Christmas Wishes...

What do you want for Christmas?

J: a Wii, a grown up scooter, a game for my DS

S: High heels that are this high (about 3”) and a dress that comes down to here…my ankles…a ballgown…and no straps…it just is right across here (apparently one that defies gravity).

So, if anyone stumbles across a strapless ballgown with matching heels for a size 4T, let me know.

A Thanksgiving dinner unparalled...

For the past four years I have enjoyed a big family Thanksgiving dinner in Georgia with Grandmommy and Granddaddy, Grammalou, Grandpa Mike and a big loving family that I successfully merged myself and my girls into since meeting Michele and Andy several years ago, before getting J (and them getting their L). This year the girls and I hit the road and went to Kansas City for turkey day.

Check out this gorgeous turkey - you can practically smell it.

Beautiful and the perfectly seasoned stuffing peeking out the end of that turkey. I am a stuffing girl - dressing is good, I'll eat it...but nothing as yummy as the real thing cooked inside the turkey.

Mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, homemade cranberries, the classic green bean casserole, rolls warm from the oven. There is NOTHING like a great Thanksgiving dinner! ...and this was nothing like a great Thanksgiving dinner.

2:00 Dinner was planned to be ready...the big fat turkey wasn't done. It was a big turkey.

3:00 Dinner was expected to be ready...the big fat turkey wasn't done. When you cook it with stuffing you need to add 45 minutes.

4:00 Dinner should be ready, don't you think? ...the big fat turkey wasn't done. The oven is on, right? Right temperature...let's break out some spinach dip.

5:00 ...the big fat turkey wasn't done. Is the temperature inside that turkey going down?

6:00 Time's up - isn't it? ...the big fat turkey wasn't done. Was there a brownout condition in the kitchen or something?

6:30 ...the big fat turkey wasn't done. Isn't something open today?? Oh yeah - let's get something

7:00 ...the big fat turkey wasn't done. All the side dishes were on the table and Uncle J returned from the grocery with what can only be described as 'turkey disks' from Swanson.

8:00 ...the big fat turkey wasn't done. We had finished our excellent collection of side dishes, had a bit of turkey disk - to simulate the essence of turkey - and moved on to the pumpkin pie and whipped cream.

9:00 ...beeping...beeping coming from the meat thermometer. We have a turkey!! So below you see we have an aunt, a cousin and J & S carving up and nibbling on 'leftovers' - 20 pounds of leftovers. 20+ counting the stuffing - it was delicious, worth waiting for!

Look over at the half carved turkey picture and check the foreground. That green can is Vernor's ginger ale and the glass has the last few drops of a 'traditional' concoction of Vernor's and eggnog. Sounds a little disgusting at first, but I gave it a try...mmmmmmm.....a very frothy light eggnog drink. For those of you outside the Vernor's belt look for it in the 'upscale' softdrinks at your grocery store and you may find it. The recipe is a 50/50 mix.

You know, when you don't make your own turkey dinner you sometimes miss out on the traditional day after Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches. I knew that staying at my brother's over Thanksgiving would afford me those 'next day sandwiches'...I was not disappointed. In fact, they may still be eating them.

Simply nothing like Thanksgiving dinner memories...

To intellectualize or not to...

I have noticed a difference in how I respond to my girls when they ask questions. When it is J, I give a detailed answer...not just telling her what time it is but answering with the history of timepieces. I have found I have to, as she typically has a dozen follow up questions. The more information I give her at the start, the higher the likelihood I will give her enough to think about. With S, I tend to take the question and give her a one word reply. What time is it is either a number (1:00) or an event (lunchtime).

I recently thought I was shortchanging S…not giving her the full intellectual challenge that I do know that she can handle. She is a smart little girl, I needed to start making an effort to give her more info. Even if she isn’t the question machine J is, she needs to be afforded the same opportunity to collect facts into her brain.

For example -
S: That Truck says 53.
Me: That truck says 53 because it is 53 feet long. See how much bigger that truck is than our car…

This morning the weather was setting up for nasty here. There were flash flood warnings and tornado watches. So the ride to school was peppered with weather questions.

J: You mean it’s going to flood.
(shades of gathering the animals time…)
Me: No they are talking about flash floods. Lots of rain in a short period of time that the ground and drainage systems can’t support.
J: What is a flash flood anyway?
Me: It happens when so much rain comes so quickly that the normal flow of the creeks or the water running into the drains gets backed up and the water overflows into other areas like roads. Remember that time we were at WalMart and it rained so hard and fast for a long time…remember when we went to the car and some of the cars around the parking lot had water way up to the middle of the tires because the drains were not draining the water fast enough.
J: oh yeah – I remember
S: yea - I was wearing my red shirt with the sparkly stripe and….

Maybe, just maybe, S is not yet craving the fact-filled responses…or at least not the facts that I keep in my head.

Topics still to blog... Thanksgiving dinner, KC highlights, Christmas Wishes, Panda naming ceremony

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-YA!

