Practice makes perfect...

love, kerry

Thanksgiving

Audrey refused to accept that today was Thanksgiving.

"Hey Audrey, say Ha-ppy Thanks-giving..."

"Happy Halloween, Mama!!"

Close.

"Audrey, like thank-you. Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving!!"

"Happy Halloween, Mama!"

......


Regardless, today was Thanksgiving and despite the fact that John had to work from 8am-8pm, I was determined to kick-off our holiday #girlsweekend right...

Audrey happily woke me up at 5:30am, and we snuggled in our PJs all morning on the couch, casually ate some fruit for breakfast, and danced to the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

Rockette in training.

Around 10am we decided to head to the grocery store before it closed, and pick up some Thanksgiving feast necessities....

Mainly, turkey sandwich fixin's and ingredients to bake an apple pie (my first-ever).

We made a quick stop to UCI Medical Center. There's a hottie radiologist who was happily waiting in the parking lot for a couple cute chicks in a CR-V to pass by with food. We don't disappoint.

The poor guy looked hungry, and busy... Our exchange was about 60 seconds.

Onward.

From there, I thought- what the hell. We have no "real" plans. Why not head down to San Diego and spend a few hours with some family on Thanksgiving...

Not such a brilliant idea. Fortunately, Adurey was asleep the entire time, but we sat in traffic from Orange to San Jaun Capistrano for over an hour before deciding to hit the PCH and go home instead. It was a good effort, but what was I thinking??

By the time we got home, Audrey was awake from her nap (at least she got some rest).

We immediately did a quick change, loaded up a cooler and hit the beach for a picnic! It was PERFECT!!!! Exactly what we both needed- some laid back, no-stress, simple fun for our holiday.

#lovegirlsweekend

Of course we missed John SOOOO much, but we made the most of it.

This was our Thanksgiving spread.

Audrey seemed ok with just a simple Turkey sandwich for dinner.

 

We played in the sand.

Went on a seashell hunt...

And, of course talked on our shellphones.

I'm so thankful to have such a happy, funny, beautiful, smart, perfect little girl...

#girlsweekend

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When we got home, I attempted the impossible {for me}... baking. 

Mom gave me her apple pie recipe, and detailed instructions...

#thankful

Here's what I needed:

And, since she was so generous to share her recipe with me, I decided to pass it on to you.

My Mom's Perfect Apple Pie

INGREDIENTS

• 6-8 Granny Smith Apples- peeled, cored and thinly sliced. Make sure the apple slices are all the same size.
• 3/4 to 1 Cup of Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Flour
• 1 Heaping Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• A Few Dashes Ground Nutmeg
• Pillsbury Pastry Crust Pie 
• 2 Tablespoons Butter

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400.

If apples lack tartness, sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.

Combine sugar, flour, spices and a dash of salt in a bowl, mix well. Add apples, coat well with the sugar mixture.

Before lining the pie plate, use butter on the plate and then a small amount of flour to prevent crust from sticking (even on the sides).

Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry. Fill with apple mixture and dot with butter.

Adjust top crust, cutting slits for escape of steam, seal. Sprinkle the top with sugar.

Bake at 400 for 40 minutes (with foil covering the crust only). Remove foil, and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the pie is finished.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

John literally couldn't believe that I made it. Seriously, he swore that I bought it...It. was. GOOD.
Thanks Mom! 
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Overall, our Thanksgiving was great. We missed John... A lot.

But, you know what we didn't miss?

Football.

#brightside

#girlsweekend

love, kerry

My Dearest John,

I'm really upset that your working on Thanksgiving. 
Oh, and on Friday...
Yeah, and Saturday too.

What the cuss? {PS- no more naughty words around the you-know-who... She's copying everything now. Calling us by our first names, instead of Mama and Dada. Everything. And, for the sake of keeping this blog, aka family history record, accurate and packed with need-to-know-precious-baby milestones... S#!% was her first bad word.} 

Anyway, Audrey and I miss you already. I know it's going to be worse for you than for us... But seriously, this cusssing, cuss, cuss.
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So, I'm completely preoccupied trying to think of ways to spin these unfortunate circumstances into a positive, unforgettable girly-girl staycation instead! Woot woot!

