Giving Thanks!

Before I give my thankful shout outs... CAMILLA IS MOVING AROUND! Not quite crawling, but rolling everywhere. And I mean everywhere. If you turn around for just a second, I swear she somehow rolls herself across the room. It's nuts. I can't believe my baby girl is so mobile already. I mean, at 5 months, it just seems like insanity. She's trying really hard to crawl, and she can definitely turn herself in circles. But goodness me, she is about to that point. She loves spending time on her play mat and she'll spend tons of time staring at herself in the little mirror and talking to herself. It's the cutest thing EVER!!!

Ahem.... now... I am thankful for... a whole lot!

Josh, who is so patient, loving, giving, and just all around wonderful to Camilla and I. None of this would be possible without him. He gives us all that we need, want, or could possibly hope for. Hands down, he's the least selfish person I know.

Camilla, who is the world's best baby.. I swear! Not to jinx it, but her motto seems to be 'don't worry, be happy.' I'm not only thankful that she exists, but that she is healthy, and a squishy, happy, little thing! I love her more than life itself.

Desoto, who protects us at all times and guards the house without us even telling him to. The repairman was here the other day to fix the dishwasher and living room light and Desoto watched him the entire time, occasionally pacing by him.. (perhaps making sure he was doing a good job? Hehe)

My sister, who is probably the only other sane person in my family. Lol. Seriously, she is not only a sister, but my best friend whom I talk to 24/7 in texts (yes, literally 24/7!) I LOVE YOU MARY!!

And the rest of family of course (and friends!!!!!!), even though we don't always get along, or can't always talk every day, just know that we do think about you and hope you all have a fantastically wonderful and magically delicious (not to quote the lucky charms leprechaun) Thanksgiving!!! What's cooking up in our kitchen? Well, we are doing turkey. (*screams*) Ha -- no, screaming put aside, it's just the turkey breast... but an 8 lb turkey breast. Sheesh, it's one heavy thing, but at least I won't have any disgusting bits to deal with. At least I'm assuming there aren't any disgusting bits.. great, now I'm terrified to unveil the beast.

Besides turkey, we're of course doing mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. And also! Do doo doo doooooooo! A delicious cranberry cheesecake bar recipe. Basically it's a pseudo-cheesecake with cranberry sauce drizzled on top, along with other crumbly bits. So almost like a trifle, but cheesecakey- and with cranberry sauce. Yay! It was my first time making cranberry sauce.. who knew it was so easy. :)

And who knew cranberries were so gorgeous?! Not I. :) It's humorous that I LOVE cranberry juice but have NEVER liked cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving... probably because the canned jelly-ness looks gross and to be honest, always creeped me out. Especially when it comes sliding out of the can all in that can-shaped-mass... bleh! But this, this looks pretty good. Most of it is going to drizzle the cheesecake bars, and if Josh likes it, I'll add it to the lineup for next year cause he loves cranberry sauce, but he already got a couple of the canned kind.

Yum! Right before I popped that sucker into the oven. I can't wait for tomorrow's dinner... hehehe. Just spending today prepping is a whole lot of fun for me. Even with Josh continuously pestering me in the kitchen with his hundreds of questions. What are those egg yolks for? You only need egg yolks? You only use egg yolks in pie crusts? ("For this recipe, YES!!"), What are you making now? That looks fun. (sarcasm) That looks weird. Is something burning?

...Yes... my brain was burning... from all the questions! Lol. Sheeeeeesh! I was about a few hops short of declaring my retiring the kitchen scene and Thanksgiving would be all up to him. Lol. Oh yeah! And after we've feasted on dinner, I'm going to surprise with a last minute dish.. for much later in the night: http://247moms.com/2010/02/serendipity-frozen-hot-chocolate-recipe/

I can't wait! Hehehe. Hope everyone else's pre-Turkey day is stress-free and enjoyable, it will all be worth it for tomorrow! Pic time, woohoo!

...CRAP. I never did post about Sandra adventures did I? Gosh... I totally suck. Well, to break it down into one paragraph (lol) we spent the week catching up, watching movies, being silly, making pina coladas, gossiping about our husbands and friends, being creative with Halloween escapades, cooking and baking, and... hanging around! It was a fun week of just being us silly girls, and now, for some pictures, eh? :) Love you, Sandra! You are the best gal pal anyone could ever have!