If November is known for nothing else, it's known for Thanksgiving...and by extension, lots and lots of delicious food. But the goodies aren't just consumed at Thanksgiving; in our house, it feels like I'm always working on some food-related project during this month (and December too, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent). Here are a few of my foodie highlights from the month so far:
I made my annual batch of applesauce a few weeks ago. This is probably my family's favorite home-canned treat that I make, and lucky for me, it's one of the easiest foods to can at home. Here's my recipe for applesauce, if you'd ever like to try making your own. As usual, I made the applesauce out of Jonathan apples....in my humble opinion, Jonathan apples make the best applesauce!
This time around, I had a little help...
I didn't have to pressure Aurora to be my helper; she volunteered happily! It was wonderful to have an extra pair of hands, even if they were tiny.
She especially loved washing the apples off for me, and for sticking the apple slices into my stock pot. Sure, she eventually got a bit bored and wandered off, but not before helping me with my first batch.
She also helped with "clean-up"...by licking off the applesauce leftovers from the pot. Aurora is a girl who doesn't normally like getting her hands dirty, so for her to eat applesauce with her bare hands is high praise indeed.
Next time I make applesauce, I'm going to have to try doing it when my girls are home from school. Sometimes, I think of canning as something to do when my kids aren't around. However, they're getting old enough that I need to start actually teaching them how it's done, and hopefully trying it out later for themselves.
On another topic, it wouldn't be November if I didn't make a ton of these...
It's the time of year when I hand out my delicious delicious pumpkin chocolate-chip bread to my piano students & friends. Here's the recipe for the bread, for those who want to try it out! (Don't be scared, it's a very easy recipe and it makes a lot of bread).
Believe it or not, I was trying to cut back on the amount of bread I made this year! I'm pretty sure I made a batch or two less than most years. Oddly enough, I felt like I had more time than usual to make them; perhaps because my kids are all in school and I'm less rushed during the day? Either way, I managed to give away most of the bread, but there are still two loaves hanging around in the freezer taunting me. We'll see how long they last.
I have also been cooking in preparation for December. Yes, in preparation for December. My friend Miranda is heading up the ward Christmas party this year, and I volunteered my services. I was promptly put on the food committee, and asked to bake 150 Christmas cookies. However, I was to freeze these cookies, because the party isn't for three more weeks!
These are "Grinch" cookies; they're green, with a heart "two sizes too small" in the middle. Cute idea! Luckily, I didn't have to make the cookie dough; it was delivered to me. But it was a long night of cooking all the same. It was hard to resist trying one out; I am curious to see what they taste like!
And of course, it wouldn't be November without a huge turkey:
Yes, I realize this is the day before Thanksgiving. We're having our actual Thanksgiving dinner at Nathan's mom's house tomorrow afternoon; however, I just couldn't let the holiday pass by without cooking a turkey! So we invited the missionaries over for dinner tonight so I would have an excuse to "host" a Thanksgiving.
As you might expect, I overdid it on the food. But it was no problem to send the missionaries home with a bunch of leftovers, and we still had a lot left over ourselves! Now I need to save room for the terrific feast that is awaiting us at Grandma's house tomorrow. I hope all my friends & loved ones have a wonderful Thanksgiving, eating delicious food and counting their blessings. That's what I plan on doing.
This will be a short-ish blog post, mostly because I'm "tooting the horns" of others without their knowledge. But since November is the month of "thanksgiving," I thought this would be a good opportunity to express my gratitude for having so many very talented friends. That blessing was really brought home to me over the last couple of weeks, when I helped out a little bit at a friend's wedding.
My friend's name is Sandy; she's a member of my LDS congregation, and she is "getting on in years a bit," as some might say. I don't know her exact age, but as I have gotten to know her, she seemed ageless to me. She has a beautiful smile and always has a twinkle in her eye. She works at a local quilt shop and is always quick to lend a hand of service to her friends & fellow church members. I sometimes think I'd like to make her my "adopted grandmother," but I've always been too shy to ask.
