Thankful Turkey – A Family Tradition

Each year I make a paper bag turkey and feathers for our family’s annual Thankful Turkey.

He usually gets called Tom the Turkey or Ted the Turkey and we add thankful feathers onto him each day.

Here’s a photo of our 2009 Tom:

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This year I decided to upgrade us to brown wrapping paper.

I know, we are the last of the big spenders.

I found a turkey picture I liked, printed it out, and drew freehand the turkey onto the brown paper.

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My children have informed me that it looks like Ted is holding his private parts.

Children.

You just have to love them.

Or tell them, “Do not say Ted the turkey is holding his private parts ONE MORE TIME!”

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After dinner, everyone takes a feather (scrap paper I have) and writes down one thing they are thankful for that day.

After I had written my feather on the first day I asked my preschooler what she was thankful for.

She said God.

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I decided to take that moment to add a bit to my feather.

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Here are some more things we are thankful for…

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But don’t worry the next holiday is never far from our minds.

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And just to cover our bases…

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🙂

Preschool Drop Off

Everyday, immediately after preschool drop off, where the teacher comes to the car and helps my daughter out, I vow that today will be the day I go home and clean out my car.

And yet, I don’t.

I’m just banking on the fact that my car is not the only toy filled, clothing filled, school work filled, and goldfish filled car they’ve seen that day.

Mystery Boxes…Do You Dare (Halloween Party 2013)

We had our annual Halloween party this past weekend and it was a lot of fun.

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As well as being quite tasty.

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But….not too healthy (only some of the butter we used).

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We may have cooked ourselves silly making sugar cookies, pumpkin whooopie pies, banana bread, oreo mummies, cupcakes, chocolate faces, pretzel witch fingers, pretzel eyeballs, marshmallow sticks, rice krispie treats, snickerdoodle cookies, and pumpkin muffins.

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We also played a game which I think the kids enjoyed – Mystery Boxes

The idea of Mystery Boxes is to reach into the box and try and figure out what food is in there.

For example, I told the kids that I had witches hair. Once they felt it, they needed to decide what food my witches hair really was.

I took 4 boxes (Cheezits, Amazon, shoe boxes) and spray painted them or covered them in fabric with Modge Podge.

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I then glued on a piece of cloth to the outside which covered a hole I had cut out in each box.

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Each box on the inside was lined with tin foil. One had a cup and another had a bowl which held the food items.

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Before starting the game, I handed out a piece of paper to each child and told them what was in the mystery boxes – witches hair, mummy intestines, troll eyes, and Frankenstein eyes. Then I had some parents hold the boxes for me, not letting the kids peek inside the boxes.

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This picture of my son reaching into the box is my favorite one from the party.

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Here’s a sample of the sheet with their guesses on it.

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Here we all are talking about what each of their guesses is for the food items.

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And the reveal….

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In case you are wondering…

Witch Hair = Ramen Noodles

Frankenstein Eyes – Olives

Mummy Intestines = Lasagna Noodles

Troll Ears = Dried Apricots

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Mystery Boxes = Silly & Slimey Fun 🙂

 

 

Jake

Man o man.

This thing called life just knocks the wind out of you sometimes.

The first thing out of my middle schoolers mouth when I picked him up from school yesterday was, “Kids told me Mrs. Matheus’ son died. She got a call during 6th period that he died. He’s in the Air Force. We watched her walk out to her car and leave.”

First off. How Awful.

Nothing is worse than your child dying.

Second off. She had to find out that horrible news in front of a bunch of 11 and 12 year olds.

Fast forward two hours, back at our house, with me at the computer checking to see if soccer practice was still on.

I open an email from my boys’ swim coach.

It informs me that one of the summer swim coaches has died.

He was 21.

It was self-inflicted.

First off. Again. How awful.

Just being a parent makes my heart break with this news.

I only knew this kid from afar.

He was always smiling and laughing with the kids and the other coaches.

For three years my kids knew him and loved him.

Second off. How dare you? Why would you do such a thing?

I’m not really mad at him. I’m disappointed and sad for my kids.

And heartbroken for his family and friends.

I know I will never know what led him to that decision and I’m not sure I need to know.

But I do know that I will continue to tell my kids everyday that I will always love them, forever and ever, no matter what.

I chose not to share with my kids the manner in which Coach Jake died. That’s too much information for even an adult to comprehend, never mind an 8 year old. He died. His family is sad. We are sad.

The next day I again picked my son up from middle school and asked him if he had a substitute in Mrs. Matheus’ class.

“No. It was actually her dog that died not her son.”

We had a bit of a laugh, learned never to completely trust the word of middle schoolers sharing information in the hallways, and went on with our day.

And I may have told him thirty times that day, ” I will always love you, forever and ever, no matter what.”

