitting around our new table that almost didn't arrive in time.  We've been celebrating with this same group for 7 years and I love that it has become an annual tradition.

From our table to yours, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving 2016

We had a great weekend celebrating thanksgiving with My Dad, Sheila, and Kolby this weekend.  Not event the snowy winter weather in October could put a dampen on the festivities.  Let me tell you a few things I am especially thankful for.

{one} I am thankful that my family was willing to sit in the freezing rink, not once, but twice to watch the kids play hockey.  I was also thankful that Cooper had a chance to score 2 goals in the scrimmage.  He certainly has come a long way since last year.

Cooper is pushing.

{two}  I am thankful that we were able to work in a trip to Indigo and Winners before Grady's hockey practice mid day on Saturday.  I wish we would have time to grab a warm beverage on the way to the rink but thankful that we didn't get as chilled at Grady's practice.  Why don't the rinks have canteens like they did at the arena when I was growing up!

{three}  I am thankful that my Dad was able to fit into James swim trunks and join us at the pool and equally thankful that he didn't get injured when he came flying down the water slide side ways.  He spent most of the time in the hot tub after the wild slide ride!

{four}  I am thankful that Cooper and Grady got to wall climb after swimming. I've never seen Cooper climb and he did way better than I expected.  Grady can easily climb to the top and Cooper made it about 1/3 of the way.  I am proud of them both since I am scared to even try!

{five}  I am thankful that my Dad made his way to Cinzeo to buy his sought after cinnamon buns so I didn't have to worry about dessert, or breakfast, for the rest of the weekend.  Cinzeo is always a hit!

{six} I am thankful that Sheila made cookies for us to decorate.  The boys decorated them first thing on Friday morning but didn't finish them all.  Kolby and I finished the rest of them of Sunday morning.  It was a friendly little competition that is safe to say I won with the upside down bag at 3 o'clock on the tip plate.

{seven} I am thankful that if it was going to snow that at least snowed enough to go tobogganing.  This will be officially known as the Thanksgiving where it snowed.  Look at all those smiles!

{eight} I am thankful that Sheila is such a great cook as while we went sledding she started the meal preparation.  I only provided the recipes and James and Sheila did the rest.  They deserve all the credit!

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{nine} I am thankful that bowling was an overall success. While there was a meltdown after the first game by a certain eight year old that couldn't handle losing, he got a strike to start off the second and his mood immediately turned around.  Cooper legitimately beat Kolby and I.

{ten}  I am most thankful that my family traveled through snow to spend the weekend with us.  I look forward to the weekend every year.  The shopping, the rink, the wine, the cinnamon buns, the turkey, everything!  

Happy Thanksgiving from our clan to yours!

Thanksgiving 2015

Let me tell you about our busy busy busy but full of FUN extra long thanksgiving weekend.  Like in the 4 years past, Dad, Sheila, and the girls traveled to visit us for the weekend.  This year was extra busy with 2 boys in hockey and a list of things that Dad wanted to do. Good think Dad picked fun things!

First up, we chose to go to Cross Iron Mills mall this year instead of Chinook Mall.  Blaire was unimpressed with our selection as there was no Sephora and no Aritzia.  I felt her pain.  Dad said that everytime they drive by the mall they never stop and he wanted to check out Bass Pro Shop.  So we did.

Saturday was turkey day!  With a lot of coordination.  We were able to squeeze everything in, starting with Cooper's hockey practice.

I had to stay home and get the turkey in but Cooper had a great skate.  He scored 4 goals!  What a little skater.  

I met up with the rest of the crew at St. Patricks Island downtown.  It is a great new park that opened in the city.  We had such great weather this weekend we just had to spend it outside after spending all day Friday at the mall.

Great location for photos as you can tell. 

Straight from the park we headed to Grady's hockey game.  He is #2 on the white team.  His team lost again - I really hope we get a win soon.  We also were exposed to our very first hockey dad, on our team.  Could be an interesting season.

We rushed home from Grady's game to see if the turkey was cooked.  Unlike last year, the turkey was fully cooked and ready to go!

Clearly it takes 5 people to cook a turkey.

So thankful to have a table full of family and food this thanksgiving.

Grady wrote us out a menu and had Blaire write out all the guests names to put at the table so we all knew where to sit.  Smashed potatoes were a big hit!

Then the next morning Kolby woke up with this in her bed.  To say she freaked out would be an understatement.  It was possibly the biggest spider I have ever seen.  And it was in my house.  Yuck.

