Stuffed like a Turkey

A day later and I am still recovering. Since Thanksgiving dinner yesterday at 4, I have yet to wear anything without an elastic waist. Yep, that means dinner was a success.

My mom came up and it was a completely low-key holiday for us. No-stress occasions are the perfect time to try new recipes....and try them I did! After a frigid viewing of Miss Ri marching in the Thanksgiving Parade,

we headed home to hit the kitchen.

Our Menu:

Turkey w/ simple stuffing

Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Groovy Gravy (as my mom ALWAYS says)

Green Bean Casserole

Creamed Corn

Butternut Squash with Brown Butter

Sweet Potato Casserole

Brussels Spouts with Bacon and Blue Cheese

Creamed Onions

Hazel Beason Rolls

Okay, so I may have gone a little overboard. When we finished with dinner it looked like we had not ever started. My mom was in charge of the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and gravy....all the staples that are necessary for Thanksgiving. I took on all the "accessories." Here is the low-down on the new recipes.

Sweet Potatoes:

Justin absolutely loved these. My mom said they tasted like candy. They were also super easy, which is a must for any recipe that wants to be added to my repertoire. They have a brown sugar-butter-pecan topping that is fabu. It comes from my absolute favorite site, allrecipes.com, and had five-stars, so I had little doubt that it would be anything but fantastic. If you want to try it, here is the link: p://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Yummy-Sweet-Potato-Casserole/Detail.aspx

Creamed Onions:

Sorry, no photos of these. In fact, I made them in advance, so I almost forgot to set them out. I did scour food&wine for their photos, but they didn't have any either....jip! These were also very easy. They are extremely rich (heavy cream base) so they have to be eaten in moderation. I didn't get much feedback on them, but I did see that Justin had packed them as part of his lunch the next day....I will take that as a good sign. I get the Food & Wine magazine and adore Top Chef, so I have been dying to try something from their recipe box, but frankly I have been a bit intimidated. I will probably make these again, but only on special occasions. For the recipe: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/creamed-onions-with-thyme-and-sage

Creamed Corn:

So, I messed up the picture on this one too...its the bottom left. If you think you hate creamed corn, this corn will make you change you mind....and eat the whole pan. These were SO good (which means, of course, that they were an allrecipes.com 4 1/2-star) These were the first of the leftovers to be gone. If you want to try: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cream-Corn-Like-No-Other/Detail.aspx

Brussels Sprouts:

I had never, ever had brussels sprouts. I didn't even know they were brussel"S" sprouts until I typed this. I wish I would have taken a picture of these when we got them at the store. They only came on a stalk, so they looked very bizarre. This was the biggest experiment of all my new recipes which was tough because I had no idea what I was doing. You have to steam the sprout first, then start on the recipe. They had bacon, which makes every thing better, and blue cheese, which can make or break a recipe. All in all they were okay. My mother loved them even though she hates blue cheese. I just asked Justin and he said "I though they were great"...in complete monotone. He is so helpful. If you aren't scared off by blue cheese and want to give them a try: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/brussels-sprouts-with-bacon-and-cheese-recipe/index.html

Squash:

Frankly I picked these because brown butter sounded delish. More specifically, brown butter and brown sugar sounded extra delish. These were the biggest let down. I don't know what I was expecting...but they just weren't....really....anything. They weren't bad, but they weren't memorable enough for me to ever make again. However, I did learn how to brown butter, which I have never had to do before. But should you simply LOVE butternut squash, you should give it a try: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/butternut-squash-with-brown-butter?comments_page=1

Oh, how could I forget....the most unusual (but SO GOOD) dessert. Mountain Dew apple dumplings. No seriously. If you don't try anything else, try these. To put this in Rachel Zoe terms---I die! Click on over and don't be scared: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Country-Apple-Dumplings/Detail.aspx

Now, if you will excuse me....I am off to have some more leftovers....(looks elastic will be making an extended stay in my wardrobe)

Happy Halloween-Turkey Day!

Terribly (cute) Two

Something crazy happened yesterday. I woke up and my baby was gone.