Ok - I have no idea how to spell that or the rest of the stuff I heard thrown about last night at belt testing. In a standing room only studio we watched a lot of drills, and J earned her second belt. This one is gold - though to me it is pretty imperceptibly different from the yellow of last year's yellow with white stripe. Here she is with her sensei giving her the gold belt.

Karate is definitely her thing. She stands at attention riveted to the sensei and the process - while other kids her age showed a less focused approach. I understand little of the significance of things around this. Like the black and white uniform vs the all white one - except for two things B&W costs about $95 and can have patches. The white one still does not quite fit my 7 year old so we will not yet be springing for that more attractive two color number. And then there is the whole shoe thing. At first I was told no shoes were worn for karate, now I am hearing that there are karate shoes and she REALLY wants them. So thanks to a couple of birthday checks, J will be buying a pair of martial arts shoes that I hope last longer than one season.

The other big news in J's life Thursday was placing 2nd in her first grade spelling bee. She can remember only the one word that she missed - again - but out of over 200 first graders, 2nd is none too shabby!

And the topping for J's big day? Krispy Kreme donuts hot off the conveyor belt...finest kind!

Newest on S, you ask? Hmmm...she used Halloween money to purchase Hannah Montana make-up and is sparkly blue from her eye to her brow.

How can it be time already?

I knew it was coming...there were ripplings just before the end of October...yesterday it was confirmed...there it was...Santa at the mall. No lines, so we went ahead and got the traditional photo.


Postcrossing update: Received one from Finland and sent one to Texas

A day at the zoo...

A perfect weather weekend here. Sunny and clear, autumn colors popping and a 'must get out and enjoy it' day so we had an outing to Zoo Atlanta compliments of our friend Toula (an avid zoo supporter, she sent some of her passes our way). It was great fun to have an effortless stroll through the zoo - low crowd, pretty day and not too hot!

We saw the more typical zebra, elephant, rhino, giraffe and the less typical kangaroos, naked mole rats and komodo dragon. We walked through a treehouse for a great view of the lemurs and saw the golden lion tamarin with their irresistable tiny faces. The warthogs had moved and we missed those so-ugly-they're-cute creatures but we did see this little character at the meerkat home.

Zoo Atlanta is fortunate enough to have giant pandas and even more fortunate to have had two cubs born here at the zoo. Mei Lan is this 2 year old cub munching her bamboo and clicking on this link will get you a peek at the young man, not yet named, born Aug 30.

It's not just the pandas having babies, our felines have new little ones too. J never got to see her favorite - the lion - at Animal Kingdom on the Disney trip but the zoo was more accommodating. Two of the triplets born in June made themselves available for a photo. All three of the little guys were male.

We have been to the zoo several times but Sunday hit a new first for us. When you arrive at the zoo you are given a map and the schedule for goings-on that day. My policy has always been to ignore that listing and enjoy the zoo on our own schedule and we did that again. In the past we have caught the bird show and an elephant grooming and enjoyed both and yesterday's event we happened upon, again, did not disappoint. We were at the gorilla's at the time of a presentation on training. The trainer showed everyone how well Taz could participate in a medical exam. She would name a body part and he would press it against the screen, he opened his mouth so she could look at his throat and let her give him 'practice shots'. You can read about the families of gorillas that live at the zoo here and below you can behold a 365 pound gorilla named Taz getting his teeth brushed.

Postcrossing update - sent to Netherlands and California; received from Grant's cabin in Missouri. And a 'friend' postcard from Robin visiting Key West.

Some Final Disney notes

As we are getting ready for our Thanksgiving trip, I am posting the final notes on the Disney trip.

After visiting the Hall of Presidents we stumbled out onto front row seats for the afternoon parade. Here the girls are greeting one of the famous parade-rs. The other fun find following the Hall of Presidents was a great kid's book Smart About the Presidents that my almost 7 year old read over and over.

I was glad to see Animal Kingdom open a few years ago (ten) and one of my favorites there is the Kilimanjaro Safari ride - you never know what great glimpse of an animal is around the next bend. Here is my favorite giraffe and a 'quite close' white rhino - that is our vehicle in the corner of the picture. J was hoping to catch sight of a lion, but not that ride.

No vacation report is complete without talking food. We went with the Disney dining plan and with a full service meal, a counter service and a snack per night's stay, it seemed just about right for us. Advantages - great price for the kids, no looking at prices when ordering, you did eat a 'regular' meal once a day, ate places we hadn't before Disadvantages - more food than you really need - desserts with everything! would have preferred appetizer OR dessert, requires some scheduling and planning to eat and keeping a schedule doesn't always work with Disney lines and crowds. We had a great first day early dinner at Le Cellier at Epcot's Canada (though that probably wasn't the best first day park pick with young kids). Great steaks and the cheese soup appetizer the kids got was delicious. We also traded in two full service credits to eat at Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge. I actually wanted to go to Whispering Canyon but we found that is NOT a dropping in dining place at a resort (Tuesday evening, no less). The food was very good, as expected, but the kids desserts were the best. A white chocolate puzzle delivered on an arist palette with paint that allowed the kids to express their creativity. Here is J's artwork and S's artwork - which necessitated her being in the picture.