Giving Thanks With Family

We spent our Thanksgiving holiday traveling around to see our extended family. We had a great time. Here are just a few of our special moments captured.

This is the Morrison clan just before heading to see the Festival of Lights at Tanglewood.

Jerry rented a coverd wagon to take a hayride through the lights. We made some memories doing this. The kids really enjoyed seeing all the festive lights.

All snug with Scott on the hayride.

Scott and Jerry in the kitchen on Thanksgiving day.

Here are two of our helpers. Kalen and Maddie buttered our bread for us.

Julian chopped up the celery for us for our stuffing. He was a great help and fun to have in the kitchen.

Here's Brayden after he finally got the candy cane he was begging for. He had not had them before. Needless to say, he is a big fan of candy canes.

Jan and Shanda busy in the kitchen.

Loving being in Jan's kitchen.

We went over to Ryan and Stephanie's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with my Dad, Sally, and my brother and his family.

My niece, Anna Kristin with her dog, Toby, and Madelyn

Anna Kristin, Maddie, Kalen, Julian, Brayden and Grayson

Brayden dressed as Wolverine at Ry and Steph's.

Here I am with my Grandma at my mom's house.

Anna Kristin and Kalen enjoyed playing Nintendo DS together.

Scott playing ball with Brady at my mom's house.

Our Tree of Thanks

The kids and I made this lovely tree of thanks out of brown paper grocery bags and construction paper. We sat around one day after lunch making a list of various things and people we were thankful. I attempted making various kinds of leaves (this is really hard to do) and then I wrote out those things and people that we are thankful. We were not able to get all the things we were thankful for on leaves (I was tired of making leaves). We took turns attaching the leaves to our tree. Those were sweet moments.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. I hope your holiday is sweet and full of warmth.

Giving Thanks

my husband that truly loves me as I am

Julian, Madelyn, Kalen & Brayden

home

family

beauty

friends both far and near

good health

cute and hilarious things our children say

art

homeschooling this year

my creator

sewing

my blog

nature

Oprah

Durham

laughter

the library

children

my faith

Jasmine Tea

after the kids are in bed

thrift stores

neighbors

holidays

Trader Joe's

hope

books

our church

exercise

Mr. and Mrs. Obama

being vegan

girls from girls' night

freedom

So You Think You Can Dance

chocolate

wine

music

yellow

slow food

blue jeans

uniqueness

girlfriends from back home that never loose touch

memories with my grandma

grace

being a soccer mom

cooking in my kitchen

our garden

cereal

local food

*It is amazing how much more joyful I feel after thinking on this for a bit. I really could keep going. I feel challenged to do this more often. I would love to carry an attitude of thankfulness with me all the day long. I have so much to be grateful for.

Anticipation At It's Best

Our sweet Kalen wrote up a long Christmas list. It took him well over an hour. He copied words from a LEGO magazine and asked whoever was around for help spelling things. He then went and put his list in the fireplace for Santa. How cute is that? Gotta love this kid.

Maddie's Dancing

Madelyn continues in dance this year. She takes ballet and is enjoying it still. We were able to sit in on a class and observe her progress. I took some video and some pictures. It is super fun, as a parent, to sit in on these sorts of things. I get rather gitty and smiley.

I took away several things after watching our sweet dancer. Number one, she is so focused. She wears a serious face and is very attentive. Number two, she is the shortest and most petite of her class. She doesn't let her size inhibit her though. Mr. Barriskill has allowed Madelyn into this class of 8 and 9 yr old kids, even though she is 7. Number three, she is a very poised young lady. This is a quality that I had always hoped my daughter would have. I am so very pleased to see it in Madelyn at such a young age.

Towards the end of the class, parents were asked to volunteer to try out what the class had been working on. Scott was one of the first ones to hop up. You'll enjoy his little debut clip.

A New Hangout

Our city has a new skatepark. We have taken the boys and they love it. It just might become a new hangout for the Morrison crew.

Allowing our children to try something out that involves risks is very appealing to me. I want them to be experimental. It was very natural for our family to go out to this park yesterday afternoon, amongst all the big guys, and try this thing out. I packed my camera, some 365 sodas, a snack, my sunglasses, two skateboards, lots of knee, elbow and hand pads and some extra mommy courage.

My boys learned how to watch out for other skaters, see what they were capable of, and how repetition can be quite a learning opportunity. Did they bust? Sure. Were they devastated? No. They got up and tried again. I looked into Julian's eyes after it had been forty-five minutes or so and I asked him if he was ready to go. He told me, "No, not at all. I want to do a lot more stuff!"

They are already asking to go back. We definitely will. Today, Scott found some skateboarding helmets at the thrift store that are really nice. I am sure those will make the boys' experience all the more exciting.

I have few pictures and a lot of clips of the boys. None of the clips are long. I'm a proud Mom of some really cool skater guys.

Pumpkin Pie Bites

I found the following recipe off Fat Free Vegan Kitchen blog. The Pumpkin Pie Bites looks super yummy and I thought I would pass it along. I will probably be making these this weekend.

Pumpkin Pie Bites

The topping, which contributes about 10 calories per bar, is optional, though I think the crystallized ginger adds a lot of zing to these tasty bites. They improve with age, so consider making them a day ahead of serving.

