Turkey Day 2009

Turkey Day 2009...this will be a long post! We kicked off the festivities on Wednesday. Wednesday was official "pie making" day, which my husband was 100% in charge of because he makes great pie! We had a special request for his specialty...Kentucky Derby Pie. We also decided to make Peanut Butter Pie. Doesn't he look cute in his apron? I could just pinch his cheeks! Ladies, you should get your man an apron! Below is a picture of Avery pretending to lick the PB Pie. To all the relatives that ate a piece of that pie...I promise she didn't actually lick it (at least I don't think so)!

Look at these beauties! If you haven't had Derby pie made by my husband, than you haven't lived! I stayed far away from the kitchen when Matthew and Avery were making pies. I heard a lot of screaming, arguing, and general craziness (this is typical behavior during father/daughter activities). I didn't intervene until I heard Avery say, "Dad, can I lick the bowl?" I paused to wait for Matthew to tell her no, but he didn't. Normally we would tell her to lick away, but our derby pie has bourbon in it!! I yelled, "Don't let her lick the bowl...there's bourbon in there!" My husband said, "Oh yeah." Although later, my sister-in-law said that a little bourbon may actually help Avery to take a nap (she hasn't napped in two years).

Disclaimer- Neither us or my sister-in-law would really give our children alcohol. That's a joke, people!

Now on to actual Turkey Day. Matthew and I set our alarms to get up at 6 am to get the bird ready. We ended up getting out of bed at 6:45, which is totally what I expected. We have to allow 45 minutes of snooze time! Of course there was an injury immediately. Matthew sliced his finger badly with a knife. After he said that he would just squirt some Windex on it....I'm not kidding....he decided to bandage it with a paper towel and a pipe cleaner from our craft cabinet. I really don't know what to do with him. He left this "bandage" on for most of the morning. I hope he was kidding about Windex, but I wouldn't put it past him.

This is me *drumroll* making homeade noodles!!! This past summer my grandma taught me how to make her homeade noodles. I am sworn to secrecy on how to do it. It is one of those things that impress people. There is an air of mystery when someone says they know how to make noodles. I like having an air of mystery about me. Below you can see me rolling out the noodles and what the noodles looked like after I cut them. Some people use noodle makers or machines. I would never ever do that. I am the type of cook that loves doing things the long way. Hand cut noodles feel more special and unique. My noodles were a huge hit on Turkey Day and will probably become a new staple at our holiday gatherings! Thanks, Grandma! (I promise I won't give away the age old secret of noodle making)

My sister-in-law brought it to my attention that I only photograph her while she is eating desserts. Case in point....to the left is her eating right out of the pie pan BEFORE our Thanksgiving meal. To the right is her eating a ginormous tiramisu at Mama Carolla's a few months ago. I can't help snapping photos of her eating desserts. She is so darn cute while doing it! Why is it that pictures of skinny people eating enormous desserts are "cute"? If I posted a pic of myself eating out of the pie pan, you all would be like, "Dang girl, put that pie pan down!"

Oh well. She is super cute while eating desserts...she can't help it! Look at her happy dessert face! Notice how she gets the same face when eating fabulous desserts? That's joy!

Here is a picture of my husband cutting potatoes. I like to keep him super busy in the kitchen...have you noticed? I just like this picture because of his crazy paper towel-pipe cleaner bandaged finger! We ended up with a mountain of potatoes that could have fed twenty. There were four adults at my meal and three children. Needless to say, we had lots of leftover mashed potatoes! (The best part of this picture is that he had changed the pipe cleaner on his bandage. Notice the different colored pipe cleaner).

I like to make my mother-in-law work for her supper. This is her slaving away at finishing the Christmas dresses for the girls that I made her sew for me. I love her so much!

Disclaimer- I really don't make people work for food. More jokes, people!

Why do all men get this look on their face when carving a turkey? My husband said he felt like he was working on a dinosaur. What?! He is really weird.

Now for the real turkeys of the day....Avery and my niece, Sarah. They decorated this small tree with the craziest stuff....Hawaiian leis, tiaras, shoes, a wand, Belle's glove, etc. It was a hot mess....so "Avery and Sarah."

To sum it up, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I wasn't sure how it would be without Matthew's father around for the first time, but it was wonderful. We actually had a great time together. I think Grandpa Terry must have been sitting up in heaven eating his sweet potato and laughing right along with all of us!