You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen.....

 Our little home town in Illinois found themselves in a State Playoff Game the Friday after Thanksgiving.  My husband and oldest daughter decided to go to the game where the temperature was somewhere around freezing the entire time of the game.  My youngest daughter and I were much to smart for that.  So, we decided to go freeze at the Reindeer Ranch instead. 

 As soon as you walk into the area where they are, they come right up to the fence to see you.  They also know that there is food involved when the people come in.  We learned that they love graham crackers.

 But, we also found out they really really really love oats.  They just gobbled them up right out of our hands.

It was a very cold and windy day at the reindeer ranch.  But, I learned that even 12 year old daughters who don't "believe" anymore....still get excited about seeing and feeding the beautiful reindeer. 

Noodle Making 102 (plus some other stuff)

 Last year, my mama taught me how to make noodles.  Lets just say...it was not pretty.  But, being the first born daughter, I had to get it right.  So, this year we called it Noodle Making 102.  It went a whole lot better.  Yippee for me! 

 I was taught not to play with the dough to much.  Make small batches because it was easier to work with.

 Use plenty of flour so they don't stick together.

 A wooden cutting board works best with my mama's noodle cutter.  Can you see me using it?  My cousin gave it to my mother years ago.  I would say it is an antique.  It works great! Mom said I was ready to try it on my own next year. 

 And here they are all ready to be gobbled up.  Which, they were.  :)

 

Some of our little decorations we placed on the tables.

 My sissy and I in our aprons.  My mother told us we had turned into our Grandma Mac!

 Daddy and his girls...

 Our butter for the tables.  My mother found these cute little turkey's made out of butter.  At some point, the turkey on the kids table had the butter knife stuck in his back and the head was gone.  Hummmm.....kids!

And lastly, the two youngest kids looking at the Black Friday ads in the paper being silly.  There was a whole lot of silliness going on that day and a whole lot of fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My heart is full of thanks.  Happy Thanksgiving!!  XOXO

La La La La

Just introduced my 12 year old daughter to this classic.  The wonderful things my kids don't know about!   It came from me singing...La La La La....lists for Thanksgiving....La La La La....lots of things to do.  La la la la.....lots to be grateful for....La la la la.......lovely family.....la la la la.....lumps in my mashed potatoes!  HA!

Gobble Gobble Towel

Just a little Gobble Gobble lovin for my kitchen.  Oh how I adore fabric and rick rack.  

I'm On A Roll

 I started this little wall hanging awhile ago.  It is actually a baby quilt.  I found the pattern here.  Since I don't need a baby quilt at the moment, I thought I would use it for some love for my walls.  :) 

This is the first time I had done prairie points.  They were super easy and I think they add a lot to the border of the quilt.  Now, I am off to find my backing for her.  Red, blue, pink???  Oh the possibilities.

Craftin With My Sis

 My sissy was here over the weekend.  We had such a nice time.  We both decided we would stay in this trip at my house and do some crafting.  There was a couple things I had picked out to make.  I got all the supplies ready for her to get here.  My kitchen table was transformed into a work space that had so much glitter on it....it was amazing!  :)  She also had a craft picked out for me to do.  I chose this little snow family craft.  I got the idea from here.  The little people are made out of white knit gloves.  My sister decided to put herself, her son, her doggie, and her two kitties on her snow family.

 This one is mine.  Hubby, myself, and two daughters.  I thought they turned out so cute!  We had fun picking out the embellishments to transform them into us.  We did an awful lot of giggling while making these.

 The next project I chose was these adorable candy canes.  I got the idea from here.  If you have not looked at her online holiday magazine, you should!  There is some super cute stuff in there!  I want to make it all!  :)

We had a lot of fun sitting around my kitchen table.  We listened to Christmas music, drank coffee and just enjoyed each other.  I love my baby sister.  She rocks!

Freshman Winter Dance

My freshman daughter got invited to the winter dance this past Saturday.  She was asked to accompany this nice young man.

Say cheese!  Even our little old pup dog got in for the picture.

Her brought her a corsage. With all the changes in kids these days from when I was in school (I'm afraid not all changes for the better either) I was thankful to see that this sweet gesture had not changed.

She and her friend all ready to head out to the dance.  Aren't they beautiful?  We heard the dance was "awesome" and it was "very hot" inside the gym.  I guess some things don't change.  :)

All done

 Well, I have been in labor with this quilt for several months.  I am so happy to finally have the top done.  I am going to send this little one to a quilter to have her do something fun with it.  I think it is going to hang in my living room for me to see every day.  I have just the blank wall space for it. I am thinking it will be a reminder that I am not to old to learn something new.  "Keep going. You can do it!" is what I hear when I look at it.  I have been putting off learning something new because I am afraid to fail. And you know what...it is far from perfect.  Some corners do not line up nicely and I was once again reminded that pressing seams DO matter.   But, this little 48inch x 48inch quilt is a reminder to myself that I CAN DO IT.  And, all those little pieces of fabric that I cut apart are now reassembled into something beautiful...not perfect....but close enough for me.

A quilt is being born

 It was a rather dreary day today in Michigan.  I have been diligently working on my quilt that I started back in ummmmm....July. Ahem.

I set up my little work station today to crank out my squares.  I borrowed my daughters little DVD player and put in one of my most favorite movies.  Can you tell which one it is?

If you guessed The Polar Express...you are right!  This is one of my favorite scenes with the Hot Chocolate song.  Makes me want to get up and dance every time it is on.   Yes, it is a Christmas movie.  But, I am wacky like that.  :)

Here is what she is looking like.  I am really close to finishing her.  Can't wait to have this finished.  It will feel sooo good.  Especially when the snow is flying up here once again and I can snuggle underneath her.

Sister's Birthday

 I wanted to put some pictures on here from my sisters 40th birthday party we had last weekend.  I drove home by myself earlier in the day because we were going to need both vehicles to haul back a very special gift to me that I will show you later.  But, this is not about my gift...it is about my sissy's gifts!  :)


While getting very close to my little hometown, I realized how different the landscape is there compared to where I live now in Michigan.  It is very very flat and empty.  Well, not really empty.  All that space is farmland that grows wonderful things for our country and around the world.  It is amazing to me to see all that space.  I am used to hills and trees now.  Beautiful trees.  It is amazing that only four hours away can make such a difference.

 A little birthday decor.

Her loot from the birthday club girls.  There was an awful lot of fun stuff in those bags.  Isn't that what makes birthday's so much fun?  Getting things that you would not buy for yourself but someone else knows you so well and picks out such fun stuff for you?  Gotta love friends.  :)

This is exactly what I mean.  Kim bought Alison some spooky ooky scrapbook stuff.  We all know how much she is addicted in love with paper stuff and also how much she loves Halloween.  We laughed at these little gals and their purple hair.

Pretty flowers from another friends garden before the frost got them.

The birthday girl with her new toy.  She makes a comment about it on her blog.  (She also mentions something about me stealing her candle thunder, or something like that.  Please disregard that.  Hee Hee)

And here is my beautiful, talented, smart and oh-so-wonderful baby sister.  She does not look a day over 28 to me.  I love her so much!  Hope year #40 is full of awesome things for you my sweet sis.  XOXOX