FORTY-SEVEN

The weather has turned so lovely that we cant resist taking long walks everyday. Also magically, whining doesnt seem to exist in universe "outside of my house". 

 2015 week forty-seven

All we did this week was craft and go on walks.

We have discovered the magic of crafting. Well, V has discovered the empowerment of scissors and finesse of glitter. I have discovered allowing mess in small doses will not ruin my day.

"Mama put my exercises on. I need my yoger mat." 

Peanut Butter toilet paper bird feeders. Sadly we havent seen any birds take our bait yet.

This outfit and this attitude brought to you by Vera. I try to not be annoyed by her changing outfits 10 times a day in order to allow her a bit of autonomy. 

More crafting, this time princess style. "I'm a Princessh."

An AMAZING park in Carollton. That is a 3 story slide. That tiny thing is my daughter climbing up. She was so brave and though was slightly terrified by how fast the slide was, she went down at least a dozen times. Honestly, I was far more terrified for her than she was for herself. 

Vera LOVES broccoli. She ate an entire plate of broccoli and completely disregarded her soup. 

Vera also LOVES Cinderella now. She had the time of her life watching this before bed the other night. At one point she ran screaming to find me just to ask me what happened to the wicked step-sister princesses (i.e. why aren't they on screen). 

Reunited with Papa and it feels so good.  We had a perfect Saturday together followed by the Saturday night from hell: vomiting, up for 3 hours humming and tapping the vomit bowl, reading books to her fox AT 3 AM! We were all a little destroyed Sunday morning. Except Theo. He was just business as usual. 

Quotes:

V reading a book, "Mama, can I go in this page? Can I go into this book? Mama, can I have this [insert object from book] out of the book? Mama, take it out of the book!"

On a walk Vera was going crazy with the questions. OK, I was the one going crazy from all the questions, "Can I eat these berries? Can I go in peoples yards? Can I break peoples houses? Can I go in the tree? Can I eat the trash? Can I swim in this pool? Can you leave me here? Can I walk on the cars? Can I sit on the wall? Can I take these shoes off? What is that man doing? What are those ladies and mans walking? Are those mans walking? Is this our house? Where is my giraffe? What's going on in that house? Where are the people? Can I touch this? Can I put this flower in here?"
This went on in an uninterrupted stream for the 45 minutes we were outside. Ok, it was punctuated by finding a stick from a sucker on the ground and immediately putting it in her mouth... Surprisingly, she didn't ask first.

V, "I'm wearing clothes just in case."
Me, "Just in case, what?"
V, "I'm wearing clothes just in case."
Me, "Ok, you are wearing clothes just in case what?"
V, "I'm wearing clothes just in case."
Me, "Never mind."

"We're going in the car, Mama. The giraffe and me and the fox we're going in the car to to go Christmas."

Whining horrifically, "Mamaaaaaaaaa! I want the fox to sit properly!"

Any time that was in the past is "yester."

"Mama, it smells like sausage in my mouth."

Any time in the future is "nexterday."

"Hi squirrel! HEY SQUIRREL!!! HIIIIIIIIII! We're going on a walk!"

V suddenly looks down the hall. "Who is that person?"
Me, "What person?"
V, "Is that Papa in the hallway?"
Me, "Vera, is there someone in our hallway?"
V, "Uhhhhhhm, nope."
You are too creepy child.

Stories:

No story this week. We're all suffering today from lack of sleep last night. Instead here are some Thanksgiving recipes for you! Have a wonderful Happy Thanksgiving!

Clam Dip

Grandma Ronnie's Sausage Stuffing

Meringue topped Sweet Potatoes But instead of puree, we like the sweet potatoes coined and baked until soft tossed with butter, brown sugar, a pinch of salt, and a handful of chopped pecans.

Apple-Sour Cream Pie

Cranberry Sauces

Beef Jerky (contributed by Matthew, we are not responsible for the tasteless title)

Pumpkin Pie (from a Real Pumpkin) with Ginger Snap Crust

1 sugar pumpkin (or just a can of pumpkin puree)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups cream

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Ginger snap cookies (the hard crispy ones)

pinch of salt

stick of butter

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Cut the pumpkin in half, remove the seeds, place the pumpkin halves in a pan, shell side up, and bake for 35 minutes to1 hour or until the pumpkin is tender and exudes liquid and the shell starts to sag. Scrape the pulp from the shell and purée it with a fork or potato masher or in a blender. Measure 2 cups of the purée and set it aside. Reserve any additional pumpkin for another use.

Lower Oven Heat to 375 F.

Crush the crispy gingersnap cookies to a fine powder (just like making a graham cracker crust) mix with salt and enough butter to make a crumbly crust. Press into a pie pan and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let it cool.

Increase the temperature of the oven to 425°F.

In a large mixing bowl lightly beat the eggs. Add the purée and the remaining ingredients and stir to blend. Pour the mixture into the gingersnap crust. Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350°F and bake an additional 45 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly before serving.