Four Feet More

For the past two years, packages for the kids have been left on our doorstep on Christmas Day from the "Secret Santa." This Secret Santa gets them small gifts, but they are things that the kids love. Junie B. Jones books, journals, writing notepads and pens (my kids LOVE note pads - they are either writing stories or taking our orders for dinner like little waiters). It's a thoughtful gesture that brings some unexpexcted joy on Christmas Day.

The thing is, neither Jeff nor I have any idea who the Secret Santa is. We had some ideas last year, but both those people delivered gifts for the kids in person before Christmas. It's hard to imagine that they would come back on Christmas Day with a second set of gifts for which they took no credit. Also, the Secret Santa spells Eamon's name right, so it probably isn't one of the neighbors. Most people spell Eamon's name "Amen" or "Amon" unless they have had the occasion to see it in writing (which our neighbors haven't, really). And since the Secret Santa gives gifts to "Victoria" instead of "Vika," I think he/she is probably not someone I work with or whose kids play with ours.

It's a mystery. I would love to be able to thank the Secret Santa for his/her thoughtfulness, but since I have no idea who it is, I can't! However, I don't think our appreciation is what they're after. It seems for someone out there, just knowing that they gave a little surprise to a couple of kids on Christmas Day is enough.

Merry Christmas Secret Santa. I hope your holiday brought some unexpected surprises as well.

Finally, the Christmas shopping is done, the pizzelles are baked (waffled?) and the presents are wrapped. Our disastrous cranberry cordials (which tasted like cough syrup) have been rescued, thanks to an extra infusion of vodka and sugar. It's been a busy holiday pre-season, and frankly, I'm ready to get down to the actual holiday.

Tonight we'll do our annual family dinner and celebration of the day we brought Vika and Eamon home. On the menu, roasted capon (I'm feeling very Victorian with that one), mashed sweet potatoes, some vegetable (not sure what - Jeff's cooking) and cranberry sauce. We'll also spend some time today at mom's, visiting with my step-family.

The kids will get to open two gifts today. One from us (always a pair of PJs), and one from Merripen (since he is leaving tonight with Santa). Vika is in that total girl mode where she wants us to dress alike. Often she'll come into the bathroom, make a note of what I'm wearing, and then rush into her bedroom to put on something similar. So, to accommodate this peculiarity of hers, I bought us matching PJs. We may look completely dorky in our lavender Nick & Nora owl jams, but Vika will LOVE it.

Tomorrow will begin with a breakfast of gingerbread waffles with cranberry compote and lots of present opening. Of course, that's after Jeff has gone downstairs and checked to make sure Santa came (the kids are a bit worried he may skip our house this year - with good reason).

But, before all that, we'll hold our annual viewing of the video below and spend some time remembering that hectic Christmas Eve 4 years ago. The Christmas Eve that delivered us all home, safe and sound, a family at last!



Have a happy holiday everyone! I wish you good health and much joy in 2010!

He's our new house elf. Only he doesn't cook or clean for us as the house elves from Harry Potter do. He's more of a scout, watching the kids and reporting both their good deeds and bad back to Santa.

On Thanksgiving, my step-father, Ed, presented an "Elf on the Shelf" to all 4 of the "big kids" (my brother, step-sister, step-brother and I) to share with our families. It was a bit emotional as he talked of this tradition he wanted us to start with our kids and keep going to remember him and mom after they're gone. A bit maudlin really, but the gesture was appreciated, nonetheless. The elf came with a storybook, which the kids and I read last night, and at the end were instructions to choose a name for the elf.

The kids’ first choice was "Willy," after the elf in "Fred Claus." Personally, I hate that name, so I told the kids that "Willy" was another name for a boy's private parts, and suitably horrified, they dropped the name from contention. (I know, I'm a terrible parent). Then, on the way home from Mom and Ed's, Eamon said, "How about we name the elf Jon Stewart?"

I think my heart grew a little bigger for the boy at that point. ;)

Finally, after some more discussion, I suggested "Merripen." Jeff and Vika both liked the name right away, but Eamon was still pushing for Jon Stewart. However, when I explained that Merripen sounds a bit like "Merry Christmas" and reminded me of the hobbit Merry from "The Lord of the Rings," Eamon decided he liked it too, and thus, our elf was named.

Here's how the elf works. He arrives around Thanksgiving and observes your kids until Christmas Eve. Each night, he flies back to Santa in the North Pole and gives his report. The next day, the elf is sitting in a different spot than he was before, showing that he did indeed move during the night.

