Never do we have the same year twice when it comes to holidays, even when we try to pick the same menu… This year proved no different. We weren’t able to go to Oklahoma to be with my aunt and uncle this year so we stayed home and planned Thanksgiving here.
Hubby wanted to go in to his dad’s house as well, so we planned our meal that evening and went in to his dad’s house for lunch.
When we got to his dads house, baby girl was asleep but she immediately woke up. Memaw swooped her up and took her around the house to talk to everyone. Liss lost count but said upward of 50 people were there. My FIL said he thought closer to 60. That means there were 60 people in his house… oy! 🙂
We definitely had to come in our Thanksgiving Best. We may not have totally cooperated for pictures of our best, but we definitely brought our A-game in the dress department. But just let it be known, we still don’t like shoes.
One thing you may or may not know is hubby and I have our own KitchenAid mixers. Mine is an Artisan and it’s Yellow (the head tilts). His is the Pro series and it’s gunmetal gray (the bowl moves). Yup, long story how we wound up with 2 but whatever… mine has been placed in storage for the time being so we were using his to make bread for Thanksgiving. I mean really… his is better for making bread anyway.
So hubby started adding the ingredients for his rolls to the mixer.
One trick my grandma always said was once you start kneading bread, let the mixer run for 10 minutes so hubby went on with some other things he was doing and asked me to keep an eye on his mixer so it didn’t walk off the counter. If you don’t know mixers, if they’re going, they do shimmy and shake.
Eventually he walked back over to the mixer and was doing something with it and about that time baby girl started screaming at me so I walked away from my perch on the bar stool and went over to where she was sitting at the table to check on her. (she got this fun new jiggler thing to sit in).
About the time I turned my back on the mixer, hubby walked away and guess what happened… the mixer walked itself off the counter and went crashing to the floor. Yanked the power cord out of the wall and made a HUGE crashing sound.
It messed up the arms of the mixer a little bit so you have to push a smidge harder to get the bowl hooked in and the top attachment where all the extras attach, but otherwise the mixer works GREAT.
We wound up losing half the dough on the floor, but whatever… What was there still tasted GREAT!
1 package {2-1/4 teaspoon} Active Dry Yeast 1 cup Warm Water {110-115 degrees} 2 cups Bread Flour 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour 4 tablespoons Honey 3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt Olive Oil 1 tablespoon Water 1 large egg
Directions:
In the bowl of your mixer; sprinkle yeast over the cup of warm {110-115 degrees} water. Let the yeast proof for 5-8 minutes.
Meanwhile combine the bread flour, whole wheat flour and salt.
With the mixer on low, pour in the honey and butter.
Once the honey and butter are mixed in to the yeast, add {by spoonfuls} the dry ingredients. Increase the speed, stopping to scrape the flour/dough from the sides of the bowl. Continue to mix on medium until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl and starts creeping up the dough hook. At this point you’ll
Lightly grease a bowl with olive oil. Form the dough into a ball and place it into the lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm, dry spot for an hour. Remove and press out the air. Divide the dough into twelve equal pieces and then divide the twelve pieces into thirds.
Lightly spray a muffin tin and roll the dough into balls. Place three dough balls into each spot in the muffin tin and cover again to rise for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Once the rolls have risen for the second time, slide the muffin tin into your preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes.
Remove and let rest for 5 minutes before carefully removing them from the pan. Enjoy!
p.s. Don’t forget to link up Monday to the Review Extravaganza!! Details found here!!
We are so excited to announce the 5th Annual Review Extravaganza! I cannot believe I have been doing this for 3 years now. This year there are many new faces for co-hosts and a new group of awesome prizes.
What is the Review Extravaganza
-It is your way to look back over the year and each week recap three months at a time of what happened in your life, your favorite blog posts, favorite pictures- whatever you would like to share. (Here is an example from last year – October-December 2013)
We would like to introduce you to this year’s 9 amazing hosts!
From Top to Bottom-Left to Right:(Click on the names below to get to their blogs)
So this year we weren’t able to make it down to Southern Oklahoma where my aunt and uncle lives to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. I think we were all sad, but sometimes life gets in the way for everyone and you have to do with what you can. So hubby and I decided to do dinner at our house Thursday night with my parents and his parents, that way we could go to his dad’s that day to see his family.
We discussed how to cook the turkey this year. One thing that was proposed by hubby was just to buy a Turkey Breast and do that, but then my mom said that they had a turkey already and suggested smoking it.
Not going to lie, I kind of had my heart set on the Bacon Wrapped Turkey again, so I asked/suggested doing a Bacon Wrapped Smoked Turkey. Hubby said we could probably handle that. Now a few years ago we did a dry brine on the turkey but this year he decided to do a wet brine.
Our brine consisted of:
Dissolving 1 cup Kosher Salt in 3 cups of water.
Then we used a quart bottle of Cabela’s Marinade (that is no longer made but hubby bought a whole bunch of….), about 15-20 cloves of Garlic, 1 serving Mandarin Oranges and juices, 1 serving peaches and juices, about 2 tbsp Rosemary, about 2 tbsp Black Pepper Corns and 1 cup of Sugar.
Stats: At your 4 month appointment (a week after you were 4 months) you weighed 14lbs 4.4oz and were 24 3/4 inches long. You saw the Nurse Practitioner and she said that you were in the 60th percentile both in weight and height and that you looked great. She said that you were proportionate for your height and weight as well. She was very pleased.
Wearing: You’re wearing 3-6 and 6 month outfits for the most part. There are a few 6 month outfits that are too large for you, but for the most part you’re wearing 3-6 month outfits. Diapers are still size 2. Shoes… well you still don’t like shoes nor do you like socks. Shoe size is like a 2-3 for what I put on you but again you don’t keep them on so I don’t fuss with them much, yet.
