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.

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.

Valentine's Day Banner

Upon seeing this super cute Valentine's Day banner, I knew I had to make something similar of my own for our kitchen/dining room. I decided to incorporate a scripture into my banner and chose 1 Corinthians 13:13- "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

I like the idea of using book pages, as in the original, but since I was adding more words, I figured it would be better to use a combination solid and printed paper. I cut my paper into 4" by 6" rectangles. I then folded the top half inch over to be able to hang each piece on the string. Once I cut a triangle out of the bottom of each rectangle, it was time to add the words. I typed up the scripture and printed it out, then cut apart the words and used double-sided tape to attach them to each flag. A little more double-sided tape and some string through the flaps on the back, and the banner was done.

If you would like to make a banner of your own, my document with the scripture is available here. Please print this for your own personal use only. Thanks!




I'm linking up with:

V Week- Making Valentines

Spoiler alert for Trip's grandparents, aunts, and uncles: This post contains pictures of a a card that will soon be in your mailbox, so if you want to be surprised, don't look! :)

I wanted to make valentines for some family members, so I got Trip set up with some paints. I tried a couple of new mixes that turned out great. The dark one is red and blue finger paint with some glitter. The other is a modified version of the "snow paint" that I made last week. This time, I mixed equal amounts of white glue and shaving cream and then added some red finger paint to make it pink.

Trip was excited to get to work and liked knowing that he was painting for his grandparents.

He was quite fascinated with the puffy paint. (And also felt the need to stand up in the chair to explore it.)

Once the paint was dry, I traced some hearts on the back of the paper and cut them out. I printed out the text, and began the assembly.

Happy Valentine's Day!

V Week- Valentine's Lunch

I put together and simple but cute Valentine's Day lunch for Trip and he was quite pleased with it.

First, I made these delicious fruit gummies. They are basically a healthy version of Jell-O Jigglers, made with fruit, applesauce, juice, and plain gelatin. They're easy to whip up and keep well in the fridge for several days. I'm pretty sure I liked them just as much as Trip did. They're not too sweet and have nice berry flavor. I will definitely make them again.

I also cut hearts out of red bell peppers and cheese. I made some Vs too, because I like to make our letter of the week appear on Trip's plate whenever possible. He was excited to dig in and actually went for the peppers first instead of the fruit.

We enjoyed a dessert of Greek yogurt (so thick, creamy, and delicious!) with a few red sprinkles and a heart marshmallow.

G Week- Gingerbread Cookies

One of our housemates had requested gingerbread moose cookies for Christmas. This prompted me to find a good recipe for them. My family has discovered that America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated often has the best recipe for baked goods. We are crazy about their chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, and several of their cakes. An online search revealed the Cook's Illustrated gingerbread cookie recipe, found here.

The dough came together quickly and easily. I was quite happy to discover that this recipe doesn't contain eggs, so I could let Trip taste the dough without worrying about the risk of him getting sick. Plus, you have the option of making thick and chewy cookies for eating (which I did) or thin and crispy cookies for ornaments or decorating. The directions have you roll out the dough between parchment paper (I used wax paper), then place it in the freezer or fridge for a while. Taking the time to chill the dough definitely makes for easy cookie cutting and the cookies retain their shape well.

We made some moose as well as a few hedgehogs and squirrels with our cool woodland creatures cookie cutters from Ikea.

 

A few gingerbread men made their way into the mix too.

Next year, maybe we'll try the thin and crispy version and make some ornaments for our tree.

G Week- Gingerbread Playdough

Gingerbread playdough (made with this recipe) was a hit! We had some friends over the day I made it, and it was so popular that I had to make more because the older kids wanted to play with the little ones.

Of course, Trip had to taste the dough.

Then, he had fun pushing cookie cutters into it.

I got out some googly eyes and buttons to use as decorations. Although Trip wasn't too interested in them, his friends loved cutting out shapes and embellishing them.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

I grew up in Belgium, where December 6, St. Nicholas Day, is a big deal. My sister and I attended Belgian public schools, so we always had special activities on this day. Traditionally, children received many of their gifts from St. Nicholas and then a few more from Father Christmas on Christmas Day. Although Christmas was still when we got most of our gifts, our parents always made sure that we had some presents waiting for us when we woke up on December 6.

It's fun to be able to carry on this tradition with Trip. Last night before he went to bed, he chose a pair of boots to put next to the door. He didn't really understand why we were doing this, but he sure was happy to find them full of goodies this morning. He got clementines, gummy bears, and a Thomas bath toy.

Once Trip discovered his treats and we got Thomas out of the packaging (which is not an easy task these days!), he wanted to watch a Thomas DVD while he ate breakfast. Of course Thomas joined him at the table and he was kind enough to offer his new friend bites of his food.

The other surprise this morning was that we got our tree in the house and lit last night after Trip went to bed. He has been admiring it ever since he got up.

H Week- Homemade Halloween Decorations

With Halloween quickly approaching, I have been working on some easy and cheap homemade decorations. Last year, I made these milk jug pumpkins. They are super simple and fun. I just painted milk jugs with orange acrylic paint. Once the orange was dry, I painted the tops brown and added faces to some of them with black paint. Next, I put some dry pasta in each one to weigh them down. Beans, popcorn kernels, sand, as well as nuts, bolts, or washers are some of the many other things that would serve the same purpose. I then pushed Christmas lights into each jug. A strand of one hundred lights filled two to three pumpkins effectively. They are nice displayed in the childhood wagon that my sister and I shared.

Trip has a hard time leaving them alone!

They look cooler and cooler as it gets darker.

Another project from last year was a welcome sign for the door. I cut strips of Halloween scrapbook paper, taped them together, and added tagboard letters.

This year brought a couple of new projects. First, I made a bunting for our kitchen/dining room shelves. I used the same paper from the welcome sign and cut out a bunch of rhombuses. I then folded each one in half around some ribbon and added a piece of double-sided tape to hold everything in place.

A few days ago, I saw a tutorial for trash bag spider webs on How About Orange and was sold. We have tons of spiders around here right now (much to everyone's dismay), so it seemed appropriate. In fact, we have so many spider webs forming outside the house, that we don't even have to add any fake ones for Halloween. Yuck!

Anyway, I got out some bags and got to work cutting.

I ended up with three good spider webs and arranged them on our large sliding glass door that faces the street.

Apparently they were nice enough that a real spider took refuge near one of them. The only reason it survived was because it was outside!

When the sun shines through the window in the morning, the spider web shadows show up on the blinds inside. At night, they look great from the street with the light coming from inside the house.