One of my favorite family traditions is “Second Thanksgiving.” Like all the best family traditions, Teacher and I didn’t plan to start a new tradition; it just evolved.

Don’t get me wrong – we love going to Ike and Elle’s place for “regular” aka “First” Thanksgiving every year. Ike roasts a wonderful traditional turkey, Elle whips up her special non-diet mashed potatoes and gravy, and they also have ham, shrimp, rolls, beverages, and a dessert or two.

The rest of us have our assignments: Jay makes fantastic pecan pies, and usually brings two or three of them. Dee makes banana cream pie for Ike, non-banana cream pie for Jay, and another amazing dessert or two for the rest of us. Yes, my family likes dessert… and we like dessert left-overs.

Dad always brings several bottles of wine it’s not a family get-together if Dad doesn’t open at least one bottle of wine and Mom brings great-grandma’s no-fail corn custard, traditional green bean casserole – both with and without onions so everyone will be happy – and whatever dessert or salad she’s decided to test on us. So far she hasn’t followed in her mother’s footsteps and brought Jello with weird stuff – carrots, celery, cranberries, pecans, etc – in it. So far…

We’re in charge of bringing the things that no one else in the family besides us and my Dad likes: sweet potatoes, squash, and stuffing. We also bring drunken cranberries, homemade macaroni and cheese a Southern tradition Jay adopted when he lived in Savannah, and several pumpkin, cherry, and apple pies. But now that our older two children are married we passed some of our duties to them: College Boy and Irish Girl took over Apple Pie duty, and Princess and Cowboy took over Mac ‘n’ Cheese and Pumpkin Pie duties. I’m thinking that by the time all six are married Teacher and I won’t have to make anything!

Anyway, as much as we love First Thanksgiving at Ike and Elle’s, there were two problems: 1. We always had lots of “fixins” leftover without any turkey to go with them, and 2. Teacher wanted to try out different turkey roasting recipes and techniques but didn’t want to take the turkey-making away from Ike.

Then, a couple of years ago Teacher wanted to try brining a turkey, so he made one the Sunday right after Thanksgiving. I suggested we reheated the leftover “fixins” so they’d get eaten up, and the wonderful tradition of Second Thanksgiving was born!

We’ve eagerly looked forward to, and happily celebrated, Second Thanksgiving every year since.

What about you – does your family celebrate Second Thanksgiving? What do you do with all your Thanksgiving Dinner leftovers?

P.S. Recipes will be posted as quickly as I can edit the photos, so keep your eyes peeled. I promise you won’t want to miss them; they’re so good you’ll be inspired to plan a Second Thanksgiving of your own – right away!

When we bought our house we inherited several things along with it: Pepto-Bismol pink exterior, clumps of thistles and cilantro five feet high, kitchen cupboards gummy with cooking oil, ugly 1960s trim and wrought-iron details, glossy white paint on every interior wall, I could go on and on. Let’s just say that we knew it needed “a little” work.

We also inherited a pear tree. A very prolific pear tree. A pear tree so prolific that we couldn’t eat enough pears to keep up, and the windfall pears attracted so many bees and wasps that it was suicide to go in the back yard.

We loved the pear tree. All of us except for Angel Face who hates pears.

Over the years we came to an uneasy truce with the pear tree. At first Teacher pruned the tree back so much that it rebelled by not producing any pears. Then Teacher let it grow, until the branches were so high that only the Jolly Green Giant or squirrels would be able to reach the pears. Finally Teacher reached pruning nirvana – the pear tree wasn’t too overgrown, and pear production pretty much met our demand. The few windfall and squirrel-abandoned pears were disposed of before they could attract bees. We had our back yard and yummy pears to eat too.

Life was good. At least as far as our partnership with the pear tree was concerned.

Then the storm came. Not an actual tornado, but tornado-strength winds that set off tornado sirens and sent us scrambling to the basement as they roared through the neighborhood, indiscriminately knocking down stately old trees and electric lines.

When it was safe to come upstairs again we were shocked by the devastation, but thankful that none of the giant trees that went down in our neighborhood caused any major damage to homes or cars.

As we looked out the windows to see how our yard had fared, G was the first to notice: “Amy! A big branch fall down in the back yard!”

