Oh yeah, Thanksgiving!

How on earth is it already December 9th?

Good grief.

So. Um.

Thanksgiving was a decade ago, apparently.

But it was super fun, with some Pinterest inspiration thrown in by Grammy.

It was hard to get any true photos during the festivities because Aunt Mel and I were wrangling our wild turkeys the majority of the time...

 But the day was certainly filled with lots of love, gratitude, and delicious food.

Which is exactly what makes Thanksgiving so wonderful!

Leftovers.

I'm well aware that Thanksgiving feels like a decade ago.

But, for the sake of my blog book (nevermind that I just finished our 2010 book...) I'm documenting the memories (albeit 99% random, poor quality phone pics). 

Anyway...

We drove to Kentucky and the weather was horrendous the first four hours of the trip.

Luckily, Mina offered to drive the second half, so it was all good...

We stayed at Zubie's house and were able to see aunts, uncles, and cousins we haven't seen in a loooong time! It was great!

This was the first time Mina met many of them, and she was pretty overwhelmed most of the visit. She would not let any one hold her, but on the last day Jacob was able to lure her in with a book.

The highlight of my Thanksgiving would have to be meeting my precious little nephew for the first time!

Oh my goodness, I didn't think it was possible, but he's even cuter in person.

Mina is all about babies, so she was pretty pumped about this happening...

Two-year-old Mina isn't that much bigger than 1-month-old Henrik! 

And the day before we left to drive back to Ohio, Aubrey finally got to go "deering" with Pop Pop.

She has been begging for this happen for quite awhile.

He didn't really take her hunting -- he just took her out to the place where he hunts and let her climb up in one of his deer stands. She thought this was SO cool.

"DO YOU THINK WE'LL GET TO SEE ANY DEER!?!??!"

Pop Pop whispering, "Um, I doubt it." 

Despite being the loudest little hunter in the woods and not seeing even a squirrel, she had a blast.

Grammy went too.

She stayed on solid ground. :)

Lots of sweet memories were made this Thanksgiving, that's for sure.

Turkey Day

We had a super laid back Thanksgiving this year.
Daniel only had to work one of the four days.
Too short to make the trek to Kentucky, so we contemplated maybe taking a trip to Dallas.
Then we decided, instead, to just stay home.

We did some minimal decorating around the house...

Let me reiterate minimal decorating...we even used our plain, old, everyday dishes.

We had green beans, dressing, sweet potatoes, gravy, and smoked turkey (from a local BBQ joint), and chocolate chip/derby pie.
I did venture out a bit this year and decided to try my hand at homemade biscuits!
(Which ended up looking like light brown hockey pucks. Hmph.)

But honestly, my heart was just not in it this year.
Not being around our families, not having our little Shisi with us -- the day felt flat and empty.
(Kinda like those biscuits, come to think of it...)
I kept finding myself on the verge of tears.
Just going through the motions and feeling upset that I wasn't "savoring" this season of life.
I have so many things to be thankful for, and I am -- but, man, my heart is so heavy right now.

Luckily, I have the best little family.
On my lowest days, they bless my life with joy and laughter.

Goodness. I sure do love my two cornucopia headed turkeys.

Happy Thanksgiving

A Lovely Friendsgiving

Last year we weren't able to go to Kentucky to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families.
This year was no different.

Daniel worked some on Thanksgiving day and will be working today and over the weekend, so going to Kentucky was not an option again this year.
Also, Daniel's mom and brother are currently in Australia!
So, yeah.
Thanksgiving minus the family this year.

As sad as that is, we are soooo THANKFUL for our neighbors who are also journeying down residency road. They were stuck in Oklahoma this year too, so we decided to have our Thanksgiving together!

And since this was not your typical Thanksgiving, we decided to spice things up a bit and fry the turkey.

The guys were pretty juiced up to see how it would work -- normally the Thanksgiving bird stress lands on the females, so it was nice to punt that weighty responsibility to the menfolk.

They were quite pleased with themselves -- man had victory over the machine.
It's quite a masculine achievement.
Oh, and the turkey was DELICIOUS, by the way.
I'm not sure I'll ever eat another plain, old turkey again.

The afternoon was a wonderful reminder of how blessed we are to have such great friends right down the street.

{photo courtesy of Aubrey}

So even though we didn't get to spend Thanksgiving with our family, we kept our chin up, and had a downright wonderful day of giving thanks!

Fudge!

Last year I didn't make a single batch of fudge.
Tragic.
I wasn't about to let a second year go by without making it, so this week I made FOUR batches.

Tuesday was a lovely brisk and bright Fall day -- perfect for making fudge!
(Did you know you can't make fudge on a cloudy/rainy day? It's true. It won't "set". I learned that from my Mama, and she learned it from her Mama, who probably learned it from her Mama. So don't make fudge on a cloudy/rainy day, mmmkay?)

Back to the FOUR batches...
Chocolate.
Peanut Butter.
Chocolate/Peanut Butter Combo.

And, the wild card...
Cake Batter Fudge.

By the way, it's been nearly impossible to keep certain little sticky fingers out of the fudge...

So...if you make fudge, be sure to keep your eye out for this girl.
She's notorious for stealing fudge.
Authorities are referring to her as The Fudge Felon.

So what's the best way to keep your fudge safe?

Share with your friends and neighbors!

