Hi everyone,
I know this is supposed to be a blog about dolls and the dresses I make for them… and sometimes the dresses YOU make for them and share with us all! However today I have to show you some very special pictures. Every year our church hosts a Fall celebration we have started calling “Taste of America,” to give the students at the University a small taste of some of our favorite foods in America, some of the games we play, learn what a hayride is all about, also be exposed to a HUGE bonfire, and even a little barn dancing! I hope you’ll enjoy seeing all the fun we had!
We had a BEAUTIFUL day and evening… in the 70’s and upper sixties, and it was WONDERFUL!
We have geared our food to Autumn American dishes that you might find on a cool day… like Chili, hot dogs, hot chocolate, hot apple cider, applesauce cooked over a fire, with vanilla ice cream, of course!, s’mores, and caramel apples. There were a few other dishes, but we like to introduce them to all kinds of “our” foods, and it’s not just red beef chili, we had veggie turkey chili, white chicken chili, vegetarian chili, bean chili, and probably a few varieties I missed. As I was setting up my Caramel Apples Station, I stopped and counted the Crock Pots, and there were 16 of them on the tables…and I think I saw a few more come in later… that’s a lot of chili! That’s why my hubby made those electrical boxes to help with the load on the breaker box. We didn’t have a single blown fuse! YAY!
When the students arrived, there were games they could play and then just mingle if they wanted to. We had the three stations, (caramel apples, s’mores, and applesauce with ice cream) and then the tables were lined up with all those chili’s! It sounds like a lot, but we had over 200 people there. When they were getting a few instructions about the night, they started going through the alphabet and calling out the names of where they were from… we had over 30 nations represented!
India, Colombia, Japan, Greece, Chad, Zimbabwe, Peru, China, Singapore, Brazil, Bangladesh, Bahamas, Chile, Egypt, Finland, Honduras, Iran, Lithuania, Ukraine, Mongolia, Uganda, and many more!
Let me just share a few pictures from Saturday evening! It’s just a fun time for the students to get to know one another and make new friends. Sometimes they are SO lonely for their home country and this way, they just might find someone they didn’t know was here from their same country.
This was getting set up… It took LOTS of hands to pull this off, but working together makes the load light! If you click on the pictures they will enlarge.
Sylvia and Ashriel were a mother daughter team in charge of all the crock pots and other foods… They did a great job!
I took a few pictures of the group as they were getting instructions about the evening and then they began to head for the food! YEEHAW!
This is Kevin and Carla… they headed up the homemade chunky applesauce…cooked over an open fire in a copper kettle! It was fabulous!
Trust me… it was delicious!
This was the start of my caramel apples… unwrapping 8 1/2 pounds of caramel candies…
Then I had to wash 6 bags of apples… to get the wax off the skin…
Here was my stand, but I took my picture when my toppings were covered up or mostly gone… so it’s not very pretty…
It really didn’t matter… the caramel apples seemed to be a big hit. My hubby quartered the apples and I put them on skewers. I went through 170 skewers… and have lots of happy faces to share with you… mostly of first timers eating their very first caramel apple… SEVERAL came back for seconds and even thirds!
Some of the students wanted to use the pumpkins on my table for props for a picture shoot… I know some of them are blurry, but they wanted me to add them to this post, because I’m going to send them the link to this post so they can share with their families back home…
This is a picture of Neelima, from India, on the left, with her new friends from Colombia, South America! They were having a really good time…
Here are some more of the Colombian’s enjoying themselves…looks like, with their first time S’mores!
We always have a huge bonfire and the International students LOVE it… lots of them just sat in chairs and watched it for the longest time while others visted!
You have never seen anything so funny as the students wanting to learn how to do a few line dances, when they can’t understand a single thing the caller is telling them. They just learn by trial and error and try to follow the directions given before they start. I took a couple of short video’s of some of the things going on in the barn… My caramel apple station was just outside the barn, so I heard some Virginia Reel music going on and a few Do-si-do dances going on.
Well, this was certainly a fun time for everyone! I am pooped… still, but today was Kristoffers’s birthday, so we celebrated with him this afternoon! This gal is going to Do-si-do off to the bedroom and get some sleep!!!
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
I remember seeing your posts about this event in past years, too, Jeanne, and it always seems so festive, and so much fun. Was this held at your church, or in your yard? I’m thinking the former, because of how many people were there.
That was certainly a lot of crock pots–so glad no breakers blew when they were all plugged in!!
I had never thought to put applesauce on ice cream; I suppose it’s a little like apple pie a la mode but without the crust! Sounds delicious!!
No dolly news here at the moment, but I’ve started smocking the summer nightie I’m making for myself, and also started sewing a blouse for myself.
Hi, Charlotte. Saw your comment yesterday on my Natterer dolls. I have Romy and Valentine (I pronounce it like Valenteen). I just got them not too long ago so haven’t done any sewing for them until now. Romy’s dress turned out real cute and when I’m finished this round of sewing I’ll send Jeanne some pictures for when she needs a break.
I really do wish we lived closer. The woman that teaches smocking in Houston is difficult to learn from. I smocked (geometric) a dress for Jaiden when she was little and am trying to get back to it. I have some smocking patterns for doll clothes. I also want to learn picture smocking. I have instructions and the internet but a real person with patience would be a blessing.
