the first thanksgiving...

...that i cooked anyway.  since i'm so proud of myself for making our fancy dinner and since it all tasted so good (well, except for the peas, but those are never yummy), i'm going to blog about it.  i picked up a small turkey and thanks to the pioneer woman i figured out how to roast it.  i used her brine recipe:

luckily, my turkey didn't come with legs or wings (note to self: read the packaging so there is no confusion about missing half the turkey) so it fit into a gallon ziplock bag.  it roasted beautifully, was so moist and yummy.

   

i made  pw's cranberry sauce as well and it was also delish.

there was also some of my creamy jalapeno dip.  so good.  then there were the usual: stove top stuffing, peas (only there for lucy), frozen rolls with this seasoning:

and pioneer woman's roasted garlic and new potatoes (with chicken broth instead of the wine).  finally, for dessert, i made mini pumpkin cheesecakes:

don't mind the misplaced dollop, i forgot to stop squeezing the pastry bag...  we had a great thanksgiving even though the girls and i were sick, and we didn't have any family here.  we did have a good friend, thanks for coming kandice. we hope you all had a nice holiday too.

it's thanksgiving time

i just watched this video clip:

and realized i have been fast forwarding to christmas (i blame it on all of the red &green decor that has been displayed since september).  so here's what i'm grateful for:

grant.  he's the best husband and father.  he works incredibly hard for us.  he's sweet and thoughtful. i'm so happy he's mine. {and he'll be back home this afternoon! hooray!!}

hazel & lucy.  they are the cutest little girls even when they are systematically destroying everything.

the gospel.  i know it's true and i'm so thankful for that blessing.

our {mostly} perfect health.

the opportunity grant has to go to school.

our loving families.  they help us out so much. we love you all!

our  fabulous friends.  thanks for keeping me sane while grant was gone.

the car that works and is big enough for two carseats and the double stroller.

a nice apartment with pretty cheap rent.

this free country to live in.

the turkey in the fridge that i will attempt to roast.

clorox wipes for all of hazel's little accidents.

skittles {aka potty treats} for bribes.

lucy's loud kisses that she gives everyone & everything.

hazel's snoring when she climbs into bed with me.

mountains & snow.  and growing up somewhere with lots of both.

that my 3 year old still wants to give me lots of cuddles.

naptime.

and finally, the bad times that make the good times so great.

to pee, or not to pee:

that is sort of the question:

whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

the smells and puddles of outrageous diapers,

or to take arms against that sea of pampers,

and by opposing end them? to teach: to train;

some more; and by a training to say we end

the heart-ache and the thousand smelly accidents

that flesh is heir to, 'tis a conclusion

devoutly to be wish'd. to teach, to train;

to train: perchance to anger: ay, there's the rub;

for in that training of potty what anger may come

when we have shuffled off these many messes,

must give us pause...

.

that's as far as i can go. but seriously, i need help. two days ago we ran out of diapers for hazel. my first instinct was to run to the store to get some more. but somehow i talked myself into just going with it and begin potty training her cold-turkey-style. by the end of day 1, i was fairly optimistic despite several accidents (one involving several pints of pee and the other a messy #2). she was, however, able to stay dry for her nap. after much debate, i decided to have her sleep in the final remaining #6 diaper. day 2 (today) began and after a minor incident with #2, she seemed to be in control. this is where it gets more frustrating (for me): today was also the day that grant had to leave for a conference in new orleans. i was already dreading that i would be alone with the girls for 5 days by myself, but suddenly it looked as though i'd be potty training as well. hazel made it through the drive to the airport but, mere moments after sitting on the potty right before her nap, had another accident (in lucy's crib, no less). without too much detail, it was bad. i tried very hard to not be upset and i think i managed to be fairly upbeat and i think it helped that i did this. i encouraged her to tell me when she needed to go and she said "ok, mommy. can i have food 'n a movie now?" during her movie she peed.....a lot......onto the floor. i had her help me clean up and repeated the above encouragement. my point is that she seems to know how to hold it in, she just doesn't understand when or where to let it go. does that mean she's not ready? or is this how it is for everyone? do i keep going? take a break? i'd love to take the easy way out and go back to diapers, but i'm afraid that will just make this whole thing take longer. i know i've asked these questions before (and i got some great advice, thanks) but i need more help, tips, anything......