The kids already love this idea. This morning, Eamon rushed down to find where Merripen was sitting today. He and Vika are in a bit of a competition to see who can find him first each morning. Vika, ever the clever girl, is writing letters to Santa and hiding them around the house. She whispers to Merripen where they are hidden so that if he is truly magical, he can take them back to the North Pole each night. If he's not magical, she thinks that she'll catch Jeff and I in some elaborate holiday conspiracy, thus proving her suspicions that Santa doesn't really exist. Hopefully we'll manage to stay one step ahead of her (and since Eamon can't keep a secret, we can probably get him to rat out her hiding places).

And so, a new holiday tradition for our family is born. Hopefully it is one we will carry on, long after our children abandon their status as "believers."

Things have been a bit out of sync over here lately. There has been a lot of the good mixed in with the bad, and it's left me a tad off-balance.

First of all, I've had a cold for the past week and a half, and I can't seem to shake it. Fortunately, it has not been accompanied by fevers and body aches, so I don't believe it is the dreaded swine flu. Thank goodness for that! I would like this stuffiness and coughing to go away now, though. After a particularly rough night, Jeff woke me this morning with a hug and a "Morning Jen. I hate you." Then he kissed my head, tucked the blankets around me, and got up. He was teasing, of course, but I did keep him up all night with my coughing. My poor, long-suffering husband. ;)

Things have also been a little different with my step-daughter, Ali. The good news is that she's contacting us a bit more regularly now, and she even came out for Eamon's birthday (it was the first time she's ever celebrated that with us). It was nice to see her and have her spend time with the family again. The bad news is that every time she contacts us, there seems to be a crisis of some sort. Often she needs money desperately, and sometimes there are other tragic events. First her boyfriend broke his back, and this week, a good friend of hers from high school died, along with 3 others, in a car crash on her way back from Vegas. Ali is naturally devastated, and I feel so bad for her because over the past few years, she seems to have separated herself from many of her support systems. It must be terribly hard to be living alone in a city away from family and close friends, especially during a such a difficult time. It is my hope that this horrible tragedy will have a silver lining, and Ali will examine the way her life is going and come to value family relationships once again.

The final blow for my week came yesterday, on Halloween. As you know, Rupert has not been doing so well. The tumor on his foot has been getting bigger, and he has been dropping weight. However, he was still acting like himself for the most part, and the foot didn't seem to be giving him any pain. Until yesterday. He had begun to get lethargic, but he still followed me around the house, purring when I said his name. However, as he walked through the kitchen, we noticed some blood on the floor. I immediately put his foot in warm water to clean it, and, well, I'll spare you all the gory details and just say that the tumor had broken though the skin and it was all-around unpleasant. Funny thing is, it still didn't seem to be causing Rupert any discomfort. He let me clean his foot without so much as a wince. But I knew that it wouldn't be long before the tumor would become infected and cause him great pain. So I took him into the vet, and she agreed that it was time to let him go. She also validated my decision not to amputate the foot, which made me feel a lot better because when faced with the decision of euthanasia, I began to question whether or not I could have done more for Rupert. In the end, he went peacefully, and Jeff, Vika and Eamon were there to give me hugs when I left the hospital in tears (they were not in the room with me - Jeff took the kids outside to pick flowers).

Fortunately, we had trick-or-treating to take the kids' minds off the loss of Rupert. It cheered me up too, to see Eamon running with his skinny little legs in his Obi-Wan Kenobi costume, and Vika preening around as an Asian Princess. Eamon usually wears baggier boy clothes, so to see him in a tight-fitting costume was a bit like seeing a fluffy cat that had just been doused with water. I don't know where that boy packs away all the food he eats! Both kids had a great time trick-or-treating and passing out candy at my mom's house (every time there was a knock on the door they jumped up and yelled, "Customers!!!"). They even scored some Baby Ruths, which naturally, I took as soon as they were in bed.


It was a fun end to a roller-coaster-week. But hopefully the coming days will be a bit more relaxed and I'll finally kick this cold. I also hope that where ever Rupert is, he's happily flinging around a milk top and surrounded by toilets with the lids up (his disgustingly favorite source of water). Goodbye little man. I'll miss you.

