Before we get to the printables, I thought I’d give you a little insight into family life around here our place.
Soccer season ended just in time for basketball season to begin. I feel like I’ve finally come up for air since school started this fall. Breathing is so very nice.
Asa (our 18-year old) is as busy as ever juggling his freshman year of college. He’s rocking it, working very hard in his classes (and on his social life too). Sleep is optional for him. ;)
Justus (our 15-year old) is taking one college class on campus – Basic Speech – which has been great for him. This is a kid who does not get the least bit nervous giving speeches in front of traditional college students. Dual credit classes are so nice. Elias (our 13-year old) was super sick for 4 weeks and is finally just about back to normal. Ugh, that was awful. I’ve never been so thankful to see my kid eat. Malachi (our 10-year old) has had the opportunity to attend a fantastic horse class as well as participate in some wonderful science days with our local homeschool group.
So Wiggams. You remember Wiggams? That darling cat has been so high maintenance the past few weeks, bless her little cat heart. You can read here to catch up on all the mama-baby-drama if you dare. Not wanting to risk going through that again, we took her in to be spayed last week. It is a relief to have this taken care of. When we went to pick her up the next day, they said that she appears to have a bladder infection. Ugh, not this too! The poor thing.
Since she is an outdoor cat they kept her (at our local Adopt-a-Pet facility) so she can heal properly before she comes home. Poor Malachi misses his daily Wiggams play time. We go visit her when we can sneak in a trip (in my spare time).
We’ve been talking an awful lot about holiday food around here. Well, obviously. Food is where it’s at. There is so much to love about food. Slowly but surely I am making our Thanksgiving food and putting it into the freezer. Check out all of the Getting Ahead for the Holidays info here. Here’s what I’ve checked off my list so far:
- Make-Ahead Turkey
Stuffing MuffinsCheesy Mashed Potatoes- Oh Good Gravy
Green Bean CasseroleHow to Make Frozen PiesSimple Whipped Sweet Potatoes- How to make Whipped Cream
- Whole Wheat Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls
- 2-Ingredient Cranberry Sauce
If feels great to have so many of those big jobs crossed off my list already. Shoot, I’m running out of Pyrex dishes – if you can possibly imagine. It’s a good problem to have, as long as we don’t need to make a casserole between now and next Thursday.
I’m excited to be participating in a fun online Thanksgiving Recipe Swap this year! It’s a “progressive dinner” so each day this week, more recipes will be added. Start today by finding some yummy appetizer recipes. The first one I’m going to try is the Pumpkin Spice Fruit Dip. Wow, that looks good.
Go check out all the appetizer recipes and see what’s coming up later this week. This is going to be awesome! I love free resources like this!
So now let’s look at the fun printables, want to?
I’m hoping that next week we can take a bit of a Thanksgiving break from most of our school work. We’ll still need to do math lessons, but overall, I hope to play a lot of board games and work on some fun Christmas projects.
All of the following printables are free. I thought you might enjoy looking through them to see what you might want to use as inexpensive gifts this Christmas. For just the cost of paper and ink, you can put together some nice packages!
This first one says “Summer Blessings” but I hereby declare that they can be used in the fall and winter too. Print them onto cardstock, cut them, grab some envelopes, and tie them up with a ribbon.
Blessings Card Printables
Galatians 6:9 is one of my favorite Bible verses. This can be printed and framed for a sweet gift of encouragement.
Galatians 6:9 Printable
Of course, we have to talk about giving gifts of food. Here are some fun printable labels to go with food gifts that are fitting for this time of year:
Pumpkin and Apple Treat Labels
It’s fun to put together a basket of apples with a jar of homemade caramel dip…
Caramel Apple Treat Labels and Recipe
Below are sticker printables that can be used to label any treats you put into jars!
Canning Jar Labels
You can print gift tags to attach to any of your gifts…
Christmas Gift Tag Printables
…Or fun Christmas cards.
Christmas Card Printables
Our family made these wrapped candy bars last year to give to some of our youth workers at church and adopted college students. They were a hit!
Candy Bar Labels
I have more fun (and inexpensive) gift ideas up my sleeve that I’ll share during the next few weeks!
I’m so glad Elias is almost back to normal. I’m sure that was a very a very scary and stressful time for your family.