Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving! One of my very favorite holidays! I woke up and headed to the main house where Olivia was newly awake and Uncle Steve was on his computer. I grabbed a cup of coffee and cuddled with Olivia near the fire while we waited for everyone else to wake up. Soon everyone was up and we made breakfast tacos since we didn't plan on eating our Thanksgiving meal until the afternoon, so we wanted some protein and real food in our bellies. After breakfast, the girls stayed in their pjs and we played a couple of hands of Uno while Uncle Steve made his awesome homemade apple pie and Aunt Shirl relaxed with us. After a few Uno games, the girls continued playing on their own with their dinosaurs and a few games of Memory. Mike visited with extra chairs that we needed to seat all 12 of our Thanksgiving table and he also had the turkey that Uncle Steve would be putting into the oven after the apple pie was done. The pie turned out perfectly and as much as I looked forward to the entire afternoon, company, delicious food, and everything else, I really couldn't wait to eat Uncle's awesome apple pie!

We showered and got dressed and I had the girls get into there nice outfits, not only for our meal but I wanted Aunt Shirl to take a good photo of the four of us to use on our Christmas card. Unfortunately, my camera's battery completely ran out and I didn't bring my charger so I was stuck taking photos with my iPhone. Aunt Shirl had her small camera with her which works well, but I was really hoping we could use my camera! We decided to stand right outside the back door and she actually got a good photo of the four of us as well as a cute picture of the girls together. After photos, CK and I did one final grocery run for a few things that we needed and we returned just as the turkey made it's way into the oven! Aunt and Uncle's very first turkey on their first Thanksgiving in the hacienda was in the oven!

Aunt and Uncle's guests arrived around 3:30 and included Mike and Chris who also have a house in Santa Fe and who have hosted us at their house the past several Thanksgivings and for 4th of July burgers. There were also two additional couples who we met this past 4th of July and who are very interesting and friendly. We started off with appetizers of cheese, crackers, nuts and other goodies. We also enjoyed champagne out on the patio while the girls played out in the arroyo. They put on their jackets and gloves and headed out to climb, explore and make up stories. We told them to stay within eyesight of the hacienda and we could hear them and see them. While they played and everyone was occupied, I called my Aunt Cathy in Colorado and wished her a happy Thanksgiving. It was great to talk with her and I always feel like we could talk for hours.

Finally it was time to eat dinner! We called the girls inside and had them wash their hands before we ate around 5pm. Everything looked delicious and we had all the usual dishes: turkey, my favorite stuffing that has apricots and sausage that Aunt and Uncle have made for many years, mashed potatoes, the best gravy ever (another of my Uncle's specialties, brussel sprouts (my Aunt's specialty), roasted sweet potatoes and root vegetables, and several salads brought by the guests. It was all fantastic and delicious! Sofia grabbed some turkey and was heading in for sides when I pointed out the brussel sprouts right in front of her. She made the worst face and I was lucky enough to get a picture! I happen to love brussel sprouts and both our girls swear they hate them even though they haven't tried them. I did get Olivia to try two and she said they weren't bad! After eating Thanksgiving dinner, we talked, ate Uncle Steve's delicious apple pie and pumpkin tart and visited for a while. The guests said their goodbyes and headed home and it was a very successful evening. Given the recent elections, we were a little curious as to how the evening might go, as was Uncle Steve, but it went fine. Sofia and I played a few games of Uno and then the girls went off to bed. We all helped with the dishes and then headed off to bed as well. Such a fun (and tiring) Thanksgiving!

Uncle Steve's sliced apples in a yummy cinnamon mixture ready to be made into a pie

Checking out the fresh turkey with Aunt Shirl!

The apple pie - all ready for the oven

The girls busy playing dinosaurs and the Memory game

The found my lipstick before our family pictures!

Our family picture!

The girls

The turkey goes into the oven

The four of us take a break from cooking for a photo by Sofia

The table is all set!

Starting off Thanksgiving with a glass of champagne

Carving the turkey

The group ready to eat!

Love this picture! She obviously loves brussel sprouts!

The relaxed and gracious hosts!