After Kolby calmed down and we killed the spider outside, all 8 of us climbed in our clown car mini van and headed to the mountains, Dad's final request of the weekend.

We walked around downtown, Grady had a major meltdown, we ate lunch, then we hit up the hot springs.  Almost 15 years ago, before I even met James, we had gone to the hot springs.  The family has expanded a bit since then!

When we got home from Banff some of us settled in to watch the Jays game and some of us read a book and got teased.  I wasn't the teaser.

Monday, our guests headed home, but the weekend didn't stop there.  I headed up to Edmonton to go to the Madonna concert!  I'm not a concert gal, but this was a bucket list kind of concert and she didn't disappoint!

The four of us had a great night away - great food, great music, great friends.

Dare I admit that 2 of us stayed up until 3am drinking wine and chatting. It was a whirlwind 24 hour trip but well worth the drive!

I have so much to be thankful for after such a great weekend filled with so many people I love, plenty of sunshine, and lots of good food.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The One Where the Turkey Took Forever to Cook

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend!  It was the third annual Thanksgiving where my Dad's family make the long drive up to see us and spend the weekend being thankful for family.

I could tell you all about the fans Grady had at his hockey practices, the 2 trips to the mall (one with the kids!), the trips to the park, the board games, the tantrums or the family movie night, but instead I'm just going to tell you about our epic Thanksgiving dinner.

This year, James and I decided to try out a fresh farm turkey from Country Lane Farms.  It was a last minute decision recommended by his boss.  I picked up the fresh turkey on Wednesday night and kept it in the fridge until our Saturday turkey dinner.

I had my usual menu planned.  Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, broccoli salad, buns, and gravy (interesting fact, I don't like gravy).

The great thing about having company stay with you over thanksgiving is that there are also many cooks to help you out in the kitchen.  All I had to do was hand out a recipe and it was taken care of.  Yay for helpers!!  We laughed that everyone had a hand in making thanksgiving supper, except Devon.  Devon was quick to jump in to add that he was the babysitter so that we could get the meal ready.  I'll take a free babysitter any day while I cook!  Ha!

We got home from morning hockey, got the turkey cleaned up and fully of spices and last minute decided to stuff the turkey instead of my usual slow cooker route.  I've never stuffed a turkey, or even seen it done.  While it was a team effort to make the stuffing, Sheila and Dad did the stuffing while I observed, for next time.    We had the turkey in the oven about 12:45 anticipating a 530ish supper time.  Usually our turkeys are done early so we weren't in a rush to get it in.

Around 4:30 we put the turkey thermometer in and it was at 63 degrees.  It needs to be at 82 degrees to be done.  At this point, we weren't that worried, we had appies out, wine flowing, and the turkey still had an hour to cook.  It cooks faster at the end, doesn't it?

We waited and waited and waited.  The thermometer was moving very very slowly.

We decided that the stuffed turkey would take a little longer than a non stuffed, but surely not more than half an hour.  We ate more appies, had a second glass of wine and watched the thermometer like a hawk.

Devon was ready to eat his arm by 7pm.

To keep the kids amused we told them to make name tags.  Grady took his job very seriously.  He made a name tag for everyone without asking to how to spell their names.  My favorite was Atie Bler's.  He assigned the seating and made each of a us a menu with 2 items.  'Turckey and peiy'.  He of course assigned my seat right next to his :)

In the mean time, we've pulled the turkey out to assess whether it was cooked.  It certainly looked cooked but not by the thermometer.  Was the oven broken, was the thermometer broken?  There has to be something wrong, it can't possible take until almost 8:00 to cook a turkey!

While we were taking the turkey out, the turkey juice was spilling into the oven and starts to smoke.  Now the house stinks like burnt turkey and our turkey is still not cooked!  Did I mention that the smallest turkey they sell from the farm is 18-20 pounds???

For the last 3 degrees Grady would announce the temperature as it increased and we would all do a goal celebration.  I don't know how else to explain that, you know the one knee down and one arm up victory dance you do after a goal?

Shortly before 8 and 2 degrees below cooked we pulled that bad boy out and had our holiday 'feast' as Grady kept calling it.

It was the first one that I can remember where Grady sat down and ate Turkey with us, and mashed potatoes, a big deal in our house as the big guy does not like to try new things.  

It felt, well, festive.

Except for Cooper who was in a foul mood and opted to play on the ipad in the family room instead of eating with the family.  Maybe next year.

