My First Waldorf Doll & Pumpkin Pie

I would like to introduce you to....

Well actually, we haven't decided on a name for her yet. I also have not made any clothes for her yet, but she is my newest creation. I ordered a 16-inch doll kit from Weir Dolls. One of my goals was to make a Waldorf doll. Now that I have, I have to say I found it much easier than I thought it would be. I can see myself making more dolls. I made her in a matter of a few days mostly at night after Hazel (and often Steve) went to bed. I finished her hair this week at the Cape. Hazel and I went to visit my parents one last time before school started. I used the money my parents gave me for my birthday to buy the kit. Now I have told Hazel that I will share the doll with her since she is after all my birthday gift. Plus I don't like how she is assuming everything I make and buy is for her. For the doll's hair I followed this wonderful tutorial at Crafty Sheep. I loved that it was a bit different than the traditional ones. Tonight I hope to make her some clothes!!

Update: She is dressed!! I made her a dress and underwear. I have to say I did not like the pattern much so I will be designing her some new clothes soon.

While at my parents, Hazel had to check on her vegetables. My father has been giving her pumpkin reports. Well she of course wanted to pick one and bake a pumpkin pie. She seems to have Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman on her mind. My mother bought a pie crust and some canned pumpkin and they made a pumpkin pie together. My mother followed the recipe on the can of pumpkin. Now my parents' house is not air conditioned and the kitchen gets HOT!! So my mother did not want to bake the pumpkin first nor did they really have the time to do it all. So we brought the pumpkins home so we can do it here. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of them making the pie since I was enjoying a bit of relaxation time knitting in the other room.

I have to say we all enjoyed the pie. Hazel liked to eat the filling and not the crust!

Fighting Hunger

How do you know when you are hungry? I have sat through many Weight Watchers Meetings listening to this discussion of the answer to that question. How do you know when you are really hungry versus something else like emotional eating, boredom or habit? Do you ever have that problem? The answers usually are things like stomach rumbling, easily agitated, its been awhile since you ate, fatigue. Try to imagine your hungriest time and how you felt. Now imagine feeling that way most of the time. How would your life change? 

The High School Youth Group at my church does a 30-Hour Famine every spring. These high school students go for thirty hours without eating. They first start with a nice large breakfast and then go to school for a Friday. Then they return to the church and sleepover. On Saturday they usually do some sort of service project and then end the fast with Communion and a meal. Now you may ask yourself why a group of teenagers would go thirty hours without eating. It is to raise money for World Vision to help feed the hungry around the world.

As I was thinking about this post, I started thinking about the 30-Hour Famine. I actually just messaged one of the students who did this 30-Hour Famine all four years of her high school career (she is now in college) and was lucky enough to get one of the positions to visit a country where World Vision works to see how the money raised was helping. I first asked her for her first feelings on the 30-Hour Famine. She said, "You feel empowered, like you are making a difference in the lives of children you may never be able to reach otherwise." Then I asked her specifically about the hungry feeling. She responded, "Of course you lose focus and it makes the school day seem like ten times longer."

Next I started looking at the statistics. According to data released on September 5, 2012 by the Department of Agriculture, last year more than 16 million kids struggled with hunger in America that is equal 1 in every 5 children. (Source) Also, 62% of American teachers say they regularly see kids who come to school hungry because they are not getting enough food at home. (Source)

As a former public school teacher this statistic saddens me and scares me. I know what the lack of focus can do to a student as well as to a class. If the child is not getting fed enough, their ability is down and they will be less likely to succeed in school and thus less likely to be able to support and feed their family in the future. But what saddens me further is there is enough food for everyone in the world. Our society/world is not getting it to the people who need it. I am sure we all remember hearing about the starving people in the third world countries as children (usually Africa in my memory), but these people are starving in our country as well! We need to take care of them.

So what can we do? Well here are some ideas (many obvious):

1. Donate to an organization like No Kid Hungry $1 can connect a child with 10 meals!
2. Donate to a local soup kitchen/food bank with money, food, and/or time
3. Cook a meal for a local soup kitchen
4. Organize a food drive
5. Organize a bake sale or other fundraiser
6. Dine Out for No Kid Hungry September 16th - September 24th! For more information and to find participating restaurants check out here.
7. If you are a member of Weight Watchers (like me) do everything to lose as much as you can for the next 12 weeks during their Lose For Good Campaign (They donate a quarter for every pound lost to Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger.)

