Daddy's First Turkey

Since we were hosting Rob's Dad's side on Thanksgiving at our house and since Rob's parents were going to be gone (and they usually make the turkey), the responsibility of cooking the turkey feel into our hands.

And we felt pressure. You see, we have never made a turkey. We have an awesome baster and an awesome roasting pan (that has been used once) that we got for our wedding so we knew it would look good cooking. We just didn't want to have a dry turkey. Mess up on sweet potatoes or green bean casserole, so what there's other sides. But there's only one turkey.....

So with pressure on we resorted to the handy dandy ipad and youtubed just about everything you can imagine about cleaning/cooking/cutting turkeys. And then Daddy went to work.

And to tell you the truth, he made one good turkey :) And I made one good gravy :)

 Megan Stilley- this picture is for you... he is smelling the goodness!

 

Much Love,
Jenny

Thanksgiving Morning

You won't believe what happened Thanksgiving morning.....

you see we were pretty bummed that it was 20 degrees out and couldn't go out on our turkey trot so we were sitting around watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade when we heard a knock at our door. It was a surprise visit from Papa!

He said he just had to come over to our house to smell Rob's first turkey (more on that later) cooking. BUT when he came in you won't believe what he had "found" waiting for us at our front door; thanksgiving doughnuts! We all decided that it HAD to of been the turkey bringing us doughnuts because who else would do something like that on Thanksgiving morning?

Here we are with our S doughnuts (for Stilley) and our big turkey Papa!!!

 Sprinkles are still our favorites!

We love surprise visits from Papa! We love you!

Love,
Anna and Ashley

Rough Housing

Lately these two have been quite the rough housers with one another. Not going to lie, I like seeing them play rough and not crying or telling on each other every time they touch each other. Now if they can just find an equal balance!!!

Much Love,
Jenny

PS Anna also tackles Ashley... she's not always the one on top :)

Thanksgiving Decorations

Anna had been asking and asking and asking for all her classmates to come over for Thanksgiving and was very disappointed when I kept saying no. So instead she decided to make them a present. We came up with this cornucopia mix with bugles and runts. It was a hit! She had an absolute blast handing them out and reported home, "Everyone liked them and were excited but didn't say thanks. The teachers had to remind them to say thank you as I was passing them out and then everyone did."

And of course, what sister one does, sister two has to do! Ashley also enjoyed bringing them to school.

About a week before Thanksgiving, Anna had the idea of making placemats for everyone to eat on. I think she got this idea from lunch bunch where they are currently talking about placemats and setting tables. Well, she flew with this idea and she and Ashley created 16 placemats (Anna made 12 of them) for everyone who was coming to our house for thanksgiving. She wanted to make a turkey so I got to work cutting out the body and the feathers. They had a blast gluing them together and making each turkey different. Come had earrings, one had a scarf, some had hair, some had big eyes, some had little eyes, some had one big and one little eye, some had boots on (Anna's idea) and some had a feather boa or feathers glued onto their feathers. Then after a week of working on them we were done and Anna hand wrote almost everyone's names on the placemats as well. Then the day before Thanksgiving she helped me set the table using her place setting placemat she brought home from lunch bunch. Using it as a guide, she placed the glass, knife, fork, spoon and napkin where they were supposed to be and set the tables all by herself! She even had the original idea of using cut paper towel rolls as napkin holders (her lunch bunch teacher uses them to roll their artwork up on and Anna transferred that idea to this). And to finish each table off she decided to put a pumpkin at the centerpiece.

Not going to lie, she did an amazing job as hostess!!!

 Fancy Nancy turkey dressed by Anna herself!

What can I say? We have another Martha Stewart in the making :)

Much Love,
Jenny

Thanksgiving Art work

Anna's

Ashley's

Poppy Birthday

Two Saturday's ago we celebrated Poppy's birthday at Grammy and Poppy's house. We had spent the night there the night before so mommy and daddy joined us over there for the day. We each had things to do (we went and saw Santa; Daddy/Grammy/Poppy went to a funeral) but all ate a yummy dinner to celebrate Poppy! Happy 65 years old Poppy!!!

We love you!

Love,
Anna, Ashley and Abby

50 months old

Happy 50 months old! (4 years and 2 months!!!)

*My newest thing this month is I love to chew on my hair. It grossed mommy out but I love to take a small strand around my face and chew/suck on it. She keeps telling me I'm going to get a haircut if I keep it up :)
*I am barely napping anymore. I usually nap once a week (if lucky). The new rule is that I have to lay in bed longer then mommy/daddy are in the room. Since I am not napping I am usually asking for bed around 6 pm and going to bed at 7.
*I have always loved crafts but I am super into making presents/colorings/necklaces/crafts for people I love; especially my classmates. It amazes mommy and daddy how I can sit and create project after project without any prompting. I am getting really good at my letters and working on lower case ones. I can even spell a handful of words (and I can also read around 20 words)! I am always asking mommy how to spell things.
*I love playing pretend play with Ashley and my friends.
*I have gotten to where I ask TONS of questions ALL the time. Mommy thinks I ask around 25 questions an hour, if not more.
*My favorite things are still Belle, Ariel, Rapunzel, the color purple, books, dressing up, playing pretend with friends and with dolls, talking with mommy and daddy, dancing and singing and just playing!

Love,
Anna