Thanksgiving Decorations

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Today's post will be quick as I'm having one of those crazy days. I'm sure by now you have all heard about the crazy October snowstorm. Although it didn't affect my town too much, unfortunately, I'm a storm widow since my poor husband works for the power company. He has been assigned the overnight shift again so I get to find ways to entertain Hazel and try to keep her quiet so he can sleep when he gets home. It has also meant no naps all week since he is waking up around her nap time and she of course wants to see Daddy. The nice part is that they do get to see each other whereas if he was working days they probably wouldn't. Then on top of it last night I received a frantic email about tutoring today so I had to find someone to watch her so I could actually go to work this evening. Luckily Steve's mother is happy to do it for us. So now, I have to get ready to go tutor, but wanted to share this little craft with you before I go.

In preparation for Thanksgiving we (well mostly I since Hazel couldn't focus that day) made some wooden bead and pipe cleaner napkin rings. Very easy and she actually did help with a few of them. String some large beads on half a pipe cleaner and then close it to make a loop.  Beading works on Hazel's fine motor skills so it is a plus every way you look at it.

I played around with letter beads as well and considered personalizing them for all of our guests (and possibly making some for Christmas gifts from Hazel), but I didn't have enough letter beads to spell all the names or words I wanted. I did get one "Thanks" done and figured I would buy more at some point and have her make them.

I think it will add a little more of a personal touch to your Thanksgiving table. What are you doing for yours?

Thanking a Soldier

Hazel decorated one side

I wrote a letter...

Today Hazel and I worked on cards for American Soldiers. With Veteran's Day fast approaching and the holiday season, I always like to take time out to thank a soldier. I googled to see where we could send our cards. I found amillionthanks.org. So Hazel and I pulled out our Fourth of July stickers and decorated some blue paper. Then I printed a letter thanking the soldier and his or her family for their sacrifices and service. It seems like such a nice way to teach Hazel about Veteran's Day.

My Fairy Princess

My Witch Princess

We also hit the post Halloween sales for dress-up clothes. Hazel has been loving her "White Snow" (as she calls it) costume. She also likes her witch hats--especially the one with green hair attached. And her fairy/butterfly wings. We actually went to Sears today for portraits and Hazel wore her wings in half of them.

My Little Fairy at Sears

A Month of Thankful

Well, today is a new day! And for that I'm very thankful. I'm glad Halloween is over, and now I can focus on Thanksgiving. As I mentioned in my post last night, we are starting to count down to Thanksgiving here. To do this I started a family activity. Yesterday afternoon we all painted some coffee filters. This morning Hazel and I cut them into leaves and did our first "I am thankful for" sticker. We appropriately decided today's would be "I am thankful for Fluffy coming home safe." After last night I thought that was a good one. We then punched holes in them so we could make a garland, but when I thought about where to hang the garland, I got the idea of taping them to our French door windows (this is also where we hang our Christmas cards).  This way we can enjoy the watercolor painting from both sides. To do this activity you need some coffee filters, watercolor paints and paintbrushes, some leave shapes (I used a maple I had from somewhere and a real oak leaf from Hazel's nature table) and some clear address labels so you can print the labels out (or you can write directly on the leaves) and if you are printing you can download the document here. (I used Avery 5160 for the format.) I also wrote in numbers on the labels so it would work as a countdown.

I can't wait until we have a few more days so this leaf won't look so lonely on the door! What a nice way to begin each day...talking about what we are thankful for. Hmmm...maybe we should continue this all year.

The other thing we did this morning was to bake. We made Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins. I found the recipe here. I had made these with the pumpkin we cooked when my parents were here. We loved them. Today I used canned pumpkin and less chocolate chips (since they take over the entire taste). I used the whole can of pumpkin instead of measuring it out which was about  a bit more than the recipe calls for, but I didn't notice a  difference.

Come on November....

I am so glad Halloween is over with. I have to say this was one of my worst ones ever and it had nothing to do with the crazy snowstorm this past weekend. Well I guess it does in someways since if we didn't get the snowstorm Steve would have been home to help during my minor crisis. Since he was working, I had to call two neighbors to come over and help. Our little kitten escaped while I questioned teenagers on what they were dressed as besides just teenagers. Their response was "Strangers". It amazes me how many people come from the neighboring city (which is neighboring on the other side of our town so not really close) to trick-or-treat here. Of the 100+ pieces of candy I gave out today I literally recognized four or five families from our neighborhood. And if you are going to come to another neighborhood to trick-or-treat at least wear a costume!

Happy Halloween!

I will admit I really do not like Halloween. As a Christian it feels strange to celebrate it. Yet I see how fun it is for the children, so I celebrate it. I do love seeing the kids dressed up. Though I do have to admit since getting married and living in a neighborhood where the kids gets bussed in to trick-or-treat it has lost some of its appeal. (Literally we see people we have never seen before with cars following them through the neighborhood and go through at least 6-7 bags of candy before we turn off our light. Last year we gave out the candy Hazel had gotten because we ran out.) I find it even stranger that so many people put so much time and money into Halloween decorations. Hazel is still just beginning to get the idea of Halloween. She still does not like wearing her costume much, but at least this year we got her in it.

My Little Spoon

Craft at Party

Saturday we went to Hazel's school for their Halloween Party. It was a fundraiser for the eighth grade class trip. For a $5 entrance fee we got drinks and a snack and to play some games for prizes as well as do a craft and hear a story. Hazel refused to wear her costume when we got there. When we finally got it on her and got a picture of the two of us in our costumes and the party ended. However we had seen just about everything without the costume, and she had a great time.

Craft at Party

The craft was very easy and very cute. They had orange jack-o'-lanterns pre-cut out of paper so they would fold in half with a front and back. Using a glue stick they had the kids spread glue on the orange paper and then glue a piece of tissue paper (pre-cut in circles the a bit smaller than the pumpkin) on. They were given the choice of colors for tissue paper and could use two colors (one on each side). Hazel chose orange and yellow tissue paper.

Sunday we went to church. We skipped the Boo Breakfast due to the snow and a bad night of sleeping, but made it to church. Then we came home and had lunch and tried to get Hazel to nap, but she refused. Then we took her to some friends' houses and my mother-in-law's for trick-or-treating. She wore her costume somewhat to the first two houses, but refused to put it back on after that.
Then we came home and carved Hazel's first jack-o'-lantern. She helped me scoop out the seeds and goop. Then she used the scoop as a pretend knife and pretended to carve it. She looked so serious while she did this--I couldn't resist taking pictures.

Add caption

Today we have a busy day. Hazel is going to my mother-in-law's for their Monday playdate. Then I'm picking her up to take her to the special Halloween story time at the library (where costumes are expected since it ends with trick-or-treating at the various desks). Then after lunch and a nap I will take her to a few of our neighbors' houses. Since Steve got stuck working nights because of the storm again, I will than have to be home to give out the candy. Not sure how it will work to get her down with all of that going on, but we shall see.

The dish and the spoon!

What are your plans for Halloween? Hope you have a happy and safe one!! Remember to have your kids leave their candy for the Pumpkin Fairy!