Thanksgiving Weekend at the McDanel House

We had such a great time hosting my parents for Thanksgiving this year! It was relaxing for everyone (aside from me working.) We spent the weekend roasting weinies and having a fire in the pit in our backyard. We also decorated for Christmas and did a little shopping.

Our Front door for Thanksgiving/Fall 2009

Fire in the hole! Jeff and Dad enjoying the fire they created!

The 2 of them are having a blast!

Dad roasting his weinie, and getting ready to eat it!!

So proud of his hotdog...

Thanksgiving morning hanging with the dogs!

Booker hanging out!

Dad playing chicken with Booker...too funny!

More chicken... Booker won't jump up to get it just yet!

Making sure the fire is out the next day! What a beautiful Thanksgiving morning... chilly with bright sun!

Our Turkey before................

Prepping the turkey!

Working together!

Getting ready to put the turkey in the oven!

How does this high tech thing work?!?!?

Dad making the green bean casserole... yes he is cooking!

Almost finished!

Stephanie is making the deviled eggs :) Yummy!

Finished product... eggs on Grandma Dulohery's Egg Dish!

Relish Tray

Turkey.... after. All done and boy does it look yummy! And it was really delicious!

Carving the turkey, we learned a technique that morning on the Today Show!

Cutting it against the grain, yummy chunks!

Stephanie's arugala salad.... cranberries, goat cheese, roasted walnuts over Arugula. Dressing is a yummy vineagarette!

Stuffing and homeade gravy! All the best Turkey Day things!

Salad and relish tray on my formal serving dishes! So happy they are now out of the box in my new kitchen and I actually got to use them!

Jeff's Cherry pie!

Fluting the pie... Jeff is an expert!

Pie ready to go in the oven...

Grandma Schroeder's China and our place setting!

Our Thanksgiving table, I thought it was festive anyways!

Our treat, some Prosecco from Italy! My favorite!

Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving!

All ready to eat!

Our first Thanksgiving as the hosts! We enjoyed it, start out small and maybe one day we will build our way up to a larger crowd!

Digging in.... Thanksgiving 2009, The Woodlands, Texas

Dog Door

Yay we have our doggie door! It' s the first day and Booker is acting like it's his old house again. What a good feeling to let him go in and out when he needs to. Hopefully he doesn't bark all day :)

Who's Spoiled and Where's Waldo (Booker)

Well I think based on the amount of posts I have regarding Booker, you know what this post is about. It's been really hot here and he needed a haircut, so yes his momma has been spoiling him. I have been giving him a cup of ice water when we come home from long walks and when he spends alot of time outside in the yard. I have also left it out for a day or two and he prefers it over his water bowl. What a little prince, he thinks he is a "person" and he pretty much is!

Do you think he likes it from the looks of the picture below?????


Where's Waldo (Booker)

In the last couple of days, I have put all of the pillows on the longer couch to keep "stinky, in need of a haircut" Booker off of it. Well luckily today he got a haircut because look where his daddy found him when we came in the family room. He is kind of a needle in a haystack on that couch, see if you can find him. Would any dog other than "Prince" Booker do that?? I am not sure!

BEER CAN HOUSE!

So when I found this destination, I had to laugh, but knew that Jeff and I would think it was great! I was on a site looking for "cheap" things to do in Houston, this was something I found. Yes it's the beer can house, a house that a guy covered with about 50,000 beer cans. It was pretty funny, and there was actually a few people checking out like us!

Click on the pictures to see large versions... you can actually see the beer can detail if you do! :)

Jeff and I look like a couple of dorks taking pictures... :)

Check out www.beercanhouse.org if you want to see the history on this place!

Booker protecting and loving his backyard!

Booker cracks me up which is why I am always posting about him. He really has been funny with no dog door, he really let's you know when he wants to go out... but not to go to the bathroom, to chase and watch things!

Gotta get me some of these!!!

The Fan Can! My good friend Arie is going to pick me some up if there are any left! These are sweet! Need them for LB12! :) Thank Arie!

Booker in the backyard... chasing every sound!!

Here is Mr. Booker chasing things in the backyard. You can see on both of the videos he has a path that he runs to make sure he isn't missing anything. It has been cooler (90 instead of 96) so he has really been tearing it up out there. He loves the mornings when it's only 80 out!! He loves his new backyard!!

Tonight we even sat out there an had dinner. It was cooler out... high 80's so it was pleasant in our shady area!