Cousins' Visit/Thanksgiving

Nathan (Marc's brother), Cori, Jaren, & Emery came to stay with us for the week of Thanksgiving. They arrived the Friday before and left the day after. We had SO much fun! We tried to cram in as many fun activities as we could while still leaving plenty of time for the kids to simply play (and for us adults to recover from the meltdowns and outbursts--mostly coming from two little girls!) Marc's parents and his sister joined for Wed-Fri. It was a full house, but we wouldn't change a thing! The week went fast... too fast!

Saturday was a lazy day... Emery remembered having a tea party this summer and couldn't wait for another one! (Sadie was also excited b/c we hadn't had the tea set out for awhile.) This summer we had the tea party in the tent--so we had to improvise. This picture shows the girls enjoying their treat in Sadie's princess tent. In case you were wondering what you would eat at a "Gorsch Teaparty" here's the menu: Tea (w/ cream (almond milk), sugar, and lemon slices), marshmallows, fruit snacks, grapes, dried cranberries, cereal pieces, and crumbled bacon. (That's right, we did have bacon at our tea party!)

Jaren was such a good sport to be the official waiter!

Kinnick also joined in the fun although he wasn't allowed in the tent.

Sunday after church we packed shoeboxes. Sadie was very excited for this because we buy and store things throughout the year and still she remembers doing them last year. She took her packing job very seriously!

Jaren, Aunt Cori, & Sadie--fixing "treat" bags for the shoeboxes... Sunday afternoon Nathan & Cori kept the kids while Marc and I dropped off the shoeboxes and went to see Harry Potter!

Cori helped the kids work on this craft project while we were gone. They painted pieces of a ceramic nativity scene to give to Chuck and Janet for Christmas. They each worked on one piece (including Macey!)

Kinnick was SO proud of his donkey--he kept sayig "Bubba's donkey!"

The girls spent a lot of their time in pajamas--specifically these (not so weather appropriate) nightgowns. Emmy left this night gown here this summer and was so excited to be reunited with it. Sadie wanted to match, so I had to dig her nightgown out of a tub in the basement.

We spent lots of time reading!

Hawkeye Ballerinas!

On Wednesday afternoon I got out one of our little trees and the kids helped me decorate it so we could have our family Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Wed. night.

After dinner we let the kids make some Christmas cookies to have after gifts... Here's what we ended up with :

The kids were so excited to open some Christmas presents (early!)

After gifts, we enjoyed our cookies and some hot chocolate:

Kinnick's birthday was on Thanksgiving this year. We started our day with "birthday" cinnamon rolls. (We have a tradition of waking the kids up by going into their room to sing Happy Birthday. This year, Marc and I were actually sleeping in Kinnick's room--when we heard him waking up, we got to sing and spend some snuggle time with him!)

He enjoyed opening some birthday presents--including this spider man riding toy from Grandpa & Grandma!

Earlier in the week, the kids helped make little pace cards for everyone for our Thanksgiving dinner. Inside the place cards everyone got to write reasons they are thankful for that person--Macey helped Cori write hers!

The girls helped me make some sweet potato chips--they got a little over-seasoned and a little over-baked, but I think I will try them again. They were yummy (crunchier than the fries we usually make).

Emmy helped make her very own (dairy free) pumpkin pie!

For Thanksgiving night we made all appetizers (the kids were so excited to eat only "snacks" for dinner--they kept talking about it all day!) and watched the Santa Clause 2.

Kinnick's 2nd Birthday

We had Kinnick's friend birthday party last Tuesday (2 days before his birthday.) We had a truck-themed party! I found this cake idea in a Parenting magazine when I was pregnant with him and saved it. I really wanted to do it last year, but I'm so glad we saved it because he LOVES trucks right now--it was perfect. (And the cake is really easier than it looks for any moms of little boys--super fun!) Kinnick was so proud of his cake--he kept saying "Bubba truck cake!" He loved telling people he was having a "truck cake" party and that he was going to be "2!" We had friends over pizza--it was a fun, relaxed night. It worked out perfectly that Marc was off and Nathan and Cori were here--Cori helped me get ready and Marc and Nathan took the kids to Burger King for lunch so we could make food and clean. (And I'm super-grateful that Cori gave me the tip to freeze the cake--it was SOOOOO much easier to decorate!)

After pizza, we tried to have Kinnick open his gifts. He was busy looking at his Eye-Spy books (his FAVORITE) and he didn't want to open presents. I tried to talk him into it and he said "NO! Buba read books!" It was quite comical. I'm pretty sure this won't be happening at any birthdays in the future!

Sadie finally convinced him (and really "helped" him a lot) to open his presents. He was very excited for some new books--including a Disney eye spy and a big truck book and some new trucks. He also got a remote control car that he thinks is pretty cool. As he opened presents, the truck theme dominated!