guess what? the animal edition

time to play 'guess what hazel is' again. since that last post, she loves pretending to be something and then telling me to take a picture, so i've put together the animal edition of the game. let us begin at the zoo: the clue is in the background. she is a giraffe, obviously. next, also with a clue in the background:
a meercat. they're one of her favorites to visit. she even corrected a lady who told her son that they were prairie dogs, "it's not a dog, it's a meercat!" it was pretty funny. next, inside the reptile house:

i wish i'd been able to get this one on video. she's a snake and she was actually slithering on the floor inside the crowded building. it was awesome. and the final zoo impression:

this is an easy one. do you see it? she's a crocodile, at least her hands are. now we move on to last night. she was kind of hyper and wouldn't hold still. but we got some good ones. first:

what do you think she is here? she happens to be an octopus. and below, what do we have? a cat? or a dog?:

nope. a frog. the next one surprised grant and me:

she's a kangaroo. we're not sure where she's seen kangaroos. this last one is a little hard. partly because she was super riled up by now so i had a hard time getting a good picture of it:

this is hazel as a bird. she was flapping her arms and jumping around. well that's it for today. i'll leave you with an oldie but goodie. just in case anyone was wondering:

yes, we do occasionally see the angry carrot around.

someone. . .

. . . didn't like my ghost pumpkin, i guess:punks.

thursday afternoon flashback #24 & a scolding

i know we kind of got out of the whole flashback thing and after the last one i'd decided to bag them all together. i laid out some not-too-subtle insults to some of my siblings (particularly mark) hoping for some lively comments. either they don't read the blog or my snideness rolled right off, like water off a duck's back (that was for you, gail). kind of made me sad, i like comments. and because i like them, i want lots and lots. they make me so happy. so thank you, dearest mouthy readers, for sympathy when i have a bad mommy moment, for thinking my cute kids are cute and for telling me about it.

on to the flashback. i love autumn. i love the colors, the smells, the crisp air and bright blue skys. one of the most difficult things about moving to houston is the lack of seasonal change. sure it's great having 50 degree weather most of the winter, but i miss the changing leaves on the beautiful mountains. these pictures were taken the fall before we moved, probably around hazel's 1st birthday (oct. 2007). grant came home from school and wanted to take pictures of hazel in the bright leaves.

she didn't really like it at first, you can see she's not really sure about the leaves.

i'm glad she sat calmly for these because they are some of my most favorite pictures of her.

halloweenish times

on tuesday of last week, we picked up some pumpkins to paint. hazel was super excited and could hardly wait until wednesday night for grant to be home. first, hazel cleaned the pumpkins: then she got to work, starting with pink paint, of course:

since lucy was likely to eat the paint and since she had already had one near death experience that day, we just let her watch. she did decide to place strategic bite marks around her pumpkin as decorations:

almost done, just custom mixing some colors:

grant's creation:

my mostly-done pumpkin ghost:

fini! hazel checking the damage:

then last friday evening we went to our friends' (mike & stacey) home. hazel was very excited to see their kitties:

at first, lucy was preoccupied with the halloween mr. potatohead they gave the girls:

but soon enough she was more interested in the cats. too slow again, lucy had just given the cat a kiss, but i missed it:

it didn't take long for loki the cat to remember why gabe spent the whole day in our bathroom when we watched them a few months ago:

gabe didn't forget and he never came out from under the bed while we were there. mike and stacey, we're sorry that our children have scarred your kitties for life. our last halloween activity was our church's trunk or treat. here's an awful blurred picture of grant passing out candy:

i took the girls around. hazel was pretty good about saying 'trick or tweet' and 'thank you' to everyone. this is the only picture i took while we walked around, i was holding lucy and i didn't want to put her down:hazel dug into her stash immediately after we got back to the car. and here is my awesome finished pumpkin:

our friends matt and amanda were fashionably late and sadly missed most of the kids because the activity actually started on time (perhaps even early?). apparently we're no longer in utah where church activities rarely if ever start on time. anyway, they had carved some pretty sweet pumpkins:

we have oogie boogie on the left and a mushroom on the right.