Thanksgiving #1 and #2 and #3

I hosted Thanksgiving on Thursday and it turned out great. My Mom did a turkey in her oven, then I did one in my roaster. I also did a ham in the crock pot. We were expecting 35 people, and we like leftover turkey, so we thought we planned it well. The rest of the family brought the rest of the traditional food and we were set. So Mom carved her turkey, we all ate......and never touched my 21 pound turkey.

So tonight we are having Thanksgiving #2. Dan came home yesterday and my Dad and Step-Mom are visiting, so we are having another turkey dinner. The whole gang is coming over and we are having dinner of hot turkey sandwiches, and all the other left overs.

Tomorrow we go to my Mother in law's for Thanksgiving #3. I think I will be sick of turkey soon!

Thankfulness Day 7

Today I am thankful for my ugly house. I have been complaining about how much cleaning I need to do to get ready to host Thanksgiving tomorrow. Instead I need to be thankful that I have a house to clean, and family that will be invading....oops.....visiting tomorrow. While I have ugly wall paper from the 70's in my kitchen and orange shag carpet in my office, I am thankful that I have the room to host family gatherings. What's funny is that one of the reasons I liked this house was that it's lay out is great for entertaining. Then I turn around and complain about all the entertaining we do. Please forgive me and know that I am grateful for what I have......and the family and friends who ignore the ugly wallpaper!

Thankfulness Day 6

I am grateful for my wonderful friends. They are the most supportive and caring group! They will help me out when needed and not get mad when we leave toilets on their porch. The will give a listening ear, and not get mad when we foil their house. They will have bon fires and BBQ's and not get mad when we sneak over to their house for a pool party while they are gone. They have chili cook offs and poker nights, and can keep secrets! They will play tricks on me, throw suprise parties for me, and know that I will still love them (Although revenge is coming).

Thank you to my "BB" girls, I can't wait for girls night! Thank you to my friends from school who are so kind to take my children when needed. Thank you to my far away friends who I miss greatly!

Thankfulness Day 5

I am thankful for my siblings and their families. I have two wonderful brothers, a sister, three step brothers and a step sister. Then I have two brother in laws on the Snow side. Add all of those up along with spouses and children, and you have a funny farm! I really wouldn't trade any of them. I love being the big (smallest but oldest) sister and I adore being an auntie.
Thank you Lord for blessing me with such a wonderful family......even the one's I didn't choose!

Thankfulness Day 4

I am so thankful for my wonderful hubby who sacrifices so many things for us. He rides a tug boat and works on oil barges, away from home for 40 days at a time. He misses holidays, birthdays, and more to provide for our family.

Thank you honey for all you do! We love you!

Thankfulness Day 3

I am thankful for my healthy children. We have been blessed with two great kids, and I am extremely grateful for how healthy they are. I am praying that we will stay healthy over the holidays.

I am also very proud of my children. Both Nate and Lily had their teacher conferences yesterday. Their teachers said that the kids are doing great and are wonderful students. Nate is very creative and artistic and Lily is reading a whole grade level above what is expected.

Great Job Nate and Lily!!!

Thankfulness Day 2

Mom says today should be called Blessing and Bummers.....so here we go.

Blessing: Grandma was moved to a Rehab facility and her spirits were up.

Bummer: For some unknown reason, her shoulder that was cleared on Thursday by Doctors, is now broken in 4 places (was 3) and she will be going back to the hospital for shoulder surgery tomorrow.

Blessing: Grandma is eating better and her blood pressure is stabilized.

Bummer: Grandma will be drugged up again for surgery and afterward, and that leads to many other complications.

Blessing: When Grandma gets out of the hospital again, I will be able to take the kids to see her (The hospital does not allow kids to visit right now).

Psalm 77:14
You are the God who performs miracles, you display your power among the peoples.

Thankfulness Day 1

I am thankful for my loving, DEDICATED family. My grandparents raised four wonderful, beautiful daughters who have been at Grandma's bedside every day for the last 5 weeks. I am also thankful for answered prayers. If all goes well today, Grandma is getting released from the hospital to go to a Rehab facility. Thank you to all the prayer warriors who have kept Grandma in your prayers!

Christmas Projects

Yes it's only mid November.....but I'm getting a head start on Christmas projects. I started a draft of my Christmas letter, and have the family photo picked out. I am working on photo calendars, and just picked up the photos from Costco yesterday. (Calendars were picked up at Michael's for $1).

Today my project was photo books. I have been wanting to do a book for my niece who lives in California. We don't see her often and I thought it would be fun to have a book with her cousin's in it. I was struggling with the general concept of the book when I remembered that my sister Amy has always wanted to do an ABC book for the kids. Of course she's so busy with photography that she hasn't gotten around to it. She's just a little mad that I stole her idea, but she will get over it (Love you sis!!!). I totally lucked out that Shutterfly is offering great discounts right now. Shutterfly makes photo books so easy, I love their quality and how user friendly their site is. I spent this afternoon going through all of my MILLIONS of photos, and trying to find something that would go for every letter of the alphabet. A is for applesauce, B is for Bear's Birthday.......the one that I never did find was X. So when the kids got home, they made a giant X out of lego's and I took a picture of them in front of it. X marks the spot!