In her place was a jabbering, fast-paced-yet-adorable little PERSON. OMIGOSH--my baby is not a baby! Yep, yesterday we spent the day celebrating the second birthday of Miss Addie Sue! For the last week, this is how conversations about her birthday would go--

Us: Addie, how old will you be

Addie: Twoooo

Us: and what would you like for your birthday

Addie: uuuuhhhhh, candies

Yep, everytime you asked her. So of course, she spotted the candies among her present pile when she first woke up....and consequently had Reece's Pieces for breakfast. After a birthday celebration with her sitter while Mom was at school, Addison and I had the afternoon to hang out and prep for the night's celebration. Addison started out by helping me make her cake. And by helping, I mean sticking her fingers in the fondant and pulling out a chunk while I was trying it roll it out. Thankfully naptime came quickly so she could rest up and I could finish the cake.

Rileigh had a short cheer performance in the early evening, after which we stopped off at the golden arches to pick up Addison's choice for her birthday dinner.


Papa was able to join us in singing "Happy Birthday" and got to watch Addie blow out her candles via ichat's video chat. We had to light all the candles again so Christopher could join us for a second round via Skype. Then we proceeded to light the candles a good 5 more times because Addison thought it was so much fun.
She decided forkless was the best way to eat her cake, which was a huge change from last year. When I tried to entice her to dig into her cake on her first birthday, she cried. I thought she would not be a cake person, however, she had a year to make up for her no-cake-birthday moment, and she came at this year's cake with avengence.

Following cake, Addison opened her gifts, which included a plethora of all things Dora. She started each gift by saying "Hey, what's in 'ere" before she would actually try to unwrap it. After opening each gift, she would comment on what she thought of the gift (por ejemplo--she opened a dora fleece blanket--she says 'awwww. its dora. how cute.')
She received a Dora tent as one of her gifts, so when she was finished, she and her sister pulled her Dora couch and Dora blanket into her Dora tent and settled in to watch a movie for Family Movie Night (not Dora....actually it was Pocohontas)
Yep, she stayed in that tent just about as long as it took for me to take this picture. She was so hopped up on sugar that she spent the remainder of the night running around like a crazy person. A cute crazy person, but indeed crazy.

All in all it was a great night. I think we wore her out because she is still sleeping as I am writing this.

There's a storm a'brewin

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A  * TORNADO WARNING FOR...   GATESBURY DRIVE IN SOUTH COUNTY.  * UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.  * AT 535 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED    A SEVERE TODDLERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO. THIS   DANGEROUS STORM WAS LOCATED ON TOP OF THE KITCHEN TABLE   ...MOVING TOWARD THE ISLAND COUNTER AT 100 MPH.  * LOCATIONS WITHIN THE WARNING INCLUDE...   THE KITCHEN...THE BATHROOM...SISTERS BEDROOM...THE LIVING ROOM   ANY AND ALL BEDS...THE PANTRY...AND ANYWHERE REACHABLE AT 2 FEET.  THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. MOVE ALL BELONGING INTO YOUR TORNADO SHELTER NOW! IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...PRETEND IT ISN'T HAPPENING... AND PRAY DAD GETS HOME SOON!

That's right. We have moved from 'tornado alley' to 'tornado addie.' Within an hour of returning home today, Addison did all of the following:

1. Took an oreo (you know, the new winter ones where the creme filling is red) and painted the window sills of our living room.

2. Poured out an entire cup I had just filled with Diet Dr. Pepper off of the island to make a waterfall.

3. Pulled the cat around the kitchen by its tail.

4. Chased the dog around the kitchen until he bit her and then continued to chase him, telling him 'no biting'

5. Poured an entire bag of Tostitos out of the pantry and onto the floor.

6. Played race cars with the chairs, pushing them all around the kitchen....so I suppose it was more like bumper cars.

7. Peed her pants....with no diaper....and no advanced warning.

This was all occurring while I was attempting to get dinner in the oven, help Rileigh with her homework, unload groceries from the car.....and just breathe. Most of it I can handle. However, she will have to learn quickly that nobody, and I mean NOBODY, messes with my diet dr. pepper....no matter how stinking adorable she is.