Sure enough – a big branch, which happened to be attached to the rest of the tree, had fallen. Amazingly enough, the canopy which hadn’t even been staked into the ground had only been flipped over by the wind.

Apparently our pear tree hadn’t been as healthy as we’d thought, and the strong winds were too much for the diseased trunk.

When Teacher got home from school he started carrying some of the smaller branches out to the curb. Our general area of the city had lost power, but College Boy was able to find ONE spot where his cell phone would get service.

Angel Face came out to help with the tree. Even though she doesn’t like pears I think she was a bit shaken when she saw the whole tree lying on the ground.

Poor, poor pear tree.

Disclaimer: No trikes were harmed in the making of this blog post.

The next day was Saturday and Teacher had a soccer tournament, but Grandpa and College Boy came over to help clean up the rest of the pear tree.

Z-Man helped out by carrying twigs and smaller branches.

Of course, once Little Guy saw that his brother was helping, he had to grab a branch too. Monkey see, monkey do!

Soon only the trunk was left.

It doesn’t seem hard: simply dig a trench around the trunk, sever the roots, and pull it out. Easy peasy, right?

NOT!

Of course there had to be a ginormous root right at the base of the trunk. And of course it had to be surrounded by other roots so the guys couldn’t dig under it.

When the small tools won’t do the job, you bring out the big tools. In this case, an ax. Go College Boy – you can do it!

Oops.

Teacher came home from soccer and lent a helping hand. Actually, I think he’s putting his whole body into it.

Finally – success!

The trunk was carried out to the curb, which was piled shoulder-high with the rest of the tree. Then we refilled the hole and I seeded the dirt.

It looks so sad and empty to me.

But as we learned in The Lion King, life is a circle. So we’ll replant another tree to take the place of the old one.

We just need to decide what kind. Apple? Sugar Maple? Ginko? Weeping Willow?

What’s your vote?

This is the mulch that Grandpa got.

This is the door
(with an arrow in white)
that shows how ginormous the pile was
of mulch that Grandpa got.

This is the Uncle,
so tall and strong,
that shoveled the pile
(that ginormous pile)
of mulch that Grandpa got.

This is my Teacher,
all sexy and strong,
who moved the blocks
to make a path
to line with the mulch that Grandpa got.

This is hard work
to move the blocks
that are made of cement
to make a path
to line with the mulch that Grandpa got.

These are the blocks
that leave the holes
to fill with dirt
after they’re moved
to make a path
to line with the mulch that Grandpa got.

This is the dirt
to fill in the holes
made by the blocks
that were moved by my man
to make a path
to line with the mulch that Grandpa got.

This is the Princess,
a hard-working girl,
who shoveled the dirt
to fill in the holes
made by the blocks
that were moved by my man
to make a path
to line with the mulch that Grandpa got.

This is Little Guy,
all silly and fun,
with Jo-Bear his brother,
who is almost a teen,
and helped dig a trench
to stop the grass
from trying to grow
into the mulch that Grandpa got.

This is Z-Man,
who was happy to help,
and carried a pail
that was filled by the Uncle
who shoveled the pile
(that ginormous pile)
of mulch that Grandpa got.

Here’s Little Guy again,
who wants to help too,
and followed his brother
carrying his pail
that was filled by the Uncle
who was shoveling the pile
of mulch that Grandpa got.

This is our Peanut,
who was good as gold,
and played by herself
while we worked so hard
to move the blocks
and make a path
and carry the pails
(and wheelbarrows too)
that Uncle Jon filled
by shoveling the pile
of mulch that Grandpa got.

She’s so cute I had to put in picture of her face too.

OK, back to business…

This is the path
that we made together
while Peanut was playing
as good as gold
while we moved the blocks
and shoveled the dirt
to fill the holes
and made a path
to line with the mulch
that was shoveled by Jon
from the pile
(that ginormous pile)
of mulch that Grandpa got.

When it comes to home improvement projects I don’t have much patience and usually want things done NOW. That’s when Teacher gently reminds me that “life is a marathon; not a sprint” and that the only way to get somewhere is by taking one step at a time.

A few weeks ago we took one more step towards finishing the basement family room by finishing up the floor.

