Thanksgiving Dinner 2009

We hosted an early Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year this past Saturday. We (the Laus) were cooking the meal, and told everyone else not to bring anything. But of course, everyone came with food in hand, so we were stuffed with goody goodness at the end of the night. There were 20 people total (3 being under 3). (It started out just being the 11 of us, then we thought the number might go up to 27.)

We made:
* Butternut squash soup – Make your life easier by using a hand blender instead of transferring.
* Sweet potato casserole – Golden brown is about 15-20 minutes depending on your oven.
* Apple-Cranberry sauce -  Oops! We only had sparkling cider. We’ll have to try this again with apple cider. It was a little tart.
* Pumpkin Pie – We used Pillsbury pie crust. It’s okay, but we’ll try something else next time to see if it’s better. This recipe is so easy that Melody did most of the work with my help.
* King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls – We had these already from Costco that Norm’s parents bought earlier in the week, so we just added it to the menu.
* We were also going to make banana bread but ran out of time.

Other items on the menu for the night were:
* Green Bean Casserole – Love the mushrooms in there. I usually make it from the classic canned recipe, but this was yummy! Eric made this.
* cucumber salad
* mashed potato and gravy
* ham
* Pepperidge Farm Baked Natural Cheese Crisps
* chip and salsa
* sodas and sparkling cider

And because it’s how we roll:
* rice
* fried chicken

Goody goodness from our guests:
* japchae
* sushi
* pumpkin pie from Costco
* little cakes from Sheng Kee
* hung yun dofu (almond tofu)

What are you having for Thanksgiving this year? What are you thankful for?

We’ll post some photos on Friday for Our Week in Photos album.

Sites We Love: Totally Tots

totallytots
Lots of ideas to interact with your toddler. Crafts. Books. Devotionals. Meals. Websites. Activities. All suitable for 12-47 month olds (1-3 year olds). And you can show off your tot during the month of their birthday, as a Cute Tot, or as a featured tot.

Check out more Sites We Love!

Our Week in Photos (Week 47 of 52)

What little girl doesn’t like dressing up in a beautiful gown? Melody loved it, and she was so excited about all the shoes. haha That was the highlight of the week. Check out a few photos of the flowergirl-to-be from Week 47 of 52.  The appointment was actually for the MOHs and maid to try on dresses, but we didn’t find anything we really liked. Jen did end up getting something for us, but I can’t tell ya about it. You’ll have to wait until the wedding like everyone else. Other than that, the week has been ho-hum. We’re hosting Thanksgiving Dinner at our place tomorrow. I’m hoping to prep a few things today. At first, it was just a few people, and then a few more, and then even more…Tune in next week for how it all turned out.

- Joyce

From Week 47 of 52
From Week 47 of 52

What’s Ahead

We are having Thanksgiving Dinner at our place this Saturday. We’re not sure of other holiday plans that may be ahead for Christmas and New Years, but I’m sure hoping for some down time with just the 4 of us.

As for the blogging…at the end of the year, I will be pretty much done with my blogging at momaroo. I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll be back there later. For this blog, we have a few things planned, so stay tuned for a few changes. We hope the changes will keep everyone up-to-date on what we’re doing, where we’ve been, what we’re eating, what we’re reading…you know, all the fun stuff. ;p

Posts here for the remainder of the year will be few, but continue to tune in on Fridays for Our Week in Photos which will link you to our online photo album with a few photos from our week.

Will you be busy, busy, busy for the holidays, or are you slowing down and taking a break?

- Joyce

Sites We Love: Facebook, Myspace, Friendster

facebook
myspace
friendster
Social networking? Keeping in touch with friends? Spying on (or stalking) a crush? These sites are good for all these things. I think Friendster was one of the earlier ones, but few people I know use it now. Myspace is a little too much for my eyes. It seems like most people liek to change their layouts often, and all kinds of glittery web bling, and I can’t keep track of who’s who because people don’t use their real names. More to maintain. Facebook is more straightforward to me, and I have heard it has replaced some people’s email accounts.

Check out more Sites We Love!

Our Week in Photos (Week 46 of 52)

From the looks of our online album Week 46 of 52 you can see that one big thing happened this past weekend. Tomorrow we’re scheduled to go to The Great Bridal Expo and then try on a few dresses.

Some cool things that happened this week:

  • Emi had spit up, so Melody give some tissue to my sister to wipe it up, went to the drawer to get a new cloth, and brought it back to Emi.
  • Melody learns to fold her clothes.
  • At the library, I found a website through Totally Tots called StoryPlace. Since we have a laptop with a touchpad, I didn’t think Melody would be able to use the mouse real well. Don’t underestimate the girl. She went through half of the Pre-School Library on-line games.
  • Emily has been doing so well eating solids. She doesn’t mind peas either.
  • I printed out some VeggieTales stuff for Melody (because she likes doing stuff like this), and she got it all already right after the pages came out of the printer. What else can I teach this girl?
  • My baby girl turns 6 months old today!

I need to work on my Wednesday’s Small Thing tonight.

- Joyce

Review: Book (Leadership 101: An Interactive Leadership Development Guide for Student

Head over to our review blog to read about the book Leadership 101.

Nordstrom Challenge: One Last Thing..Or So I Thought

Like I promised, here is one last thing for my Nordstrom Challenge. My friend Sharon sent in a few dresses and shoes as suggestions. (I do like the silk dress *hint hint* Christmas is coming up *cough cough*…and no, I’m not sick. =p) I actually ended up not buying some items from Emily’s entries, although they were all fabulous. BUT, silly me, I didn’t know the Nordstrom half-yearly sale was going on. When I went to order the clothes, most of it was gone, either not in my size, or sold out. I bought items that were similar, and a few other things, since they was quite a bit lower prices than usual. The items have been shipped, and I will let you know the exact items that I purchased. So yeah, this is not the last you’ll hear of the challenge.

Adrianna Papell Belted Ponte Knit Dress $122
Adrianna Papell Belted Ponte Knit Dress

Calvin Klein Belted Ponte Knit Dress $129
Calvin Klein Belted Ponte Knit Dress

Donna Ricco Sleeveless Sheath Dress $138
Donna Ricco Sleeveless Sheath Dress

Marc New York Stretch Satin Sheath Dress $148
Marc New York Stretch Stain Sheath Dress

MICHAEL Michael Kors Banded Silk Dress $112.90
MICHAEL Michael Kors Banded Silk Dress

Linea Paolo ‘Gwen’ Pump $86.90
Linea Paolo 'Gwen' Pump

Steve Madden T-Strap Sandal $59.95
Steve Madden T-Strap Sandal

- Joyce

Sites We Love: Blog Chef

blogchef
Pretty simple and delicious recipes. Be prepared to use lots of oil. Bobby for Blog Chef likes to do a lot of deep frying.

Check out more Sites We Love!

Our Week in Photos (Week 45 of 52)

To end the last week, we headed over to The Ice Creamery with family and friends. It was a random get together. The grand opening of the Castro Valley Library was on Saturday. It was a nice < 20-minute walk there. People were checking out books like the library never existed for borrowing books before. Everything looked great! My Nordstrom Challenge finally came to a close. Norm finally found time to blog and made his announcement. I cleaned a drawer. =p Got LOTS of photos this week: Week 45 of 52. And did I tell you I’m a winner over at Home Sanctuary! So easy, just do a Small Thing each day. It makes a BIG difference.

- Joyce

From Week 45 of 52
From Week 45 of 52

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