better late than never?

so it's driving me crazy that i didn't post any pictures from thanksgiving.
especially since my dad-in-law took a bunch of great pics with his big fancy-pants camera.

so here i am, posting thanksgiving pics in january.
thumbs up.

okay so . . . to refresh your memory . . . and mine . . .
we had most of aj's family here at our house for thanksgiving.

it was a par-tay.
aj's sis & bro-in-law have 3 boys and a girl as well.
those six boy cousins lovelovelove each other.

they are silly and crazy and have so much fun together.
i pray that they are life long friends.

on thanksgiving morning, the guys took the boys out to the woods to tromp around and generally get out energy.

how cute are they?

the ladies were thankful.  ;)
it gave us a nice, quiet morning to get the meal together.

i love making a turkey the day of thanksgiving.
i also loved making some of my favorite southern dishes, sweet potato casserole and cornbread stuffing.
aj's mom and i joined forces for the meal.
she brought several things down, already ready to go.
it was delicious if i can say so. seriously. so yum.

so thankful that God put ruby and arden at the end of the pack together so they will have each other amongst all these boys.
i know they'll love each other.

my only regret is that we didn't get any pics of the grown ups together.
oh well...that seems to be life these days. ;)

okay now i feel better.
thanksgiving, 2012, check. :)

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instasaturday and stuff

hiya.
we've had a nice week.
it's been so nice to have a break from homeschool and running here and there and everywhere.

the kids and i have done lots of playing and reading books and just spending some relaxed time together.
okay i wouldn't necessarily say that i have relaxed as much as i wanted to...but we have had some great quality time together.

avery built a lego guy.
legos and nerf guns are pretty much the only toy that he plays with anymore.
he builds with legos every single day.
he doesn't use patterns or instructions.
he just thinks of things and build's them.

i've been seeing sweater skirts at stores and i thought to myself, "self, you can make that."
i've had this sweater that i love {hand me down from my friend, erin} but haven't worn it because it was just ill fitting.

on monday night i was going out to dinner with friends so i quickly sewed this into a skirt about half an hour before it was time to leave.
i just cut it straight across under the arm pits, sewed a pocket for elastic, threaded the elastic through, and done.
new skirt for frizeeee.

i saved out the Grimm, Aesop, & Anderson book from a set of Harvard Classics that i put in our flea market booth. 
i thought maybe Avery would be interested in it.
he loves it.
he said it ties for third in his favorite books {along with the Bible and Wonderstruck}.
he read it for hours.

sister wore her first hair clip this week.
for about 5 minutes.

sawyer turned four on wednesday. 

that seems so old for my baby boy.

driving home from lunch on wednesday, avery said he was going to clean out the car.

so that's what he did.

he got three sacks. a throw away sack, a keep and put away sack, and an i don't know what to do with this sack. :)

as soon as we got home we got started. 

what a huge blessing. 

our car looked like a giant trash heap so maybe he was embarrassed. or just wanted a place to walk. :)

either way, i was so thankful that he took the initiative to help out. 

i love my kids.

sweet ruby girl likes to play with her toys and look at her books.
she's changing so much all the time.
one thing that's not changing is how stinkin' adorable/beautiful/cuddly/amazing she is.

my sister in law, tonya, brought some of her beautiful, original fabric art for our booth.
if you're local, you need to come see it.
each piece is one of a kind.
she uses many upcycled materials including vintage fabrics which you know i love.

thanksgiving day with my girlie girl.

we had the most amazing food on thanksgiving.
aj's mom, pam, and i worked together to make the meal.
i made a turkey...in a bag for the first time. it was juicy and delish.
i always stuff a stick of butter inside my bird & rub another one all over the outside.
plus i shove some butter in between the skin and the meat.
when in doubt, add more butter. amen.

also, i made pioneer woman's thanksgiving stuffing.
holy cow.
it was the best stuffing in the history of ever.
so good.
i had 3 helpings.

also i made my step-mom's sweet potato casserole which is like sweet potato flavored candy.
it is southern and awesome and it will make a believer out of any sweet potato hater.

i loved having aj home all day.
can't get enough of that guy.

aj's sister, tonya and her husband, dana have 3 boys and a girl as well.
six little boy cousins.
they love each other dearly.
and they are louder than you could imagine.
so thankful they have so much fun together.

tonya also brought stacks of vintage linens from kansas for the booth.
we have very similar taste so she is a great personal shopper. :)

tonya and i went and crammed the booth full of her art and loads of vintage items.
seriously, i am loving this booth.
you may get sick of me talking about it. ;)

it was fun to see the booth much more full and cluttery...just the way i wanted it.
i plan to add more stuff every few days so it will stay fresh.
i am also looking for another shelving unit or dresser to use for display.

we are calling the booth, sweet petunia, because that is what my daddy has called me my whole life.
it's who i am. ;)


okay friends, i'm going to go sit by the fire and enjoy this peaceful saturday afternoon.

happy weekend, y'all!




