Storage Containers

With 3 little girls wandering around the house and building their curiosity I really needed a way to contain all the kid "stuff".  Here was my low cost solution:

Supplies:

1. Scissors

2. Cardboard box

3. Wrapping paper & tape OR Contact paper

4. Box cutter (if you have one, otherwise scissors will do)

I used different size cardboard boxes, according to what items I needed to contain.  First I figured out where I wanted the opening & cut that part off of the box with a box cutter or scissors.  Second I wrapped the outside in wrapping paper for decoration.  You could also use contact paper, this would be great because it is already sticky.  I used all the same wrapping paper so that even though my boxes are different sizes, all of them together would have look cohesive.  Also, I labeled the boxes after wrapping them, but obviously this is not a necessity.  My daughter was 4 when I made these & she was starting to read, so it was fun for her to have simple words around her to practice.  

For the handles on the Diaper's check this out!

Traditional Akhtar Family Thanksgiving

2012 will go down in our family's history as the first year I have made a traditional Thanksgiving meal completely from scratch!  It is quite an exciting feeling as a wife and mom.  But, when you are away from home and you want that 'home-y' feeling, then it's time to put on the apron and get to cookin'!

Almost all of the recipes I found online, and amazingly enough all of them turned out good.  So if you are looking for recipes that have been tried and proven to work, here are most of the recipes.




Dinner Rolls

Creamed Corn *best scratch recipe*

Healthy Pumpkin Pie
                                   
Regular Pumpkin Pie (pictured)

**Did NOT use canned pumpkin! Find out more here.**

Green beans..
haven't quite figured these out yet...but I did find a great cream of chicken/mushroom recipe

Stove Top Stuffing 
*tasted just like the box ;-)

Garlic Mashed potatoes
(this is my own recipe that I can share later)

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

The only item I have yet to tackle is the Turkey!  Here in Thailand they range from $25-$85, so it was just more economical to have a roasted chicken.  Also, our fridge freezer is a little bigger than small so it just didn't make sense to try to "fit" it in there.



After giving thanks as a family and eating well together, we delivered a couple of plates of our traditional American food to our neighbors!  

It is such a fun and exciting feeling 
creating family memories from scratch.