There's A New Chef In Town

Happy Thanksgiving 2017

Dear Joshua and Luke,

Happy Thanksgiving 2017!  Joshua has shown quite an interest in cooking this year.  This summer he worked on making spaghetti, tacos, and many a frozen or convenience dinners.  Joshua decided he wanted to cook as much of the Thanksgiving dinner as possible.  We started the night before with baking a pumpkin pie and making cherry jello salad.  We watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving as we prepared these items.  Luke gave us support by taking care of Bella and entertaining her while we worked in the kitchen.


The next day I got up early to start the turkey.  Joshua was not happy that I started in the kitchen before he got up.  Joshua immediately jumped in with peeling and cubing sweet potatoes and regular potatoes.  Next, he worked on putting the ingredients in the crock pot for the sweet potatoes.  I helped a little more with the mashed potatoes.  I explained to him that timing is everything with making mashed potatoes.  He still helped  with adding the butter, milk, salt, pepper, and a little more salt! Joshua also stirred and stirred the homemade gravy.  I managed to prepare the croissants while Joshua took a quick break watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade,  It was great having a special assistant in the kitchen!

It is important to note that Luke did his part in the Thanksgiving preparations by again entertaining and watching Bella, feeding her, taking her on a walk, and being her best buddy.

The new chef in town!

Once the food had been prepared, Dad had the job of loading everything into the van for our small commute to Highland, IL.  We wanted to share our dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Litteken. We pulled up to the nursing home and unloaded the food, drinks, utensils and everything to eat our Thanksgiving dinner.  Grandma had reserved the conference room for us to enjoy our feast.

A fun game of Clue with Grandma - who dun it?

What an awesome dinner!  Thirty minutes later, our tummies were full, and Joshua was feeling like a million bucks!  And he should have!  He did a great job of cooking so much of the dinner!  Grandma brought one of her infamous cheesecakes - cherry cheesecake. Yum!  Yum!  We had to be out of the conference room by 5:30 pm so we had to solve the crime quickly with our game of Clue.

Joshua & his new favorite foods

One of the best parts of the day was seeing how much Joshua ate for dinner!  He discovered that he really liked stuffing.  He even mixed it with turkey and gravy!  Not too many people probably get excited about their child eating so much for dinner, but a mom of a child with so many food allergies would see this as a huge victory!  I think it had a lot to do with him preparing so much of the food.  Whatever it was, there was a lot to be thankful for!







We ended the evening by watching TV and turning in to bed early.  At one point during the day, I told the boys what I was most thankful for:

*Both boys top the list (and Bella of course!)
*Family, including another Thanksgiving to share with Grandpa, Grandma, Nana, etc.
*An abundance of food to prepare for our dinner (and to always fill our pantry and fridge)
*A nice home to prepare food in (and to shelter us so well the rest of the time)
*A great job serving my community and the best families
*The ability to participate and do so many things we want to do.

One  last note....this is our third Thanksgiving without my mom,Grandma Nichols.  Three years ago she left us to join Grandpa Al in heaven.  We talk about her a lot, and still miss her every day!

And more!  I am one blessed Mom!

I love you both more today than I did yesterday!

Love,
Mom

Here Comes a Raccoon

Dear Joshua and Luke,

Yesterday was the first official coon hunt for Luke and his dad. In early September, Eric and the boys attended a trapper’s camp at Carlyle Lake.  For  most of the weekend, you both learned techniques and information about trapping animals.  While both of you have been very interested, Luke has found a new passion in coon hunting.  This passion was solidified this year as Luke read Where The Red Fern Grows.  Luke’s love of animals, especially dogs, has shown through.  

Lucky for Luke, Luke and his dad have been out several times with Mike, a new friend and avid coon hunter. They met at the trapping camp.  Mike has shown Luke how his dog, Ann, has been trained to trap and hunt coon.  While Luke still dreams of his own red bone puppy, he gets to enjoy Ann and her tricks with Mike and his friends.  

Luke bought wader boots, a hunting jacket, a coon call, and a hat with a flashlight attached to it.  After a short time in the woods, Ann did what she has been trained to do.  Well - almost.  She tracked a possom first.  Then, she found a racoon clinging onto a small branch.  Mike shot the racoon.  His son, Quinton, skinned and cleaned the coon for Luke, and gave Luke the coon to take home!  Luke could not be much more excited.  He could not wait to tell Grandma the story about this coon.  Grandpa will certainly love the story, too.

I love you more today than I did yesterday.

Love,
Mom