First Snow of the Year!!! It's really early...

In what feels more like traditional Midwest American weather this time of year, we got our first snow in England...the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Completely wild and completely unusual.

There wasn't much snow really but it packed well enough, so we thought we better get the kids out in it as we didn't know how long it would stick around.

How cool to be bundled up in winter gear already...what a minute...I like English winters because we don't get loads of snow and have it be cold. Well, there isn't that much to cause too much of a problem, so let's have fun!!!

We used up ever flake of snow in our front yard to make a little snow fort/thrown for the kids to sit at.

Then we thought we really needed to at least have a snowman. And of course if you have a snowman you have to dress him up right.

Harry got a little tired of how cold it was and was soon ready to go inside...he's never really liked the cold...guess it's because he was born in the heat of the summer!!!

Kevin "Oliver"???

Kevin got inspired this evening to cook. He started thumbing through the Jamie's America cookbook he got me last year for our anniversary and found a veal parmesan recipe he wanted to make. He started going through the recipe and rattled off ingredients to see if we had them. I had about 2 things he needed, so I told him to run along off to Tesco and get the rest of what he needed. The deal was that I if I got the kids bathed and put to bed that he would take care of making dinner.

I ended up helping him out a little bit but he did a good job to make an absolutely amazing meal.

We even broke out a bottle of fine wine and Kevin garnished the meals like we were at a restaurant. I could totally get used to this, but all my dreams didn't totally come true. Usually when I cook I am the one who has to clean up the dishes (except when my mom or Min are around), but no dishes did my hubby do...that was all up to me and he used double the amount of pans, pots, and plates that I would have normally used. Thank you so much sweetie....let's see what you are going to make next Saturday night!!!!

Our Last English Thanksgiving...

Once we made it through our first Thanksgiving away from home (toughest holiday we've had so far to be away), each year following it got to be one of my most favorite to celebrate in England. The reason being is that we kept gaining new "family" members to share this amazing day with. Of course the day is all about eating a big meal and I LOVE to prepare special meals for my friends and family...so this is the climax of the year for me! And it is totally amazing how much you can actually cook up in my little kitchen...this year I'm feeding 18 people!

Kevin had to work all day but managed to get home around 4PM to help get the tables all set up in our conservatory, but my friend Molly Barnes came over with her girls around 5:30 to help get the rest of the food ready with me. Husband, Jim, was in the US for family business, so we wanted to make sure this expecting mummy and her girls were with some "family" for the holidays as well.

On this year's menu was:

Orange/Thyme Roast Turkey

Crockpot stuffing

Mashed potatoes and gravy

Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows

Green bean casserole

Corn

Cornbread muffins

Cranberry jello salad mould

Pumpkin pie

Banoffee pie (had to throw in this English classic)

Mike and Debbie Beales...our life savers for letting us borrow their huge cutting board to whack up the bird on as I have is a little 8x10 one that just fits in my kitchen. Also an amazing couple who have raised some of the most amazing girls we'll ever know - Gems and Lelli!!!

Me and the hubby...we don't often get pictures of the two of us so I snapped this one at the dinner table.

Kevin's main job was to carve the turkey...he's getting better and better every year. We really need to get one of those electric knives like my grandpa used to use...cuts like a hot knife through butta'.

My first Thanksgiving "jelly" in a traditional mould. I had gotten one of these cool copper jelly (jello) moulds at an antique store and wanted to use it for special dinners and it doesn't get more special than this. Lellie is so happy for me...Thanks Sarah for showing me how to get it popped out.

Molly and Sarah helping me out with the last minute details in the kitchen. Sarah jumping into Min's traditional washing dishes mode.

Time for dinner!!! And yes, it's a giant free for all...well, we had so much food and so many people to feed that each person usually dishes up what's in front of them onto everyone else's plate. Also this year I got to serve dinner on some special dinnerware as well. Yes, I broke out what I have collected so far of my English China and service pieces. And yes, I used my 3GBP turkey platter to serve the bird!!!

Bumble Bear got to join us for Thanksgiving dinner as well, which was a special treat for this English buddy of Addison's. Yes, and all she ate of this marvelous meal was corn and cranberry jello salad.

Poor Gemma got stuck at the kiddie table with Harry and Addie, but I think she enjoyed it....at least my kiddos enjoyed having her there.

Another first timer to our Thanksgiving feast was Kyle, Emily's boyfriend, and I think he quite enjoyed it as well. He couldn't get over how amazing the sweet potatoes with marshmallows were and the green bean casserole. I swear he looks like one of those boys in the group One Direction from this year's X Factor.

This year I made the most amazing pumpkin pie I had ever, ever made and I still couldn't get any takers on eating it other than me and Kevin. Granted Emily took a very small sliver to be nice, but after I ooohhh'ed and ahhh'ed over it, Simon finally had a piece and thought it was amazing. Everyone else enjoyed the banoffee pie that I made which I knew would be a hit for the Brits.

After dinner and puddings, we broke out the ol' Apples to Apples game and some real good laughs.

Some more new comers to our festivities were the Scott's from next door. They had an absolute hoot playing the game with us and were just blown away by the food. The funny thing is that Cheryl was getting a brand new huge kitchen remodel done in her house, but she doesn't cook. Wish I could have switched kitchens with her for this day...wow!!!

What an absolutely amazing Thanksgiving yet again this year. As the years have gone by here, the meal changes just a little and the faces at the table change a little. There's no football to watch in the afternoon, and nap to take before eating leftovers for dinner. The main meal has been eaten in the evening since everyone works or are in school all day, but one thing that stayed constant was that the day was still about enjoying a special meal with the family and friends that you love and celebrate all the blessings we are thankful for. Hopefully we've started a new tradition for our English family to enjoy every year from now on.

