Thanksgiving decor and food!

One day at work a guy asked me what I was in charge of for Thanksgiving, I proudly responded; "Decorating!". He laughed and laughed and laughed. He told me that Thanksgiving was about the food, Christmas and Halloween were for decorating but Thanksgiving was for the food. I explained that the food doesn't taste as good if the room doesn't look as pretty! So here is how I plan on decorating for Thanksgiving. I will take pictures when I have everything set up to show you how it turned out.

To start off my mom's house has these two huge walkway openings that are screaming for decorations.  I plan on making these coffee filter pom pom's to hang from there.

Show me cute

I have been currently working on these Paper Bag Flowers to hang on the wall in the dining room.

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For the table I like to keep it simple, you do have to have lots of room for food. I typically do a butcher paper table cloth to keep clean up easy, this year I think I will go with white table cloth with Paper bag placemats, crayons and newspaper leaves.

Pinterest

Pinterest

Pinterest

You can see how I have decorated in the past and my tips for a stress free holiday here! 

The Silverware printables, I plan on putting crayons in not silverware.

Now this is the holiday of lots of food and Mondo and I are helping cook. We are in charge of the turkey, he wants to fry it, and cornbread stuffing. Mondo always makes sweet potatoes because nobody else will make them with marshmallows. We also started a new tradition a couple years ago of serving soup with dinner.  I think I want to make this butternut apple one from whole 30 recipes Instagram. My mom and I are planning making mini pies so you can not feel so guilty for trying all the pies. Our list is pumpkin (duh!), apples, pecan, lemon meringue and these cranberry cheesecakes! This is also to add all the food everyone else is bringing, my sister in law and Aunt plan on bringing dessert too! Every holiday or party I always like to make a mocktail, it is so much fun! This Thanksgiving I plan on making this one, cranberry punch. Although, this cranberry pineapple looks yummy too. 

Which one do you vote for?

I can't wait to see and taste all this yummy food. Wednesday while mom and I are baking pies I think I need to taste test each one, you know make sure the mini version tastes as good as the full size!! What do you plan on making for Thanksgiving? Any favorite recipes??

Don't forget to check back Dec. 1st for the 25 days of blogmas and a giveaway!

Dorinda

Fun Fall Activity for a Toddler

We went on a leaf hunt. Although, at the time there weren't many leaves on the ground, now there are a lot. Just waiting for the rain to clear up so we can make a big pile and jump in!! On our leaf hunt we collected leaves, Mackenzie loved this job! Once we collected them I scratched my head for what to do with them. Well, I brought them inside and washed them to save for another day!  I finally decided to make a leaf garland. It was super easy.

I took some plastic straws and cut them in about 1/2" sections.

I then taped those sections to the back of the leaves. I used scotch tape but, they have slowly started to fall down as they dried. So, I would recommend something stronger.

We then took kite string and laced them on. Lacing is a great activity for toddlers, perfect for hand- eye coordination. Mackenzie has some lacing cards and hasn't shown a lot of interest. Needless to say I ended up lacing.

Hang up and all done.

I love how it turned out, I plan on making another but, again I need to wait for the rain to go away.

Next fun fall activity for a rainy day. 

Super easy to make cloud dough. I have actually never used the baby oil we got at our baby shower for Mackenzie. I don't know what to use it for? Is that weird? So, I finally opened it and used it to make cloud dough. This is super easy just 4 cups flour and 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons baby oil. I used a whisk to stir mine and even though it was clumpy as we played with it, it smoothed out.

To make this a fall activity I found fall cookie cutters to play with.

During play time I put it in a cookie sheet on the table above a wood floor. Warning this is messy, clean up is a breeze though. If you don't have an easy to sweep floor it might be nice to do it on a shower curtain (get a cheap one at the dollar store) or I am sure it will vacuum easily. Just expect a mess!!

Both these activities Mackenzie loved and it was nice to do something fun with out a lot of work! Next month I am starting our at home preschool, I will share my ideas with that. November is the color Yellow and the shape is a square. Do you have any activity ideas to share?

Talk to you next time.

Dorinda

Mackenzie 2nd birthday

Wow! I have a 2 year old!! Half the time I think it was just last year I was pregnant with her, hard to believe she is actually 2.

For her party this year I kept things simple. I planned to go more elaborate but things just fell through.

I did take a lot of pictures but, I didn't have a lot that turned out great, if you know what I mean. 

So we will just get started.

Everything took a lot longer than I planned so this was all the decor that got put up even though I bought a lot more and more in store! Oh, well. What will she remember in a few years? The decor or the fun? 

For food I wanted everything on a stick, that didn't work out so I did carnival food. Corn dogs, chips with nacho cheese (we also gave the option of doritos, YUM!), veggies in a cup (some had ranch at the bottom), fruit on a stick, and popcorn. For my gluten free friends I put some regular hot dogs on a stick. Sidenote: The food was yummy and kid friendly!!

