(MarieFinds) Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's all about food, friends and family. There are no presents or other issues clouding the issue. This is a day to be grateful for everything and everyone in your life. And a day to eat and drink like crazy.

This year I am hosting Thanksgiving. I never get to do this. The Lawyer's sister and her family are coming out, so I bullied my mom into letting us host the combined family. Menu is as follows ...

Appetizers
- Marcona almonds / olives
- Crudite platter
- Spicy crab dip
- Deviled eggs
- chevre with chutney
- pate

Dinner
- Herb roasted turkey with sage stuffing
- Pumpernickel / cabbage dressing
- green beans with pancetta
- brussel sprouts
- roasted carrots and parsnips
- cider mashed yams
- mashed potatoes
- corn
- cranberry sauce
- cranberry relish

Desert
- Bourbon Pecan Pie
- Pumpkin Pie
- Sugar Free Apple
- chocolate cake (it is also Baby Boy's second birthday party)

(Marie Finds) Fall is in the air

Fal is my favorite season. I can begin planning Thanksgiving, which I will be hosting for the first time in about 10 years. I can switch back to red wine. Pull out the sweaters and realize I need new clothes. Squirrel has been boycotting pants in favor of dresses for the last year or so. I finally stopped buying them, and the other day realized she now only has two pair of pants that fit. Sigh.

Baby Boy has a bit of a wandering eye, so over his protestations, we are trying to get him to wear an eye patch for an hour a day. I'll get photos one day. In the mean time, here are some summer photos...

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Bam Bam

Baby Boy, hiding in the tall grass at the coast. He frequently gets called Bam Bam.

(MarieFinds) Christmas Lights

We are very proud of ourselves this year... we have actually managed to get the outdoor lights up, and the indoor decorations are done. We will get our tree and put it up next weekend I think. I still do a real tree, and so I like to wait a bit so it doesn't get too dry.



The Squirrel is SOOO excited for Christmas this year. She is way into it. I bought a nativity set last year after Christmas and all she wants to do is kiss the Baby Jesus. It is just about the cutest thing ever. The Lawyer put the outdoor lights up, and seeing her Daddy on the roof absolutely delighted her. She still totally cracks up when she talks about it.



We started what I really hope is a new holiday tradition for us on Tuesday night. We went to the Zoo Lights Festival, which was just a blast. It is so fun having the kids around this year. Baby Boy slept through that for the most part, but Squirrel was over the moon about all the lights and the elephants.

(MarieFinds) Adventures in Archaic French Cooking

First: Baby Boy loved his birthday party. He got trucks, and new crayons to chew on, and he got to eat all the fat drenched beans he wanted, and then there was cake! Sweet, sweet cake. Which he ate very daintily. I will post pictures when I have the pictures near me at a time I have time to post...

Now, for the cassoulet. That was a blast to cook. Seriously. A double batch was truly obnoxious, and I won't do THAT again, but a single batch? Sure. The Lawyer was all, we are doing a casserole for EVERY dinner party from now on! Seriously... it was in the oven, with nothing for us to do, and we actually got to hang out with our guests!

Auntie Lola and I cooked on Saturday, and cooked tons of pig fat, layered it all up, and called it yummy. Squirrel helped me bake cakes on Sunday morning, and then we drank wine with friends. My idea of a good party, anyway.

I will post pictures of cassoulets when they came out of the oven and the obnoxious amount of leftovers we had. As well as the cake eating.

Oh, and he started walking. On his birthday.

(MarieFinds) Wealth and Hellness

Heh. When I was in college everyone called the "Health and Wellness" or "Health lifestyle" floors Wealth and Hellness. I hadn't thought of that in a really long time.

That being said, it has been a slightly traumatic couple of weeks around here. My dad went into the hospital last week, and stayed for about a week. He has late stage COPD, and a mile case of pneumonia sent his already too high CO2 levels into overdrive, making him all sorts of crazy and non-responsive with the added bonus of random muscle spasms. After about 72 hours they ruled out stroke and heart attack, and then spent the next several days ruling out progressively stranger things and trying to get his oxygen levels stabilized. He's home now, and presuming he follows his doctor's instructions about staying on his oxygen and exercising, he'll be fine. I fear that this is the start of a long road, however.

It was a little hard on the Squirrel seeing her Papa in the hospital with the big freaky mask. She wasn't a fan of the medicine mask. Baby Boy on the other was too young to care. he spent quite a bit of time at the hospital with me, making friends with the nurses.

And then The Lawyer got sick. And then Papa went home. And then I got sick. And now Squirrel has a damned ear infection. No, the tubes didn't make those stop. They are less frequent, and easier to treat, however.

So, bah. Wealth and Hellness.

(MarieFinds) Take me down to the water

(MarieFinds) it's been ages...

The Lawyer and I have had a very busy time of it. Baby Boy was baptized last weekend, and a great time was had by all. Lawyer roasted a whole pig for the party... I will post pictures soon. Lawyer's mother has been with us since Easter, and his for a week or so now. Mom leaves on Sunday. It will be good to have a little bit of space back (we only have one spare room, so Dad is on the fold out couch in the living room), but Squirrel is going to miss her horribly.

I like that my kids will know their grandparents in ways that I never did. My paternal grandparents both died before memory, and my maternal grandparents live in the Midwest. I saw them for a week once a year.

Squirrel grows so attached to people, and then is so sad when they are not around.