Long story short, Sandy lost her husband a few years ago after a lengthy period of illness. Then, just a year ago, a neighbor and friend of hers named Andy lost his own wife after a similar long period of illness. Sandy & Andy had lived on the same street for about 40 years. They'd raised both their families alongside each other. And now both of them were left without spouses. After several months of tentative dating & courtship, Andy asked Sandy for her hand in marriage. She accepted. The news of their engagement was terrific news in our congregation. We were so happy for the both of them!
I attended a wedding shower for Sandy a week before they were to be married. It was very different than most showers I'd been to before, but it was still awesome. Sandy herself was as giddy and blushing as any first-time bride; it was adorable (if my saying so doesn't sound too condescending). Sandy and Andy had wanted their wedding to be a small, low-key affair, but our bishop's wife Susan was determined to make it a memorable occasion, even on a tiny budget as it was.
Here's where my gratitude (and my respect) starts showing up. Susan was an interior design major in college, and she has a terrific eye for design and tasteful decor. I'm not sure if she was ever formally employed as an interior designer, but she clearly has tons of practical experience in that sort of thing. She is a regular helper at ward parties and other special events; she always opens up her gorgeous home to my piano students & their families for our winter recital. Susan is a miracle worker, in my opinion; she has an incredible gift to make even small, simple things appear beautiful and precious. Case in point; the wedding of Sandy & Andy.
I did none of the planning for the wedding, but I did show up early to help set up chairs and a few other things. There is a small covered pavilion behind the old chapel in Sahuarita; normally, this area is used for family picnics and other informal gatherings. On this day, though, it was transformed into something beautiful...
I helped hang up some of the white curtains and the floral garnishes on the wedding "frame." I also helped arrange some of the table centerpieces...
There were fresh rosemary branches stuck everywhere, so the whole pavilion smelled lovely...and so did my hands, after handling all the plants!
There was a lot of other talent on display as well; lots of ward members contributed food and drink to the reception afterwards. There were too many helpers to name individually, but the cake deserves special mention...
The cake was made by a former professional baker in our ward named MeShell. Every time I hear that she is bringing something she's made, I have to show up and try it out! The three layers were each a different flavor of cake: chocolate (which disappeared before I could try it); white with raspberry cream filling (superb); and carrot (which was shockingly fluffy and yet still packed with flavor. This was one of the best carrot cakes I've ever had).
The bride & groom with the cake
I participated in a couple of musical numbers just before the actual wedding ceremony. I accompanied two different groups on the piano. The first was a husband and wife (Jan and Nathan) singing "I Know Heavenly Father Loves Me." The second (trickier) number was a duet of two ladies (Jani and Jenn) singing "Love At Home," with another sister (Sue) providing a flute part. I'd been nervous about this number because we had never practiced it together until literally the night before the wedding. During that rehearsal, we kept changing parts of the song and making things up as we went. And yet, it all came together and sounded great!
Here's some more gratitude: I am constantly in awe at the musical talent in our ward. Not since living at BYU have I lived in a ward in which so many people are musically gifted. In some wards I've lived in, I was one of the only piano players available; in this Sahuarita ward, there are probably close to two dozen people who are skilled at playing the piano. It's very possible I'm not even in the top ten, skill-wise. We also have a handful of music teachers and several other current or former band members. We have multiple violinists & flutists, we have a trumpet player, and we have one sister who teaches drum lessons, plays in the Green Valley band, and regularly composes & arranges musical numbers on her own.
And of course, we have many many skilled singers, some with lots of formal voice training (Jenn, who sang "Love At Home," was in one of BYU's choral ensembles, which are very competitive. She usually sings without a microphone, as she doesn't need one). One of the great blessings of being choir director in our ward (a position I've had for a little over a year now) is that so many talented people show up, and they learn the music quickly and with little coaching. What's even more amazing is that I can name at least a half-dozen more people in the ward who have amazing, solo-quality singing voices, and yet never come to ward choir due to a variety of reasons. Our ward's musical bench is just that deep (to borrow a sports analogy). It is such a great blessing to make lovely music with so many talented, enthusiastic, passionate musicians.