I might have a few ideas up my sleeve... Maybe none that involve lovely mommy-daughter cooking time, but fabulous ideas nonetheless.

One of which might just include two tickets {and hopefully probably coordinating outfits} for your two favorite girls...

I'll give you a hint, but try not to get too jealous. Your time will come... In like 3 years when you're finished with this cussing residency.
Seriously.
Cuss.



We'll MEEEEEssssss youuuuuu.

love, kerry

'Twas the Saturday Before Thanksgiving...

My day should include:

Grocery store list-building,

current pantry inspections,

ingredient sampling,

recipe printing, 

table decor crafting,

and lots of holiday joy and spirit...

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Some spirits sound nice.

John, would you hate me if we did Turkey Sandwiches and S'mores at the beach instead?

love, kerry

3 Kids Take Disneyland

Ian.

Last Saturday morning, Ian woke up pumped. He KNEW what was coming, he remembered everything about Disneyland 2011, and was ready to take. it. on.

BUT... Aunt Kerry and Uncle John, self-proclaimed Disneyland-expert-tour-guides, weren't about to give him the same exact experience again this year. No way! (As Audrey would say).

The Jedi Training Academy is a must for brave little Star Wars fans.

It gets me every time. The kids start with a group training session led by a real {comedian} Jedi master.

Then....

The Dark Side enters, stage left. 

And, the kids are faced with a difficult choice- to turn to the dark side, or fight it.  

Ian vs. Darth Vader.

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Ian's A+ Jedi Training Certificate.

We were so proud.

Since we also hit California Adventure Park this year, Ian experienced some other real big-kid rides too... 

I was nervous, however Ian L-O-V-E-D every minute. 

And, so did the other boys... especially John.

The fastest ride at the park. 

Cole.

Unlike last year, Cole was big enough for just about every single ride at the park. So, LOTS of new experiences for him made a BIG SPLASH!

Ok, clearly you can see who had the most fun here...

Cole was simply his calm, cool-self all day (with a minor cold slowing him down occasionally).  

He's a tough little cutie, and clearly not afraid of heights. 

Audrey.

As you know, Audrey's spoiled with Disneyland all of the time. But, it's extra special to share the fun with her cousins. Since Cole and Audrey are the same size- she was "lucky" enough to try some new scary rides with the boys. Star Tours was the first new one, and she did ok. She didn't throw up, and I almost did. So, she's already tougher than me. 

But, after that ride I decided not to torture her with anything else too dark and fast. Yes, she's big enough for everything, but she's really not old enough. SO... no problems from me. The two of us would hit the princess-filled-fantasyland-happy-place, just us girls and relax. 

Here we are getting excited about Christmas.

And, she really enjoyed showing the boys her very favorite ride...

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It was such a great day! 

Can't wait until next time!

love, kerry

Thankful.

Tonight, Audrey was all about the...

"I want Mama."

"Were's Mama?"

"Hi Mama."

"I want sit with Mama." 

Of course, I was totally loving it. 

Let's be honest, 99% of the time- she wants Dada. A for-reals daddy's girl.

You can't blame me for getting so excited here. 

ANYway.

It was so fun to have her hanging all over me, only wanting to sit with, play with, read with, 

be with MAMA. 

Given her usual Dada obsession, I coudln't help wonder... Why? 

What did I do today to make her so happy with, attached to and in this lovey-mommy mood? 

I must note and repeat every single day for the rest of my life.

And then, it hit me. 

Today was her Thanksgiving program at school. 

Of course!

Not many parents were able to attend the afternoon feast-and-fun. Only three in fact. 

BUT...

Mama.

Was. 

There.

And, I always will be. 

love, kerry

*Disclaimer: no slam against Dada here, of course. I let Audrey know he had to be at work, was very busy, and missing her today.

Guest Blogger

I don't know if you know this, but I recently learned how to talk (and read and write and type), so mommy asked if I would blog for her since she is really busy with work. Since I am the size of a full grown midget, I figured I could just act like a grown up. Let's see, what can I share... I know!!! I had such a fun week, let me tell you about it.