Santa Fe for Thanksgiving

We headed to Santa Fe for Thanksgiving on Tuesday afternoon, after some rainy weather cleared out of Dallas. Around noon, we picked up sandwiches from Pot Belly's and then loaded up and got started on what ended up being a 3.5 hour flight due to some head winds. Olivia and I napped as did Sofia and I woke up about 15 minutes before we landed, which is perfect. Just as we left, CK gave Sofia the JK Rawling's book "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" and by the time we landed in Santa Fe she was almost completely done with it! We got into our rental car and headed to Aunt and Uncle's new place, which they are calling their "hacienda." We were able to see it on our last day in Santa Fe over our July 4th visit, but it was empty and they have done a lot of work on the inside and backyard since then. It's located north of the Plaza and feels very rural even though it's still an easy walk to the Plaza. Their backyard backs up to a natural arroyo and there is a gate leading directly out to it, which Aunt Shirley knew the girls would love to explore.

We arrived and were shocked at how cozy and beautiful the hacienda is! The backyard is a complete transformation from when they bought it just 5 months ago and it all feels like they have been there for years already! It's perfect! After we brought our bags inside, putting CK and my bags into our very own guest room just outside of the main house and the girls' bags in their room, inside the house, we decided to explore the arroyo. It had rained the day before, so the ground was still wet and sandy and the girls loved it! They found a lot of great rocks to collect and their jacket pockets were soon filled with new treasures.

After our exploration efforts, we headed to our favorite Mexican food in Santa Fe - Maria's for dinner. Sofia and Olivia brought their T. Rex dinosaurs - Fear is Sofia's and Pounce is Olivia's and they are good friends. Once we arrived at Maria's, CK got the girls Shirley Temples and they sat in the entryway, coloring the new coloring books Aunt Shirl gave them and drinking their drinks while their dinosaurs watched them. Sofia also finished her "Fantastic Beasts" books and loved it. We enjoyed dinner and catching up with Aunt and Uncle, including a lot of talk about all the work done on the hacienda! Once we returned, the girls went to bed in their new guest room and we visited for a bit longer before heading off to bed ourselves.

On Wednesday morning we made breakfast tacos with eggs, bacon and cheese and the girls played in their pjs with the dinosaur figures and the memory game next to the fireplace. The fire felt great, since it was in the mid-30s at 7:30am! Olivia and I tried to challenge Sofia in the memory game, but she beat us every time and Olivia kept getting frustrated and quit playing. After eating and getting dressed, Aunt Shirley and I headed out to run errands to prepare for Thanksgiving. It's great to have the whole day before Thanksgiving to help get ready and run errands. We first visited Bed, Bath and Beyond and then stopped in World Market, which was a new store for Aunt Shirl and she loved it. I knew she would find great stuff there and she bought a beautiful table runner, napkins and new plates, since they expect 12 people and only have six plates. From there, we stopped in Whole Foods to get the finishing touches for the big meal. By then we were starving and CK texted me to ask about lunch since they girls were also starving. He'd fed them pretzels and apples but they were still starving. We offered to pick up lunch at Bumble Bee, one of my very favorite places in Santa Fe. I keep hoping that they will open one in Texas! It's basically fresh Mexican fast food that is delicious!

We returned to the hacienda and ate our Bumble Bee's food, which was as delicious as ever. After lunch, I took the girls on a hike through the arroyos and neighborhoods to the Cross of the Martyr that overlooks the city. When we started off, the girls were too warm so they decided to leave their jackets and gloves behind. By the time we made it to the Cross, it was close to sunset and getting chilly. Sofia had her hat with her and almost never complains about being cold, so she was fine. She never even wore her hat, since she used it to keep her T. Rex, "Fear" warm since "she isn't used to the cold." By the time we started back toward the hacienda, Olivia was freezing. I gave her my jacket which hung down nearly to the ground, but she was comfortable. I ended up jogging a little just to stay warm and the sun was fading fast. We made it back just as the sun set, which was perfect timing. I actually thought we had one more ridge to cross but was thankful when I saw the hacienda sooner than expected. I was getting chilly and the temperature was dropping was!