So anyway, even though I was nervous about performing these musical numbers, I needn't have worried...both went off almost without a hitch. The only (small) mishap was that my sheet music was blowing around a bit as I played. I am not used to playing my instrument out of doors! But I had someone come to my aid quickly, so everything turned out well after that.
As for Sandy and Andy, they both looked happy throughout the whole service. It occurred to me as I watched the bishop read out the marriage vows (it was the first wedding he'd ever performed!), that I had never before attended an LDS wedding that wasn't inside the temple. While I love the sacredness of a temple wedding, this simpler service also filled me with joy. I could feel the love everyone had for Sandy & Andy, and the love they and their families had for one another. I loved the more jovial, energetic feeling that was present there. I loved that people clapped afterward, and that Frank Sinatra music was played afterwards.
Most of all, I loved seeing two people find happiness again after losing their significant other. It was a balm to my soul, after seeing my beautiful mother-in-law suffer the loss of her beloved husband last month. I'm not saying she needs to get married again soon (or even at all, if it comes to that!), but this wedding reminded me that time can heal our most painful wounds, and I hope she will be able to find happiness and meaning in her life again to help ease her hurt. It has been a sad month for our family, but seeing this wedding reminded me of many blessings in my life I sometimes take for granted. We are surrounded by loving, amazing people.
So far, this has been a November much like many other Novembers; somewhat busy, but overall a nice breather between the pressure-cooker holidays that are Halloween and Christmas. The weather has turned fabulous, and the outdoor festivals are starting to proliferate, as is common during the Arizona winters. One of the big festivals in our part of Pima County is the annual (as of a few years ago) Sahuarita Pecan Festival, an event run by the local Green Valley Pecan Company, a large orchard not far from our home.
There's quite a lot to do and see at the festival; games, displays, merchant booths, tractor pulls, music, and lots of food (including pecans, of course!). It's your standard fall festival, with a nice nutty flavor. I have to admit I was never a huge fan of pecans growing up, but I have started to really enjoy eating them in a variety of dishes. Yummy, yummy pecans...
But I digress! Since it was a lovely Saturday in early November, I decided to take the girls to the Pecan Festival for a few hours to have some fun. Last year, Lorelai and I participated in the family "fun run" that is also a big part of the Pecan Festival. We really wanted to do the run again this year, but after our exhausting October, we didn't manage to get registered in time. Hopefully we can find another family fun run and do it later on in the year.
Despite not doing the run, we were still happy to bring the other girls along to the festival this time. We wanted to share the fun with everyone this year, and luckily everyone enjoyed themselves.
We spent almost all our time in the free kid's section of the festival. There were several activities for the kids to try, including some inflatable mazes...
...and slides (check out Celeste's face as she goes down the slide!).
One corner of the kid's area was a small enclosed area where several Arabian horses were being displayed. They were gorgeous horses and the girls were excited to meet one.
The Arabians were for petting only; however, in the other corner of the kids' area, there were some ponies available to ride on.
Right next door to the pony rides was a petting zoo, where Aurora ended up spending most of the morning. She loved following the ducks around, petting baby chicks, and staring in awe at the goats and the donkey.
A local Boy Scout troop had also set up a handmade "bridge" for the kids to walk across.
It took some time and some balance adjustments, but overall the girls handled it well.
There were a few more "hard-core" activities for kids to try, as well. Celeste and Lorelai were both enticed by the climbing wall. Lorelai ultimately decided against it however, when she realized just how high she would have to climb. Maybe she got a touch of vertigo? Celeste, however, was still game to try:
She was so excited she could barely restrain herself from squealing in glee. However, her hand-eye coordination proved to be her undoing on the wall:
Sadly, this picture shows the sum total of Celeste's ascension up the wall. She couldn't hang on; she had trouble gripping the handholds and was always scared to move her feet up the wall. She was a little discouraged when she came "back to earth" (which was just a few feet down), but I told her I was still proud of her for making the attempt. Maybe she will have more success in future years.
