Thanksgiving 2011

This year for Thanksgiving we had plans in the making for leaving town and going to see a parade in Philly or D.C. After some thinking and looking it over, and by "it" I mean our bank account, we decided it would be better to just stay put and enjoy the weekend here. Some friends of ours were gracious enough to include us in on their plans, with our kids making a total of 12. Just children. It was great, so much food and everyone had a nice time. Since we joined late, there was already a menu in place and I ended up adding to the sweet side of things. I had seen a recipe for Rice Crispy Turkey Pops that I thought looked like so much fun. I did things a little different since I didn't have the sticks on hand. I had also seen a picture online for Hershey Kiss Acorns. Easy, and so yummy. Last, but not least, I love chocolate and more is better, so I made a Chocolate Pecan Pie. Everything was ready to go until I realized that no store was carrying candy corn anymore and I about had a panic attack after telling my kids how excited I was to make the turkey pops with them. I put a plea out on Facebook and my neighbor so graciously gave me some from her stash she had leftover. THANK YOU!! They turned out great. 

I will explain the sad boy to the right. 

He was very upset to not be allowed to sample a turkey before we left the house. Therefore, he would not participate in taking a picture in his nice clothes. 

1 hershey kiss

nutter butter mini

mini chocolate chip 

held together with peanut butter

My pie.

Here are the pajama kids helping me make the "kissies," as they called them. There were many times they had to get down and re-wash their hands for putting them by their mouths. Also a few time outs had for my boys due to their lack of self control (don't know where they get that) and eating the kisses while they unwrapped them. It was a fun morning in the kitchen with the kids. 

taken with my phone 

The night before Thanksgiving, we attended the Thanksgiving Eve service at church. The kids are here listening to a song, but that was about the only time they sat still. It was a nice time of reflection on all the things we have to be thankful for. I am glad we went.

The last picture of my fall counter. 

I love that green pumpkin from Cracker Barrel and my new owl friend from T.J. Maxx. 

He's going to be in my Christmas decor too.

This year we have so much to be thankful for. Our family. Love, laughter, health, travel, memories made, good times had. Our friends. They have become our family here in so many ways. How Andrew is blessed at work by all he's learning and still having fun in the process. Our home, renovations and all have turned out wonderful, we love it and hate the thought that we have to sell it in less than 2 years. Our church, their willingness to teach us and our children, and pull us in like family. Our town, for safety and all the fun things there are to do here together. For overall blessings we receive day in and day out that we take for granted, we give thanks.

We are Family!

I love this picture of John. Back when we were attempting our family pictures he was watching everything go on with his little hand in his shirt like he was posing for some formal picture. I'm sad we cut off his hair, but excited for how thick it will grow back in. He's such a joy, you'd have to see it for yourself, but I wouldn't trade him for the world.

Peter was climbing something, as usual when I got this picture. This kid keeps me entertained in many ways, but I will say, he takes wonderful pictures. Hardly ever does he not smile, and when you give him an incentive, he turns his pout right around. We are so loving see his little mind develop as he learns and grows. 

My brother took a few of just Andrew and I after my kids decided they were done. I really like the tree we are by with all the different markings and moss on it. You wouldn't think a sports field would offer what it does, but this one sure makes for a great place to take pictures.

These are my boys. They make me smile. Everyday.

The rest of these pictures are either taken inside in low light and with my phone camera, the caliber drops a little when I'm not using my beastly Canon.

My children would spend all day dressing up in whatever is available pretending to be anything under the sun. It's great. This time, they are firemen, but using their own coats and backpacks (rescue packs), with my ties I was using for crafts and spatulas to beat out the fire. This picture I asked Peter to pose like a rescue man, and boy, he sure did a good job.

I took this picture one morning on our way to the open gym where the kids can run to their hearts content. They made those hats at AWANA the night before and insisted on wearing them until they were totally destroyed. I called this the "Thursday Morning Misfits." 

