30 days of Thanks: Day 22

Day 22: Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has enjoyed time with family, friends and counted your blessing. Hope you also had some delicious food as well.

I know there are 8 more days left in November but today I wanted to list more than one thing that I am grateful for.

I am grateful for Skype. I was able to see my whole family at once today! That rarely happens so it was great being able to see my parents, sister, brothers, spouses & kids all at once!

I am grateful for silly moments that make me laugh. This morning both girls were up and fully awake by 6:50am!! On the one day I wanted them to actually keep sleeping like usual. Aghh!! I had some much to do to prepare for dinner but somehow I managed. The girls were actually very good today and got their naps in. Valentina was being extra silly today and walked in the kitchen with her toy bucket on her head. It was her ‘hat’ and she wore it while watching YouTube videos on the iPod.

silly girl

I am grateful for the ability to cook. I know this is a gift that I have been given and I have never taken this for granted. There are a lot of people who can barely make box mac n’ cheese much less a Thanksgiving meal. Since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, I make sure we celebrate it on the actual day. You won’t find whole Turkeys at the store so if you want one, you have to pre order from the butcher. I have always said to make it easy on yourself and just buy turkey breasts. It’s the best part anyway.

So tonight’s dinner was Chick-Fil-A style Turkey Breasts, Cornbread Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Carrots, Peas and Gravy. For dessert, I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies. I’m not a fan of Pumpkin Pie but I love Pumpkin Choc. Chip anything! Luckily Carlo and Valentina loved them as well. Unfortunately, Betta can’t have chocolate yet so I made her an extra special treat. Pumpkin Pancakes!

I actually cooked some pumpkin and mixed it with sweet potato and bananas. Threw in some vanilla, flour and egg yolk. I didn’t measure anything and just went along blindly. They turned out really good and she ate one as an afternoon snack.

I am also thankful that we have been blessed by having Elisabetta as part of our family for 9 months now! What a great way to celebrate her 9 month birthday by letting her eat all she wants!! And she did.. so much that she spit up after 3 servings of food.