As anyone who's ever adopted internationally knows, it can get pretty expensive. Also, if you've visited an orphanage in another country, you have seen the great need of the children living in those facilities. After adopting her own son from Russia, Elle decided to give back by starting Sweet Hope. Every year she makes awesome truffles, which she then sells and donates the proceeds to an adoption-related cause. In the past, she's donated funds to pre-adoptive families who were having difficulty covering their adoption expenses, and last year she put the money toward buying Christmas gifts for children living at an orphanage in Khabarovsk, Russia.

This year, Elle is thinking bigger, and she needs help. Her plan is to do a benefit concert to raise even more funds to donate to orphanages in Russia this Christmas. You can read more about her plans here: Then I go and Get All Super Crazy.

If you would like to help in any way, Elle could use your assistance. It is a truly great cause. Neither Vika nor Eamon had ever received a present before they joined our family (their first full day home was actually Christmas day, and that must have been quite a shock!). Gifts such as warm clothing, books, games and toys are desperately needed in Russian orphanages, and showing the children that someone outside of the orphanage cares for them is a wonderful gift too. Perhaps you can help make Christmas a little brighter this year for a child in need?

Our You Capture assignment this week, handed down by Beth at I should be Folding Laundry, was Independence Day and food. This year we went to a 4th of July Festival which included a chili cook-off. My SIL's band was playing, so we were able to hang with Joe and Ty, and Mom and Ed for some music and dancing. There was a strange hula hoop woman dancing all by herself in front of the stage. Well, I use the term "dancing" loosely, since she was really hula hooping and swaying to the music. Wearing a long orange print skirt and a black tank-top, her gray hair in a bun, she looked more like someone who would be attending a Grateful Dead concert rather than getting down to "Pokerface" sung by a party band. But there she was, having a great old time.

The benefit of having hula-hoop lady there was that she let the kids use some of her extra hoops. That was all the encouragement Eamon needed. He got into one of those hoops and twirled until the music ended! And, though I've mentioned it before, I need to reiterate, that boy can hula hoop! I can't twirl the things worth a damn, but Eamon has some mad skilz! I think he impressed quite a few people (especially me). Between band sets, there were also some games, and the kids entered a water balloon toss competition. Alas, their time in the game was too short, as Eamon dropped the first toss Vika chucked at him.

When the show was over, we went to the chili cook-off where we ate tiny samples and voted on the one we liked best. Some of them were good, but others were entirely too spicy! The firemen had some chili that was insanely hot. Like, not even enjoyable hot. A few hours later, we were all feeling that chili, and not in a good way either. I think next year we'll skip the sampling.

After the festival, we headed to the cemetery to visit the grave of Jeff's parents. There were flags lined up everywhere, honoring the day, and it was very peaceful. Until Eamon said, "There sure are a lot of dead people here!" A quick explanation about sensitivity and loss followed, and then we were on our way.

Since I had my choice for this week's You Capture, and because the 4th of July is right around the corner, I decided to capture the symbol of our nation's Independence, the American flag. For most of my life, Independence day has meant BBQs, fireworks, and summer memories with the family. However, after teaching 5th grade (where we study American History), I've acquired a bit of a different perspective on the holiday. Reading about the great men and women who fought for America's independence from Britain, their trials and victories, has made this holiday and our flag mean so much more.

John Adams said in a letter to his wife Abigail (of the original Independence Day - which was actually July 2, 1776), "I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival." It's kind of cool to know that his prediction came true, even if he was off by 2 days. I wonder what he would think about the various ways the holiday is celebrated and our flag is depicted today (on clothing and home decor, for example)?

Another piece of American trivia for you: Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 - 50 years to the day from the birth of the country they helped found. Isn't that an interesting coincidence?

OK, I'll let my teacher side slip for now and show you the photos.

Happy 4th of July (3 days early)!

It's a new year, after all, and I want to start it off right. As I walked to my classroom today, I felt truly happy to be there. Looking at the kids made me smile, and Peter greeted me first thing with an enthusiastic, "Hi Mrs. P!" All in all, it was a good day back after a Winter Break full of ups and downs.

Having already told you about the lows, I'll give a quick recap of the highs from this holiday season.

