Bowles Blog

Thanksgiving 2011

This year our Thanksgiving featured  family, food and fun.

Of course.

Additionally: laughter, tears, thankfulness, trotting and Pictionary.

And brine.  Oh, the brine...

Ebby and Bobby Law ran the 5k Turkey Trot in Hingham on Thanksgiving morning.  Ebby didn't run her hardest, but ran hard enough to handily beat Bobby Law and Jake.   Winter track practice starts today.

Back at the homestead, I was working on the turkey.  Taking the advice of Bubbe and the internet, I decided to brine the turkey this year.  We bought a fresh turkey on Saturday, I made the brine on Monday, and we immersed the bird in the brine on Wednesday.  On Thursday morning, following Alton Brown's cooking method, I coated the rinsed bird in canola oil, stuck it in the oven at 500 degrees and set the timer for 30 minutes...

We made it about 14 minutes before the smoke detectors started going off.  Turns out popping oil and grease in the oven is a smoky proposition.  We had all 5 smoke detectors wailing for nearly 10 minutes.  Naturally Bobby Law was at Starbucks at this time...Finally, with all doors and several windows open and the oven temporarily turned off, the buzzing stopped.  Hello, holiday headache.

I turned the oven down to a more reasonable temperature (350), stuck the meat thermometer in, and hoped for the best.  I wasn't really worried.  Even just 15 minutes at high heat had already given the bird a golden brown glow.  By the time we feasted the turkey was moist and delicious.  Disaster averted, brine applauded.

Do I have pictures of the turkey?  No, of course not.  Let's see what I did take pictures of.

Ebby and her ode to Whoville outfit. There was a reason behind her choice.  It has to do with our new furniture...

Ebby doing her part putting out appetizers.   She requested these chocolate covered strawberries and took to guarding them with her life.  Actually she requested a fruit basket from Edible Arrangements but this was a much more budget friendly option.

My favorite {looking} appetizer was the Tom Cheeseball.  I got the idea from Pinterest of course.  This was my first attempt at making a cheeseball and it was tasty but almost too cute to eat.

Though unplanned, it turned out to be Hawaiian shirt Thanksgiving for the Bowles boys (except Uncle, I guess he didn't get the memo).  Will and Cuyler put on their shirts after their initial choices were rejected (by me) or mud stained (by the neighbor's dog).          In case you're wondering, their shirts are genuine, from Hawaii and yes, about 3 years old--thus the snug fit.  Not that they cared.  Or noticed.

We had two tables for dinner:  the grown up table and the kids table.  Ebby was in charge of seating.   Both Bubbe and Uncle ended up at the kids table which led to some complaining by Bobby Law that all the fun people were at the kids table.

But we had Pa--he's a fun guy.  Just look at him. 

After dinner and a bit of clean up there was football watching and an intense game of Clue.   

Then:  dessert.  Why yes, we had 4 kinds of pie (pumpkin not pictured), tarts, 2 flavors of cupcakes and a selection of ice cream.  Something for everyone.

The real competition came after dessert when we broke out the Pictionary game.    Our team (me, Ebby, Cuyler in for Bobby Law) had a commanding lead but somehow the other team (Uncle, Bubbe and Will in for Nana) managed to steal the game out from under us.  Scoundrels!

Of course not everyone played games.

I think Sam was actually quite comfortable, despite appearing spineless.

At it's core, Thanksgiving is about togetherness and gratitude.  Enter this year's edition of the Thankful Tree.

Once again everyone was asked to fill out a tag for the tree, writing what they were thankful for.  Most everyone participated.  It's always fun to read what is written.  We had the usual,  (family and good health) and a few new entries:  sundresses, yoga pants and the triumph of hope over experience (guess who wrote that...).

And of course, brine.

Gobble gobble!

Behind the iPhone POTD: Homecoming Dance

Remember this:

I realize I've been slacking on the blogging lately (especially on this blog). In an effort to get things jumpstarted, I thought I'd pick a few past photos from my iPhone photo-of-the-day tumblr blog and tell a bit more of the story.

So, Homecoming.

It started with the football game on Friday night.  Ebby is participating in Key Club this year so she was obligated volunteered to sell Rams heads at the game.  Not actual heads from Rams, just paper fundraising Rams.  Phew. It started raining after halftime and Ebby timed her call to me perfectly and I went by and picked her up early.  Had she stayed for the whole game she would've been waiting in the rain as I had to pick Will up from an evening outing (the "haunted" USS Salem ship) at pretty much the same time.  Bobby Law was unavailable for carpool duty as he was time warping back to 1977, attending a Steve Miller Band concert in Boston.  I want to fly like an eagle indeed.