Just like last time, we started by moving all the junk from one side of the basement to the other. Since we hadn’t put everything back yet there wasn’t as much to move.

The space was so small it went really quickly – by the time I thought to grab my camera Teacher was almost done!

It’s hard to believe that when we bought the house this nook was a small kitchenette! There was a niche for a tiny stove right where Teacher is sitting, a sink in the corner, a place for a small refrigerator on the far left, and cupboards floor to ceiling in the rest of the space. When we decided to redo the basement one of the first things we did was tear out the kitchenette. Once the walls and subfloor were done Uncle Jon spent countless hours building the bookshelves for us.

Measure twice, cut once, right Hon? I love watching my sexy handyman. Mmmmmm!

The floor is done – doesn’t it look great?! Granted, it’s a small step, but life is a marathon and each step counts.

Next step: painting the rest of the bookshelves to match the built-ins, and doing the trim.

Step by step we’ll get there – I know we will!

In no particular order…

• 1. “Could you please not sneeze into the batter?”
  – Irish Girl to Little Guy while making cheesecakes.
  Keep an eye out for the recipe – it’s worth the wait!
•  
• 2. “This isn’t my band-aid – why is it on my knee?”
  – Jo-Bear, staring at his left knee.
•  
• 3. “Where are your clothes?”
  – Said often to Peanut and Love Bug.
•  
• 4. “Well, I was trying to hit a bug with this cantaloupe…”
  - Jo-Bear, on how he hit his head.
•  
• 5. “Don’t take your pants off and dance on the table!”
  – Irish Girl to two-year-old nekkie stage Love Bug.
•  
• 6. “Stop licking the cat!”
  – Me to Little Guy. Poor Buddy!
•  
• 7. “What are you eating and where did you get it?”
  – Any adult to any of the younger four children.
•  
• 8. “Oh! It’s not my bra; it’s me!”
  – Princess, after discovering what was bugging her all day.
•  
• 9. “It smells like a llama in here.
  – Angel Face, for no apparent reason.
•  
• 10. “Why are you naked?!”
  – Me to Little Guy, way too often.
  Oh yes, they call him the Streak; fastest thing on two feet…”

What are some of the strange phrases heard at your house?

To look at her you’d never guess that the mere mention of her name would strike fear in a certain four-year-old’s heart.

But it does.

Several years ago I began having the older childcare children bring their dishes over to the counter after meals and snacks. As each child turned two and was developmentally able and tall enough, he or she was encouraged to bring his/her dishes over also. After watching the “big kids” take care of their dishes for so long, the little ones are thrilled to be able to carry their dishes, just like the “big kids.”

But not Little Guy.

Experienced parents know that our children NEVER act the same for other people as they do for their parents; they usually act better for other people. In fact, very often they act better for Dad than for Mom, and Little Guy was no exception.

He didn’t flat-out refuse to bring his dishes over, he just left them on the table and out-waited me. I tried to hold out, but having one set of dishes on an otherwise pristine table drove me crazy and I always ended up clearing them for him.

I tried the Love and Logic technique of asking him if he’d rather do it himself or pay me $1.00 to do it for him, but he wasn’t fazed. He didn’t believe his mommy would really take his money.

Enter Irish Girl.

Ever since the first time Irish Girl came to visit she’s gotten along well with our children. She’s very kind and loving, but firm and no-nonsense also.

One day I was trying to get Little Guy to clear the table with no success when the words just popped out of my mouth: “Do you want to bring your own dishes over today, or would you rather pay Irish Girl a dollar to do it for you?”

Irish Girl played along, “Oh yes, I’d be happy to clear your dishes for a dollar.”

“NOOOOOO!” Little Guy zoomed back to the table at top speed, snatched his dishes up, brought them to me, and glared at Irish Girl with laser-beam eyes.

“Oh, thank you honey!” I said, taking the dishes.

We had to repeat the drama for several days with Irish Girl around, then after a while it would work for me to ask the question even if she wasn’t around.

Now, over a month later the habit has been so well established that he automatically brings his dishes to the counter – even after non-childcare meals!

I wonder what habit Irish Girl and I can conspire on next… making his bed?

Putting away his clean clothes?

What do YOU suggest?

