Her second Thanksgiving.... Twice

 Our Thanksgiving weekend started Wednesday with a trip south to stay with my Mummy.  We may have stopped and got burgers and shakes on the way down and we may have let Dravyn have some and still, she was completely void of energy on the ride down.  I suppose I should be happy about that, hyper toddler in the car is no fun.

My cousin Nicole left a party to come over and give baby girl some snuggles, and desert.

Thanksgiving morning I woke up, cooked some bacon mac and cheese, and we packed up and got in the car to head further south to my grandparents house for Thanksgiving.  We had lots of good food, Dravyn got an early Christmas gift, and played with my cousin Summers horse.  I missed all the really great shots of her laying on the horse to give it a hug, but it was OK, because I got to see them in person.  She really loves that horse.

 

I took some pictures of my cousin Summer for my aunt and uncle, and had a great time seeing my family.  It was nice to see everyone, and to have the chance to tease my brother.

 

 

Friday we had Thanksgiving number two back at the house with Kevin's parents.  The dishes were set up like something out of a magazine and I ate my weight in corn casserole.  I can not even tell you how excited I was for that meal.  Kevin and I brined the turkey (our first experience doing so), and it was really good.  He was my hero for pulling out it's innards, and my mother in law was my hero for cooking it, I do not look forward to the day when that is my responsibility.

Dravyn dug in, but mostly ate Hawaiian sweet rolls, she shares her mothers love of carbs, the poor girl.

 

We decorated the tree the next day, with what seems like 1 million ornaments when you are putting it up.

My favorite part of having a Christmas tree up is the beautiful patterns the lights make on the walls.

 

 

 This morning we finished the sugar cookies we started last night, and enjoyed the morning together.  It was a great start to the holiday season, and I can't wait  for the rest of it.  This year is going to finish with flair I think.

Halloween and playing with color.

Dravyn was a LEGO for Halloween.  Kevin and I made her costume and as the first costume I ever made I don't think it's half bad.

 

Bert the farting hippo planned his attack carefully.

 

I love playing with color in photos, and I especially love this next picture, she looks like she is taking in the world.

Hopefully I will get some good Thanksgiving photos, and have something more to say later.

 

Notice the beauty of fall this week, it will be easy to find something to be thankful for.

October in Pictures

 

 

Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold.
Andre Maurois

 

Family Campout 2012

This weekend was the Halloween campout, and it had an interesting start.  My husband and I got there before any of the rest of my family was there, which has never happened before.  When we got to the camp there was a man living in his car, that in itself, would have been sad, not creepy, but near where he was parked there were these...

Plus a stove built out of rocks, but that was pretty cool, much less creepy than this stuff.  Anyway we decided to wait until more people showed up so we went to feed the fish. And await my aunt to come and save us.  About 3 hours later my aunt, one of my cousins, and my grandparents showed up.  After my aunt told the man that a lot of people were going to show up, he moved down the road a little, and we began dismantling the creepy stone circle and sticks (that may have looked like they had horns, that picture doesn't do it justice), we set up camp, while carefully avoiding the pile of leaves that seemed to be the perfect size and shape to hide a body.  Can you tell we may have let our imaginations run a little wild?

My Aunt

My grandma and grandpa

My cousin Mattie

More people continued to show up that night, and we cooked hot dogs over the fire for our first meal, and hung out with everyone around the campfire.  The first night there was a small storm system that moved through, but really went around us.  We heard thunder and saw lightning, but no rain, which was great, and Dravyn did decent for her first night sleeping in a tent.

The second day was filled with more family, and fun times, we took my cousin Nicole to the docks with us, so she could watch Dravyn feed the fish again, we cooked good food, ate what seemed like constantly, my parents came to visit for a short amount of time, and Dravyn attached herself to Mattie all day. 

My cousin Nicole and Dravyn.

Me and baby girl.

Hanging out around camp and walking like a pro!

That night a storm system came through again, and although we didn't get the 70 mile an hour winds they were calling for when we left to start the adventure we did get pouring rain, strong winds, and of course thunder and lightning.

 

The tent on the left is ours, and the one on the right is my aunts.  During the storm, while it was pouring rain, we invited them over to our tent to watch Cars 2 on my Ipad with us.  I promise it was the only time I used it all weekend.  And about 10 minutes later Dravyn conked out and stayed asleep all night.  It was a fun time, even when the seems in our tent started leaking and it seemed to be raining in the tent.

Dravyn has grown so much since last years, and she had so much fun being outside and and being passed from person to person.

Dravyn at the campout last year.

The weekend was great, and I had so much fun, but like all things, it had to end sometime, so yesterday we packed up, and headed home, unloaded, set up the tent to dry, then packing it up afterword and settling into our home routines.

The only time that a warm, relaxing shower, and freshly laundered clothing comes with a twinge of sadness is after a campout, when along with the feel of soft clothes and clean hair, also comes the realization that you have lost the dirt smudges, and campfire scent that mark your fun times outdoors. But alas you have to come back to reality of day to day life sometime, and wait in anticipation for next years campout to begin.  And although I am now campfire scent free, I have plenty of pictures to remind me of the great time I had this weekend.

Dump Cake How To (An Overly Explanatory Explanation)

Warning this recipe is both delicious and horrible for you.  If you have ever even thought the word diet, stop now.

 

Step 1

Gather ingredients.  Note: Any kind of cake mix works, and pie filling works best, but I was going with what I had on hand.

 

Step 2. Preheat oven

 

Step 3.  Find a dish.

 

Step 4.  Open canned/bagged/boxed ingredients.

 

Step 5.  Pour chosen fruit into dish.

 

Step 6.  (optional) Sprinkle with cinnamon.

 

Step 7. Cover with cake mix straight out of the box.

 

Step 8. Cut up your stick of butter.

Step 9.  Place evenly over the top of the cake mix.

 

Step 10. Place in preheated oven.

 

Step 11. Wait until bubbly and golden brown.

 

 

Step 12.  Let cool just enough to not burn you.

 

Step 13. Enjoy.

 

 

This is so fun to experiment with, I really love cherry dump cake, but apple is good, peach of course, we even had blackberry once, and if you like chocolate cake, then you can use that cake mix instead.   Your imagination is your only limit.

 



 

What I thought...

So, before I had a child I thought certain things, like I would have my child fully dressed at all times but that's not how this girl rolls.

 

I thought I wouldn't let her play with rocks because then she would throw them at people/vehicles/valuables.  Guess what kids throw everything anyway, and a rock?  It's not that much worse than a hair brush, a play phone, or any other toy.  Besides, I want my kid to love rocks, and dirt, and leaves, and grass, and rain, and sunshine.  I want her to love nature more than computers and t.v.

 

 

So we take her to the lake, and let her play in the grass, dig up rocks, watch birds, and inspect leaves.  We let her be a little girl.

 



 

And the days when we stay in our p.j.'s all day, days she gets sand in her diaper and socks, and when she eats more crayon than gets on the paper.  I feel no shame in that, she is learning by all that playing.  I don't want her to be perfect, I want her to be her.  She is great at that, and I am so proud of her.