Thanksgiving Prep Day And Beyond

[Pumpkin parfaits, courtesy of the middle mini and my dad. They got creative with these.]

I want to start by saying how immensely proud I am of my children. All three of them have worked hard during our Thanksgiving break, but I'm amazed at my boys. At ages 13 and 11, they are knocking Family and Consumer Sciences class out of the park. They cook, bake, clean, build, sew, and so much more. We were elated to spend this Thanksgiving with family, but it came with a price. They had to do most of the baking and cooking for it. And they did, easily, happily, and with pride in their work.

Their Thanksgiving baking began days before the actual holiday on Monday afternoon. They started easy with chocolate covered Oreos. The next night the middle mini made a cinnamon pie, which wound up being a highlight at a family gathering. The day before Thanksgiving was a our big baking and prep day.

Chocolate covered Oreos are nothing new for them. We tend to make them around Valentine's Day. Harrison (the middle mini) searched cinnamon pie recipes and settled on this one. This child used my mixer more than I do!

We spent the day at my parent's house chopping things for the stuffing/dressing, prepping casseroles, baking pies, and parfaits. The next morning, that same middle mini woke up, skipped watching the parade (but spoke all about how he would like to spend a Thanskgiving in NYC, so we could watch the parade "in real life"), and instead made the corn casserole and mashed potatoes. 

My kids cooked while I ate a cookie with an audience who eventually helped me eat it.

One would think they would be done with baking, but no chance. The day after Thanksgiving, both boys helped with chocolate turnovers/Christmas tree pastry, followed by baking and decorating our sugar cookie man (we skipped gingerbread this year). They had a day off from cooking and baking on Saturday since we were busy Christmas shopping, but ended the weekend baking monkey bread and homemade chicken noodle soup.

As someone who does not enjoy being in the kitchen, I find myself there often because hello, family of five here, I am thrilled that they love baking and cooking as much as they do. I sometimes wish I had more tips to offer them when they have a kitchen question, but their consumption of baking and cooking shows helps in this area.

Harrison's Wish List

Sunday's are our chores day. We deep clean the house, prep for the week, all of that not so fun stuff that we attempt to make fun each and every week. On this particular Sunday, I found myself deep cleaning the school room (in the basement). The minis were off dusting and were to meet me in the school room to help out when they were done. I was enjoying the quiet when I looked down and saw the words Wish List at the top. 

I instantly recognized the middle mini's handwriting and held my breath as I read on. I fully expected a list of all the toys he could ever want. Instead, I found myself reading his bucket list. Not a wish list, but his bucket list. I giggled to myself when I read them. Things like 'Go to Universal Studios when I'm 13' stuck out to me because I know it's so he can go to Horror Nights and how he wants to get a character in an online game they play. The list is sweet and full of goals, dreams big and small. I'm glad I caught a glimpse of them (even though he tells me these things often). I hope one day he can look back on this list and either laugh at it or feel pride for accomplishing some of it.