Ideas for the 'Kid's Table' & the 'Adult Table' during Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we will have 9 little ones at the Thanksgiving gathering.  What are two things that can help make Thanksgiving a little easier on the moms with littles?  Snacks and activities.

I found this cute snack idea from Handmade in the Heartland that can also be used as a 'teachable moment' during the wait for the big feast.  They are the perfect little snack and can be quickly thrown together for your Thanksgiving feast.  I made several for the Princess and C-man's classes today and the kids LOVED them.  The ziploc bags aren't as cute as cellophane bags but I think the ability to reseal the snack outweighs the 'cute' factor.  That, and, yes, I was out of cellophane bags and it was 9:30 p.m. 

You can download the FREE printable HERE. 

C-Man at the 3rd Grade Thanksgiving Feast

The activities planned to keep the kids somewhat busy are a coloring page, a list of what they are thankful for, and a word search.  I found these at I Should Be Mopping the Floor and you can download the coloring sheet HERE, the word search HERE, and the Thankful List HERE.

I am most excited about this new addition to Thanksgiving.  (fingers crossed that everyone plays along.)  During dinner, we will have ‘Turkey Talk’ questions such as ‘What makes you laugh the hardest?’, ‘What is the hardest decision you have ever made?’, ‘What is your most beloved possession?’, ‘What is your favorite Bible verse and why?’, ‘What was your favorite childhood book?’, ‘What kind of student were you?’, ‘If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?’, ‘What are five things you wouldn’t want to live without?’, ‘What is the bravest thing you have ever done?’ and many more.  You can download a printable list Here on Scribd. 

I really hope that everyone enjoys it and hope we might even learn something new about one another.  My grandparents would be so proud!  I can almost see my 'Dear' smiling with pride about the family gathering.

After dinner, our family annually plays our Pictionary Relay Race.  You can read more about this really FUN tradition with a free printable word page to get you started Here. 



Safe Travels everyone!
Hope

A Turkey Painting Play Date

Disclaimer - I did NOT grow up drawing or painting and tried my best to stay as far away from visual art as possible.  I loved performance art and music.  I did not enjoy coloring and used to have a hard time drawing a stick figure.  Thankfully, things have changed.  A few years ago, I took a painting class and fell in love with painting.  I write all of this to assure you that no your art background, you can absolutely pull off the following. 

The 'Sample' Painting (I wasn't at all happy with the feather colors & created some different colors for the girls)

A couple of weeks ago I let the Princess invite 6 classmates over for a 'Painting' play date.  The Princess and the Baby LOVE to paint and I had been wanting to have them paint Thanksgiving Turkeys for a while to hang in the house during November.  Having a big group paint would be fine, right?  Thankfully, it was.  The girls had a blast and were so very proud of their creations.

First, I purchased eight 16 x 20 canvases from Hobby Lobby that sells 2 packs for $8.  I also purchased acrylic paints, foam brushes to paint the background color, and a few small brushes (I already owned several medium sized brushes).  You will need the following paint colors, Burnt Orange or Georgia Clay (background), Dark Chocolate (Turkey body), Medium Green (Feather), Santa Red (Feather), Banana Cream (Feather), Jack-O-Lantern (Feather), Black (eyes and outline).  The paints I chose were all 'Americana' brand simply because they were the cheapest.

I set the paint area up in our garage with four card tables.  Thankfully, the paint came off of my tables but, in hindsight, I should have placed cheap vinyl tablecloths on top of each table.  Mom fail!  Each place had a canvas,  cup of water, 3 brushes (foam, medium brush & small detail brush), a paper plate with the globs of the paints needed for their painting, a piece of white chalk, and several paper towels for dabbing.  I also had a hairdryer plugged in close by to help with the drying process at the end of the paint session.  Everything except the paint was set up and ready when I left to pick up the Princess and her friends from school.

 As soon as we arrived from school I had the girls deposit their backpacks, quickly get aprons on, and sit at a place for instructions.  I showed the girls the 'sample' and explained how they would paint their turkey.  The first step was to paint the background color.  I went around to each girl and squirted some of the burnt orange color directly onto their canvases and had each girl use a foam brush to paint the color all over the canvas and onto the sides of the canvas.  It is important to have your painters spread the paint out or you will use a TON of unnecessary paint and it will take forever to dry.

Have each painter paint the background color all over the canvas

Once the girls were finished painting the background color, I had them come inside to have an after-school snack.  I then prepared each girl's paint plate with all of the colors needed to paint their turkey.  *Note - Acrylic paint dries very quickly which is good for quick drying on the canvas, but that also means you can't prepare paint plates too far in advance because the paint dries on the plate making it harder to use.

Paint plates

Before you use chalk to outline the turkey, you will need to make certain that all of the canvases are dry.  I had a couple of girls who had a few spots on their canvas that were wet and used the hair dryer to quickly dry the canvases.


