Thanksgiving 2008

The question I am asked the most often before and after a holiday is "Will you (or did you) cook at home?". Yea right, I always say. (I am not a big fan of re-creating the wheel, and since we just spent two days making homemade Thanksgiving dinner at the restaurant, why start over just to say I did it myself?) I still wake up with Thanksgiving (and Christmas) "hangover" after the three busy days preceding the actual holiday. The hangover is not your typical alcohol induced kind. There is no nausea or vomiting associated with this "hangover", but you do feel as if you have been hit by a Mack truck. Your legs are achy, wobbly, and disjointed and your head just seems real foggy, like you are on another planet. On the bright side (!) it is getting easier with each passing year. I find that after seven years I am better able to "shake it off" and enjoy the day with my family a little easier than I could in the early years. I always wonder if other bakery owners and/or mom and pop restaurateurs feel the same way or if I am just a wimp. The latter is certainly possible.

Suffice it to say, the most I personally made this Thanksgiving was sausage balls (b/c they have nostalgic value to Aaron), coffee, and grand mimosas!! But a delicious feast we did have
nonetheless. Turkey, homemade cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, sweet potato casserole, green beans, sweet breads, and an assortment of pies stuffed us to the gills. I had a really nice Thanksgiving day with our little Texas Rumfelt clan. We have much to be thankful for.

Tony and Joanna joined us for Thanksgiving.

Eli was having a ball.

Aunt "Jo Jo" showed Eli how to really draw with sidewalk chalk.

Coco is begging for turkey.

Winston is hoping a scrap will fall to the floor.

Video

Gearing up for the Holidays

Eli was at home helping me put the Christmas tree and lights up the weekend before Thanksgiving. We didn't get the ornaments on but wanted to get a head start on cleaning and getting into the holiday spirit.

We had an exhausting few days before Thanksgiving as usual. I realize that everyone has busy schedules. Yet it is just a different way of life to own a restaurant, especially during this time of year. I really love the holidays.....awaiting the birth of Jesus, Christmas music, sugar cookies, parties, and all the beautiful decorations. I even love the hectic pace at the bakery. What I dislike is not being able to spend more time with my family like (I am assuming) most people are doing. Someone has to bake the pies though, right? And by someone I don't mean me. We have three ladies (plus another part-time) who bake their hearts out the two days before a holiday. For Thanksgiving this year they each baked 19 hours straight, went home and slept a few hours and came back and baked another five or six hours. That is 24 hours of baking! It is all I can do to try and keep some semblance of organization in the chaos, check overall quality...and to make sure each and every person's special order is accounted for. Sounds easy enough, but with all the orders input into a three page spreadsheet (and the orders run the gambet ) it would be very easy to overlook one little item. I am always a bit nervous about this to be honest, so I check, double-check, triple-check.

I saw Eli about 30 minutes total from Tuesday morning when he went off to school until Wednesday afternoon when the babysitter finally dropped him off. Between that time he was shuffled from school, to night nursery, to babysitter while we worked. He always spends the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve with one of the ladies who works in our church's nursery. She always takes him to a movie (this year they saw Bolt), and to eat lunch and sometimes to the mall for some last minute shopping. I think he has fun, but for some reason my heart feels like it is being stomped on each time I leave him. I guess it is because 1) it is the time of year most families are together not apart, and 2) I have no control over anything...my son is in the care of someone else all day, and I can only pray that she is really a good person, and that they don't get into a car accident.

I love this little booger. I can't imagine our lives witout him.

Lil Cowboy

Nothing to really write about here, I just think Eli's belt and boots are so cute! He is going to Sunday School. Of course he would not let me get a good picture.

Today I called to Eli in the other room and asked him what he was doing. He replied, "Nothing, sweetie." I laughed and asked, "Did you just call me 'sweetie'?". Then he came to the door, grinned and said, "Yea, sweetie!" I guess he got that from Aaron talking to me? Sometimes Aaron will greet me with a "hey, sweetie". Aaron was also telling me the other day that I wasn't listening to him about something, and boy Eli has picked up on that, too. That is his new favorite thing to say to me...."Mommy you are not listening to me"... even though it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever in context to what is actually going on. Point being...he picks up on what is said and sometimes you hear it regurgitated in the most unlikely way even days later. Funny!

Marrieds Group

Aaron and I hosted our first Married Couple's event (from church) last Saturday night. Since our house is not really conducive to entertaining we had it at Colonial. Normally we do something a little more casual (last time we went to Joe T. Garcia's in jeans), but Aaron and I wanted to do something kind of special for the holidays. There really were other people there, and I fully intended to get many photos. But the camera went in my purse which was on the floor, and after a couple glasses of wine I forgot all about it! Dang it.

