2013 Turk Off!

Thanksgiving has come and gone just as fast as any other day this year. In a blink of an eye we will be celebrating the New Year 2014!

Every Thanksgiving we head over to my Sister In Laws for Thanksgiving dinner. There is always a surplus of food, cute decorative place settings and the usual family : My in Laws, sister in Law and husband's mom, sister, and grandparents and us. Every Year my sister- In-laws husband deep fry's his turkey, usually infused with Cajun spices of some sort, and his sister seasons and bakes a traditional Turkey. Thus resulting in a healthy and competitive sibling rivalry Turk off!

Cajun Infused Deep Fried

No Oil Necessary Infra Red

Traditional Seasoned Baked

This year it was just as eventful of an event but an extra entry was added. This year we had two of my husbands three cousins with their families, and their parents in addition to the normal family who attends. We had children galore, visitors from the Bahamas, our usual Thanksgiving crowd and then some. In addition we had one extra Turkey for our 2013 Turk Off! My husband's cousin cooked his Turkey using Infra Red. Yup! No oil with this Turkey! My sister In Law out did herself with the fit for HGTV Table settings and decorative touches.

A little back history.... I come from a broken family home consisting of a mother, step father, and 1/2 sister. Let's just say.. my bio father was man enough to help create me, even participated in the events the day I was born but somewhere along the way lost his testicles and decided to make a choice that would change my mother's life and impact my life forever. With this I honestly have never nor will I ever be one of those heart broken daughters with a void in my heart desperately searching until my life's end for my father. You see I believe that he did me a huge favor. He helped contribute in how strong and independent I am. he helped me discover what I wanted in a life companion and in a father of my children. He made that small contribution to my life and I have become a survivor, to say the least ever since. I believe that anyone can create life however, it takes a different type of person to truly be a Mother or a Father. Two people can procreate and make life but that does not mean they are suited for being parents. You can call yourself a Mother or a Father but to really be one takes far more sacrifice, blood, sweat and heart ache. Only those who are actively "Being" Mothers and Fathers would understand this. I also feel that not every Mother has that Natural " Nurturing" mom gene. This is a huge reason why, I will never be a daughter who is distraught or constantly searching to fill a void in her life because her "daddy" abandoned her. I believe that for my Bio to have been a true Father he would have kept his testicles in tact and stepped up to take responsibilities for his actions and put in the blood, sweat, and heart ache that I know for certain my Mother did, to the best of her abilities!

So, back to the Turk Off! Since I am from a very small family, I , even after 8 years, have still not gotten used to the huge family gatherings that accompany the Latin heritage. The more the merrier no matter how dysfunctional, loud, or crazy! This year I came prepared with appetizer, side dish and RED WINE!
We arrived late because my son needed a nap before we entered the chaos, & my chunky monkey daughter vomited after overeating. My fault because I put her in the jumper right after a very full lunch time feeding :/  I had to cook everything, last minute, because it was impossible to get done with my toddler running ramped all morning, and I had to wash my daughters clothes after her vomit incident.
As I arrived, I immediately began drinking and guess what???? It was 1000 times easier to handle all the family chaos!!! I was in a happy, and warm place that only wine can take me to. I enjoyed the afternoon. Grayson played with his cousins and fought with another girl his age. In his defense he was being very protective over his sister, which was very cute....until it wasn't cute anymore. We had 3 Turkeys, 2 different types of  Sweet Potatoes (one was my Contribution), Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli Casserole, Corn Casserole, 3 different stuffing's, Green bean Casserole, Cabbage, Spicy Shrimp Dip (My Contribution), Empanadas, Spanish Rice, Apple, Pie, Oreo Pudding, Pound Cake, Peanut Butter Cookie Cups, etc..... We had a plethora of delightfully scrumptious eats and sweets. I was in hog heaven!!! My faves of the night were the Corn Casserole, my Sweet Potato Casserole, My Spicy Shrimp Dip, the Deep Fried Cajun Spiced Turkey, The Sausage Stuffing, and the Oreo Pudding.
YUM!

Courtesy of Paula Deen

Yes, I added Marshmallows.

Cooked Shrimp, Peppers, Jalapenos, Sour Cream, Cream Cheese, and Onion=Delicious Dip

In other news: I finally got my son to watch something other than , CARS 1 and 2! He has not wanted to watch Planes because he said it was scary. This morning we were watching Jake and the Never land Pirates on Disney Jr. when a commercial advertisement for the movie Planes came on. He was enthralled and I told him, "See. Please is Funny, not Scary!"
At that moment he chose to watch it and I jumped at the opportunity. Anything other than Cars...please! As we watched the first 15-20 minutes Grayson kept saying to me, "Not Scary mommy. Funny!"
Then it was back to Cars. We introduced Elf on the Shelf today for Grayson's Nap Time reading. Guess what he named his Elf???????..................................................CARS! And so the Elf named Cars begins his Journey with special Santa Christmas Magic at the Lopez house!

Okay - Pants and shirt are both 12 months - she is only 6 months!!

One Single Tear

And Once again NO Photos of my Husband and I...OR the 4 of us Together. I am going to have to start hiring a photographer that comes along with us everywhere..just to get some family photos!!!!!