Lorelai was bound and determined to take a spin in the centrifuge ball that was located next to the climbing wall.
Unfortunately, since only two people fit into the ball at a time, she had to wait so long. Like, almost an hour. She was bored & frustrated, and the sun was in her eyes, and she complained a lot. I felt really bad for her, since her sisters got to run around and do several activities during this time, while Lorelai could only wait and wait and wait. But it was good to teach her a little patience, I think.
At last, though, her time arrived! And she almost chickened out.
Look at the fear in those eyes! She remained in her seat, though, and when the ball started spinning, she really enjoyed herself. All I could see was her white-blond hair flailing around in the air. And she never once screamed in terror, because to do so would be to incur Celeste's mocking.
Success! She was walking a little funny at the end, but overall Lorelai said it was worth the wait. The best part? A photographer from the local newspaper snapped a few pictures of her ride, and the following week, we found a picture of her in the paper! All we could see of her was the aforementioned flailing blond hair, but her name was in the photo caption! She gloated the whole rest of the day about her new-found fame.
By this time, we had to leave the festival and start heading back to the shuttle station, since I had another activity that afternoon. Due to nearby road construction, there was nowhere to park at the festival, so we had to ride a school bus over from the nearby high school. The girls, unsurprisingly, loved that.
But on our way out, we stopped by the rope-making booth, one of Lorelai's favorite places from the previous year's festival!
It was really neat to see how rope is made, and Celeste and Aurora each got their own section of rope to play with however they wished. We briefly considered stopping for some free ice cream on the way back to the shuttle (ice cream topped with pecans, no less!), but they ran out just as we walked up to the booth. It was probably a sign from above that we didn't need the extra sugar.
So the girls had to settle for hugs from this giant, sort of creepy squirrel, who was apparently the mascot of the festival. The girls weren't really sure of him at first, but he turned out to be harmless.
So that was about it for our day! I attended a friend's wedding shower for a friend that afternoon, and the kids stayed inside and relaxed after being out in the sun all morning (and getting somewhat rosy-cheeked in the process). The Pecan Festival probably won't be our last outdoor event this winter, but it was a nice way to start the season of nice weather in Arizona.
Now that our family's Halloween costumes were all designed, and now that all our pumpkins were purchased, it was time to get our Halloween "groove" on, by attending several parties & events (not counting the ones I've already blogged about. Good heavens, the end of October is so busy!)
I've already blogged about the girls' costumes, so no need to rehash that. Nathan decided to forgo dressing up this year (as he usually does, but no big deal). As for myself, I had two "quasi-costumes" this year, that I wore to different events. The first was my "nerd" costume, in which I threw on a little of everything genre-related that I had laying around.
The cape was from Salt Lake City Comic Con, which my mother had attended earlier this year. Thanks Mom!
I even made myself a "totally legit" Comic Con badge! I only wore the Iron Man mask on the top of my head, though; it's kind of hard to breathe in that thing.
We took our costumes on their "maiden voyage" on Friday the 24th, when we had multiple Halloween parties to attend. First, we all stopped by my friend Cindy's house; she had planned a "carnival-style" party for kids (although adults were also welcome, either in or out of costume!).
The party was lots of fun; it had lots of games, booths, & activities. One of the young women from our LDS ward even made balloon animals for everyone.
The kids all loved showing off their costumes, and admiring all their friends' costumes too.
Aurora with some of her buddies: Taylor (on left) and Ava (center)
In fact, there was a costume contest at the party as well...and Lorelai's Ninja Turtle costume won best costume in the girl's category! She got a little basket full of goodies and prizes, and she was very excited. I was happy for her, and also a teeny bit proud of my sweet-costume making skills.
