Did lots of things. Am tired. Kids are tired. Zzzzzzzzzz.

Monday:

LOOK MY POPCORN CAUGHT FIRE. GET IT?

Trip #1 to the grocery store. We did buy cookies. We forgot a turkey.

Visiting their lobster friends. That’s what they call them. I don’t have the heart to explain those aren’t the same lobsters as last week.

Monday:

It was freezing on the pier but the sun (and all the happiness) warmed my cold heart.

My TV babysitter earned her paycheck this week.

Go buy this book. HILARIOUS.

Tuesday:

Real street fashion: scuffed boots and yoga pants.

Evan loves his Duplos and Caroline loves creepy naked dolls

I don’t know how she doesn’t have nightmares.

Wednesday:

RUN AND GET A TURKEY BEFORE THEY ARE GONE, SLACKER

They put extra ginger in the pumpkin pie <3

Making pies is exhausting.

Thursday:

It’s sparkling cider.

NO REALLY IT’S JUST CIDER I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE HE LEARNED THAT.

Thankful

Friday:

Instead of shopping, we visited our favorite places.

She met Santa.

Hot cocoa and a lollipop = best day ever

Watching the town tree lighting

Saturday:

They FINALLY built a playground at the zoo!

Those are yesterday’s lollipops they brought to the parade

Our local parade is adorable, if not very fancy.

Considering it was only 30 degrees all week, we spent a TON of time outside. My kids don’t care. They were born in New England*. Today Caroline took off her jacket and her hoodie and ran around in just a shirt.  But despite the temps we had a really great week.

Now I am throwing myself FULL FORCE into Caroline’s birthday party. Luckily “princess” isn’t the most original theme, so just grabbing pink or sparkly or sparkly pink stuff is pretty easy. I just need to get my house in order so I can start putting things up before I buy yet another princess tent and realize I don’t have anywhere to put FOUR of them. Tomorrow I’m going to let her pick out the ugliest, most ridiculous princess cake we can find to order from ShopRite. I’m so excited.

*This logic fails since I was born in Massachusetts and I’m freezing.

A short list of things of all sizes that I am thankful for right now:

1. Pie and yoga pants. Those count as one thing.

2. Podcasts. I would never clean anything in my house if it weren’t for podcasts. They are extremely distracting. A short list of my favorites: This American Life, How To Do Everything, Pop Culture Happy Hour, RadioLab, Stuff You Should Know, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me and Planet Money. They make me feel smart.

3. A dishwasher. Doing all those Thanksgiving dishes by hand would have taken forever.

4. My children, who told me today they were most thankful for Mommy.

5. The moment when Evan told me he really believed in Santa…and then when he hugged me because I started crying. CHILDHOOD IS MAGIC.

6. Everyone who has supported me in any way as I started my photography business. It’s been (is) terrifying but I cannot wait to see how much it will grow in 2014.

7. Facebook. I am never lonely or bored or without validation when I have an internet connection.

8. Amazon Prime. Absolutely, totally, without question worth the subscription. The amount I save on shipping is crazy, although I’d probably buy a lot less stuff if I couldn’t get it in 2 days without having to go get my credit card from my wallet.

9. My husband, and the fact that he still goes to work every day to support us instead of running off the Mexico where the military will never find him. I almost wouldn’t blame him at this point.

10. Now it’s Christmas! SANTA. I KNOW HIM.

There are approximately 2 bazillionteen more things I am thankful for, but right now I’m thankful for warm coats and Starbucks since I promised the kids the aquarium, Santa, and the town tree lighting tonight.

Here are some not very good pictures of our boring, non-Pinterest, at-home Thanksgiving that I didn’t really edit and you probably don’t care about unless you are a relative very concerned we might not have had a proper meal on real plates at the table. Happy Thanksgiving!

I bought a turkey breast instead of a whole turkey and just sort of…winged it. Considering I was taking stuff in and out of the oven above and below the bird I’m shocked it came out delicious, with enough leftovers for sandwiches.

Potatoes with cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, bacon and chives > boring mashed potatoes

Wish bone! They failed.

CHEERS!