Next we opened presents, Which was fun this year because she was actually into it! Then we had cake! I wanted to make cakepops to keep with my everything on a stick theme. Since, I hadn't tried it before I got scared off. Instead I went with ice cream cake cones.

The easiest way to do this was to flip the cones upside down into the cupcakes before you place in the oven. These turned out yummy!! Also, for my gluten free friends I went to a local bakery that bakes vegan and bought some cupcakes for them.

This is her "whooooo" chair from mom and dad. 

After this we let the kids run around and play. I put out a coloring table, her Ikea circus tent, some balls, made some homemade bean bags with socks and dried beans (just tie a knot in the top), and brought out her wagon. The wagon turned out to be the kid favorite.

My parents got her a trike for her birthday and that was the other favorite.

Overall it may have not been my most elaborate party thrown but, I think everyone had lots of fun. Mackenzie came inside almost brown from all the dirt which tells me she had fun.

Mackenzie also had a special message to share at her party!

That's right baby #2 is on the way!!

So next post will be a pregnancy update and then I think I will do a Mackenzie update/favorites. I haven't done one of those in a while.

Dorinda

DIY: Cheap Chalkboard

I know I said I would be posting a new point on my "Fight Like A Girl" series each week. Since this topic is so important to me I want to make sure I spend a lot of focused time on each point so, I will post every other week. Also, I plan on blogging again two times a week here shortly.

Until then here is how I made a super cheap chalkboard to last until I find the perfect frame to make my own.

Start off with one black and one white poster board. Measure 3" in and draw a square. This see through large ruler really helped!

Cut that square out with out cutting the edge. Give inside square to your toddler to draw on to keep them busy!!

Next hand draw your frame outline. I just rounded out the corners, use a cup to help keep it perfect. I also rounded out the edge. You only have to do half of the frame, just carefully fold in half before cutting to ensure they both match.

Glue the black poster board and white frame together.

Cut off any showing black.

Measure string across the back and glue down, near the top. I chose to use string so I can take it off the wall to draw on.

Draw on your board with chalk.

To erase use a slightly damp cloth, I found wet wipes worked great. There will be residual chalk, that just makes it look more realistic. When it gets two worn down just replace the black. Also, I am going to try painting it with a thin layer of homemade chalk paint? I will let you know how that goes.

Thanks, have a great week!!

Dorinda

Our Christmas!

Hey, Everyone our Christmas was a whirlwind of busyness, and I was determined to enjoy every last minute of it!!

Here was how our house was decorated this year. Minus Mackenzie and our room. Mackenzie's room I put up her pink tree from last year and hung some snowflakes above her bed!

Mackenzie's tree

washi tape decor

It all started with Mackenzie's bestie coming over on Monday. I had her all day and it was a blast!! The only bad thing was with 2 toddlers by yourself you can't take pictures! boo!!!

playing with washi tape

The girls' had a busy day. We wrapped presents, after I wrapped them in craft paper they stuck stickers on them. We baked chocolate chip cookies for Santa, also made homemade play dough. After the nap they tested the cookies with some "hot cocoa" chocolate milk with marshmallows in it. They also played with washi tape. Seriously though this is the best way to entertain a toddler, I also have used painter's tape. Just stick a bunch of strips on a table and let them peel and stick on.

Tuesday (Christmas Eve) we always spend with his sister, my BFF! Usually we cook a nice meal but, since me and hubby had to work, panda it was! After dinner we put on pj's and opened presents! Then off to look at lights! When we came home I still hadn't wrapped any presents, so time to wrap.

christmas pj's

opening gifts with aunty

cats loved the boxes!

Christmas morning we opened stockings in bed! Favorite tradition! Then came up and opened Mackenzie's presents before family came over. I made apple crisp oatmeal for breakfast with bacon (what is a holiday with out bacon?), we also had "special juice"; which is juice with more that one flavor. My family came over for breakfast and after breakfast we opened more presents. Although Max saw one of her presents before breakfast and loved it!! Her little happy dance is so cute, I must get it on video!! That was her new wagon my parents got her! Mondo and I can't wait to use it!! It also has like ski things to put on to use in the snow. I am going to see if I can track down a canopy for it for summer use!  I will post another blog on what our favorite presents were, I don't want to take up to much of your reading time! 

stockings

new headband!

opening gifts with mommy and daddy

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her with her new wagon!

playing with gramma and granty before breakfast

she moves too fast for pictures

Of course after breakfast and family leaving we napped, then went to my mom's house for a super yummy dinner! And we also skyped with his family in Minnesota!

attempt to get a family pic

her outfit

another shot

Day after Christmas we all went over to my cousin's house for our day after celebrations. This is probably one of my favorite things! We eat leftovers and play games with extended family! LOVE IT!!

How was your holiday? I have a lot of posts to catch up on, so stay tuned!!

Dorinda