Big Boy Underwear Update

Okay, we have had moderate success this week, and one kind of funny note to our underwear story. Apparently Eli has intentionally flushed two pairs of his underwear down the potty at school this week. He was about to flush a 3rd pair yesterday and the teacher grabbed them in the knick of time. I am so relieved this has not caused a plumbing problem!! Can you imagine? I would be moritified!! I can hear it now..."yea that Rumfelt boy backed up the sewer system and the school had to be closed for the day..." omg

Big Boy Underwear (finally)

I went to pick Eli up from school on Monday and his new teacher said, "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Sure, I said. "This M&M reward plan you have for the potty is not working with Eli. He told me today that I could have his candy, he didn't want it." That's great, I thought.

She told me to bring him in his big-boy underwear Tuesday along with about eight additional outfits, and we would just do it cold turkey. Some of Eli's friends in different classes have already been through this, but this is the first time one of his teachers has agreed to commit to helping. We have had batman, spiderman, and Thomas underwear sitting clean in his drawer all summer. The couple times we broke them out to potty-train were slightly disastrous, and up they went again. Now Eli is much closer to understanding the concept, but sending him to school in big boy underwear seemed scary to me for some reason. I imagined him coming home with a garbage sack full of pee stained clothes. Nevertheless, I was ready to get on with it.

He did great Tuesday and Wednesday with going #1 in the potty! Not even an accident which flabbergasted me. The problem, it seems is #2. He would still rather poo in his underwear than on the potty. I was asking advise from a couple friends this morning - they have five boys between them - and I was not encouraged after our conversation! Both indicated prolonged issues with poo-poo training with most of their boys....a couple of them until they were four. What??!!! Don't tell me that is even a possibility. Another friend who has a 2 1/2 yr old daughter just sat quietly and smiled at us. She apparently has not experienced any of the scary tales of the poo-poo drama that I was hearing about these boys. The light just comes on quicker for girls I suppose. Gosh darnit...anyone has any advise please fill me in. I am anxious to see how he did today!

Giving Thanks

"Pop" (my Dad) with Coco and Winston a few years ago.

I am guilty of being such a whiner sometimes (and I wonder where Eli gets it, ha!). The things that top my whine list consistently:

1) Our two big indoor dogs, Coco and Winston, keep our house dirtier than I would like despite having maids deep clean once a week (think dog hair and Winston's slobber). We don't have a big backyard (dog poop anyone?), and I doubt the neighbors would appreciate the barking anyway. We would never give them up, but I often wonder "what were we thinking??" Obvioulsy we were dog crazy pre-child. Hey Pop, want a couple dogs?? Just kidding....sort of.

2) Our kitchen (and various other parts of the house) is in desperate need of remodeling. I can't take it anymore. I have one stove burner that works and melamine counters for heaven's sake!! Who owns a restaurant but can't even cook in their own kitchen? One of the hold-ups is the question of what do we do with the dogs during the remodeling process? Now is the time I usually circle right back to whining about #1.

3) Our restaurant - so many challenges, so much work, not enough family time. "We don't have weekends like everyone else, we don't get vacations like everyone else, we miss out on holidays with our families because of the restaurant", etc., etc. whine, whine, whine..... I was once complaining about our restaurant when we were out to dinner with friends and our friend quipped, "Yea that's just awful, gosh darnit, and your business is so successful. What a shame, I really feel terrible for you." That (kind of sarcastic) comment started to put things back into persepective for me and kind of started me re-thinking my attitude in this area of my life.

4) My son's whining (the irony, ha!)


Don't get me wrong, I know we are so very blessed. I just have a bad habit of saying "thank you" in prayer for somethine one minute, then complaining about it the next. Am I the only one who does this? I figure there is no time like the present to get a check on my overall attitude. This should be no small feat.


Today I am going to begin my "give thanks" portion of this blog and just whip them out when something strikes me. We all have so much to give thanks for! Topping my "give thanks" list for today:

1) Family - all of our family in various states who we love and rarely see: Mississippi, Florida, Kentucky, and even Texas.

2) Aaron - we are a team...I would hate to handle the challenges of this world without him.

3) Elijah - I cannot stress enough how thankful I am to have a healthy, precious child...especially when having a second has proven to be not so easy for us!

4) Health - I hate to be sick for a couple days, but some people have to deal with the terminal illness of a loved one, sometimes of their child...I can't imagine.

5) Our work - for as much as we complain about our restaurant and all the headaches that come with it, our business is an amazing blessing in so many ways.

6) I also give thanks that Eli may be potty trained before he goes to kindergarten! Just kidding he is only three, but he is really getting past the point of socially acceptable age for wearing pull-ups. His size does not help the matter...he looks like a four year old. We started the M&M reward method suggested by a lady at our church yesterday, and he asked to go "peep" 2x this morning before school!! Yea! I hope we don't regress by the day's end.


Have a good day!

