Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

Every year at Thanksgiving we all gather at my Mom's.

Aunts, Uncles, Cousins come from all over for the big feast.

This year we won't be able to make the trip and neither will alot of Aunts, Uncles

and cousins so I am cooking at home for my family.

There were so many of our traditional favorites that

I love, but with a small family it just was not possible to make it all so I had to

decide which ones made it to my Thanksgiving menu!

I asked for every ones favorites and started planning.

My sons requested turkey with legs, so the turkey breast was replaced with

a turkey big enough to feed 12! My husband requested sweet potato casserole,

my oldest requested broccoli , cauliflower and chocolate cake! I was hoping for broccoli casserole, but I will make caraway cheese sauce to pour over my cauliflower & broccoli! My youngest son asked for mashed potatoes instead of our usual rice.

One dish that has been my favorite since I was a little girl is my Mom's fruit salad and it just wouldn't be the holidays for me without it!

I also love it for breakfast too!

Here is the recipe for the fruit salad, hope it becomes one of your favorites too!

Mom's Fruit Salad

3 apples diced

1 16 oz can pineapple tidbits (save the juice)

1 can Mandarin oranges drained

1/2 cup raisins

2 bananas sliced

1/2 bag mini marshmallows

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 small pack instant banana cream pudding

Mix apples, raisins, oranges, pineapple and marshmallows in bowl.

In a measuring cup mix mayonnaise, pudding and juice from pineapple

til smooth. Pour mayonnaise mixture over fruit and stir.

Before serving, add sliced bananas and mix.

Hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Game Weekend

My sister & brother in law live in Columbus, Ohio and we are headed up tomorrow to go visit and see the OSU vs Michigan game Saturday.
I had the opportunity to go see an OSU game last year, but my husband has not. It is quite exciting to see & I know he will really enjoy it.

The kids really want to go, but I do not think they can sit in the cold for the whole game.

My sister has planned alot of other fun things around the game that I think the kids will enjoy, I know I am looking forward to them!

We will get there late Thursday night so we can sleep in Friday morning!!

Friday afternoon is an OSU pep rally and we are trying to get to the band practice also.

My oldest has just started band this year & both boys love hearing the OSU band too.

After that we will grab dinner at the Ghanna Grill, one of our favorite burger places, then head to Pickerington to hear the Michigan band play.

Early Game Day we will try to get into the skull session to hear the OSU band. After that we will go to the stadium and check out everything, get pictures with Brutus and checkout the tailgating parties!

When it is close to game time my sister & I will head back to her house with the kids to watch the game by the nice warm fire & no lines for the bathroom!

Something New!

I have had several requests at craft shows for a Birthday Book so I finally sat down and started creating one! Here is my first one that I just listed in my Etsy shop.

I made 12 sections for the book, one for each month.

I choose to split the month into two pages, 12 pages in a book just seemed

a little too thin for this size book. On page one of each month is numbered

1-16 with a space to the left to write in all the names of people who have Birthdays or anniversaries that day. The second page is numbered 17-29, 30 or 31 depending on the month.

I choose a daisy print paper that has an aged look to it and keeping with that aged look, I inked the edges and stippled the pages with gold & black inks so they would look a little aged too!

Inside the front cover I also added a sewn pocket to hold a book of stamps or maybe a few small cards too!

I think on my next one I will not make the dates more of a number with line beside it instead of table form. What other changes do you think I can make to improve this?

Lunch Date Day!!!

Since we had kids it seems harder to get to schedule date nights with my husband.

The weekends are filled with either household chores, family activities, traveling

and is over so quick it seems.

For the past two years my husband & I have set aside Wednesdays to meet for a lunch date.

The kids are in school so no sitter to worry about scheduling either!

It gives us a little one on one time to talk without interruptions and reconnect.

Nothing fancy, not a long date, but a hour with no little ears listening in on our conversation!

It is amazing how much we can talk about in such a short time.

I would love to hear how you sneak couple time in your busy schedules!

Please post a comment & share!

TeamSC Holiday Hunt

All these wonderful items were handmade by members of TeamSC to go in our Handmade Holiday Stocking that we are going to give to the winner of the 2008 Holiday Hunt that begins tomorrow!

Be sure to check out the rules for the Hunt at our TeamSC blog at

http://scstreetteam.blogspot.com/

Since we only have one stocking to give away, all those with correct entries will be eligible for special sale promotions at several of the TeamSC shops!