How Cool is THIS?!

Savers, one of my all time favorite thrift stores has an awesome site with some really exciting ideas/tutorials!  Just click on over and find access to some beautifully done PDF tutorials for the Holidays!

Some Thanksgiving Day Game Ideas...

Norman Rockwell Smithsonian Collection

I found these great game ideas at Holidash.com.  I think we will seriously be using a few of these!

1. Name That Turkey Tune
Make your guests sing for their supper with this family-friendly game. Each player takes turns singing their favorite songs by replacing the lyrics with the word 'GOBBLE.' The first player to correctly identify the tune is the new 'gobbler' and the fun continues.

2. Thanksgiving Bingo
If you can't pull your family away from the tube, why not make them work while they watch? Family Fun has a few printable bingo cards for Thanksgiving Day's TV watching, so hand out a few sheets and pencils and go to town. Loser has dish duty!

3. Apple Paring Game
In case you didn't quite get enough dessert, bring in the family for a fun, reward-driven game. Each player gets an apple and a peeler or knife (for adults) and has sixty seconds to peel the longest apple strip they can muster. Winner gets to take a fresh-baked apple pie home for Black Friday!

4. Toilet Paper Thanks
Pass around a roll of toilet paper to the entire room and ask them to tear as many sheets off as they'd like (but don't tell them why they're doing so!). After every player has chosen their desired number of sheets, announce that they have to share one thing they're thankful for... per sheet they ripped from the roll. Those greedy folk won't know what hit them!

What do you do on Thanksgiving Day?

I Finally Did It! Our Family, Silhouette Style.

This is one of those projects I have been meaning to do for YEARS!  I finally got to it the other day when all of the girls slept an extra hour (crazy, wonderful, day).  It took me longer than their nap time unfortunately, which meant craziness for a little bit but it was worth it.  I'm so glad these are done and so pleased with how they turned out (now let's see how long it will take me to actually hang them on the wall).

There are a lot of great tutorials out there on all kinds of different methods.  

I just kind of figured it out as I went.  So I thought I'd share my process:

Note #1:  I just realized that I forgot to mention in step 5 that I after adding the needed details I cut out the silhouette and then traced it onto the black acid free paper.  When you cut, make sure to go very slow...I had to do my silhouette twice after I cut one of my lips off by mistake! 

Note #2: Thanks Britt for donating your extra wild, extra cool frames to the cause.

Have you done this project?  Send me a link, I'd love to see!

Tradition Tuesday - The Staying Power of Traditions

One Leaf by Leo Reynolds

 Every Tuesday I will be sharing a little something to help you and me establish meaningful traditions in our homes.

This Tuesday's "Tradition Tidbit" comes from Richard and Linda Eyre.  They are writers of many books but their most famous "Teaching Your Children Values" is one of my favorites.  They also have a great website called Valuesparenting.com (awesome resource).

Here is what Richard Eyre has to say about a good tradition's staying power:

"One other personal incident will illustrate the 'staying power' and bonding influence of family traditions. On my birthday in October, we had always raked huge piles of leaves with the kids and then jumped in them, stuffed them in our shirts, thrown them in the air, and just generally had a wild time. We thought as the kids got older, their interest in such a frivolous activity would fade. On the contrary, when they were teens, the leaf piles just got bigger. Finally, one year, four of our children were away at school or living abroad. On my birthday, four birthday cards arrived. As I opened the first, a leaf fell out and a note, 'Dad, I honored your birthday tradition. Here's a leaf from my jumping pile. I love you.' Through my tears I opened the other three - and a leaf fell from each."

He continues:

"Take some time and review your family traditions. Do they help you in teaching values and in developing better communication? Adjust and alter to make your traditions productive as well as enjoyable. List them by month in a special book of some kind or put them on a family calendar so they can be anticipated and planned for. Make them a priority until they take on a life of their own" Richard Eyre Valuesparenting.com - Family Infrastructure

You can read more about establishing traditions and find many more resources on the Eyre's websites: Valuesparenting.com, The Power of Moms, and their newest endeavor The Scaffolding Coalition (all AMAZING resources!)

How Do You Like THEM Apples?!

My mom came the first week of October for a day.  Our tree was FULL this year so we decided to keep the girls busy and pick, pick, pick.  The girls loved helping Grandma:

We also got some apples from my Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's tree this year and with the help of Jeff's parents and awesome Kitchenaid attachments we made 19 quarts of yummy applesauce! Hooray for apples and hooray for the wonderful parents/grandparents that helped!

OH MARTHA!!!

I just got my little email from Martha today.  Yes, she emails me at least once a day.

Some seriously COZY ideas!  Here are some of my favorites:

Thanks Martha!

Anything inspiring you at the moment?  I'd love to know!

Enchanted Childhood

Laurel and Maisy by Grandma Dahl's Stream

Starr Valley, NV

"There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again."  - Elizabeth Lawrence

Traditions Tuesday - The November Edition

For the introduction to this new Tuesday feature click here.