• We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner, just the four of us. Jeff made roast duck, au gratin potatoes (with gruyere cheese), roast turnips, and the best rotkohl EVER. We were all fat and happy when the meal was done.
• Vika finally got the American Girl doll she's wanted for so long. We can't figure out how he did it, but somehow Santa managed to find a doll with dark brown hair, dark eyes and olive skin. Even after skimming through all her catalogues, Vika still cannot find another doll exactly like hers, so right now, she's feeling pretty special. She named her doll "Tory," a shortened form of her own name, Victoria. (Side note: this American Girl thing can get way out of hand. They have a treehouse for the dang dolls that costs $250!!!! They also must have some wicked cookie system because since helping Santa with his online gift research, no matter what website I go to, an American Girl ad pops up.).
• Eamon got a bunch of Star Wars legos, which kept him busy for hours and a Boba Fett costume from Santa. How St. Nick knew that Boba Fett was Mama's favorite Star Wars character is anyone's guess. ;)
• After hours spent in the women's sections of various stores (bless him), Jeff found me the perfect "grown-up" coat for Christmas. It's long, black and belted, and makes me look WAY more sophisticated than I actually am.
  
• Jeff and I also got BlackBerrys for Christmas (although they haven't yet arrived). I guess I'm going to have to take the same plunge Rachael did and learn how to send text messages.
  

Finally, I leave you with a somewhat amusing story from my class. Around the holidays, I give my students an ornament assignment. They are asked to design an ornament that in some way depicts their family's winter traditions. They later present the ornament to the class, sharing a little bit about their culture as they do so. After the presentations, all ornaments are hung on my class "Festivus" tree (An equal-opportunity, artificial tree with LED lights that change from blue to green to red to yellow. Classy!).

One of my students, we'll call him Mark, described his ornament in great theological detail. He told of all the traditions his family has to celebrate their religious faith during the Christmas season, and concluded his presentation by saying that every year his family makes a birthday cake for Jesus and sings "Happy Birthday" to Him on Christmas Day. At this point another student, who was listening attentively, cocked his head to the side with a confused look on his face and raised his hand. When Mark called upon him he asked, with genuine curiosity, "How many candles do you put on the birthday cake?" Mark thought a moment and then answered with a shrug, "Like 20." While this answer confused me (I mean, obviously 2008 candles is excessive, but what about 1? And who blows out the candles?), it seemed to satisfy the other student, who nodded in complete understanding.

"Kid logic" at it's finest.


Eamon as Boba Fett

Christmas Eve is that special time of year for our family, when we not only celebrate the holidays, but the anniversary of bringing our kids home as well.

So here it is, our annual trip 2 video. I know long-time readers of this blog are probably sick of seeing it, but I can never get enough.



I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and wish you nothing but the best in the coming year!

For all the conflicting emotions I’ve been having about school lately, this week my colleagues did something so touching, that I think my heart actually may have grown two sizes bigger.

Remember my student, “Peter?” Well, he’s still a challenge for me every day. But I really like the kid. He’s completely honest and while his ADHD is one of the most severe cases I’ve ever seen, he genuinely wants to do well. He just doesn’t always have control of himself. Adding to this is the fact that he and his mother are homeless. They fled an abusive father in another state and have been staying at various homeless shelters in our area since September. One shelter was clear across town, and Peter walked 2 hours, in the chilly morning air, to get to school. His determination to attend class amazed me. But I also felt bad that he had to walk so far, and for so long. I mentioned to him that there might be another school closer to the shelter that he could go to, so that way he wouldn’t have to walk so far. Peter looked up at me with a slightly panicked expression and said, “But I don’t want to go to another school. I want to stay here.”

It was then that I realized that our school, and my class, is probably the only consistency he has in his life. And I could see how important that was to him. I quickly assured Peter that I didn’t want him to go to another school either, but that I didn’t like the idea of him having to walk so far. Soon afterwards, he and his mother began renting a room in the apartment where another student lives.

Despite his big heart and good intentions, Peter constantly gets into trouble, and as a result, spends a lot of time in the office. The school secretary (L) and clerk (M) have gotten to know him quite well, and L even served him dinner once while volunteering at a local homeless shelter. The three of us often talk about Peter and his situation, and while he drives us nuts sometimes, it’s clear that we all feel a certain fondness for him as well.

On Thursday, when I was in the office doing some work, M came up to me and said that there was a green duffle bag for Peter by her desk. I went to get it, thinking it was his things from the shelter, but instead found that it was an enormous duffle bag filled with clothing and a new backpack. L and M had collected various items for Peter to give him for the holidays. They also had a bag containing a shiny wrapped gift for Peter (it was a basketball) and another Christmas gift for his mother (a warm sweatshirt). I was completely stunned by their generosity. The fact that they took the time to get these things and help make the holidays brighter for him and his mother left me speechless (no easy feat), and I stood in the office sputtering for a moment, trying to find words to express my gratitude. M just smiled and shook her head, so I loaded myself up with the packages and went back to class to deliver them to Peter.

