Sweet Thanksgiving Moments...

Sweet Thanksgiving Moments...

LaLa and Little Bit being sweet!

Thanksgiving Table...I really want a bigger table...one day...hint hint!

Dessert table...yummy!

Robert and his family.

Me and my family. Did you notice the sweet GIVE THANKS banner that LaLa and her daddy made last week. It turned out really cute!

My little brother and his sweet girlfriend, Katie (especially for putting up with my brother!).

One of my children actually posed for a picture...or stood still for a picture...amazing for kids this age! How fast my sweet girls are growing up. One of my favorite moments from this year is Little Bit saying gobble gobble when you point to her shirt!

What a wonderful day...to Give thanks (as Little Bit's shirt reminded us) and to be Full of Thanks (as LaLa's shirt reminded us too). It was a great day with lots of food and family!...Hmmm...now to plan out my tactics for BLACK FRIDAY! Best of luck to you all as you hunt down some wonderful deals!

So very many people in our world cannot say the same...

The food is prepared. The house is clean. The table is set. Family are on there way to celebrate. Our day will be thankful and full of blessings. Our day will have peace and good health. Our day will be joyful.

So very many people in our world cannot say the same...

It makes me wonder how far we have ventured from where President Lincoln desired our great country to be through his Thanksgiving proclamation made so many, many years ago.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God...

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

 Our country is still great, but how I wish that we would place more of our faith and decisions in the "ALMIGHTY HAND". How I wish and pray that our leaders, in all areas of our government, would give such a sincere speech and devotion to the "MOST HIGH GOD". How I wish our country's purposes were consistent with the "DIVINE PURPOSES".

Pray for our leaders. Pray for our country. Pray for restoration toward where we originally founded this great country. Pray for those that President Lincoln mentioned this thanksgiving..widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers, etc. We have many fellow countrymen that have lost loved ones overseas, spending thanksgiving without their families, struggling financially, or battling personal struggles.

Let's do what we can to ensure that this thanksgiving is exactly as President Lincoln proclaimed...a time to share in our blessings, follow and thank our Almighty Creator, support our country, and help others.

God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving!

Mama Drama Rule #78: Our country is not lost...we've just forgotten where we came from and who got us there.

*Thank you to LaLa for making me research how exactly Thanksgiving Day was started! Also, thank you to Emily for bringing this up recently. It was a great reminder...one that is all to easily forgotten!

Create Cornucopias...

While searching the web, I had a difficult time finding cute stuff for thanksgiving theme. I couldn't believe that thanksgiving had fewer ideas surrounding fun food ideas than halloween and Christmas! Most of thanksgiving involves...food! I did come across one idea of using a sugar cone for mini cornucopias. I'm sad to say that my final pictures didn't come out! Note to self: make sure to push the camera card all the way into the slot before taking pictures! It was super easy...once I figured it out! So, let me save you some trouble and share what I was doing wrong!

This is the link where I started with my ideas. I wrapped some tan raffia around these and put veggies in them for LaLa's preschool feast. I plan on using them as place cards for our family's thanksgiving dinner. I will use the raffia again and write names on them with icing. Someone suggested placing runts candy inside of them! I'm a big fan of runts...so I think I may try that route, if I don't eat all the goodies before family gets to see the end result!

First, you need to steam the sugar cones. Now, in the instructions that I found online, it said to hold the cone over boiling water to let the steam do its magic. Let me point out that I tried that...and it resulted in much frustration. Avoid that! Use a steamer basket above your pot of boiling water. I cheated. My steamer basket was in the dishwasher...I simply used a colander and placed it over my boiling water. Let the sugar cone sit in the basket for several minutes until the cone becomes soft...not gooey. Soft and gooey are great technical terms! You'll know what I mean though!

Next, carefully tilt the end of the sugar cone up to look like a cornucopia. Make sure to sit the soft cones on wax paper or somewhere where they will not stick to the surface. They will harden quickly.

This is where I would add my wonderful final picture...if I had it! You could add all kinds of yummy items inside. It would be cute for a kid's table this thanksgiving too. My Little Bit and LaLa enjoyed eating the two that I broke before I realized that the steamer basket made the BIG difference! The raffia looked really cute too! Also, just so you know...the cones will be very hot when you are bending the ends. My kids just stood there giving me funny looks as I was manipulating these hot cones! At least it was entertaining to them!

