Odds and Ends

It is Thanksgiving week. I'm always in awe at how much work needs to be done. We spent the holiday at my Husband's Brothers house so no turkey cooking for me. There was still plenty to do around the house. The kids had an easy week for homeschool. Patrick took a math test and aced it. We are so proud of him as math is not an easy subject for him.

This week I tried my hand at making some homemade crockpot yogurt. It is much thinner than regular store bought yogurt but tastes so much better. I leave the yogurt plain and we've using it to make fruit smoothies in the morning with bananas.

It's also a huge money saver if your kids like yogurt. One quart of milk makes about 6 pints of yogurt and that's about a week in our house.

I made some homemade bread to go with a Blackbean vegetable soup.
Another money saver in baking your own bread.

I found a great recipe for some Gingerbread Pumpkin muffins.

They were picture perfect and made a great breakfast on Thanksgiving morning.

I don't know what I would do without my Kitchen aid mixer.

See? Don't they look gorgeous?

If I had planned ahead I would have made some cream cheese frosting.

Maybe next time. This recipe is a keeper.

I pulled all the ingredients from the pantry and used some pumpkin puree that I received from my friend Amy. It makes the whole house smell so good.

The vultures (my children) were swarming around these.

And for Thanksgiving I had to make an appetizer.

My friend Kayrn gave me a savory recipe of Dates stuffed with goat cheese, almonds and wrapped in bacon. Then they are drizzled with a Balsamic, maple, fig reduction and baked. They were so delicious and everyone loved them.

I also brought my sister a dozen fresh eggs from our chickens.

Hot and steamy right out of the oven.

Morgan helped Tae make a feather headband for Thanksgiving.

The mayhem of arts and crafts.

Tae decided to use masking tape instead of staples.

He says the staples dig into his head.

This week we learned about the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving.

We didn't get to make our homemade cranberry sauce though.

Maybe this week as a treat.

Lots of cutting and taping.

We took a break and made a blueberry smoothie with the homemade yogurt.

Delicious!

Dixie our evil cat slept on the shelf in the scrap paper basket.

Ummmmmm-this is Morgan.

I have no idea.

Oh and I visited my friend Amy who gave me some really yummy pumpkin puree from her homegrown pumpkins and some jarred autumn olive jam.

I gave her some homemade applesauce.

She also gave me some lessons on goat care. Here are her two very cute goats named Summer and Snowy. Guess which one is Snowy?

Goats looking for treats.

Goats looking for some attention in their play yard.

Amy taught me about their worming schedule and how to trim their hoofs.

The goats were so cute but they nibble on everything in their path.

Shoe strings, coat sleeves, hair.

Absolutely adorable. Then I checked out her ducks and chickens.

She has quite the little farm going.

It was a very full week with lots of time with friends and family.

Happy Thanksgiving.