We spend a weekend up in Wilkes-Barre with Andrew and here we are eating at the kid table in Wegmann's grocery store cafe. We heard live music and I enjoyed Indian food while they ate pizza. We were waiting for Andrew to finish up before we went to the hotel.

GAP was having a sale on cold weather gear. Since I have been knitting everyone but my own children's hats, I decided I'd just buy them this year. The boys are into sharks, dinosaurs and all things that roar, so when Peter came up to me with matching shark hats and gloves for he and John, I couldn't resist. Never mind that they aren't wearing clothes, this was seconds before they all got pi's on.

This is us on Sunday. I love taking pictures with Ella. Especially when she's excited about what she's wearing. I guess I was also a little excited to find this coat in the back of her closet (which is our only coat storage) because I had forgotten it was there. A few years ago back in California, it went on clearance for $8. I was beyond thrilled to own it then, and still am! I added the yellow tights on black Friday. Andrew is not a huge fan of colored tights, but I happen to think they're a lot of fun.

Today we went to the park after the post office and other errands that I had to do. It was a really nice day and we didn't even have to wear coats. Not going to lie, I am loving that is isn't snowing yet and we can still play outdoors. 

That's a little snippet of what we've been up to according to my phone documentation. I will bring on the turkey day pictures next. 

Firsts

In the world of being a first time school mom, I have officially made yet another mistake. (There are more to come, I'm sure). The previous incident that left me feeling quite lame was when Ella's school sent home a flier for their "Fall Party." "Parents are welcome." That's what it said. We had family in town, but I should have paid closer attention. She was dressed in her costume from halloween and we brought what we signed up for, juice. Easy. Except I ended up getting it at the corner gas station because I totally spaced it before that morning and a half full orange juice would have been bad. So I get there and realize that pretty much every "welcome" parent was staying. I hadn't showered, my kids were still in their pj's at home with their cousins, and I had no plans of being there for the morning. The kids all looked so cute, the food was all spread out, Ella looked at me and said, "It's okay mom, you can stay next time." I wanted to cry all 4 minutes I drove home. I told my sister that I messed up and next time I would be there with bells on. Really, maybe bells. It's the Christmas party. It's December 21st and I WILL BE THERE. 

THIS time, it was Pilgrim and Indian dress up day before Thanksgiving. The night before we had been tossing ideas around about what Ella could wear. I had not even thought ahead for this because again, it was "suggested." So I remembered she had a costume someone had given us that sorta could be used and I offered her to wear a skirt of mine and a scarf for a pilgrim. She was uneasy about both ideas, but after Peter came in and asked, "Ella, did you decided pigrim or idiot?" a good round of laughter followed and she corrected him saying, "It's PILGRIM and INDIAN and I will do Indian." To explain, the costume I had in mind was an inside out hippie costume since part of it was brown. Sure, that could pass. I gave her some of my necklaces with beads and stones and tied a piece of yarn on her head instead of leather and braided her hair. She looked adorable, only she really did look more like a hippie than an Indian. That's alright, better than the brown paper sack we made when I was in school. Right? Wrong. When I pulled up to take her inside, there were little girls dressed like Pocahontas, boys dressed like they'd just jumped off the Mayflower, and I felt so stupid and bad for Ella. She had no idea. I told her she looked awesome and took her hippy self with her little brown boots in the door. Moms had made real costumes out of brown t-shirts and feathers, as well as white and black pilgrim hats and shawls. This whole "suggesting" thing is silly. Just say, "Dress your kid up like Thanksgiving Halloween." 

"Come to the party or you will feel bad." 

"Shower before you bring your child inside" (I added that one). ;) 

Now I know.

 Peter is going to be one decked out Indian Chief next year.

 Ella will not attend another party unaccompanied. I asked Ella if she had a fun day in her costume, "Yes, my teacher said I looked cute." Thank goodness for good teachers. I also thought she looked great. 

Just would have been better if it was 1960's day and not 1620's day.

My hippie Indian.