So Tornado Addie has hit, and hit hard. All I can say is duck and cover.....duck and cover and hope birthday number 3 comes fast!

Wedded Bliss!

I was so happy to create a video for my brother's wedding documenting the pre-wedding lives of my brother Christopher and his fiancee, Sheryl. It was a wonderful team effort between myself and the parents of the bride and groom. I was all set to show the creation at the rehearsal as I felt it was the best testament to amazing people that I could hope to come up with. The stage was set. I made the announcement, cried of course, then hit play. Less than five minutes in and the movie comes to an abrupt hault....and it never recovered. Oh the drama! Now, over a month later, I have figured out how to share it with family and friends of the bride and groom.....

Christopher and Sheryl--love you guys! Enjoy---->

(re)model behavior

So in the last week and 1/2 we have all but made it official that we will be moving back to Dodge City this summer. With moving comes a new house.....and new house means....REMODEL! I love, love, love to remodel houses. I am not talking just painting and new carpet. I like to knock down walls and build new ones to reconfigure the whole look and feel and flow of the place. If all goes as planned, we will be moving into my dad's house. It is more space than we have now, but it definitely needs some TLC to go from a house for a 50-year-old bachelor for a home for our family.

Now this house is no stranger to my remodeling handy work. First came the basement. Shortly after we had Rileigh, my dad let us move into the basement of his house. It was completely 70-ed out. Orange shag carpet on some walls, wood paneling on others. It was less than pleasant. At that time I was really into watching Trading Spaces.....which lead me to a brilliant plan. I talked my dad into letting me remodel the basement AND talked him into not looking at it or know what was going on until "reveal day." Justin and his dad did all of the work and made a wonderful transformation. My dad was bowled over with the reveal. I suppose that is what lead him to allow me to remodel his upstairs as well.....

Even though the upstairs remodel was only a few years ago, most of the changes I made were only cosmetic. You know, taking down wallpaper, new paint, new flooring....your basic updates. My plans for after we take over this summer are.....well....bigger! I have spent the last few weeks looking up "inspiration rooms" and drawing new layouts. Justin always just rolls his eyes at my latest creations, but I know he will come around (he has to! he will be doing the work!)

Some minor ideas:

Right now I am OBSESSED with wallpaper, which is weird...because I spent HOURS ridding our current house of it. However, wallpaper has made some major advances recently and has expanded far beyond boring flowers and stripes. My current favorite:

There is a room in the basement of my dads house that I painted barn red. I would love to incorporate this wallpaper into part of that room. It will be an office/guest room. (I love that I will need an office now that I am almost a grown up with a real grown up job)

I am planning to knock down some walls around the upstairs kitchen and living room. There is a big living room/dining room space already, but I would like to open the space up to the kitchen.....and expand the kitchen a bit. Today I was looking through the pottery barn website and found and inspiration living room layout:

There is a fireplace at the same place as this in the current living room, though it is all brick. So I quickly started to research resurfacing fireplaces. Although I don't think I will go with the stone that is like this inspiration room...I do think I will add the wood surround + mantle and perhaps do a paint treatment to the bricks.

My only other solid obsession is creating some banquet seating as part of the breakfast nook. I am imagining it in a space where I have a 1/2 wall, sort of like these two:

Thinking about all of this makes me wanna just HURRY UP and get started. Best part about this remodel...my sister-in-law has an even better eye than I do + she is SUPER handy and she loves doing it, so I will have her help for all of it.

One last bit of beautiful-ness. Not sure where it would go, but i LOVE this (lighting and all):

Say what?

Last night I had the honor of being a student speaker at the Wash U Scholars in Law Banquet. While I was incredibly honored to be asked, I was extremely nervous. Seriously, the law school Sarah is a complete chicken. Despite my "chicken-ness" I agreed and am so glad that I did. It was an incredible chance to get into the spirit of the season. I have so much to be thankful for, the receipt of my scholarship being one of my many blessings.

