Thanksgiving Menu {52 Lists}

We are happy to be having a very quiet Thanksgiving this year. It will be the last holiday we spend in our current home, the home we have had for the past 9 years, and the only home our children have ever known.

I plan to have the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the television, as I usually do when I am in the kitchen cooking. It helps to keep the children occupied.

Our menu is small and simple this year:

Gardein Turk'y Cutlets
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Stuffing
Green Bean Casserole
Sweet Potatoes
Jellied Cranberry Sauce
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie (which I will be sharing with my dad)


I also want to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip bread for breakfast, since it is a special day.


To drink, I haven't decided between sparkling cider or apple cider. My children and husband do not drink carbonated beverages (and I very seldom do, unless I am sick), but I do like sparkling cider on special occasions.


My goal lately has been to simplify holidays meals in order to spend more quality time with my family. Many of the menu items above are either pre-made or easily put together (instant mashed potatoes, unless my husband feels like making the mashed potatoes from scratch this year). The desserts I will make the day before and try not to eat before Thanksgiving dinner. I also purchased Thanksgiving-themed paper plates and napkins to make things more festive for the children. I am hoping that it will end up being a wonderful holiday for my little family.

Linking Up With:

Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween festivities are usually stretched out over a few days. Saturday, we attended the Trunk or Treat at our church. Before the Trunk or Treat began, the teens in the church had planned carnival games for the children. Each classroom was set up for each game or activity, such as bowling, fishing, and face painting. Before we went in, I tried to get a picture of all three of my children together in their themed costumes. We are studying medieval times this year in history, so Bridget wanted to be a medieval princess, George was a knight, and Liam was a dragon (a costume George used two years ago). Because there were other children arriving at the church, it was near impossible to keep the boys attention and to look at the camera. 

They had this backdrop inside the church for photos. Again, those boys of mine... I give up.

One of the many games they played. I am glad that they had activities planned this year for the little ones. 

On Sunday, we took a break from Halloween and attended church (which also happened to be the children's primary program). Monday, being Halloween, we finally carved our pumpkin. We had gotten it on Saturday morning at the pumpkin patch, but were too busy to carve it until the last minute. We did it during Liam's nap. I did the carving, of course, and the children had no interest in touching the "guts", so I removed those as well. The children did help removing the pieces for the face once I had carved them. It took a little bit of work but they finally did it. 

Our Halloween meal this year was quickly thrown together because I have a minor cold. I went the easy route with mummies, eyeballs, brains, and blood. Bridget hates when I call them by these names, and insisted on correcting me every time. I guess the gross names make things a little unappetizing for her.

Happy Halloween!

Family Traditions {52 Lists}

Fall Traditions

The first day of fall is today, but I consider our summer season over the day we start back to school in August.

School. We start back the first week of August. We work on getting a routine going again and the children are usually excited to begin a new year with new material.

Apple picking. This fall with be only our second year doing this, but we had such a blast last year that we must do it again. An apple pie will follow.

Friday night movie. We don't do this every Friday, but now that we are headed into fall and winter we will be picking up on this tradition again. Sometimes the movie has to do with a history topic we are studying or it is a feel-good holiday movie. I like to have a picnic-style dinner in the living room, usually pizza, so that the movie can get started earlier (and end earlier so the children can get to bed at a decent hour). 

Thanksgiving Day parade. As I prepare the meal, I turn on the parade for the children to watch. Honestly, they are not too interested in it because they do not recognize the characters on many of the floats or balloons and don't know most of the songs. I try to keep them away from "pop culture" as much as possible, but I grew up watching the parade so it is nice to have it on. They do get excited for Santa at the end.

Thanksgiving dinner. This tradition has changed over the years. We used to go to my husbands parents house but because my family's diet is so different, it is easier to prepare our own dinner at home. Both sets of grandparents often join us. We do not have a turkey and I am oftentimes trying a new recipe to replace it. We always have mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, cranberries, and any other vegetable dishes I feel like trying. My mother-in-law brings a delicious sweet potato casserole and my mother usually brings some sort of dessert. My dad likes to make something savory to bring, and my husband often makes fresh bread or dinner rolls.