Mama Drama Rule #76: Saying THANKS is so simple...yet so often forgotten! Remember to say thanks...especially to those that do so much and so often get forgotten!

Gobble, gobble...and a good deal!

Hmmm...You know how you are just perusing around and think...oooh, that's a good deal. I'm SURE I need this because I can do something just wonderful and crafty with it. I think the teacher and the mama in me is just drawn to items like that. Hence, that is why I had my husband haggle a deal and purchase over thirty of these squash/gourd thingies from the state farmer's market.

I am definitely NOT a haggler! They say twenty and I say okay...however, my husband will stand there and haggle until they just get tired of him! It works out for me though! He managed to get my box of over thirty for only eleven dollars! They were all colors and shapes. I used them to decorate around my house and out on my back porch for a fun fall feel! However, I was still left with quite a bit of these things. Actually, some started going bad! I HAD to think of SOMETHING for these wonderful items! Finally, I thought I would take full advantage and suggest these for a fun craft for LaLa's preschool party. Now, just to find a project to go along with them!

Then, I FOUND the perfect idea!


Isn't he a cute turkey? LaLa made this one, and it will be just PERFECT for our centerpiece this Thanksgiving! Little Bit looks at it and says, "apple"...no, not quite. Then, she'll say "gobble, gobble." Poor thing she seems quite confused!


Where to start to make your own little turkey? Well, the "directions" actually suggest a pumpkin, but I had to use up these things! LaLa and I chose fun fall colors that we wanted to use and printed the templates off. LaLa had one to cut. My mom cut the rest of them! (She's pretty handy with that detail stuff!) Next, I used toothpicks that I had in the pantry. I just taped them to the back of each piece-the head and the feathers. I figured out that it worked better if I made the hole with a toothpick, and then LaLa inserted in the actual toothpick attached to the feather. We also added these cute, FUN googly eyes to the turkey. My daughter loves to say GOOGLY. Last, we attached the turkey's wings on the squash/gourd thing! We just used Elmer's glue...and it worked just fine. I attached tape on it to hold it while it dried. We sorted the pieces needed for the craft in separate baggies so the kids can just take a bag and work on their turkey!

I think it would be cute if each of our Thanksgiving guests write something they're thankful for on a plain feather. We could add it to the turkey for the meal. Later, we can take it off the turkey and add it to our family's scrapbook for memories of our many blessings this year!

Hmmm...I still have a lot of these things left! Now, off to plan more ways to use them!

Mama Drama #74: Be full of thanks EVERY day...not just on turkey day!

Planning Thanksgiving Activities for Little Ones!

Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner and Parties for your family? We are also hosting Thanksgiving at our house so we are trying to think of some creative ideas to keep the little ones busy and build lots of memories! Right now, we are getting ready for LaLa's Preschool Party at school. Her school seems to celebrate big, which is a great deal of fun! Here are some ideas that we are working on for the preschool party. As we work on our items over the next week, I will add pictures, but hopefully, this will give you some ideas and some inspiration if you have your own parties coming up!

We are going to enjoy a feast! Yum. I know a lot of little ones do not eat some of these traditional foods, but it gives them a variety and an opportunity to try new things! I have tried to brainstorm ideas for fun ways to present the food...maybe in a different way from what they are used to, but it seems that most people SKIP right over Thanksgiving to Christmas! The only idea that I have came up with is "turkey kabobs" and putting the veggies in mini cornucopias!

Ideas for decorating: Indian corn, leaves (cut outs and real), pumpkins, gourds, cornucopias, pine cones, turkeys (of course), corn stalks, scarecrows, etc.

The kids can dress up like pilgrims or Indians. Our little class is dressing like Indians. LaLa's teacher "tea" dyed shirts. Have you ever heard of that? I had in my head "tie dyed" shirts, but no, it's not the same. She literally took boys undershirts (they come in a 5 pack for a few dollars) and dyed them a tan color using tea bags! We learn something every day in preschool...even this mama! Then, we are cutting the edges in fringes and threading beads on them.

Game Ideas: Turkey, turkey, stuffing (duck, duck, goose), BINGO (using Thanksgiving items and candy corn or acorns as markers), TURKEY says (I found the cutest turkey at Michael's for 6 dollars! I used my coupon and got it 50% off!), pin the wattle on the turkey,

Craft Ideas: Create a Pilgrim hat, Make an Indian headdress, build a turkey using a pumpkin, gourd, or large squash. making Indian jewrly using pasta (teaching opportunity for patterns!)

