Pictures with kids are hard. You never know if they’re going to be in the mood for it or not. Mine are all wiggly, especially that little baby of ours. She’s been such a ball of sass lately. I’ve learned to just roll with the punches (mostly) and can just go with whatever it is they give me. Moms must stay flexible, right?! I’m particularly thankful that SLR digital cameras can do continuous shooting, so you’re bound to get a good one for sure. At least, you hope.

Usually, if I have the big 3 ready for the camera, the baby isn’t. And if I have the baby and the big 2 ready, Soul isn’t. True and Brave are pretty good, as long as I’m behind the camera (or Ben). If it’s someone else, like for the Misha Lulu shoots, you will definitely get the serious look. My usual trick to get everyone faced forward and smiling is to have everyone jump. All the girls love jumping! It puts instant smiles on their faces (if you look back at our pictures, you’ll see we jump a lot!). As for me in pictures, I pretty much just have one face… a smiling one. That’s all I know to do. If I try and pretend to pull off the serious look, I just look pissed off, so I’ll stick to smiling.

How about you? Do you have a hard time getting your kids together for a picture? I know it’s Christmas card season, so I’m sure most of us are trying to round our troops up to get the perfect picture to send out. Have you picked out a picture yet?

By the way, this particular day was glorious because we actually got to wear a sweater out (well, most of us did). We went from low 90’s on Wednesday to a 20 degree drop on Sunday, and suddenly fall is back. Just like that. Oh SoCal fall, you are so temperamental. How about we just stick to sweater weather? We’re all kind of feeling that right now.

on me: shirt, everlane. rockstar skinny jeans, c/o old navy. cardigan coat, c/o old navy (I have been searching for a cocoon style sweater, so I was so happy that old navy had this one.) on true: sweater dress, old navy. clogs, lotta from stockholm. on brave: shirt, mightee kids. skirt, misha lulu. rugby cardigan, c/o old navy. shoes, c/o old navy. on soul: shirt and dress, vintage. shoes, hand me downs. double breasted cardigan, c/o old navy. on glow: chambray shirtdress, c/o old navy. tights, hand me downs. shoes, freshly picked.

This post was sponsored by Old Navy. Check out Old Navy’s latest fashion lineup in store or online at oldnavy.com. I love blogging and these opportunities wouldn’t be possible without you, so I’m thankful for your support of this space and all I do. xoxo

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and turkey projects for kids are a must! Little hands will love inserting lots of colorful feathers to make this turkey tail.

Supplies:
1. 20 -30 feathers (I used 3″-5″ duck feathers purchased from here)
2. Screwdriver (or pen for poking)
3. Scissors
4. Cardboard craft roll (from toilet roll or can be purchased here)
5. Cardboard Turkey Roll template
6. Colored pencils
7. Glue
8. Tape

Directions:
1. Print the template onto card stock (or redraw yourself) and cut out. Color the turkey. I left my body plain and just colored the bill and waddle, but when my girls make their own, I’m sure they will be coloring all over the place.
2. Poke scattered holes on one end of the roll. Be gentle and provide support on the inside with your fingers to prevent the roll from tearing when you poke. I used a screwdriver for some holes, but found the pen is sufficient as well. The amount of holes you need to poke will depend on if you want a fuller or leaner turkey tail.
3. On the opposite end of the roll, where there are no holes, add a bit of glue around the ring of the roll and attach to the back of the turkey template. Add some tape to secure in place.
4. Insert a feather quill into each hole until all holes are filled. This activity is perfect for little hands to do. Gobble! Gobble! Tomorrow will definitely involve making more of these little turkeys with my girls. The turkeys would even be cute as a place cards for Thanksgiving dinner. Or you can make a bunch of different sizes and group them together on the mantle.

I had pinned this image on Pinterest in the summer and it made me really want to do a fall potluck with friends (I talked about it here). I shared my idea with my friend Reese and Liz and they were totally on board. Also, Ben and I have really been wanting to get to know our neighbors more, so we thought it would be a great way to throw a fall dinner and just invite everyone over.

I literally was inviting everyone who lived near us over (Ben was like, “Calm down, Ruby.”). I invited the girls’ swim teachers (they probably think I’m some weird crazy mama!), some parents from swim class, neighbors, and I pretty much had no idea who was going to show up. We’ve lived in such a bubble the entire time we’ve lived in our neighborhood and it really isn’t what I want to teach our girls. I want them to love people, love serving them, and want them to desire to live in community with people. It’s good to get to know people and hear their stories. I love hearing people’s stories! I guess it’s what God has been teaching us lately.