Day-After-Thanksgiving Cleaning. I loathe "Black Friday" and avoid shopping the entire weekend. Instead, I spend Friday deep-cleaning the house and putting away any fall decorations. Then depending on how quickly that all gets done, we bring out the Christmas decorations and put on a Christmas movie.

Winter Traditions

Technically, it is still fall when we do most of these things, but as far as I am concerned, the winter/Christmas season begins the day after Thanksgiving. 

Picking Out a Christmas Tree. This is done normally on Saturday after Thanksgiving. For the past 3 or 4 years, we've gotten a real tree, which I love. The smell, the unique and not-so-perfect appearance, and the fact I don't need to find a place to store it. I don't even mind cleaning up the pine needles.  One year, we got our cleaning done early and went on a Friday evening to pick out our tree, which was a magical experience to find a tree at night, bundled up in our winter coats and the children playing between all the trees and seeing their breath in the cold and crisp night air. 

Decorating the Tree. I usually wait for my youngest to be taking a nap before I attempt to decorate anything. The older two take turns holding the string of lights as I wrap them around the tree. Then I let the two of them put the ornaments on the tree while I sit back and supervise. The first year I did this, I moved the ornaments around after they were done. Last Christmas, I let all the ornaments stay where the children put them, because I saw how much thought and care they put into placing each one. The tree looked awkward to anyone who visited, but I truly loved it. This year, we will not be getting a tree because we'll be moving, but I can't wait to have the littlest one participate in decorating next year.

The Nutcracker. Bridget and I dress up and attend a showing of the Nutcracker ballet. We love the music and many of the dancers are teachers or older girls from her dance studio. Bridget has dreams of one day being Clara.

Baking Cookies. The children and Daddy often make cookies together and I get to watch while taking pictures. My husband sticks to either chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies. Anything fancier than that, I usually do the baking. But this is a special time for him and the children.

Spring Traditions

Strawberry picking. My husband and I have done this almost every year, even before the children were born.

Daffodil field. There is an area off one of the country roads just outside our town that someone, many years ago, planted thousands of daffodil bulbs in a grove of Southern pine trees. Many locals flock to the area to take their Easter pictures in the field, while others (like myself) take their families to enjoy to beauty of the area. This is another tradition that we are not able to experience every year, as the daffodils are only in full bloom for a very short period of time.

Summer Traditions

Blueberry picking. We don't do this every year, as it is hard to tell when the blueberries will be ready for picking due to how cold and how long the previous winter was. Next year, I want to plan a peach picking trip.

Myrtle Beach trip. Each year after tax season and Bridget's ballet performance, we make a trip to Myrtle Beach where my husbands boss has a condo. This trip officially kicks off our summer season. The grandparents alternate each year and it is so nice to have two extra pairs of hands to help out with the little ones at the beach, the pool, and any activities we plan.

Linking Up With:

Happy Fourth of July...

... from our family to yours!

God Bless America

Week in Review 2016: #11

Life

We are officially on the home stretch! Tax season will end in just one more month, and then I get my husband back! It's tough at times but once he is home more we are able to take advantage of it and go on vacations enjoy our time together as a family.

It has been crazy hot this week; it is hard to believe it is still winter. The children and I have been able to play outside a few times. I love that they get to be outdoors and not have to bundle up, but I really dread having to bathe them every night. George has been giving himself dirt baths, and now Liam is doing the same, rubbing dirt up and down his arms. Boys.

It is supposed to cool off this weekend. Only two more days 'til springtime.

We had a fun St. Patrick's Day yesterday. I made Irish Vegetable-Barley Soup, Colcannon, Irish Soda Bread, and Apple-Barley Pudding. I was unable to get a picture of all three children wearing their green, because they are ages 6, 4, and 1, and make pictures together near impossible. But I did get one of my dad feeding Liam his dessert. He had three bowls of apple-barley pudding, which I didn't mind because it is actually pretty healthy.

Homeschool

We're focusing on reading again, which means that other subjects such as history and science fall to the wayside. The reason this time is that Bridget is nearing the jumping-off point of becoming an independent reader. She has been picking up a few different books and actually reading them. I wanted to take the extra time to help her while she wants to read. I don't know how long this window will stay open and I needed to take advantage of it.

