Thanksgiving Picture Dump

Thanksgiving was so great this year. We didn't stress about going to a million places we just went where we needed to go and ate when we got there. It was so nice getting to see the family and getting to spend time with the people we love the most. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy pictures from our day.

The beloved kids table.

 The ever cherished adult table.

Stratton loves playing with the blocks when we go to Great Grandma Marge's house.

Stratton is so good at stacking these blocks. Way better then I ever was and still am.

Look at that face. This is by far the most adorable thing in my world.

My beautiful sister, my beautiful Grandma Marge and myself.

Grandma B and I having a serious conversation...about something.

Showing Grandma B my smart phone. She's never really seen one before so I explained to her what all it did and showed her how you can play games and movies on it. She was amazed.

I finally got my dang sweet potatoes!

My beautiful sister, my other beautiful Grandma B and myself.

Love my sis!

Love my kid!

He loves when I wear my hear down so he can run his fingers through it. Last night I work it down in bed while we were laying down and he kept running his fingers through it. It was so sweet.

I love my Grandma Marges kitchen and all of her fiesta ware. I'm hoping maybe this year I might get my first set. Fingers crossed. I haven't told anyone I wanted them yet but I'm kind of hoping I might start to collect them.

Love my husband!

Oh yea! There's a good one!

My beautiful Grandma B

Great Grandma B and Stratton.

He's so dreamy.

My sister's dog Sage begging for food. It's so funny. She will put her paw out for you to shake it but as soon as you touch her paw she draws it in and won't let you grab it.

Four Generations (Great Grandma Marge, myself, Stratton, Grandma Kathie, and Casey.

The whole famn damily.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving at Dale and Lisa's

Aunt Stephie, Payne and Uncle Garrett on their way out to go to STL.

Cobie with Grandma Lisa.

Little Miss Cobie. Isn't she the cutest.

Stratton and JD were having so much fun playing with Papa Dale's iPad.

They were seriously enthralled.

More movie watching by the boys.

They even got comfy on the couch and snuggled up next to each other.

That afternoon we put up the Christmas tree. It's our family tradition to do it on Thanksgiving as a way to kind of wind down from the day.

Gosh I love getting my picture taken....not.

Stratton was such a big helper.

He brought me all the different sized branches by the color tags that are on the bottom of them. He is getting so good at knowing all the different colors.

He was fast too. He handed them to me before I was ready.

Me and my little man.

He's the best.

Me and our Charlie Brown tree.

The finished product.

I know this is going to spoil some surprises for Christmas for a few of my readers but I just thought this was such a cool idea that I had to share it with everyone. I made ornaments!

I took loose glitter, clear glass ball ornaments, and pledge floor shine.
You first pour some floor shine into the ornaments (after you take the tops off of them) and swirl it around to coat the inside of the ornament. Then you take a funnel and pour glitter into the inside of the ball. Swish it around to cover the whole inside and bazinga! You have sparkly Christmas Balls!

I thought they were pretty and all but they needed a little something extra. SO, I made Stratton get his hands dirty and we put his cute little hand print on the outside of them! They turned out AWESOME! Stratton hated having his hands dirty though. He's so funny about that kind of stuff. It was cool for about a minuet then after that it was torture.

He thought it was so cool that he could see his hand print on the bulbs.

What the heck is this stuff on my hands?

He hated it.

He wanted to touch EVERYTHING!

Cheese!

We wound up doing 5 ornaments that night. We still have like 9-10 more to go. I'm hoping he will last longer with the paint on his hands the next time.

I had him hold his hand out and then grab the ornament. It worked really well that way.

I didn't really think it through very well as to how to dry these things. I wound up hanging them from some ribbon I got for gift wrapping. I had to keep in mind the cat too because he wanted to play with them.

 I'll post the final product closer to Christmas.

Where has my mind gone?

I think this cold weather is doing something to my brain.

I went to Wal-Mart with my sister and her boyfriend Marcus on Sunday to get ingredients to make a pot roast. I got my carrots, red potatoes, mushroom soup, and a few other small odds and ends that we needed. Got home and realized...I forgot to buy the roast. Seriously? Who does that?

I had to drop off some movies that we rented over the weekend and I took Stratton with my to return the movies and to finally get the roast. I got the roast right off the bat plus some paint and paint pens for Christmas presents that Stratton and I are making! (pics of those coming soon!) Side note: I don't carry a purse. I am one of the weird women that don't. I carry my wallet and my phone and my keys all in my pockets. This soon will have to change. I got checked out and took my three bags and 25lb box of kitty litter out to the truck, in the rain and cold. Stratton got buckled in and I heard something fall on the ground. I looked down and saw that my glasses case fell into the parking lot. I picked it up, wiped it off, got back in the truck and drove home.

About an hour later I got a call from my dad on Derek's phone asking where my phone was (this is a pretty common occurrence because I always to turn my phone off silent after I get out of class. I told him I wasn't really sure to be honest and he told me it was at Wal-Mart. Someone had picked it up out of the parking lot soaking wet and turned it in! Thank the Lord! I was busy with getting the kid and the cat bathed so he went and picked it up for me. Isn't he the best dad ever?!

