Thanksgiving-The Day

I know I went on and one what a wonderful day Thanksgiving was in my last post, but it really and truly was.  We woke up bright and early in order to celebrate Lincoln's birthday (next post) as it was on Thanksgiving this year.  Lincoln opened presents and had Thin Pancakes per Lincoln's request and then Palmer surprised us with a present that he made for us at school.  It was a book about all of the things he was Thankful for (he still had on his Indian paint from the day before when the 2nd grade did a Pow Wow). 

It really was so clever.  Each page used the pages behind it in a picture.

All the kids at the "kid's table".  My nephew is 16, but was a great sport to sit at the table with the younger kids.

The "Nelson side".  We really had a great time with this bunch!

Those things in the top right are Josh's special rolls.  He has replaced me as the family roll maker.  His homemade rolls are just heaven I tell you (and from scratch I might add...yep I am pretty lucky).  Not to mention he always makes them in cool shapes with cookie cutters (if you can't tell, these were stars).  I can't compete! 

McKay enjoyed his dinner after his nap.  I had a place set for him at the kids' table, but by the time he woke up everything had been cleaned up (but we saved his pie full of toys for him.)
The Nelsons are HUGE football fans and Thanksgiving is a big football day.  We tried our best to get the games (we don't have cable) but to no avail.  Josh hooked up an X Box to our projector and all of the guys planed Madden Football 2011.  I think it was an okay substitute.  Later one the kids got a chance to play.

They had a good time too.

Palmer was pretty happy that he could hold his own with the older kids. 

After the kids played the Xbox for a little while we set up the projector downstairs for the them to watch Cars 2 and the adults played games.  I am sad I didn't get pictures, but I think everyone involved would have KILLED me.  We played the funnest and FUNNIEST game...no idea what it was called, but a rousing good time was had by all.

Later that night we had pie (after a birthday activity for Lincoln).  Lincoln asked me to make chocolate cream pie for his birthday.  I was worried he would be sad that we were going to have pie instead of cake and offered to make him his own personal cake, but he wanted pie (thank goodness...it was already on the menu :)  He got to make a wish and blow out candles and everything.  Oh it was a lovely day full of birthdays wishes, laughing kids, grateful parents and warm hearts.

Thanksgiving Dinner-The Details

 We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving!.  Josh and I decided that it would be fun to host this year and invited his side of the family over.  I am a party planning nut so I started going crazy with plans and projects and had SO MUCH FUN!  There are quite a few pictures of all of the details so I decided to give them their own post.  I will post the actual day tomorrow (hopefully).  It is definitely a picture overload...you've been warned :)

 The kids' table was so much fun!  There are so many fun ideas out there for Thanksgiving kids table and I had to sift through them all.  This is what I came up with.  

 The kids thought it was fun to have their own "turkey" on their table.

 

It's made out of a paper bag turned inside out.  Idea and instructions found here.  

The best part about it is that it is filled with popcorn, so the kids could eat that while we finished up dinner.  

 It was a fun surprise (I made it when the boys were asleep so they didn't know either).  Later that night the kids all watched "Cars 2" on a projector on the wall and finished up the popcorn inside the turkey :)

This was the full place setting at the kids table.  These faux pumpkin pies were definitely my favorite Thanksgiving idea of the season.  Instructions for them are found on this incredibly creative site.  The top is a picture, the bottom is a Cafe Rio tin (yep you can buy them there).

And when you take the lid off, the inside is full of prizes!  I LOVED this idea (the kids did too). 

The cups were made into turkeys, idea found on this site. 

For the kids' name cards I found these napkin wrap downloads here and used Photoshop to add the names. 

It was also nice to have the silverware all grouped together as I decorated the tables the night before and McKay is a very busy almost 2 year old.  If they were loose it definitely would have been a problem.

On the adult's table I was going a little bit more for elegance.  I didn't get a close up of the napkin wraps, but I got them here.  They were supposed to be used for a Thanksgiving countdown chain, but I liked them for this too.  They say "I am Thankful for..."

Our chairs were a little out of the category of "elegance" so I used ribbon and Indian corn to spruce them up a little bit.

I had a bunch of different versions.  For these I just cut up some bunches of leaves.  These poor chairs have definitely been given some "character" by our kids.  Better get out the Magic Eraser.

I love vintage pictures and found these great pictures on Etsy.com from this vendor.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, so I started gluing...and this is how they turned out.  I sprayed them with glitter, but you really can't tell in this picture.

Another version.  I just got some Christmas vintage images and love them too! 