{Free Thanksgiving Printables}

 ________________________________________________

Chocolate Fantasy Fudge
*Recipe found on the back of most Marshmallow Creme jars. It's the recipe my mom always used. It's simple and delicious!

Ingredients

3 cups sugar

3/4 cup butter or margarine

1 small can (5 oz.) evaporated milk (about 2/3 cup)

1-1/2 pkg. (12 squares) Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate*, chopped

1 jar (7 oz.) Marshmallow Creme

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional in our house)

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

Line 9-inch square pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides. Bring sugar, butter and evaporated milk to full rolling boil in 3-qt. saucepan on medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook 4 min. or until candy thermometer reaches 234°F, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Add chocolate and marshmallow creme; stir until melted. Add nuts and vanilla; mix well.

Pour into prepared pan; spread to cover bottom of pan. Cool completely. Use foil handles to lift fudge from pan before cutting into squares.

*For the Peanut Butter Fudge, just substitute 12 ounces of peanut butter in place of the 12 ounces of chocolate.

Cake Batter Fudge
*Recipe found here.

Ingredients

¾ cup sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 oz.) package white chocolate chips
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
Rainbow Sprinkles

Directions 

Pour milk and white chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 2-3 minutes, or until white chocolate is almost completely melted. Stir until completely blended, melted, and smooth.

Immediately add vanilla and almond extracts and combine thoroughly.

Add a handful or so of rainbow sprinkles and fold into the mixture.

Transfer to an aluminum-foil lined 8×8 inch baking pan. Add sprinkles as topping if desired.
Let set at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Friday Funsies

*******

Happy Friday!
Now go ahead and gobble up those Thanksgiving leftovers!
We won't tell... ;)

Happy "Giving"Thanks Day!

Well, I thought I would take this moment (after slightly surfacing from my turkey coma) to post a little Thanksgiving recap from today.

The meal preparations started first thing this morning
while some of us were barely dressed...
(camera phone photo)

Once Aubrey got dressed and ready for the day,
she was my super-cute helper in the kitchen.
Even if all she did was baste the oven door. :)

And once the table was set, all she wanted to do was blow the candles out...

Well, we definitely didn't have a shortage of food...

(green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, broccoli salad)

(dressing, roasted turkey, baked apples)

(chocolate chip pie)
((Daniel doesn't like anything "pumpkin"... sad.))

As we sat down to bless the food and thank the Lord for all His provisions, Miss Aubrey chimed in and said her first "blessing" at the table. It was to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and ended with All in Jesus Name...AMEN! It was so precious!

After the prayer, Aubrey just looked at her plate...

And then licked the salt off ONE green bean and said, "I'm all done!"

After almost a three-hour nap, she gobbled down three chicken nuggets, a dozen mini cheese crackers, a clementine, grapes, and a chocolate/peanut butter granola bar for dessert. I guess some people have a different version of the Thanksgiving meal.

Overall, I must say it was a pretty great day of giving thanks with my favorite two people.

*******

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.

1 Chronicles 16:34

My recipe for thankfulness

This year our family is staying put for Thanksgiving.

As Thursday approaches, it is all starting to feel bittersweet.

I am incredibly thankful for our little family of three, but we will truly miss gathering around the boisterous table with our loved ones in Kentucky.

I decided that just because our family gathering this year is small, it doesn't mean we can't have a full Thanksgiving meal! Besides, the days of leftovers alone are worth it, right?

So as I start making out my list of what to fix, I find myself referring to all sorts of family recipes.

Just last year, my sister and I made a cookbook with an accumulation of favorite recipes from our grandmother, mom, and the two of us. Scattered throughout the pages of familiar recipes are photos of us all together. (Mostly centered around food, of course!)

My sister and I presented the cookbooks to our mom and grandmother on Mother's Day last year as a surprise (we had been sneaking recipes from their kitchens for months). We've decided that this cookbook will be the 1st Edition. We'll be adding editions through the years as some new recipes become staples in our families.

Here's a little peak of the finished product: (photos courtesy of my sister)

The cover of the cookbook is a photo of a flower arrangement my mom and sister sent me on the first Thanksgiving we were not able to spend together.

 On the first page it reads: 

~Generations full of sugar and spice~

A collection of Tootie's "Old Faithfuls", Debbie's "Tried & True", 

Ashley's "Quick & Easy", and Melanie's "Everyday Gourmet".

 

(Note that my recipes are "Quick & Easy". 

Out of all of us, I'm definitely the ugly duckling in the kitchen!)

 

On the back is the quote:

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."

- Anthony Brandt

 

So while we won't be able to share a turkey and a slice of yummy pumpkin pie, my thoughts and kitchen aromas will make the miles seem less far away this Thanksgiving.

And that's something I'm very thankful for...

Friday Funsies

Today we had a Playgroup Thanksgiving Lunch!

Aubrey got a great jump-start on pigging out for the holidays!

She loved coloring the thanksgiving-themed coloring pages,

and she even found some interesting reading material*.*If you enlarge the photo, you'll see the book is Everyone Poops -- haha!

The kids even made a cute hand-print turkey craft
(with the help of mom, of course):

And, of course, Aubrey and her best friend Lauren
were pretty much inseparable the entire time. :)

We are so THANKFUL for our playgroup!

*******
Happy Friday!