Thanksgiving 2020

I hope that you all had a lovely Thanksgiving.  While it didn't look the same as it usually does, we missed Grace so much, it was a nice day with especially delicious food.

I hollowed out one of our pink pumpkins to make a center piece with grocery store bought flowers and foraged greens from our property.  

My Mom and sister's family joined us and we all contributed to the meal which makes it less stressful and overwhelming.  Bryce decided to smoke our turkey this year and it was delicious.  

I made a Blackberry and Apple pie (using frozen blackberries from the garden) and cinnamon ice cream.  

Of course, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Scotland but a group of Grace's American friends did get together and celebrate!

A Sparkly Celebration

A dear friend just turned 50!  We were all set to have a very small (just 11 of us!) celebration but with Covid numbers rising, we ended up doing a zoom call instead.  Sadly, it's so 2020.  However, I think it was as fun as it could be.  The loose theme was bubbles and champagne, which was perfect as Mollie is so vivacious and sparkly and fun!  The hosts put together a little goody bag to drop off to everyone which included  individual champagne bottles, cupcakes, a party hat, fun glasses and a noisemaker.  

I made the champagne cupcakes and they ended up to be very tasty.  The cupcakes were made with the champagne, then drenched in a champagne simple syrup and topped with champagne icing!  It's the little things that make me happy and I was so pleased that I used Cupcake's prosecco to make the cupcakes.  Silly but fun!  Also, the edible glitter stars were so beautiful!

Our friend, Kristin, made this amazing balloon installation.  I just adore it.

Celebrating 16

 

We had family over on Harris' birthday to celebrate!  While I wouldn't call him a picky eater, he eats whatever I fix at home, his go-to when eating out is a hamburger.  So it seemed like a good thing to serve for dinner and have as his cake.  I love how the hamburger turned out!  The ruffled "lettuce" and the "sesame seeds" are my favorite.  

Before it closed, we loved SmashBurger's rosemary french fries so I tried to recreate them.  It was only a moderate success because I let them get too crispy but we will try again.  Harris also loves Shake Shack burgers so I tried to recreate their sauce and that was pretty tasty!  We decided that my burger toppings board needed bacon and avocado to round it out!  

Love this kid.

Bryce took Harris and his bestie, Matthew, to Hershey Park to celebrate 16.  He and Matthew had also just gone go carting to celebrate Matthew's 16th birthday (they are four days apart).  

16!

Harris turned 16! We joked with him that this would be a very big deal in every other state, because he would be driving, but where we live it's just another birthday!  Here's my annual list about what's going on in Harris' world and why we love him so.

1.  Harris holds no grudges.  He can be upset or irritated with us and five minutes later it's as if nothing has happened.

2.  He quotes The Office with frightening accuracy and regularity. 

3.  Nothing seems to stress him out too much and he's pretty easy going.  This can be good or bad but for Harris it means that he's fairly easy to live with.  There isn't drama or angst and he seems to be flowing through these challenging times with relative ease.

4.  Harris plays MineCraft too much (that's all he plays, he doesn't do any other gaming) but he does seem genuinely interested in technology.  This year, he saved his money and bought parts to build his own PC.  

5.  He worked as a lifeguard at our local pool this year.  It was a lifesaver for him this summer as it provided him a social network, money and something to do in a year where it felt like everything was cancelled.

6.  He appears to have zero fashion sense or style.  You guys, if he wears a hoodie to one more event I might cry.  It breaks my heart but he doesn't currently appreciate or like his hair so he will often wear his hood up.  Drives. Me. Crazy.  He also will wear these white athletic shorts around the house that are now way too short but he doesn't seem to care. His regular tennis shoes look like they should have been thrown out a year ago (how do they even still fit?) and he doesn't seem to believe in the power of actually wearing warm outerwear.  

7.  He's brilliant at arguing why nothing is his fault :).  

8.  While so many teens listen to music throughout the day, he still listens to Harry Potter.  HP could very well be the defining thread throughout his childhood.   

9.  He cracks me up.  He often jokes that he peaked in elementary school.

10.  Rosie is still his favorite in the whole world.

Halloween 2020

Halloween sure is different with older children, and during the time of Corona.  Honestly, I almost didn't even put these few pictures on here because it seemed a bit ho hum!  We went to my sisters for lunch where we had a delicious Halloween lunch.  They made a puking pumpkin and I made brownies with oreo eyeballs.  In the evening, Harris went to a small gathering and we went to a friends house for a drink.  That's it.  

Oh, and Grace did send us a picture of her costume but I do not have a clear understanding of who/what she is.  I believe it's from a horror movie.

My favorite decoration, besides the ornament tree, is still our eyeballs in the hedges!