Sleep: Your nightly routine is shower, food, bed. You’re sleeping about 7 hours through the night for the most part. You fight sleep, especially for nap time and I’m not sure why. A lot of times you like to try and do cat naps (10-20 minutes) and they seem to make you more cranky than if you sleep about an hour. When you get tired you start crying, a lot, and you get mad at poor effelhump (your elephant) or your binky fink or a towel or whatever is in your way. What I’ve read said you should be sleeping just shy of 16 hrs per day right now and we’re not getting there sadly.
Behavior: You’re not afraid to let us know when you’re hungry or tired. There is a difference in the screams too. You still love to kick your legs and even stick them straight up in the air if you’re laying on your back. I think your feet are your favorite toy. You love to sit up and you also love to play with the baby in the mirror although the other day I think that baby made you mad. lol.
Eating: The nurse practitioner gave you the go ahead to start trying to add solids to diet. You eat about every 3 1/2-4 hours. We’ve started you with the rice and you’re just okay with it. We’ve also tried sweet potatoes. You seem to like the taste but don’t seem yet to know what to do with it.
Appearance: Your daddy found a stork bite on the back of my neck so finally you and I have something in common. The nurse practitioner verified you have the stork bite. You appear to be long legged like your mommy. Your hair is still bouncing back and forth between the red/strawberry blonde/blonde. Your eyes are still blue and at times almost a steel gray color. That was the color of mommy’s grandpa’s eyes.
Likes: You like the outdoors. You like to smile. You like car rides for the most part. You like playing with your feet. You like sitting up. You like to be a part of the group. You like Christmas music. You do like to chew on everything in sight. You like the baby in the mirror (when she isn’t upsetting you). You like your swing. You like the new play center grandma got you. You like to help mommy with homework or at least help her push buttons. You like to be held all the time (even when we can’t).
Dislikes: You don’t like to lay down all the time. You don’t care for new people at first. You don’t like to be by yourself. You don’t like playing by yourself after a short while.
Milestones: You rolled over on the floor (although mommy missed it because I walked around to the other side of the bed for just a minute… dang it!). Standing in the new play center you got and playing with all the toys. You can almost hold yourself up in a sitting position. The nurse practitioner said you might be an early developer… we’ll see.
Mommy: I can’t stand when you’re upset but I’m having to let you try and self sooth which is killing me. I still feel like I’m doing things wrong all the time. People are trying to make me feel guilty for the way I raise my baby but you are mine and I am the one around you. You are mommy’s shuggy bear! Mommy isn’t a morning person but you smile at her and it makes her morning much better, even if it is 5:30am.
Daddy: Daddy loves spending time with you. He loves to snuggle with you and lately you guys have been playing, especially right before shower time a lot. You stick your tongues out at each other and spit at each other (don’t know the best way to describe this… it’s where you have your tongue stuck out and blow air across your tongue and out of your lips…). Sometimes when you are upset, daddy is the only one who can calm you down. You are still his baby squirrel.
Other: I think you got mommy’s hair when it comes to being crazy but it grows a lot like daddy’s hair. You have this swirly area on the crown of your head where one part goes this way and another that way and yada yada. You’ve cried bloody murder at your Aunt Liss and at Memaw. I’m not sure why… When you’re eating, you like to rub your head on both sides and run your fingers through your hair. You’ve been known to sleep with your hand in your hair and the other with on your foot which is up by your face. You really like your feet.
Letter:
Dear baby girl,
Tomorrow we’re getting ready to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with you. It just brings tears to my eyes when I think of all the first we’re about to experience with you. You break mommy’s heart every time you cry and cry and won’t quit for anything. You’ve stayed the night with grandma and grandpa a few times and I miss you when I wake up in the morning and you aren’t at the house. While we’re kind of on that topic, you need to learn that sleep is okay. You dream a lot and sometimes whimper in your sleep. I’m not sure why. I would really like to know what you’re dreaming about.
I can’t imagine you not in our life. It’s crazy how you go from a life without you to a life with you in no time flat. But I guess I better go because this crying thing we’ve been addressing, you’re doing it. Oh it’s hard to be tough but you need to start self soothing. You’re really tired, I wish you’d take a nap. Stay sweet and remember that mommy and daddy love you!
Saturday night hubby and I were cleaning the house and my phone rang. I answered and it was my mom asking where I was. I told her standing in my kitchen, why? She kind of had this panic in her voice. She said that Colonel had been hurt and could hubby or I one come help her? I said well of course. Hubby put his bibs on and grabbed his coat and he was outta here. He told me that he’s pretty sure 2 of his wheels didn’t hit the road going up my parents driveway (there is a curve in the driveway).
I asked him how bad it was when he got home and he said it wasn’t great. The one vet has been out of commission since June/July when he had surgery and his daughter (also a vet) wasn’t able to come so they told us what to do and that they’d be there first thing Sunday morning since my dad assessed the situation and they all decided he’d be okay over night.
Sunday we went over to help and I finally got to see what happened. Colonel has a huge hole in his chest that goes straight up and Dr could put her fist in it. Yikes!
We weren’t able to sew up the hole, and it would have needed a drain anyway. Vet said the best thing was to cut off the hanging skin (not much and it wasn’t salvageable) and he should heal up just fine. Especially since it has the perfect drain since it’s straight down.
Then hubby and I went on search of what poked the hole. And here’s the culprit. We think that one of the mares was teasing him (he is a stud after all) and he went to mount her and met the T-post instead.