When I handed the duffle bag to Peter, he was confused. “What’s this?” he asked. “I’m not sure.” I replied. “It looks like Santa may have come a bit early this year.” Understanding slowly dawned on his face, and Peter broke into a big smile. On Friday, he came to school proudly spinning the new basketball on his finger (and laughed at me when I protested that he wasn’t supposed to open the gift until Christmas).

Even though they don’t know of this blog’s existence, I’d like to publicly applaud L and M. They not only made a difference in this boy’s life, but they reminded me of how lucky I am to work with such wonderful people. It was an amazing Christmas moment – one I won’t ever forget.

It's finally here - Winter Break. After all the bad news we received last week, I find I need this break now more than ever. I'm looking forward to two weeks of hanging with the family, working on projects, and enjoying the holidays.

Our halls are officially decked. Here's the artificial tree that I swore I'd never purchase and now am completely in love with. It's nearly 10 feet tall, and the lights twinkle. When I saw that it was selling for $200 more than we paid for it last year, my love for the tree grew. Who knew we were getting such a bargain? Plus, now I don't have to deal with all the pine needles my cats hack up after chewing on a real tree.

Our stockings have been hung by the chimney with care.

I bought these from Pottery Barn Kids during the month between our first trip to Russia and bringing the kids home. And I've received e-mails from Pottery Barn Kids nearly every week since. During this past month, I've received them DAILY. It's getting a bit irritating, but honestly, seeing this stocking after meeting with this little girl, how could I refuse? Pretty much it was Vika's pom-poms that sealed the deal. I'm such a sucker.
















And last, but not least, a few knitting projects I've recently completed. First, a button-tab Banana Republic knock-off hat that I made for my BFF, Mel. The second is an ear-flap hat I made for Eames. It's my first ear-flap hat, but I think it came out pretty well.












Next on my list is a "Brain Monster" hat for my soon-to-be-born nephew, Tyson. It's a hat that looks like a monster is eating the child's head. Appropriate? Probably not. But I find it amusing anyways.

Here's the picture of Santa tickling me and Jeff. I believe this was taken right before I jumped up because the next picture is quite blurry. I didn't post it before because I look AWFUL in it. Yes, it's purely vanity on my part. But check out Santa in this "detail" of the photo below. Does he seem to be enjoying this a bit too much? Yep, that gleam in his eye and wrinkle on his nose tells it all.

This year, for the first time ever, we took the kids to visit Santa. I actually was going to take them last year, but when we got to the mall, the Santa there looked kind of shady. I’m not sure what it was, but he just creeped me out. So, the kids didn’t sit on his lap.

This year, however, I realized that it may be the last time our kids want to sit on Santa’s lap, so Jeff and I made a point of going to the mall to visit the jolly old elf. Well, wouldn’t you know, it was the same guy from last year. He looked a little less shifty this year though, and their photo printer was down, so the poor guy was sitting there, all alone, waiting for people to visit him. Since we had our own camera, we walked right up to his Christmas Throne and Eamon climbed on to Santa’s lap. Vika also took a turn, listing all the things she wanted him to bring her for Christmas (most of it “American Girl” related. *sigh*). As the kids spoke with Santa, he kept looking over at me with a little gleam in his eyes. I didn’t understand why until a few minutes later.

When the kids were done, Santa looked at me with this sly grin and said, “Kids, you want Mommy to sit on Santa’s lap?” “Oh God” I thought, “NO!” But by then the Vika and Eamon were excitedly shouting “Yes! Yes! Papa too!” and Santa has his arms wide open, waiting for me to join him on his throne. I nervously walked forward, and gingerly sat on his leg, almost standing really, waiting for Jeff to come over so we could get this thing done. Santa boomed, “NOPE! Put both legs in the middle, Mom and sit DOWN on my lap!” I looked to Jeff for some help, but he was giving Vika a quick tutorial on the camera and completely oblivious to my distress. Seeing no way out, I turned slightly and sat down fully on the man's red-clad leg. When Jeff joined me on Santa’s other leg, I felt St. Nick’s arm slip around my side and rest gently on my ribs.

Then, Santa copped a feel. When Vika held up the camera to take our picture, Santa began tickling my ribs. I jumped up in startled laughter, but he pulled me back down with a self-satisfied leer. Only he didn’t stop there. He kept at it, saying, “Oh! I found Mommy’s tickle spot!” My discomfort with the situation grew.

