"Sledding" is a new favorite past time. Our yard is relatively short on hills.

A slight incline at one end is about all there is. It's still loads of fun.

Mom likes it best when the boyo takes a turn pulling.

Granny, this next one's for you. We love our new hats!

You can tell tiny girl's has been tossed about, but it can't be pulled off.

I like that best of all!

Thankful Turkey!

Filled with lots of thankfulness

WARNING: This is about food in mouths--some cute, some well--not so different from "SEE FOOD" But eating is a big deal at our house and doesn't always happen.

Here a girl is introduced to chocolate pudding. Do you think she likes it?

This boy is eating stew meat. He even swallowed it! I'm grateful for progess where eating is concened.

One of the things I love best about Thanksgiving is the Indian Corn

It's patterns are so beautiful!

Little hands love how it feels (me too!)

It can also be used for many things, such as a serious telephone conversation

Hang it up. Goodbye!

I'm loving the little words that are appearing randomly through the cute garbly noises of this little girl's mouth. Much like an unexpected nugget of gold coming out of a pile of rock.

Today I'm thankful for health. We've had a week of sickness at our house and there is nothing like sickness to help you appreciate health.

I'm also thankful for the chance to make things. The pony skirt at left I made a while ago, but it's too fun not to share. I really do love learning to make things that I never thought possible.

Thanksgiving's nearly here! Are you excited? We are. The pie discussion has already taken place. Turkey thawing. It'll be here before you know it!

I'm thankful for music.

Along that line......
Does anyone have any really fun thanksgiving music? I have some nice choral music, but I have to admit to growing very weary of it over a very short period of time. Last year I went looking and found very little. Anyone?

Quick double post. I'm thankful for leaves and crayons. I forgot how much fun it is to make leaf "rubbings". I picked some dead and dying raspberry leaves and pulled out some of the leaves my dearest collected for me and had a ball while the tiny one colored beside me and the boyo rested. Shiny day for me. Happy Friday!

I'm thankful for little girl that has the best growl in the world and isn't afraid to use it.

I'm thankful for friends both near and far that can help calm the panic I feel when my little guy gets sick.

I'm thankful for applesauce! More importantly, I'm thankful for the time our family spent cutting up, washing and whirling up apples. A treasure day for me.

I'm thankful for Rootbeer and a guy who's willing to make it! (Make that two guys--a short one and a tall one, relatively speaking.)

I'm thankful for lazy mornings that have the whole family enjoying each other. I love that!

I'm thankful for SNOW! Funny how the later it comes the more grateful I become.

Do you ever get something unexpected and feel as though you have been given a great gift?

I received just such a gift yesterday from my mother. I'm grateful for my mom. I'm thankful for treasures that bring those who are gone closer. My little brother could elicit such beautiful sounds from a recorder. I'm sure he was cringing when he heard our attempts to use his instruments. I'm thankful for the opportunity to talk about him to my children and reminisce with my husband.

But that's not all. She also sent a rawhide drum that she'd made to my husband. No reason expect she knew he'd treasure it. He does. So do I. The sounds it makes and the smell of the cedar wraps me in deepest contentment. I spent nearly half an hour playing it yesterday afternoon. Then I had to share with my kids. I'm so thankful for memories of childhood that serve to strengthen and uplift. The cedar reminds me of carving and how much I enjoyed it.

Finally amongst the other fun things there is an old hotel bell. Beautiful and loud. Not a bad combination. Though I will confess to tighter reigns on that one.

I'm thankful for freedom and all those who have sacrificed to maintain it. I'm grateful to those who have served causes that they didn't believe in with the same level of integrity. Thank you.

I'm thankful for friends.

Friends that I talk to regularly, the ones I talk to once in a great while, and friends I rarely hear from. All of them.

I'm thankful for family history.

Yesterday my sister and I talked about an assignment one of her children had for school. They were asked to write a report about a family member who immigrated to the United States. So I went looking through the things that I have to see what I could help her with. My dearest jumped in and did some research online as well. Between us we learned of one of my ancestors who came to America in the early days of English colonization. There is some conjecture that they were Quakers because of 10 shilling fine. It was fun too to trace their steps across America and guess at why they would be where they were.

Thank you teacher, sister and husband! So fun to learn.

I'm thankful for Thankful Turkey and being able to adjust when things aren't where I think they should be.

The story: Thinking about getting our Thankful Turkey made I look around and realize that I must have thrown away the kleenex box that I was going to use. My sister shares her formula can idea--I can adjust (and I have cans! See honey, I don't just collect them once in a while I actually use one.). I'm getting stuff together to really finally do it and I discover that I have no construction paper. Adjustment: We color white paper and draw hands and cut them out of that. Luckily I was able to find the turkey head that dear Lizzie drew for me years ago. Whew! No adjustments there. Then it was magical the boyo didn't stop rapid fire telling me what he was thankful for for about 10 minutes. I still have writers cramp. It was so delightful to have him tell me as I wrote them down. There was no prompting outside of "What are you thankful for?" No examples. Nothing. Just lots and lots of gratitude. I love that!

I'm thankful for things that I get to hear like this:

"I want my muver back. ZZ top hanging loose and proud. ZZ Top singing out loud."
"Dad, can you do me a favorite?"
"Mom, Are we having meat and other food for dinner?"
"When we went to the airport [on seeing a picture of baby and Dad from an airshow we attended] our baby looked much like baby Sadie"
"I got an antelope, see."
And of course jabber that is completely impossible to record in the written word, but has a passion and a clear point that can not be misunderstood.

I'm thankful for books!

I'm thankful for this man and everything he is to me

Hard not to love a guy that will do this

I'm thankful for Leaves and other sundry tree droppings.

I'm thankful for these two kids. They make me crazy, challenge me in ways I never imagined possible. They show me things I'd never see without them. And I just like lookin' at them.

I'm thankful for the forest and a husband who is good at photographing it.

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving and last year and I discovered the blog world, I also realized once again how much Thanksgiving gets quickly passed over. In our family we make a Thankful Turkey every year. This is a box decorated to look like a turkey that has a little slit in the top.* (I'll tell you all about "how" we do the decorating below) Through the month we write down things that we're grateful for on little slips of paper and "Stuff" them into the turkey. Then on (or around) Thanksgiving we "carve" the turkey and read all the things we're thankful for. It's a fun way to focus on what we're thankful for. My kids are small enough it takes some serious coaching with them, but it's still fun. So this month I decided that each day I'm going to blog one thing I'm thankful for. I'm limiting myself to just one every day this month. I'm a little behind already, so

For Today:

I'm thankful for open spaces of land and the lift that they give my spirit.


The "How to" Thankful Turkey (and what I do with it all once it's done.)
First you need:
Kleenex box or something of a similar size
Paper to cover it and decorate: think tail feathers and turkey head

Cover the box with paper using glue or tape. We've used all different colors for this and it really is just to cover up the box.

We use tracings of our hands for the tail feathers. Everyone chooses a different color construction paper and we trace and cut out the shape of our hands. They're layered smallest on top and then fanned out until they look something like tail feathers. Then they're attached to one of the short ends of the box usually with tape--but glue would work. Then copy a turkey head, draw one, cut one out of a magazine and glue or tape it to the other short end of the box.


Once we've read them all I take the hands (now a record of my growing children) and place them on a page with the year. Then I add all the scraps of thankfulness to following pages. It's been a really fun way to remember details of things that get lost as we look back. I need to note too that I am no fancy scrapbooker. I think a glue stick, a piece of white paper, a pen and a sheet protector are all that are needed. Tada! A record of thankful November.

I'll post pictures of this year's turkey once we make it. :)