With wanting to read also comes the desire to spell. With Bridget, they usually go hand-in-hand. The only thing she does not want to do is to write. She used to be really good at it, but now her writing has become sloppy. 

Linking up to:

The Beginning of a New Year!

I don't know where 2015 went, but it feels good to begin a new year again with new goals in mind.

My husband took the children this morning to visit his parents for the day while I stayed home to get some work done. After they came home, I had prepared black-eyed peas, collards, and cornbread for dinner. Hopefully this traditional southern New Years Day meal will bring us luck and prosperity in 2016.

Happy New Year!

Week in Review 2015: #47 and #48

Life

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at our house and both sets of grandparents were able to join us. We ate our dinner in the homeschool room, which is really our formal dining area. It is the only place that would accommodate two tables and enough chairs for all of us. This is where you can read about our Thanksgiving in more detail.

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we bought our Christmas tree and I let the older two children decorate it themselves. My youngest has done a great job at showing us how destructive he is. Thankfully, he has calmed down a bit and is used to the tree by now. He loves the colorful lights and admires them often.

 
Bridget often sets up the little chairs in the homeschool room to play "church" with her dolls. She sets it up as the primary room at church and has singing time and a lesson. Sometimes she is able to convince George to play with her. George was busy with other toys so this time, Liam became her live student. He was so proud to be included and he sat very nicely in the chair with all of the other students.

Bridget was absolutely tickled with Liam's cooperation. They were both being so very sweet.

After Thanksgiving, Amazon had some really great deals on some toys (I prefer to do all of my Christmas shopping this way... isn't online shopping just great?!?). Along with the more "fun" toys to be saved for Christmas, I also got a few "educational" toys and gave these to the kids early. One of them is this marble run. They had a blast! I put Liam down for his nap and set it up for them in their room so that they could see what it's all about. This occupied them for THREE HOURS, until Liam woke up and I made them put it away.

They just love seeing how things work and building things. I couldn't believe they played so well together for that long. It was a blessing because I have had a cold for the past couple of days. I really needed that break from the children where I can rest my voice and try to get better.

Homeschool 

We started off the week very strong but because of my cold and inability to read aloud without having a coughing fit, Bridget has had to do most of her work independently. This is where I love math drill sheets and writing copywork.

In an attempt to still be productive while I am sick, I spent my alone time at the computer working on notebook pages for history. I had gotten behind on that. I'm also revamping the lessons, adding lessons that are not part of SOTW and changing the SOTW lesson order around a bit. It's our first year of a full curriculum and I knew things would need to be tweaked after we got started.

Family Movie Night

With it being Christmas, we have been watching all of our Christmas movies almost daily. It has been nice and a real treat for the kids. 

Linking up to:

Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving has got to be one of our favorite holidays. I love fall and fall decorations (although I did not put any out this year). I especially love fall food, and Thanksgiving dinner is an opportunity to prepare many favorite holiday dishes. The kids love the food, but they also love dressing up, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, having daddy home from work, seeing grandparents, and playing with cousins.

For the past three years, I have hosted Thanksgiving at my house because most Thanksgiving feasts involve everything we don't eat (turkey, ham, cheese-topped or condensed soup flavored casseroles, and butter) so it is much easier to do it all myself so that everything is "safe". We eat a plant-based diet and that doesn't change even for the holidays. But the food is still delicious, I promise! 

This year, because we have the homeschool table and our regular kitchen table, we were able to combine the two in our homeschool room (which is supposed to be the dining room) and have a nice long table for our family of 5 along with both sets of grandparents to sit comfortably and have all of the food on the table. I wish our house were a bit bigger to be able to have a family dinner more often. We are thinking that this may be our last Thanksgiving in our current house, but more on that later.

I am glad that my husband took a couple of pictures of the table while I was still getting things set up. He even managed to get me in one of them.

I did not manage to get a picture of my plate on Thanksgiving, but I did take this one the day after Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving leftovers!

