THANXGIVING EVE

I came home from some errands to find my kitchen full of all of "my" big girls. Our 2 best friends' families had sent their big girls over to join us for a day of fun in the kitchen. I love moments like this when all the stresses have been set aside and the girls just enjoy each other creating something yummy for all of us. I found myself in a much lighter mood too, which was a great relief to have a small moment of peace and lightness in all of the struggles I continue with.
Having all the big girls there was not only fun, but a HUGE help! They knocked out all the yummy goodies we needed to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner in a very short time, 3 of which they had done all by themselves before I even had gotten home. The big girls really did all of the work, and I was mostly just there to supervise...here is a list of all the goodies:
great grandma's family recipe brownies, yummy potatoes, everything from scratch cherry pies, new recipe pumpkin cake(with cream cheese frosting!), homemade bread and rolls, chocolate cream pies, great grandma's famous tomato soup cake (our favorite tweak is to add choc chips and make muffins),pie crust cookies, and ORCA fruit salad.
Part of the fun, of course, is being able to eat all these yummy things. Our 3 families very much enjoyed eating the "fruits" of our labors and will always remember this special day spent together!
Kaeli is also our awesome frosting maker. She did 2 different kinds of frosting for yummy treats. Of course she got to lick the beaters too...at least for the choc frosting. None of the kids were too impressed with the cream cheese frosting, but it sure was yummy to me!
Ky usually doesnt want me to take his picts...but since all the big girls were getting their picts taken he wanted one too...I love the way this turned out because of the unusual angle - he is just such a squirt I just tilted the camera down and took his pict standing right under the camera...his eyes are a little droppy because (we didnt realize at the time) the poor little mister has picked up a nasty cold....

THANXGIVING EVE I

Kels was not content to sit and miss out on all the action. The girls hollered at me and I turned around and this is what I found - Kels right in the middle of everything with the big girls. I really had a hard time taking picts, we were all hysterical - as you can see by JaNay laughing her head off....It really is no wonder that Kels is doing and saying so much. She doesnt let things go by her at all - she wants in on everything, and we usually let her....

Kels wanted to help JaNay, so she started sprinkling the flour into the pie crusts. JaNay couldnt stop laughing and the more we laughed, the more Kels "helped"

All ky wanted to do to help was to "cut" the dough. Ceana was so sweet with him to help him use the lattice tool to cut out the pieces for the top crust. He thought he was big stuff and it was fun to find such a simple way to make him so happy.

THANXGIVING EVE II

I had Morgan help me with the homemade cherry filling for the pies. She was so awesome at it too. The filling turned out such a perfect, beautiful color! Way to go Morgan and thanx tons for helping!

Kaeli also put the lattice crust on the pies - she said she wanted to be "Snow White" - she put lattice tops on her pies too apparently....

Kaeli's beautiful bread. She really is amazing, I just dont know how she does it - a blessing of a gift given to be awesome in the kitchen!

Thanksgiving Salad I

One of Colton's Social Studies assignments for school was to make a Thanksgiving salad. He has lots of fun assignments this month with the holiday coming. We are trying to get him finished in time to receive the 2nd set of his Kindergarten cirriculum early, so we are having fun and flying through all of his holiday assignments.
Here Colton has all of his ingredients ready to go. He was very excited to get to "cook" all by himself.
Colton loves using the nut chopper to "crunch things" - he did his best, though his arm strength isnt quite there yet. He tried hard and did a good job!

He added lots of nuts to the salad. Normally he doesnt like nuts at all, but he sure liked them in this salad.

One of Colton's favorite snacks is mandarin oranges - esp when I let him eat them right out of the can. This salad called for them, and boy was he excited! He had fun "sprinkling" in all of the chopped ingredients.

Thanksgiving Salad II

I have to admit, this is becoming a new favorite snack at our house. We had never even heard of craisins before a friend brought a yummy dinner with a salad that had craisins and nuts - now we are eating them lots! Thanx Allison for bringing such a yummy dinner and a yummy new snack to our house!
The tradition continues....I am notorious for snacking while cooking, so do my kiddos....who am I to fuss though, when the snack and meal are healthy! Colton really loves apples, so this was a fun salad for him to make with some of his favorite things!