Finally, after about four pictures, I twisted away from Santa’s grasping paws and tried to gather up my things in as dignified a manner as possible.

As we walked away, a boisterous “Ho! Ho! Ho!” trailing behind us, I asked Jeff, “Did Santa tickle you?”

“Yep!” He replied, as if there was nothing at all strange about a grown man tickling other adults while they are sitting on his lap. Jeff went on to explain, “He just did it for the pictures.”

Well, you know what? I’m 35 years old. I’ve had plenty of years practice smiling for the camera, and can do it pretty well without being prodded along by a complete stranger, thankyouverymuch.

My weirdness aside, Vika and Eamon had a great time and talked all the way home about how that must have been the real Santa, and not one of his Holiday Helpers. It was fun to see how excited they were to finally meet St. Nick in person. Although Eamon was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a slide (like in "A Christmas Story").

Now that I think about it, a tickling Santa isn't quite as bad at the "Christmas Story" one. At least none of us got a boot to the face.

Why, you ask? Well, because I’m cooking a turkey. My first turkey ever, in fact! You see, I don’t cook. Ever. That’s strictly Jeff’s department. But today, he’s got an open house, and since we wanted our own turkey so that we could have Thanksgiving leftovers, it’s up to me to cook the dang thing. So here I am, in the kitchen, experiencing that time-honored American tradition of “roasting the bird.”

I’ve got oven mitts on, my basting thingy at the ready, and veggies prepared to chop for the stuffing. All that’s missing is a Donna Reed apron.

Step one – Let Jeff take out the gizzards, neck and other miscellaneous organs from the turkey because… yuck. I don’t do innards.

Step two – Jeff puts the turkey on a roasting rack over some chopped up vegetables and slathers it with butter.

(“Hey! Why’s Jeff doing all the work?” you say. “I thought YOU were supposed to be cooking this turkey!” Well, just wait for it…. Enter Jenni, stage left).

Step three – I begin preparing stuffing to fill up the bird’s cavities (ick). The tricky part is chopping the onions. My eyes are extremely sensitive to the fumes and from past experience I know that within minutes I will be a tearing, red-eyed mess. As a preventative measure, I get Jeff’s safety goggles from his toolbox and put them on. Ah, that should do it.

Step four - Vika and Eamon come downstairs and see me cooking stuffing with safety goggles on. Much laughing ensues, and when they finally catch their breath, Eamon gasps out, “Mama! Why are you wearing Papa’s work glasses??!!!” I shoo them out of the kitchen and get back to stirring the stuffing.

Step five – Stuffing is ready, so I take out the turkey and begin filling the cavities (eww). It becomes immediately apparent that I have made WAY too much stuffing! Crap. What the heck am I going to do with the rest of this stuff? I set it back on the burner for now and get back to work on the bird.

Step six – Dressing and trussing the turkey. I dip some cheesecloth in a white wine and butter mixture and gently place it across the top and on the legs (a la Martha Stewart). Then I attempt to skewer the back cavity closed for roasting. Hmmm… this turkey skin is tougher than I thought…. Damn. That’s one skewer broken! OK… let’s try again. This time, I get the skewer through, but not before breaking the tip off and nearly impaling my hand in the process. Next, I fold the neck skin under the bird and decide not to skewer that part (even though Jeff left instructions to do so. The bird is too heavy and I’m not sure I could manage skewering again without causing injury to myself). Finally, I grab the turkey’s legs, lift them up high, and tie them securely together with some twine. After feeling a moment of sadness for the indignities this turkey has suffered, I place it in the oven and begin the roasting process.

Step seven – (30 minutes later) I open the oven to baste the turkey with the white wine and butter mixture. Steam and heat shoot out of the oven, temporarily blinding me! I whip my head away, nearly falling to the floor and take some time to recover my vision. Once I can see again, I return to the oven (which is no longer blasting out heat) and proceed to baste the turkey. For some reason, I can't lift up the handles on the roasting pan. I approach them from several angles, but can only manage to lift up one (damn oven mitts!). Finally, I grab the pan by the edge, hoping that I don't drop the turkey, lift and place it on the open over door (is this thing sturdy enough to hold a 21 lb bird?), and quickly baste the turkey. Repeat process (with significantly less drama during the opening of the oven part) every half hour for two hours.