Making Tasty Pilgrim Hats

With Thanksgiving only a day away, I wanted to kids to get into preparing our big meal for everyone. I saw these cute little cookies in a Kraft magazine. I happened to have brought some Reese's peanut butter cups back from the US with me to make the little pilgrim hat tops.

The kids were actually more interested in unwrapping all the chocolates than anything else. I got them all set up to frost the cups and put them on the cookies, but after about 3 each they were tired of frosting.

They did do a great job and I think these will be something we make every year for Thanksgiving. I love how my kiddos love to make and create things and that it is something they can continue doing for the rest of their lives and that I had a little part in influencing that.

A Visit from Bumble Bear

This week we had a special visitor at our house from preschool - Bumble Bear. Bumble Bear is to follow Addison all over the place and go with her everywhere. So first order of business to is sort out what is wrong with little Addison by bringing her to the GP. For the past several weeks she's been complaining about not being able to hear very well. She had been complaining that she couldn't hear the music in the back of the car even after turning it up super loud. I thought she was just being ornry but it turns out that she had a bad ear infection. Never complained that it hurt until just this morning...poor little thing.

The next day Bumble Bear and Addison helped me with some sewing projects. The big preschool Christmas bazaar is coming up and I'm going to be making some little things to sell at one of the stalls.

Daddy left his shoes by the door so Bumble Bear wanted to see if he could fit in them.

Bumble Bear even got to help us get the house decorated for Christmas and trim our Christmas tree.

We really enjoyed having Bumble Bear but we had to bring him back to school on Monday along with his little passport filled up with stories and pictures.

Peterborough ISEs Thanksgiving 2011

It's that time of year again when we as Americans have to pull together to make it feel like home and that we are going to Grandma's for Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, our annual ISE Thanksgiving dinner was today and what another amazing gathering. This year we changed venues and tried out the village hall in Thurlby.

Here we are....the Peterborough ISE group minus a couple of families, but having a great time together like a big ol' family.

And when you have to have drinks for a big ol' family, this is what the counter looks like!!!

I love this day so much...reminds me of one of those church potlucks with the buffet table stretching for miles. I helped make one of the 5 turkeys bought to feed our crew. It was good practice to get ready for our big dinner on the big T-day.

Filling our plates up with all the trimmings and goodies and yes...some of us even snuck some dessert along with our dinner in true American style.

My little turkey...

Our newest ISE, Kelly Epley, is a real trooper. Her son Owen wasn't well so hubby Kyle stayed home while she brought Cameron, her youngest son along with a turkey, a casserole and dessert. You are the woman Kelly. Caught her talking to Gwen Hendricks, our very own Perkins VP, and one of the nicest ladies you'll ever meet.

Oh, there is the little guy...Kelly's youngest, Cameron, with my happy hubby. Don't you like the feel of holding a little baby, sweetie???? Come on, one more, please??? Hee hee.

Fall Pampered Chef Party

Tonight I hosted my 3rd Pampered Chef party since living in the UK and I super pumped up to finally have some ladies over for a night. Unfortunately, it was freakishly foggy this evening so a good share of people weren't able to make it. I had planned on about 24 people so we had a lot of food to make and eat. This was also Charlotte's last show as a consultant so I was glad to be able to host her final show.

We had a lot of fun making "Thanksgiving" themed foods like mini pumpkin pies, turkey and cranberry rings, and for fun a no-bake lemon cheese cake.

I displayed my new Thanksgiving table runner and placemats with some fall themed American sweeties like Hershey kisses, peanut and plain M&Ms and candy corns with peanuts. Also my famously cute felt turkey.

Also to bring the whole Thanksgiving theme to light I made a turkey cheese ball. I found it in a Taste of Home magazine and thought it was sooo cute. I had a lot of fun making it and everyone one was afraid to eat it because they didn't want to mess it up. I went ahead and dug into it so everyone else would too.

Playin' Around

The kids felt like digging around in the toy totes this morning and discovered some new "old" toys. Harry had a ball putting together this zoo puzzle. Addison was so big into puzzles around 18 months old, but Harry is just now at just over 2, now getting into them himself.

Addie enjoyed putting together some funny faces on these Potato Heads that Grandma Sally made for the kids. She's quite proud of her creation and so am I.

It's Fireworks Time

It's Bonfire Night!!!! Yeah, I love getting celebrate like it's the 4th of July on the 5th of November. This year since we missed out on the big fireworks show in Peakirk again we got our own private fireworks show at the Beales' house. Everyone shoots off fireworks in their back gardens which doesn't seem to be a big enough space to do such things but everyone does it. Harrison had a blast screeching along with the whistling fireworks and we couldn't often tell if it was Harry or the fireworks that were being so loud. These were the first real fireworks that both Addie and Harry have seen (don't count Addie's first Bonfire Night when she was 10 months old).

Definitely first time with sparklers...they loved them, but I think Emily and Gemma had just as much fun with them.

I guess I did too...

We also ate lots of great goodies. I tried looking up "traditional" Bonfire Night foods and found toasted marshmallows and loads of apple desserts so I made a new twist on the s'more and put them in a mini tart form. I also made an apple toffee cookie pizza for fun. What a wonderful night.

Glinton in the Fall...So Lovely!

Images around Glinton this fall...

Love those road signs...North Fen Road heads north out of Glinton but essentially turns into a footpath that at least one car can drive down.

Love the natural canopy of trees as you head into the village on North Fen Road.

Heading back into the village from the north - amazing colors, amazing old buildings and the church steeple in the back is sooooo English!!!

Of course...got to give props to the pub - the Blue Bell!