A Disastrous Start, but a Fine Ending

This morning, Ed and I awoke to a flood in our refrigerator. It turns out that there was a small puncture in our brine bag that held the turkey. When we finally cleaned out the refrigerator, I found our kitchen sponge lying in the kitchen sink with the turkey brine. So, in order to decontaminate the sponge, I decided to throw it into the microwave. I must have become a little over zealous because the sponge caught on fire and we were left with this (the sponge on the left was the one that caught on fire).

Fortunately, Ed convinced me to persevere with Thanksgiving dinner. I only cut myself once while making our dinner/lunch (we had Thanksgiving early so that Tate could still take his regular nap). My menu was as follows:

Turkey (recipe compliments of my sister) -- It turned out nice and moist just like a turkey should.

Cornbread Stuffing with Chorizo

Mashed Potatoes with Garlic and Mascarpone Cheese topped with Caramelized Onions

Green Bean Casserole

Sweet Potatoes and Apples with Maple Syrup and various spices

Cranberry Sauce

Pecan Pie with Chocolate Ganache

Here's Tate smelling/inspecting the finished product...

Here's Tate and I posing with our meal.

While I was preparing and cooking the food Ed watched Tate and managed the kitchen (ie -- cleaned the dishes and wiped down the counters so that everything wouldn't get out of control). It was so nice! At one point during our day, Ed and I found Tate like this...

We thought that he was hilarious! He can be so creative at times.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Random Pics

For the past two weeks, Ed and I have been trying to conclude our Christmas shopping for the families. We have fourteen people to buy for! It can get kind of crazy sometimes. Fortunately, we're almost done. We only have two more people left and then we can leave the crazy Christmas shopping scene.

Because we've been searching for gifts, it has left us little time to see the sights. We have been able to get a few cute pictures of Tate....

Tate is now able to crawl up on chairs and other items, which means that he can get into even more trouble!

Tate loves bath time, but for some reason, he doesn't like the drying off part of the bath. Fortunately, Ed's mom sent Tate this cute little towel. Now, he loves his new towel and doesn't fight us when we dry him off. Actually, it seems as though we enjoys it.

Tate has started to become more and more interested in books and learning. He loves this little chart. We go over the letters and he loves lifting the flaps to look at the various animals and things that are located underneath the letters.

The other day while Ed and I were cleaning up after dinner, we found Tate in this predicament. As you can tell, he's not too happy about it, but it was very funny to Ed and I.

I'll leave everyone with this small clip of him taking an interest in piano playing.

Trespassing at the Naval Academy

Last Sunday, we decided to go to Annapolis, Maryland for the day. We had a great time walking around the town where we spotted an alley named after Tate.

Then we walked around the Naval Academy. Tate loved looking at all of the boats that passed by.

After we returned home, I decided to make some chocolate gingerbread cows and states of Wisconsin (No, we don't have any other cookie cutouts other than that. One day I need to invest in some. Until then, we will be eating cookies in the shapes of cows and the state of Wisconsin). As I was baking, Tate decided that he wanted to observe me cooking.

For some reason, Tate really like to watch things cook and mix together. We'll have to see if he continues this interest when he gets older.

I'll leave you guys with a short video of Tate watching the boats go by.