Sweet Thanks

Thanksgiving is my mother's holiday. As Munchkin said the other day, it isn't dinner, it's a feast. She makes two full dinners, a turkey dinner and a ham dinner, with all the sides that you expect from both and then some more. For the past few years, I've assisted with dessert. Before Munchkin was mobile, I would make multiple pies from scratch. With two very active children, I have not been able to do that. This year, I had a helper.

I still did not make the number of pies that I used to, we stuck to one pumpkin pie and two corn breads. But Munchkin was thrilled to be helping, he's been talking about making the pie for weeks. In fact, he got very upset last week when we bought a pie to have for dessert, because he was going to make one.

The corn bread is new this year, not something that my mother has ever served before. We'll see if it is something that we'll make again. Although I do like the idea of starting this as a new tradition for us.

And as fall is quickly coming to an end (as evidenced by the snow we had), I was glad to do two more items from our fall list as well as one of my simple goals.

Time to Smash

This day went as quickly as it came. And while I don't know what the future may bring, as of right now Peanut is my last baby, and this was the last first cake. It was not the prettiest cake, the buttercream made from scratch, the cake from a box, but it was all his. At first he wasn't sure, but it didn't take long for him to dive in. While our family and friends enjoyed their cupcakes, Peanut went face first into his cake.

Of all the ways to spend our birthday, this small party with the focus on this cake "ceremony" was perfect.

And while technically this is the last of the Rookie Mom Challenges, I might still go back and try a few of the many that I missed.

Birthday Eve

It's the night before Peanut's first birthday and party. I have a million and one things to do to get ready, because I didn't learn anything at all from the last time, but I can't help to stop and look back. One year ago I had no idea how much life would change in the morning, I was planning how to spend my own birthday. This year has gone by so fast, I cannot believe that this night is back again. My baby has grown so much, and is so much less a baby as he is now firmly into toddlerhood. Just over a week ago he started to walk, and tomorrow he'll have cake. And just like last year when things didn't go as I planned, tomorrow is already going off-script. But it is our day, and I am so very looking forward to it.

Making More Than Cookies

As I was going through my life list, I came across a few that I can already cross off. One was making cookies for Santa.

I love baking and was really looking forward to when Munchkin (and eventually Peanut) was old enough to bake cookies for Santa with me. While last year he possibly would have been able to assist, I was too sick to do anything. This year, the two of us made cookies.

We started a new tradition, and headed up to my in-laws' much nicer kitchen. We didn't make everything that I had originally planned, I decided to keep it simple and not push him beyond what he found to be fun. And he did have fun, he loved dumping in the ingredients, mixing with both a spoon and the hand mixer and getting to roll the dough into balls. After they were done cooking, he loved sharing the cookies with the entire family, and we had to hold some back so that there would be some for Santa.

I cannot wait to do this again next year, with another helper.

The Best Summer Treat

Today, we made our first trip of the year to the NY Renaissance Faire. I'll have a full post and more pictures up soon, but I wanted to share one of my favorite things about the faire. I have been going since I was a child, and the frozen orange was something that I always had to get. I had stopped going in my twenties and didn't start again until after Munchkin was born. A few things had changed, but I was so glad to discover that they still had the frozen orange. It isn't exactly how I remember it, I don't remember ever using a spoon and the top I believe is new, but it is still wonderful.

Partially eaten because I didn't want to wait...