I told her that Indians say hello by holding up their hands and saying, "How." What she should have done was hold up her two fingers and said, "Peace." 

Dear Ella, you don't know this, and never will until you read it, but I'm sorry. It will not happen again.

 I love you.

Apple Butter Boil

The boiling pots.

Back in October, we went to an Apple Butter Boil fundraiser at a friend's mom's country church. We took all the cousins and ventured out to see what it was all about. They boil the apples in huge pots over the fire and jar the apple butter once it's all done. I know there's more to it than that, but I'm not sure each little step.  We got a couple jars of that as well as a jar of their chicken corn soup. It's amazing. We had lunch there and played out on the swing set. The kids had a nice time and we got some fun pictures too. 

Levi

Emerson

John

Peter

Ella

MacKenzie

My boys,  this picture is going in their room.

Checking out the horse and goat.

One of my top fave pictures of John and I.

I put this one in too because I think it's funny how
Peter and John are doing the same thing with their mouths,

Jenna, Me, and Renee. 

Sister and Niece.

Anna, Abbey, and Ben. It's Abbey's Mother in Law who goes to this church.

Buddies. 

The church with it's beautiful stained glass windows.

I love that in this area there is always something like this going on. The little churches, schools, museums, barns, and markets are constantly hosting some kind of gathering. I am hardly ever without an event I could take the kids to. 

The recipe for the lunch Andrew had and loved was sent to me by Abbey today just in time for this post. It was very good and you could probably use deer meat as well if you like that kind of thing :)

Hamburg Barbecue

2 pounds ground beef
1 small onion
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup mustard
1/4 cup vinegar
1 1/2 cups ketchup

Brown the ground beef and onion together.  Drain fat.  Add remaining ingredients and let simmer 20 minutes or so.  Serve on hamburger buns. 

Pumpkins to Pick

You can't come to Pennsylvania in the Fall and not go to a farm market to eat and pick out pumpkins. Usually we go to Rhorbach's Farm Market, but this year we decided to try out Ard's Farm Market in Lewisburg, one of my favorite towns around here. They had a fun playground for the kids, animals to see, and really great food. I will probably post more on this market another time. On the weekends you can go and do the hayrides, but we couldn't make it. Their BBQ pork sandwich is worth driving back.

That swing was made from a tire. Such a fun idea! The one above, not the one below. I'm well aware that the one below is called a TIRE SWING.

They have tractors for the kids to climb on.

And little tractor beds for babies who are too cute for their jeggings to model on.

Peek-A-Boo!!

This is what is called an Octodog. The mustard frown used to be a smile.

Picked the pumpkins and then we made them pose.

Oh she's so adorable. I got her that hat last year from The English Garden and I'm so glad I did.

They had fun watching the goats and the big pig there.

This little boy in orange happened to inform me while getting in the car post-pumpkin fun that his belly hurt. Part way home I pulled over to get him a bag. He said, "This bag has holes in it from the pumpkins." I looked at Renee and wondered what would happen with that hole-ridden bag. Oh yeah. He used it. I pulled over a second time (my sister following  me in another car as well) and looked back to a disaster I did not want to see. I grabbed the bag, and since it did indeed have holes, it only actually contained a bit of mess. Got Peter cleaned up and kept driving home. Then, he said again, without any more bags available, "I still don't feel good." Next thing I knew, he had used his jacket and lap as his bag and his poor cousin Levi had to witness the whole thing. They both sat back there crying, scared and disgusted. I sped home, cut through a parking lot, almost got in an accident and got us all out of the car. My sister had given me gum because I was also gagging, Renee helped with the not-sick kids and we got it all worked out. Then we waited. For days every time someone coughed we asked, "What hurts?" The kids must have thought we were nuts. We had all already shared the flu last year in Alaska. Luckily it must have been food related because everyone else stayed free of the stomach bug. 

So that was our day at Ard's. Pretty sure their food wasn't what made Peter sick so don't worry. I still plan to go there again. Probably tonight...really. I'm leaving soon.