My First Thanksgiving

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Last year for Thanksgiving we were in California visiting my sister. It was such a great time because I was able to get to experience cooking a Thanksgiving meal for the first time.  My sister and I cooked everything together, and it was so much fun! 

This year though, my husband and I have decided to stay at our home and have Thanksgiving together, with us and our host sons! I am so excited because we will get to experience cooking the entire meal by ourselves! 

And if you don't know.....that is a BIG DEAL! 

So here is the plan.  

First, I will make a bunch of appetizers and we will have a brunch with appetizers around 11am. 

Then we will have our Thanksgiving meal for dinner around 5pm.

After that we will decorate our house for Christmas, then probably go back and eat some more :-) 

Here is our Thanksgiving Day menu! 

Brunch snacks:

Stuffed Mushrooms

Chips & dip

White Queso

Pico de Gallo

Hold you Horses

Stuffed Jalapeno

Sausage Balls

Dinner:

Turkey

Stuffing

Gravy

Mac n Cheese

Rolls

Green Bean Casserole

Sweet Potato Casserole

 Mashed Potatoes

Deviled Eggs

 Butternut Squash

Dessert

Pumpkin Roll

Mini Pecan Pies

Drinks

Water

Sweet Tea

Wine

Are you cooking any of these same things!?? 

What menu item is your favorite for Thanksgiving!?? 

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Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

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For those that don't know, we (Big Sis), just moved back the states after living three years in Japan. For the past five years I have taught school. For my son's first year I continued to teach school and took him to an amazing home provider. I was a full time teacher, a full time mommy, and a full time wife. I certainly did not have the time that I have now to experiment with recipes. It is actually rather funny that I enjoy cooking things from scratch and baking like I do now. I knew there was this girl way down there hidden. But for the past three years I just used my best friend in Japan to do that for me while I lived vicariously through her. But now, I get to be that woman I always wanted to be. Though I still work full time, and most days many more hours than I did actually teaching in a public school, I also have the freedom to be home! I can include the kids in many of my adventures! :)

With that said, back in November my little love bug got sick for the first real time since he was born. Then my handsome husband started feeling puny as well. So I thought I would make some homemade chicken noodle soup. When I put the recipe in google (my favorite) I found Pioneer Woman's Recipe. I was so excited. I have always heard such wonderful things about Pioneer Woman. I read through the recipe and I had everything I needed, so I got busy. First and foremost I had to make the noodles. These were so super easy. 

I was so proud of how my noodles turned out and especially how they tasted. I always worry when cooking something new. My husband always eats ANYTHING I cook even if it taste poorly.... but he is also honest with me. Where as some women don't like it when their spouse critiques their dishes, I welcome it. I use to not be that way. But now that I have began growing myself as a better cook, wife, and mom, I like to have his input. Most of the time! :) He comes from a mom who is an amazing cook- so my bar is set high. I don't ever expect to be as good of a cook as Dixie, but I do hope that my little boys standard of cooking is set high too, because of ME! :)

I loved watching this soup cook. Isn't it beautiful? This whole pot was gone that night. I am pretty sure little man didn't eat any, I had one bowl, and then Daddy tore into it! I actually made a lot more the other night. I had to make a meal for a family in my church and also for another friend whose husband just had surgery. When I cook for other people it is especially important to me that I put my all into it and I enjoy doing it from scratch. I was not as pleased with these noodles, but the next day they were great! :) 

To the moms that work and don't have time to cook from scratch or do things you would like to do for your family.... I get it. I do. And I am so sorry. I wish we could all do what our heart desires... now that I can be home and can do this stuff- it is A PRIORITY! :) I love cooking and I love doing it for my family. I love preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner for my boys. Love it!

I dare you to take on this adventure and make some homemade noodles.. they are so much better than store bought noodles! :)

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Toddler & Choices

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Hey everyone! So the MERGE of the NATURAL-NESTERS is official, and we are off to a great start! This is actually my first post on the new blog, and I'm loving the new look! We have some great things to share with yall in our near future, but for today I wanted to share with all of our new and old subscribers some fun organizational stuff I have done at my home recently! 

Enjoy! 

& we can't wait to share more with you all soon! 

Do you give your toddler choices? What they want to play, eat, do? I have been reading one of the best blogs ever for the past few months, Play At Home Mom, and they have some fantastic ideas! 

One of the blogs that really caught my eye was setting up an area where your child can choose their snacks. So, I have taken the time to set it up. It has been working very well in my home. My son goes to the door and wants me to help him open it, and he chooses what he wants. 

The first things that he does when he wakes up is get a snack, usually a baggie of cereal, and then watch one episode of cartoons as we wait for our daycare friends to arrive. 

This is his shelf in the pantry.

Applesauce and Crackers

Cereal and Crackers

Fruit bowls, dried fruit, raisins

Squeezy fruit, fruit bowls

It has been working so well. I know he is going to be so excited when he wakes up tomorrow to a new stock of snacks for him to choose from. I love watching his little eyes go from one to another to make his choice. It is so nice to have him pick what he wants.... less work for me! :)

He already had his own drawers with his cups, plates, bowls. But tonight I spent some time to organize them. I will be checking them and making sure they stay organized. I know he will appreciate the organization more as well. 

When he helps me unload the dishwasher, he is really good at putting his things in his drawer, hence the reason it looks like the one below. 

Organized...

My pantry... It needs some work. THAT, is my next project. I have some ideas on how I want to organized it.. I will share when it is completed. 

Way too excited about finding the bulk section in a local grocery store. All of that pasta cost me LESS than $5.00. Amazing. 

This is my sons area in the fridge. He has gogurts, cheesesticks, blackberries, and strawberries. 

He is going to LOOOOVE it! I hope this helps someone. Remember to check out that website! 

Natural-Nesters

-C

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