Category: 11 November

3 Month Pocahontas Baby Photos

I chose Disney’s Pocahontas for the November princess since she’s always got leaves blowing around her. I think it would be fun for future Pocahontas pictures.

I tried to fashion a Pocahontas costume from items that she already had. I did find a necklace at the thrift store.

I hung a brown curtain for the background and I found some fabric leaves and made a little river with a blue scarf and some Christmas lights under it.

I used my EOS 2000D Canon Rebel Camera to take her princess photos. I also use my softbox photography lighting and backdrop rod to help.

Baby Princess Pocahontas

Psalm 83:15 “so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm.”

You might enjoy some of her other Princess Photoshoots:

Or some of her other Baby Photoshoots:

Kids Thanksgiving Treats

One of our family Thanksgiving traditions is making Gingerbread Houses. This year we continued our tradition with mini Gingerbread Houses and Waffle Cone Christmas Trees. I also tried something new this year, I made a Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board with foods that my family enjoys.

Mini Gingerbread Houses

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. We each chose our houses and gently broke apart the pieces… one of the houses broke in the mail. But we were happy with the rest of our houses.
  2. We helped each other hold the pieces together as we used the icing to “glue” them into place.
  3. Then we decorated our houses with the candies using the icing as the “glue”.

Waffle Cone Christmas Trees

Ingredients:

  • Waffle Cones
  • Royal Icing
  • Green Food Coloring
  • Tiny Christmas Candies

Directions:

  1. We dyed some of the icing green and covered our waffle cones with it.
  2. Then we used the candies to decorate our Christmas trees.

Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board

Ingredients:

  • Wooden Board
  • Small bowls or containers
  • Small spoons, knives, tongs, etc…
  • various Meats and Cheeses
  • various Crackers and Breads
  • fresh and dried Fruit and Berries
  • Candy Pumpkins or Candy Corn
  • Sage or Thyme

Directions:

  1. Place your bowls on your board. We put olives, craisins, frosted cranberries, and roasted pumpkin seeds in our bowls.
  2. Place your cheese. We used a sphere of Gouda cheese and a bacon ranch cheese ball.
  3. Place your meats around the cheese. We like pepperoni and hard salami.
  4. Place your crackers and breads. We used 3 different types of crackers, blue corn chips, and a sliced baguette.
  5. Place some herbs around the edges of the board.
  6. Place your fruit and berries. We used grapes, blackberries, strawberries, and clementines.
  7. Last we placed our candy pumpkins and added the utensils.

Thanksgiving Treats

This is the first Thanksgiving dinner that I have ever made. My family came for a visit from the west coast, so I had a lot of help 🙂 I also tried to make some fun Thanksgiving Treats to snack on during the beginning part of the day!

Carmel Apple Turkey

My boys LOVE carmel and apples so I made this little guy to snack on.

Thanksgiving Cornucopia

I used Pillsbury Crescent Dough to shape and bake the Cornucopia, then added the fruit that my family likes.

Fruit Dip

I also made my fruit dip that the boys LOVE! Mix one package of cream cheese with one jar of marshmallow cream!

Vegi Dip

Mix one tub of sour cream with one Ranch packet for the vegetables.

Turkey Cake

I made a turkey cake for a friend’s birthday on Thanksgiving day this year. I used Nutter Butter cookies, Candy Corn, and Fruit Roll-up to decorate the turkey cake.

Buttercream Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup Crisco
  • 4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon milk (if thick)

Directions:

  1. Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
  2. Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
  3. Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.

Cousins Thanksgiving Fun

My Thanksgiving tradition is to make Gingerbread houses; so I decided to build them with my nieces and nephews this year. It was so much fun, now there are 11 cousins and J is the oldest!

We used Graham Crackers and Waffle Cones for our Gingerbread Houses and Christmas Trees this year.

I used a pear for the Turkey’s body and then cut up fruit to place around the pear for the Turkey’s feathers. These cousins just LOVE fruit.

I read “The Night Before Thanksgiving” to the cousins before bed… It is a great book with cousins and other extended family members. These cousins just love reading too.

Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses -11

Our family Thanksgiving tradition is making Gingerbread Houses. This year we used graham crackers, we also tried chocolate graham crackers. I made buttercream icing to add the candies.

Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup Crisco
  • 4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon milk (if thick)

Directions:

  1. Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
  2. Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
  3. Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.

Here are some of our past Gingerbread Houses.

Gingerbread House Tradition -09

My sister and I used to make gingerbread houses on Thanksgiving when we were younger, so I decided to start this tradition with my son.

We made gingerbread houses with his cousin on Thanksgiving Day! We used royal icing with a Mini Gingerbread House kit. Added all kinds of colorful Christmas candies and candy canes!

Toddler Fall Portraits

I love fall in the Midwest with all of the colored leaves. J is loving the weather too, since he likes playing outside so much! I followed him around trying to get some cute photos as he explored.

We took some fall pictures, he was much more cooperative than I thought he would be. He like’s trying to play with the trees, rocks, and leaves. He even posed by the tree with his hand on it for me, and sitting in front of it.

22 months old now.

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