Adding the last ingredient - yummy Cool Whip

Colton was SO excited that he made this salad pretty much all by himself. This pict doesnt show it very well, but it really is a pretty salad with all the colors

Thanksgiving Salad III

Colton couldnt wait to get his first taste of his homemade salad.
Colton never eats anything with a regular spoon - he always chooses a serving spoon - as you can see that bite is WAY more than he can fit in his mouth -

That never seems to hinder him at all though....

And he is always VERY proud of himself when he shoves it all in. Plus he was very proud and excited that he had made a salad all by himself!

We discovered that we liked the salad so much that it didnt last long at all. In fact, we are making another one today....it is fun that we have found something yummy and easy and mostly healthy. Here is the way easy recipe if you want to try some yourself -

Craisins (1/2 cup-ish), 2 cans mandarin oranges (drained), 2 chopped apples (we did 1 red and 1 green), chopped nuts (we used pecans, but anything would work), small container of Cool Whip. Combine all ingredients, serve immediately for best results. We did have some last overnight, but it got a little runny with the oranges diluting the cream - still way yummy, just didnt look as pretty. Enjoy! I know we will!

BAXTER KIDDO THANXGIVING TRADITION

I know that Thanksgiving was awhile ago but things have been so busy I havent had a chance to blog our picts. Our family has found that we have a special tweak on the "thanksgiving pie" thing. Making pies has always been a thing that has not thrilled me - I love to eat pie - but I dont love to make them. I also found that my kiddos wouldnt eat them if I did go to the trouble of making them. We always used the leftover pie crust to make cookies. One year we just decided to make cookies and use the fillings for dip vs making the whole pies - hence our own tradition was started.
The kids all really look forward to making cookies together - it is the one time of year where everyone gets to help with a big cooking project. The girls and I made the mousse fillings and then all the kids took turns making the cookies.
Ky esp liked to have his turn, and just like with the muffins, he wanted to do everything himself. He did pretty good with the pastry cutter and Kaeli was on stand-by to help as needed.

Kaeli esp likes working with cookie and bread dough - she loves getting her hands messy and rolling it out. She had a bit of trouble with the pie crust - it is different from bread dough in consistency - and she actually got on the step stool and used everything she had to get it rolled out - and then enlisted my help. She gave it a good go and built some more muscles :)

When it was time to cut out the cookies of course Ky went right for the CARS cutter - it amazes me how many different kinds of cars he likes - doesnt matter what shape or size, if it is a car, that is good enough for him.

I love this pict of Kaeli and Ky - this "helping hands" pict really shows what this tradition represents to our family - sharing, laughing, loving, helping, & creating something that everyone enjoys - the process and the product are full of fun memories.

Here is Caiden cutting out more cookies. We have several sets of cookie cutters that were my grandmothers - the old metal kind - and the kids had a great time choosing different cutters for the dough.
Ceana & Kaeli liked playing with the handprint cookie cutter. Kaeli had tried to take off the right fingers so the hand would be signing "I love you" - the girls laughed as they tried to get it figured out - I think there ended up being serveral hands that were missing all the fingers by the time they went into the oven

Colton was a big helper with the butter and sprinkles. He liked using the pastry brush and shaking the cin-sug on the cookies. I love this pict esp because it shows Colton having fun, but also because I happened to also get Kaeli's "love note" in the background - notice the writing in the flour. I had walked away from the kitchen and she was doodling and left that for me - she is all love and hugs lately - and I love it - I hope it will always be that way with all the kids.

We also worked on Thanksgiving crafts. The big girls helped the little boys, but also had fun creating their own Handprint turkeys. I think we still didnt get Kels and Ky's finished but it is fun to have their cute little handprints in paper - they will be fun to add to the hope chest.