While we were on our hike, Uncle Steve worked on his delicious pumpkin tart, which he made last year. Instead of the traditional pumpkin filling, it calls for garam marsala, which really adds to the flavor but doesn't overtake the pumpkin. Plus, he makes his own pie crust from scratch which is amazing. My Grandma baked pies every day and sold them in a little store they ran when Uncle Steve was young, so he's had a lot of experience working with dough and pies. I swear his pie crust is the best I've ever had anywhere! He had the girls help him make "leaf" cut-outs for the top and they loved it, of course. After, the girls went back to playing with their dinosaur figures by the fireplace while we went out in the back and sat under the heaters and enjoyed drinks and snacks. It was surprisingly warm sitting under the heaters with our jackets on. It was already down into the 30s and chilly away from the heat. After awhile, we ordered pizza from Il Vilcino and Uncle Steve and I picked it up and returned to a great salad made by Aunt Shirl. The pizza and salad really hit the spot! After, we put the girls to bed and went to sleep ourselves.

With Papa - ready to head to Santa Fe!

The girls and me

Olivia and her lovey "Giraffey" cuddle up before a nice nap!

The view along the flight

Hiking in the "new" arroyo near Aunt and Uncle's hacienda

Books, coloring books, crayons, Shirley Temples and dinosaurs....what more could one need?

At Maria's

Hiking with Sofia and Olivia and their dinosaurs - Fear and Pounce

We made it to the Cross of the Martyrs

A serious game of Memory

Olivia and the dinosaurs

Uncle Steve making his delicious pumpkin tart. Yum!

Reading "What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night" with Aunt Shirl

Making leaves with Uncle Steve

Fear likes the looks of the pumpkin tart!

Sofia's Pink Pirates Party

Yesterday we had the Pink Pirates "End of Year" pizza party at McPherson Park. We met at 5pm so we could enjoy the last hour or so of light and I could take individual and team photos. Our season seemed to go by so quickly and it seemed easier to have a pizza part at our usual practice time of 5-6:30pm on Thursdays since we know all the girls are available. We arrived a little early and I started taking individual photos of the girls while the rest of the team played and had fun together kicking one of the soccer balls around and running around. After the team photo, the girls enjoyed pizza, chips, fruit and cupcakes and had so much fun together. It's really a great group of sweet girls who are all good to each other. Most of the team have been together for years and the new girls seem to fit right in with the team, so they really make a great team who all get along well. We are now playing up into the U11 age group which proved to be a challenge with bigger and stronger girls and several of the teams had a number of very good players. The Pink Pirates did a good job throughout the season of passing the ball and making plays and ended up in 3rd place.

Sofia mainly played defense or goalie, which she's surprisingly good at playing. She really loves playing goalie and also defense. Jeff had her play offense a few times, which she doesn't really enjoy, I think mainly due to the amount of running and she's not as aggressive in taking the ball and passing or dribbling it down the field. However, Jeff really wants every member of the team to score, so he had her play offense in the final game, which was against probably the weakest team we played. It also rained solidly through the entire game, which Sofia said made it a little hard to see since her glasses would get covered in rain. She actually got within a few feet of kicking it into the goal a few times! She did a great job and was so close! After that last game, she was really upset with not scoring and told me she didn't plan to quite playing soccer until she scored 5 goals. I love her determination and desire to score and raise her game. I told her we need to go out and practice during the off-season and she agreed. Sofia had a good season and really loved going to practice and games. The girls are a lot of fun and all get along really well, which she really enjoys too. In the past, soccer practice and games have been a challenge and she used to complain about not wanting to go, but then tell us how much she loved it afterwards. So, it's a great change that she enjoys it now. Before her first practice of the season she started complaining that she didn't want to play soccer and I called CK because I was so flustered at arguing with her. He got on the phone with her and convinced her that she needed to commit to playing and having a good attitude or she could play us back with her $5/week allowance, which would take her several months. She agreed and really had a great attitude since that conversation.

I really enjoy the parents of the Pink Pirates and look forward to our Saturday morning ritual of her 1 1/2 hour game each week. I also enjoy taking photos of the girls, although I feel like my photos weren't terrific this season for some reason. I didn't take as many photos and didn't feel like the quality of photos was very good either. I hope she stays interested in playing and enjoying her friends and learning about soccer and am so glad she's enjoying it so much! We look forward to next season!


And she's got the ball!

Sofia as goalie - her favorite position!

Go Pink Pirates!!

Getting some last minute advice from Coach Jeff

Olivia and her Papa watching the Pink Pirates play!

Our goalie, ready to get the ball!

Olivia playing around with her buddy David

Goofing around on the sidelines

Pink Pirate portrait!

I absolutely love this picture of Sofia!

The team!

Silly girls!

Enjoying pizza and cupcakes after pictures and playing together