Thanksgiving Eve

We're T minus 10 1/2 hours from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (aka, Dean's very favorite event... taste the sarcasm). My allergies are flaring and I'm completely exhausted from answering about a million questions that all started with the word "Why?" I guess that's what happens when you have a 3 year old. But before I head off to bed, I wanted to do the traditional Thanksgiving thing and list some things I'm thankful for:

- The fact that my adorable 3-year-old boy can drive me absolutely crazy by all his questions. He's asking me a new one before I even can answer the old one. But when he was born we were told he may never walk or talk. So I'll take the aggravation.

- The great date night I had with Dean tonight. Nothing too fancy, dinner at Macaroni Grill and then a stroll around a completely dead mall. No one's shopping the night before Thanksgiving. But date nights are one of my very favorite traditions that we have.

- My wonderful family that I'll be spending time with over the next few weeks. Between Dean's family here and my family down south, I've been very blessed.

- Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls. That's breakfast tomorrow. Need I say more?

- The fact that in about 6 months I'll have to change the name of this blog. That's right, we're continuing to populate the world with Inserras. Baby Inserra #2 is due on May 25! I'll keep you posted.

A Healthy Thanksgiving Recipe

Yes, I realize those are rare. But here's a fruit salad recipe that I found and tweaked. It's not creamy or overly sweet. But it's got a great tang and is very light. So here's my recipe. I think it will feed about 15 people (I'm guessing)

4 or 5 clementine oranges, peeled and segmented
2 cups grapes (I halved mine)
1 pound strawberries, quartered
2 20 oz. cans pineapple chunks (drained, juice reserved)
3 Granny Smith apples, cut in 1/2 inch (or so) pieces
2 bananas, sliced
Zest from 2 limes
Juice from 2 limes
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp. poppy seeds


Combine all the fruit in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix 2/3 cup of the pineapple juice with the lime zest and juice, honey, and poppy seeds. Mix into fruit and serve.

I made this salad late this afternoon and I'm taking it to our small group Thanksgiving dinner in an hour or so, so I hope it doesn't get mushy. I did sample some and was very happy with it. Hopefully I made enough so that I'll get some at the dinner! If it's not as good as I think it is, I'll post tomorrow and let you know.

What healthy Thanksgiving recipes do you have to share?

First Trip to Disney: Check!

Well we did it. We took the fam to Disney World yesterday for Dean's birthday. Actually it was more for Tommy and myself than Dean. I happen to think it's the most wonderful, most magical place on earth. And since Tommy's an excited three-year-old who watches Mickey Mouse every morning while he eats his waffles and bananas, we figured he'd love to go to Disney. We had an amazing ticket hook-up from an old classmate of Dean's who happened to be playing Eeyore yesterday and my parents covered the hotel room, so this trip was the cheapest Disney trip ever!

Tommy was nervous about everything. We knew it would be interesting when he cried because he didn't want to get on the tram that takes you from your car in the parking lot to the monorail. But of course we made him and he did just fine. And that's pretty much how we did the Magic Kingdom. He cried in almost every line we stood in and didn't want to do it but then afterward, was all excited and talked about how that was his favorite ride. Go figure.

The best moment by far was getting to meet The Big Cheese himself. We didn't tell Tommy we were going to meet him, we just walked through the tent and innocently watched old Mickey Mouse cartoons that they were showing while you waited in line. It was a very clever set-up. After about 15 minutes, they ushered us into another small room and Dean picked up Tommy (to avoid an escape). When Tommy saw that Mickey and Minnie Mouse were about 10 feet away from us, he totally freaked. But Dean reminded him about his morning breakfasts watching them and that calmed him down. By the time we finished pictures, he was high fiving Mickey and Minnie and giving them "knuckles". A couple hours later, he even asked to go back and meet them again. We did and made him get in the picture all by himself. He's happier than he looks.





And this morning when he woke up at about 6 am, he immediately sat up and said "Mommy and Daddy do we get to go to Playhouse Disney World (his own little name for it) again today?" I sadly told him no and he cried. So I would say it was a very successful trip!

Tuesday Randoms

- I think I just killed a brown recluse spider in my living room. I killed another one just like it a few days ago in the hallway. Maybe we're experiencing a small infestation of venomous arachnids.

- I got Tommy really excited about his first Christmas special of the year on TV tonight: "Merry Madagascar". It lasted for 30 minutes and 15 of those minutes were commercials. We feel gypped.

- In my never-ending quest to replace some dairy with a delicious non-dairy product with the same amount of calcium, I was introduced to So Delicious yogurt. And it is so delicious! It's made with coconut milk and it has a bit more fat, but I was told that you burn calories while you're eating it. Not sure if that's actually true, but it's so good, I'll believe anything! A bit pricey, but worth the splurge.


- "Biggest Loser" makes me cry in the end every week. I'm watching it now. And crying.

- Later this week we're taking Tommy to Disney World for the first time. He's totally pumped. We'll take lots of pictures and I'm sure there will be plenty of good stories.

10 Things I Don't Get

1. Professional Wrestling

2. Fantasy Football

3. Long engagements

4. Why baseball season is so long

5. Obama obsession

6. Vampire obsession

7. St. Patrick's Day when you're not Irish

8. New Hampshire

9. Praise teams that wear color-coordinated, jewel-toned shirts

10. Black Friday (at least the 3 and 4 am part)

Midweek Update

It's been a busy few days, folks. My parents came in town on Wednesday morning and left this afternoon. And as you know, if you have family from out of town, when they are in town you don't waste a minute. So between piano lessons and poopy shoes (both my parents and Tommy were victims of Dorsi's droppings in the backyard), we had a great time. Yesterday was more running around and going out to eat, but today we had more of an adventure. My parents have wanted to visit Wakulla Springs for a while now, so it was about 65 degrees and breezy with gorgeous blue skies and we figured it was a crime to be inside. We drove down there and even did a boat tour. Here are some highlights:




And I didn't use a zoom in this picture. The alligator is actually that close.



Then we had a delicious lunch at Piggy's (if you haven't been yet, you need to go. I could do the backstroke in their mac & cheese). We came home, rested for just a bit and then Dean had to take them to the airport so I could teach more piano lessons. It was a quick visit but a good one.

Just because my parents left, doesn't mean Tommy and Dean's fun was over yet. They had another boys' night out and Dean took him to Wendy's and then to the Leon vs. Rickards football game. While at Wendy's, Tommy learned a valuable lesson. There was a homeless man outside and Tommy asked Dean if he was going to eat chicken nuggets too and Dean reluctantly told him no. So Tommy offered to give the man his chicken nuggets. Yes, my 3-year-old split his chicken nuggets meal with a homeless man. I couldn't be more proud. Then they headed to the game. Dean was in his glory as Tommy chanted "Go Big Red!" and hung out with Dean's old coach, Coach Sauls. And apparently the Rickards band was awesome. As always. But Tommy's been taught to refer to them (and basically anyone else who's not the Leon Lions)as the bad guys. So here are some pics of tonight:

The Season for Giving

Here was a conversation I had with Tommy on the way to the mall this morning.

Tommy: "What will Santa bring me for Christmas this year?"

Me: "Well, you already have lots of toys, so I'm sure Santa will bring you a few more, but this year I think we're going to help him out by getting some toys for boys and girls who don't have any toys and won't get any from Santa. Can you imagine not having any toys? Those boys and girls would love to get something for Christmas too."

Tommy: "Are they elves?"

Teaching generosity. We're getting there.