Table Setting: Make Placemats using kids' handprint as a turkey, make napkin rings,

Fun "Gift" ideas for your guests or your host(ess): The dollar tree actually has cute aprons right now. They also have matching rolling pins, whisks, serving plates, etc. What a cute opportunity to make a little basket! I collected a couple aprons to put an initial on them! Plus, they have cute packages of chef gear for little ones. It includes a chef hat and small apron! If you have "little helpers" on Thanksgiving, what a great, inexpensive way to make them feel special! I love the idea of my girls helping me in the kitchen creating dinner for our family, friends, and extended family; then, years and years later when they have their own families, I would love to continue that tradition! Of course, there is a great deal to do when preparing thanksgiving dinner (I usually cook 2-3 turkeys). Even the most creative mama can only get so much accomplished in the kitchen with two little girls! I plan on having some "special" crafts to keep them busy when I need my space in the kitchen. I am sure that the extra family and company will also keep them very busy!

Mama Drama Rule #72: A thankful heart and thankful actions are more important than thankful words!

Check back this weekend for our Movie Night REVIEW! The movie UP! came out this week on dvd! Our fun and our night was two thumps UP!

Lions, Tigers, and Bears...oh my!

This is the only picture that I got where both kids are still & actually looking at the camera. Now, I just need to edit out my big nose! This is at my brother's house (BOBO). We went trick-or-treating...enduring cold & rain...in his neighborhood & at his house!

Oh, sweet little Dorothy...where is your little doggie? I made her little outfit...without a pattern I might add! Her favorite part was the shoes and the dog in the basket, which also held her candy! Next, we went trick-or-treating at Gumpy & Mimi's house. We took most of their candy!

What a ferocious little lion...definitely not in need of courage! I love her little tongue sticking out on the side! As you know, my Little Bit is RARELY still...so this picture is extra special for me! I ordered this outfit off ebay for 99 cents and paid 1 dollar for shipping. I added some extra fabric for the mane and a bow on top and on her tail...just like Dorothy's lion friend! I tried to teach Little Bit to roar before halloween...she would QUACK every time. A Lion that quacks...

Then, we went to our neighborhood to trick-or-treat at our two neighbors' houses. We have a football player (Fernando Bryant? I don't know if I spelled it right...or what he plays) that lives across our street. My husband obviously knows who he is and was so curious about what all they were doing for halloween due to all the visitors...nosey isn't he?! So, he and LaLa made there way over there to trick or treat and check it out...yep, he used his daughter as an excuse! They had made their house into a haunted spooky house for their trick or treaters...Robert and LaLa made it to the door before she screamed, "GET ME OUTTA HERE!" He was all excited, but his little excuse was not having any of it! Finally, we gave out candy to our visitors...this was the girls favorite part?! Maybe we should JUST do that next year!!!! I would have been A LOT dryer and warmer!

My family has pointed out that I have neglected to share our halloween experience & my two cuties dressed up...so, better late than never!

Mama Drama Rule #69: Sometimes the MOST simple things makes our children the happiest...in my case, it was our doorbell ringing!

Preschool Pumpkin Party

LaLa's "special" pumpkin from the "pumpkin patch" at school. It took her a LONG time to choose just the right one!

Getting ready for the "parade". The older kids in the school dress up to represent a country. They parade around the entire school campus as the "parade of nations". However, the little ones dress up as community helpers, and I believe each class has a "theme". Our teacher was a fireman and was followed by her little Dalmatians.



See, they really aren't that difficult to make! We had an abundance of food at the party. I made these fruit jack-o-lanterns, mummy hotdogs, and bug juice, but all the parents brought stuff-chicken nuggets, chips, cake (yummy!), etc.. Do you know what was the biggest hit with the three year olds? Gummy "Wormies"...I'm serious!

I really meant to take more pictures, especially of the kids playing their games and interacting, but the time just flew by so quickly that it was over before I could catch up! LaLa enjoyed her pumpkin party. What a big day and an exciting time for her first party in her preschool career! I think I enjoyed it as much as she did! I embroidered cute little jack-o-lantern bags...again, I forgot to take pictures! That's the story of my crazy week! There were a lot of cute treats that the parents sent in that I plan on putting in my "memory bank" for the future: stamps, flashlights, tatoos, and of course, candy! For days, I was thinking of ideas to do and make for her special day...even in my sleep. I don't know what to do when both of my girls are in school! Hopefully, this obsession on my part is just a "newbie" thing to preschool mommies!

