This weekend was awesome as we had a lot of family fun time and everyone is ending the weekend tired but happy.
Friday, Steven came home a couple of hours early and fulfilled his promise to take Kenzie to the playground in our neighborhood.Unfortunately, he also came home not feeling 100%. We worried that it might slow us down this weekend, but he was quite the trooper and despite not feeling great, he knew we had big plans that Kenzie was really looking forward to (Will still doesn't know the difference, of course) and he didn't want to let her down. He is such an awesome Daddy.
That afternoon we went out to EPCOT with a stop by Magic Kingdom for Kenzie's first haircut. You can read all about that adventure here.
Sunday morning we did our usual and got up to to go church. Downfall... not getting home until after 10 the night before and both kids being awake until after 9 made them wake up closer to 7. Usually this wouldn't be a big deal and I would relish my few extra minutes of sleep (especially since I was crazy exhausted) but because we brought the kids home in pjs last night and put them straight in bed after a day at Disney, they both needed baths along with all of our normal Sunday morning prep PLUS getting the turkey cleaned up and into the brine. We did make it to church and I ALMOST made it through the service without being called for Will. He made it literally until the final prayer, song, and closing video. So, so close. We are working on it. Some days are better than others.
After church we came home and I made everyone get all dressed up to take a picture that we would like to use on our Christmas card this year. We tried to take this picture last week but that was right as Kenzie started running a fever and she was having none of that. Today, she was much more willing to do what we asked.
After all that I helped prep the turkey for Steven to get into the smoker and we fed Will lunch.
Then, Kenzie and I headed out to the Fall Fiesta in the Park at Lake Eola. I love this craft fair and was really looking forward to it. I decided that it would be fun to take Kenzie down as a Mommy/Daughter Day. She did pretty well. She wanted to walk and stayed with me but it was HOT so we didn't make it too long. We only walked the length of the street in front of Steven's office building before we called it a day. I did pick up one Christmas gift so we have one person checked off our list. I must admit too that this year, some of the booths left something to be desired. I even saw a few that I thought our 3cousincrafts could outdo. Maybe one day. =)
Kenzie had fun though. She even managed to locate a Frozen bounce house that I let her play in for about 10 minutes. There were just a ton of kids in it and I eventually decided that was enough and we should move on.
By the time we got back, Will had only been awake from his marathon 2 hour nap for about 30 minutes. We finished smoking the turkey and it was really good! We did think that it didn't hold as much of the smoke flavor as the chickens and pork we have done so we will be troubleshooting that, but we are still ready for Thanksgiving. I'm excited. I mentioned that I love Thanksgiving right??
We had a really full weekend but it was fun. Next weekend I am taking the kiddos and the dog to my parents' house for the weekend while Steven stays here and has the carpets shampooed. Mike is also coming into town so the boys can hit up a hockey game. Then we have one more weekend (that includes at least a birthday party for now if not more things come time) before we start our Advent Activities. So excited!!!
Friday, Steven came home a couple of hours early and fulfilled his promise to take Kenzie to the playground in our neighborhood.Unfortunately, he also came home not feeling 100%. We worried that it might slow us down this weekend, but he was quite the trooper and despite not feeling great, he knew we had big plans that Kenzie was really looking forward to (Will still doesn't know the difference, of course) and he didn't want to let her down. He is such an awesome Daddy.
Lately, Kenzie has gotten super into riding her balance bike. We were actually starting to worry that we made the wrong choice going to the balance bike instead of a bike with training wheels, but once she started to warm up to the idea of an actual bike, we knew we made the right choice.
We had a good time at the playground. Both kids love it. Will's list of things he can do at a park are still limited since he isn't walking yet, but he loves the swings and he had help going up and down the slide. Kenzie just runs like a crazy person. Going to school has definitely increased her playground interaction abilities. For a long time she was afraid of slides... now she LOVES them. The bigger, the better.
We didn't do much that night but both kids did go to bed by 7. Kenzie was exhausted because she hasn't been sleeping well at night ever since her fever started last week (even though it didn't last long). Will isn't adjusting well to the time change. He has never really been our sleeper though, so this isn't a huge deal. It just means that though we finally had him start sleeping until 7:15, he is back to waking up closer to 6:15. Oh well.
Both kids woke up early on Saturday and we spent the morning doing a bunch of nothing except prepping for EPCOT and getting ready to smoke our turkey on Sunday. We had to make the brine for the turkey because it needs to brine for quite a while beforehand and we didn't want to have to make it when we got back late on Saturday night. We watched a bit of Gameday and Will napped before lunch so we could head out right after lunch.
We decided to smoke a turkey breast this weekend as a trial run for Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving we are switching our fried turkey for a smoked turkey. We always roast a turkey, as well, but we like the variety. All that being said... we never try anything for the first time when we have guests. We would hate to mess it up so this lets us plan and make sure we fix any issues before the big day. We have done a few chickens, but turkey is a bit different. It brines longer, cooks longer, and overall is just a bit different. We made the brine early on Saturday so it could sit and then cool completely before we use it. It made our house smell like Thanksgiving. I am so excited for Thanksgiving! It is definitely one of my favorite holidays.
That afternoon we went out to EPCOT with a stop by Magic Kingdom for Kenzie's first haircut. You can read all about that adventure here.
Sunday morning we did our usual and got up to to go church. Downfall... not getting home until after 10 the night before and both kids being awake until after 9 made them wake up closer to 7. Usually this wouldn't be a big deal and I would relish my few extra minutes of sleep (especially since I was crazy exhausted) but because we brought the kids home in pjs last night and put them straight in bed after a day at Disney, they both needed baths along with all of our normal Sunday morning prep PLUS getting the turkey cleaned up and into the brine. We did make it to church and I ALMOST made it through the service without being called for Will. He made it literally until the final prayer, song, and closing video. So, so close. We are working on it. Some days are better than others.
After church we came home and I made everyone get all dressed up to take a picture that we would like to use on our Christmas card this year. We tried to take this picture last week but that was right as Kenzie started running a fever and she was having none of that. Today, she was much more willing to do what we asked.
After all that I helped prep the turkey for Steven to get into the smoker and we fed Will lunch.
Then, Kenzie and I headed out to the Fall Fiesta in the Park at Lake Eola. I love this craft fair and was really looking forward to it. I decided that it would be fun to take Kenzie down as a Mommy/Daughter Day. She did pretty well. She wanted to walk and stayed with me but it was HOT so we didn't make it too long. We only walked the length of the street in front of Steven's office building before we called it a day. I did pick up one Christmas gift so we have one person checked off our list. I must admit too that this year, some of the booths left something to be desired. I even saw a few that I thought our 3cousincrafts could outdo. Maybe one day. =)
Kenzie had fun though. She even managed to locate a Frozen bounce house that I let her play in for about 10 minutes. There were just a ton of kids in it and I eventually decided that was enough and we should move on.
By the time we got back, Will had only been awake from his marathon 2 hour nap for about 30 minutes. We finished smoking the turkey and it was really good! We did think that it didn't hold as much of the smoke flavor as the chickens and pork we have done so we will be troubleshooting that, but we are still ready for Thanksgiving. I'm excited. I mentioned that I love Thanksgiving right??
We had a really full weekend but it was fun. Next weekend I am taking the kiddos and the dog to my parents' house for the weekend while Steven stays here and has the carpets shampooed. Mike is also coming into town so the boys can hit up a hockey game. Then we have one more weekend (that includes at least a birthday party for now if not more things come time) before we start our Advent Activities. So excited!!!
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