Canadian Thanksgiving (October 8)

I love Canadian Thanksgiving! How many families get three large turkey dinners in three consecutive months? Ever since moving to the States, Canadian Thanksgiving has become my thing. Mom didn't want to cook two big thanksgiving meals every year and I couldn't stand the thought of not celebrating it, so I said I would do it. It is one of my most treasured traditions! Ever since Brian and I got married, we have seen a slightly different group of people at our table each year. It ALWAYS includes my parents and usually my brother and his wife, but the other personalities have varied depending on the year. We really wanted to find something that would become more permanent. It is important to me that Caleb really understand that he is half Canadian and that this holiday becomes something that he comes to love and anticipate. So we hit on what we believe to be a genius idea! After the big meal with my family (this year it was us, Grammy, Pop and Uncle Matt) we hosted an Open House for our beloved friends! We baked up MANY yummy treats to share and had a blast. I didn't take any pictures. Why not? Don't know. Sorry. I got pictures of the food though! It was fun! HAPPY CANADIAN THANKSGIVING!

My little chef is always at hand! We made shortbread cookies shaped like maple leaves (thanks for the cookie cutter Aunt Lorrie!).

I dove into turkey cake balls. I tried. They're okay. Couldn't find red hearts for the turkey wattle, so I used pink. I love pink.

Caleb and I made Rice Krispie pumpkins (with a chocolate surprise inside). I keep finding recipes for fun Rice Krispie treats in my Food Network magazines. They are so much fun to do with Caleb. I just found one today for Rice Krispie turkey-pops. Totally breaking that one out for American Thanksgiving.

He is so irresistable!

LOVE HIM! LOVE HIM! LOVE HIM!

Our yummy treat table. Gluten-Free included. I am now on day three of Gluten-Free and noticing a HUGE difference! Wowza!

Our cookies. Caleb did a fantastic job measuring, stirring, rolling, cutting out shapes and decorating!

Good turkey meal. Pop takes a nap. I love this tradition too. He and Matthew did the dishes first. He was allowed to sleep!

A Little Extra:

I have done some other baking this month too. I made a rainbow cake for Baby Trey's homecoming. I wasn't thrilled with the outer-decorating (I rarely am...I am working on that) but the inner effect worked great. I was so excited to surprise Heather with it. My first six layer cake! Wahoo.

Pre Icing. It leaned very slightly. I will do better next time.

  

I borrowed this picture from Heather's blog. You can see the cake effect. I love that she didn't know about the rainbow cake and bought matching hats anyway!

I also made these spider cheesecake cupcakes to take to Waco for the MS Walk. I saw them in a magazine and wanted to give them a try. Since we don't eat much baking (evidenced by the counter full of Thanksgiving Open House leftovers despite many plates sent to friends) I like to take advantage of any opportunity to do something fun and share!

Check back soon. Pumpkin Patch photos are next! It was mucho fun-o! Yeah for October!

Waco MS Walk (October 1)

The annual Waco MS walk took place in October this year, so Ashley and Millie chose "Ashley's Skeleton Crew" as the theme. They bought black skeleton pajamas for all of our chittlin's and they looked super cute. I didn't get too many photos from the actual walk but I got some great ones of Caleb playing with his cousins. You have no idea how much it meant to us to see Caleb having so much fun with Madison and Gabriel. He loves his cousins and I think he makes the absolute bestest big cousin!

Puppy came too. Puppy goes where Caleb goes.

We saw A LOT of this. Caleb running ahead. Us yelling for him to stop. His stopping for a millisecond. It went on like that the whole walk. He didn't even break a sweat.

He even got the other little peeps in on it for a bit too! Such a leader.

I told them to strike a silly pose. They look like they were dancing. Gabriel didn't understand.

They were going on a trip with Madison and Gabriel's old diaper bags as suitcases. This kept them very busy for a very long time. All manner of toys are stashed in those bags.

When we got to Waco on Friday night, I was wearing my brown cowboy boots. Madison ran off to find her pink ones and was my little shadow. I loved it. On Saturday she wanted my bracelet and shoes, so I felt she needed the headband and necklaces too. It was so much fun!