Next, I had the girls use chalk to draw the circle for the body and a smaller circle for the head.  You will need to use one canvas to show your painters where to draw their circles.  I also went around and checked to make sure their circles weren't too large or too small.  The brilliant thing about using chalk is that it wipes right off after the painting dries!

After each painter has draw the turkey's body, have your painters start at one side and draw feathers on the turkey.  They will need help getting started but it was fun seeing their creativity take over!

Use chalk to outline the turkey and feathers

Now the fun begins.  Have your painters paint the turkey's body with brown first using their medium sized brush.  They need to try to get two coats of brown paint on their turkey's body to cover the burnt orange background.  Next, have your painter use their medium sized brush to paint the turkey's feathers.  My group wanted to paint the feathers in a pattern like the sample, but I did give them free reign to paint the feathers however they felt led. 

Please excuse the garage.  :)  A garage overhaul is planned for early spring with much better organization. 

Once all of the feathers were painted I had the girls draw the turkey's legs and feet (yellow), eyes (black), beak (yellow), and waddle (red) with their detail (small) brush.  I also taught them how to roll the brush into a point after you dip it in a small amount of paint to create a finer point.  My painters were only 7 years old but were very attentive, except when they were giggling about this or that.

The last detail to add to the painting is a coordinating color outlining each feather and black outlining the body of the turkey.

The Princess, the Baby and their friends has a really great time.  I won't lie.   It was slightly stressful at times, but I was so blessed to see them interact, have fun learning, and hear their sweet laughs.  I am very glad that I hosted the painting play date.  In fact, the Princess has asked for a Snowman paint next so stay tuned.

Their masterpieces

The Baby's Turkey has a super hero mask!

KIzer Family Sweet Potato Casserole - A Thanksgiving Tradition

Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Casserole

The smell of this fabulous casserole has been a part of my Thanksgiving memories for as long as I can remember.  At one particular Thanksgiving gathering when I was about 4 or 5 year old, I remember seeing my grandmother, 'Dear', pull her sweet potato casserole out of the oven.  I have a distinct memory of thinking, "I want to learn how to make THAT in my oven."

Our family's version of Sweet Potato Casserole has been served at family gatherings for much longer than I have been alive and I am grateful that the recipe has been handed down through the generations.  It is so sinfully good that I like to have it for dessert the few days after Thanksgiving!  

Kizer Family Sweet Potato Casserole

3-4 cups sweet potatoes (4-5 large sweet potatoes) - I tend to lean toward more sweet potatoes when I prepare this dish

1/4 - 1/2 cup butter, melted (Y'all know I tend to cut back on the butter and the base of this recipe works just fine with less butter.  The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup butter.)

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup milk (I use skim)

1/3 cup of sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Boil sweet potatoes.  This will take some time.  Once you can easily put a knife into a potato, they are ready to put into your colander.  Let your potatoes cool so that you don't burn your hands trying to take the peeling off of the sweet potatoes.  (Yes, I know from experience.  Sometimes I'm not very patient.)  Mash potatoes in a large bowl using a hand mixer.  Slowly add sugar, butter, eggs, milk and vanilla.  Beat mixture until potatoes are smooth.  Pour potato mixture into greased 9 x 13 dish.  

Topping - 

1/3 cup melted butter (no skimping on this part)

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 cup chopped pecans

Mix topping ingredients well and sprinkle on top of potatoes.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bottom is slightly bubbly.  Serves 10-12.  

What you need to make the Sweet Potato Casserole base

The ingredients needed for the topping

After you boil and peel the sweet potatoes beat with hand mixer until potatoes are smooth

Pour Mixture into prepared dish

What your casserole will look like after you add the topping

Kizer Family Sweet Potato Casserole

Did y'all notice that I didn't show the entire finished dish?  That would be because Honey couldn't help himself and took a serving before I could photograph it!  After he took a serving, I threw caution to the wind and got a serving for myself as well.  It was delicious!

We do have a few members of our family who are gluten free.  To make sure everyone can enjoy this dish, we cut the topping recipe in half and only put the topping on half of the casserole.  You could always put marshmallows on half of the recipe and the brown sugar /pecan topping on the other half so everyone can enjoy this wonderful dish!

What recipe has your family 'passed down through generations? I would love to hear.  

I hope y'all enjoy this as much as we do!

Hope

Family Thankfulness Board

My grandfather, a Marine who nearly died at Iwo Jima during WWII, always began family prayers with, "Thank you Lord for the gift of life."  As a little girl, I remember thinking "I wonder what that means?", but I revered my grandfather so if he said it, it must be special and important.   Those prayers taught me to begin each prayer and to look at life with praise and thanksgiving. Thank you Pop for the life lesson.

