let it snow

happy thanksgiving everyone! it has snowed here; just a light dusting but it's pretty. moose is pretty happy about it. oliver thinks it makes the sun too bright.

we're getting ready for thanksgiving around here. we are hosting this year, with help from the fam. bryan is in charge of cooking. we are making crisp apple-scented roast turkey with cider–calvados gravy, port wine cranberry sauce, green bean casserole (the real deal), corn budin, sweet potatoes, port glazed onions (some cross between this recipe and this one), cornbread stuffing (shannon's creation), cranberry bread, mom's famous yeast rolls, cranberry chocolate torte, apple pie, and mulled cider. yea, it's gonna rock. bryan and shannon are currently in the process of totally destroying my kitchen in pursuit of the meal. i am staying out of the kitchen in order to retain my marbles.

all the sisters are in town, which is awesome. katie has been coming over every day to help out with the baby, which has been a total blessing. last night, shannon made 5 pizzas (deep dish sausage, stuffed crust meatball with a balsamic tomato sauce, feta and tomato with pesto, chicken with pecorino romano sauce, and pumpkin). we had a lot of fun as usual. as we determined last night, the conversations haven't changed so much as our vocabulary has expanded. a typical conversation at the dinner table goes something like this:
mom: [explaining a recipe for swiss chard]
katie: what's chard?
adrianne: swiss chard?
katie: oh... cheese.
everyone: what???
katie: well it's swiss right?

yes, she is blond. ;) as is shannon. this is just further proof of her innocence. after dinner, we were talking about ron jeremy (don't ask me how we got on the subject).
mom: who's ron jeremy?
shannon: oh, you don't want to see that movie. it's really bad.
everyone: what?!?!
shannon: anchorman!
adrianne: no that's ron BURGUNDY!
shannon: oh. then who's ron jeremy?



oliver has been growing bigger already, which is bittersweet. he gets cuter by the day, and more alert and in control of his motor skills. we are, of course, convinced that he is a very advanced baby. which i am sure he actually is.