Gabriel didn't make it into any of the really good play photos, so I figured I would share this one. You have no idea how much he looks like his daddy!

Serious business at the Brodie home.

Caleb lost some sleep on our adventure. We took this picture before we got out of town. We thought he may not have finished chewing his last wafer but weren't sure. I checked and thought we were good. A few minutes later we noticed some rather thick slober. Cleaned it up and thought he was done. About an hour later, he coughed and it became apparent that there was still some cookie in there. He was fine. I was a little spooked. But he was fine.

It was a good trip. Caleb slept the whole way home.

NOT THE 100s!

Yes oh yes oh yes! Texas broke the 100 degree heat and it would appear that it is gone...until next year...which we won't think about right now. HUZZAH! We have survived the hottest and driest summer in Texas history. We are in heaven with our high 80s and emerging from the cocoon of our homes, aka summer prison. I love fall! AND I just now discovered that the fall colours I have missed so much in the last 15 years are a mere few hours north and NOBODY TOLD ME! A quick trip to Arkansas with a friend for consignment business revealed to me this beautiful truth. Why didn't y'all tell me? Seriously? You heard me complain! I am already planning a fall vacay in Arakansas for next year....

In other Alford news, CALEB IS SPLINT FREE! Wahoo! He was at my parent's house for two days while I was out of town and his last day with them was also his first day without the splint. I had told him the morning before that he wouldn't have to wear it and wasn't sure if he really got it. I can't believe I still underestimate our dude. He woke up about 3am and called my Mom into his room (yes, my parent's have a fully decorated and equiped Caleb room...they rock that much). He then stated something like "Grammy. Tomorrow is going to be a great day. I won't have to wear my splint and my arm will be all new." I LOVE OUR DUDE! Mom told me that on the phone and my five hour return drive suddenly seemed unbearably long!

The end of September was fun and I can't believe I have to do another "update" due to lack of blog upkeep. My brother and Dad will have a hay-day with that...So here we go:

The Alford Bed and Breakfast was open for business again and this time we got to keep Leah (3) and her sister Emily (9 months) for a day and a night. We had so much fun with two girls in the house and quickly whisked them off to McKinney's Octoberfest (with Grammy, Pop and Chai in tow). Brian and I swapped pushing a very heavy double stroller and I spent an afternoon with Emily strapped to my chest in a snuggly. Not only did we survive, but we thrived. The older kiddos got their faces painted and neither one would cooperate for a picture afterward, so these are the best I could do (it doesn't help that Caleb seems very anti-camera lately...):

Leah was so super excited the entire time we stood in line but got really shy when it was her turn...so Superhero Brian saved the day. She got a bunny rabbit...

...and Caleb got a dalmation puppy....that smudged almost immediately as he insisted on a Mommy cuddle while I had Emily in the snuggly...I managed. I think little dude was a little threatened by baby girl....(wow. I use a lot of "....s". Oh well.)

And boy oh boy check out baby girl's eyes! She is one of my little joy-bringers!

We couldn't get Leah out of the stroller in time to get a picture of both of them...and it isn't like Caleb was thrilled with the idea of a picture anyway...Can you tell?

And only a few short days later we had another wonderful event in our little Alford world...Heather and Nathan (and Trevor and Tatum) welcomed baby number three to their family and IT IS SO EXCITING!  I guess this would consitute a much bigger event in the Towers' world! I lay claim to Baby Trey whenever I can and Heather lets me! She is an amazing and generous friend! Caleb and I all but ran up to the hospital the day Trey arrived and I just love the picture of Caleb and Ben tolerating life in a hospital room...

Thank Goodness for IPads!

ISN'T HE JUST PERFECT?!

Heather...YOU HAVE ANOTHER BABY! WOW!

Just a reminder that Caleb is still our most perfect goofball...and still a big Buzz Lightyear fan!

Fall means crafts! Right? Of course it does! We made these turkeys out of pinecones Caleb gathered at his Grandmom and Grandad's house in Houston. It was his idea to use feathers and I love how they turned out. The leaf bouquet was proudly presented to me by my dude on the day Brian thinned out our trees. I love my leaf bouquet.

Stay Tuned For October Fun! Coming Very Soon!