lobos v wildcats

finally - the last home game of the football season! report time was 1pm for the 2pm kickoff, and big sister drove herself and little sister to the stadium.

many students were missing due to holiday travel or possibly quarantining - so the marching band today was down to about 60 members.  they performed the usual stand tunes, then just a few songs standing in place for halftime on the field.  it was very cold and windy, so daddy, grandpa & i only stayed until the end of halftime. ;-)  little sister got to play a snare drum, since all of the front ensemble instruments were left at the school and not even brought to the game.

before the game, i set up a tripod on the front porch to capture our cute matchy-matchyness.  :/

thanksgiving

 we decided to play it safe and not have anyone over, nor go anywhere, for thanksgiving.  we did have 3 zoom calls with family which was nice.  i am proud of the full menu i made, including a 19+ lb turkey!  although this year has not been ideal, we still have a lot to be grateful and thankful for.

i actually baked the turkey yesterday.  daddy helped be break down the whole  bird on tuesday, and then i applied a dry rub to the pieces and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight before baking wednesday afternoon.

it took less than 1.5 hours to roast.  i split the pieces into four 9x13 pans because i did not want the juices to overflow on a baking sheet.  in addition to the dry rub, i applied a fresh herb mixture to all surfaces and placed the pieces on top of cut up vegetables, lemon halves, and chicken broth.  it sure smelled like thanksgiving while it roasted!

after cooling several hours, daddy deboned the meat for us.

i also made dressing, corn casserole, and cheesy potato casserole on wednesday just to stay ahead of the big day.

then today - before, after, and sometimes during our zoom calls with family, i made the rest of the meal:

roasted sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, & gravy. (not pictured: rolls)

and who can forget dessert?!  pecan pie bars, and my friend alicia made me (us?) a coconut cream pie.....but no one likes coconut beside me!! yum!

happy thanksgiving!

christmas cookies #5

 i'm always on the lookout for new holiday cookie recipes, and this stained glass cookie caught my eye.  but i wanted to keep the candy areas small so that the cookies were easy to eat - because you cannot really chew a jolly rancher in the same bite with soft sugar cookie dough.

first i made the dough and chilled it in the freezer overnight.  i never seem to have the stamina to make and bake cookie dough all in the same day.  i let the dough sit out for about 30 minutes so it would be easier to work with.

then i sorted the bag of jolly ranchers by flavor, and unwrapped and placed 6 pieces of each flavor into separate zip-top bags.  then i used a meat mallet to crush them.  i could already start to feel the stickiness of the candy dust on the countertop and on my hands, so just be warned you are likely to make a mess before all is said and done.

i sorted thru my holiday cookie cutters and selected a fancy ornament, and then decided to try using an extra-large drinking straw to make the "windows" in the cookie.  i think the design turned out cute.  plus, i had five candy flavors, so 5 windows would be perfect.

i let the cookies chill in the refrigerator as i cut out the remaining dough.  i ended up with 4 sheet trays of cutouts.  then i took the first tray (which was chilled the longest), and added the candy.  i was careful to removed any excess candy chips from the dough face and the surrounding pan.  i let the tray chill another 10 minutes or so before placing in the oven.

i skipped the step in the recipe that said to add more candy chips to the cookies halfway thru baking.  i think i would still be baking the first tray if i had stopped each batch to do this step - BUT, seeing how thin the windows turned out, maybe this was an important step.

some cookies were rolled thinner than others, thus the uneven baking of some.  no worries - those are the first to get eaten, because a baker has to taste-test her projects, right??  the cookies turned out crispy, and the window panes are slightly crunchy without being a jaw-breaker.  i ended up having a lot of leftover crushed candy, which started to clump together the longer it sat out open to the air.  i will definitely try these again, and maybe look for tiny decorative cutters to use as the windows.  big sister helped for a little bit with the candies, but mostly i did the bulk of the work.

lady lobos v broncos

 it's been a long 9 weeks, and volleyball has finally ended today.  little sister was determined to do both volleyball and band as a freshman, and for the most part she was happy with that decision.  i was excited that all the kids were able to resume a bit of normalcy with sports/band practices/games after the rough spring & summer we've all had.  that is not to say i did not worry the entire time about every move!!

the freshman girls ended strong against a tough team, but they lost in two games: 21-25, 8-25.  little sister was still being benched for missing a game last week - the only game she missed all season, might i add.  SMH.  she ended up playing for only 6 serves.

no matter what, i will always cheer for #7 and am so very proud of her for committing to participate and improve herself.

christmas cookies #3 & #4

 more baking today - chewy molasses and oatmeal scotchies.

christmas cookies #1 & #2

 is it too early to start holiday baking?  not in my house!  i start early so that my freezer is full by the time mid-december rolls around.

first up - snow-top mint chocolate cookies (big sister's favorite!!)

i used some peppermint truffle baking chips we found on clearance at the grocery store last winter, since i never seem to find the hershey's mint chocolate chips i used to use.  i just store the chips in the freezer to keep them fresh.

another item stashed in my freezer is hershey's peppermint kisses.  the red & white stripes create a very festive cookie presentation.  so fun!

last game

 this morning was the last soccer game for the fall season, and the fusion girls came away with a 3-2 win.  they started the game down a player, then played the rest with a full field but no subs.  with a record of 5-4-1, they placed 3rd out of 6 teams - not too shabby for the hobby sport it has become for these girls.  they still do love to play together and show off their skills, and we are happy to cheer them on.

  

only one game tonight!

finally - the girls were able to enjoy the routine of a friday night home football game together!  with a call time of 5:30pm, big sister drove them to the stadium & my only job (after getting them out the door) was to attend the game at 7pm!

it was a doozy of a game.....the first quarter lasted 1.5 hours.  yes, 1.5 HOURS!  lots of penalties and stopping of the clock.  that really only meant that it may have been possible for little sister to attend the away volleyball game in mckinney, then make it back to the stadium before halftime...BUT really, who could have predicted that would be the case?  it was nice for a change just to sit at one event and not have to rush to another.

it was fun to see little sister involved in the stand tunes during the first half of the game.  she mostly played cymbals, and later she played a snare drum cadence.  i tried to capture some of the stand tunes that we were able to enjoy.

after halftime, daddy & i went home to escape the increasingly cool and windy weather.  all in all, it was a nice night for friday night lights.