Here is what I had to say:

Thank you all for being here tonight. I have admit, I am normally not a front row girl. In fact, I have spent the last few years banishing bright colors from my wardrobe attempting to remain discrete as to not hear “Miss Heek….Heekey…..Hake….” and then have to speak in front of a big group of people. But for tonight, I have freed the orange. (for the record, I was wearing an orange scarf) Oh, and for the record, its Heeke.

My path to law school was not the one I imagined for myself. In fact, if you had asked the me 10-years ago to write out a life plan, the course I have taken would not have even been on my radar. I dreamed of something exciting and glamorous. But after high school, instead of instead picking out items to decorate a dorm room, I was buying items to decorate a nursery. At 18, I was a mom.

Suddenly my dreams had changed and my focus became on how to best meet the needs of my new family. For my husband and I, plans moved from deciding where we wanted to be in 10 years to how to just get through the day we were in. But each day got easier. And each day, dreams got bigger. And before I knew it I was in a whirlwind of LSAT scores, acceptances and scholarship offers. Beyond simply my school needs, there were so many factors to consider. What environment would be the most conducive to our growing family? Where would our daughter start kindergarten? Where would my husband be able to find a job? Could we afford the housing? Then came the offer that made our decision clear. It was the scholarship that said, “We believe in you.” And what’s more, we will continue to believe in you for the next three years, no strings attached. What it said to me was that Washington University school of law and its alumni understood the reality that life, and more specifically, law school doesn’t occur in a vacuum and that numbers, while important, aren’t the only measure of success. The spirit and the character that that offer encompassed made what I thought was to be a tough decision, incredibly clear. We packed up our family and we moved to St Louis. And although the journey to here has been far from glamorous, the possibilities that lay before me now are beyond what I might have once imagined.

I have no magic formula and I don’t wear a cape. The key to doing it all is knowing that I am never doing it alone. In large ways and smalls, directly and indirectly, everyone make an impact. From providing me with a room here so I could bring my newborn to school during first year finals, to all of you, who have selflessly donated money towards guaranteed scholarships that for me have added some much needed stability to my organized chaos. When I graduate this May, I know that I certainly will not have done it alone. I am just wondering how they will get the names of those who have gotten me here to fit on my diploma. And although like many of my classmate, I don’t know where or what I will be doing after graduation, we look forward to the day when we are able to take what we have learned from your great gifts and pay it forward. So thank you.

A thank you from me just would not suffice because the reach of your generosity extends far beyond that. St Louis thanks you for enticing bright minds and diverse people to call St Louis home, whether it is just for 3 years or forever. Washington University thanks you for allowing them to go from "streetcar college," it once called itself to rivaling Ivy League institutions, attracting outstanding students and nationally recognized faculty. My classmates thank you for supporting them and enstilling in them the concept of selflessness. My two beautiful girls thank you for allowing my husband and I to direct our efforts at saving money to pay for their college instead of worrying about if we will ever be able to pay off mine. And I thank you—for believing in me. For helping me. For making my dreams my everyday life.

Despite the drama surrounding the day prior to speech, I am so glad that I was able to stand up and give my honest reflection on one of the many ways I have been blessed. After I had finished speaking, I was approached by one of the donors, who with tears in his eyes (I swear!), told me that I had touched him deeply with what I had to say and that it made him want to reach into his pocket and give even more.

Mission accomplished?

Oh, times they are a'changing

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

So perhaps Robert Frost had something slightly more monumental than my particular circumstance in mind when writing this, but I think it befitting, so I am going to roll with it. For the last year or so, my husband and I have slowly been building a life in Denver--first in our heads, then by applying for jobs and making specific contacts and researching schools and housing online. The next task to check off the list in our master plan would be to actually move there after graduation and start the life that we have been laying the foundation for for the last 7 years. Happily Ever After right?

Well every story needs a protagonist. And at this point, ours has more than a few. The biggest, scariest monster is the recession. It's secret weapon is its amazing ability to prevent me from finding a job. One of the draws of signing on the dotted line to pay $40k a year (yes, per year) to go to Wash U was the prestige and the promise of the benefits a Wash U degree would bring in the job search. Joke is on me. Thus far I have been rejected by every firm I have applied to. Ouch. Talk about some major hits to the self esteem. I do still have an iron in the fire. I have talked to a large family law firm with a small branch in Denver. I have actually emailed a few times and talked to someone on the phone...which is further than I have gotten on any of my job leads.