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thanksgiving & instafriday

we had a lovely thanksgiving.
and of course ruby looked adorable in her turkey shirt.

dressing a girl is so. much. fun.

ruby has the sweetest coo and seems to mimic our sounds when we talk to her.

see, she loves her shirt...she's hugging her turkey.

we had a nice house full of people yesterday.
sadly i didn't get a picture of everyone...i guess i was too focused on the food.
because you know i got pics of the food.

i guess you can see where my priorities lie.

and the food was amazing.
turkey, sweet potato casserole {no marshmallows}, cornbread dressing, squash casserole, green bean casserole {obvees}, pies, brownies, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, homemade bread and sweet tea.

and now for a little instafun...my instagram pics for this week . . .

1.  baby girl smiling & happy in her carseat. shocking. it lasted for about 5 minutes.
2. more sweet baby girl goodness
3. happy birthday dear sawyer. . .family fun night at fun city for the birthday boy.
4. i needed extra plates for thanksgiving dinner...dollar tree to the rescue. score.

1. pumpkin pancakes on thanksgiving morning...thank you pinterest and my rad husband.
2.  cranberry sauce straight from the can, just the way i like it.
i want to see the lines of the can on my cranberry sauce.
no high-falutin whole berry sauce for me thankyouverymuch.
3. my little sister is staying with us for a few days.
we took a walk this morning to get some fresh air and energy out.
4. cutie cutie 3 year old boy loving the park.
we ended up walking a little too far and too long with no stroller.
i wonder what the cars were thinking when they were driving by and i had baby girl on my front and sawyer on my back. yeah. it was awesome.
my back is gonna hate me tomorrow.

happy weekend all!! Pin It

ribbon turkey shirt for baby girl

so it's the day before thanksgivng and i have a million and one things to do today.
of course i'm trying cram way too much into one day, but that's how i roll.

i'm hosting thanksgivng for my family.
i've got a big honkin' turkey thawing in the fridge.
i love to make a turkey on thanksgiving day.
i don't really know what the big deal is about making a turkey.
you shove a couple of sticks of butter up inside him and then a bunch more butter in between the skin and the meat, sprinkle some coarse salt all over...and you and your turkey are golden.  :)

i've got several food dishes i need to prepare, clean the house, print out some thankful cards, get the table ready, etc.
plus i decided sister needed a thanksgiving shirt for tomorrow.
and you know me, i have to use what i have on hand.

so i grabbed an extra white onesie & dug around in my ridiculously large stash o' ribbon.
i used the ribbon to make "feathers" and pinned them on in a turkey-ish pattern.

i used a cup i had sitting nearby to trace a body shape for the turkey.

i quick sewed down the ribbons willy-nilly just to hold them in place.

i started out with dark brown minky but had to scrap that when i remembered that sewing minky onto a thin onesie is tor.ture.
so i grabbed some other dark brown fabric i had {courdoroy with polka dots} and used that instead.
i used a little piece of orange ribbon to make a nose & rhinestones for eyes.
you could also use buttons or pearls for eyes, but i decided she's a girl, she needs a little sparkle. :)

i left the edges of the fabric raw because i don't like things looking too perfect.
which, honestly, i couldn't achieve if i tried.

i can't wait to see baby girl in it tomorrow. :)

happy thanksgiving eve!! Pin It

gobble. gobble.

the boys are off school all week.
in an effort to be fun mom rather than the crabby, inpatient mom that i've been, i decided to do a thanksgiving craft with the boys.
our morning started off a little rocky....i may or may not have slammed the cabinet doors when a certain pair of brothers started arguing, again. 
but thankfully, i got myself under control, took some deep breaths & talked to Jesus.

we all love a craft so i knew the boys would be excited when i pulled out the paper, glue & ribbons.
i found this idea for a turkey on pinterest {of course}.
i decided we could do something similar, using what we had on hand.
 
i gathered up some scapbook paper, fall-ish colored ribbons, glue & scissors.
the boys were pumped. 

we used a bowl to trace out a circle for the turkey's body.
then we cut ribbon pieces for the feathers.
the boys glued the bottom half of the circle down and then i helped them hot glue the feathers in place.
{ignore their dorky outfits...we were still in our jammies. still are, in fact.}

we have several low temp glue guns that the big boys can use if they're careful.
after the "feathers" were in, we made beaks, gobblers, eyes & feet out of scrap paper.

now look how cute they turned out!

so fun.
i hung them on the door in the kitchen so we can enjoy them during our thanksgiving meal.

the boys were very proud and i think they turned out awfully cute.

so easy and so fun....just using stuff you already have around the house.

how about y'all? are you doing any fun thanksgivingy crafts with your kids this week?
have you found anything festive on pinterest?
do tell. :)


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