The Lee Family: 2020

Friday, November 27, 2020

Happy Thanksgiving

We planned to spend most of Thanksgiving week visiting CK's parents on the farm, but when CK tested positive for COVID exactly two weeks before Thanksgiving, it changed our plans. Instead we had to quarantine for two weeks and had a quiet Thankgiving at our house. Even though it would just be the four of us, we decided to make it nice and create a really nice meal with a focus on homemade desserts. CK made the pie crusts two days before Thanksgiving so they could rest in the fridge and then he made the apple pie the day before and I made the pumpkin pie after the apple pie came out of the oven. While the pumpkin pie baked, Olivia and I rode our bikes down to Starbucks. We'd planned to get a snack and a drink and because it was a bit crisp out, it was hard to decide between a hot and cold drink. Once we arrived, I realized I forgot to bring a mask which is frustrating because we've only had to wears masks now for nine straight months and yet I completely forget all the time. Olivia got a blueberry muffin and an orange juice while I got an iced tea. By the time we were done with our drinks, we were both cold so we decided to warm up by biking home. We never really did warm up, but it was such a fun ride. We got back home to a perfectly baked pumpkin pie and a gorgeous apple pie. We also made the cranberry relish and the stuffing the day before and I cleaned and cut the brussel sprouts to be ready for the next day.

On Thanksgiving day we got up at our usual 7:15am thanks to Skipper and his 7:30am walk routine. I made the dough for the clover leaf rolls that we planned to make for our dinner and let them rise while we walked Skipper and Buddy. It was another crisp and cool day in the morning and promised to get to 70 degrees by 3pm, which would be perfect! After our walk, the girls were both awake and ready to help. Sofia made the little balls that she rolled into melted butter and then stuck three of them together in a muffin tin cup. We took the turkey out of the fridge and out of the brine we had it in. This year we decided to follow a Martha Steward brine recipe since we'd never brined a turkey before. We got the turkey ready by sticking extra slices of butter and fresh herbs under the turkey's breast skin and put stuffing in the cavity. Then it headed into the oven. The turkey should take four hours. So we invited Mitzi and Steve over for appetizers at noon, since they were also home alone and had put their turkey in the Green Egg and had time to visit and relax with us for a bit. We put together a cheese plate that included nuts, grapes, bell peppers, olives and other goodies. CK built a fire outside and we sat outside and enjoyed some champagne and our appetizer plate together. It was a fun hour-plus of visiting and it was fun to finally spend time with friends after a long two-weeks away from everyone. After Mitzi and Steve headed back to check on their turkey, we started prep for all of our sides - mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, baked sweet potatoes and the rolls. All four of us worked away in the kitchen with Sofia and CK trimming the turkey and Olivia mashing the potatoes. Before we knew it, we were ready to eat! We set out all the food on the table behind our dining table and got ready for Thanksgiving 2020! The only snafu was that I completely forgot to rehead the stuffing, so we only had the stuffing taken from the bird. Plus, because of our brine, the turkey was a bit too salty. Thankfully the breast meat was good and moist, while the dark meat was too salty to eat. Otherwise, it was a delicious meal. After eating and cleaning up, we had Marco, Stacy, Antonio and Luca over for desserts and drinks. They ended up spending several hours over in our backyard by the fire and we had a great time together. Such a fun ending to the evening and we have a lot to be thankful for.

The table is set for our meal.

CK using his apple peeler and spiralizer to prepare his apple pie.

Making the apple pie together!

Into the oven!

Our Thanksgiving Turkey ready to go into the oven.

Appetizers with Mitzi and Steve in front of the outdoor fireplace.

Carving the turkey together.

Olivia learned she's an excellent mashed potato maker!

Our yummy Thanksgiving meal (minus the stuffing that I forgot to warm up).

Ready to eat and enjoy such a great meal!

My Grandmother's dish that held our cranberry relish. I love Thanksgiving because we use my Mom's china plates, my Grandparent's silver and various serveware from family. I love the memories I have of using such things.

Relaxing with the pups!

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Class Photos!

Today was class picture day for both girls, which made it a lot easier for me to remember! Olivia picked out her own dress and wanted her hair in pigtails, which is funny since she doesn't really wear pigtails often. She either wears her hair down or in a ponytail. She got all dressed up and planned to wear her dress shoes but her old ones that are a size 3 are too tight and her new shoes that are a size 4 is too big, so she ended up wearing socks and sneakers. It's actually pretty cute on her with her dressy dress. She carpooled with Stacy, so I took a few photos before she loaded up and headed off to school. Can't wait to see her actual school picture! Meanwhile, Sofia was totally not excited for her school pictures, but she did decide to wear a dress and looked great in it. Of course, I completely forgot to take a picture of her before we headed off to school, running late as usual. Once we arrived at CTMS, I realized I never got a picture so I asked her to smile as she got out of the car! She was NOT going to smile at first but finally she went with it! Hope she smiles for her "real" school picture!

