Turkey Lunch

It's been way too long since I've created a special lunch for Trip, so I decided to surprise him with a turkey. It turned out kind of funny looking, but he was thrilled so it was a win.

I stuck carrots, olives, cucumber chunks, and hot dog slices on toothpicks, then stuck them into an apple. I also added some chocolate eyes and a gummy worm beak and wattle. The best part (as with most special lunches), is that he at just about every bite.

Thankful Turkeys

We came across some free gourds last week and I've been thinking of some ideas of how we can use them. I've been trying help Trip think of things that he's thankful for, so a thankful turkey sounded like a good idea. I made my turkey during nap time so that Trip could see what his would look like. I also got his feathers, beak, wattle, and feet cut out.

As he ate a snack, I wrote down the things he told me he was thankful for. It took a little effort, but he came up with five things that could go on his turkey. A few things, like not being afraid of gorillas, didn't make the list. :) He also wanted to put himself on one of the feathers and told me to spell it "T-R-P," which is how he is sure his name and every other word is spelled. :) Food, Jesus, Heaven, Daddy, and toys made the list. Daddy suggested that Mommy should be on the feather with Daddy, but Trip wouldn't have it! :) Good thing I know he loves me anyway!

Once Trip looked through our collection of gourds and chose a green one, I attached the feathers to it with straight pins, although I'm sure glue would have worked just as well. I figured that the pins would have a little more give and let the feathers be more flexible.

Trip was eager to get the eyes glued on his turkey and wanted big googly eyes placed right at the top. He was also very excited about the turkey's feet.

Once his turkey was done, he carried it around with him for the rest of the evening, showing it around the house and introducing it to everyone as they came home.

It's Almost Holiday Fair Time Again!

One of the big reasons the blog has been so empty lately is that my sister and I have a table at our local holiday fair again this year, which means I have a lot of crafting to do. Most of my free time during Trip's nap and after he goes to bed has been filled with craft projects. I've gotten quite a bit done, which is good, but I still have lots more I want to get accomplished.

Flower pins and headbands were some of my best sellers last year, so I've made lots of them hoping for similarly good sales this year.

I had a few of these left from last year and need to get more made.

Some new designs for this year...

I kind of want to keep all of these headbands for myself. :)

I crocheted some super useful kitchen scrubbies.

I also have a couple versions of this stick wreath made.

One of my new pastimes is making twine-wrapped bottles. They look great and are fun for lots of different decorating purposes. I'll have some of those on our tables too.

My plan is to make some head/ear warmers (which I sold out of last year), a couple of different sugar scrubs, and some playdough kits (maybe gingerbread man, robot/monster, snowman). There are other things I'm considering, but we'll see how it goes!

Our Halloween

So, I have some catching up to do in the blogging department. For now, here are some pictures of our Halloween fun.

Trip enjoyed an orange and black lunch of some of his favorite things- nachos, olives, carrots, and mandarin oranges.

After his nap, there was a special treat waiting for him.

A little later that afternoon, he got to have a Halloween bath. I painted the walls with washable finger paints

 and added some orange spaghetti and googly eyes to the water.

Trip was excited to see his bath, but didn't want to get in. He had been sick the previous weekend and we had to give him a lukewarm bath to bring down his fever. That really ruined baths for him! 

Once he finally got in, he explored the noodles with his feet.

Then, he started putting them all over his body.

After bathtime, we got on our costumes and headed to church for a party. My only "costume" was some googly eyes on my nails.

Trip was a puppy thanks to some friends who passed down this cute costume.

We hosted a trick or treat pit stop at our church where families could come warm up for a few minutes and let the kids play some games. Trip enjoyed the magnetic rocket toss.

 

We had a ducky matching game in Trip's water table. Kids also got to reach in a container of water beads to find a hidden prize, which they loved. The balloon pop game was lots of fun too. We put prizes in balloons and blew them up. We then tacked them on a sheet of plywood and each child got to choose a balloon to pop. As soon as they popped it, their prize fell out. The cupcake walk was a highlight for many kids and parents as well.

Hammer Time!

We've done a couple of really fun activities with hammers!

First, I gave Trip a block of Styrofoam, some nails, and his hammer. He was resistant to this activity, but once he tried it, he was busy for a long time and was determined to get each nail firmly pounded into the block.

Some took lots of concentration :)

Then, he decided to hammer while on his tummy.

Once all the nails were in, we got out his pliers from Bapa and he pulled them all back out.

Our next hammering activity was delicious as well as fun. We had a great time breaking into a coconut! We worked together with Daddy's drill to make two holes so that we could drain out the coconut water.

Then, Trip got to start pounding.

He was excited to break the shell and get to the meat.

Once we got to this point, it was time for a taste! Trip didn't care much for the water, but he did really like the flesh, which we refrigerated and enjoyed for several days. 

Bulldozer Craft

This super simple craft was lots of fun! I printed a bulldozer coloring sheet. Trip colored it a little, then I cut it out and we glued it on a piece of brown paper. That's when the real fun started. I gave Trip a bottle of glue and a bowl of oatmeal.

He had a fantastic time gluing,

sprinkling,

and gluing some more.

Tools Activities

If found a great free printable tool-themed tot pack here from Our Little Monkeys. It's full of good activities and worth a look.

We used the shadow matching cards,

the alphabet (which worked nicely with some letter chips we have),

the shape matching,

 and the pattern pages.

Trip hasn't wanted to use his dry erase markers to complete the next two activities yet, but we'll try it again soon.

Building Words

I put stickers on some blocks for an easy letter matching and word building activity.

Trip had to just explore the blocks first and enjoyed building a tower.

Then, we got down to the actual letter matching and made a tower of words.

He wasn't too thrilled to show off his work, though. :)

Later that day, he got his backpack and went to "school" at his desk where he had a little more fun with the letter blocks, this time coloring the stickers.