Self Portraits with Daddy

Lenora loves the camera. These pictures say it all...

                         

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving 2011

Menu:

Warm Brie with Apricot Jam & Pecans

Ham Asparagus Roll-ups

Warm Cranberry Apple Cider

Brined and Roasted Turkey

Stuffing with Apples and Cranberries

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Roasted Butternut Squash with Brown Sugar Glaze

Rosemary Rolls

Green Beans (Brought by Mary)

Green Salad (Brought by Brenda)

Bourbon-Molasses Pecan Pie (Which was HORRIBLE)

Pumpkin Pie (Brought by Donna)

LOTS OF WINE! 

Thanksgiving went pretty smoothly with only a few "Almost Disasters". I had a big table set up in the kitchen with all my serving trays laid out, and I prepped almost everything the day before. Chopped all the veggies, made the gravy (added the drippings the next day), made the cranberry sauce (twice), and got the turkey in the brine. The morning of Thanksgiving I roasted the squash, and then baked it with the glaze 10 minutes before dinner, and I was able to cook the stuffing after the turkey was done. It's so much easier to cook the side dishes after your turkey comes out of the oven.

Almost Disaster #1- Started making the brine about 5hrs before we needed to put the turkey in, not realizing that the brine would need ALL day to cool. Disaster averted by pouring the brine in three smaller containers and placing them in the sink of cold water!

Actual Disaster #2- Thank goodness we tasted the first batch of cranberry sauce, because the orange I used must have been bitter. The sauce left a HORRIBLE taste on your tongue. So once again Martin came to the rescue and went to the store and got more Cranberries, and orange juice. The second batch was AMAZING! 

Actual Disaster #3- Forgot the Pecans were in the oven roasting. Mmm Black Pecans. Again, Martin to the store!

Almost Disaster #4- Forgot the Pecans were in a pan roasting on the stove. So they were slightly black, but still tasted yummy.

Otherwise everything turned out great. And the pumpkins from Halloween were still perfect for decorating since it’s been so cold outside. So I finally got to do my pumpkin vase!

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the turkey, but I assure you it was amazing.

OOOHH! The pie... I cooked it the EXACT length it was supposed to be cooked, firm around the edges and slightly gooey in the center. Well when I cut into it, I knew something was wrong. I took one bite, and quietly walked into the kitchen to spit it into the sink. I swear none of the alcohol cooked off! I got tipsy off one bite! The crust was lovely though, and we had Donna's pumpkin pie. So NO on the Molasses-Bourbon Pecan pie. However my dad liked it, so he took it home.

I made a pumpkin pie today, and almost passed out it tasted so good!

Not to brag or anything, but do I know how to set a table or what?!

Of course having orange dishes certainly helps.

The only two pictures of Lenora in her Thanksgiving outfit. Her sweater dress and brown tights. She was being a stinker and wouldn't sit still. I guess she was too exciting for all the guests who were about to arrive. Don't you just love her 'Cheese' face?

Leaves

While I was prepping for turkey day Martin was watching Lenora. He wasn't supposed to have Wednesday off, but I am SO glad he did. It helped out a ton!

Martin and Lenora went outside to look for fallen willow branches for my centerpiece. I looked out our kitchen window and saw Lenora sitting in the middle of the yard.

Of course I had to go get the camera, and then I made sure she wasn't eating leaves...which she was. Yum! She loved to play in the leaves; well she mostly loved to put them in her mouth, but whatever. She's exploring. It was a fun filled daddy/daughter afternoon.

Walking

Lenora is pulling herself up on everything, she was even using the pillow to try and climb up on the couch. Today she decided to use her walker to walk across the living room. One day soon, I'm going to be in the kitchen and she's going to walk around the corner!

Crawling in The Kitchen

Lately Lenora has been venturing out of the Family room and has discovered there is more to the house and LOTS more to get into. She's even been venturing into the kitchen. Well she usually doesn’t get too far because it hurts her knees, but my goodness she figured out a way around it! She's so hilarious there just aren't words to describe it. I can't believe how much life and personality she has at such a young age!

This is how she crawls on hard floors.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal for Lenora

Today was my baby food making day, however I only made her oatmeal because it's getting late and we have the new Harry Potter to watch. So I'll finish her food tomorrow.