I saw this idea here and thought it would be perfect for the center of the table. 

I thought they were so "fallish" and the candlelight was really nice for the dinner.

Here is a picture of the whole table. I ran a strip of burlap down the center of the table.

I also found these great velvet leaves (loved all of the clearance autumn decor deals) and cut them apart scattering all over the table.

Spray painted some pumpkins gold for the center of our table (believe me they were thanking me for doing it, they weren't so cute pre-painting).  I found these fall flower kissing balls at Tai Pan and thought the color would add some fun dimension to our orange, brown, gold and tan table.

For the buffet table centerpiece I just cut up one of our moving boxes (I wouldn't let Josh get rid of all of them as there are so many good things to do with cardboard!) and made the base box hotgluing the pieces together and then glued scrapbook paper on it and tied a ribbon around it.  I then put in floral foam and Spanish moss.  I need to do a tutorial on the lollies.  I really love the look of these (I used them here and here).  I made them with scrapbook paper and just printed out "thankful" on the computer.  Each one was just one 12X12 piece of paper.  I like how it turned out and am going to use it as part of my decor next Thanksgiving.

Our Thanksgiving buffet.  Oh my goodness I ate so much of this yummy food!  Isn't Thanksgiving a wonderful holiday :)  The centerpiece says "thankful".

Most of the recipes I used for the buffet are the ones I have uses for years. I probably should post some on the cooking blog...I don't think I ever have.  The yam recipe we use is from my BIL's family and will make you love yams I promise (I never was a fan before).  We have also discovered the process of cooking our turkey in an electric roaster.  It is a miracle invention and makes the turkey turn out so juice and good.  The other thing I like about it is that frees up my oven so we can make the other food in it. 

I used two new recipes this year though and one of them was this punch.   I found the recipe here.  We all thought it was so good and I might need to become part of our traditional Thanksgiving recipes.

This was the other new recipe that I used this year.  My MIL loves cranberry sauce so I wanted to make sure we had some for her, but I didn't want to buy it in the can (there is something so unappetizing about food in the shape of a can...).  I found this recipe and tried it out.  It was so good and I even liked it (never been much of a fan before.)

Oh it was such a fun year.  It will be a good memory that our family will have forever.  I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

Some Thanksgiving School Projects

 I know I have said over and over how much I love November and Thanksgiving on this blog, but it is so true.  Yesterday was the most wonderful day.  It was so much fun to have the Nelson side of the family over.  We had a great time (pictures coming soon...)

This morning I slept in for the first time in about 2 years.  It could be longer than that...I don't remember sleeping in at all so I figured my memory only goes back about 2 years.  Josh and I both slept in until 9:00 a.m. and that was a miracle.  I love lazy, laid back mornings.  I ate leftover pie and Josh's hot chocolate for breakfast and have been sitting here editing pictures from yesterday for a while (feeling a little guilty because i am in charge of sharing time on Sunday in primary, and should be working on it :).  It has been lovely.  I am excited to start putting up our Christmas decorations today as well.  It's a good day, I can feel it.

In the mean time I thought I would post these cute little pictures of some things that Palmer and Hunter brought home from school that they had made on the last day of school before Thanksgiving break.  Hunter's was this little turkey head he has worn every day since he brought it home. 

 I think it is so funny, and Hunter thinks it is THE COOLEST things ever.  I love Kindergarten, it is such a fun age.

 The second grade had a Pow-Wow on that last day before the break and they had a ball.  They learned songs and made crafts, including this great outfit.  Like Hunter Palmer has worn it every day. 

We took these pictures after Pack Meeting (hence the shirt and neckerchief).  I feel like we have had such a fun and fulfilling Thanksgiving season.

Thanksgiving Decorations

 I have loved having the "thankful" decorations up.  It is fun to have a month to concentrate on gratitude.  We have read all sorts of books about the first thanksgiving and learned a lot about this holiday.   One thing we learned was that they ate clams, fish and EEL at the first thanksgiving.  We are hosting Josh's side of the family at our house this year and I thought we should have eel stew in honor of the first Thanksgiving...okay just kidding. 

We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year and I am really excited about it.  My sister and I spent Saturday afternoon shopping for all of the projects that I am working on.  Hopefully it turns out how I have it pictured in my mind :) 

 I thought I would post a few pictures of some of my Thanksgiving decorations.  It is fun to be able to have them in my new aqua hutch.  Who knew aqua worked with so many different colors?!

We have thoroughly enjoyed our Thanksgiving season!  Thanksgiving will be the icing on the cake.