Crust
1 1/2 cups quick or rolled oats* (divided)
1 cup sorghum (or other whole grain) flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar firmly packed
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup apple sauce or apple butter
2 tablespoons water

Filling
15 ounces pumpkin (canned or cooked and water pressed out)
12 ounces extra-firm silken tofu (lite preferred)
1/2 cup turbinado sugar (or regular sugar)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated)
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon rum extract (optional)
2 tablespoons agave nectar (or other liquid sweetener)
1 teaspoon salt

Topping
1/4 cup quick or rolled oats*
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons crystallized ginger (I used Penzey's but here's a vegan option)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line the bottom of a 9x13-inch nonstick baking pan with parchment paper.

Crust: Place 1/2 cup of the oats in a blender and crush them to a fine powder. Mix the oat flour with the other dry ingredients of the crust in a medium mixing bowl. Add the apple sauce and water and stir until well-moistened. If necessary, add additional water a teaspoon at a time until all flour is moist. Pour it into the prepared pan and press it into the pan until the bottom is evenly covered.

Filling: Place all the filling ingredients into a blender or food processor. Process until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Pour filling on top of crust and smooth with a spatula.

Topping and Baking: Mix the topping ingredients together and sprinkle on top of the filling. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until pumpkin is set in the middle. Remove from oven and run a non-metal knife or spatula around the edges. Cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting into 48 squares.

Servings: 48
Yield: 48 squares

Pestle, Mortar, and Bananagrams

This morning, Julian was at the kitchen table playing with his Bananagrams. Sidenote- If you don't know about Bananagrams check them out on Amazon. It is a fast and fun word game that is totally portable. All you need is a table to play it on. If you like Scrabble, you will love this game. This is a perfect gift idea for the young spellers in your family for Christmas. Anyways, when JJ was done using all of his letters to make words, he told Scott and me. We both went over to take a look at what words he had come up with this time. Normally, one of us plays the game with him. This morning he just chose to play on his own as we were all getting ready for our day. We found the words pestle and mortar within this particular crossword he had created. Scott read the word pestle out loud and we both looked at each other puzzled. Scott called Julian over and he asked him about the word pestle. Julian spit out a definition and said he would show us in a dictionary. He told us that he has read that word several times in his books. Scott and I giggled a bit and waited, sure enough he was right. Here is what we learned - A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix substances. The pestle is a heavy bat shaped stick whose end is used for pounding and grinding, and the mortar is a bowl, typically made of hard wood, marble, clay, or stone (wikipedia) Would you believe that within the same tiles he had lined up within his game, he also had the word mortar spelled out as well. Yep, I didn't really know what that was either. I had seen this tool before, but never knew what it was called.

I am not at all surprised that my nine year old super reader of a son would know words that I don't. He reads constantly and this is just a great example of some of the fruit that comes from having a love for the written word.

Thanks for the lesson in vocabulary today, Jules. At the end of each day, I feel like I am the one that has had the most lessons learned. My kids teach me so much.

Not Minding Too Much

Looks comfy doesn't he? For the past several weeks, at around 6:45 am, this little guy comes in my room wanting to get in the bed with Scott and I. I pull him (and Ellie) up into bed and put him in between us. We sleep for another thirty minutes to an hour with him sandwiched in between the two of us. I must say, I am quite fond of this little thing we have going. Our kids have been good sleepers and we all have our own beds. As much as we all need that, I am in no rush of Brayden growing out of this little phase. ;)

Swedish Apple Pie

Occasionally, I will find a doable recipe in Family Fun magazine. This one involves apples. I recently bought a bag of baking apples at Trader Joe's. I had planned to make applesauce with them, but then thought of this recipe in this month's issue. I whipped it together in about 20 minutes. It takes about 40-45 minutes to bake. You all ought to try it. It makes your whole house smell delicious!

Scott is returning tonight from a conference in Pittsburgh. I thought he and I could enjoy this treat after the kids and I pick him up at the airport. So, I have not actually tasted it yet. I have a lot of confidence in it already because it is a pretty pie and it smells so good. ;)

Swedish Apple Pie

Ingredients

For the filling

2/3 c raisins

3 medium apples (about 2 2/3 cups), any baking variety, peeled and sliced

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

For the topping

3/4 c butter or margarine ( I used Earth Balance)

1 c flour

1 c sugar (cane)

1/2 teaspoon salt (sea)

1 egg, beaten (I use egg replacer)

1/4 c chopped walnuts

1. Heat oven to 350. Place raisins in a small bowl, cover them with hot water, and microwave them on high until they become plump, about 20 to 30 seconds. Drain the raisins, then combine them with the apple slices. Transfer the fruit to a 9 inch pie pan (it should be no more than two-thirds full).

2. In a small bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and sprinkle the mixture over the fruit.

3. To make the topping, first melt the butter or margarine and set it aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and egg until they've evenly blended. Whisk in the butter or margarine, then spread the topping over the fruit and sprinkle on the nuts.

4. Bake the pie until golden brown, about 40 minutes.

Posters

I have a good friend that forwarded me a link for these posters. You can buy them and others off of Amazon. Her friend has them on her living room walls. Cracks me up. Moms need these reminders throughout the day. ;)

Can You Relate?

My kids were quite disagreeable today. It seems just when I would get one fire put out, another one would start. They are all tucked away now. Whew. Tomorrow is new day! Each day is unique, ay? As a Mom, you just have to roll with it. Some days I roll more gracefully than others.