::ode to a walrus::

I made this little walrus:

He's a gift for a small unnamed relative.

Max said he was jealous. He tried to snag the walrus and hide him away so he couldn't be wrapped up and sent.
That didn't work, so he decided to draw some pictures of him instead.
And as usual, they're adorable.


I think I like the last picture more than the real walrus.

::thanksgiving report::

We had a peaceful low key Thanksgiving, just staying home together. It was really nice. We ate and relaxed and watched football and played games and sort of slept in.
We decided to just eat a few of our favorite dishes and try to make it simple.
Except cooking a turkey never is really simple. I don't think we needed to get a whole turkey, but we did. It turned out yummy which is a good thing because we're going to be eating it for a while.

I cooked a whole bunch the day before so that Thanksgiving itself could be a little more restful. The fridge was all full of yummy stuff waiting to be cooked.

Everything turned out really good except the rolls which I spent way too long making. They burned. Well the tops looked great, but the parts in the muffin tin all burned. That was a pretty big bummer.
But oh well. At least I had Kris get some frozen ones for a backup so we were ok.

We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole and rolls. I had corn too but I forgot to bring it out. Which was really ok considering how it was way too much food for us as it was.

I struggled with the gravy as usual, but it turned out pretty good. Not exactly how I wanted it but good enough. And seriously, any sort of gravy looks good in my favorite gravy boat ever (thanks Target!)


Max was pretty interested in how Kris was carving the turkey, and had some good questions.

He really wanted the wishbone, but we couldn't find it this year. He was pretty bummed about that. But that's how it goes sometimes. Besides, we make our own luck around here.

This is Max warming up for dinner by munching on a yucky plastic drumstick. Ick.


Happy Thanksgiving to all!
(and to Sultan)

::happy thanksgiving::

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody, we hope you have a wonderful day!

(gotta love kindergarten)

(and kindergarteners)

::thanks::

For Family Home Evening the other night I stole an idea from a friend (which had already been stolen by her from another friend).
I cut out a bunch of shapes so we could put together little turkeys and write something that we're grateful for on each feather.
I thought it was such a cute idea, and I also thought it would be fun to see what Max is grateful for.

So we did it.

They turned out cute, right?
Max's is hilarious looking. He was pretty disappointed in me that I didn't remember to cut out wattles for the turkeys. I think they must've been working on turkeys at school because I for sure did not teach him that word!

He's grateful for friends, family, eating, his body (I think he had a little help with that one), Dad, Mama Fish, Sultan, and lastly me. We had to remind him that he probably should put me on there. We said, "Didn't you forget somebody Max?" He thought hard and said, "Oh yeah, SULTAN!" Ah well, I know he loves me.

I'm grateful for a lot of things, but one of those things is the internet. It's so nice to feel connected to so many friends and family even though we're so far apart. What a blessing.

::surefire method to make mom cry::

Bring this home from school:

Isn't it the cutest?

::prep::

When family lives far away (or when you live far from family) you've got to be ready for Christmas sooner. That is, you've got to be ready if you want to not be stressed out at the post office.
So we've been working on family presents and stuff. Working hard. Max has been working too.

Hopefully we'll be able to send packages at the end of the week. Yay!

::three-dee::

All summer every time we went to the store Max would spy out this package of sidewalk chalk that said it was "3D." He wanted it so bad. And I didn't want it bad enough to pay $5 for it. Plus he had a whole bunch of other sidewalk chalk. Non 3D I guess.
I also thought it was a gimmick. I mean, seriously? 3-D sidewalk chalk? So anyway, a couple of weeks ago I was at Target and saw that they had marked the 3d chalk down 50%. Now that's more like it. So I snagged a package and brought it home to Max. Needless to say he was excited and headed out to try it right away.

He was very diligent about following the instructions. You were supposed to use certain colors next to each other.



The package came with these little 3d glasses. I guess the way it works is that certain colors look like they're raised up higher than others when you're wearing the glasses.

And truthfully, it sort of did look 3d through the glasses. I tried to take a picture through the glasses, but I guess since the camera doesn't have two eyes it didn't work. Ah well, that's the breaks.
The best part was, I got out his old chalk and drew some stuff and all that looked just as 3d as the special expensive chalk. Hah.



But despite the over hyped 3d chalk we all had some fun outside together, and that's all that really matters. And plus, I blogged about it. Does it get better than that?

::cute::

At school they have Max write his full name on all his work. It's cute. I never had him do it before, so I was surprised to see it the first time.


The papers remind me of Kris's old homework papers that his mom saved. They all say Kristin on them. Cute little boys.

::public service announcement::

I need to make sure everybody knows about this stuff. It's just too good not to share!

First announcement: Snickerdoodles are delicious. Ok. Everybody knows that, right? But I just tried a recipe today that turned out so so yummy. Try it. You'll only be sorry if you end up eating too many and get a stomachache.


Second announcement: If you need some really cool jewelry go here. Bet you didn't know my sister made pretty jewelry! I have several pairs of earrings and an awesome bracelet. I'm a big fan. I love the necklaces she has in her shop too.

Yeah, I'm not sure why my hand looks like I just slept on it. I don't think I took this first thing in the morning. Maybe I took a nap and didn't know it.
But I love the bracelet and that's what matters.

Third announcement: If you need an awesome, interesting accessory for any sort of outfit, check out Katy's etsy shop. At the end of October Kris's employer hosted their annual charity ball. We got to go, and I was looking for the perfect outfit. I found a dress, but I knew that I needed something cool from Katy to finish it off. We talked and she came up with this:


It was perfect and I loved wearing it. It was unusual, interesting, sophisticated but still didn't take itself too seriously.

So I'd highly recommend checking her stuff out. She's pretty much amazing.

Fourth announcement: This stuff smells better than anything:

I picked it up at Tarjay the other day, just for fun and turns out I love it. It actually makes me want to clean stuff. And that's a good thing. I cleaned my hand mixer today for the first time in forever (gross I know), just so I could smell the dang stuff.
It's kind of a citrusy christmassy smell. Mmmmmm.

That's it for now. Phew, I've done my duty and now the world is enlightened. At least for now.