November 26

Tomorrow is the big Turkey Day. We are having about 17 people here. Crazy Right?

Last night hubby made 2 pumpkin cheesecakes. Tonight he will make the regular pumpkin pies.

I have several favorite food that I love to have for the holiday. If I could have both hubby's family and my family here at the same time I would be in heaven filled with my favorite foods.

* My absolute favorite pie in the world is my Mum's Pumpkin pie.



My mum usually makes the pies from scratch. And when I say scratch, I mean fresh pumpkins bought on a farm that she has cleaned, baked and frozen herself. No canned pumpkin for her. She also makes the crust from scratch not frozen or pre-made shells.

In the past several years she has taken some shortcuts, but there is something different about her pies that I just love. I have never tasted any as good as hers or that even come close. It must be all the fresh ingredients that make it taste so good.

* The favorite thing that my Mother-in-law makes is her noodles.



The picture does not do them justice at all. I think she boils the noodles in the broth from the turkey. Let me tell you, they are the best noodles I have ever eaten. Holiday dinners on hubby's side just aren't complete without them.

* Hubby's brothers wife always brings Strawberry Pretzel Salad to dinner.



Need I say anything else about this?

I am Thankful for all of these favorite foods and more as we share a family meal together.

What is your favorite food(s) for Thanksgiving? You know, the one that you just have to have or it isn't the same.

Stacy

Updated to add the Following Recipe:

PRETZEL SALAD

2 CUPS CRUSHED PRETZELS
3/4 CUPS MELTED MARGARINE
4 TBSP. SUGAR

MIX AND PLACE IN 9x13 INCH PAN. BAKE AT 400 FOR 6 MINUTES. LET COOL

8 oz. CREAM CHEESE
1 CUP SUGAR
1 (16 oz) COOL WHIP

MIX TOGETHER AND SPREAD OVER COOLED CRUST.

6oz. STRAWBERRY JELLO
2 CUPS BOILING WATER
20 oz. FROZEN STRAWBERRIES

LET THICKEN, THEN POUR OVER CREAM CHEESE MIXTURE AND REFRIGERATE.

November 3

My sister and niece left this morning. We had a really nice visit and I was sad to see her go. Our visits together are so far and few between and usually rushed when we do get together. It was nice to spend 2 entire days together. We laughed and played board games and visited. I am Thankful for the time we had together this weekend.

So yesterday I promised a special picture. Muwhahaha......

This witch is my MOTHER! Really it is. She had to dress up for Halloween for a work party. She did a fantastic job. Want a closer look?

I have such a wonderful mother-in-law and my poor husband has to put up with this....LOL

Seriously they get along great. Didn't she do a great job with the whole outfit and makeup?

Stacy

November 2

It has been a busy couple of days here.

Yesterday we had a birthday party for my niece. This is the first time we have ever had this type of cake in our house:

This is my niece with the present we got her:

It opens up to make a puppet playhouse. It had all the paper puppet parts and story books and sound keys with it.

Today we went to Linesville and fed the fish.

I am Thankful today that my sister and her daughter were able to come up for a few days and spend some time with us. The real purpose of the visit was to finish going through my grandmothers things. We got through most of it already and just have a few more boxes to sort through.

Tomorrow I have a special picture to share with all of you! (Thanks Mum!)

Stacy

November 1

So in case you are unaware, November is NaBloPoMo. What the heck is that you ask? It stands for National Blog Post Month and the idea is that you are to post an entry Every Day for the month of November. I have participated in the past and one year I succeeded and one year I didn't. But I am going to challenge myself again this year and see how it goes.

Some people have a theme for the month and others don't. I haven't decided yet, but I am leaning towards one. We'll see.

Today I am Thankful for my extended family. My mum, step-dad, grandma (mummum) sister and niece are on their way here now.

I usually only get to see my sister about once a year, maybe twice since we live so far apart. This will make twice this year and we always see each other at Christmas.

We will be going to Kraynaks and Daffins. Then we are having a birthday party here for my niece. Yesterday was her birthday, on Halloween! How much fun when she gets older.

Stacy

So Quiet

It is so quiet around here lately. Besides running the kids to a million activites there isn't much to write about.


**The older two got themselves in a little bit of trouble. Long story short, they got caught smoking. This is not the first time Teen has gotten busted, but it is for Tween. I doubt that Tween will ever smoke again.

What type of punishment would you dole out to a pair of young smokers? I'll let you know what happened here in a day or so.


**I have said before how much I enjoy living in the apartment complex. No maintenance, no property taxes, lower heating and cooling costs, and water, sewage and garbage are included.

However, the one thing that I absolutely dread about living here is when someones lease is up. Right now we have a really nice group of people living in our side of the building (with the exception of the stupid old lady across the hall). There are 8 buildings in the complex and each building has 2 main entrances. In each half of the building is 8 apartments 4 up and 4 down. So out of the 8 apartments here, we all get along. 2 weeks ago one of the neighbors upstairs moved out. Next weekend 2 of the three "boys" upstairs are moving out. The end of next month the last of the "boys" is moving out. And then in February the girls behind us are moving out.

I am afraid of who might move in here. Right now we are comfortable with the neighbors. I know I can leave my door unlocked for a few minutes here and there. I know I can let Little S go upstairs and visit the "boys" or behind us to visit the girls. I also like having the only kids on this side of the building.

I just pray that in the next few months as people move in I am blessed with as good neighbors as I have now.


**Saturday morning my sister is coming to visit for a few days. We hardly ever get to see each other. She lives in WV and it is about a 7 hour drive between us. Normally we see each other once in the summer and then at Christmas at my Mum's house. It is never for more than a few hours. I have so much to show her, so many places to take her and we have so much stuff of my Gram's to go through together. I have had a lot of my Gram's things sitting in storage for the last 2 years. I am at a point where for the most part I am comfortable going through her things and dispersing them. I hope that my sister can deal with it.

Not much else to say. Don't forget to tell me what your punishment ideas are!

Stacy

Weekend Visit - Part 2

After Kraynaks we went to Eat n' Park for lunch. This is Little S's favorite restaurant.

After that we drove over to Linesville to see the spillway. My step-dad and grandma had never been there before. Everyone had a blast feeding the fish.

Here is a picture of how thick the fish are.

After that we came back to my place to relax a little before they had to travel back home.

This is my Mum and step-dad Tony and Little S.

This is my Mummum - She hates to have her picture taken. We have to catch her off guard.

After they left we went out to my MIL's to catch up with Hubby and Teen. They were siding my MIL's house. When we got there Tween started helping out also.

There is something hidden in this picture. Can you see it?

This is mostly what Little S was doing while the rest of the boyz were working:

Just being goofy and entertaining us. What a hambone!

Stacy

Weekend Visit

My mum and step-dad and grandma came up Saturday to visit. We had a really nice time.

First we went to Kraynaks and walked through Santa's Christmas land. This is a free 300' display with almost 100 trees. Every tree is decorated differently and can give you some great ideas for your Christmas tree.

Here are a few ideas:

Gingerbread Trees

How about Cupcakes & Ice Cream Cones?

Or your Favorite NFL Team? GO STEELERS!

Even an Upside Down Tree.

At the end of the display is the real reason for the season:

There is much more to share, so I am going to split this up into several posts.

Stacy