Thanksgiving with my brother

I love visiting my brother and sister-n-law.  We always have so much fun.  I'm sure that when my whole family comes it is like a tornado inside the house.   But they seem to enjoy the tornado.   We had a great Thanksgiving with lots of yummy appetizers.  My brother and I agree that is our favorite kind of food.   It was so fun to fix all the food together.   They had a chicken wing bar with lots of hot sauces.  And we all made some appetizers to go with it.   It was a great way to enjoy the family.

What Makes Me Smile Monday - Shopping with my girls

Well like half of America my two girls and I go shopping on Black Friday and we can hardly sleep we are so excited.  This year I found a Living Social deal we couldn't pass up.  I bought a VIP pass for Black Friday.   This enabled us to have a special parking area (three spaces from the door) and we could leave and come back all day.  Of course, we ran out of spending money before we could come back.   Then we got wrist bands and they had a hospitality room where we could go in and pick up a goody bag with coupons, water and lots of treats.  You could check your coat, check packages and sit down, relax and plan  your shopping attack.    We had a great time.  We shopped and shopped and shopped.   We got free Chick-fil - a sandwiches for lunch.   And we got a lot of gifts for Christmas.   We had so much fun I'm just sad it is over.

Let me know what makes you smile today!

The Simple Things - My beautiful girls with really big hearts

On Thanksgiving Day Andrea, Missy and I put together more Blessing Bags.  I know this seems repetitive but the more cheer we can spread at the Holidays the more we can help.   I love these two girls so much and I love that they have the giving spirit.   Remembering those in need!

I am linking up with The Simple Things. 

Our 1st Gingerbread Party

We had our first ever Gingerbread Party after our Thanksgiving Lunch.   I have been working on this party for a couple of weeks.  First we rolled out the dough and the girls got to cut out the Gingerbread Men.  Then we baked them.  Of course each of the 4 Grandbabies got a Gingerbread headband.   Addi didn't like wearing his and Delainey was asleep.   Then while the cookies were baking the kids all got Gingerbread beanie "men" that I made.  While I read them the story they acted it out with the GBM.   Then they did a Gingerbread Man craft ($1.00 at Target) that was perfect for 4 year olds.  And it was so cute.   Then it was time to decorate the cookies and eat them.   The decorating didn't last long.   But the cookies were good even with no icing.   I had as much fun as they did I loved it.  

Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving from two really cute turkeys!

Loving the plates...where's the food. 

The place cards were really each adults Christmas Ornaments!   I thought it would be so cute to wrap them like a barn with a little turkey on the outside. 

Funny girls

Yummy!

Three little turkeys sitting at a table

Andrea gets her Barbie Celebration Ornament - a tradition

Nick got Scooby Doo  and Scooby "got" his ball.  :)

Cheers!

Each of the kids got a Christmas outfit, movie and a book. 

We had such a great Thanksgiving Day.  Everyone was here except for Vince and Caitlin.   We really missed them.  But are looking forward to seeing them at Christmas.   We had a full day with preparing the lunch with all the Thanksgiving Day staples; turkey of course, green bean casserole, yams, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn and rolls.  It was so yummy.   We also had a Gingerbread Party after lunch (I'll get back to that later) and put together some Blessing Bags for the homeless.  And of course looked at the ads and started planning our Black Friday shopping.  I am so Thankful for my family and the time I get to spend with them.

The Blessing Bags spread cheer

Today a few "fun" girls got together at Warren Central and put some Blessing Bags together.  We each brought a few items and were able to make enough bags to take and have a few left over.  It was fun to get together and do something so meaningful.  They were a little giddy after a long day but wanted to know if we could do it again for Christmas.    I loved this idea when I saw it on Joy's Hope when we did the Oh Happy Day Project.   So I wanted to spread the giving spirit with those girls I work with.   I told the girls to let me know their stories as we give these bags for the Holidays.

My daughters and I are also doing blessing bags on Thanksgiving Day.  I hope you all have a wonderful and Blessed Thanksgiving!

(Also, have fun on Black Friday)

Thanksgiving here we come

A little Pilgrim!  How cute is this!!!

What are we thankful for?  This is our family's thankful list!   And a cute centerpiece.

I had to include another picture of this cute little turkey!!!

I just wanted to share a few of these pictures.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!

What Makes You Smile Monday

This weekend I made a quick trip to St. Louis to surprise Molly at her Day Care for her Thanksgiving Luncheon.  Missy and I went out on the playground and surprised her.   She ran to me and jumped in my arms.  She couldn't stop saying Mimi, Mimi.   It does your heart good to know that someone loves and misses you that much.   We had a nice lunch and her classroom was packed with lots of parent and grandparents.   Then I got to take Molly and Delainey home for the afternoon.  We ate dinner out that night and then started our shopping frenzy for the weekend and finished up last night seeing Breaking Dawn.  I loved the movie as much as I loved the books.   It was a great weekend.   But back to our theme Monday,  the memory of seeing Molly's surprise and happiness when she saw me MAKES ME SMILE!

Let me know what makes you smile today!

The Simple Things - Exploring new things

I went to St. Louis this week and Miss Delainey was very busy exploring everything.   She is quick and can reach just about anything she wants.   You have to be watching her all the time.  But these simple things that seem so big at the time are just precious.  But then I'm Mimi and I don't have to watch out for her all the time.   Seeing her smile makes me want to squeeze her!

I'm linking up with The Simple Things.