Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

I know I have been slacking on my Days of Thankfulness... I have been one busy Mama!

I had my second sons birthday DAY! LOL We had a pretty busy day that day. Plus I had a photo session with the littlest midget in our family that lasted around 2 hours almost! That was fun. The more we did the bigger his smile got! I loved that time with him and I have decided to get myself in on these photos as well with my kiddos! I think that when I do each of my other boys that I will hope in for a photo or two again with each of them since we did a bunch of little man and me together! I also have found a new passion for Pottery Barn Kids! LOL! I blame this on my Mother-in-law! She has been sending the kiddos gifts from there for years and in the gift for the baby (he turns 1 on Monday... Eek!) there was a gift card from Pottery Barn Kids for $10 off your purchase of $11 or more! So, I purchased a Christmas Eve gift for my boys! More on that soon....

This bib was purchased around Christmas 2011

Thanksgiving!

This is little man's LAST 1st Holiday! (This is also his new baby cousin's 1st Holiday ever! Being only 10.5 months apart in age my guy gets to end all his 1st things as hers starts!) Aside from his Birthday of course! His bib was purchased for him when he was about a month old and my Mother picked it up and said that is was super cute! I looked at her and said, quote, "Thanksgiving is over!" in a rather loud voice in the middle of the store and she ever so sweetly replied with... again, quote, "He has to have a 1st Thanksgiving at some point." LOL This got us both laughing. And here we are, Thanksgiving 2012 and Wa-La! he has a Thanksgiving bib! LOL! And it looks pretty good on him! Also, I am super thankful for this bib because he WORE 70% of his food tonight! This was his 1st time joining the family for all that table food as well! Granted, Mama made sure he only had the soft stuff I knew he could handle! But stepping away from today's dinner and rewinding to the start of our day... It has been rather fun and new food filled!

This is what I got to wake up to and see!
So precious! 

We started our day very early! I had to go pick up my Husband from his graveyard shift and had to leave the house at 5 A.M. .... As I went out the door my 2 middle boys woke up and asked where I was going! I told them I was on my way to get their Dad and that they needed to go back to sleep or go tell Grandma they were awake. Since I knew she was getting up to start the baking process for the day I was not worried! I headed into town and had to stop at Wal-Mart to pick up more canned Pumpkin since we were 2 whole cans short! I got in and out relatively fast! Kinda knew where I was headed, with Black Friday starting at 8 P.M. tonight I wanted NO NEED to be in that store other than for necessity. As I was leaving the phone was ringing and one of the employees answered. She replied with the obvious answer for what we all instantly knew the question had been. Her answer: "We are open 24 hours." The question, if not obvious, "When are you open today?" If a store is listed as 24 hours... they are open! And, for those in my same area, our Wal-Mart is ONLY closed on Christmas Day!

Daddy playing with Baby while feeding him PP leftovers!
(This shot was pure luck! The moment went so fast!)

Anyways... I got home with the Hubby and found that my 2 middle boys were still up and going strong! They had on their aprons from their wonderful Aunt and had been helping Grandma the entire time I was gone but had just stopped to play a game of Trouble (Cars edition)! They asked me shortly after I walked in the door if I would make them their very special breakfast I had promised them. (We are going to make this breakfast tradition I think! At least for my Carbavors!) So I set to it! I made, for the first time, Potato Pancakes! (Or PP as I put it to my 7 year old who could do nothing but giggle and say he was eating PP!) The 3 youngest all enjoyed this meal! My oldest, not so much! But that is alright. He is my cold cereal lover. I think he is becoming a box of Cheerios!

((For anyone wondering how I come up with some of this food, I got 99.8% of my recipes from Schwan's website! Go HERE and check them out for yourself. I of course swap out all sugar for splenda and other things I shouldn't have for things I should or CAN!))

Now we were set to start cooking for the big meal! Yippee!!!

Mmmmm.... Yummy Turkey!

It was a crazy day of pretty much nonstop cooking for my Mother and I! I am now even more in love with a way of cooking my delicious turkey that I have adapted into my own over the years! Now, along with stuffing herbs under the skin of the turkey I rub it down with olive oil (Per Kidd Kradick's Brown Bag Turkey recipe! Go HERE for that. I skipped the veggies and just packed that baby full of herbs! LOL) and then I stuff the entire turkey into a brown paper bag! Staple the bag shut and stick that baby in the oven for 3.5-4 hours without having to do a dang thing! Every other year I have had to bast the turkey and worried about it not being moist. This turkey was so juicy it was almost runny! LOL! The juices were everywhere! By far one of my BEST turkey's ever! The other things we made that I hope to repeat year after year and Holiday after Holiday! Are... In photo form...

Cranberry and Citrus Green Beans Recipe

These were not one of my favorites but they were pretty awesome!

   Maple Sweet Potato Cups Recipe

The white and golden puff balls you see there are 

the modified and low carb version of this recipe!

OMG! So yummy! Heaven in your mouth!

Also pictured here are the Deviled Eggs, 

in honor of my Grandma Parker! And

The Olives! Yum!

Stuffed BBQ Chicken Bacon Biscuit Bites Recipe

These are our "twists" on this yummy Schwans recipe! 

The ones in the lighter bread are actually made using Refrigerator Biscuits.

Where the darker ones are simply the chicken mixture topping 

some low carb cheese puppies from the Low carbing among friends book! LOL!

This was AMAZING! A little chicken bacon meat party in my mouth! 

Cheesy Baked California Blend Casserole Recipe

Wow and Yum! 

Two words that sum this up.

Instead of using the Jalapeno that it called for here,

I opted to use diced green chili and instead of California blend

(which has carrots that are a big no no)

We used a simple Broccoli and Cauliflower blend!

This is one of my nights Favorites as well!

Roasted Broccoli with Lemon Butter Recipe

Yum yum yum!

This was really good too! 

Only changes here, lemon and orange extract rather than zest 

due to the lack of purchase of lemon and extra orange! LOL

And Toasted Almond Slivers instead of Pine Nuts!

Homemade Sugar free Halved Cranberry sauce!
I have been making this for awhile now since I tried another
recipe that called for cranberry sauce and I decided that sugar free
and homemade were better than loaded with carbs and sugar in a can any day! LOL

Lunch was munchies..... But baby boy enjoyed that too!

Yippee for Crackers!!!!

Here are just a few more of little man finishing up and enjoying his 1st Thanksgiving meal....

Yes, he sure did have a bath afterwards! He was FILTHY! LOL... Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Cups! YUM!
He had a blast using the spoon himself!
This is, BTW, a large soup spoon!
I have trouble using it! LOL

Sweet Potato Face!

Finger licking good Sweet potatoes! Yummy!

He also enjoyed his 1st go at Hard Boiled Eggs tonight!
Boy did he love them too! Had about 4 of them!

Last but never least... The Family!
Clockwise from top center (or NOON!)
Baby boy!
Daddy!
7 year old!
Grandma (My Mommy)!
4 year old!
and 8 year old!
I love them all and I am THANKFUL for each and every one of them!

Happy Thanksgiving I hope everyone had a wonderful day!

~TTFN!