A time of thanks..

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for all that the Lord has done in our lives. I have a lot to be thankful for this year-my husband having a job in an otherwise tough economy, having the freedom to homeschool, my son's amazing recovery from his accident a few months ago, and so many more things. I could fill up this entire blog and still have more to say! Unfortunately, I find that I often take these things for granted and don't remember to give thanks to God as much as I should. To help my kids remember all that God has done for them, they each made a tree of thanks. They write down what they are thankful for on each leaf and then stick them on the tree. Each one holds about 25 leaves, so they had plenty to write down. It was great to read all the different leaves after they were done, listing both little and big things. We displayed them so everyone could have a chance to see!
In getting in gear for Thanksgiving, we decided to make some yummy pumpkin muffins. These were a big hit, even to those who think they didn't really like pumpkin!

Each of the kids also decorated their own Thanksgiving cookie, complete with frosting and fall-colored sprinkles. Very creative they were!

On Thanksgiving morning, as tradition would have it, the kids decorated the Christmas tree while watching the Thanksgiving Day parade.

The kids also played pin the hat on the turkey during some down time.

We had a wonderfully yummy Thanksgiving feast, which I failed to get a picture of. But it was tasty! Unfortunately, we had a sick child this year, so were unable to share the great meal with any guests. After the meal, when all the food was settled, we had a dessert of caramel apple pie, made by my 10 yo daughter and me, and this turkey.... Okay, it's not an actual turkey, but a carrot cake with cream cheese icing, in the shape of a turkey! It was my first time making a turkey cake and it was pretty fun!

We had a very blessed Thanksgiving. I hope yours was, too!

Little dude's birthday

Yep...today my little guy turns 2. My baby! I can't believe I'm saying that, as we always seem to have another baby in our house by this point. But as it is, we don't, so he has to stay a baby for a while longer for me, and this whole birthday thing is just messing that all up! I let each of my kiddos pick their birthday theme. His choice? Puppies! He loves, loves, loves puppies. The kids and I did a search for a cake that most resembled what he wanted and came up with 101 dalmatians. It was a little more involved in making it than I thought, but I think it came out pretty well. He loved it, which made me smile..makes it all worth it!

He got lots of presents from family, which he was a little unsure of how to open at first.

But once he got the hang of it, he was on a roll!

Of course, he needed to take a little snack break with some M&Ms

Then finally onto the cake. He needed some help from Dad blowing out the candle, but it's official.....hes's 2!!!!!!!!!!

Grandma's visit

We had the wonderful blessing of my mom visiting from Arizona last week for 4 days. It had been over 6 months since we had seen her last, so everyone was looking forward to it! Being that it wasn't a very long visit, my kids took it upon themselves to pack as much as they could into those 4 days! Of course, Grandma arrived with a bag full of gifts..one of which was personalized little purses for all the girls (they love 'em!)

They spent some down time looking through photo albums and remembering all the fun times they spent together!

The visit wouldn't be complete without baking some yummy cookies with Grandma. They actually were very yummy-I had to sample one...or two...okay, maybe three!

Oops..this one is sideways, but you can see that they put Grandma to work giving hairdos! They also like to take their turn fixing Grandma's hair, though we just make sure it's not right before we plan on going anywhere. :-)

Here's the final group picture of everyone together--please don't ask me why the big kid in the back just couldn't brush his hair.

We had a great time with her-it went too fast, but all the kids got some great bonding time with Grandma, creating some wonderful memories, which is how it should be!