Thanksgiving Day...not what we expected...but very thankful

The turkey was brined and ...
refrigerated overnight.

The whole family was here, even though little Hudson had been feeling so badly and running a high fever. The tables were set with care...

Right as I was removing the turkey from the oven, Hudson had a febrile seizure, and we had to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital. It lasted for about 6 minutes...the longest and scariest 6 minutes of my life. For a minute there we weren't sure if he was breathing, so I sent Shawn to fetch my stethoscope from my bag so I could listen to him. Was I ever relieved when I heard that little heart beating and air rushing in and out of his lungs. He was unresponsive after it was over until the ambulance came. Would you believe that God sent one of the paramedics that Shannon went to high school with. She was so relieved to see him--we all were. They started an IV and took him to the hospital where I work. When they started the IV he screamed and he cried all the way to the hospital. We left Mother and Daddy and Shawn and Darris here with Jackson. Joey and I rushed to the hospital and when we walked into his room ,he was still crying. Be still my heart, I have never heard a cry that sounded so good to my grandmother ears.
Here is a picture from Shannon's phone from the emergency room. By then he was beginning to feel much better. Praise the Lord. We didn't get home until late that night, so we reheated everything, and ate our dinner about 9:00P.M. Shawn and Darris had carved the turkey and they all had lunch and then put away all the leftovers. They played with Jackson and kept him occupied all afternoon. They were worn out by the time we got home. Even though it certainly was not what we had planned, we are so thankful that God has blessed us so greatly. After dinner, they just spent the night with us and took Hudson to the doctor for followup the next morning. Jackson stayed at our house and played on Buddy's tractor. He loves that tractor! When Hudson returned from the doctor, he had his first tractor ride with Buddy. He is also a natural tractor boy.

Then he got to sit on the Gator...no he can't drive it yet, but he thinks he is.

We then found some little elf friends who come around Christmastime and report back to Santa how good children have been. We named them Elvis, Pizie, and Trixie. So Jackson and Hudson, you boys better watch out...Santa Claus is coming to town.

To top it all off, we went to Joey's family get-together last night, and while the kids were roasting marshmellows, Jackson got hit with a flaming marshmellow. It stuck to his sweater...yes still in flames. So my niece's husband put out the fire on his shirt. Can you believe our weekend?

I am for one glad it's over, but again so very thankful everything turned out fine. I hope you all had great Thanksgivings, and God bless you everyone.

Let's Eat Pie

Today, I have been preparing for our Thanksgiving meal we will enjoy tomorrow with our daughters, my parents, and the grandbabies. We will have turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn pudding, green bean casserole, lima beans, and apple pies. I just took the pies out of the oven, and does my house ever smell good!

Apple pies...

I went into Williams Sonoma yesterday and found these cute little leaf cutters on clearance.

It reminds me of playing with Play-Doh.

And I kinda made a mess.

Two pies ready to go into the oven.

The recipe is one that my husband made many years ago and entered it in a church cookbook from the church where I grew up . It is such an easy but very delicious recipe.

They turned out very pretty, if I do say so myself.

Now, if I can just keep everyone out of them until tomorrow.

It is tempting, though.

Let's have pie. Today I am linking with
http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/2010/11/foodie-friday-thanksgiving-plus-another.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DesignsByGollum+%28Designs+by+Gollum%29

Enjoy your day tomorrow with family and friends. I plan to do the same.

Thanksgiving Table

My Thanksgiving table is set.

I'll share a preview with you. I have had all these items for years. I like to shop my house and the attic for table decorations.

The candle stands are from Southern Living at Home.

The soup tureen is from Goodwill. I encircled it with some gourds.

I used some wicker chargers that came from Marshall's.

The salad plates also are from Goodwill.

The little napkin rings are some blessings wall decorations I found last year on clearance from Wal-Mart for 87 cents each. I knew I would use them one day.

The table is set for 6 now, but we will have a full table on Thursday.

I will probably add the leaves to the table.

I am entering Tablescape Thursday from Between Naps on the Porch.
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2010/11/awesome-giveaway-from-mikasa-welcome-to.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BetweenNapsOnThePorch+%28BETWEEN+NAPS+ON+THE+PORCH%29
Check out some beautiful tables there.
She also has a fabulous Mikasa china giveaway. hurry over and sign up.You will be glad you did.

I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving with your families.

Look whooooo's one...

Whooo knew 1 year ago that our hearts would have room to love another person as much as we love this little guy. Wow, what a difference a year makes.

Fast forward one year and we are planning a birthday party. Shannon made the invitations at my kitchen table. She decided to have an owl party.

Every party has to have a theme,of course, and we like to take it and run .

Each person received a personalized owl invitation.

They turned out so cute.

This is how Hudson "helped" with his party planning.

My Daddy uses a wheelchair a lot and he entertained Jackson while we worked on invitations by playing with Lego on the tray table of his walker. They must have built an entire city.



I set up a vignette in the entryway . Once again we used sticks to display an assortment of owls, pine cones and acorn ornaments spray painted green, blue, and orange , and I taped silk leaves to the bare branches for Fall color.

These cute little owls came from Cracker Barrel.

Here are the party favors I made. I cut out foam owl heads and glued on some googly eyes. They are attached to clear treat bags filled with candy corn and gummy worms.


Candy in bright colors and a photo of the birthday boy round out the display...


Our table featured bright colors on napkins, party hats, and balloons.
I made the party hats by tracing around hats I purchased from the Dollar Tree and then cutting them out of paper I made from scanning and printing a piece of owl fabric I found at the fabric store. I hot glued pom poms to the top of them and around the bottom of Hudson's hat.


You can see Hudson's hat on his highchair tray. I expected him to pull it off his head, but he really did wear it, as you will see. I tied the fabric over his highchair for a "slipcover".
Balloons were tied to the chandelier.

I made cupcakes and decorated them as owls using Oreos with Junior Mints glued on with icing for the eyes and Runts used for their beaks. I ran out of chocolate icing, so I had some caramel icing on hand, and used vanilla wafers on the lighter colored owls. Their ears were cut off wedges of cookies with icing piped on top..

I made a cupcake stand by gluing 2 wooden plates separated by a wooden candlestick. I originally had this on the cupcake table at Shawn's wedding, and I painted it turquoise.

Shannon created a Happy 1st Birthday garland for the fireplace with her Cricut machine.
And of course, there is the chalkboard art with an owl that says "You're a real hoot".
Shannon spray painted some photos of Hudson throughout his first year and placed them here and there.
You will notice her delicious "Puppy Chow" served in an acorn bowl I found 2 weeks ago at the Goodwill.

When I was making cupcakes, I made Hudson a "smash" cake of his own.

Mother and Daddy gave him this precious chair from Pottery Barn monogrammed with his name.

It seems like every child in our family gets that same chair for their first birthday.
He liked it. Oh, and he is wearing a shirt Shannon made with an owl applique. So cute!

This is their cute family.
Amazingly all looking at the camera.

Here I am with the birthday boy.
I found an owl craft ornament at Target one day, so we got enough for all the kids to make one. These kids, all cousins, are good at projects.
And then, the much anticipated moment. Hudson got to dig in to his cake. He loved it, as you can tell...

It was a nice afternoon with our family celebrating this event.

After we took down some of the balloons, Jackson and his cousin decided to have a balloon "fight".

I can't believe a year has passed so quickly. Life is but a vapor. Enjoy every moment of it. One day we will look at these boys as grown men and wonder where the years went. Until then, I will just savor the times I get to spend with my family. Thank you for letting me share this special day with you.

It;s been a HOOT!!!