Thanksgiving garland...

After I removed "Halloween town" (as seen in this picture here) from the dining room - the large wall looked painfully empty. I have some incredible long-term plans for the space - but long-term in this case could be a while. So.... I'm going to seize every holiday opportunity to decorate the space. I figure with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I could have the wall decorated at least three months out of the year. And if I throw in Valentine's, Easter and Fourth of July that's another 3 months - I've got half the year taken care of!

I used the die cut machine at the scrapbooking store to cut circles out of fabric. I sewed a bunch of circles together and hung them from a dowel. I'm loving how much color it brings into the space. I just might use this idea again for another holiday - how fun would hearts be for Valentine's??

November swim...

Steve and I talked of driving to Idaho for Thanksgiving to visit my family. Some days I thought it was a great idea, other days the thought of spending 32 hours in the car in 7 days sounded miserable. Plus there were a couple other factors that played into it; one factor being the weather. We are in our prime for weather, why in the world would we want to leave? July and August however, I'll stay in Idaho as long as I can, but not this time of year. The mornings and nights are cool but it's warm during the day.

In fact it's warm enough that the day after Thanksgiving we had a swim party at Steve's brother's house. The pool was heated and it was a little chilly for some, buy my little fishies were in heaven. My niece works for the famous "J-dawgs" in Provo so she cooked us up some dogs with the special sauce. She's trained in deliciousness and she did not disappoint! I know cooler weather (at least cool weather to us) is just around the corner so to sit and enjoy family in the warmth of the afternoon was relaxing. We'll let the kids enjoy their shorts and flip flops for just a bit longer!

Thanksgiving...

It's funny how traditions morph. While living in Milwaukee we hosted family for a delicious Thanksgiving breakfast - you name it, we probably had it. Afterwards there was some football watching by the men, while I decorated the house for Christmas. My sister-in-law went to her house to finish preparing the feast we would devour for dinner. No need for lunch on a day like this!!

Upon moving, we tried to keep the breakfast tradition alive and we failed miserably. No one wanted to eat breakfast with us! You see Arizona has such great weather for Thanksgiving, that everyone wants to be outside doing something active, usually playing football or turkey trots. So as much as it killed me to lose our breakfast smorgasbord, we clearly had to adjust. We decided one day a year it wouldn't hurt us to act like we were athletic while we participated in a turkey trot. I suppose I should clarify, by participating I mean we showed up, took pictures with numbered bibs and then hopped on our bikes and rode the 5K instead of running. I claim it's because we have young kids, but in just a few years when those kids are old enough to run and I still choose to ride my bike, they're going to realize I'm a fraud! Hopefully by then I can work myself to running a mile. Yes, a mile, as in singular. Steve's parents graciously hosted the family just as they do every year and we are more than grateful, especially considering the current condition of our own home. (here)

We were assigned a couple of things to contribute, one of which was place cards. We did some killer place cards two years ago (here) as a fun craft for Hallie so we were excited to have another "craft session". We went with pilgrim boats with sails. (I have a feeling this might become our task every year!) We also brought a "turkey" vegetable platter. Hallie thought this was the funniest thing ever. No Thanksgiving is complete with out a little football: playing or watching. There was plenty of fun to go around. I brought a backdrop to set up a photo booth for all the cousins - this provided endless amounts of fun. Never a dull moment and not one of them is the least bit camera shy. If it wasn't for the sun going down this would've gone on much longer! There were plenty of shots that I wish I could post but I have nephews threatening to kill me if they see it on the blog! Steve and his brother also got in on the action - they seemed a little too comfortable with the camera! By the third round of pie (and completely exhausted children) we decided it was time to put the day behind us with gratitude in our hearts. It was a lovely day.

Attitude of gratitude...

We're halfway through November and I haven't even expressed any gratitude! We usually have a Thanksgiving advent calendar that we hang in the kitchen and we write our gratitude as a family every night. The floors have thrown us for a loop, it's still not hung, nor will we be getting it out this year. But we still have gratitude.

Hunter is grateful for preschool and his friend Jack - he talks about both of them non-stop. He's also grateful for his legos that he spends hours playing with.

Hallie tells me every day how grateful she is for school and piano lessons. She is also grateful that she has her own pack of gum so she doesn't have to ask permission. No joke.

Bennett is grateful for his swaddling blankets. We have four of them, and it's still not enough. He's also grateful for his brother and sister, he much prefers them over Steve or myself.

I am grateful that the concrete grinding has been completed and we are once again able to enter the kitchen without going outside. I'm also grateful that I'm feeling healthy and strong once again which means I've been able to work on a couple more projects while the floors are ripped out.

Steve is grateful for another carpool buddy which means he only drives once or twice a week. He's also grateful for Audible.com and the Mormon channel to keep him entertained during the commute.

Thanksgiving...

Steve's favorite holiday (or so he claims) is Thanksgiving, which means he always has high expectations for what the day should entail! This year did not disappoint. We started the day with a family turkey trot. Besides the fact that I don't believe my body could run a weak 3 miles if my life depended on it - we have young children so we opted to bike the trot instead. It's a good thing we did because not even a quarter mile into the Hallie was telling me her legs hurt!

 





(Fortunately he really doesn't look like this when he runs!)


We then cleaned up and went to Steve's parent's house for turkey/football/pie.  Steve was wishing there was a little more football to be played, but still good times. His ideal Thanksgiving would be 50% football (playing) 30% Turkey and 20% pie - of course with 100% family!



We have so much to be grateful for and the list multiplies daily!

Thanksgiving...

I have so much to be grateful for - it has been a good year. We are healthy and strong. We are free. We are active. We are warm. We are surrounded by family. We are learning. We are growing. We have our own home. (I'm still letting it soak in that we are officially in our own home.) Life is really good, we are counting our blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Wreath...

Halloween has come and gone which means the wreath I made (here) needed to be switched out. I went back to micheals for supplies. I walked away with a twig wreath and some berry stems, and then I stopped by Joanns for some felt and linen.

I scoured the internet to find different methods for making fabric flowers and I ended up with this.


I made the fabric rosettes (which I also used on the Halloween wreath).

I found this picture on my pinteres and although it was in another language, the picture was pretty self explanatory. I didn't have my sewing machine so I skipped that step, so my flowers didn't have that curl to them, instead I just rolled them.

I also liked this flower which was easy peasy.

And lastly I liked this flower, but it was on etsy and didn't offer any instructions, it wasn't rocket science figuring it out. Fold a piece of wool felt in half length wise and glue. Cut slits all along the folded edge - then roll. It produces the cutest little puff flower. I experimented and tried different lengths of felt and different widths of slits. They were all cute.

I arranged them all and glued.