Are all the other mommies as tired as I am? I remember being a child and just having endless energy, especially during the holidays. Now, finally, some thirty years later, I understand why my parents were SO tired! I just thought they were party poopers! Now, I know. And, now, I'm often the party pooper...I love all the fun stuff and enjoy all the celebrations, but I can only keep up for so long! I watch my little ones, and I am just amazed at their boundless energy that they have conjured up!

Mama Drama Rule # 65: Have you ever heard of "eat your wheaties" ? Well, they need something like super duper wheaties for mamas just to keep up with our little ones. Maybe they could just add an extra dose of energy and 'superness' during the holiday fun so we can keep up!

So, in short, EAT YOUR WHEATIES...TAKE YOUR VITAMINS...and enjoy them because it's a blur of a memory before you know it!

Getting ready for Fall Fun in Preschool!

LaLa's big preschool pumpkin party is coming up next week. Her little class has a lot of fun things planned. I thought I'd share because I know a lot of mamas, like me, may be planning for parties next week!

Here are some of our food ideas!

• Chicken nuggets
  hot dog mummies
  found at www.Familyfun.com
  fruit salad in orange jack o' lanterns



www.familyfun.com

• chips
• cheese cubes or maybe fun halloween shapes
• grapes
• chips and dip
• Swamp Juice- I think I am just going to get some juice that is green or something...and add some plastic bugs and some gummy worms, but this looks fun!

Here are some of our activity ideas! I'm adding some that I plan to do with my kids and their friends too. LaLa's preschool is a Christian school...so some of the games have to be altered to be non-"halloweenish" and to go along with a Jack o' lantern theme.

• pumpkin hot potato
• paint pumpkins
• pumpkin patch to pick their pumpkins
• parade to show off their class costumes (her teacher is a fireman and the kids are Dalmatians!)
• put together foam pumpkins-This might be fun to do blindfolded...to find the pieces you need for your pumpkin...and we want to include the Christian poem for Jack o'lanterns (I'll post it on another day)
• I'm embroidering cute bags from Oriental Trading Company & parents are sending in goodies.
• Pin the nose on the Jack o'lantern-I'm not sure about this quite yet. Where can I find a huge pumpkin picture?!
  

Other cute activities that I think would be fun!

• the black cat hunt (www.familyfun.com) - we just did a pumpkin hunt in Awana with our class from church. Our lesson was about how the Bible gives us directions & guides us. As a treat & to emphasize what directions and guide mean, we had a hunt that took us from location to location with directions and instructions to find a big basket of pumpkins for all the kids. The instructions had a lot of "hop" "skip" "smile" etc. from place to place that worked very well for 3 year olds...and even my little 1 year old following behind them!





• Race to Sweep the pumpkins (www.familyfun.com) -I think I am going to do this for the kids at our thanksgiving meal. It looks like fun!
• Mash the Pumpkins-my girls would LOVE this. I found it on Melissa Hester's blog (look at my blog links on the right) It's basically hammering golf tees into pumpkins with kid hammers. What's the point? You get to hammer...need I say more? The trick is finding the hammers...the wooden ones with the tool box (Melissa & Doug) were at School Box for about 10 dollars, but maybe you could have enough at home and with other parents that you wouldn't have to buy them.
• A friend of mine has a little girl whose preschool class is doing an "orange party"...I know a lot of places do this too to avoid the halloween aspect. Well, upon searching for ideas for her, I found and thought of several, making t-shirts (orange of course & 2 for 5 at Michaels or trick or treat orange bags & only 1 dollar at Michaels as well!), eating orange foods, scavenger or treasure hunt for orange things, putting their hands into mystery bags of orange things...and guessing what it could be. Examples include carrots, oranges cut, etc.

By the Way, all or most of these ideas were found at wonderful sites like www.familyfun.com (this is my all time favorite site and magazine!) and www.parents.com. Be prepared to spend lots of time and have your brain go in overload at the possibilities! I'd love to hear some of your ideas...and yes, I will probably steal!:)

Mama Drama Rule #62: Don't reinvent the wheel! This is my philosophy for the week!:)