Enter the next protagonist--my dad. So I was complaining about the job search to my dad....to which he responded, "Well, you know you could always practice with me." And of course I brushed him off. This was not and had not ever even been on my radar. And then he added that he would soon be moving out of his house...and it would be a good place for us to live. And so the seed was planted. The idea of the SWK has suddenly gone from completely off the radar....to...well....on it.

The last few days I have been going through all the pros and cons that this could bring

Pros:

1. FAMILY! this is one huge pro. Both sides of our family live in the southwest Kansas area. Being away from any form of family has been one of the biggest drawbacks to living in St Louis and a huge component on why we don't plan to stay here.

2. Financial Independence. Making ends meet has always been a struggle. In fact, in the 7 years we have been a family, we have never been able to cut it completely on our own. I cannot tell you what a sense of relief I get when I think about the possibility of not zeroing out each month. And not just not zeroing out--but being able to start SAVING! The decreased cost of living is also a huge draw.

3. Practicing with my dad (and just having a JOB in general). Okay, I may be biased, but I think my dad is a fantastic attorney. He has a great amount of professional and community respect. Some of that would be bound to rub off on me right? Besides, stepping out into the professional world is scary. Having my dad as a mentor through that transition would be incredible.

4. Rileigh would be excited about moving there. We haven't told her this is a possibility simply because Justin and I aren't sure enough that it is a possibility and I know she would get her hopes up. She has Gavin and Olivia (her cousins) and a slew of other friends she plays with when we visit. Besides that, she would be able to attend the school my mother teaches at, which is a HUGE positive. We really love her school here and know that Miller would push and challenge her just as much as Kennerly. Besides that she would have so much more freedom. Right now it is completely out of the question to let her walk to a friends or ride her bike around the neighborhood. Its just not safe. But it would change dramatically there.

5. Being able to be home at 5 every night. I would be more in control of my schedule and could make it flexible to work around the needs of my family. I could eat lunch at Rileigh's school and help with the class parties. And when it is time to go home at the end of the night....it doesn't mean I arrive there 45 minutes later after sitting in traffic.

6. Justin has a much better shot at coaching. Lets face it. It is hard to recruit to SWK, so they are a little more flexible. Although he has been very hesitant to show any signs of interest in moving to SWK, he does perk up when thinking about the possibility of coaching at a small school like Spearville.

7. Experience. Both Justin and I would have the opportunity to make ourselves more marketable when we plan to move to a bigger location in the future. Right now we are both so green that it is proving to be an incredible disadvantage.

8. We could have another baby. Sooner, rather than later. This makes me REALLY excited.

Cons:

1. It is not what either of us had ever planned for. I think this is the hardest one to overcome, especially for Justin. We have both always been of the mindset that we would like to see what other parts of the world have to offer and to not confine ourselves to what we have always known. Growth always seems to come when you step away from what is comfortable. We question whether this would be possible if we go back to a place where we could get anywhere in town with our eyes closed.

2. Bigger cities = bigger opportunities. The things we have been able to see and do the last 3 years have been incredible. They are things that would not be possible in a rural area. If we are bored on a Saturday, we head into the city for a festival. Rileigh has seen Broadway plays. We have gone to professional sporting events and concerts without making a weekend trip out of it.

3. failure. Not that moving to Dodge City = failure. Some of the most successful and happy people I know live there. More that we have failed in our attempts to reach our goals, so we have to go to our fallback.

4. Putting goals on hold. This is more so for Justin. He was really looking forward to going back to school. It would be impossible to do so given the lack of universities in the SWK.

5. Family--we were really looking forward to living close to my brother and sister-in-law and cousins that live there.

I am sure Justin's list of cons is much longer than what I have listed, but his lists of pros are just as long. This is literally verbal vomit of all consuming thoughts that have been circling my head the past few days.

So, Mr. Frost-- here I am at the crossroads you speak of. Which one will make all the difference?

Anyone want to weigh in?