First, I went on an airplane. Just me and daddy. We woke up really early, and daddy ran around the house making a mess and throwing stuff, I think he was confused because he didn't know what to pack for me. It was so funny, he did not know where any of my new clothes were and the stuff he packed was way too small, like stuff I wore when I was like, 1. He didn't pack any diapers, and he almost forgot to pack a warm coat!! He is so silly! Then he drove super fast to the airport and said bad words in the car because he thought we would miss the airplane! Me and Mickey and my Princesses and Bunny just laughed, drank milk, and played all the way to the LA airport. Ha, we even almost ran out of gas!!! Near the airport daddy stopped to get some gas, I think we were in a nice little town called Inglewood. We finally made it to the airport. Here's me on the airplane. Yeah, they had pretzels. I ate them all.

Guess where we were going? Reno!!! To see EECole, Poppas and Grammas. It was fun, Gramma Kellie picked us up and we ate breakfast and then she dropped us off at other Grammas house. It was really super cold in Reno that day and there was white cold stuff on the ground in the backyard, daddy called it "snow" I think. Anyways, I ate some. It was good.

Huh? What did we do then? Oh ya, daddy and me picked up EECole. We picked up Cole first, then went to Ian's school. Guess what, Gramma was at Ian's school too, I think she works there.

That night, we bought pumpkins at the store and carved them. But before we did that, daddy and gramma and momma helped Ian do all of his homework. All of it. Perfectly. I heard Ian did really well on his spelling test the next day too and had sooooo much fun at recess. Anyways, enough about homework, I mean who gets all worked up about homework. Geesh. Here are some pictures from the pumpkin carving fun we had.

 I promise, I really had fun.

 I tried on momma's shoes.

And daddy's.

The next day, we dropped mommy off at her work and daddy took me to the museum. I thought it was going to be the boring kind of museum, but it wasn't.

We rode in a little airplane; it was a pretend airplane.

 I climbed up the climby thing.

 I went fishing.

 And camping.

I drew a picture of my favorite dog Coco.

And I painted a masterpiece with water.

 I caught daddy taking too many pictures. And I was not happy about that.

That night, mommy and daddy let me stay at Gramma and Poppas house in Sparks. It was the start of a super duper fun weekend filled with lots of fun stuff with Gramma and Poppa. Mommy and daddy went to some placed called Nappy Valley to drink expensive grape juice and take naps, I guess. Here are some pictures from their trip. They must have had fun because every time they called me on phone they were talking really loud, sounded really silly and were laughing a lot!!

 Drink up mommy. You must really like grape juice.

 Gramma and Poppa went too.

 Mommy said she ate SNAILS!! Ewwwwwwww

So anyways, back to my weekend. I had sooooooo much fun. I went to a super old city in Nevada called Virginia City. I went on a fun Choo Choo ride and Gramma got me some little old fashioned Dollies too!

We got all gussied up and took an old time photo. Look, Poppa has a rifle and me and Gramma have big hats!!!! I really wanted to keep that pretty dress!!

Poppa told me stories.

 I played piano with my elbows.

 I took a bath.

 I played Peek a Boo.

 Look, I even brushed my teeth.

 I ate lots of yummy food and I played with all the new toys Gramma bought. I also got new clothes that fit. See, I am wearing my Dora slippers and Cinderella dress.

 I went to a Pumpkin patch.

  And did lots and lots of bouncing in a couple of bounce houses, my favorite!!

 I golfed.

And rode some scary ride with Gramma.

I had soooo much fun with Gramma and Poppa, I can't wait to see them again. Thank you!!!!

But alas, we had to leave Reno. I got to hang out with Ian and Cole one last time.

 Then we had to say goodbye.

When we got home, it was time for Halloween.

I was Tinkerbell. Ta Da!!!!

We went Trick or Treating downtown.

They closed main street and people in the shops and eating dinner on the street stopped and gave me lots of candy. Yummy!!!!

We went with Kai and Kori and Jeremy. Kai was a Chicken. We watched the pony rides.

Well. Blogging is making me sleepy. That was my week. How was yours?

love, audrey