I ordered 5 books, and with the discount and free shipping, my total was $56. Not bad for 5 gifts! I'm super excited for them to arrive, they will be here within two weeks.

So maybe you don't need an ABC book, but there are so many ideas! I did a book this past year from our camping trip. My sister made an album for my Grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. Get creative and have fun!

Thankful for our Veterans

I am very grateful and thankful for our Veterans who served our country. I have a personal hero that I wrote about earlier this year. Click HERE to read about Joe. Since that post I read his book about his service in WWII. He has an amazing story of how he was a fighter pilot shot down and captured. His time as POW is heart breaking. While it was troubling to read about what he went through, as the same time I grew to admire (even more) a man that I knew as a kind, loving, and caring person. I highly recommend his book, A Fighter Pilot in Buchenwald by Joseph F. Moser. Thank you Joe for your service to our country.

Tasty Tuesdays!

Tonight we are having Cheesy Potatoes and Ham. I thought I had shared this recipe before, but I can't find it. So here we go. This afternoon I made the casserole and divided it into small disposable pans. Grandpa is liking TV dinners because he doesn't have to clean up any dishes afterward. And people have been bringing him so many containers, he can't keep them all straight. So now I can bring him dinner in small portions in disposable containers. I take mailing label stickers and write the heating instructions on it, then stick it to the foil on top. This is also a great freezer meal. Most of the time I double the recipe so that I can put one in the freezer for later. Enjoy!

Cheesy Potatoes and Ham

1 28oz package frozen potatoes O’brien

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup sour cream

2 cups shredded cheese

2 cups cubed ham or turkey ham

1 tsp seasoning salt of choice

Mix all ingredients in a 9x13x11 baking dish.

Bake, covered, at 400 for 1 hour.

May also be frozen before baking.

Awards

Lily received a Pioneer Pride award from school last week. She was recognized at the monthly assembly, and she was so proud. The note her teacher sent home said she was awarded for "bringing so much enthusiasm, positive energy, and delight to school activities and work!".

This same bright little girl posted a sign on her door that read:

Boys keep out uf my room. Girls sae in my room.


What's really sad is that I was very impressed with her writing and spelling.

Don't Open the Door

Yesterday I had another chat with my kids about opening the door and letting people in. They have been told many times that they are only to open the door for Grandma and Amy Jo. The reason for this is that I have been scared many times by a deep male voice saying "Hello" because my kids just let them in the door. It freaks me out every time. It happened again yesterday while I was in the bathroom putting on makeup. Hence, the talk about not letting anyone in the door.

Today when I got out of the shower I found this note on the window next to the front door.

Sorry! Me and Lily can only open the door for owr Grandma Lori or Amy. Come back later when Holly's out of the shower. thank you!

Heart Ache

This is Grandma and Grandpa Dennison. This picture is from the Everson Parade just this past July. Grandma and Grandpa celebrated 60 years of marriage this past August.

My heart is breaking today at how difficult Grandma's health issues have been. The short story is that Grandma had heart surgery in September for a torn Aorta. 10 days later she had a pace maker put in. After a long recovery, she was home briefly before she went back in this last time. Just last week they were seeing small signs of improvement. Then Grandma fell and broke her hip and her shoulder. She came down with pneumonia and is too weak for them to do surgery to fix her hip. So since Saturday they have kept her highly drugged. Today they couldn't even get her to wake up. It's been a hard road for Grandpa and his four daughters (Mom included). I went and visited today and my heart ached to see Grandma so frail, broken and bruised.

Sunday Pastor Grant spoke about pain. He talked about how God will carry us and cover us in our pain. I'm asking all you prayer warriors to keep Grandma and our family in your prayers. While we can't see God's plan right now, we ask for comfort and strength to endure this long road. Thank you.

Tasty Tuesdays!

Tonight's dinner was going to be spaghetti, but then I received an e-mail from my sister that we will be doing birthday dinner for Mom on Thursday, and we are having spaghetti. So instead of giving you my runner up spaghetti sauce from our Spaghetti cook off (that's my nice way of saying I lost the spaghetti cook off to my hubby), I will give you a few tips. I shared some of these the other day with my cousin's wife Katie. We were talking about how to get the kids to eat more fruits and veggies and I shared with her some ideas. So enjoy, and please share any other great tips you may have!

• Cut up zuchinni in very small peices and sneak them into spaghetti sauce. (Maybe that's why I lost the cook off?)
• When you bring home whole fruits and veggies, chop them up right away. If they are easy and accessible, you are more likely to use them. I cut up a whole cantaloupe, and store it in a Tupperware container in the fridge. I also cut up a whole head of celery and put it into snack bags that are quick to grab in the morning for the kid's lunches.
  
• Applesauce in pancake batter is a great way to sneak in some fruit.
• My kids love peanut butter on celery. I'm not a fan, but they love it.
• My Mom always put fruit in jello. We loved it!
• Muffins!! Blueberry, Banana, Applesauce, Zucchini.......
• And don't forget dip! Most kids will eat fresh veggies if they have ranch to dip it in.
  

Fall Family Photos

A BIG thanks to my sister Amy for taking these wonderful family photos. We met up with Amy at Hovander Park in Ferndale to catch these great fall colors. I purposely left out the picture that will be in our Christmas card. You will have to wait for that one. Check out Amy's website on the sidebar and give her a call for all of your photography needs!