Gobble Gobble

This Thanksgiving we'll be going to my parent's house for dinner. My mom makes an excellent dinner and we always top it off with her homemade pies! Mmmm...I love dessert! This year I want to help contribute but in a different sort of way. I found this idea on Familyfun.com and I love it! Not only is this a cute idea to help celebrate Thanksgiving but its also super easy! Not to mention its something you can do with the kids and I'm sure they would love to help you make something like this! This is what I'll be contributing this year!

So what are some delicious things you bring to dinner?

Keeping Kids Entertained

How does your Thanksgiving dinner go? Do you have a separate dinner table where all the kiddos sit or do you all sit together? How about this year doing something different. Put the kids all at one table but instead of a table cloth down, try using some butcher paper so the kids can color on it and it'll keep them entertained! I found this awesome idea from this website: http://www.parents.com/holiday/thanksgiving/crafts/simple-thanksgiving-day-crafts/?page=2
They have a little more for the kids to do but you can make it as simple or as complicated as you would like. I think its important for us adults to have a nice Thanksgiving meal and enjoy the company of our family and friends and its a fun way for the kids to be creative and be entertained while we do so.

Thanksgiving place cards

So I'm sure I mentioned that I was hosting Thanksgiving this year. I have so, so, so much to be thankful for. My family is all healthy and happy. I still have my grandma around. I think it's just awesome that my kids can visit with their great grandparents. Hubby has a grandpa and a grandma still alive. They tell the best stories and my kids are always asking questions.
Anyway, like I said, I'm hosting Thanksgiving at my house. It's really just my parents coming over so nothing too stressful, but I want things to look fun and festive. Now my big holiday to go all out for is Christmas and I don't have too many fallish things to use and I wanted the table to look really pretty. Yes! Another thing to be thankful for is that we can actually use our table again! It's been tucked away in the corner of our family room for almost a year while we remodeled our house. It was more of a pain to use so most of the time it was eating on the TV trays. I was looking about the house wondering what I could use to spice things up and then I spied these babies. They had these at Walmart for 1 cent. Yes. You read that right. ONE penny! Can you believe it? I couldn't. I had to ask someone and they assured me I didn't need glasses. I already had a few already but I bought a few more. About 5.

Now, I'm no Martha Stewart but I thought this idea would work and it was pretty easy too, once I decided on what colors to use. I know I've seen this many times in a ton of variations and this is how I did mine.

First, grab your scrapbook stash. Here is just a small, small, small bit of mine. :) I am a messy person when I am doing some project as you can tell.
I started with some card stock. I felt that it would hold up the best. I added a name and then some background paper and a little bow, some ribbon and a button.

Then I took my knife and slit into the stem of the little pumpkin. Be careful and don't slip...um, just in case.... I'm just saying. Then you place your little card into the slit and look! You have a cute little place card to put in front of your place setting.

So there you have it. A quick, easy, and cute way to dress up your table for Thanksgiving. Don't forget to check back soon. We are going to have some great tips coming up on how to travel with kids and some great ways to save during the holidays.

What I'm Thankful For...

I know I've already said it but I'm gonna say it again, I love this time of year! Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I can't wait! I love Thanksgiving! I babysit a little girl that's almost 2 and I've been searching for some Thanksgiving projects that we could do. In my search I came across something pretty cool. We all know what Thanksgiving is about and what we are thankful for but do we ever put it down on paper? If your like me then the answer is NO! (I try to journal but I'm not very regular with it). Last year I was pregnant and we had the opportunity to spend it with our family and I had so much to be thankful for. This year I feel I have so much more to be thankful for! So this year I'm going to start a new Seely family tradition! We are going to write down what we are thankful for and then every year from now on we are going to do the same! For a few years it'll only be my hubby (yes I'm going to make him, hehe) and I but before we know our daughter will be writing down things too!

This is what we'll be writing on this year, who knows in the years to come but check it out! Maybe you could start it too or another new tradition during the Holidays!!

http://a.dolimg.com/familyfun/assets/cms/large-files/pdfs/printables/1106b_thankfulleaves.pdf

Thanksgiving, and a project

If anyone knows me I am a big list maker. I like to know what is going on and be prepared, lest I forget something. lol Although I have also been known to jot down a few things on my list and then leave it in the car! Anyway, this year I'm in charge of Thanksgiving. For some weird reason I actually volunteered to have my parents over this Thanksgiving. Yes. I'm 35 (I mean 29 again) and I've never had to host a Thanksgiving. Luckily it's just my parents and us, so I won't have to make food for thousands, but.... it's my mom and dad! I want it to be edible you know. Perhaps even enjoyable. So in my quest for making this holiday a little special I started to make a list. Turkey, taters, gravy, rolls, you know, the usual Thanksgiving fare.

I wanted to see what spices I had and opened my spice cupboard. I was hit by the bag of marshmellows. I can't believe I'm showing you this but here goes.

This, is my spice cupboard. Notice all the things that aren't real spice like? There are some real interesting things that you can't see as well. I found a brownie scented candle, reciept for a telephone that we don't even have anymore, those wheels from the skate shoes, nail polish and a local phone book. My kitchen is almost done and after having all this new clean space, this cupboard looks real bad. And what if my mom looked in there? EEK!

This is my goal for the week. To clean out the spice cupboard. I can't believe how horrible it has gotten. So I encourage you all to go out and clean that one spot that has gotten out of control and see how much better you will feel.

Dont forget to eep checking back for some great tips, recipes and ideas for the upcoming holiday. Only 22 more days!

Where has the time gone?

Its already the 1st of November? Is anyone else is disbelief that we are nearing the end of the year already?? Once Halloween is over it seems like I just can't catch a breath until after the New Year. In 3 weeks we have Thanksgiving and then shortly after that we have Christmas. Sounds easy but November and December are such busy months! We usually travel back home to be with our families for both of these holidays which means a lot of driving, packing and stress to make sure we have everything in order before we go out of town. The question is...how can we slow down and enjoy this time of year? We need to remember the reasons why we celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving and enjoy the time we spend with our families. This season my plan is to take care of all those little things that need to get done early and try to slow down and have some fun the next couple of months! Christmas is my favorite holiday and this year its my daughter's first Christmas as well. I'm excited and plan on enjoying every minute of it! So what are your plans???

I couldn't resist putting this photo up. Cutest little pumpkin!