Anyways, it was a potluck, so everyone knew to bring something. I prepared turkey (in a crockpot!) using this recipe, this stuffing, this veggie dish, and this pumpkin bundt cake. Oh and mashed cauliflower and pumpkin bread! Let’s just say it was a really busy weekend for me! I had no clue who was coming, so I wanted to make sure there was plenty. And everyone who did come did bring plenty more!

I borrowed plates from my mom and everything else I already had, so when I saw this, I knew I could totally recreate that. I picked flowers from our garden, but it was looking too spring-y so I grabbed the mini pumpkins on our mantle and scattered those on the table too. The girls gathered candles we already used in the house, plus a couple extra that I picked up on our Ikea run and set those out. We even had a cute little kids table and my girls were the ones that put it together. They were actually good little helpers putting the glassware on the table. My girls were just so excited about new friends coming over, even though it took them like an hour after they arrived to start talking to them.

All you get are pictures of the dinner set up because I snapped these before everyone came and before the food was put out. Once everyone came, we were busy and just enjoying our time getting to know our new friends that taking pictures was the last thing on my mind. We all ate plenty, got to enjoy our candles and string lights once the sun went down, laughed lots, swapped stories, and the girls were running all over the house with their new friends. It was a good way to celebrate fall. I’m also thankful that we had some leftovers, so it saved me from cooking dinner tonight and we got to enjoy more of that yummy turkey and stuffing. This is getting me really excited about next week and Thanksgiving… I love turkey and family time!!!

Do any of you do get togethers with your neighbors often? Hopefully, we didn’t scare them and they want to hang out with us again!

Chicken Adobo. It’s a recipe I shared on the blog a long time ago and it came from my friend Tiff. I kind of healthified it, so it’s probably not an authentic Filipino recipe. We rarely eat Filipino food. This night though, I was craving it, so I made some. I even busted out the banana and ate it with the chicken and rice. The girls were loving the banana with the chicken. It may sound strange to eat a banana with chicken and rice, but with chicken adobo, it’s really good. By the way, did you know that Filipino ketchup is made with a banana base instead of tomatoes? I haven’t had it in almost a decade, but I remember it tasted good. I liked eating it with fried fish. Filipino food isn’t the healthiest, so we never really eat it. Filipino dessert on the other hand, I love it all!!! My parents brought me mango cake for my birthday… yum!!!

Ground Turkey and White Bean Chili. I don’t even know what to call this dish, I kind of made it up based on a few recipes I made in the past. This was for our Thursday night dinner club where I don’t know if 6 people are coming or 20, so it’s the easiest thing to make a big pot of. Add tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, salsa, and chips and well, you’ve got a party in your tummy for sure!

Week 11/18 – 11/21
Monday: Leftovers (We’re having a big pot luck dinner tonight, so I’m thinking there might be leftovers.)
Tuesday: Crab cakes
Wednesday: Enchiladas
Thursday: Black bean soup
Friday: Pizza/sushi night

I’m ready to cozy up and eat some fall soups. Does anyone have a good recipe to share?

When I was in high school, I used to dream of working for Martha Stewart. I would joke that it would eventually become Rubyellen Living. I know, I’m so silly. I am much more in touch with reality now to know that won’t ever happen, but I am definitely honored to be in the November issue of Martha Stewart Living. It’s like pee in my pants excited! So a slightly different version of my dream came true, but I’ll take it. Thank you Lord! Well, I’m kicking off the weekend with this happy news. Hip, hip, hooray!!!

p.s. don’t forget to pick up your copy!

I wanted the girls to list out things they are thankful for and this was our simple solution…

Supplies:
Strips of colored paper
Scissors
Colored pencils
Twine
Sewing machine

Directions:
Cut out your strips of paper (add a fancy shape if your heart desires). Let your kids write things they are thankful for. Then, run the strips of paper and the twine through the sewing machine using a zigzag stitch at the top (or you can just tape or glue the twine onto the back of the paper). I hung ours up from the ceiling and it gives it this cool kind of twirling effect.
My big three girls got in on the being thankful action. I can’t quite comprehend what Soul’s thankful for, but I’m going to guess it’s for shoes and makeup because those are her favorite things… oh boy! I do love reading through all their thankfulness and apparently, Brave is even thankful for numbers! I never would have guessed as math isn’t a fave subject around here. I think it’s good for the girls to go through a list like this often. I really want them to be constantly developing a deep heart of thankfulness, after all, we do have so much to be thankful for!

Do you have anything you are particularly thankful for at this moment? I just ate an In-N-Out burger, so my tummy is very thankful for that.