Thanksgiving Weekend with my Nieces!

I'm joining with Amy (she's back!) at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday!

Five Things I Did with my Nieces on Thanksgiving Weekend.

1) We shopped!

On Thanksgiving, I was informed by the child to the left of this picture that she was going to wake  me up at 5:00 a.m. by knocking on the door, after first stopping for Dan's Donuts.  Well, her Mom (giving 'the look' to the right of the picture) woke up said child, and said child's cousin, at 7:00 a.m!  (teehee) 

 I did meet up with them later in the morning and we stood in line at one store for probably an hour!  Sarah and I were happy though...not like those first two in the above picture.

 2. We Crafted

After they put on their pj's....which let me just say if I had made those pj's for them, and gave them as a gift, they would have liked them as much as Ralphie liked his bunny rabbit pj's in A Christmas Story!  Anyway, they put on their pj's and we crafted.

 They made Christmas scenes in jars.  Then we went in to the basement and dug out three boxes of Christmas fabric...

We made a pattern, and they drew the triangles on the material.  I cute it out with pinking shears.  Then they handed me the material in the order they wished it to be sewn...

 and we made adorable Christmas bunting.

 

That was it for Friday.  It was a long day and they were tired, but I think we did something wrong with the couch/bed!

3) We baked cookies

The next day, Saturday, we got a bit of a late start.  We called Mom up and she came over and we made Christmas cookies.  Well, mostly I did dishes! 

 They made the cookies.

 Pumpkin spice, Sugar, Mexican Wedding Cakes, and M&M.  They are all yummy.

4) We went looking at lights

That evening we went to look at the lights.  We started out at the Seiberling Mansion.  After Santa arrived in a horse drawn carriage,

 and they thanked the proper people, everyone counted backwards from 10, and BAM!  On came all of these lights.

 After that we walked  toa friends open house.  I haven't been to Liz's for an open house since a couple of years before my friend Beth passed away, so it was a bittersweet moment.

 After that we went to the We CARE park.  If you've never seen the lights at this park, it's worth the visit. 

 It's an entire neighborhood of lights.  It's huge and FULL of lights...and Santa Claus...and hot chocolate...and a toy for children to get off of the rotating tree...it's just cool.

 This picture is a tradition.

And 5, we made posters!

 That evening I got a text from my sister.  She wanted to know if we could make posters for the parade tomorrow for the Noon Kiwanis. 
So the 5th thing I did with my nieces....

 and my Shug....

 We made posters for the parade.

TaDah!  The next day, Sunday, we did a little shopping and went to the parade. 
I LOVE A PARADE!  What about you?

Cindy

PS.  I thought you might enjoy the recipe for the pumpkin cookies.  They are really soft.

PPS...Click HERE to see what other bloggers have been up to.

Christmas Memories and a Recipe!

Peeps....here's the thing.  It's about the memories.  It really is.  So if you don't have your shopping finished it's ok.  No one's going to remember the gifts in 20 years, they are going to remember the memories.  Just make sure you make some memories. I hope to be back here before Christmas but in case I am not, I hope all of my Blogger Friends have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

So, I got a text from a friend who needed help. I told her I'd come over and help her wrap her Christmas presents.  We had so much fun that we decided to make this a tradition.

There was serious head bonkage going on with empty paper rolls!

 Can you tell what this is?

Still working on this...not sure it'll be done for Christmas.

 This is the first time I've ever made turtles...Recipe courtesy of Pam Williams.  Thank you Pam.

 Lay out three pecans, pinch off some caramel, (don't bother melting it)

 Melt the chocolate.  I don't use a microwave to melt it because I want more control over it.  I've burnt it before in the microwave.  Nor do I use a double boiler.  I just take it off the burner before the chocolate is completely melted, and I never stop stirring.

  Spoon the chocolate over the caramel and nuts and viola'.  You have turtles, that you have to hide or your Shug will eat them all!

 Trying to finish up this Christmas tree bunting.  I had to pin it and spray it because it was curling up.  We'll see if it works.

 Yesterday I went to the Murat with my Sister, Cousin, Mom, and niece, along with several other people to a gospel brunch.  Yum and Wow!  You shoulda heard this lady sing I Will Always Love You By Whitney Houston. 

  

Check out some of the decor in this place.  Stunning.

 

 Vickie called this man "Chia man!"

 Family photo.  Me, Vickie, Taylor, Mom, Theresa

On the way back to my house, I asked Vickie if she'd ever been to the We Care park.

  

She has now!

 I've been making some cotton dishcloths.  I think next year, I will be making these up to sell.  They seem popular.  The pattern comes out of an old issue of Crochet Today magazine and I changed the yarn to any cotton dishcloth yarn and a bigger crochet hook.

And now for the yellow picture at the top of the page.  It's Slush Punch Freeze.  It's not too late to make it for Christmas.  And it would be perfect for those of you who have warm weather right now, but we're tough, we drink it even in the cold weather. (speaking of weather...we had rain rain rain and more rain, but I don't think we flooded anywhere.  I haven't heard that we have anyway.  And now the temps have plummeted.)

Here is the recipe for Slush Punch Freeze

 7 cups Water
2  cups granulated sugar
1-6 ounce can frozen orange juice
1-12 ounce can frozen lemonade
1 1/2 cups Brandy

Mix all together and put in freezer.  The next day, stir the frozen mixture.  It'll look like the picture above - slushy.  You can stir it every day to make sure it's all mixed up.
To use it you fill a glass half way with Slush Punch Freeze and half way with ginger ale or 7-up. Stir and drink and stir and drink some more.  I don't know of anyone ever getting drunk on this mix.  The brandy is very diluted.  Enjoy.

Cindy Bee

PS - I might start sharing bits and pieces several times rather than long posts. They take too long.  And I'm excited about some games I've made up for this year.  We have game night at our house on Christmas Eve.  I'll tell you about them if they turn out.  But now, I must finish Christmas presents, bunting, and cookie baking!