Thanksgiving!

Ok, thanks to my oldest sister I started thinking about Thanksgiving traditions. My family has many. Our dinner was always eaten in Roosevelt at Grandma's house (ok, I think I can remember a couple of times when it was at Brent and Sue's). All of us filing through Grandma's kitchen to get the turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy(yuck), creamed peas(Yummmmmmmm), rolls(always Rhodes), frozen fruit salad, and lemon delight. In speaking with some of my in-laws, I've realized that my family has some really WEIRD food that we eat! Frozen fruit salad tops that list, carrot and apple salad(I think this is really good but my husband thinks it's gross so my kids have never had it), creamed peas(these must be eaten inside of a roll), chocolate cake w/white frosting in a glass w/milk poured over it, lemon delight, "dirty water" punch(this is actually good in small doses), and I'm sure that the list goes on. I look back on "traditions" and many I'm sad to say haven't followed me into my own home. I guess as moms we tend to fix what we know will be eaten! I hope that this Thanksgiving you will all enjoy and be thankful for your own traditions! Happy wishes from the land of turkeys!!!

I love that imagination!

Ok, one thing that my kids have NEVER lacked in is imagination! Kassidy had the best! She had a name (usually from the Disney princesses) for everyone and could keep them all straight! When Emma was born she became "Jasmine" and for quite a while this was the only name Kass would call her little sister. Well, Emma has had her turn and now the torch has been passed onto the littlest!

Here is Addi with her "baby"! She packed this sweet potato around for hours the other day! She rocked it and sang to it. She would "feed" it and love it! Then she found one for me!

Oh we had lots of fun with our "babies" she even wanted to take it to bed with her that night! I had to say "NO!!!!" And then a couple of days later, when I cooked it...sad times! But Emma came through and convinced her that the other one was really her baby and that mommy wouldn't really cook her baby.

Ahh, fall fun!

Today is the PTA fall carnival at our elementary school! So that also means today is the cake decorating contest. The PTA is really smart about this, they do a cake-walk during the carnival and this is how they get their cakes!!! All kids in the elementary are invited to participate in the cake contest, we just had to have the cakes there this morning at the beginning of the school day all ready to go. So...what do we think was happening at our house last night? That is right...cake decorating!!! And let me tell you, it was an adventure! Kassidy doesn't usually help with anything in the kitchen, so this was all pretty new to her! Everything was just, so fun to her! And let's just say that I think Emma knows more about things in the kitchen than Kass! But we pressed on and




eventually finished with Kassidy's "monster coffin cake" and if I do say so myself, it was very cute!

When it was Emma's turn, we took a different approach...CUPCAKES! I love cupcakes and these were fun for she and I to do! They were supposed to be slug cupcakes but I didn't have any black gel for the legs so they didn't turn out quite like they were supposed to. But alas, Emma and I had fun doing them! All I have to tell you is that circus peanuts are not as easy to find as one might think!

And here we have a finished product! See, kind of cute but I would definitely have to remove the "slug" in order to eat it!

And our finished coffin and monster! Last year Kassidy won first prize in the "I did it all by myself" category (she didn't do a thing on that cake...it was ALL me) so last night Paul kept asking me if I was planning on winning 1st prize again! I just know that the girls and I had lots of fun doing these together! Memories! While I am no Martha Stewart or even Sonja (although I can claim kinship here) I think that "our" cakes turned out quite cute!!!
****UPDATE Kassidy won 1st prize again this year. And it was NOT for the "I did it all by myself" category! She won 1st prize for "most creative cake" for 2nd grade. Thank you Paul!!**