Thankfulness

This Thanksgiving may have looked a little different for us, but that didn't change the fact that I'm just as thankful as ever. Yesterday we celebrated very quietly at home. It was just the four of us, and I was okay with that. The plan had been that we would host my family and all the kids and Pete's parents and sister Kristin. There would have been quiet a few people here, but we love to host. I had a whole Pinterest board filled with recipes and decorations and kids' craft ideas. We were going to change things up a bit from our traditional spread and try a turkey soup with hearty bread and a pumpkiny dessert. It would have been grand. But then the whole appendicitis thing hit, and all those lovely ideas were put to rest.

Instead, we woke up at our regular hour of 7am, cuddled in bed, and then we played in the living room while Daddy went to do rounds at the hospital. He brought home a delicious breakfast from the hospital caf and we feasted picnic style on the living room floor. Breakfast was followed by a cozy viewing of The Lorax and naps all around while Daddy went in to do a C section. Afterward, he brought home a plate of turkey, dressing, potatoes, and pumpkin pie (again from the caf) and we shared our Thanksgiving meal in front of the fire.

Look at how cute this little guy was for his first Thanksgiving! Our little butter ball.

**********

Yesterday, while Pete was away doing his morning rounds, Ella and I worked together to refashion the broken crayons from her big tin of colors. We picked out all the little pieces, peeled the paper, and put them in this little silicon baking sheet (not used for food, of course). It's a very simple activity, if you ever decide to do it with your own kiddos. Simply put the sheet in the oven at 300* for 15 minutes. (I found my silicon baking pans at Saver's for a dollar each. They come in different shapes.) They'll be very melty and hot, so be very careful as you remove them from the oven. You can either let it cool on the counter or, if you're impatient like I am, you can very carefully set them in the freezer or fridge to speed up the process. When they're cool, pop them out of the tray. That's it! 

When making the crayons, you can either do all one color for each new crayon, as we did yesterday, or you can put pieces of various colors in each. That's how we made our Valentines last year. We made them in heart shapes, taped them to a little paper doily, and Ella gave them to her friends. They would also make perfect stocking stuffers for hardly any cost!

We all had fun creating colorful masterpieces with these new crayons for Thanksgiving.

**********

I mentioned a week or two ago there's an appearance change on the horizon for the blog. I changed the background to celebrate Thanksgiving, but an even bigger change is still coming. I'm hoping it will be up over the weekend, but we'll see what happens. I can't wait to share it with all of you!

I hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving and that you're now ready to deck the halls! Not sure when it will happen in this house, but we'll surely take pictures when it does!