So join me this month in helping end hunger and in celebrating National (End) Hunger Month!

Children's Museum, Friends & Zoo

We had a very busy week last week. On Monday we met my friend in the town we grew up in for lunch and then the three of us went to the Children's Museum there. Now the friend we met and I have known each other since we were around six months old. Yes, we are lifetime friends. We both now live in different states and our hometown is about halfway between us. Her youngest is my goddaughter who is looking at colleges for next year. Well, we took Hazel by the houses we grew up in and went to the New Children's Museum. Of course anyone from around the area of West Hartford, knows the museum by the giant whale in front of it. See above. After we went through the museum we went into the whale. Remember the picture I asked where Hazel was? She was inside the whale.

Happy Family Times #24

Have you done something fun with your family this week? Kelly from Happy Whimsical Hearts and I are collecting all the ideas in hopes to inspire all of us to have more quality family time! Please share yours below!

This week Hazel and I went to visit one of my sisters in Connecticut. My sister lives two blocks from a public beach. You can see the ocean from the street in front of her condo. It is beautiful there. She also works four 10-hour days and often has Tuesdays off. So we headed to Connecticut on Monday. We stopped in West Hartford, the town I grew up in and met up with some of my friends and then met my sister at her place after work for dinner and sleep. Hazel was so excited to be there. My sister left her a plastic lei on her bed. We had to decorate it on Wednesday.

Tuesday morning we woke up, had breakfast and walked to the beach (after the ran stopped). Hazel was the only one in her bathing suit since our plan was to go for a walk, let her play and then have lunch at the condo and head to my sister's sailing club to swim in the pool.

At the beach, Hazel had a blast playing with the sand and water. She made sand cookies and served them as well as sand soup. She had a pail for each of us of the soup. We went home for a quick lunch and to change into our suits and headed to the club for a swim. Hazel had so much fun in the water, however she was very clingy to both of us. She did not want to use the floaties and noodles, etc. to show us what she learned in swim lessons. Oh, well. We had fun!

I heard from Hazel:

"I wish our home was as beautiful as this." (My sister's living situation is temporary, but Hazel loved it.)
"I don't want to go home. I want to live with my aunt."

Needless to say we had a great time!!


Now it is your turn to share how your family has spent some quality time lately.

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Ok, now for our PARTY!! Please share your FUN Family Times!!

Multicultural Monday--The Land Down Under

G'Day, Mate! My dear friend, Kelly, over at Happy Whimsical Hearts sent Hazel an Australian package. Well actually it was technically Kelly's son and Hazel's pen pal, but when you are talking 3 and 4-year-olds let's face it, it is the mother. We received this package awhile ago. I found most of the parts to it again, but Hazel has really been enjoying it. Today we explored the land down under or Australia. (Yes, The Men at Work song, Down Under, keeps playing through my head.--I'm a child of the 80's--what can I say.)

The package included a post card of the Australian flag, a travel brochure, some vegemite packages, some play money, a little koala toy and a platypus finger puppet. When we got this package, Hazel loved the platypus. I keep finding it everywhere, but of course, today I couldn't find it. When we got the package, we took some books out on platypuses, but of course, I didn't take any pictures of them. Hazel keeps telling me she wants to see a real platypus, so I guess we will have to take a trip to Australia!!

Thanks, Kelly & Dino Boy!!

This morning we made some toast and tried the vegemite. I have to say that none of us really liked it. We were glad we had also made a piece of toast with some of our peach jam on it to get rid of the taste. But now we know what vegemite tastes like. I know I have always wondered ever since The Men at Work song.

Next we took out the books we had from the library and read them. One of them suggested making boomerangs from cardboard, so we did. Hazel decorated them. She and Daddy are going to try them out later after they dry. I also pulled out the travel book I picked up the last time I was at the AAA office. Nothing like dreaming of a great vacation.

The other day Hazel and I went with some friends to the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. I will share more about this trip on Wednesday, but they have an Outback Trail. We saw emus (sorry the picture is not so great of them, but you can see it above the u), kangaroos, sleeping tree kangaroos, cockatoos and black swans. We also saw a kookaburra, but the picture was really horrible. Then I also included some sharks and the turtle from our aquarium trip last month.

For some more Australian crafts and activities check out:

Happy Whimsical Hearts

Daria Music
Making Multicultural Music
Irresistible Ideas 
Red Ted Art 
and another one here..
Glittering Muffins has several if you scroll down you will see the Australian ones

DLTK Kids