Thanksgiving 2011 {Photo*Dump}

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We stuffed ourselves full of good food. We laughed a lot.
There were 10 of us total. The six of us, my parents, and my grandparents. It's a tradition.


I made three pies; one apple and two pumpkin. This was only the second ever apple pie I have made. I liked it.

Adult table decor...

Fall around the house...

My daddy...

Abby and Grandpa Barney!!

Marcos filming me taking a picture of him. ;)

I decided to bring the kitchen table into the formal living/dining room so that the kids didn't have to eat alone in the kitchen. I shortened it (took the leaf out) since we only needed four seats. 

Adult table... (P.S. I made the runners out of canvas and green tulle.)

Do you know how hard it is to find Fall themed candy/snacks the day before Thanksgiving?! We settled on Gold Fishies and Reece's Pieces.

Our theme this year... owls!

The food is on the table...

Last year we did a thankful tree... {see that post here}... this year, we did Thankful Owls...
Everyone wrote down what they were thankful for as they came in the door.

Yes, one of mines  wrote that he was thankful for his PS3.
And it wasn't the 16 year old.
Nor the almost 5 year old.
Hmph.

I am very thankful for my family, my friends, people that do good things...
I am thankful for our health, our happiness, and each and every morning we get to try, try again.

I am thankful our Thanksgiving went off without a hitch and that I got to spend it with my wonderful parents and my fantastical grandparents. I love them all so much.

I hope you had a wonderful Turkey Day!

An Organized Thanksgiving

With Turkey Day just a few days away, I needed to step back a little to make sure I have everything under control. Once I realized that could never be {ha ha ha, silly momma}, I decided to at least make it *look* like I could handle it all.

Thanksgiving dinner for us involves my family, my parents and my grandparents. This year, that equals 10 people.

A couple of weeks back, my mom and I sat down and came up with our dinner menu. We also decided on who was bringing what. A few days ago, I sent out a reminder to her and my grandmother - so they knew all of the details.

This is what I sent them:

I included who was bringing what and when everyone should arrive.

I forgot the rolls. We will have rolls, people. I promise. 

I made the plan colorful and fun... Did you see what my grandmother {aka Waneta} is bringing?! My grandpa! :) My grandparents don't really drive anymore, so my mom will be picking them up on their way over here.

With that done, I realize there is still so much to do. I started making lists in my head last night... Which does me no good, because I can't remember what I put on those lists this morning. So I made myself a Thanksgiving To-Do list.  I broke it out into three columns: A Few Days Before, Day Before and Day Of. There are some things I can tackle today (or I *need* to tackle today) and there are some things that can wait until the day of.

I think a visual reminder is the way to go! I am in the middle of filling out my lists now and will hang it on my refrigerator in hopes of someone else seeing it and feeling pity and joining in on the items that need marking off. Who am I kidding?.

Because I am thankful and grateful... I wanted to share the list with you as a download. Click on the picture below and you will be taken to Google Docs, where you can print off the PDF.

Here's to a busy week ahead and tons of turkey madness!

It's Monday, so you know I am linking here...

Um, where is November going?

Looking at the calendar today, we have a week and a half until Thanksgiving?!
What?!
I need more time.

I am about to show you the start of a lot.
But I am no where near done.

First up, though... A Thanksgiving theme plaque. I got the wooden plaque from Wal-Mart ($2.97) and the printables from Today's Fabulous Finds.

Here are some additional snapshots, providing proof that I am working my crafty tail off, trying to get ready to host only our second ever Thanksgiving in our house.  Our theme for this year is Owls & Acorns.
I found so much stuff. Now if only I had access to all of the acorns I had to pick up for punishment as a kid. Man, I'd love to have a bag of them for crafts.

The "mantel" nor the house are by any means completed, as far as decorating goes. Hopefully during the next few days I will be able to share a finished product.  For now, i do want to point out the two picture frames (above, left)... I took fabric from a cloth napkin (owls) and some sample material from my new pillow cases (they came in a fabric case), and created "pictures."  I added a new lampshade (different from the one I used for Halloween) - I love it! It's actually going to go in my room, with it's sister, once I find a new pair of lamps to repurpose.

Until then, it will give us T-Day joy!

Hope you are having a great day!

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Linking to:

 

Child Labor Laws?

I think the kids are ready to add an addendum to the existing Child Labor Laws...

I think they are DONE with holiday decorating.  :)  Look at the calendar, kiddos - we are getting started!!

We have a lot of Halloween going on, so I added some fall/Thanksgiving in our formal living/dining room. All stuff on hand!

  

Cookies & Christmas - that's what Nic's thankful for

Here it is - Thanksgiving Eve.
I think I am just about ready to host my parents and grandparents tomorrow.
This being our first T-day in our new house - I am feeling anxious & excited.

The kids and I have been preparing all day.

We made a Thankful tree. The older kids wrote on their own leaves things they were thankful for.
I wrote down Nic's thoughts. After cookies and Christmas - it went all downhill from there (e.g. Spongebob).   We cut out extra leaves and set them, along with markers and tape, on the table in the hall so that our family can add to the tree as they see fit throughout the day tomorrow.

We then made some turkeys to hang on the wall.

Finally - I just took my pumpkin pies out of the oven.  I made pies last year (first time ever) but they were with store-bought, ready-to-use pie crust. This year, I wanted to make it from scratch. I found a KitchenAid mixer recipe - and IT WORKED!   Look at these sweethearts.

Impressed much? Yeah, I didn't think so. =)

Well, back to dressing my dining room table; I want it to look fantastic. Just getting started...

I hope you all have a wonderful and loved-filled Thanksgiving tomorrow! You deserve it. =)

P.S. Sorry abt the picture quality - still having issues with my camera's memory card. Had to use my BBerry.