I am so thankful that there are still some good people out there that would turn in a phone instead of thinking to keep it for themselves. I am also thankful that I have such an awesome dad that would go to the store at 10 o'clock at night when it's cold and rainy because his little girl would lose her butt if it wasn't attached.

Monday Confessions

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! I know I did!
I skipped posting over the holiday and had family time! It was much needed and was so much fun!

I confess I went Black Friday shopping and LOVED it! My husband says I'm one of the crazies that goes out and gets the deals. He loves it though.

I confess I made a 100 yard dash so I could be one of the first in line at Old Navy on Black Friday.

I confess I bought 40 scarves at Old Navy! Haha. They aren't all for me I promise. They're going to Africa with a good friend of mine for her mission trip.

I confess I actually ate a proportionate amount of food on Thanksgiving and didn't get uncomfortably full from eating. I think that is an absolute first for me.

I confess I was SO excited about getting my Christmas decorations up on my blog that I made them on Wednesday so I could post them first thing today. Haha.

I confess I already have almost all of my Christmas shopping done and ALL of my decorations up!

I confess I can not wait for the next 4 weeks to go by! I can't wait to see all my family members again that don't get come into town very often. Not to mention in the next few weeks Derek's cousin Ashley will be having her sweet little bundle of joy Jackson come into the world! We can not wait to meet him!

I confess I only gained 1lb over the weekend thanks to resisting the urge to smash my face into the pumpkin pie that my grandma makes every year. That was the HARDEST part of this weekend.

Hope you all have a wonderful day and try to enjoy this lovely cold weather.

Fun Thanksgiving Facts!

Hey Everyone! I hope you are enjoying your Turkey/Thanksgiving Day! 
I know I am. My belly is already full and I'm loving all this family time. If you get a minuet with the family and have nothing to talk about. Here are some really awesome fun Thanksgiving facts! Enjoy! 
via

 Fun Facts about the First Thanksgiving

The Plymouth Pilgrims were the first to celebrate the Thanksgiving.

The Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to reach North America.

They sailed on the ship, which was known by the name of 'Mayflower'.

They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The Wampanoag Indians were the people who taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate the land.

The Pilgrim leader, Governor William Bradford, had organized the first Thanksgiving feast in 1621. He invited the neighboring Wampanoag Indians to the feast.

The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days.

Mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies, popcorn, milk, corn on the cob, and cranberries were not foods present on the first Thanksgiving's feast table.

Lobster, rabbit, chicken, fish, squashes, beans, chestnuts, hickory nuts, onions, leeks, dried fruits, maple syrup and honey, radishes, cabbage, carrots, eggs, and goat cheese are thought to have made up the first Thanksgiving feast.

The pilgrims didn't use forks; they ate with spoons, knives, and their fingers.

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Thanksgiving Facts throughout History

Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird of the United States.

Sarah Josepha Hale, an American magazine editor, persuaded Abraham Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday. She is also the author of the popular nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Abraham Lincoln issued a 'Thanksgiving Proclamation' on third October 1863 and officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day for Thanksgiving.

The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade tradition began in the 1920's.

In 1939, President Roosevelt proclaimed that Thanksgiving would take place on November 23rd, not November 30th, as a way to spur economic growth and extend the Christmas shopping season.

Congress to passed a law on December 26, 1941, ensuring that all Americans would celebrate a unified Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November every year.

Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented a live turkey and two dressed turkeys to the President. The President does not eat the live turkey. He "pardons" it and allows it to live out its days on a historical farm.

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Fun Facts about Thanksgiving Today

In the US, about 280 million turkeys are sold for the Thanksgiving celebrations.

Each year, the average American eats somewhere between 16 - 18 pounds of turkey.

Californians are the largest consumers of turkey in the United States.

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States.

Although, Thanksgiving is widely considered an American holiday, it is also celebrated on the second Monday in October in Canada.

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States, where it is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season.

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Fun Turkey Facts

The average weight of a turkey purchased at Thanksgiving is 15 pounds.

The heaviest turkey ever raised was 86 pounds, about the size of a large dog.

A 15 pound turkey usually has about 70 percent white meat and 30 percent dark meat.

The five most popular ways to serve leftover turkey is as a sandwich, in stew, chili or soup, casseroles and as a burger.

Turkey has more protein than chicken or beef.

Turkeys will have 3,500 feathers at maturity.

Male turkeys gobble. Hens do not. They make a clucking noise.

Commercially raised turkeys cannot fly.

Turkeys have heart attacks. The United States Air Force was doing test runs and breaking the sound barrier. Nearby turkeys dropped dead with heart attacks.

A large group of turkeys is called a flock.

Turkeys have poor night vision.

It takes 75-80 pounds of feed to raise a 30 pound tom turkey.

A 16-week-old turkey is called a fryer. A five to seven month old turkey is called a young roaster.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!