Step eight - *sniff, sniff * What’s that smell…? Ack! The leftover stuffing is burning! I quickly rush to the stove to stir the stuffing, trying to mix in the burnt parts and hoping no one will notice. After throwing away a few charred onions, I pack the stuffing into a leftover container and place it safely in the refrigerator.

Feeling like I’ve got things a bit under control, I decide now would be a good time for a snack with the kids. I pop some California Dark bread into the toaster and get out the pumpkin spice cream cheese we bought. That should be festive and tasty. I call the kids down and grab a couple of bananas. I hear four feet come tromping up behind me and come to an abrupt halt. “BLUE KITCHEN!” Vika yells, “BLUE KITCHEN!!!” Crap. The toast is burning! The kids have been through this drill before and know what to do next. Vika runs to the couch, grabs a pillow and begins waving it frantically back and forth under the smoke detector. Eamon hops onto a stool and tries to climb on the counter to open the kitchen window. I take over that job for him because, really, that’s all I need right now – a trip to the ER because Eamon’s fallen to the floor and cracked his head.

Finally, the smoke clears and the kids sit down for their snack. The pumpkin spice cream cheese is a hit, and they both dance around the dining room saying that I’m a “better cook than Papa.” I smile indulgently and pat them on the head with a stern warning to never say that in front of Papa.

Step nine - (2.5 hours later) Time to take off the cheesecloth and begin basting the turkey in its own juices. This time, by some miracle, I'm able to grasp both handles of the roasting pan, and I smoothly lift the pan from the rack. I think I'm getting the hang of this! Gingerly, I remove the now charred cheesecloth, and damn me if that's not a nice looking turkey! After squeezing up the juices from the bottom of the pan and drenching the bird, I push it back in the oven and let it roast for the final, browning phase.

4:44 pm - Jeff's finally home!!! I happily relinquish the basting thingy and oven mitts to him. Now, all is right with the world.


6:20 pm - The eagle has landed! Or rather, the turkey is done! It looks a bit darker in this photo than it is in real life, so hopefully it will taste OK. Notice my skewer job between the legs. Turns out, it didn't hold so well. Maybe next time I'll staple the cavity shut. :)

Bon Appetite!

This year's Halloween was a huge success. The kids enjoy it more every year. My mom's neighborhood really goes crazy for Halloween, so we take the Vika and Eamon over there for trick-or-treating. It was fun to see them running from house to house, laughing in joy over the holiday. Here are some other highlights from the evening.

• Every time Mom's doorbell rang, Vika and Eamon ran to the candy basket yelling "Customers!" They were very good about passing out candy equally.
• While trick-or-treating, we came upon a house blaring Halloween music. As the kids were getting candy, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" came on. Eamon got this huge grin on his face, began shaking his butt, and then danced all the way down the sidewalk - much to the amusement of everyone around. I believe one of the men at the house even said, "That kid's awesome!" Vika just rolled her eyes and hurried on to the next house.
• My stepfather, Ed, likes to scare the neighborhood teenagers by dressing all in black, with his face covered in black nylons, and sitting still as a statue on the front porch. It's fun to watch the teenagers walk around the corner and then stop in their tracks, unsure of whether or not Ed is real. This year, Jeff joined Ed on the porch, and they got this one kid good! He was about 14, wearing a long black cloak, an orange glow-necklace, and was acting all cool in front of his friends. Then he rounded the corner and saw Ed sitting on the bench next to the front door. He stopped dead in his tracks and wouldn't move any further. His friends were egging him on, but he wasn't budging. Little did the kid know that another shadow (Jeff) was slowly rising up behind him. Jeff tapped the kid on the shoulder with a stick and yelled, "AHHH!" The boy shrieked like a little girl and ran screaming through the front lawn and down the street with arms flailing at his sides. It was hilarious! He never did come back to get his candy....

The only sad note this Halloween: there is an appalling lack of Snickers, Twix and Kit Kats in my kids' trick-or-treat bags. What am I going to eat after they go to bed? I certainly am not going to steal any of their Big Hunks or Laffy Taffy. *sigh* I guess I'll have to buy my own candy this year.

I hope you all had a great Halloween!

Here's the annual Family Jack-O-Lanterns shot. Can you tell which one is Eamon's? He carved a very small portion of the pumpkin, and then I wound up carving the rest. It was a pain in my butt, getting out all those small pieces, but Eames is happy with the result. Oh, and in case you can't tell, it's Darth Vader. Vika carved her pumpkin (the cat by the tree) all by herself! The rest of the night she kept saying things like, "That looks like a professional pumpkin!" and "Never has a kid done one that good!" As the evening progressed, it became harder and harder for me not to roll my eyes when she complimented herself.