It was a memorable dinner indeed!  And to add to it, we had to clean the oven the next day due to all the turkey juice that leaked out.  We decided to do it just before we put the kids to bed and there was so much smoke the detector kept going off!  We had to take the batteries out.  I hate to admit that it was the first time I'd ever cleaned the oven and I was glad to have other people there for support.  Ha!

Last night as I was doing a craft with Grady I get a text from Blaire.  Sheila asked her mom about farm turkeys and whether they take longer to cook before she told her about our dinner.  She immediately said it takes about 2 hours longer.

And that is a lesson learned on farm turkeys.

I hope your thanksgiving was a weekend full of memories that last a lifetime like mine.

Thanksgiving 2013

This is the 3rd year in a row that my Dad's family made the trip to Calgary to celebrate thanksgiving with us.  The first year they stayed with us, Sheila helped me with my first ever turkey meal for 12 people... yikes!  I still send her the occasional text when I am making a turkey  and she is not here to remind me how long the turkey will take to cook!

I am so thankful for family.  All of them.
I am thankful that they made the long trip here to see us.
I am thankful that they don't get annoyed when the kids get up at 7am and run around.
I am thankful that they don't complain about our terrible sleeping accommodations.
I am thankful for the way they love on my kids.  Even when they are less than well behaved.
I am thankful for my family.  Always.

They arrived Thursday night after 10pm and I had to head into the office for a busy day at work.  They promised not to do anything fun. I think they lied.  Sheila brought un-iced cookies for the boys to decorate.  I was not surprised when they said more went into the mouths then on the cookies.  Although based on how much icing was on the cookies, i find it hard to believe!

Like any other weekend, we crammed a bunch in.  The weather was not the greatest which forced our activities indoors since us ladies are wimps and not interested in standing at the park or going to Calaway which was originally at the top of Grady's list.

Instead we suggested taking the C-train downtown for lunch at the mall.  Grady was not all for it like I thought he would be.  We have talked about it lots, especially since visiting the ctrain maintenance facility a few short weeks ago, but just hadn't done it.  Well this weekend we finally did it!

Grady was all smiles.  We realized as we walked into the train station that he was actually a little scared. He wanted to know how fast it was going to go and how long it was going to take and such.  He was really unsure.  Once the train started rolling down the tracks he loved it.

The conductor was great.  Since we were at the end of the track, he let the kids go up front and ring the bell and honk the horn.  It was such a nice treat and much appreciated by mom :)  Anything that makes the kids happy, makes me happy!

Once we arrived downtown we ate lunch and tried to do a little shopping.  It was a fail.  An utter fail.  The picture says it all.

For the record, it was mostly the men shopping while the rest of us browsed the shoe store.  I found many pair of boots I wanted but am holding out one short month to shop with the BFF on our weekend away.  It took restraint.

After the mall we went to the pool.   Well, most of us did.  Some 'forgot' their bathing suits, or so they told Grady when he asked why they weren't coming.  By the time we got home I was exhausted and fell asleep watching 'We are the Millers', which I really liked even though I didn't see the end.

Sunday was turkey day so we had a lazy morning, threw the turkey in at noon, and headed to the bowling alley.  Good thing there wasn't a 'no lofting' sign as there was a lot of ball throwing!

This was the first time Cooper has bowled in a while and he loved it.  He did a little cheer every time he knocked a pin over.  It was priceless. 

 

Finally, after much anticipation, it was time for turkey!  This picture give the illusion that James did something other than baste the turkey and carve it.

In reality, it was the other ladies in the house that helped.  Well... Kolby hung around the kitchen lots and told me that I don't follow the directions. Which I don't.   I learned that salt is actually important in baking and I often leave it out.  Who knew?  Maybe that is why I am a better cook than baker!  Ha! 

We stuffed our face and them moved to the family room to do as little moving as possible.

It felt really good to have all the extra people around to celebrate.  I enjoyed every moment of it.  Especially when we pulled out some board games to play with the kids and they stayed up until after 9.  And slept until almost 7:30.  Now that is something to be thankful for!

Like every other weekend that brings friends and family from afar, we were sad to see it end.  I love watching the kids play with their aunts and grandparents. It really is something to be thankful.  

Whether I said it or not, I spent a portion of my weekend giving thanks for all that is good in my life.  My kids, my husband, my family, I am very fortunate to have them all as a part of my life whether they were here to celebrate with us or not.