Closet Sleeper

Bless my son's heart. Aaron and I have actually found him sleeping in the closet on more than one occassion recently. I previously posted that Eli began sleeping in the guest bedroom's king sized bed for some reason. This is the closet in our guest bedroom. We have a new dog pillow in there that we just stashed as back-up to swap out our old one when it becomes unbearably smelly. I guess he finds the close quarters and the dog pillow comforting?? I am kind of at a loss. But I can say that he has given me a scare on two occassions when I was frantically looking for him and couldn't find him when he should have been in bed. Once he was sleeping here, and once he was soundly sleeping while wedged between his train table and the wall. I am thinking this is not normal.

Pass the Kool-Aid, please

I will blog one last time about the election and get it over with. I am disappointed about McCain's loss, but obviously not surprised. He is a real American hero and I wish his story would have ended differently.

Today I find myself actually relieved, if you can believe that. I am relieved that the election is over. And I am relieved that the Democrats are finally happy. I don't think I could stomach four more years of Democrat hatred. I think the Democrat party is home to some really great people...my mom and one of my grandmothers being two of them. But when you look at college educated voters across both parties, they also seem to be home to some of the most hateful, divisive, and vicious people that America has to offer. For example, I was called an "idiot" by some anonymous poster because I don't believe America should be a welfare nation. I don't want more of my hard earned money going to support people who idle their time away sitting on their front porches or watching Oprah. We give enough for laziness already. Does that make me an idiot? No, sorry, it does not. But what is the point of senseless name calling? Why not agree to disagree? Hatefulness is not a productive or efficient way to make a case. It doesn't bode well for getting people to work together either. And it is exactly the kind of behaviour the Democrats have exhibited the last eight years (think Nancy Pelosi, the media, and Hollywood to name a few). Frankly, I am sick of it.

I hope Republicans will put party aside and put America first over the next four years. I think President Bush is setting a good example so far. When he won the White House eight years ago the Clinton administration did not roll out the red carpet to say the least. The transition and transfer of knowledge was inadequate. The Clinton staffers left the executive offices trashed and looking like a "frat house", presumably to spite or disrespect Bush. To the contrary, Bush has created a committee to focus on getting the new president-elect up to speed and ensure a smooth transition of power because it is in the best interest of our country. He has also reportedly spent the last eight years restoring and taking care of the offices he and his staff have occupied. I don't care what you think of Bush, that is gracious and professional - and the minimum standard you would expect from a President and his staff.

Barack Obama is now our President-Elect. Not just the President of the people who voted for him, but the President of all Americans - even the 56 million who voted for McCain. I am scared silly about Obama's tax plans, and I probably will not agree with his policies (who can tell? we have no voting history to let us know where he stands on most things). Yet I do pray that he will be a good President for our country. I don't care who our President is, we better all respect and get behind him/her because this is a scary world. I actually found myself smiling this morning while watching the gazillions of people who were enormously ecstatic about his victory. I am happy that the country is not bitter today. Maybe we can all come together, wouldn't that be nice?? No, I have not been drinking the Kool-Aid!

But if anyone hopes for a moment that the faith of conservative Americans has been squashed; that we have been left quivering in a corner....desperately clinging to our "guns and religion"....yea, right... don't count on it!!

God Bless America.

McKinley's Voting Cookies

Well, this is what all the fuss has been about if you can believe it. We have been keeping a board with the # of cookies sold for each side. The cookie "votes" have been back and forth the past couple weeks. When one side sees the other is ahead, they will buy more for their candidate to even it out. So this vote is very scientific to say the least, ha. As of Monday the cookie vote is:

Obama 260
McCain 243

I have already emailed a couple of my family members about the craziness surrounding these election cookies so I won't re-hash all the details.

Suffice it to say that some Obama supporters did not like that the donkey was smaller than the elephant. We were accused of discrimination by one crazy lady...what is wrong with people? Hey guys, I don't hand-craft the cookie cutters back in my little elf work shop, okay? I bought what was available from my copper cookie cutter source. Actually, they did have one other cutter for the democratic donkey and it may have been larger, I am not sure. But I chose the one that I thought was the cutest...the other one looked like a farm donkey. I wish I had picked the farm donkey now...the heart cut-out in this one made it hard to decorate or put Obama's name.

The McCain supporters have gotten into an uproar on more than one occassion b/c we were temporarily out of McCain cookies. We have literally had to pull out Obama cookies from the bakery case until we had both sides represented to make it "fair". One lady sat in her car for an hour waiting for McCain cookies to be decorated. I don't know what to say about that....

People in general will buy a cookie and then wait to see if I immediately change the numbers on the board. I have had to repeatedly tell people that I review new numbers at the end of the day. Don't worry, your "vote" will count!

We just tried these for fun. And it has been fun to have our customers so engaged! Hopefully everyone will get out and vote for real.