Ebby returned to the high school to decorate from 8am to noon on Saturday.  The dance, sponsored by Key Club (read:  attendance not optional for members), started at 7.  Around 5:45 Ebby was ready for a few quick photos at home.

Her dress was from Danielle & Rachael's Dress Shop in Kingston.  Highly recommended.  Great selection, excellent prices and stellar customer service :-).

Thumbs up to pictures with Dad...

Next it was time to head to Allie's, aka the pre-dance party picture house.  This is the place where parents socialize, everyone noshes on snacks and beverages and teenagers willingly pose for tons of photos. 

  Pretty amazing stuff.

Ebby & Reilly

Group shot of the lovely girls

Shoe shot

Brave, brave young man

Peace!

A few members of the parent paparazzi

Ebby, Reilly & Katherine

There were lots of pictures taken.  Lots. 

As for the dance, I think the thing the girls were looking most forward to was the Breathalyzer test at the entrance.

They all passed.

 

 

 

It was a Happy Halloween...

eventually.

Seriously, I'm not sure I can remember when all three of my children were in a good mood at the same time.

So last night was Halloween.  The night when you put on a costume and terrorize solicit the neighbors for a sack full of candy.  Sounds like a horrible night, doesn't it?  You can see why an 11 year old would be miserable about the prospect of such an evening...

Ahem.

Last night our less than enthusiastic child was Cuyler.  Maybe it was partially my fault.  I decided to let the boys figure out their own costumes this year.  Even more than usual. We thought that Cuyler was all set with his choice but as Halloween drew closer, it became apparent that he was not all set.  Long story short, after an hour of discarded costumes and stops and starts, Cuyler finally went trick or treating.

On the other hand, we have Will.  He was into it last night.  He'd decided to be a Clown Killer. Last week we went to iParty and got him a few accessories.  That's right, I bought pieces of his costume.   Fortunately or unfortunately, over the weekend as Will was gleefully chasing Cuyler around the house with the plastic  bloody knife, it became apparent that the $3 Walmart prop knife from last year was leaking "blood".  And by blood I mean dark pink staining dye.  The knife went into the trash before any rug, cushion or piece of furniture was harmed.  Phew.

And that's how Will came to be simply, a clown.

A pretty good looking one at that.

He was in such a good mood that he posed for several solo pictures.    

It was my first time applying clown make-up.   I think I did fairly well. 

Around 6pm Cuyler had decided to stay home and Will and Bobby Law headed out to Marshfield Hills village to get their trick or treat on.

The {Steve Carrell owned} general store in the village gives out "king size candy bars".  They're actually what I would call "full size", but the kids are super impressed--as you can see by the growing mob outside the store.  Steve was not there last night but his sister-in-law, who actually runs the store, was rockin' a cute spider ensemble.

For about 10 minutes after Will left, Cuyler was happy to sit outside on the steps waiting for trick or treaters to come to our house.

No one came.

Suddenly Cuyler came back into the house to announce that he was going trick or treating.  His costume?  He was a burglar.  Black clothes and a ski mask.  Done and done.  Luckily Pa was here to 1. hand out candy (not that it turned out to be necessary) and 2. loan Cuyler his "security" cap with the push lights built into the visor.  Safety first.

I got in touch with Bobby Law and met up with him and Will in the village.  By that time Will was done there and ready to hit up the folks on our street.  So, we switched boys.

And that is how Bobby Law and I both ended up trick or treating last night.  Separately, each with a boy.

Just like we planned it--not.  I was planning on helping Pa download iOs5 for his iPhone.

Oh well, I got to visit our neighbors with Will instead.  He was great: said trick or treat, thank you and even gave honks of his horn.  Everyone was impressed with the detail of his costume.  I think the clown make-up put him over the top.

The fact that he was the first (and only) trick or treater many of them had seen all night was good news for Will.  More than once he heard that magical Halloween phrase, "Take as many as you like..."

By 8 o'clock, everyone was back home to assess their haul.    

Everyone except Ebby.

Did you think I forgot about her?  Ebby did not go trick or treating this year.  Instead she spend the evening at a friend's house, handing out candy in a neighborhood where trick or treaters actually come to the door.  However, she was not without Halloween spirit.  In what could've been a scene straight out of The Middle, Sue Heck Ebby dressed up as an alien with the rest of the underclassmen on the cross-country team.  

Looking good, E.

So there you have it, another Bowles Family Halloween recap.  By our {costume} standards, a bit lame.  Technically I suppose a hot pink Old Navy hooded sweatshirt is not a costume...There's always next year though.  We're (me and BL) thinking group/family theme costumes will be in order.

The Joker however, may have other ideas...