Here's Lorelai with her friend Conner, who won best costume in the boy category. He came dressed as Baymax from Disney's latest animated movie Big Hero 6
I suspect Cindy being a fellow Ninja Turtles fan (she dressed as a turtle for Halloween herself!) helped Lorelai's chances, but who were we to complain about that?
Celeste was only able to stay at "Ms. Cindy's" party for a few minutes; after that, she zoomed off with her friend Cambry to their Girl Scout Halloween party across town.
I wasn't able to attend the party myself, but Celeste raved about it afterwards (she got a ton of food). Cambry's mother Marissa was kind enough to lend me this picture of the party. I thought it was kind of adorable that the "girliest" of my daughters was the only girl at that party dressed up as a "tough" character...she was a ninja surrounded by princesses! But they all looked very cute anyway.
After picking Celeste up from her party, we ran several errands around town, then went home and frantically scrubbed everyone's hair (too much hair dye this Halloween week, yech!).
The following Monday, we spent our family home evening night by driving around looking at spookily decorated Halloween houses. One house in particular, in a neighborhood north of us, had a full light & sound show set up; we watched for several minutes as the front-yard displays blinked and flashed in time with Danny Elfman music. It was great fun. Then, the following night, we decided to finally carve those pumpkins we'd spent the last couple of weeks picking up:
Not our most creative work, but not bad! I have come to the conclusion that I'm not a genius pumpkin-carver, but as long as they have a well-defined face and the kids are happy with the way it looks, I consider it a job well done.
From left to right: Celeste's, Lorelai's, and Aurora's jack o'lanterns
The following night (October 29th) was our LDS ward's annual Halloween get-together. Formany yearsnow, the activity has been mostly kid-centered, with small carnival games followed by a trunk or treat. This year, though, our ward finally changed things up a bit (thank goodness! Nathan and I have grown weary of the noisy carnival games year after year). Instead of the games, our ward had a chili cook-off dinner, so everyone would at least get some nutritious food inside them before filling up on candy. It made the activity a little more "all-inclusive."
And there was a flash mob set to Michael Jackson's "Thriller," so that was another delightful new addition. Our bishop even got up and strutted his stuff!
I spent much of that afternoon decorating our car's trunk (it was festooned with spiderwebs and glowing spider "egg sacs,")...and of course I forgot to take a picture of it. Oh well, it still looked cooler than it ever has before! There was actually a prize awarded this year for most creative trunk, but I never stood a chance...there are many families in the ward a lot more creative than I am. I was still pleased with my final product, though; I even took the "egg sacs" I'd made and hung them in our front yard afterwards, to add to our home's Halloween creepiness.
You can...kind of(?) see those egg sacs hanging from the roof. Kind of.
There were still more Halloween hijinks on Thursday; Aurora's preschool class held their Halloween party, and everyone came in costume! The kids all sang us a few songs and showed off their hand-made masks.
They also built cute little "Halloween houses"; they were a spooky version of the graham-cracker "gingerbread houses" kids build at Christmas time.
Aurora loved her Halloween house so much, she just leaned into it and started munching away!
Show Mommy how the piggies eat
Other than that, the only Halloween-themed activities that day revolved around our getting the house ready for our own Halloween party, which was to be held the next afternoon. We stayed home and watched a Halloween movie (Coraline, already a family favorite after just discovering it last year). While watching, we put together some small Halloween crafts, and set up the house to receive our guests the following afternoon.
Before we could have a party at our house, though, the kids had a half-day at school on Halloween. That meant it was time for the annual Halloween parade, when the girls got to show off their costumes to all the other kids. They were all very excited.
Aurora got to march in the parade a bit with her sisters
After this half-day, we had a little time to crash at home; then, it was time to make final preparations for our party!
There ended up being a lot more food than this
For many years, I'd hoped to throw a huge Halloween party at our house. When I was eight or nine years old, my parents threw a huge Halloween party; we made a haunted house in our basement, served a ton of food, and built many happy memories (like some of our friends running from the house screaming; it was awesome!). Anyway, since Halloween fell on a Friday this year, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to invite a large crowd, serve tons of food, and have a bunch of games & activities.
