Thanksgiving crafts: thankful for crafty down time with kids

We made Thanksgiving napkin holders and placemats today! Glad there were so many of us working on them or it would have taken even longer than the several hours it did! Working together as a family is so much fun. The big kids made all the napkin holders and created an assembly line to get them done, Sage made the eyes and cut beaks, Charlotte assembled hats, Ethan helped cut and glue and make the gobbler thingy. It was great seeing them work together. When they were done I glued them around the napkins.

We all hate the cloth napkins that don't absorb anything so we bought these cheap fall colored wash cloths from Walmart. (That's what we normally use day to day but I felt a little weird giving guests wash cloths but with the napkin holder it dresses them up a bit!)

Place mats made by everyone, covered in clear contact paper

Everett eating grapes as we load tons of Thanksgiving groceries

Overnight Trips Away ~~ PACKING



Why do these people have so much stuff and only 1 kid, does this make any sense?

My friend told me I should be helping her big family of six kids pack for a weekend away because I should be good at it by now, as we go away on 2-3 night visits more often than she does. Here's what I told her to do :) (Number 7 cracks me up! It's so true!)

1. Wash all clothes, or at least enough to pack. Make sure 1 load is drying right before you leave and stand around waiting for it.


2. Line up kids clothes on the couch in sets with socks and underwear. Older kids bring their own to you and you tell them which ones you approve of and then explain for the 1000th time what play clothes vs nice clothes are.

3. Use 3 laundry baskets instead of suitcases and start packing kids clothes in them. Don't forget extra blankets if needed and a sling (usually only need this for babies), bring a zip lock baggy of  Motrin and other care items for kids. ~~If you have a baby or two pack up the cloth diapers! (Or wuss out and decide to buy throw away diapers on the way there which I have done lol!)

4. Start packing the grown up clothing stuff in one of the baskets, top it off with personal care items: make up bag, toiletry bag, hair dryer, curlers or whatever.

5. Intend on having this all loaded up and ready to go the night before you leave but fail at that thought, I always do. LOL!

6. Get that last load of laundry out of the dryer but forget what you really need out of it because the baskets are already packed. So just pack a couple more clothes just for good measure.

7. Forget to pack your own pajamas.

8. Leave 4 hours later than you thought you would and now every kid is starving to death. At least one kid can't find their shoes. But more likely it's two kids.

9. Have fun :D

My Knight In Shining Armor

The other day A CRAZY guy was driving up and down the parking lot rows at Walmart in a mini van, we didn't see why but a man loading groceries with his wife near where we parked told crazy guy to F-off. I thought to myself that I wouldn't do that because this guy looked crazy (like for real mentally ill kinda crazy). He was really big and heavy and he looked a lot like a crazy wild eyed Juggernaut from the X-men. 

I got worried when I saw the crazy guy stop his van in the middle of the road and get out. He tensed up and looked like he was metamorphosing into the Hulk. I had just gotten the baby out of the car when I headed for shelter in front of my truck. The guy who had said 'F-you' was in his 50's and I knew my husband wasn't going to stand around and let this older-ish guy get beat up by Juggernaut. I tried to coax my husband into hiding too, but he told me to wait a second. Luckily Juggernaut had some crazy conversation under his breath to himself (with clenched fists!) and then peeled out screeching and squealing his tires in the parking lot. The people there then asked us what that guys problem was, I felt like saying, I have no idea, we just got here and we aren't the ones that just told him to F-off! LOL! We finally started heading for the doors of Walmart and crazy man finally parked somewhere. My husband kept an eye on his van while we walked in the store. Just before we got inside my hubby spotted Juggernaut talking to himself as he was coming in a different door. I said, "Should we be here? What if he starts shooting up the place or something!?" My husband calmly just said, "Well then if that happens get behind me."

What else does a lady need to hear than that?

Me at Walmart:

Virtues of chivalry include such things as mercy, courage, valor, fairness, protection of the weak and the poor.