Don’t worry, it’s cranberry-apple sparkling cider, not “Mommy juice”.

MORE CHEERS!

Leftover begging face. It worked, obvs.

Time for pie!

The correct pie-eating method.

I made a test loaf of cranberry orange bread and ate 75% of it before I remembered I needed to take a picture if I wanted to post the recipe. My second try was even more delicious AND I managed to wait until it was cool to take it out of the pan so I had a nice loaf for photos. It’s definitely a dessert bread, but who says you can’t have dessert in the morning with a cup of coffee, dessert at noon with a little butter and two slices of dessert after dinner? Cranberry orange bread, as well as artisan bread, reminds me of the holidays, although I can’t quite remember why. It’s also a good way to include cranberries with Thanksgiving in case you’re one of those crazy people who don’t like real cranberry sauce and for those who already have too much on their plate, consider getting some fresh bread from your local bakery for some delicious options.

Cranberry Orange Bread

12 oz cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1 egg
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 Tablespoons orange zest (about 1 medium orange)
3/4 cup plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Combine the cranberries, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup orange juice in a bowl. Stir well and let the berries soak while you mix the batter. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Combine the wet ingredients in a medium bowl and stir well, making sure to fully beat the egg. Add the wet ingredients and the berry mixture to the dry ingredients and stir. Use a spatula to scrape the bowl and make sure it’s fully combined. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan (approximately 9x5x3) and bake at 350 for one hour or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Use the tester or a toothpick to poke holes in the top of the loaf.

Mix 1 Tablespoon water and 1 cup powdered sugar in a small bowl. Add a splash or two of orange juice until you get a good drizzling consistency. When the loaf has cooled a little, run a sharp knife around the edge and flip the pan over to release the bread. Put the cranberry orange bread right-side up on a plate and drizzle with the glaze. Eat and enjoy.

Yum yum yum yum. I will say, 12 oz of cranberries is a lot of cranberries, as you can see from the sliced shots. You can adjust the amount of cranberries down (or add more orange zest if you want it to be EXTRA orange-y) without affecting the recipe or cook time.

Thanksgiving! Christmas stuff! Both of my kids have given up napping! SEND HELP.

Sunday:

Operation Find The Dining Room Table commences

Armed and dangerous

I asked her to play me a song. She plotted my death.

Monday:

I think we’ve reached aquarium saturation for this month.

Beluga watching

Caroline watching Caroline

Tuesday:

I did all my shopping in 25 minutes (it’s SO much easier when you’re kid-free)

Oh no, he’s being sucked out into space! What a horrible death!!!

Tandem Disney watching

Wednesday:

WAY too much energy for 6:30 am

Finally finishing one of the 13 things I’m in the middle of knitting

Let the baking begin!

Thursday:

She’s practicing for her own parade debut

So thankful

Cider + rum = YUM

Friday:

Off to get our tree!

Admire the tree, ignore the weirdos blowing into a plastic ornament

The opposite of Black Friday morning shopping – 6 pm at an almost empty Target

Saturday:

They came downstairs and yelled “IT’S CHRISTMAS!!!!” Actual Christmas is going to blow their minds.

Local parades are weird.

God bless washable paint

 This week is going to be both super long and super short. I’m taking holiday photos for a couple of friends (I absolutely love doing it) and we’re hoping to squeeze in our Christmas trip to Sesame Place but most of my time and energy is going in to Caroline’s birthday party prep. I love party prep. This one is going to be extra awesome, if I do say so myself. Fairies and sparkles and animals oh my.

Did you take iPhone photos of your week? Link up with one or several below! Please consider joining, even if you haven’t done it before – it’s really fun!

We’re having our Thanksgiving just as a family of four this year, which means we could have ordered a pizza and the toddlers wouldn’t have even noticed. But my mother always made sure our meal was special, even when it didn’t involve dozens of extended relatives and I wanted my kids to have the same – despite their skepticism over everything from mashed potatoes to pie. But I’m so thankful we get to spend the day together, that we are all healthy and blessed, and that there is more pie for me.

If anyone needs leftovers, PLEASE come over ASAP!

Watching the parade

Warm cider-rum punch