Tonight we'll go trick-or-treating in mom's neighborhood, with Vika dressed as a fairy and Eamon dressed as a Clone Trooper. The kids wanted Jeff and I to dress up this year too, so we're going to humor them. After sorting through entirely too many trampy costumes at the Halloween store, I finally decided to be a Hogwart's student. Honestly, it was the only costume I could find for an adult female that wasn't slutty! Well, the nun costume was pretty modest, but I decided to skip on that one. Jeff's going as Zorro (who I had a mad crush on as a child - only the Zorrro I liked was the George Hamilton version, from "Zorro, the Gay Blade." Obviously, the whole "gay" part went over my head....). Fingers crossed, the kids will bring in plenty of Twix bars and Snickers which I can sample after they go to bed. ;)

I hope you all have a happy Halloween!

Some of you may have noticed a new addition to my sidebar. Down the page a bit, under the blogroll sections, is a sample of some of the items on sale at the Simple Wishes store on etsy. Rachel who adopted her daughter Katya from Russia, started this project to help children in Russian orphanages have a brighter holiday season. All of the products are handmade, and many of them have a Russian flair, such as the aprons made from Russia fabrics and the mugs with the word "chai" (Russian for "tea") written on them in Cyrillic. 100% of the proceeds from the sales of these items go directly to the Simple Wishes Russian orphanage donation, to grant a child's simple wish this Christmas.

I encourage you to check out the store and browse through the items. If the "shelves" look a little bare, never fear! More items will be posted soon. It's all for a good cause, so you can shop guilt-free. :)

I hope you all had a fun 4th of July! Here are some images from our day.

This week of Spring Break just flew by! It's been a good one, although not as productive as I would have liked. I'm much more content to sit and read a book than do any actual work, which means that I still have a stack of papers to grade and lesson plans to write. Oh well, I've still got 2.5 days before I have to go back to school.

Easter was a fun time. My uncle from Chicago is visiting with his family, so Vika and Eamon got to spend sometime with their cousins. Here's the three little ones (Vika, Eamon and Macaroon) after a successful Easter Egg Hunt.

We were able to spend some time with Uncle T and the family on Monday as well. We all went to a local Bocce Ball place, played a game (which the guys won) and had lunch. Jeff takes his Bocce very seriously.
On Tuesday, Jeff and I took the kids to Thyme for Tea, where we had a Victorian tea and wore silly hats. Vika espeically enjoyed it and spent the whole time sipping tea with her pinky up.


The rest of the week has been spent recovering from my chest cold and experimenting with yarn. I tried kool-aid dying, which was a lot of fun. My first batch was supposed to be a self-striping dark-red and pink sock wool (I used Black Cherry and Blastin' Berry), but it wound up being more of a varigated red. It still looks cool though, and the smells as the yarn was brewing took me right back to my childhood. Last night I experimented with Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade and wound up with a lovely pale aqua yarn that I may use to knit Vika a shrug or something.

That's it for now. I've got several more interesting posts swirling around in my head, so maybe I'll get the motivation to write them down. Or maybe I'll just go back to my book...

And with Easter comes Easter candy. Those waxy, hollow, chocolate bunnies, overly sweet, chewy jelly beans, and the worst of them all, Peeps. Marshmallow chicks or bunnies, covered in brightly colored sugar.

I thought Peeps must be good for something, so Jeff, the kids and I decided to put them in our hot chocolate. We each plopped a pink Peep bunny into our mugs and waited for it to melt. We waited a long time. But, finally the Peeps melted, and the thick, marshmallow cream was actually quite good in the hot chocolate. Except for one thing: the eyes refused to melt. Those eyes! What are they made of, anyway? I always assumed they were chocolate, but no. They are more like a crunchy wax substance that has no business being on a food product. When I reached the end of my hot chocolate, there were those little eyes, staring up at me from the bottom of the mug. Most disturbing...

My stepfather, Ed, is one of the few people I know who actually likes Peeps. Unfortunately, due to his new diet, he's unable to eat them this Easter season. So, I got him a consolation gift.


Stuffed Peeps! Much less heinous than the original. In fact, on these little critters, the beady eyes almost look cute.

Happy Easter everyone. I hope you have a great holiday!