Thankgiving planning and printables!

November is here!! And Thanksgiving plans are in full swing. I made a handy dandy printable planner. I'm trying to stay organized--a must when having 31 people for dinner. Whether you're planning for 5 or 50 this free printable will help you keep your planning all in the same place. Leave a comment, if your interested in a matching shopping list.

So there will be 19 kids over here. Whew! Gotta keep them busy. Last week I posted the activity placemats we're planning to use at the dinner table. Here's another idea I came up with for after dinner. Kids love competition, so I also created some Nerf gun targets. Click the image to print these free printables so you can have your own Nerf gun shoot out.

Turkey Target Free Printable

Pumpkin Target Free Printable

Just tape the turkeys and pumpkins to the outside of a window and let the games begin. You can keep score and give prizes or just shoot for fun. Make sure to use the darts with suction cups.

May your homes be blessed and full of peace! Enjoy!

P.S.- I'm not a hunter but I do know that you're supposed to shoot a turkey in the neck. ;)

One Big Happy Family!

This is my family. Huge. I know. And this is almost 3 years ago. Since then, add Taylor's Fiance, Christine, Paula's two girls, Maddie and Rosie, and Amber's baby girl, Lacie.  That makes 12 adults and 19 kids. Yep, I said 19 kids.

Children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord. Psalm 127:3 CEV

Guess what!? They are all invited for Thanksgiving! I think it's been since last Christmas that we were all under one roof. I can't wait! Yep, we're crazy, in terms of today's world anyway.

I know, I know, it's not even Halloween and I have Thanksgiving on the brain. Having 31 people over for dinner is a big deal. Thus, planning starts now. I have a good size house but we're still going to eat in shifts. This is actually a good thing. All the kids will eat together at 5:00. Then we can send them to the family room to play and watch a movie while the adults eat together in peace, hopefully ;). Any suggestions for a Thanksgiving movie? Other than Charlie Brown, I couldn't think of any.

Free Birds

Free Birds, a new animation about turkeys is coming to theaters November 1st. This would be great for next year. The kids already have it on their radar. Family night at the movies, coming soon.

I've also been thinking about the dinner table. I'm going to put out markers and crayons and cover it in brown craft paper for coloring (and easy clean up). I think Thanksgiving placemats would be fun too. Pinterest saved me once again. Here's three coloring placemats with activities I found for Thanksgiving.

(source: Confetti by Lexi  confetti.typepad.com)

I love the T H A N K F U L letters down the side. Reminds me of Grandma Marion, my mom's mom. She would write adjectives using our names in our birthday cards plus it gets kids thinking about being thankful.

(source: It's All Rainbows & Unicorns)

This is great! We could do this one each year to see how much they change.

(source: Modern HomeMakers)

There's something about word searches that kids love. My husband and I love them too. Whenever we go on a date we ask for two kids menus and race eachother. So much fun and free entertainment on a date.

As for food, that's easy. Potluck style is the way to go. Feeling like I have a great start already.

Hope you are enjoying the Fall and are busy planning for the holidays. 

Making Your Home a Haven

P.S. I am following Women Living Well's Making Your Home a Haven Challenge this fall. We're praying for peace in our homes. Visit www.womenlivingwell.org to jump in on the challenge. We can all use a little more peace in our homes especially before the holidays.

Peace. Out.

It's Blue!

It's blue! Well sort of. I dug out the leftover can of paint and in less than two hours my door is a beautiful grayish blue. More gray than blue, but I love it! I only did the outside of the door, but now that I see how great the color looks I am going to paint the other side too.

Fall is here! I decorated the front porch with pumpkins and mums and straw and gords. It gives me joy to decorate. I like the cozy feeling it gives my home.

♥ What I love Most about my HOME is who I share it with. ♥

Happy Fall! Hope you're finding ways to make your home cozy and inviting!

Mountains of Laundry

Does your laundry pile ever get like this? 

Five kids makes for huge piles of laundry. Lately I've been switching loads but not folding it until I have a huge mountain to deal with. It took me an hour to fold seven loads.

There's got to be a better way. We moved in July and I've been trying to get some routines down at our new house. At our first house I let mountains of laundry pile up in our dreary dark basement. I would haul it all upstairs and spend the afternoon folding and putting it away. And on really bad weeks I didn't do any at all and my sweet hubby did it out of frustration. After a few years of that I started switching atleast one load a day and folding the laundry as it was done. Much better system. Then we moved to Big Lake where I had a mudroom with the laundry and shoes and coats and powder room all coming together. I had to get creative. It was a small space but I made do.

Having the laundry on the main level made it easy to keep up on. Who wants guests walking thru your piled up laundryroom to get to the powder room? Not me. I kept up on my laundry doing 1-2 loads per day and folding it straight out of the dryer.

And this is my new laundry room. It's super tiny. Josh and my dad painted it. Yay! There's something about paint and making a room feel fresh and new. We installed a shelf above the washer/dryer so things won't fall behind and two long shelves that go from wall to wall. Can you say STORAGE!? Yay! What every Mom wants--a place for everything and everything in its place.