Our vegan Thanksgiving menu this year was:

• Country Meatloaf (in place of the turkey)
• Mashed Potatoes
• Vegan Stuffing
• Golden Gravy
• Sweet Potato Fluff (courtesy of my mother-in-law)
• Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts
• Candied Corn
• Panko Stuffed Mushrooms
• Polenta with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Vegan Bacon (courtesy of my dad)
• Green Bean Casserole (with homemade vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup)
• Cranberry-Orange Sauce
• Homemade Wheat Rolls (courtesy of my husband)

For dessert, I made an apple pie with apples from the orchard we visited on our recent trip to the North Carolina mountains.  I also made pumpkin chocolate-chip bread as an experiment but it turned out to be quite tasty so I offered it along with the pie. I took things very easy on the desserts this year, as it has been my experience that most people are too stuffed to eat enough dessert to where I don't have so many dessert leftovers.

After our feast, my sister-in-law and her family came over to let the cousins play for awhile while we visited (she has three of her own and the six of them together have a pretty good time).


Things I Am Thankful For:

• My family. My children are everything to me, and the man they call "daddy" is pretty awesome too.
• The gospel. It teaches my children good values and it also helps me to want to be a better person. 
• A home. We're outgrowing it quickly but I am thankful that it is ours, as I know many people have it much worse than we do. It keeps us safe, dry, and warm and that is what matters most.
• Employment. My husband has a great job with a great boss. He didn't always have this and we know what its like to work for the complete opposite, so we both appreciate the positive side of employment he gets to experience.
• Our country. I have too many ancestors to name that came to this country when it was just beginning. These ancestors came for freedom, the same freedom that many of us (myself included) take advantage of and do not always appreciate. Election years (and the year before) tend to get us in a grumpy mood when it comes to where our country is headed, and we all have different ideas. On Thanksgiving, many of us are able to put those differences aside and just be thankful that we are where we are.

Bridget is thankful for (in her own words):

• Heavenly Father because he teaches us the right things. 
• Our family because I love them and they will keep us safe. 
• My brothers because they are so fun to play with. 
• For food that makes us healthy.

George is thankful for (in his own words):

• My teddy bear.
• My famiwy, my Mommy and my Daddy and my wittle bwother Wiam and my big sister Bwigit.
• Wiam because I wuv him.
• My teachers in the nursery.

Perhaps next year, Liam will be ready to tell me what he is thankful for too!

Christmas 2014

Christmas was not everything we had hoped it would be. The kids spent most of December with a runny nose and cough, and poor George got a fever we just couldn't get rid of. Even Liam couldn't avoid getting sick. But we did try to enjoy ourselves as best as we could.

 

Bridget was the first one to start feeling better, just in time for us to attend The Nutcracker. It was a special mommy-daughter date we had planned. She fell in love with the story and with Clara. During intermission, we went out to the lobby and got her a special Clara ornament.

 

 

Christmas came quickly. Before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve, and both boys were still sick. We unfortunately did not get to bake any cookies for Santa this year, but we did leave him some oreos to snack on. Christmas morning came and Bridget was ready. George threw a little tantrum first thing before he realized there were toys from Santa in the living room. I blame the tantrum on him not feeling well (he was still running a fever).

 

 

This was Liam's first Christmas, so I really took more photos of him. He was excited by the sound of the paper ripping. He did a great job opening his own gift from Santa (more bibs!).

 

 

Sadly, George spent the second half of Christmas Day looking and feeling like this:

 

It feels awful as a parent to see their child feeling so yucky, especially on a holiday. Thankfully, by New Years' he was feeling much better. Our family Christmas picture got postponed until after the New Year, the day before taking down the tree. All three kids were healthy, happy, and smiling. I guess things turned out to be alright after all.

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving was celebrated over a month ago, but I need to record it before I forget it.

 

I hosted our Thanksgiving dinner at my home again this year. It was just a small meal (by typical Thanksgiving meal standards), as it was only my parents coming over this year. The menu was:

 

Tofurkey (cooked with onions and the gravy that came with it)

Mashed Potatoes

Mushroom Gravy

Green Bean Casserole

Stuffing (made by my dad)

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Candied Corn

Cranberry Applesauce

Whole Wheat Rolls (made by my husband)

 

 

For dessert, we had:

Caramel-Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Cookies (pumpkin and peanut butter, both made by my mom)

 

Holidays with kids are always fun, and this Thanksgiving was Liam's first. Of course he was not able to partake in any of the delicious food, but his company was nice. 

