Giving and the ballet and haircuts

Thanksgiving weekend was packed so I’m only finally getting my pics uploaded.

P had a dentist appointment to kick off the week and hooray for healthy teeth!  I got some grief from the dentist for asking a bunch of questions about the flavored toothpaste they offered (birthday cake!?!) so they agreed to just use plain old paste.  I get that they want to make the visit painless fun for kids, but he doesn’t know any better so just give him the one that doesn’t have recaldent and save me a headache dealing with a dairy reaction thankyouverymuch.

Using up leftovers to clear room in the fridge for Thanksgiving fare means….eating heaps of squash…with more squash.  It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.  😉

On Tuesday night I made the cake and frosting for this vegan and gluten free pumpkin roll.  Prep work – check!

Since Kyle had Wednesday off we went to the zoo as a fam.  I take the kids about once a week thanks to our membership and they LOVE it, so it was fun having Kyle along this time.  I’m pretty sure the last time he came was on the day before Thanksgiving last year.  As a special treat we rode the train 🙂

After nap time we headed to my parents’ house.  V helped grandpa mix some drinks.

Hey bartender.

My dad got crab which both pleased and freaked out pacman.  He totally gets that he eats animals and I’m very frank with him about the whole food chain because I want him to make informed decisions about his eating habits, but he mostly stuck to salmon that night. And bread.

My mom got the WF brand vegan Caesar dressing and it was meh.  Too lemony in my opinion.  Follow Your Heart is my preferred brand but they didn’t have it for some reason.

The next morning we layered up for the Walnut Creek Turkey Trot.  I met my friend and her babes for the stroller 5K but it was crowded as all ^%$# and we could barely stay together.  We were hardly even running to be honest, it was such a herd.

We left P at home with grandma and grandpa and at some point during the race V decided it was too cold to bother staying awake and just fell asleep.  ZZZZZZ.  HAHAHA.  Such a cutie pie.  Kyle tried to pull her hat up so she could see dueing the run and she just pulled it back down.  Totally didn’t care about the happenings going on around her.

Zonked.

A starbucks and a shower later and we were feeling great.

Football time.

Bubbly time.

Thanksgiving fell on Laura’s birthday this year.  So we opened presents while the kiddos were napping and then got into the appetizers.

Marie made turkey bacon wrapped dates and a vegan spinach artichoke dip (with cashews, yummmm).

Helping hands.

PS I made that ladybug pot holder in 8th grade.

Here are some more dishes with links.

Bon Appetit’s rye, kale, mushroom and pumpkin seed stuffing. New favorite!

Mom’s traditional stuffing.

V getting it on.

I made the kale salad, which had a champagne vinaigrette, dried cranberries, and toasted slivered almonds.

Roasted root veggies are my faaaaaaavorite.

Mom, the best hostess ever.

Plus cranberry jellies and green beans, mashed potatoes and roasted cauliflower with lemon parsley dressing.

How fortunate we are!

Plate numero uno.

The little monkeys ate mashed potatoes like it was going out of style, which means I’m going to have to make them again at our house soon.

Chocolate pecan pie and my pumpkin roll for dessert.

The rolling part of this made me very nervous but it came out decently well.  It kinda folded more than rolled but who cares because it tasted great.

And I had leftovers for breakfast for a couple days the next week too 🙂

Speaking of the next morning…

Time to bust out the holiday decor!

Truth be told, our tree has been up since well before Thanksgiving, as well as most of our Christmas decorations, but it’s a tradition to go get my parents’ tree on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Such a great family shot!!! HA.

That’s better.

For breakfast I used leftover mashed potatoes and added eggs to make a potato pancake/latke/tortilla espanola kind of thing.  I made a few so I could have them the next day too.  Then I added avocado and boom, leftovers re-invented.  If I recall, I did the same thing last year as well!

Post tree shopping I fed the kids and got them down for naps and then went to town on the leftover kale salad.  Kale is not safe around me.  If there’s a kale leaf in the building, it will meet it fate very shortly after I arrive.  🙂

As a treat, we took P to the children’s production of the Nutcracker that afternoon.  V stayed home with my parents (and had a ball!) and P sat front row and got to soak up every second of the ballet that has been on his mind for the last week.

We barely made it through the rat fight, but thanks to some lap time cuddles (and LOTS of lead up conversations about it before we got there), we made it through to the dance of the sugar plum fairy and after that it was all good.  Awe and admiration…I don’t think he blinked once in that hour long show!

Also, we still have the program in the car, which he holds the entire car ride wherever we go.  To say he is obsessed with the nutcracker is an understatement.  He lives and breathes it.  Poor V has had to reenact it with him dozens of times and I may be through with Tchaikovsky myself until next December.

Last morning in town with my parents!  I had the same thing for breakfast and then we packed up because we had a 10 oclock hair appointment for this little lady!

The fact that she even needed an appointment is a joke in and of itself, but then she came with a whole entourage too!  HA!

Four hairs (and 3 minutes) later we were on the rad back to Davis.

And now it’s practically Christmas!