Free Range Organic Turkey

Today, we cooked the turkey that I harvested in May. Since it was my first turkey, we decided to de-feather, clean and freeze the turkey whole. Despite the expert guidance and assistance from my Mom, it was a lot of work, and I am not sure if I would do that again, and might just take the breast next time.

Today, Jen baked the bird in a roasting bag with some chicken broth added to keep it moist. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it came out. It was moist and very tasty. It tasted nearly identical to the thanksgiving turkeys that we are all used to. Except, as I reminded Jen, this was a genuine free range organic bird.

Staycation

We have been enjoying our staycation this week. We scored some serious loot at a couple of yard sales, including a playhouse for the kids and a bike for Avery. Not to mention that Avery picked up Woody AND Buzz Lightyear for 50 cents. We also finally got to building that little patio and made our first trip to Chuck E. Cheese's.

Renegade

Welcome Renegade, the newest member of our family.

Signs

When Avery was small, I loved signing with him. I did not know any sign language before learning with and teaching him. It was amazing to have him start signing at just 10months old, be signing like crazy by 12 months and then to be verbally saying the words he had been signing by 15months.

Paige has been on a different course. For those of you who know Paigey Pants well - you'll understand. I started signing with Paige earlier than Avery, since he took to it so quickly. She signed 'milk' at just 8 months old. She quickly played the imp and decided it was fun to tease mama and made up her own fake sign for milk. She has been signing 'all done' after meals for some time now. Other than that, she's been fairly content to just grunt. The three of us can differentiate the grunts and know precisely what she is requesting. Over the past few days, however, she's become a signing maniac!!!! She signs 'thank you' when buckled into her booster seat at the table or when Avery kisses her; she signs 'airplane' everyday as we leave daycare and she sees the plane at the air museum or when she spots one in the sky (this sign is accompanied by a machine like noise as well!); she signs 'hat', 'baby', 'hot', 'bath'; tonight she learned 'dog'. Its simply amazing!!! Its so much fun to have our babies communicating before they gain their verbal skills.

Paige and her baby

Paige has really started being interested in her "babies," which include an assortment of stuffed animals as well as an actual baby doll. She likes to cradle them, feed them and give them bottles. She has recently perfected the sign for baby too.

Monster Jam!

t's amazing how well television commercials work on a four-year-old. After seeing a couple of commercials for Monster Jam on TV, Avery convinced us to take him to see the monster truck show. It was a good time and he really enjoyed himself. We even stood in line after the show to get autographs from the drivers. We thought we we would share a couple of movies of the high-flying action.

Camping at Lamoine State Park

Over the Memorial Day long weekend we headed down to what is becoming one of our regular camping spots, Lamoine State Park. It's another nice state campground and close to Acadia.