I'm so excited that November is the month to debut this new feature.  When I think of the month of November I feel warm all over and can almost drink the memories of love from family and friends...not to mention all of the wonderful tastes and smells.

I hope you will enjoy these ideas and feel free to share some of your favorites!

Letters of Gratitude:
Start a family Gratitude Journal to be kept up throughout the year.  Each night, a family member can share something that they are grateful for.  Share the highlights of this family tradition at the dinner table next Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving Tablecloth:
Designate a particular tablecloth for your family Thanksgiving celebrations.  Provide fabric markers where guests can record their “gratitudes” or special prayers for the year ahead.  Ask your guests to sign and date each message.  Use the same tablecloth year after year and add another one as your family grows.

Tree of Thanks:
Collect colorful leaves from your yard or local park. To preserve them, seal them in clear Con-Tact paper.  Every year, each family member can pick two or three of the pressed leaves and write one thing they are grateful for on the front of each with permanent markers, then put the date on the back. Tape a trunk made out of construction paper to the wall and add the leaves, new and old. Your family will get a big kick out of looking back to see what they were grateful for in the past. (Note: you can also use leaves made from paper or synthetic leaves from your local craft store.)

Time of Thanks Devotional:
Sometime before or after Thanksgiving or even that evening, hold a “Time of Thanks Devotional”.  This is a time to share poems, songs, and stories about thanksgiving and gratitude.  At the end of the devotional supply each family member with a pencil and paper/envelope so that they can choose someone in their lives to write a letter of gratitude to.  The younger family members can dictate their letters while the adults and older children serve as scribes.  

Pilgrims’ Kernels:
Just before you enjoy your feast, have on each of your plates 5 kernels of corn — a reminder of the Pilgrims' daily ration during one of their first difficult winters.  Pass a basket around the table.  Each person places one kernel of corn at a time into the basket and tells of one thing he or she is thankful for. The basket goes around the table 5 times.  As each person tells what they are thankful for, record this in a special notebook that is only used for this occasion.  Leave the notebook out for family members to review at their leisure throughout the day.

What Traditions Do You Have?  We'd Love to Know!

NEW Traditions Tuesday Coming THIS Tuesday!

Us This Summer 2009

I am starting a new feature!  The goal is that the first Tuesday of each and every month, I will share with you some tradition ideas for that month that I have collected through the years.  On the rest of the Tuesdays, I will share advice from the experts on how to make your family stronger and happier through daily, weekly, and monthly traditions.

Traditions I believe, are the glue that hold families together.  I used to work as a consultant for a company called Once Upon a Family.  Really great company and great products.  The founder Lorle Campos, shared this important piece of advice:

The Essential Ingredients of Memorable Celebrations/Traditions:

Meaningful Participation

Expressing Emotions

Magical Moments: Suspense Surprise

Oohs and Aahs...Satisfying the Senses

Record and Remember

You are here because you are Special 
 

"One thing that will just about guarantee the success of any celebration or get-together is participation.  The more everyone is involved, the more memorable it will be for all.  Satisfying the senses (food, décor, lighting, music, etc.) will keep your guests focused on the here and now, to enjoy the moment and whatever you have planned for them.  A little magic goes a long way (anticipation, suspense, surprise) and the display of positive emotions (humor, love, appreciation, support, admiration, and hope for the future) has a powerful impact on how we remember the event.  Let each guest know you have invited them because they are special in some way, and their presence adds to the joy and success of the celebration.  And, last but not least, taking photos, that capture the mood of your get-together, can enhance reality by keeping memories alive."

 Lorle Campos  The Little Things are the Big Things

Great advice!  I think so many traditions happen naturally when these things are done.  These are the memories that stick and that we want to do over and over again.  I can't wait to share a whole bunch of tradition ideas with you for the month of November tomorrow on Tradition Tuesday! 

P.S.  I also hope you will feel welcome to share some of your families' favorite traditions with all of us each Tuesday as well!

Halloween 2009

Just in case you couldn't figure it out...The girls were the famous Three Blind Mice and Jeff and I were The Farmer and The Farmers Wife (sans carving knife).

We were again in charge of our ward's/congregation's Halloween party this year...all went well.  We are still thanking our lucky stars that no one was seriously injured during the pinata part of the party (imagine blindfolded child swinging steel bat literally two inches away from a crowd of small children...).

The girls wore their sunglasses and ears for mere seconds but I'm so glad we captured at least one of those seconds at Jeff's parent's house (Hooray for Shirley!).  I told Jeff on the way home from Jerry and Shirley's that I felt like Halloween had been a success now that we had at least ONE picture where all three girls had on both their ears and their glasses.  Don't worry, I know I'm pretty neurotic sometimes.

You can probably look at the girls costumes and figure out how I did them.  All I have to say is "I LOVE FELT" so fun and easy to work with.  I put a layer of sparkly tulle over the pink on the belly and ears just to give them something extra and then of course a cute bow on their tails.  They were the Dollywood version of blind mice I guess.

Anyway it was another fun year. Hope you all had a fun, safe and Happy Halloween!