Baby Faces

Don't you just love baby faces? Babies just seem to have the greatest expressions. Here's a few of Olivia's expressions at a recent snack time.

Price of a Feast

I finally got around to planning our Thanksgiving meal. I have almost all the shopping done, and I found some pretty good deals this year. I thought it would be interesting to see what the price of our little family's feast was this year:

Turkey
1 Butterball Turkey (13 lbs): $3.58 (that's total, not per pound...)
Stuffing
1lb Sage Sausage: $2.50
Celery: $0.77
Onions: $0.61
Gravy
2 cans Chicken Broth: $0.80
Mashed Potatoes
5 lbs of Potatoes: $0.49
8 oz Cream Cheese: FREE
Sour Cream: $1.50
Rolls
36 Rhodes Rolls: $2.59
Sides
Petite Peas: $1.00
TJ's Cranberry Relish: $2.99
Pies
1 prepared chocolate pie crust(I'm cheating a little this time): $0.90
more cream cheese: FREE!!!
1 bunch of bananas: $0.95
1 jar of hot fudge: $2.00
Whipping Cream: $1.79
Whipped Topping: $0.90
1 can Sweet & Condensed Milk: $1.39

TOTAL: $24.76

There are some ingredients omitted above, but they are things I already have on hand (flour, sugar, salt, spices, homemade bread (for the stuffing), butter, peanut butter). But I think even if I counted their cost, I'm making Thanksgiving dinner for under $30, and we'll have leftovers for FOREVER! Sometimes it pays to watch the grocery store ads and clip coupons! I also calculated the calories for all the recipes that I'm planning on making and there will be over 23000 calories on our table... Perhaps we should have invited some guests???

Pancake Breakfast

There's nothing quite like making pancakes with dad on Saturday morning - this has become quite a tradition in our house, and one enjoyed by all!

The Harvest

I love this time of year in the garden. There is always something to harvest. Everytime we go there, even when it seems like we picked everything that was close to ripe yesterday, there is always more to pick. This year everyone's favorite has been the strawberries. They started early (about 2 months ago?) and they just keep coming. I picked these today, and we get about this many everyday we go. Noah picks everything that is within his reach, and exclaims "stawbury! stawbury!" anytime we are close to the garden. I was only able to take a picture of the harvest today because Noah was napping - when he's around they dissapear pretty fast! He often leaves the garden with a brown and red stained face (becuase he ends up eating dirt along with most of the strawberries) and is often not patient enough to take off the green stem. The other day a garden neighbor asked Harrison what his favorite vegetable was that we grow in the garden. Without hesitation he exclaimed, "Strawberries!" They can't last too much longer, but as long as they do, we'll be stopping by the garden on a daily basis.