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.

Boys' Night Out

Well if we didn't know it before, it became evident last night. Dean is officially the fun parent. I was teaching piano lessons yesterday and so Dean took Tommy for some daddy/son time. They were going to have a football-themed afternoon, attending the Godby practice and then going to the Chiles vs. Lincoln game. As they headed out the door, I asked Dean to please have Tommy eat somewhat healthy. Like grilled chicken and vegetables or something. He didn't exactly agree, but he somewhat acknowledged my request.

About an hour later I get a picture on my phone of Tommy eating at Red Elephant. The pizza place where he eats about 3 times a week. Oh well. I found out later they also got dessert. This kid was livin' it up!

Before they went for pizza, they headed to Godby's football practice, where our friend Joe is a coach. Tommy got the special treatment. Joe brought the kickers over to where Tommy was and he got to kick with them. He even got to kick off a tee while Joe held the football. He had a blast.

Then after their dinner run, they went to the Chiles vs. Lincoln game. They arrived about an hour early, which would make me go insane, but Dean loves watching warm-ups (why?!? why would you love watching warm-ups??) and so now Tommy does too. He threw the little football that they handed out back and forth with Dean and stood by the fence while the players got ready. At one point he started stretching with them.



When Lincoln had a pretty good lead, Tommy looked over from where they were in the stands and noticed that the North Florida Fair was in town (the stadium happens to be adjacent to the fairgrounds) and he talked Dean into going to the fair. This was a feat in and of itself. Dean promised they could go on one ride and Tommy chose a huge slide that you ride down on a mat. He's afraid of climbing things so that was interesting. But he and Dean made it up to the top and Dean managed to sit down with him on the mat (he relayed the entire harrowing experience to me and let's just say I'm glad I wasn't there). But Tommy had a blast going down. Then Dean bought him some green glow-in-the-dark sword thing, which of course Tommy needed. On the way home he fell asleep, sword in hand. This is what I saw when I met them at the car in the driveway.

Met His Match

We Inserras love our friends the Knipples (the K is silent). Tommy and Riley have had an arranged marriage thing going since before Riley was born. And when Riley came out a redhead, we knew that she just might be as feisty as our little guy. We were about right. You see, Riley wound up getting her mommy's personality, and Tommy got his daddy's. On the other end of the spectrum, Shane and I are about as laid back as they come. Therefore, one might conclude there might be something in the water at Leon High School!

On Monday night, we were driving back from Tampa, so we called up Shane and Riley to see if they wanted to meet us for dinner (Lindsay was working night float at Shands so unfortunately couldn't be there). We decided on Cracker Barrel in Gainesville, and met them there. Apparently Riley was in a bit of a mood, because she attempted to throw a fit or two. This kind of amused me because since she's a year younger than Tommy, her fits aren't nearly as intense. They're still almost cute and funny at this stage. And she has mastered the pout. She sticks that lower lip out, and as her grandmother says, "She could walk all the way to Live Oak on that lip."

Tommy took advantage of this moment and decided to be the sweet one, rubbing her arm and telling her it would be ok (See?!? They were meant for each other!), sharing his crayons and that triangle peg game that I can never do.

What the Knipple family doesn't know is that just a few hours before that, after his naked romp in the fountain in Tampa, we had to drag him kicking, screaming, soaking wet, and in the nude over to the bench to dry him off and get him dressed so we could leave.

So maybe Riley's met her match.

My Exhibitionist

Yesterday we decided to take the day and drive Sally back to Tampa after visiting Tallahassee for a few days. She's 35 weeks pregnant and so we figured driving for 4 hour stretches at a time by herself might not be the best idea. So anyway, we took off on a road trip. Sally had told us about this great park that is about 2 blocks from her house and of course Tommy was psyched to go. In fact, he talked about it during the entire 4 hour drive. Every time we would stop to eat or get gas, he would ask if we were at "Sally's park" yet and when we told him no, he'd get upset and want to keep going.

