Letters to Santa

I know, I know, it's early!  But some family members shop early so I thought I'd do some simple art and get some gift ideas at the same time! 
First of all, we got a HUGE new table, I'm in love.

So the kids were dying to do crafts with all the extra space to spread out lol.  We started out making thank you cards with watercolor paints for the man who gave the table to us (for free!  So awesome!), and then moved on to our Christmas lists.  I wrote the lists as the girls looked through the Toys R Us catalog we recently got in the mail, and then the girls colored them in.  August also wrote her name on top, she's gotten great at writing in the past month, she sometimes needs help remembering what a letter looks like but if I write it on another paper she can easily write it on hers.

August's list cracks me up, even with looking at a toy catalog she came up with ideas like "a blanket with a pony with a tutu on it", "a standing up animal dog", and "A big HUGE toy guitar".  She also wants "A 3 toys (toy story 3) cowboy and a girl cowboy with a horse and a buzz lightyear and a 3 toys dinosaur"....these kids are so silly!!!

Now we're off to plan some weekend adventures, Sean actually has half a Friday and a whole Saturday off of work!!!

Autumn craftiness begins

I love crafts.  I always wanted to be one of those moms who does crafts on an almost daily basis with their kids, I wanted art to be a large part of their lives.  It didn't quite happen that way, I had 3 kids in under 4 years so, unfortunately, I've spent more time than I'd like to admit parenting in survival mode.  Meaning if everyone is fed, mostly clean, and generally happy....we're good.  Craft time fell to the side as I went through early pregnancy yuck, late pregnancy yuck, early postpartum yuck, and being stuck in a chair nursing tiny babies.  But now my two oldest are old enough to really enjoy and appreciate doing crafts and my little one is big enough to view the action from her high chair with some toys to chew on, so, starting now, I'm living my mama-dream.  I actually sort of started in October, and discovered how much fun it is, but I have a huge lineup of fall crafts and then winter/holiday crafts coming up, so I'm REALLY excited! 

I also started hanging the girls' seasonal artwork on the kitchen wall, I love that it makes the kitchen so bright and festive!

Last night, for our first Thanksgiving/Autumn craft, we did a simple "Turkey hand" picture.  I really just needed them to do something before dinner so they'd stop begging to eat before it was ready, but it turned into a really cute project!

first we traced their handprints.....

then we turned the hands into turkeys.....

then we colored our pictures with crayons (concentration require your tongue out, you know.)

August wanted a family of turkeys so we added Libby's and even baby Callie's hand to her picture!

This morning we did another fall craft that I LOVED!  We took this idea, but made autumn leaves instead!  This one required more of my attention throughout the process but it was still super fun.

first I made crayon shreds from lots of broken crayons with a small knife

then I cut out leaf shapes from construction paper

the girls traced the shapes onto wax paper

then they added the crayons shreds over the leaf shape

I covered them with another sheet of wax paper and prepared to iron them

the wax melted out under the iron's heat

we found the black lines of the leaf outline and I gently cut them out

I then punched a hole in the stem and hung them from the curtain rod with yarn

the kitty hasn't attacked them.....yet.

post-Halloween wrap up

Well, one of my favorite holidays is over.  It all seems like a blur of time, but we had a lot of fun this past weekend! 
On Friday night our friend Whitney and her girls Abby & Maddy came over and helped us decorate for our party on Saturday, the girls colored pumpkin faces on orange paper cut-outs while we strung fake spiderwebs and caution tape saying "beware" on it.  I don't like being scared, but I love all the semi-spooky decor that people bring out for this holiday! 
On Saturday I rushed around like a madwoman trying to finish up all of the last minute things for the party and for my costume (Alice Cullen, apparently no one sells her replica choker necklace anymore, go figure!), until 5pm when friends started arriving for our party.  This was SO much fun, and absolutely an annual event in the making!  It was potluck style so there was lots of yummy food....

Almost everyone was in costume, kids and adults alike!

mama as Alice Cullen, Libby as Tinkerbell

the best friends club (minus Liberty)

Chrystie Pirate and Turner Batman! 

Sean's default costume for the past 5 years (since he got home from Iraq), what a cheater!

The kids got to bob for apples....

The grown ups got to have some drinks....

And the baby slept for the last half of the party! (even with the crazy amount of noise)

On Sunday we all managed to get up on time and head to church for their All Souls Day service and Harvest Fest for the kids.  The service was beautiful, I brought a picture of my mom to place on the table they had set out with candles and flowers.  I like that they took the time to honor and remember the dead as many cultures around the world do on these few days in the fall. 
During the service the preschool kids got rice krispie treats for a snack and went on a "ghost hunt", which was a tunnel made out of chairs and sheets with lights and shadows around it, it was their super cute little kid version of a haunted house!

After the service we all headed out to the patio where there were games, crafts, food, and a haunted house set up by the teens with a canned food drive for the "entrance fee".  It was a lot of fun!

August & Miss Heather going into the "scary" haunted house, August is daredevil!

Libby & Callie enjoying Harvest fest

making egg carton spiders

the girls and their spider creations!

After church we stopped to visit Grandma and Papou to show off the girls' costumes, headed home for some soup for dinner, and headed back out for Trick or Treating around the neighborhood. 

 

the loot, most of which was recycled to other trick or treaters!

At first it didn't seem like anyone on our street was home or had candy, but after heading up the street a little ways we found lots of houses to stop at!  The girls LOVED yelling "Trick or Treat!!"  and always said "Thank You, Happy Halloween!" after.  <3  Overall, we had a great Halloween, and now we look forward to the rest of fall and the winter holidays fast approaching!

the girls eating cheese and crackers after ToTing, so their bellies were not just full of candy!

pre-halloween wrap up!

I know I'll still have more to post as we continue festivities in the next week, but I haven't blogged in awhile so I thought I'd update you on what's been keeping us so busy! ;)
After church last Sunday we were supposed to head to the pumpkin patch but instead we got our first rain of the year.  We rescheduled for the next day but didn't want to just sit at home either so we went with some friends to buy "store bought" pumpkins at WinCo and have a carving party!

family pumpkins <3

Eric Northman from True Blood...way harder to carve than I thought!

a glowing Eric Pumpkin!

Unfortunately, a combo of bad pumpkins and weird weather patterns made the pumpkins go bad REALLY fast.  I thought the kids would cry, but they just thought it was funny!

Eric Northman meets the true death....

The next day we did, indeed, go to the pumpkin patch.  It was smaller than the one we have gone to in years past but it's free to get in, which is a huge plus (especially with my budget!), and the kids still had a lot of fun!

Calliope's first pumpkin <3

dads and kids riding the train!

my lil' punkin' baby

Libby & Callie

my 3 girls

picking out mini pumpkins

We had a pretty standard week, and a yard sale on Friday and Saturday, and while rain shut that down about an hour early it stopped just in time to go to the city of Brentwood's trick or treat event! 

The girls were so excited to wear their costumes for the first time!

even mommy got in on the action :)

They were even more excited to get treats!!

 

And Miss Callie-Bug got some treats too :)

Next weekend we are hosting a Halloween party on the 30th, our UU church is having a harvest festival during the morning Sunday service, and I'm sure we'll think of something good to do that evening!  Can you tell that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays??? :)