Teacher loves soccer, so naturally the children grew up playing and loving it too. I didn’t play soccer so I don’t know the rules well, but I love watching our kids play; they each have different strengths and skills.

I was only able to see one of Angel Face’s high school games because most of them were scheduled during child care hours, but I enjoyed the one I got to see.

Angel Face has long legs that eat up the ground; when she puts on the speed she can outrun almost everyone.

“Run, Angel Face! First to the ball!”

When she was nine I used to yell for her to be first to the ball too.

I’m not sure she likes it when I yell so I try to restrain myself, but I usually get so into the game I can’t help myself.

I love watching her go full-tilt for the ball; she’s no shrinking violet.

Never has been.

Her high school soccer season is over, but this summer she’s on a competitive soccer team; I can’t wait to see her play!

They say that “Good things come to those who wait,” and that’s certainly the case for Uncle Jay and Aunt Dee. They had to wait a long time to find each other, but they’re so happy together I think the wait was worth it.

Now that they’re officially Man and Wife it’s time to celebrate – let’s dance!!

Uncle Ike aka the Best Man kicked off the evening with a brotherly toast that was a little funny, a little sentimental, completely sincere, and expressed the joy we all feel in seeing our Uncle Jay so happy.

Next Dee’s sister aka the Maid of Honor gave her toast, complete with a few tears of joy over how obviously happy Dee was, and how thrilled her family and friends are that she and Jay found each other.

Still trying to keep a low profile, I put away my camera after sneaking a photo of Angel Face and her date. I haven’t come up with a good pseudonym for him yet but am considering “Tall, Dark, and Handsome” – TDH for short. What do you think?

After dinner I took pity on a “bored to death” Jo-Bear and let him use my camera. Here are some of his photos:

Cousin N was taking pictures too.

After taking off her veil, Dee needed a little hair help from Dee.

Cutting the cake. They got their wedding cake from Simple Simon too!

They played nice and didn’t smear cake on each other.

Mom and Dad dancing.

For as long as I can remember my parents have loved to dance together; one of my fondest childhood memories is my parents dancing together in the kitchen without music.

Jo-Bear got a nice photo of Ike and Elle dancing together too.

Jay and Dee dancing… they look like they’ll never let go, don’t they?

Z-Man was too shy and wouldn’t even do the Chicken Dance with us, but Little Guy “danced” aka jumped, jiggled, and acted goofy all night.

By the way – did you notice Little Guy’s headlamp? He and Z-Man each got one as a gift from Uncle Jay for being in his wedding. They were perfect for the reception – I could always see where the boys were!

Little Guy danced with Jay and Dee for the longest time. They’re so great with all of our kids – I just know they’re going to be great parents some day!

Teacher and I danced too, but we look dumb in the photos Jo-Bear took so I’m not posting them, and you can’t make me.

I have no idea what Dee is looking at, but I’ll be it was one of my kids. I think Jo got a great photo of me, my brothers, and our better halves.

Congratulations Uncle Jay and Aunt Dee! We’re so very happy for you and wish you many, many happy years together.

I’ll admit right off the bat that I don’t have many photos from Uncle Jay and Aunt Dee’s wedding. I snagged this one from Facebook – don’t tell!

Since I was just the future sister-in-law I didn’t feel comfortable playing paparazzi like I usually do, and I wasn’t sure what Dee would think of my taking a ton of photos. I certainly didn’t want to upset my future sister-in-law on her wedding day, so I decided to leave the photography to Aunt Elle, who’d been asked to be official wedding photographer.

And to be honest, the other reason I didn’t take many photos is because my camera was accidentally locked in the bridesmaids’ dressing room which wasn’t unlocked until we left for the reception. I can’t imagine that one of Dee or Jay’s wedding guests would rifle through our personal belongings, but the church-provided wedding coordinator insisted on locking the door; probably just the church’s CYA policy.

I did manage to get one good photo before the wedding…

I love this photo of Dee getting ready for the wedding with her mother in the background.

Shhhh, I snagged this one from Facebook too. It never seems like there are so many of us when we’re together but when I see a photo of us I’m always surprised by how big our family is. I love it!

Elle did such a great job with the photo I wish we’d asked her to do Princess and Cowboy’s wedding photos! Hopefully I’ll get some more photos from Jay and Dee’s wedding to post, but first I have to remember to ask her.

