Thanksgiving Dinner

I have so many things to be thankful for especially this year and of course my family is probably the main one.  Since coming to San Diego I've got so spend a lot of time with the kids.  We don't really have places to be or scheduled things to do so we pretty much get to do what we want all day long.  And since we barely know anyone it is usually just us all day every day.  I feel closer to them and I think all this time together has helped us get along better.  Bob got Thanksgiving off work and it was really nice to just stay at the house all day and hang out.

I took a few pictures of us making dinner.

I think we only have ever made Thanksgiving dinner one time before because we usually go to my moms house.  I really wanted low key and easy so it was all pretty much out of a can or premade.  Below you can see Leon concentrating on the legos.  Its hard for him to get those pieces to go together the way he wants.

We ended up having some people over and it was fun.  I feel inadequate inviting people over for dinner because I'm not the best cook, but the company was nice.

Here I am cutting the marshmallows in half because the recipe called for mini marshmallows but we only had jumbo.  My hair was really frizzy that day because of the ocean and I'm not making my best picture face.  But it is the only one we took of me that day so I wanted to post it anyway.

And the kids putting the marshmallows on.

I hope you all had a great day too!

Little Italy

On one of Bob's precious few days off work we went out to eat in Little Italy.  We lived within walking distance but drove anyway because of the kids.  There were so many restaurants but I didn't want to go alone with the kids so it seemed like the perfect thing to do with Bob.

We decided to go to Filippi's pizza Grotto, it was a very old Italian style pizza restaurant.  You had to walk through the small grocery store to get to the restaurant in the back.  If I didn't read about that online I would have walked in and turned back around thinking I was in the wrong place.

It was nice to spend time with Bob and the kids.  The cheese on the pizza was really gooey and delicious.  But other than that I wouldn't say it was my favorite pizza, not bad though.

Afterward we walked by this place called idessert.  I was interested to I went in and got one.  It was this crazy dessert with layers of cake and meringue and gelato plus fruit and a few others.  I liked it but it was expensive and not really something I want to get all the time.

You squeeze the ball thing which sends the juice inside then you crack the brown meringue part then eat it.

I personally have never heard of these before and I love to try new things.  So now you know what an idessert is too.

Penelope's 6th Birthday

Penelope gave me instructions a few days before her birthday on how to decorate her door in the morning.  Here is the video of when she woke up.

Penelope didn't give me much direction this year on what sort of cake she wanted for her birthday.  So I got a large back of m&ms and stuck them all over the outside of her cake.  Rainbows and bright colors are always popular with little girls so I thought she would like it.  

She did however tell me that she wanted flower cupcakes for her class at school.  Those I've made a few times before so they were pretty quick to frost and get ready.  With her birthday being toward the beginning of the year she was nervous about me bringing cupcakes in because not many kids have done it yet.  I think one parent must have dropped off treats in the office or something because Penelope kept asking me if I was going to leave them in the office.  And she wanted to make sure I brought them to the classroom because she didn't want to go to the office.  It was cute.  I had to remind her that it might be her first time but it wasn't my first time.  When I got there she had a crown on and was very excited.  Her class sang to her and she got to pass out the cupcakes.

Then after school we did presents.  Penelope got a couple things for her 18" doll, but she was really excited about her doll house furniture.  She got two big bags of furniture for her doll house and some little dolls.  It was great because up until now she has had the house without anything in it.  She also loves her dress up aprons and her notebook with black paper.  She got a 300 piece puzzle that the family ended up spending a couple days on.  And the only place it fit was on the kitchen table so we had to eat on the floor.  Then about 3 seconds after it was completed she ripped it apart.  No pause for a picture or for me to pick up Leon and show him.

For dinner she requested Red Robin.

The kids had fun, although I was getting stressed because we were seated for 30 minutes before anyone came over to our table.

Overall she said she had a good birthday.  It was different than what she is used to because she was gone most of the day.  And then she was upset for the next couple of days because she didn't want to go to school she wanted to play with her new toys.

Donut Run

Every once in a while someone will bring in donuts or some other yummy treat to Bob's work.  Since I am totally jealous of the random delicious bakery surprise we have to make periodic donut runs to make up for the injustice.  This time we tried out this bakery in Manette.  Neither of us have been there but I heard it was good and Bob smells it every morning on his way to work.

We got up Saturday morning and piled everyone in the car for donuts!  The kids were excited, and even though I could have used ten more minutes to brush my teeth and get dressed, I had fun too.  Bob was a good sport considering he tries hard to never eat anything that has as many calories as a donut has.

The kids were cute all trading bite for bite with each other.  Leon was especially generous with his bites.

Although we all loved our donuts they didn't have a large selection and I still think it is worth it to make the trip out to Sluys for their options.