This is his "truck" book from Macey. (Funny story--I went to the book fair at our Y to pick up some Halloween books for the kids and I had to take Macey and Kinnick with me. I let Kinnick look at this book while I paid for the books I was buying--I got him a different truck book. When it was time to put this book back, he had a temper tantrum for the record books. I had to haul him out kicking and screaming while carrying Macey also. He kept saying "Bubba want that truck book" through his sobs... Marc stopped on his way home from work to pick it up for him.)

He has had so much fun playing with this truck from Ms. Jennifer. He loves to put stuff in the digger and it up and dump it.

Sadie managed to blow out his candles for him--he was trying, but didn't quite get them before she could.

Enjoying his cake...

What a tired little birthday boy... sleeping with his new garbage truck from Mommy & Daddy!

Shedd Aquarium

Last week, the Colorado Gorschs were here for a visit. This summer we were blessed with free family passes to the Shedd Aquarium, but couldn't squeeze into their July visit... We decided to save it for this visit instead. Last Monday we loaded up (our pilot and our truck!) and headed to the windy city. We had great weather (at least for the beginning of the day...) We spent over 6 hours in the aquarium exploring. We took a break for our picnic lunch and spent sometime outside looking at the lake and the city skyline. We enjoyed the dolphin show and explored some more until it was time to go. We wanted to try a walk downtown, but by the time we left it was pouring rain (and we had some tired, cranky kiddos!) Instead we sat in traffic for a very long hour and made it to Cracker Barrel where we were promptly seated right by the fireplace-yeah! It was such a fun day!

(The above picture was the best we could get of all 5 kids! It was fun to see Jaren's excitement at seeing the skyline. It was also fun to watch the kids wrestle on the pavement--I think some other tourists enjoyed this spectacle as well! With Uncle Nathan's help, they created a "wrestling move" called "The Dirty Diaper"--it was frequently requested for the rest of the week.)

Waiting in line at the entrance...

The kids were excited to find fish right away--Emmy's request was a polka dot fish! I was excited (and thankful) to have Aunt Cori's help wearing Macey!

Macey loved exploring the different types of coral that were on the walls. Jaren's question: "Are these real corals that have been preserved or models that feel like real coral?" I love his love of learning!

Sitting down to watch the dolphin show. Shedd was doing a dress rehearsal of their Christmas show to open later in the week... complete with dancing girls (not so thrilling), Christmas songs, a dancing frosty, parading penguins (live ones--that was fun!), and Santa descending from the ceiling riding in a boat. Kinnick was so excited to see Santa. He kept saying "Santa on a boat!" all day (and continues to say it!) The only downfall--this was his first time seeing Santa this season and he now gets mad when Santa is not on a boat! We have tried to tell him that Santa rides on a sleigh and he furrows his eyebrows and exclaims "No, Santa on a boat!"

In the last 2 years, they've done lots of renovations at the Shedd--including a big "Polar Play Zone" in the lower level. There were lots of interactive exhibits. This was perfect b/c we went here last and it really helped keep the kids attention as they were getting tired.

Here Sadie is telling her dad how she got to touch a real live starfish... The starfish incident went something like this :

Museum Man: "Touch the starfish lightly with 2 fingers, do not try to move it." (Complete with demonstration)
Me: "Look Sadie this is how you touch it." (Complete with demonstration)

Sadie: "Like this?" (Picking up the starfish and giving it a toss)

The museum man was so flustered he didn't say anything. I promptly grabbed Sadie's hand and said, "Time to look at something else!"

Kinnick snoozed his way through the polar play zone...

They had a very fun penguin play area!

Sadie refused to put on the penguin costume, but enjoyed the sliding and climbing fun.

Playing in the submarine...

Looking at the beluga whale--they were fascinated!

When we left, it was pouring rain. We rain (as fast as we could with 5 children) back to the parking garage... best pic of the day, soaking wet!

Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

If you still have some leftover turkey and are tired of eating turkey sandwiches... here's a delicious recipe to try! (You can also sub chicken for the turkey!)

• 1 c. grated carrots
• 1 c. sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 c. chopped celery
• 1/2 c. chopped onion
• 1 T. butter
• 1/2 c. flour
• 2 cans chicken broth (14 oz.)--I used a big box of broth (32 oz.)
• 1 c. evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 c. cooked wild rice*
• 1 c. diced cooked turkey
• 1/4 c. slivered almonds (opt.)

1. Grate carrots, slice mushrooms, chop celery & onion--melt butter and saute veggies for 3-4 minutes.

2. Stir in flour. Gradually add broth and milk whisking until blended. Bring to a boil. Stir in cooked rice and turkey. Reduce heat, simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Saute the almonds (3-5 minutes, no butter) until brown, stirring frequently. Cool slightly and stir into soup just before serving.

*I used Bird's Eye "Steamers" brown & wild rice w/ veggies (purchased 2/$1 with a coupon!). The bag measures 1 1/2 c. and I dumped it right in the soup from the freezer.

Recipe from Pampered Chef, soups & stews