Each basket is labeled: stain fighters, softeners, socks, mending, clothes pins, rags, chair foot pads, 3m hooks, lightbulbs and vacuum bags. Whew! That's a lot of baskets but it's organized, just the way I like it.

My beautiful and brilliant mom came up with this amazing idea. Move the lockers and shoes to the garage and use the closet for sorting and all the folded clothes. The top shelf has a basket of beach towels. (We're lake people so I keep them close to the door.) Also on top is a large basket for Josh and my clean clothes. Then on the table and on the hooks above are five small rounds, one for each kid. Below the table are four sorting hampers: darks, lights, brights and linens. 

As you can see the kids' baskets are heaping full. The intent was for the kids to check their basket a couple times a week and put their laundry away when the basket was getting full. But I neglected the folding. Had a mountain. Folded it all at once. And now their baskets are overflowing. Yikes. This is real life people. 

I want to get back to my routine of folding right out of the dryer. It takes about seven minutes to fold a load and about an hour to fold seven loads. Seven minutes sounds much better! It's not so overwhelming. Back to the routine!

Here's the lockers in the garage. Yikes! More on that later.

What's your laundry routine? Do you feel buried by mountains of laundry or do you keep on top of it?

Blue

Pinterest projects. There's a bazillion ideas but how many do we actually do? This is one I can't wait to do!

I've been looking for ways to make my home more inviting. I want friends and family to feel at home when they visit. Last week I painted this sign for my front porch. My mission this week is to have a colorful front door. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue. There are so many beautiful colors. Do a search on Pinterest. You'll fall in love. My love....BLUE. I want a blue front door.

Blue is welcoming, calming and peaceful. I searched Pinterest for the perfect color. And this is what I found!

Source: http://www.maverickpaintingsandiego.com/painting-photos/exteriors/

Source: Pinterest.com (no link)

Source: Pinterest.com (no link)

This color is similar to the paint in my office. And I just might have enough paint left in the can for the front door. So excited! By the end of the week my door will be an new hue...BLUE!!

Stay tuned for before and afters.

What color is your front door?

HOME

New home, new sign. This summer we moved to a new home, so I've been wanting to paint a new sign for my new front porch. I haven't been able to get my hands on any barn wood for a while so I decided to paint the backside of my JOY sign. 2 for 1.


Here's the JOY sign. I'll use this side at Christmas.






















And this is my new sign. HOME. I absolutely love it. I found the font at dafont.com. It's called Shit Happens. So true, shit happens. But more importantly good shit happens. Getting a new home is good shit. We are blessed beyond words with our new home and hope all who visit, feel at home.

Bacon Cheeseburger Salad

I've been cutting back on carbs since I had my last baby. I'm down to the weight I was at our wedding, which I'm super excited about. Yay! But I'm still trying to lose this stubborn mommy pooch. Carbs tend to make you store fat around the mid-section, so I'm getting creative in the kitchen. This is my new favorite salad. All the richness of a juicy bacon cheeseburger, without the bun. Whether you are trying to lose weight or not you will love this salad.

Bacon Cheeseburger Salad

Super easy salad to put together with ingredients you probably already keep in the house.

Lettuce, tomato, pickles, tomato, avocado, ground beef, jack cheese,ketchup, mayo and  pickle juice.

   Almost forgot the most important part ;) in my picture above.

Almost forgot the bacon.

I do not like raw onions, so I didn't put them on my salad (eventhough it is on the recipe). My hubby is an onion lover. :( eew! I don't like the after taste. However, I do love cooked onions. If you dislike raw onions like i do, fried onions on this salad would be an awesome addition.

Enjoy!!

Pinterest Project and Potty Training and Parenting

Good Morning. After a few short minutes on Pinterest this morning I found something I had to do. A quick and easy project and a place to store my quilting notions that I use often.

This is what I made.

Mason Jar Pin Cushion

Here's the tutorial I found pinned on Pinterest. It's from Crazy Wonderful a super cute blog. Hope you get time to be creative today too.

In other news, I'm giving another go at potty training Belle. It's 9:00 a.m. and she's been dry all morning. It's still early, I know, but she's sat on the pot three times already. Such a big girl! Hopefully in the next month or two we'll be done with diapers! Forever! Bwahahaha! I can't wait.

Big Girl in Little Mermaid Undies

I'm also working on filling up--spiritually and physically. Spiritually by getting some Worship and Word in every day. Even if it is only a few minutes a day. It's hard to parent when my tank is empty. Do you ever get that feeling that you have nothing left to give? You're short on patience and feel empty? A little time in worship helps me get out of that place. Today, I'm listening to Let Your Healing Flow, Live Worship- Daniel Brymer & Friends.

And physically with good foods and lots of water. Recently I realized that I can be a rollercoaster mom (with wild up and down emotions) when I'm eating lots of carbs. I don't want sugar and serotonin spikes to affect my parenting. So I'm trying to keep the carbs down to get back into balance.

