What-What?! Week of November 25th

I don't really have anything to write about; mostly just wanted to post that I am still alive.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving just us here at the house; the husband and I made turkey, cornbread stuffing, orange-cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie.  This year we bought a cooking pumpkin and made out own pumpkin puree for the pie -- it's interesting how different the pie is than using the canned stuff.  It was a little more bitter and had more of a grainy texture -- texture might have been my fault though, as my helper didn't mash it all that well, and I didn't make them do more.

Yesterday, we headed to an SCA meeting to make Chinese mooncakes for an upcoming feast.  This was pretty fun, and fairly easy actually.  The filling was kind of sticky and the dough was kind of crumbly, a bit like pie dough.  Saffron helped form the mooncakes by putting them in the mooncake press.  The boys weren't interested in helping, but had a good time on their tablets, and also sampled the wares.

Not too much else going on -- the plan is to hang out at home and relax.

What-What?! Week of November 4th

Lots to cover this week!  We had both Halloween and Saffron's 11th birthday.

First up, Halloween costumes:

I spent a lot of time trying to talk Saffron into having a cape for her Vampire outfit, but she just wanted to wear black clothes, and only black clothes.

Osric was a dragon.  He scared a toddler wearing this.

He wanted to show off the tail, which spent a tons of time whacking on stuff.

Corwin decided to be a pancake, complete with pat of butter and pitcher for maple syrup.  It took me several tries to get his costume to actually stay together.

In addition to Halloween, Saffron turned 11.  I feel so old.

The husband and I spent a few days telling her that this cylindrical present from her brother was a frozen burrito.  So she opened it first.

It was a super-cute shirt.

This is a Dungeons & Dragons "Endless Quest" book, which just means that it's a choose-your-own-adventure book.  Very popular in this house.

Art supplies, oh yeah!

Daddy also got her flowers

No birthday is complete without Lego!

A pokemon toy that shoots the pokemon out.  Osric chose this -- can't you tell?

Little MLP guys

Chef's cookbook -- haven't gotten time to look through this with her, but planning on making some recipes from it for sure.

She really wanted this Barbie baking set.  I don't usually buy dolls for her anymore, but she kept going to see it at the store.

The husband picked out a Squirrel Girl doll for her, too -- she recently read a Squirrel Girl comic, and fell in love.

This picture came out poorly -- this is a comic book called "The Sisters".  It's about an older sister with a younger sibling who is annoying.  It speaks to Saffron's older sister self.

Hilda and the Bird Parade comic -- we'd read a few of these before the show came out on Netflix.  The books are a bit different, but I would highly recommend both the books and the show.  Kind of strange, but quite entertaining.

I made her cake again this year -- she wanted flowers on it.  I could've done better, but cream cheese frosting isn't the best for piping.  The cake itself was delicious -- lemon cake with a blueberry jam filling, topped with a not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting.  It was fruity and creamy, and so so good.  We will be doing this again.

And the crown goes WILD! YEEEEEAAAAAH!