I'm happy to be participating in the ABCs of Homeschooling Through the Holidays Series hosted by Heather at Upside Down Homeschooling!  The letter for this post is F for Family Fun Bucket. 

Several years ago a friend of mine made this family fun bucket for me and it has become one of the best Christmas gifts and a family favorite Christmas tradition!  It has been fun including the Family Fun Bucket into our other Advent and Christmas traditions too!   



For more posts in the ABCs of Homeschooling Through the Holidays series go HERE.

I didn't write a Thankful Thursdays post for today like last week,because of my Family Fun Bucket guest post at Upside Down Homescooling, but please visit other thankful posts below and if you have a thankful post you want to add to the Link-Up, please add below!



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Several years ago a friend of mine handed down a great recipe that is so easy to make and so delicious!  

This recipe, called Poppy Seed Chicken, has become a family favorite that ALL 7 of us enjoy, from the toddler to the teens to the adults in our family.   I have also served it when family and friends have joined us for dinner and it's always a big hit!   


Poppy Seed Chicken

Ingredients: 

* 1 whole fryer chicken or 2 lb. chicken breast, cooked, deboned, and cut into bite-size pieces OR you can just buy a whole Rotisserie chicken from the grocery/Costco/Sams and cut it up into small pieces.  (The Rotisserie chicken option is so easy and economical!)
* 1 (8 oz.) carton of sour cream
* 1 can cream of chicken soup
* 2 cups crushed Ritz crackers
* 2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
* 1 stick butter, melted

Put chopped chicken in the bottom of a 13x9x2 in. casserole dish.  Mix sour cream and cream of chicken soup together.  Spread over chicken.  Mix crushed Ritz crackers, poppy seeds, and melted butter in a bowl.  Sprinkle over top of sour cream-soup mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Serves 6.  Can be frozen.

Enjoy!

For more great recipes, be sure to visit Try a New Recipe Tuesday at Home to 4 Kiddos!

As you share a family meal this week, may I suggest a great children's book that can be read aloud to children of all ages as we remember and honor all our heroic veterans.  H is for Honor: A Military Family Alphabet is such a wonderful book "from the Marine Corps' courage, character, and commitment to "mail call" and letters from loved ones, H is for Honor: A Military Family Alphabet, pays deep respect to the remarkable and outstanding group we call the American Armed Forces-the world's very best."  On Nov. 11, be sure to remember and thank a veteran for their sacrifices for our country!  Thank you and God bless!



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For this week's 7 Quick Takes hosted by Jennifer at Conversion Diary, I'm combining the Friday's Quick Takes with things I'm thankful for since each Thursday in November is themed "Thankful Thursdays", which is hosted by Tammy at Creative K Kids.  I'm also linking up to Lisa's "My Week in Review" at Home to 4 Kiddos.

St. Lucy -- Patron Saint of eyes -- eye candy

This past week, we went to a Corn Maze over an hour away from our house.  We went with a few of our homeschool families for the second year in a row.  We enjoyed the beautiful day playing and doing the "finger" corn maze for younger kids (but all my kids enjoyed it).  In a finger maze you find 5 different stations with different colored chalk.  You put one finger from your right hand in the chalk until all 5 fingers have a different colored chalk.  When you exit the maze you find the color pattern of your hand on a big board and it will tell you to do something silly like "Act like a chicken" or "Jump up and down".  It's a cute maze.  We saw some neat animals too! 
Our little pumpkin turned 15 months on October 30!  Where does the time go?  She was happy to sit on our pumpkin porch and take her photos while 2 of my other daughters encouraged her to smile big!
Speaking of All Saints' Day, this is the banner I made for our party, which says "HAPPY FEAST OF ALL SAINTS".  Jessica over at Shower of Roses has a tutorial and printout of the letters with Saints on them HERE.  I printed them and laminated the banner letters to be used for future All Saints' Day parties.  Thank you Jessica!