*I never use real names in my blog except those of my children.

Invest in a Woman

We are adopting.

It is a wonderful thing which our family is very excited about.

But it’s also something really sad.

It means a family couldn’t be kept together.

Either by financial reasons, illness, or death.

I will always think of the mama who isn’t celebrating birthdays, first days of school, and the first loose tooth with their child.

My child soon.

There are roughly 150 million orphans in the world.

I can’t help 150,000,000 children.

But maybe I can help prevent some kids being added to that number.

The company fashionABLE creates sustainable business for Africans so they aren’t dependent upon charity. They focus on empowering women by giving them jobs.

The women of Ethiopia have made the scarves and leather pieces that are listed for sale on the fashionABLE site.

Take a moment and watch this quick video about these beautiful women and the company they work for.

To celebrate the company’s 3rd year in business they are offering 30% off of all of their products today.

Having the opportunity to work. What a gift. Something we don’t always view that way.

Invest in a woman.

If you invest in her you will invest in her child.

I invested in a woman today.

You can too.

The Rabbits – Part 2 – It Gets Ugly

Well folks.

It didn’t get all Hakuna Matata on us over her.

It went the way of the Circle of Life in a slightly more horrific way than I imagined.

If you recall, our backyard became a rabbit sanctuary for the past week ever since my 8 year old son discovered a nest of baby rabbits.

My sweet, sensitive eight year old who loves animals with all his heart.

Ugh. This story sucks.

Yesterday afternoon the kids were playing in the backyard when my son announced that the rabbits were gone. They were no where to be found. I immediately believed him because he has been checking on them with the religious fervor of a Texas baptist. Okay, maybe that went a little too far.

But he said they were gone.

So we let the dog out in the backyard.

And everyone played.

And everyone played.

And everyone played.

And then..everyone came in for bedtime.

And then…everyone woke up the next day to get ready for school.

And then…just as I was biting into my hot oatmeal breakfast my eight year old came running into the kitchen screaming, “Sophie killed the baby rabbit! She killed it! It’s laying on the floor!”

Tears. Tears. Hysterical tears.

I ran into the dining room to find the dog in her crate and an obviously dead baby bunny sprawled out on our dining room floor.

How did this happen? The dog hasn’t even gone outside yet today?

Tears. Tears. Hysterical tears.

Still I can’t seem to move. I just stare at this dead bunny on my dining room floor.

I don’t understand? How did, oh no, I know what happened!

Last night when I let the dog in she ran right to her crate without stopping to get water. Unusual but not completely out of the ordinary.

I locked her in her crate and went to my room.

As I read a little while later I turned to my husband and said, “What is Sophie doing in her crate? She’s moving around a lot.”

OH. MY. GOD.

SHE WAS PLAYING WITH A DEAD RABBIT IN HER CRATE.

Now I have 2 kids screaming.

I yell at the dog and lock her in her crate. I order my 11 year old to get a trash bag and I go to the garage and grab some rake contraption and a sheet. I tell my son to open up the trash bag as I try and scoop THE DEAD  RABBIT onto the rake.

I miss the first time but manage to scoop him up the second time.

My son is so disgusted by holding the bag he drops it before managing to open it up enough for me to drop THE  DEAD BUNNY and the sheet into the bag.

I tie the bag and rush it outside.

I order my son to wash his hands throughly three times while I do the same. I wash the dining room floor and wash my hands again many times. And I do a full body shiver.

I then talk with my 8 year old, the animal lover, and mumble something about animals, circle of life, Sophie thought it was a toy, and then agree to write a note to his teacher telling her what a tough morning he has had.

I’m not going to lie and say that I didn’t call my husband after this experience and possibly semi-curse at him for not being home during this event. I may have forbidden him to ever leave the house again for work.

I think it’s safe to say that this experience has affected us all.

Later in the day my four year old told the Old Navy saleswoman and the grocery store clerk that our dog killed a rabbit.

My 11 year old has definitely ruled out a career in waste management.

I’m considering plans to demolish our dining room.

And my  8 year old wants to know when we are going to the SPCA to get another dog.

Yes. He is.

Apparently he has short term memory problems.

I assured him under no uncertain circumstances that we would never get another pet of any kind.

After all, I can still see that DEAD BUNNY on my dining room floor.

 

 

Halloween & Christmas Gifts Right Here

I’ve got some fun family gift ideas for you today for both Halloween and Christmas.

You’ve probably seen the PDF files for the Holiday Conversation Cards & Lunchbox Jokes in the Big D &  Me etsy shop – each set is listed for $3.95 (Halloween here, Christmas here)

But today, I’ve got something for you where all of the hard work is done.

Those same PDF files are printed and bagged for you – ready to give as a gift!