But I ended up scaling back on that idea, for several reasons. First and most important, the death ofmy father-in-law left our family exhausted emotionally and physically; I just wasn't up to throwing a gigantic party. Secondly, it seemed like a lot of other people had the same idea we had! There were a lot of parties going on that night, throughout the whole neighborhood. In addition, the local high school had its Homecoming game on Halloween night, so there were even more teens than usual out and about. It was a very happening Halloween night, and my party was just a drop in the bucket.
So, I ended up scaling it down somewhat and making it a simple "pre-trick-or-treat potluck." I still made some food (and provided the yummy "witches' brew" punch in the pictures above), but everyone else brought goodies too. The older kids got to watch the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas upstairs, the adults ate food and visited downstairs, and the young kids got to make a simple Halloween craft and run about underfoot.
Not as many people came as I had originally expected, but we still had a good crowd, and they brought great food! It turned out to be more enjoyable than it might have been, had I stressed out over the planning of a bigger party. It took me most of the next day to clean, but it was worth it.
Finally...after all the build-up over the last week...and after all our party guests had left...it was go time!
Booyakasha! (That's the new Turtles' battle cry)
And by "go," I mean "trick-or-treat time." As you can see, I went as a "ninja turtle (sort of)" for Halloween. True, Lorelai and I both went as Michelangelo...but he's my favorite Turtle, and I wasn't about to get a different Turtle's T-shirt just so Lorelai and I could be coordinated for one night!
Here's what our house looked like on Halloween night, just in time for trick-or-treaters
Our own neighborhood was a little on the quiet side, but we drove around and explored several neighborhoods throughout the evening. The neighborhood north of us had constructed a "haunted bridge" (really a walkway over a wash). The homeowners covered the whole thing with tarp, installed a bunch of scary hanging monsters and strobe lights, and let kids wander through for free. My girls must have run across the haunted bridge a dozen times, giggling all the while.
Later that night, when trick-or-treating was done (and Aurora had been taken home and put to bed), Lorelai, Celeste, and myself headed out to check out a few of the most spooky houses in our town. One home even had a full "haunted" house set up (complete with strobe lights, full decor, and plenty of costumed actors), with donations for the Make A Wish Foundation being accepted in lieu of an entrance fee.
All through October, Lorelai had been begging me to go to a real haunted house...as in, a professionally run haunted house, featuring real actors and sets, and real scares! Besides sounding very expensive (some of those haunted houses cost a pretty penny), I was unconvinced my sweet, still-young daughters could handle that kind of adrenaline rush. I know this sounds odd, but I'm actually glad some houses went all-out on their Halloween decorations. It gave my daughters an opportunity to test their mettle in a place closer to home, less threatening, and cheaper. It also gave me a chance to observe how they react to scary, haunted-house type stuff. Perhaps when they're teenagers, I'll consider letting them have a go at a professional haunted house...until then, I hope these "little" scares will satisfy their adrenaline cravings.
That Make A Wish haunted house I mentioned? They ran through it five times each. By the end, all the costumed "creeps" inside were high-fiving them and the girls were giggling with delight. In another neighborhood, they were mesmerized by a haunted garage, which featured talking body bags, leaping spiders, and all manner of gory decor. They stayed and watched it for about 15 minutes; they were fascinated by it, even if they were scared.
I don't know what to think about my girls' taste for the gruesome...does it mean I'm making them numb to spiritual things? Am I encouraging them in cultivating unhealthy appetites? Is it just a phase they are going through? Maybe it's too early to tell. However, seeing them brave their way through a haunted house, then go back for more, tells me that at least my girls like to face their fears and do their best to overcome them. Maybe that is ultimately a good thing; hopefully they can take that skill and apply it outside of a Halloween setting. I hope I can encourage them in that.
