An Airplane Ride, A Mini-Van, An Early Thanksgiving Feast, & Vampires

Andy, AJ, Douglas, Abby and I made it safely to Missouri and back! We are exhausted! Just entertaining a 2 year old on an airplane is a high energy, exhausting feat. You can never let your guard down in order to avoid any degree of a melt down. We had our carry-on bag stocked with stickers...coloring books...trains...plastic bugs...cars...books...finger puppets...snacks...and the emergency fruit snacks, mini marshmallows, and portable DVD player should there be early on-set signs of a toddler mood swing toward a melt down. Two successful, tearfree plane rides...whew! AJ was just a little independent traveler with Thomas in tow throughout the airport. Although we really pumped up the airplane ride, I think AJ was more excited to ride the bus to the car rental place than anything else. He said, "I ride a bus! A BUS!" Really...the bus was the highlight of his trip?

After flying into KCI, we picked up our rental car, Andy excited to have our free up-grade coupon in hand...HA!...it turned out to be a baby blue mini-van...not exactly what Andy was envisioning and headed out to have lunch with Aunt Jess! From lunch, we drove 3 and 1/2 hours south to see Grandpa Jim and all our aunts, uncles, and cousins. The mini-van was practical, comfortable, and came with a DVD player...need I say more?! So they aren't exactly cute and I can't really see myself driving one, but we were surprisingly in love!

8 dozen cookies, 5 pies, many chocolate covered pretzels, a ham, two turkeys, chicken noodles, and a field of sides later...we enjoyed an early Thanksgiving feast with my family...I quit counting after 35 people, so I'm not sure how many people we ended up with in the end...they were everywhere! And only one lamp nearly met his fateful end as it came crashing to the floor after being attacked by a toddler. I would say, it was a successful feast! And the best part is that I get to eat another Thanksgiving feast next week!

I've decided my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal is not the turkey...or the desserts...it is all about the side dishes...and the rolls...but mostly the side dishes. Two of my favorite sides I look forward to every year are:

Tami's Crock Pot Corn

Ingredients:

1 family size bag of frozen corn

2 packages of cream cheese

1/2 cup of sugar

1 stick of butter

Directions:

Boil everything on stove top, heat on low in crock pot.

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! and so simple

and

Pineapple Stuffing

Ingredients:

1 stick butter (melted)

1 cup sugar

5-7 slices of bread, cubed

4 eggs

1 (20oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained

Directions:

Cream butter, sugar, and eggs. Add pineapple and fold in bread cubes. Cook 1 hour at 35o.

F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S. and also so easy!

and in terms of my off track to-do list...I finished all 498 pages of Twilight and am 350 pages into the second book of the series, New Moon. Although I never imagined myself as a fantasy, vampire romance fan...I am pleasantly enjoying this series and eagerly looking forward to seeing the movie this Thursday at midnight!