Cookie Time

One thing Bob likes to do with the kids is make cookies.  It might seem odd because Bob tries hard not to eat cookies, but he knows the kids love it so they probably do it about once a month.  When I saw them making cookies Saturday morning I took a couple pictures.

Above you can see the girls in the coveted countertop spot.  Every time I ever make anything in the kitchen the kids pull up chairs and fight over who can sit on the counter top and help.  I try to limit it to one child at a time so they always fight about it.  Scarlett is usually the first one to realized someone is cooking so more often then not it is her sitting alone on the counter top.

Tucker was very excited about cracking the eggs.  I think it might have been his first time doing it.

Here the are eating fresh out of the oven cookies.

I am so thankful for Bob.  He is a great dad and I just love it when I see him doing things with the kids.

Popcorn Cake Recipe

This popcorn cake was my Grandma's recipe and it is so good.  I remember her making it every Christmas we saw her and I always looked forward to it.  Even now I can remember being upset because with one cake and eight kids in my family I never got as much as I wanted.

My grandma recently passed away and so I wanted to make it this year in her honor.  She was a great lady who was married to her husband for 67 years.  Can you believe it?  That is so long.  I love to see couples who have been married for a long time, one day that will be me and Bob.  The kids helped me measure and we talked about Grandma while we made it.  Hopefully I'll be able to do it every year.   Below is her recipe.

Popcorn Cake

Ingredients

4 quarts popped popcorn (I needed closer to 6 to get the right consistency...think rice crispy treats)

1 pound candy-coated chocolate pieces (I didn't have enough so I added chocolate chips to make it up, that is why my cake is more brown then it should be)

1 cup peanuts

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup butter

1 pound marshmallows

 

Directions

Mix popcorn, M&Ms, and peanuts in large bowl.

Heat oil, butter, and marshmallows in pan until melted (I used the microwave). Pour over popcorn and blend together with heavy spoon or hands.

Spray Bundt cake pan with vegetable spray. Press mixture lightly into pan and refrigerate until cool.

To remove cake from pan, put pan in warm water, then turn upside down until cake comes out.

We devoured this cake pretty fast.  Next time I might have to  make two!

P.S. Today is Bob's birthday!  Happy Birthday Bob!

Apple Cider Squeeze

Last weekend we went with my parents to a fall festival where we got to make our own cider.  They were practically giving these pumkins away so we got another one.   We now have four.  It was kind of hard to choose one together as a family so I just picked.  I almost broke down and let them each pick their own.  But then I knew they would each want to carve their own pumkin and that would have taken hours.

Leon was munching on an apple that was supposed to be made into cider.

We had to wait a bit for our turn but when it came I thought it was worth it.

The kids especially loved throwing the apples in to be smashed up.

Bob made turning the wheel way easier than it actually was.  I kept getting it stuck on the hard green apples.  Everyone had to wait while I wound it back and tried again.

Next we had to smush the apple pieces by turning the top.

And lastly pouring the apple cider into the containers.

It was amazing how many apples it takes to fill up one gallon.  That night we all enjoyed a warm cup of cider while watching Hotel Transylvania. 

Blueberries

We picked these blueberries a few weeks ago when Ben and Erik (Bob's brother and friend) were here.  I love that we can just go back in the woods somewhere and score all these berries.  I'm not sure how much exactly but the big bowl looks like it was a little more than 6 quarts.  I took this after we ate a bunch, not counting the fact that we were all eating them the entire time we were picking.  I think we were picking for about an hour, but I didn't time it.

The kids loved picking with us.  Scarlett and Leon were happy as long as they got enough berries to eat.  And I was surprised at how many berries Tucker and Penelope were able to pick and save to bring home.

Now we just need to hurry and get some blackberries before they are all gone.

Onmimax Skyline and the Roeblin Bridge

While in Cincinnati we had a couple days to relax and visit with family.  For those who don't know Cincinnati is right on the boarder of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.  So we made a stop in Kentucky and walked on this beautiful bridge.

The architect was John A.  Roebling and it was built in 1867.  He is the same person who designed and died building the Brooklyn bridge.  I thought it looked cool.

After that we took the kids to the Omnimax.  It's pretty much like an Imax but more of a dome shape where the picture goes above your head as well.  I thought the kids would love it but all four were scared to death.  Penelope was the least scared and she calmed down after a minute.  Scarlett and Tucker were also upset but managed to watch it ok.  I had no idea that it would be a scary thing.  Leon kept his face in bobs arm and faced the seat during almost the entire movie.  They are right in the middle and it was pretty high up.

We also went and visited Grandma Woestman at her new place with Aunt Dot.

And Uncle Bill and Aunt Nancy.

No trip to Cincinnati is complete without a trip to Skyline Chili.  Skyline is a different kind of chili that is a little more runny and you put it over noodles like spaghetti.  I think it is ok, but some people think it is the best ever.

It was nice to go back to where Bob grew up.  I only wish it wasn't so humid and muggy there!