Our Thanksgiving Week.....

It all started with a good price on a spiral slice ham at Aldi's.  I decided that we would have a Thanksgiving Meal on Sunday afternoon.  I spent Saturday baking and cooking.  Sunday after church we sat down to a meal of ham, glazed carrots, green beans, potato salad, coleslaw, deviled eggs & homemade bread.

And for dessert......my own version of this recipe and sweet potato pie.  I'd never had sweet potato pie before and this tasted just like pumpkin.

 Our Thanksgiving Meal at home a few days early!

 Another close-up of this yummy dessert.  I'm thankful to Angie for sharing the recipe for this.  It was a hit at our house.  For my version, I substituted blueberries for the raspberries.  Added spices to the cake batter and sprinkled both chocolate and cinnamon chips on the top along with a handful of chopped pecans.

 And then it was on to getting ready for all the kids' Thanksgiving parties.  Here we are along with 400 cotton balls, a sheet of construction paper and globs of glue to create a sheep for Simon's costume.

 I was amazed at how fast the 400 cotton balls disappeared when we glued them down.  I thought we'd have tons left.....we actually ran out and had to use a little white batting for a small section on one side.

 The morning of Samuel's party I jumped out of bed after realizing we had forgotten to create his  potato for the 'best-dressed potato' contest.  We threw this together in a BIG hurry at little after 7:00AM!!!  Samuel picked out the sweet potato to use and we created a 'mouse' per his instructions. 

 I poked the toothpicks into the veggies and he put them on.  He also insisted we put glue on the top and roll the potato in salt!!!!  I should mention that a BIG bunch of the crumbs slipped off the plate and made their final resting place in the backseat of Daddy's car on the way to work that morning!!  The potato safely arrived at school and even won a prize. :)

 I still have not figured out WHY my pictures sometimes rotate the WRONG way....Any help out there??

Anyways....here is David with his harp(the 5 minute rubber-band harp idea I had, turned into an hour and a half of work for my father-in-law....no wonder people go running when I mention my ideas!!!!) and the 400 cotton balls sheep!  Did I mention that the sheeps' head fell off before he presented his costume for the contest.  He simply told the judges that is sheep was dying!!!! LOL  He tied with another boy for Best Biblical Costume....

 I took my camera along for our Thanksgiving time with my family and didn't manage to take one single picture!!!  It was a fun time.  Lots of food.  Shopping with my mother and sister-in-law.  Enjoy lunch out at a gluten-free recipe where we ate some incredible pizza!!!  My SIL also bought me some GF choc. chip cookies that I have been enjoying!!!  And she also baked me a loaf of GF bread!!!  She's a great sister-in-law!!!!  I enjoyed not one, but two yummy breakfasts while staying with my parents.  It is wonderful to have someone else cook!!!  My dad made the best eggs one morning...I'm gonna have to try to duplicate them here one day. :)  We arrived back home late on Friday, thanks to the use of my parents' washer unpacking was a breeze.  It is sooooo nice to bring home all clean clothes!!

Saturday morning, we decided to put up the tree.  Of course, I decided the attic needed to be cleaned out and organized before decorating for Christmas.  The kids helped me pull out everything in the attic and we sorted through and organized everything.  I have a load of things to take off to the Salvation Army.  This will make load #18!!

We turned on Christmas music and shaped branches......the job that makes me cranky every year.......:(

 Our 2010 Christmas tree....Simon wanted to put on all homemade ornaments this year....so that's what we did.....I'll admit I wanted to put up my beautiful musical ornaments on the tree this year....oh well....there's always next year!!!