Thanksgiving 2011 - Ode to Learning Tower Part II

As promised, here are the pictures from this year, Thanksgiving 2011.  Because of the new recipes from this year, I only really put the learning tower into play during the night before baking.  We always make the pies and do prep on some dishes Thanksgiving Eve so that I can be sure to have time to watch the parade.  I do find it funny that we go to the trouble to make pie crust from scratch, only to put in canned fruit filling, but hey...there are somethings that I just like!  :)  Below is a small representation on the baking.  Like Mother, like Daughter, we have to, ahem, taste to make sure it's okay for everyone... 

So much to be Thankful for

As Thanksgiving has been getting nearer, I have found myself reflecting more and more on just how much I have to be grateful for this year.   If you ask Mark and I, our first answer, of course, is our child.  Followed closely by each other (I assume, rather egotistically I guess).  We're both thankful to still have jobs where so many others have been laid off.  We're thankful that six years ago we married each other.  We're thankful that both of us still have our mothers and fathers around, and we each have a grandmother (mine's turning 92 next week!) with us.  Here are some other thoughts I have had (in no particular order for those friends of mine who look for those types of things):

• I am thankful that in 2009 I decided, on a whim, to audition for a musical theater show again.  Without doing that, I would not have connected, and re-connected, with some awesome people.  By rejoining the Theatre Harrisburg community, we have been blessed many times over by the friendship of some amazing individuals and their loved ones.  Names have been left off to protect the innocent, but you know who you all are.
• I am thankful we have found a church that we can both be comfortable with...and I am thankful that I stopped allowing the United States political parties to tell me what being a Christian means.  I forgot it's God who does that.  Turns out, I can be a Democrat, or a Republican, or an Independent AND a Christian.  Who knew?!  
• I am thankful as well that this church remembers that we are all God's people - regardless of our sexual orientation.  I can therefore be comfortable that this church will teach my child to truly be Christian.  Not a judgmental, holier than thou, fake Christian who uses their idea of God to put down others.
• I am thankful for my husband's "coaching" that turned me into a runner, and by extension a happier, healthier wife and mommy.  I also love that my child must have her own running outfits for when she runs with us.
• I am thankful for this blog, and for remembering it was here.  Even if no one reads it, it's a wonderful outlet for a woman who once wanted to write for magazines and to write the next great American mystery novel. 

So, I'm sure I'll have to add an addendum or two to this for the rest of the week, I can begin Thanksgiving week with some of my top thoughts.  Family and friends first always, but there have been some amazing things this year - the running and our family back in a church being most notable at this point anyway.

Ode to our Learning Tower

With Christmas fast approaching, I felt this was an appropriate time to publish my "Ode to a Learning Tower" for those Mommies and Grammies out there looking for an amazing gift for the little one.  We purchased ours after Evie's first Thanksgiving when day one of cooking looked like this:

Hey guys! What are you doing? Can I help?

I began my schooling in Montessori.  My mother is a Montessori certified teacher.  Montessori promotes child's sense of self and independence.  Not independence from rules or parents, but ability to care for themselves, to experiment and join in the family life.  Any way that we could and can encorporate this into Evie's life, we do.  We even have her attending a great little school: East Shore Montessori School (can't recommend them enough either).  So, when I first saw a learning tower I knew I HAD to have one for my little girl.  Mark took a little convincing due to the price tag ($199 when we purchased it).  There was a cheaper "version", but trust me, the original Learning Tower is the way to go.  We're heading into Evie's 4th Thanksgiving, and it has been used every year for that holiday plus much more.  I never did get any of the add-ons (easel, puppet theater), but there's still time for that.  There is some wisdom too to the sayings that food a child helps to prepare, she'll eat.  Or, as in our rules here at the house, at least taste.  Miss Evie has been involved with a lot of our cooking/kitchen projects and it has really paid off in knowledge, her eating habits, and just general family time together.  What follows is a photo-journalistic timeline of Evie and her Learning Tower to date.  In just over two weeks we'll be really putting it to good use again as the yearly Mommy/Grandma two-day cooking extravaganza begins.  Only now, there's another lady in the mix, Evie joined the tradition in 2009 and shows no sign of wanting out! I am still trying to figure out how we're going to break it to her that this year, there will be no canned mushroom soup or canned green beans.  Mark recently found a recipe for homemade, from scratch, mushroom soup and then fresh green bean casserole from that.  YUM!

The Learning Tower Arrives

Seriously. Look at that little button nose.  Does it get any cuter?

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2010

Putting together her own lunch

Joining in the party prep

I'd like to note the soda was just for the party punch.  Usually it is not found in this house.

Learning new uses for snack items (as ingredients for dinner)

I think those are walnuts she's helping to crush

Cutting grapes for same recipe

From Small Garden to Table

Making sauce with the tomatoes she harvested from our garden

The following pictures are all from our Real Simple 4-weeks Meal Plan

Mommy and Evie learned together how you deal with butternut squash

I feel like there should be tons more pictures, but I think you can get the point from these.  It isn't always in use, but it's been used enough to make it more than worthwhile.  Just the fact that she can say that she'd "rather have couscous with her salmon than rice" or "mushroom stemming is my job Daddy!" or "I'm doing lemons, taking the leaves off (the thyme) takes too long" makes my heart sing.