Thanksgiving!!

Today we slept in just a little, had breakfast, skyped with Gramma Sue, cleaned up and went next door to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with Al & Linda. We stayed for about an hour of the parade then came home for lunch and nap. During Rhea's nap I fixed up an apple crisp and green bean casserole to take to Kay's. Joe has to work overnight so we went early to visit then we had to eat and dash (so he could catch a few winks before his shift).

Rhea, Grammy and the turkey!

Rhea and Luke

Just holdin' my cousin. No big deal.

Skype-ing with Aunt Christie in CA.... chaotic but fun!

Alie, Mia and Rhea at the 'kid table'

0-6mo section of the dining room :-)

Brownie Baking Goodness!

I honestly feel like I've been on vacation for the last 4 days!! Gramma Sue came to visit Wed - Fri , Joe was off work Thrs & Fri, Uncle Matt was here Thrs night- Sat afternoon,  and then Saturday night Rhea and Mommy spent the evening baking with our friend Amanda! To have Rhea laugh and play comfortably with others really blesses me :-) and being surrounded by so much loving family is the best!!!

Wanted to share one of Joe's favorite desserts! This was his request for our baking night...

 

... this time around I used a 9x9 pan for the brownies and halved the topping recipe :-)

** Also note that because there is milk in the topping I store the leftovers (if there are any) in the refrigerator

[knowing it's important to site sources... this is my source: a recipe card from my mom written a few years back, and I have no idea where she found the recipe.]

How to dye pasta

I had made Rhea a rice 'sandbox' to play with and she loves it.... but it's quite messy. So in a flash of brilliance I thought I'd dye some pasta and use that instead for easier clean up. First I did some rigatoni to string on shoelaces/yarn, then I did some plain old macaroni for a new pasta box. There are a number of tutorials on the web, but I felt like making our own, enjoy!!

STEP 1: Gather supplies and helper!

You'll need: pasta (any shape/brand/quantity will do)

food coloring, rubbing alcohol, ziplock bags,

measuring cup, towel, wax paper (not shown)

STEP 2: measure out approximately 1/4 c. rubbing alcohol for every

1 cup of pasta to be dyed

(we did 4 different rounds for 4 different colors)

STEP 2B: have your assistant select the color to be used

STEP 3: Add 10 drops food coloring to the rubbing alcohol and swish to mix

STEP 4: add desired amount of pasta to the bag

STEP 5: seal bag and squish the pasta around until the colored alcohol

has contacted all the noodles

STEP 6: Lay bags out to 'cure'. I used a towel underneath to protect from any possible leaks.

STEP 6B: every 30 minutes or so, turn the bags over and swish the dye around in the bag,

the longer you leave the noodles in the dye the brighter the colors get

STEP 7: Lay pasta out on wax paper to dry overnight (or newspaper works too)

STEP 8: HAVE FUN!!!

Teaching moments: textures, colors, weights, measures, hand/eye coordination, counting

Play Supplies: tupperware (varying sizes), measuring spoon/cup, shovel, egg carton, spice jars, coffee cans, buckets, toilet paper tubes, you name it!! Endless possibilities!

*~* MOST IMPORTANT *~*

No crying over spilled pasta

(this tip is more for Mommy than kiddos)

Bump/Baby Update

Haven't taken very many bump pictures this time around, poor babe. This is us at 23 weeks. It was an early morning self-shot using the timer function on the camera... not exactly real flattering of anyone. But here it is anyways....

Also, as we continue to discuss baby names Rhea has decided we are naming her 'Baby Girl'. Any time we ask if she wants a sister she says no but if we ask if a baby girl can come to our house she says yes. So we asked: Do you like the name Baby ????? "no" how about Baby ???? "no, Baby Girl" :-)

We got a dog... sort of.

Joe spotted this game a couple years ago via the internet, it was only available in Germany. He wanted to order one but it would have been rather expensive to have shipped here. Apparently it's been brought to the US. He was SO excited when we found it at Target there was no way we were going home without it (I don't exactly share his enthusiasm, but I'm happy that he's happy). Here's a video of Daddy & Rhea playing with the new game.