Don't you absolutely love seeing all of the 'Thankful' posts on Facebook each November?  I know some people scroll through them, but I read as many as I can and try to share my 'Thankfulness' list when there is a spare moment each day.

This year, I wanted to include the children in this daily offering of why we are thankful.  I have never forgotten that lesson from my grandfather and Honey and I want our children to not only understand how blessed they are, but also to be thankful for each blessing.  Throughout the year, each night at family dinner we share three things about our day, but for November we will also share one reason that we are thankful.  No one can list the same thing and you must list something different each night.

I had purchased what I thought was the perfect sized chalkboard from Hobby Lobby but quickly realized my chalkboard was WAY too small to keep all items on the board for the entire month.  This year we will keep the list a week at a time and next year, I have plans to rearrange my kitchen art and make my own large chalkboard that can stay the entire month with plenty of room for all 30 days.

The following list was from our first couple of days along with some add-ins from the Baby today.  Don't you love the honesty about Disney trips being right there below Jesus and food?!?  Prioritizing will be something we will need to work on this month.

http://bloomdesignsonline.com

Spooky S'mores & Pumpkin Teeth

Happy Halloween Everyone!

I know this post is too late in the day for anyone to use for this year but perhaps some of you can pin it for later use.  Sorry about that - too much to do and too little time last night.

My kiddos love taking and sharing things with their classes.  Even though our school doesn't celebrate Halloween, I thought it was a perfect excuse to send something for my littles to share with their friends.   

Both girls wanted to send Halloween s'more bags and my son wanted to take bags of 'Pumpkin Teeth'.  (Thanks Pinterest!) I snagged some Halloween ghost peeps that are adorable and made some large 3 packs for the kids' teachers earlier this month as a 'Happy Fall Y'all' gift along with some pumpkin gooey cake (stay tuned for that recipe).  Sadly, I didn't buy enough and couldn't find any more of the ghost peeps last week.  (*sigh*).  Thankfully Kraft makes small ghost shaped marshmallows that worked too.  Target had the individual Hershey bars in 8 packs that weren't too expensive.  I was worried that four ghost marshmallows would not be enough, but I tested it late last night and it was the perfect chocolate to marshmallow ratio.

I had designed a darling tag with an orange chevron background but had to rethink after I realized that I was out of Magenta color ink.  Don't you just hate it when that happens when you're all ready to print something cute & one little color is low?

Spooky S'mores Treat Bag

Pumpkin Teeth Treat Bag

My friend, Amanda, at Dixie Delights, has some darling Pumpkin Teeth printables and more here & S'more Printables Here.

All three children left this morning excited about sharing their treat bags which is all that mattered.  It was much cuter in my head when planning it all out, but if they are happy, that's what makes me happy.

I hope y'all have a great evening of Trick or Treating.  It's soggy and dreary here so we have already prepared the children for the possibility of an evening at home with the lure of take-out food, movie night and getting to pick out a whole bag of their favorite candy after school.  Below is a picture from Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party this year.

Hope

Happy Halloween from Willie, Pocahontas, Jack Sparrow, Jasmine & Izzy

Candy Corn Pretzel Bark

Sign up to take a sweet treat for the Halloween Party at school or want to take something cute to the office to share tomorrow?  I have just the thing for you!

I found this recipe at I Heart Naptime and took it to the 1st grade pumpkin party last week.  Several moms asked me for the recipe so I thought y'all might like it.

Candy Corn Pretzel Bark
1 bag of pretzels (I love the Snyder's square snaps)
1 (11 oz.) bag of Caramel bits
1 (16 oz.) package of Vanilla candy coating or white chocolate
1 (9 oz.) bag of Candy Corn flavored M & Ms

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or wax paper (I almost never have wax paper) and place pretzels on pan side by side. Make sure the pretzels are touching.  Melt caramel in a microwavable bowl according to package directions. ** TIP - Caramel is not like chocolate that seems to stay hot.  You will most likely have to reheat a few times after you spoon out caramel over the pretzels.  The caramel hardens quickly.  Stir caramel until smooth and then spoon caramel over each individual pretzel.

Melt the vanilla coating in the microwave according to package directions. ** You have to be very careful with chocolate in the microwave.  It burns quickly & then the entire batch is ruined.  (Yes, I know from experience.) Pour the coating over the caramel and spread evenly. Immediately place M&M's or candy corn on top. The chocolate helps the M & Ms to stick.  Allow candy to harden and then cut into pieces.

Below is today's attempt.  I am taking the bark to the teacher's lounge tomorrow as a treat. 

Here is what you need

My Caramel wasn't very even.  My youngest needed my help with something which caused the caramel to harden

Vanilla coating

Finished Candy Corn Caramel Pretzel Bark!