 



 

Bridget was excited that she was able to fit in her turkey outfit one more year.

 

I was unable to get any good photos of George on Thanksgiving, but these are the photos from the day before. As I had mentioned in a previous post, George had a little run in with Granny's hot glue gun.

 

On the day before Thanksgiving, my parents came over to watch the kids while I made a quick run to the grocery store. Before I left, I handed Liam over to my dad and set Bridget and George up with play-dough at the kitchen table with my mom. When I got home, the play-dough was still all over the kitchen table and my mom had brought over some crafts to do with the kids (I did not know about this). I came inside, unloaded groceries, and saw Bridget and my mom using the hot glue gun. I took a deep sigh, and went back to the van to grab more groceries, and came back inside. Bridget was done with her craft, and my mom seemed to be putting away the hot glue gun. I went and got Liam from my dad to go change his diaper and get ready to feed him. As Liam was still on the changing table, my dad and I heard George let out a huge scream. My dad went running, I diapered up Liam, and met them in the kitchen. My mom and George were sitting at the kitchen table with the hot glue gun. After a couple of minutes, my mom finally gets up with George and brings him to the kitchen sink (he's still screaming bloody murder). At this time, I handed Liam over to my dad and took over with George. He wouldn't stop screaming and his finger looked raw. I took him to our bathroom and applied some ointment and a bandage to get him to calm down. This worked, so we sat down and ate a quick lunch and my parents went home.

 

After they left, I wanted to get  a closer look at the burn. This is when I took the following pictures. It looked so painful, so I called the doctor and they said to come right in. They made sure he could still bend his fingers, and they determined that it was a second degree burn. They gave us some special burn medicine and bandages to put on every day and they wanted to see him back the following week. George wanted his burn to be bandaged for almost 2 weeks (he didn't mind looking at it when we changed his bandage, but he wanted it to be covered when he played and ate). It was three weeks after the burn that George finally stopped holding his finger out. It was a very traumatic experience for him, and he still remembers it. I don't think he'll be doing anything with a hot glue gun for a long time!

 

 



Halloween Festivities 2014

Halloween festivities lasted nearly a week for us this year. Every year, our church holds a 'Trunk-or-Treat' in the parking lot for all of the kids to have a safe place to show off their costumes and get some candy. Some areas also have chili cook-offs and games prior to the trunk or treat.

 

I am now back to using their real names. Their personalities change so often that keeping up with a good nickname was difficult and ever-changing. It was originally intended for privacy but became more of a headache. Besides, it's mainly family and friends reading this stuff anyway.

 

This year, Bridget wanted to be Elsa from Frozen (just like every other little girl on the planet!). Halloween was so warm this year that I didn't need to buy her any covered shoes to match her costumes. She was able to wear her summer time church sandals! She felt super regal every time she put on her costume. She even got to wear some makeup we had leftover from her ballet performance.

 

 

George wanted to be something that "roared", so I was very excited to find this dragon costume for him. He would get into character each time his costume was put on. The very first time his hand went into the "claws", he'd stare at them and wiggle his fingers. I know he was thinking how awesome it was to finally have dragon hands. He is such a fun, wild boy!

 

Liam became the third baby to wear this pumpkin costume for Halloween. He looked just as cute as his older siblings did. I love his smile!

Here are the older kids after the trunk-or-treat. As I rarely have given my kids candy (cookies and cake, yes.. candy, no), George really had no idea what all the packages in his bucket were. Bridget remembered from last year, though. Once we got back to the van, he got to try some. His life was changed forever.

Later in the week before Halloween, we headed down to my in-laws' to attend their trunk-or-treat. They had a lot more going on for the kids there, and we all had a blast.

Finally, the day of Halloween arrived. We typically stay indoors and have our own family fun. My dad brought over a huge pumpkin with some stickers to decorate it with. The kids began decorating themselves, and Bridget put this sticker on Liam. I couldn't resist taking a picture. I'm so glad he was happy about it.