GO U.S.A.!

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet...

Eli went trick or treating for the 1st time this year. A couple we just met at church invited us to their house for a kid-friendly Halloween party, and then we went through their neighborhood trick or treating. Eli loved going up to the doors (he always wanted to be first in front of the other kids, ugh!), but he would say "trick or treat" to the unopened door. Then when the homeowner opened the door he wouldn't say anything! Luckily, he forgot that he had a bagful of candy after we gave him one lollipop. I transferred the candy into a tupperware container and got it out of sight once we got home. Aaron and I ate the good stuff over the weekend (which we didn't need), and I threw the rest away.

look...there's a pumpkin on my face!

cool glo-stick!

this lady was really in the Halloween spirit!

checking out my loot!

Ridglea Fall Festival

My friend Jean was so sweet to invite my family to join her family at Ridglea for their Halloween fall festival last Wednesday night....seeing how my family missed ours due to FNNC (Fri. Night Nerd Club). We had a real blast!!! I have never seen so many children in my life....Eli was in heaven. He was running all over the place with the rest of the little herd....I couldn't really get a good photo.

This is the most awesome festival, Mom!

Jean's little fireman, Henry!

Jean's middle son, William, striking a pose!

My little chef checking it all out. Lots of new sights to take in.

My camera is constantly taking blurry photos. What is the deal? Maybe it is for the best in my case, ha...

Jean and I ran into our friend, Emily.

TCU Homecoming

My posts are old at this point. We had such a hectic schedule the week before Halloween that I could not keep up with anything. Hopefully I will get Halloween pictures up before Thanksgiving, ha! My apologies for just throwing a flurry of updates out at once. It feels like I am "vomiting" up new posts.

We capped the end of an extremely exhausting week by taking Eli to his first football game. So much for making all the games! It is a little weird for us since neither Aaron nor I went to TCU....we kind of feel like the odd man out if that makes sense. Even though we did not participate in any of the elaborate tailgate set ups that many folks enjoy, it was actually a lot of family fun just to be at the game. Though all of us were so tired we really had fun, and I look forward to the next game!

TCU has a really nice football stadium!

Eli is taking it all in!

Pre-game festivities on the field. Eli LOVED the train horn that blew with every TCU touchdown.

Gettin serious about the game.

GO FROGS!

Night, Night

You know when kids are past the point of tired, they sometimes get super hyper and silly? This was Eli on one particular night not too long ago when he was up past his bedtime. He and Coco now have a nighttime ritual where they play "keep away" with Coco's toys. Coco always wins this game, of course, but Eli has fun trying. This little video was at the tail end of one of these episodes, and Eli had sought refuge on our bed with several of Coco's squeaky balls. He is not showing his genius in this clip, but I figure the grandparents might get a kick out of hearing him actually say something (silly as it is) since a real conversation on the telephone just doesn't happen at this point.

Friday Night Nerd Club

We are no longer calling ourselves a "book club". Another friend recently asked me, 'who has book club on Friday nights?' I replied, "I don't know who has book clubs on Friday nights. Us nerds do I guess!" When I posed the question to the group later that evening we jokingly decided we would from then on become The Friday Night Nerd Club. Or did we decide it was "dork club"? I can't remember. I love these ladies, though! They are the best and I am so blessed to have them as good friends. I would even give up an occasional Friday night for them (LOL). Hey, my family did miss our fall festival at Colonial due to Friday Night Nerd Club this month.

This is part of our book club. The five of us are the "die hards". We tend to get together come hell or high water. We had lots of fun this month. I think Amy had to finally run us off at 11:30.

We are trying to prove that we really do discuss the book at some point during Friday Night Nerd Club. It is a struggle for us , though. It is too easy to get off subject.

I am always the one who hasn't ever finished the book, though. I now have four books that are only 3/4 finished. That is just too many loose ends...I really hate that! But, I have to move on to the next one if I have any hopes of trying to keep up. I love to read, I just don't get a lot read between the time I finally collapse into bed and before the book hits me in the face because I fell asleep.

Streams and Valleys

Streams and Valley's 'Party in the Village' is a party benefiting Trinity River projects. Our shopping center, University Park Village, has hosted the event for 3 or 4 years now and it is really growing in popularity. There were 30 restaurants donating food items, beer, and wine, and there is always a band. McKinley's, of course, had a booth handing out some of our delicious baked goods.

An employee helps out at the McKinley booth. We donated 1,200 servings of mini pumpkin shaped ginger breads with cream cheese glaze, and mini red velvet, Italian cream, and carrot cake cupcakes.

Our friends Sarah and Matt came out and brought their daughter, Anna Grace. She and Eli are at a kid's exhibit.















Eli is checking out the band. He loves to hang at the front of a stage if a band is playing. I had to get a shot of the cowboy boots.