Prenatal

Yesterday we had a prenatal appointment and everything's going well. The baby's approximately between 8 1/2 and 9 pounds, I measure 40 cm, and the heartrate was 140. I'm hoping within the next week although Mike was hoping for last Sunday.

Laura's Antics

Laura was being so silly when we were doing the Thanksgiving cookies!

Thanksgiving Cookies (Behind the Scenes)

Thanksgiving Breakfast

We made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and used the leftover frosting from the turkey cookies. I was trying to make it a "swirl," but it didn't work like I wanted it. They still tasted good!!!

Thanksgiving Cookies

Here is the finished product. I'll have to see if I can get some "behind-the-scenes" pictures loaded either later or tomorrow. I need to get the children up and ready for breakfast and schoolwork. It's going to be a big shocker after not having to do anything for four days. I'm going to try and get back to some sort of schedule though. :)

Thanksgiving Dinner

We've had a turkey and a bag of corn in our freezer for a few months so I pulled those out for our dinner. I bought a huge can of green beans and some French's Fried Onions at Sam's Club and made my own "cream of" soup for the green bean casserole. The can of cranberries was 19 cents at the grocery store, the potatoes were some we had gleaned from a field, gravy made from drippings, and I splurged on the crescent rolls. We were going to make our own butterhorn rolls, but the crescent rolls were on sale and I had a coupon.

Thanksgiving Decorations

We did not get too creative this year, but here are a few decorations we had for Thanksgiving. Tracy made the two wreaths with the kids.

Taking a Vacation

I will return hopefully to post next Monday. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and a fun weekend!

Harvest Blessing Snack

This is adapted from something I pulled off the Internet years ago; thanks to Barbara E. for the initial idea. We added both whole bags of Bugles and pretzels to stretch it and made 20 of these to give to friends.

Ingredients:
2 cups Bugles Brand Corn Snacks
2 cups Pretzels
1 cup Candy Corn and/or Corn Nuts Brand Snack
1 cup Dried or Candy Fruits
1 cup Peanuts and/or Sunflower Seeds

Each ingredient in this snack mix symbolizes something associated with the Harvest Season (Thanksgiving):
Bugles--a cornucopia, a horn of plenty
Pretzels--arms folded in thanks and prayer
Candy Corn--During the first winter, the pilgrims were each allotted only 5 kernels of corn per day because food was so scarce
Dried Fruits--Thanksgiving in the celebration of the harvest.
Sunflower Seeds--Seeds represent the potential of a bounteous harvest for the next season if they are planted and well-tended.

Pictures of the 2nd and 3rd projects

This morning we didn't do very much school work. Instead we finished our turkey projects and played several rounds of cards. Some of the children did manage to finish or do some of the schoolwork planned for the day though. I went shopping this afternoon and bought a couple things for tomorrow plus some flour so we could make some bread and rolls and such. It won't last long, but I do have a trip to the mill planned for the first few days in December. We made a pepperoni pizza for supper served along with peaches, potato salad, salsa and chips, pop, and lettuce salad. I rarely let my kids have pop so that was a fun treat for them. We have no AWANA tonight so the kids are racing around the house with cars, skateboards, and trucks. It gets noisy but whatever works... I sent my son out this afternoon to break apart the pumpkins we carved for the deer. We live in the state forest so I had him throw them across the street into the woods for them. I hope they get eaten. If not, they'll be good compost, I would imagine. A friend bought some potatoes for me so I'll have to pick them up Sunday when I see her. Last year we went potato field gleaning with some friends but didn't have the opportunity to do that this year. Buying them from the store on sale was cheaper then getting them from a farmer up here. They're selling them 60# for $15.00, and I got them from the store for just under $6.00 for 60#. Have a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow! I may or may not post depending on what is happening.

Second and Third Thanksgiving Crafts

We had a fun day of painting today. We were working on two different turkey projects at the same time so I'd only have one mess to clean. However, the paint didn't dry in time so we'll have to leave the projects for tomorrow and post then. Thanks for stopping by. Have a happy Thanksgiving on Thursday. Hopefully I'll be back.

First Thanksgiving Craft

Today we decided to break out the cookie cutters (our hands) and make turkey cookies. We frosted the different fingers different colors for fancy feathers. I'll post again in a few minutes with the pictures of the baby eating her cookie. Tomorrow we have some crafts planned, and I still have to get in the real Thanksgiving message for my five- and three-year olds whom I doubt have heard the story. We're thankful to God for each blessing we have, even the seemingly small ones.