Give Thanks

I love Christmas SOOOOOOO much, but I also love Thanksgiving. I don't like how Halloween gets such a big deal made about it and Thanksgiving seems to get skipped over. I think it is important to remember what we have and how blessed we really are. So as much as I am dying to pull out the Christmas stuff, we are spending the next few weeks remembering to be thankful and celebrate all the neat things Thanksgiving was created to let us remember.

This past week, we were all pretty sick and miserable. I was REALLY thankful for cold medicine and bedtime. :)

I saw this beautiful "Thankful Garland" on a craft blog. http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2010/10/thanksgiving-project-make-thankful.html

Isn't that a gorgeous idea? I hope to buy all the supplies after Thanksgiving when fall stuff is on clearance and make a much more elaborate one next year. This year, I used what I already had and put something simple together. Very simple, but it still gets the idea across with the girls.

I hung up an orange ribbon across the doorway into the kitchen. I cut leaves out of pretty scrapbook paper and got some small clothespins. Every day, the girls get to tell us something they are thankful for and we write it on the leaves, with their names and the date, and then attach them to the ribbon.

We had a little 2 year old confusion, because the girls became obsessed with the pretty colors on the paper and kept telling me what color leaf they wanted and not what they were thankful for. It sounded something like this....

Me: Lexi, what are you thankful for? What is a blessing you want to remember?

Lexi: Blue and Brown, Mommy!

Me: Yes, those are the colors of the leaves and I'm glad you like the colors, but what are you thankful for other than those colors?

Lexi: Blue, Mommy!

We went ahead and wrote down that they were thankful for those colors. :)

My friend, Miranda, also had a great idea. She is putting her leaves up on a big wreath. It looks beautiful!

We were also finally successful in selling the purple couch and Eric's giant tv. I love the new open look of the living room. When you first walk in, you see the whole room and not just the back of that huge tv and the side of a purple couch. Much better! We got a killer deal on a new tv, which was mine and Eric's Christmas and birthday presents. :) Gotta love a good deal!

Lexi...

Lexi has been scaring me all morning, by fake crying that her "bottom" hurts. I finally realized that her and Lilly were playing. Lilly had to give her a shot with the Strawberry Shortcake doll. :)

After sitting down for a moment, Lexi comes and leans up against me. She sighs deeply and puts her arm on my leg. Then with the biggest, most pathetic look she can muster, she says, "Mommy, I think I need some animal crackers to make my tooshie feel better." She continues to bat her eyelashes at me while repeating her request.

I told her that maybe we could do that...it was snack time after all, and I couldn't let my baby's tooshie hurt like that. :) Silly goose!

Mother's Milk Bank Needs MILK

I am still on the milk bank's mailing list and while I cannot donate milk right now, I wanted to post this email in case someone who is breastfeeding right now reads my blog. This is an amazing organization who provides breastmilk to sick babies. Please read the email below and contact myself or the MMBA if you would like to donate. Thanks!!

"We received an update from our milk depots this morning and the general consensus was - the freezers are empty! We need your milk!! We realize that the busy holiday season is upon us, so anyone who needs to make room for that turkey or who has been stock-piling milk, please drop off your milk at the nearest depot as soon as possible. We will be making a trip to Houston tomorrow, so anyone in that area who can make a drop-off today would really be helping us out. Our demand here at the milk bank is increasing and our reserves are decreasing, so we need your precious milk in order to provide for all of the fragile babies.

Please drop off your milk to one of our many depots. We appreciate your time and commitment to helping save the lives of fragile babies.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!!"

Mothers' Milk Bank at Austin
(512)494-0800
www.milkbank.org

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The Cutest Turkey Shirt Ever!!

I found this turkey shirt tutorial a few weeks back and gasped at how stinkin' cute it was.

http://thecottagehome.blogspot.com/2010/11/gobble-gobble-turkey-shirt-tutorial.html

I wanted to make it sooooooooooo bad but didn't want to go buy more stuff. Trust me, I go to Hobby Lobby enough. Just ask my children. :) Since I have been making felt play food and all sorts of other fun Christmas goodies, I told Eric that if I could make the turkey shirts without spending a penny, then I would make them. If not, I would wait until next year.

I did it!! It was fast and easy. All I did was follow the tutorial found at the above address, but I used felt and ribbon instead of material. I couldn't decide what I wanted to use, so I cut out tons of different colored feathers and tried lots of different looks....

This is the cutest ribbon. I found it a few weeks ago and had to get it! I just cute feathers out of the ribbon and heat-sealed the edges with a lighter so it wouldn't fray later.

I finally decided on this arrangement...I laid it on the t-shirts to see how it would look. The orange and purple felt is actually glitter felt. It just gives it that extra girlie-something...

Once I decided it was perfect, I put the Wonder Under (fabric heat-seal adhesive stuff) on the backs of my pieces and got the iron ready...

Once it was secured to the shirt, I used a small stitch to go around the edges for extra durability. Then the final touch of a little hand-stitched face and feet. Adorable, huh??

I am so excited that I could make these for the girls! They ask every day if they can wear them yet. Oh, and the t-shirts are the same ones that the girls wore for their Halloween outfits. I just removed their initials and re-used the shirts. :) Yea! Check out that tutorial and go have some fun!!