I like to make a Halloween-themed dinner to make things fun for the kids. This year, I made "Ghoulash", using my husband's grandmothers recipe for Austrian goulash, and veganizing it (taking out the beef and changing the spices and adding a few more vegetables to make up for the lack of meat). It was so good and the kids got a big kick out of it. I kept the heat to a low so that the kids could enjoy it, but I personally would have liked to have more cayenne pepper. I can't wait until they get old enough to handle some heat! Oh wait, yes I can. STOP GROWING!

Our Halloween dessert: chocolate cupcakes with orange frosting and festive sprinkles. George couldn't wait to dig in!

Our Fourth of July

Bright and early yesterday morning, the Sugar Plum came into our room and asked in a very  loud and excited voice, "Is it time for the party?!!". I looked over at the clock and it wasn't quite 6:30 yet, so of course I told her no and to go back into her bed and read her books so we could get a little bit more sleep.

So that is how my morning of the Fourth of July began. I had done some baking the night before (a blueberry and lemon cake and chocolate strawberry shortcake cupcakes), which is how Sugar Plum knew that today was going to be a special day.

When it was time to wake up, my husband promptly went outside to blow up the kiddie pool for the kids. This got both of them very excited as they watched their daddy from the back door. I did a little bit more cooking and then relaxed for the rest of the morning. I waited until early afternoon to add the frosting and fruit on the desserts, so that it would be as fresh as possible (nobody likes a wilted strawberry). My husbands parents arrived in the afternoon and we all went outside to watch  the kids play in the pool. It's fun as an adult to watch little kids play and splash in a pool, or play on the swing set, etc. I remember having fun doing these things as a child but I think I love watching my own children have that kind of fun even more.

We had a good Fourth of July dinner and desserts, then sat around and chatted for awhile. Then it was time for my in-laws to head home. We opted not to go see the fireworks because Sugar Plum is terrified of loud noises, so the kids ran around the house and played for awhile before bed time. They were both being very silly, Snuggle Bug with his funny faces for the camera and Sugar Plum had fun running away from me while I tried to take her picture. Luckily with my new camera I was able to catch her in action without the shots being blurry. Her laughs and smiles are one of my favorite things.

By bed time, the kids were so exhausted from their busy day that Snuggle Bug fell asleep during the bedtime story and while Sugar Plum made it through the story, she decided not to have any books to read in bed and let us turn off the lamp early (she usually spends about 15 minutes looking at her books before she falls asleep). So we knew she'd be out soon (and she was, within about 5 minutes). I hope everyone was able to enjoy their Fourth of July holiday!

 

 

Jenny

Our July 4th Holiday

We’ve made it a tradition recently to spend the Fourth of July in New Bern, NC with my husband’s parents. We got to New Bern shortly before lunch. I had prepared some vegan baked beans and maple roasted Brussels sprouts to go with the vegan Kielbasa and hot dogs I brought for myself and the kids. The in-laws provided the hamburgers and hot dogs for the meat-eaters. My husband helped his dad with the grilling while I got to relax for a bit. My husband’s sister and her family arrived just as the food was coming off the grill. It was a pleasant lunch and then we visited for a while. My sister-in-law and her family then left to spend the evening with her husband’s family. Then we left Sugar Plum with my husband’s parents while we took the Charmer with us for a quick trip to Wal-Mart. I needed some things (shampoo, toothpaste, borax, etc.) from there but have not been able to go to our Wal-Mart since a shooting that occurred there back in June. It’s probably for the best, as our Wal-Mart is absolutely disgusting to walk through in the first place. While the New Bern Wal-Mart was still a Wal-Mart, it was far less gross than the one we’re used to.

After our Wal-Mart trip, we all had a quick dinner at Taco Bell (the most vegan-friendly fast food restaurant we have here) and got ready to watch the fireworks. We had a great view from the train tracks overlooking the Trent River.

As the fireworks started, my 17-month-old son was fascinated and loved them while my 3-year-old daughter was terrified and screamed for the fireworks to go away. So we pack up our things and walked slowly back to the car, looking back at the fireworks every few steps. At least I got some pictures of the kids before the fireworks started: