We are so thankful....

.... that the fire we set in the oven didn't take the whole dinner, or the whole house for that matter!

Yep, that's right- the sweet potato pie went up in flames in the oven! Mom & I must have filled the pan just a little too full, which we figured out when we saw some smoke coming from the oven. Being the savvy cooks that we are, we put a pan under the pies (which we should have done in the first place and saved ourselves a lot of trouble) and opened a few windows. Well, the smoke got thicker and thicker and the smoke detector went off, which brought the kids in from their play and the men in from their football watching positions on the couch. Next thing we knew, there were flames in the oven!! Mom scooped the kids up and took off out the front door while Tim, Dad, and I tended to the fire. I tore the fire extinguisher off the wall in the kitchen closet- literally TORE it off the wall, screws and all! Dad opened the oven door, Tim aimed the fire extinguisher underneath the flaming pie, and Dad quickly shut the door after the attack. Thankfully, one shot was all it took!

The clean up was a drag, but we only lost the corn casserole, the fruit salad, and obviously, the sweet potato pies! The turkey was in a roaster on the kitchen table, mashed potatoes were in a covered pot on the stove, stuffing in a covered dish, cranberries chilling in the fridge.

It could have been a lot worse.

After the fact, all we could do was laugh. So much for my first time tackling the holiday meal!

Thanksgiving day

We were so excited to have Nan & Papa in Chicago to celebrate Thanksgiving with us! The day started out very peacefully- we ate home made pumpkin & zucchini bread for breakfast, watched some of the parade on tv, and Papa had a nice long coloring session with the kiddos before throwing the "old bird" in the roaster and heading off to the showers.

The Coenen fam all dressed up in our Packer gear and we took a bunch of pictures by the Christmas tree of the whole gang.

Mom and I headed to the kitchen to get started with our cooking. We'd made our cherry pie the night before (and enjoyed eating half of it for dinner that night as well), so we had the rest of the menu to tackle. We'd already started the turkey, so we got busy on our mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn casserole, cranberries, fruit salad, and sweet potato pies. It was all going so well.... everything seemed to be turning out great and timed just right.

It's amazing how quickly things can go wrong.

(To be continued)

Thanksgiving Feast at Goddard

We had an awesome Thanksgiving, which started with the Thanksgiving Feast at Goddard on Wednesday. My parents came in on Tuesday night so they could come visit the kids at school and they were so excited! The Director, Gina, and her mom prepared a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for over 300 Goddard students and their parents and families! They did a terrific job and we had so much fun joining the kids at school.

First we visited Maggie's classroom, the Panda room, where Maggie was just getting started with her lunch. She enjoyed the food and loved having Nanny & Papa in her classroom!


Next we moved on to Aaron's classroom, where Maggie had a book read to her by Nanny.


Aaron and his class were making pumpkin pudding. Aaron was taking his turn mixing, with some help holding the bowl from Ms. Chanel.

Miss Megan read a story and we loved listening to Aaron answer a bunch of the questions! When asked, "What is a feast?" Aaron replied, "it's a really big meal!"

Aaron with Daddy and Papa

Maggie playing with Nan in Aaron's class.
More to come on our Thanksgiving day and the rest of the weekend...... it was eventful!

Videos of Aaron at hockey

Aaron can't really open the fingers on the hockey gloves (because they are so big), so it's really hard for him to pick up the stick when he drops it!

Here's a short clip of Aaron "skating". The coach tells him to march like a soldier! This week he told him "short strokes for now and as you get to be a better skater the strokes get bigger and so do the hockey contracts!" LOL

Hockey classes

Aaron has been taking hockey classes the past 3 Saturdays with Connor out in Skokie. Kate saw an advertisement for it somewhere and wondered if we'd want to join them. It was pretty cheap (like $15-20 and then $3 to rent skates) and the boys sounded excited about it, so we decided to try it out. The classes were 30 minutes, so it was just enough time for them to get out there and try to get the hang of skating, without getting really discouraged or cold!

Aaron loved it! It was hilarious, especially the first week, because it was the first time he had ever been in ice skates. He looked like a baby giraffe who was trying to stand up for the first time! Absolutely precious.

That first week, he was tenacious and just tried to keep standing up, even though as soon as he got up he would try to move and pretty much fall down right away. After a few minutes, the coach had the 3 and 4 year olds hold onto the net and be pulled/push it around the ice. This was really helpful and Aaron started to get the hang on balancing on his skates. They also had some chairs on the ice, so they could use them to assist in standing up.

The second week, Aaron didn't take a nap before going and was obviously very tired. He still worked hard and was starting to get better at balancing on his skates, but he was exhausted by the end! The coaches had them on the net again and Aaron was able to skate along much better than the first week and even skate a little on his own. (Getting up after he falls down is the most difficult, as well as picking up the stick after he drops it.) They got the sticks and pucks out, which was thrilling for Aaron. If there is a stick and/or puck involved, he doesn't care if he's on his feet or not. He'll try to hit the puck with is stick while he's sitting on the ice, if he has to! The stick actually helped him skate a little better, as it made him keep his knees bent and his weight forward

This past week was the final week and Aaron really made a lot of improvement from the first week to the last. He can balance on his skates pretty well and "marches" around on the ice. He's enamored with the stick and puck and gets a little distracted from skating if there is a puck around!


Aaron & Connor all geared up and ready to give hockey a shot!



Standing with the chair during the first week


Being pulled on the net by the coach during the first week


This is Aaron on the second week of hockey


The rest of the pictures are from the final week of hockey
























Definitely distracted by the pucks- just sitting amongst them trying to hit them with his stick!



Connor wasn't so sure about hockey. The first week he went on the ice for a few minutes, had to miss the second week because he was sick, and got all suited up the final week and never made it onto the ice. He really liked cheering for Aaron though. What a good buddy!



Maggie is hanging out with Kate, cheering for her brother. She liked going along and watching, but really wanted to get on the ice too! Maybe in a year or two!



After class we would go over to the second rink where the bigger kids were playing and watch them. Aaron is excited for when he can skate and play hockey like those big kids!