Olivia gave herself a haircut this weekend.
Specifically, she cut her bangs. Right in the middle, just short enough to not only look strange, but not be functional either. There is no pulling those puppies back. No way no how.
Perfect ‘livi. Right before your fourth Birthday. Right before Thanksgiving and Christmas. Right when my camera is clicking even more than normal. Just perfect.
In all fairness, it was totally my fault. I was the one who left out the scissors, right for her reaching little hands. I’m guessing she thought she was practically an expert by now, since she watches me trim her bangs every couple of months. I’m just so happy she stopped there and didn’t go for an all-over trim. She was quite proud and even cleaned up all of the mess, including putting the scissors back on the window ledge where she found them. No evidence to be seen except for the unusual new hairstyle.
Some freezing cold weather and a nice dusting of snow showed up and lasted through the early part of the week. It was absolutely beautiful even if it did make us all want to curl up around the fireplace and laze around all day.
We ended up taking the week off from school, mostly because I needed a break. We played a lot of games and read some great books. We finished The Whipping Boy, which was as the librarian promised, hilarious. If you have boys the same age as mine, they will love it. Since we are getting ready for our horse unit next, we started King of the Wind. Elaina and I started Ramona Quimby, age 8.
Saul was home with us Tuesday and Wednesday which was awesome. He helped me get everything ready for Thanksgiving dinner, including cleaning the house up a bit. The girls and I made Cranberry Thanksgiving Bread, and Isaac helped me with the pies.
brothers don’t shake hands….brothers gotta hug!
The week before a big holiday always seems hard to muster up meal ideas. My brain is kind of fixed on Turkey and Mashed Potatoes.
I made some easy baked eggs and cream cheese stuffed pumpkin bread that was to die for. I just don’t think you can ever go wrong with pumpkin though.
I also cooked up a big ol’ pot of beans and made homemade tortillas. I still can’t seem to get those suckers to be round, but they are so much tastier than the store bought ones that no one seems to care if their dinner is shaped like Africa.
I made a huge dinner Wednesday night with meatloaf, roasted redskin potatoes, and green bean bundles. I’m not sure if the calorie content takes away any nutritional value that green beans may have, but the kids sure did eat them up! I guess anything wrapped in bacon appeals to my children, even the picky almost-four-year-old who barely eats enough to sustain a small bird.
The biggest undertaking of the week was brining the turkey.
That silly bird had me up all night worrying, and wondering why in the world I would ever agree to try something new whilst hosting Thanksgiving. Of course after I waited too long to start brining it, I read all about how you shouldn’t brine an enhanced turkey, which is the only kind I could find without spending a lot of money. So I was equally, and un-nessecarily worried that I would ruin Thanksgiving dinner with either a too salty or not salty enough main course. On top of that, I discovered that you really shouldn’t roast a turkey that is larger than about 16 pounds, and the one I had chosen outweighed that amount by nearly 8 pounds.
Sometimes, Google kind of ruins things that way.
In the end, the turkey was good and noticably juicier. It cooked quicker too which was good because after all the worrying I did and nightmare-ish dreams I had about everyone choking on the salt lick flavored meal I prepared them, I woke up kind of late and didn’t get started cooking until around 9.
Lucky for me, Saul had purchased my favorite chocolate bar to cheer me up, just in case, you know, an occasion for cheering up would happen.
After 16 years, that man really has me figured out…