Getting my fill spiritually and physically makes for a happy mama & happy kids! (Every little effort helps.)

That's all for now. The sun is shining! Enjoy the day!

Things I've Made

There's nothing better than being thrifty and getting creative. Making something new from old items, sewing and doing crafts are my favorite hobbies (besides cooking, which will always be my number 1). Here's a few things I've made in the last year or two.

Hand Painted Wood Sign

I painted this sign for a beautiful couple getting married last December. 

Chair Redo- Before
$5 Chair from Goodwill

Chair Redo- After
Recovered with a thrifted pillow sham that I cut and stapled to the seat.

Yarn Monogram
Super simple- cardboard wrapped with yarn.

Felt Hockey Skate Ornament

Felt Heart Ornament

Sweater to Handbag. Thrift store sweater that just didn't fit right, sewn into a cute handbag.

Quilt for my adorable little nephew.

JOY- Hand Painted Barn Wood Sign

Barnwood Welcome Sign/Shelf/Coat Hanger
I love these antique doorknobs that I found at the Junk Bonanza. 

Laundry Room Re-do. Organized everything and added a small shelf above the washer and dryer.

Small laundry baskets so each child can carry their own upstairs. Made yarn letters for "wash/dry"...still need to make letters to say "fold" for above the baskets.

Lockers for Mudroom Closet.
Six 4 ft 1x12's with a 10ft 1x12 cut in half and screwed to the top and bottom. Paint, add hooks and baskets. Simple  lockers and no more hanging coats for me!!

Pin the Heart on the Grinch

Advent Calendar

First quilt I ever made for my youngest daughter.
I used the Yellow Brick Road pattern from Atkinson Designs.

I know there's more. Can't find the pics right now so I'll add more later. Now I'm headed back to Pinterest to find some more ideas.

Hand Quilting- A New Adventure

My mom says funny things in weird voices and we laugh hysterically together. Sometimes in a exaggerated crying voice she says, "my daddy's dead". It's so funny the way she says it. Guess you'd have to be there. About now I feel like saying "my grandma's dead" in the same whiny voice. I want to learn how to hand quilt and all my grandmas have passed on. Hand quilting is a dying art. It's dying with our grandmas. I'm determined to learn how and pass the art on to my girls. My first thought was maybe they have classes at a quilt shop. Sadly I found none. They told me there is no interest. Sad. So so sad.

Does anyone have a granny I can borrow?

This art is dying. Machine quilts are beautiful, fast, almost perfect. But something inside me sees the beauty in the hand made. Love sewn right into the quilt. So here I am ready to sew, all I need is to borrow someone's grandma! Well sort of....on Youtube! Yay! Youtube.com has it all. Since I couldn't find a real granny, youtube is the way to go.

Last week I shopped for fabric and supplies. Fabric selection is the hardest part. The task is daunting in itself. Try adding three little ones to the experience. Takes twice as long. They were almost angels in Joann if you ask me. A little fighting and running away but pretty well behaved. This is what I bought.

Cotton batting, thread, starch, basting spray, needles, thread, thimbles, needle threaders and needle case, seam ripper, and fabric pencils.

1/4 yd of seven (make that six) coordinating color fabics for strips (I ditched the wavy stripe-it was too Easter-y), 3/4 yd of white with gray dots for strips and binding, and 2  yards gray with white dots for strips and backing.

I'm making a strip quilt. Super simple to peice together--it's all straight lines.

Here it is all laid out before I decided to remove the wavy stripes.

I sprayed each peice with starch when I ironed so it would stiffen the  fabric a little.That way I didn't have to pin the peices together.

Time to layer. First I ironed the backing fabric and taped it to the floor.

Then I ironed the quilt top with the batting under it to smooth out the batting and temporarily hold them together. I centered that on top of my backing and smoothed out all the wrinkles.

Now this part excites me! In the past I used pins to baste my quilt layers together. Not anymore!! I pulled up each layer and sprayed the batting with basting adhesive. Let it dry a minute or two and then smoothed it down with my hands to stick it together. So happy with the results!!

Spray the batting and not the top or backing.

Pull each layer half way back, spray the batting, slowly lower it back down on to the batting. Press firmly and smooth out the wrinkles.

(The spray basting adhesive holds so nicely. It's been working great even as I'm hand quilting and moving it all over the place.)

Finally! I'm ready to begin hand quilting. So excited, I can't contain myself. Haha! Must be getting old. I watched some youtube videos to figure out what to do. This series was very helpful (even though she is definitely not a granny)!!

For my quilt I decided to do a ton of random circles overlapping eachother.

Tracing my glassware with a fabric pencil.

Beginning to stitch.

This part took me about 2 hours. :)

I've done about 2 square feet of quilting and have many many hours ahead of me. This should keep me busy through the last few Minnesota snowfalls in March. Can't wait for Spring! I'll post some better pics when it's done. Thankful for youtube.com (technology) so I could learn to create a beautiful quilt without a machine (more technology). 

What are you creating?