Category Archives: Maggie

Maggie’s Graduation from Sixth Grade

Maggie’s graduated today from Cornerstone Montessori Elementary School which she has attended since kindergarten. It was a beautiful ceremony on a perfect day. Next year, she will attend SPA (where Daddy teaches) as a seventh grader. She will be on the same campus with Griffin (entering 10th grade) but most of their classes are in different buildings. We are enormously proud of her!

Thanksgiving 2023

Pam and Jeff joined us for the feast. We grilled the turkey on the green egg. It came out well, but I may have been over-enthusiastic with the apple wood chips—the smoke flavor was intense.

Besides the turkey, the menu included mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, and Dick’s Buried Treasure. (The latter is a delicious Stocco tradition consisting of yams, canned pineapple, and dollops of cranberry sauce.) Dessert was Sarah’s pumpkin pie and Andrew’s cheesecake.

While we were prepping the meal, the kids asked what everyone’s favorite Thanksgiving food was and what we were thankful for this year. Then they created custom place cards for each of us.💖


Grilling notes for next time:

  • 300-325° on the grill is perfect
  • Use fresh lump charcoal (the smaller chunks at the bottom of the bag interfere with airflow)
  • Cooking time is faster than in an oven at the same temperature. The Green Egg estimates seemed spot-on. (We started our 17 lb. bird at 11:15 and it was done just after 2:30.)
  • Skip the smoking chips next time. I think the basic grill flavor will be enough.
  • The drippings were very dark and smoky too, which made the gravy a bit too powerful. Might be better without the wood chips. Clean the grate beforehand so none of the old char falls into the drip pan.

So Sweet it Hurts

As mentioned in the previous post, Maggie was away at camp all week. Griffin is also at camp and Sarah is out of town, so it’s just been Oliver and me holding down the fort for the past few days. We’ve had a great time.

Maggie returned yesterday. We had a lovely welcome home dinner of spaghetti and meatballs (one of her favorites). Things felt pretty normal. Watched a show. They were bickering before bed, just like usual.

Then, today, Maggie went over to her friend’s house for a few hours. When I was getting ready to drive over to pick her up, Oliver started gathering things in the kitchen. I asked him what he was doing, and he explained that he thought Maggie might be thirsty, so he was filling up her water bottle with fresh water and lots of ice. Then he packed a container of Nilla Wafers because he thought she might need a snack.

Seriously. I just wanted to hug him and never let go.