Yes, Jeanne, what PERFECT weather we had this weekend! What would you do with all those crockpots out in the rain? Maybe inside somewhere? What a great turnout it was for you, and it certainly looked like fun for everyone involved!
Applesauce and ice cream? I have never heard of that, and I don’t live that far away! Yes, apple pie and ice cream, apple dumplings and ice cream, but applesauce and ice cream is a new one for me! It does sound delicious though.
So funny to see the dancers trying to follow directions! And wow, what a bon fire!
If we could all get together and get along like these students do, what a wonderful world it would be!
And a big Happy Birthday to the “younger” Mr. Wiedlocher!
What a great post covering the Fall Festival and what a great idea! This was probably the best one ever. Glad you took lots of pictures and shared them.
Thanks for sharing the fun photos. Tasty food and a whole lot of crockpots. Next year, there should be a crockpot contest as well. The oldest, largest, smallest, best combined features, most colorful, best decorated, etc. Nice that there were cards with the chili types noted as well. Looks like all food tastes were covered. Guess you could have a best chili contest as well. Like in the old days at a county fair.
Love the pics of students visiting your stand and posing with the pumpkins. The whole event makes the world a smaller happier place. Wish this could spread worldwide.
Congrats to George’s electrical prowess. Such a feat to accomplish. 🙂
We actually had rain yesterday. Usually, our dry streak isn’t broken until November, but it was nice. And guess what I made? Chili and cornbread. 🙂
Which Natterer dolls do you have? I have Romy and Valentine. I finished Romy’s dress yesterday and it turned out really cut. Hope to start Valentine’s today. I use the Vaniline patterns because they create the patterns for the Minouche dolls. The patterns also fit Les Cheries (with slight alterations on the pattern) and Little Darling. But I ended up making the sleeve cuff a little wider because the Minouche dolls have chubbier arms than the other two I mentioned. I’ve used Vaniline patterns before for and I love them. Aside from having to add the seam amount yourself, they are easy to use and the styles of clothes are great.
I’m waiting for it to cool down again to make some chili and cornbread. One of our favorite meals.
Now, you’re making me work. 🙂 Off the top of my head, I can’t remember their names. However, they are mostly from the older group. I think I started picking them up sometime after I finished with the Maru kids. Clearly, I have way too many dolls. 🙂
This is why I have my doll clothes in boxes labeled with their names (sometimes more than one doll to a box). One day I couldn’t remember the names of my two Boneka dolls so I went and looked at their box. If I see the names I know which doll(s) the box belongs to. In truth I had to look up the Natterer girls the other day online because I couldn’t remember Valentine’s name. Romy was the one I’ve seen over and over modeling doll clothes patterns so I knew I wanted her. But while I was ordering Romy I saw Valentine and she has the cutest hairstyle so I had to have her. So do you have all the Maru kids? Just the minis or some of the 20″ dolls too?
This does look like the best fall celebration so far. Think of the memories you made.
Thanks, Jeanne, for the great pictures. Makes me feel almost like I was there. Your college is definitely a melting pot of people and nations. They all looked like they were having an amazing time. You can tell them that not all of us Americans get the dances either and we can understand the caller. But it was always fun trying. Congratulations to George for a successful solving of the power dilemma.
So glad you had the perfect weather. When I lived in PA our church youth group would do a hayride in October and then come back to the church for cider and doughnuts. It was always fun and our weather was always good and fall-like. But the weather here can be totally unpredictable at this time of year and one year Andrea’s youth group wanted to do a hayride. Living where we do putting one together was no problem but the day of the hayride a front came through and it was windy and bitter cold. Andrea wore my ski attire but since most of the kids did not have the proper warm clothes they ended up calling it off. Never to be tried again.
Looks like a fantastic time and everyone had a blast. Great selection of chili and fall treats. Reminds me of the hayride/fall picnic/square dance our homeschool group did for many, many years which I miss. You had great weather which was wonderful.
Dear Jeanne, what a wonderful way to make the International Students feel welcome. The food sounds delicious. I love vegetarian chili!
Barbara and Linda were saying that the Sofa Sisters should get together like this. I don’t know how that could happen other than Zoom. It would be fun though.
Only 8 more days left in October. Wow!
I love the things celebrated in fall. Your event this year looked like everyone had a great and happy time.
The crockpots are amazing! Thanks to your hubby!
Love a bonfire! What fun and the dancing must have been eild. I couldn’t get your videos to play but I remember pictures of the dancing years before. Your hard work is always appreciated by the guests, I’m sure.
Ohh, caramel apples are one of my favorite desserts/treats. I just had one yesterday.
Wouldn’t that be cool to have all the sofa sisters on zoom??
Jeanne, your church is amazing, and so are you and your hubs. Your Fall fest is such a great thing for these young people. I love how it gave them a chance to get to know each other that way.
Thank you so much for sharing, I loved the photos.
My oh my what a party! I love theme of American food and you certainly had lots of itL Hay rack rides are the best.what a good time for all those kiddos from every part of the world.
You are doing such good things for them🫶👏🙏🏻