Teacher happened to pull up to a stoplight next to Jay and Dee after the wedding. They look just a little bit thrilled, don’t they?

I’ve got some photos from the reception to post too, after I’ve edited them. I let Jo-Bear have my camera for most of the night so watch for some really interesting ones!

To be continued…

Gilda Radner had it right – it’s always something.

© www.americandryerventcleaning.com

One Monday night I was getting ready to run out the door to our Valley AEYC annual dinner, but had to stop on the way to pick up Jo-Bear’s geranium order – a summer soccer fundraiser.

For once I wasn’t running late; in fact it was about fifteen minutes before I planned to leave that I ran downstairs for something. As I went down the stairs an acrid smoky odor hit my nose – it smelled like a gazillion cigarettes burning. Glancing at the dryer I saw smoke coming from the back of it.

Ohmygosh, the dryer is on fire!

I raced down the last few stairs, threw open the dryer door – stopping the cycle – and frantically pulled the clothes out of the dryer and into a laundry basket. They smelled like smoke but didn’t look scorched.

As I hunkered down next to the dryer my raced a thousand miles an hour:

Was there really a fire?

If there was, was it out now?

How would I know? I sniffed the air inside the dryer and listened carefully for crackling sounds.

What if it’s smoldering inside?

Should I call 911?

I was hesitant to call 911 because I didn’t want to be late for the dinner I’d been looking forward to for months.

On the other hand, Teacher was also gone for the evening and I didn’t want to leave Princess and College Boy in charge if there was any chance there was a fire.

It was a real dilemma.

Should I call Dad N? He used to be a fire fighter; he’ll probably tell me to call 911.

Should I call Nicole? She was a fire fighter too, and will probably tell me to call 911 too.

I paced up and down the stairs as I debated, stopping each time I passed the dryer to thrust my head inside and sniff deeply, then listen carefully. I wasn’t sure what I was smelling and listening for, but it was better than doing nothing.

I went upstairs and asked College Boy to help, “Hey, you’re currently Man of the House; come downstairs and look at the dryer. It was smoking, smells burnt, and I don’t know if there was a fire or what.”

“I don’t know anything about dryers.” he replied.

“Me neither, but at least you can pull it away from the wall easier than I can.” I said.

Downstairs he pulled the dryer away from the wall, then took a cursory glance behind and inside it. “I don’t see anything.”

He went back upstairs.

Still torn between not wanting to miss my dinner and leaving the kids in a potentially dangerous situation, I finally decided to call my dad. “Dad? Are you busy? Do you have a minute to look at my dryer? It was smoking and something smells burnt.”

My poor dad. Someday he’s going to learn how to say “No”, but not this time. He was over within five minutes.

Dad pulled the dryer further away from the wall and took a peek behind it, then removed the flexible vent that ran from the dryer to the wall and took it outside. I waited for several minutes, then went upstairs just as he returned with his small Shop Vac. I love it! It’s so much cuter and easier to handle than our ginormous behemoth.

He used the Shop Vac to suck up as much lint from both ends of the inner-wall vent, the back of the dryer, and the inside of the dryer as he could. He’d removed the frame that holds the lint trap in place inside the dryer drum, so while he was Shop Vac-ing I reached my arm as far into the opening as I could and pulled out handful after handful after handful after handful… you get the idea of lint.

Yes, I know that dryer lint is one of the most flammable materials on Earth and dryer vent fires are a real danger. Yes, I do clean out the lint trap after every load. Yes, I know I should also clean out the dryer vents regularly, and I have several times in the past. It’s just that things are so crazy right now that dryer fire prevention isn’t on my top ten list of things that need to be done. Heck, it’s not even in the top twenty… or thirty… But I’ve decide to get a dryer vent cleaning kit so I’ll have the right tools; all I need is the time.

After almost 45 minutes Dad decided that we’d done all that we could for now. I thanked him profusely and dashed off to pick up Jo-Bear’s geraniums – almost 30 minutes late – then to dinner. I wasn’t really late for dinner, but arriving half an hour late meant I missed pre-dinner drinks and chatting.

Someday I’d like to be on time without something coming up to make me late.

I’m not holding my breath though, because around here…

It’s always something.