I usually make her Banana Peach Oatmeal but I haven't been able to find peaches anywhere lately. So then I made her Banana Mango Oatmeal, she likes it but Mango's are  a pain to peel/chop and they smell like a pine tree. So I decided to make her Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal for something different. I found the original recipe in a magazine, but I almost tripled the ingredients. The original recipe also called for regular or golden raisins but I didn't have any.

I made a big batch so I could freeze it, and here is the recipe.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal:

3 1/2 Cups Apple Juice

2 Cups Oatmeal

1 Tsp Cinnamon

1/2 Cup Dried Cranberries

1/2 Regular or Golden Raisins (optional)

3 Red Delicious Apples

2 Granny Smith Apples (I know there are 3 in the photo,

but I decided not to add the last one)



Peal & chop the apples into cubes, and put everything in the pan, except for the oatmeal and bring to a boil. Boil for about 8 minutes until the apples are tender.



She came to see how her oatmeal was coming along, and to see if it was time to taste. (She always taste's her food before we freeze it.)

Once the apples are tender than you can add in your oatmeal. Cook for about 5 minutes.  While cooking mine, I noticed there was still alot of liquid so I just threw in an extra handful of oatmeal and it was fine.



Than I pureed it in my Baby Bullet, and Voila! Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, and Lenora approved!



It filled all 4 Ice cube trays. Lenora will eat 2 cubes every morning, and this made 28 servings.

My lovely smarty pants of a husband calculated it all out and we discovered that it making it this way it only cost's about 0.20 cents a serving! That sure beats the 0.99 cents the gerber jars are. And this will last us a whole month.

This is a website where I get alot of my inspiration for baby food. I love it. It also has a great section on adding spices to baby's food.

9 Months

Yesterday Lenora turned 9 Months old. It's amazing that she is almost 1 yr old. I get sad sometimes and miss my fragile little newborn. Lenora now is anything but fragile! She also thinks she can do everything by herself, we have to keep reminding her that she can't put 6 pieces of cereal in her mouth at 1 time, and that she can't feed herself with her spoon yet unless she wants an eye full of apples/blueberries. I have a feeling she'll be walking very very soon.

Today we took her to the Doctor's office for her 9 month well-check. She weighed 18 pounds, and was 29 1/4" long, 94 percentile for height & 35 percentile for weight. At her last appointment (6 month) she weighed 15.11 pounds and was 28" long.

I asked the doctor about Lenora's tantrums during Nap time, and she told me it was completely normal that Lenora was just strong willed and didn't want to be taken away from exploring. She was impressed that Lenora took 2 naps a day ranging from 1-2 hours and then slept all night from 8pm-6am. So even with the tantrums she is still doing wonderful. She also got the first part of her flu shot today. Usually Martin come's with us when we do shots so he can hold her down, but today I had to be brave and I succeeded, although it was horrible to see her go from happy to instantly screaming. But 30 seconds later she was dancing.

She is so smart, and I sometimes can't believe the stuff she does. Like the other day, I had forgotten to put a outlet cover back in after vacuuming and Lenora crawled over picked up the outlet cover and tried to put in back in the outlet. I have no idea how she made that connection. Oh, and Martin stopped her before she could stick anything in the outlet. But what a smarty pants. Not to brag or anything. She must get her smarts from Daddy.

Well here are some of her 9 Month photo's. She tried to eat the grass/leaves, I'm suprised I got any good ones with how hyper she was being. But we've had NO tantrums today. YAY!

 

Insurance Salesman

So for fun, and cause were lame we thought it would be funny to dress Lenora up as an insurance salesman. We already had the polyester shirt (i bought at an antique store years ago). Tucked it into some brown pants, gave her a tie, a handmade briefcase, a comb- over and VOILA an Insurance Salesman. She thought it was hilarious when she looked it the mirror, she laughed and laughed. Otherwise last night was quiet, Martin brought in our pumpkins and fall wreath, we turned the porch light off and shut all the curtains and watched a movie. We watched the Movie 'Priest'  (about vampires, but not human vampires) It was actually really good. Apparently its a series of books, so maybe they'll make another one.

Only had 1 group of kids come to the door..they rang the doorbell, and then I could hear them talking:

Kids-"Do you think they heard it"

Mom- "Did you hear the ding" 

Kids: "Yah, but no one's coming"

Kids: "Oh this say's please do not ring the doorbell, oops" 

Followed by 30 more seconds of giggling and then they left. Silly Kids.