What a cutie!

She's still a little tired!

Sofia with her "no pictures of me" face!

Finally, a smile! She looks so cute!

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Happy Halloween!

It feels like Halloween snuck up on us somehow! The girls were both wanting to be their favorite obscure characters from Star Wars, however, there were no easy costumes and since they have both been Star Wars characters before I tried to convince them to try something new. Somehow they agreed and Sofia chose to be an Olde World Maiden, so she could "trick or treat" and then "be ready for next year's Renaissance Frestival." Olivia decided to be an archer, although I'm not sure how she came up with that idea. Of course we found both costumes on Amazon and they were both inexpensive and cute! Both outfits fit perfectly too!

We also hadn't carved pumpkins yet! I actually bought pumpkins and mums and decorated outside our front door earlier than normal, yet we hadn't bought pumpkins to carve. I'd thought we'd get a chance to do pumpkins last weekend, but it ended up being cold and then it rained Monday through Wednesday. Before we knew it, it was Halloween! The girls slept in and then played in the front yard with Calista and some of the other neighbor kids. Around 2pm, I tried to convince the girls to go with me to pick out pumpkins to carve, but neither girl was excited. However, Calista was excited, so I told them I would go and pick out a pumpkin for her too. I visited the nursery I pass our way to the girls' tennis lesson in Keller. They still had a ton of pumpkins and they were all great sizes! I picked out four and probably paid way too much for them, but they were the perfect pumpkins.

I returned to the house and Olivia and Calista were both excited to get started. I had both girls draw faces with a Sharpie and then I cut out the features with our kitchen knives. Sofia wasn't interested in carving her pumpkin, so Olivia and Calista both got two pumpkins! They loved it and had so much fun. Meanwhile, the dogs loved eating the pieces we cut and removed. They loved it.

Once we were done carving pumpkins, the girls got dressed into their costumes while I put the Texas beef chili and the chicken-white bean chili on the stove to reheat. I also made our favorite corn bread and put it in the oven. In past years, we've had chili and cornbread with Marco, Stacy, Antonio and Luca at our house and then trick-or-treated in our neighborhood before crossing the street to David Lane and continuing our quest for candy in that neighborhood. This year, they were going to a friend's house for a Halloween party and then trick-or-treated in their neighborhood. So, we invited Calista and her parents, Tammy and Peter to come over for chili and cornbread. We then planned to meet up with Michelle and her mom Iryna, Hannah and her parents Casey and Mike, and Marisa and her dad Rex outside on our driveway at 630pm. We met up outside and our new neighbors, Sal and Jen and their kids Lilly and Vince were out front too. They had a get-together withe Sal's Aunt and Uncle in Arlington, but the kids enjoyed running around the neighborhood and trick-or-treating with all our kids. It was such a fun evening and I love that we have tons of kids in our little neighborhood now!

The kids knocked on Trent's door and an old woman answered the door - it was Trent! I couldn't believe it! He really looked like an older woman. We made our rounds and visited Mitzi and Steve and Biscuit and the girls were given their bag of goodies from Ann. Ann always makes up special candy bags for each of the kids in the neighborhood! It's so sweet and full of some great sweets. Our last stop before we crossed the street was to Dana and Todd's house, which has been our first visit in years past. Brandon used to trick-or-treat with us and last year he just walked the neighborhood with us, but now that he's 16-years old he is too old for it all. We said goodbye to Sal and Jen and their kids and then the rest of us headed across the street to David Lane. We were the only ones walking the streets for about 15 minutes when we realized that there was another family with two kids. Unfortunately over half of the houses were dark and had baskets of candy out front. The houses that were offering candy were great about giving candy and being friendly to the kids. It did feel like normal in many ways. Once we turned onto the next street there were a few more small groups of trick-or-treaters, but it was still very quiet compared to years past. Thankfully the weather was perfect and there was also a blue moon, which was beautiful. We came across a few "spooky" houses, and Hannah held back. One of the last houses we visited was the absolute scariest house ever. This year was just the same! Sofia, Olivia and most of the kids just walked right up without a care, but Hannah and Michelle were not into it! Poor girls. We visited the last houses and all the kids were tired! We walked back to our house and the girls wanted to go into our house and split up candy. So, Marisa, Olivia, Sofia, Hannah and Calista ran upstairs to go through their loot and then trade their favorites. Around 9pm Hannah, Calista and Marisa headed home and our girls changed into pjs and ate candy. They started a movie, but at 10:30pm, I told them it was time to go to bed. Olivia was beyond ready to go to sleep. She was completely worn out. Both girls went to bed and had a great time for Halloween.

Sofia wore her costume to school on Friday!