The Halloween Set

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81 cards come as part of the Halloween set:

36 Conversation Cards – 31 with topics, 5 blank to create your own

36 Lunchbox Joke Cards

9 Lunchbox Halloween Messages

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The Christmas Set

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72 cards come as part of the Christmas  set:

36 Conversation Cards – 31 with topics, 5 blank to create your own

27 Lunchbox Joke Cards

9 Lunchbox Halloween Messages

Christmas_Conversation_Card_2  Christmas_Jokes

Christmas_Messages

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Each set costs $6.00 and ALL SALES go toward FUNDING OUR ADOPTION.

You can find each set here:

Halloween Conversation Cards & Lunchbox Notes – Click Here!

Christmas Conversation  Cards &  Lunchbox Notes – Click Here!

*If you live local, let me know so I can deliver and save you the shipping cost*

Thanks so much!

We’re Off to See the Wizard…

The wonderful wizard of oz!

Because, because, because, because, because…

Because of the wonderful things he does!

This weekend I am taking my family to go see The Wizard of Oz – IMAX 3D!

I know..I’m so excited.

You know who else is so so so so so excited about going to see The Wizard of Oz?

My husband.

Well, maybe not.

I was hoping that by writing it it might come true but no.

Regardless, I’m so excited to show the movie to my kids.

We rarely go to a full priced movie but I think this is worth it – one of the all time best movies, at least in my opinion.

The movie is only playing in our city for one week so if you are interested you might want to check your theater.

I fully expect to come back singing the lollipop guild, somewhere over the rainbow, if I only had a heart, and ding dong the witch is dead, for probably the whole weekend.

If all goes as planned, the kids will be singing too.

My husband? I’m guessing his inner Judy Garland will shine through too 🙂

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London – Day 1

My sister Kelly gave our Europe trip to my son as a gift so she could share her love of travel with him.

As an added bonus, she let me come too (score!).

Alex and I flew to New Jersey where we met up with my sister who flew in from Chicago. My sister and I didn’t sleep on the plane but Alex did manage to get in 3 hours – thank goodness. Together we all flew to London, arriving at 6:45 am. It was really 12:45 am to our bodies so we were in for a long day. Our plan was to go, go, go until we just couldn’t go any more.

After clearing customs where I was thoroughly questioned – I must look suspicious since the custom agent in Berlin was not impressed by me either – we dropped our bags off at our hotel concierge and went off exploring.

The Bus Tour – this was perfect for tired travelers since we were able to see a lot of sights without having to move too much. Plus, our tour guide was fabulous – funny and informative.

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We arrived 5 days after Prince George was born so there were congratulation signs and messages all over the city. I was supposed to meet up with Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, but unfortunately we could never make our schedules coordinate 🙂

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On the first day our mode of transportation was the bus since it was an on/off situation. The rest of our days in London we used the tube or the underground which I love. After the first few rides on the tube my sister and I never looked at the map. My 11 year old enjoyed the underground so much he lead us around everyday saying things like, “We have to take the Marble Arch line to Tottenham Court Road where we switch to the black line and get off on Charing Cross.” It was kind of nice to just trust him and follow.

ScreenShot

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More sites along the way.

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This controversial blue hen statue sits on a corner of Trafalgar Square as part of a rotating sculpture display. The other three corners are permanent and boring (in my opinion) statues of important figures. I love this idea of rotating art and think this concept would be a wonderful addition to any city.

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Typical London, love it.

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Outside of St. James Palace, where my good buddies Charles and Camila live.

And also a picture of one of the 8,672 Japanese tour group that we met along the way.

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The Parliament building and Big Ben.IMG_0946 IMG_0950

Tower Bridge

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The Tower of London – one of my favorite places to visit in London – fascinating – more on this later when we are well rested

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City of London School where Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter, went to school.

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We’re getting sleepy….

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The London Eye – a giant ferris wheel standing 443 ft tall which sits on the River Thames.

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Big Ben again!

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Canada Gates in Green Park

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Guard outside of Buckingham Palace

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Buckingham Palace – where the Queen of England lives most of the year

 

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Be kind people – at this point we were approaching 27 hours of being awake.

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And naturally, almost naked men.

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You know, that famous street in London, the “Running in Speedos Lane.”

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Apparently this was a fundraiser as the men were collecting money for … pants?

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Or maybe it was for children or animals, I don’ know, but I believe it was associated with the London Triathlon which was occurring the next day.

IMG_1046 IMG_1047Once we were all knackered we headed back to the hotel where everyone showered and took a sleep advil at 6:00 pm, thus falling asleep immediately. Not until our alarm woke us at 8:00 am the next day did we move. I guess that’s what 30 straight hours of being awake can do to you.

Until next time, have a bloody wonderful day!