We finally made it to Sally's park. Tommy ran around a bit near the swings and other standard park equipment. Then he saw the fountain. This is not just your run-of-the-mill fountain, folks. This is one of those ground level fountains with water that just continually shoots straight up through about 50 holes in the concrete. Oh yeah, and there are stone lions around, just for the effect. When he first spotted the fountain, we ran over there but he was very nervous around the lions. And he was wearing sweat pants, a t-shirt and sneakers (it started off cold that morning, but was 86 degrees by the time we got to Tampa).

So after psyching himself up a bit, he wanted to run in the fountain. We stripped the child down to his birthday suit and let him run wild. There were no other people around so it was all good. Except for the two little girls (they looked like they were in first or second grade) who were walking by with their little dog. Tommy ran out to the edge of the fountain and said "Come on girls, you can come in here too!" They didn't.

I asked Dean at what age it would be inappropriate for Tommy to run naked through a fountain and his response was "Anytime after today!" So that was his first and last time streaking. At least with his parents' consent and encouragement.

He Did It!

No, I'm not talking about potty training. We got a long way to go for that one. But it's just after 7 am in the new fall back time and I've been up for the last 20 minutes because apparently Tommy didn't get the memo that you're supposed to sleep an extra hour. However, I don't care. I'm just basking in the glow of his first successful Halloween.

What?!? I think I hear a collective gasp from a few of my tens of readers. A pastor and his family celebrate Halloween?? If you're asking if we worship Satan, the answer is no. But we do dress up (as Superman this year) and go house to house begging for candy. Then we come home, fill up on sugar, and go to bed as we're crashing off the sugar high. If you've been a faithful reader for at least, well, a year, you may remember our Halloween experience last year. Well, my friends, this year was different.

Our Halloween started with MeMe's (Dean's mom) first grade class's Spider Fest at school. I brought Tommy to participate and he absolutely loved it. He rotated through the four classrooms with the rest of the kids (all twice his age... which I guess isn't a lot when you're only 3). He made a spider headband thing, then helped call out Spider Bingo numbers, made a popcorn hand, and also made a spider necklace and got a tick (it was supposed to be a spider, but it totally looked like a tick) painted on his hand. Between each rotation, the teachers read spider or Halloween themed books to the kids. Tommy sat right in the middle of them all (notice the only kid in costume- that's his Superman cape) and even asked questions about the story. I think the first graders didn't like him at the end because he proved that he was paying more attention than they were, thus making them look bad.



Last year at Spider Fest, he did ok until he saw all the spiders. That kinda freaked him out. This year he actually put on MeMe's spider mask!

Then came the real Halloween test: trick-or-treating. Remember, since he's been able to walk, we've been to a total of... um... no houses to beg for candy. He's completely choked two years in a row. But this year, he totally redeemed himself. He was a little nervous about going to the first house, but we went and knocked on the door. They were our friendly kidless neighbors, who apparently didn't realize that trick-or-treating is a real thing. The husband showed up at the door with an individual size of Mott's applesauce and apologized for not being prepared. Then as soon as we got to the next house, we noticed them jumping into their car and hightailing it out of there. That was probably for the best. Once we had gone to a couple houses and Tommy realized that they were handing out candy, he really liked this trick-or-treat thing. We did run into one or two kids with scary masks. And yes, I did ask one of them to remove it around Tommy. No, I didn't know him, but I guess I'm just one of those moms. I wasn't going to let this little snotty nosed kid ruin my son's first successful Halloween!

We made it all the way around the block and only shied away from one or two houses that looked really scary. He filled up a plastic pumpkin and halfway filled a ghost bag that we brought as as backup. So his teeth will be good and rotten by the time we go for our first dentist visit. But the real measure of his success is that when he woke up this morning, he cried a little because he wanted to go trick-or-treating again tonight. Woo hoo!