Losing a Beloved Pet -- RIP Pumpkin Girl

 

Today my heart is heavy and my home is a bit emptier. Last night Steve and I had to make the difficult decision to put our sweet Pumpkin girl down. We noticed she was losing weight and not eating or drinking water like she usually did. She also had changed her spot to spend most of the day. She wasn't being her normal self. I moved her vet appointment up a week because we were growing increasingly worried. She was due for a well visit next week. When our vet saw her she knew something was wrong. After a quick examination she told us she needed to get an x-ray, bloodwork and some liquids into her. She was very dehydrated. She asked us to give her about 20 minutes. We sat on the porch of the vet clinic and waited. When she got all the results she called us in and brought Pumpkin to us. She was fighting tears as she told us that Pumpkin definitely had cancer. She had liquid in her chest and abdomen. We had two options. Take her to a vet hospital ER and let them try to remove the liquid and start chemotherapy or put her down. We couldn't imagine having our sweet Pumpkin girl spend nights in a cage away from us while the poked and examined her, so our decision was clear. It broke our hearts to say goodbye. 

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!

Animal Themed Books for Young Ones

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Kids love books about animals or with animals in them. Today I am sharing three books that are animal themed. They include one board book and two picture books (both released today). We will start with the board book. It is Peekaboo Zoo by Rod Campbell. It is recommended for ages baby to 2.

Been on vacation

So my dear husband, Steven has been off the last two weeks. Somehow his vacation made me have no free time. We did go visit my parents at Cape Cod for a week. While there both of my sisters came at different times and an uncle and cousin (and her family) also visited though they were staying somewhere else. It seemed that every day someone was coming or going. Needless to say Hazel did not nap while there and was too excited constantly. It was not the most relaxing vacation we have had.

Hazel sitting out on the deck

 Hazel took this one of me on the deck of my parents house...love the view!

Hazel swimming with my sister

 Out to lunch!

Hazel and her one and only first cousin, Ian

Fluffy

My beloved Simba helping me quilt

A couple of weeks ago, we put our beloved 17-year-old cat down. He had been sick for quite awhile and we did not want him to suffer anymore. Today I took Hazel to the animal shelter to adopt Fluffy. She had picked the name Fluffy around the time we put Simba down. We went to the shelter and saw it as a sign from God that one of the 5-month-old kittens was named Fluffy. We brought her home. Now we are going through the process of introducing a new kitten to the house and to Pumpkin.

Hopefully soon I'll be back to making crafts with Hazel. Until then...enjoy!!

Huckabuck Bread, Felted Can Opener and Wet Kitty

Fluffy in one of her favorite places

Since we do not have school this week or next, I decided we would make Huckabuck Bread on our own. I have the recipe the teachers use each week. Somehow ours does not turn out nearly as good, but todays was pretty good. Hazel has been asking to make it at home for awhile. She was not happy about me taking pictures however. And she quit part way through on me.

Huckabuck Bread

Ingredients

	2 cup(s) water, warm
	1 tsp honey
	1 Tbsp yeast
	4 cup(s) Flour, organic, white, Bread
	4 cup(s) whole wheat  flour
	1 tsp table salt 2 tsp cinnamon dash of ground cardamom
	1/2 cup(s) olive oil
	1/4 cup(s) molasses
	1/4 cup(s) honey

Frothy Yeast

1. Dissolve the honey in the warm water. Then stir in yeast. Set aside to get frothy.
2. Combine the flours, salt, cinnamon and cardamom in a large bowl.
3. Combine oil, molasses and honey in another bowl.
4. Add yeast mixture to dry ingredients and combine. Then add oil mixture. You will need to mix with your hands. Then turn out on lightly floured surface and knead the dough for at least 10 minutes.
5. Put into oiled bowl and cover with cloth and let rise for 30 minutes (I let it rise for over an hour).
6. Punch down and knead on lightly floured surface and shape into rolls. Place on greased baking sheet.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. (I found I needed to bake it longer, but I was not using a small toaster oven like they do in the class.)



Kneading the dough

8. Serve with honey butter (ok, I didn't make the honey butter today, but we do have it that way at class).

Before Rising

After Rising

Out of the oven

I also made Hazel her can opener for her kitchen. I decided to needle felt it. I was trying to make it so she could turn the handle and spin one of the buttons, but my method broke after I spun it a few too many times (apparently).

I used a hook button for the handle and two round buttons for the cutters.

I think she will like it when she sees it tomorrow. What do you think? I made it the same colors as mine (except mine does not have anything wooden on it).

And our crazy kitty, Fluffy was hanging out in the sink again. This is the bathroom sink in what we call Hazel's bathroom (it is the main floor bathroom that is not the master bath). She actually lay there while the water was running for a bit too and then decided she wanted a drink. She loves to jump into the bathtub after we have showered or bathed so she drink the water or roll in it. She is a bit of a crazy cat.

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Easter Board Books Perfect Additions for Little Ones' Baskets

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Now that April has begun, Easter is just around the corner. This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday. Over the years I have struggled with what to put in the Easter basket. One of my favorite non-candy items is books. Today I am going to share two new board books with you that are perfect for those Easter baskets for kids whose age ranges from 1 to 4. The first is The Story of Easter by Patricia A. Pingry. 

Hazel's Fairy Garden

The arbor entrance to the large garden

Large garden overall view

Pumpkins with a Toddler

Hazel's white pumpkin

This morning we painted our pumpkins. We also painted pieces for a few future crafts. Hazel is at the age of loving to mix the colors and use one brush for the entire project. Needless to say our colors often look blackish, but we had fun. We each painted a sugar pumpkin and a white pumpkin.

My Sugar Pumpkin

Since she is not quite 3 yet, I didn't want to attempt to carve (though we will carve one on Halloween together). She is at the point of wanting to do everything I do by herself which of course is not possible, so I figured if we only have one pumpkin to carve it will be a joint project.

Last year we used stickers. I bought foam stickers at the Dollar Tree just for jack-o'-lanterns and we had her older friend over and the two of them decorated sugar pumpkins. It worked and was where she was at then, but all the stickers for the most part ended up on top of one another on her pumpkin.

Painting for future crafts

Hazel's collection finished

Even Fluffy wanted to get involved but I pulled her chair away from the paint, so she took a nap. She always wants to be where we are.

Overall, I'm happy with our pumpkins. I will cut one of the white pumpkin open after Halloween to save the seeds to plant next spring. We are excited to try to grow pumpkins next year.

Hazel's sugar pumpkin

Hazel's sugar pumpkin

What are you doing with your pumpkins this year?

Needles the Forgotten Christmas Tree

 

Disclosure: I was sent a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am working with The Children's Book Review and Foreword Publicity and will receive a small stipend for this post. 

What kind of Christmas tree do you have? Is it real or fake? How big is it? Christmas trees are something I have been discussing this year with my sisters since we spend the holidays at our house on Cape Cod and none of us actually live there. My sister decided to get and decorate a tree there again this year since she plans to spend New Year's there as well. To learn more about the history of Christmas trees be sure to check out this post and to learn about our tree traditions read here. Today I am going to share a wonderful picture book about the small Christmas tree that feels forgotten. The book is Needles, the Forgotten Christmas Tree by Richard Wagner and illustrated by Sydni Kruger. This book is being released in March of 2023 so it will be for next Christmas! I am including a round-up of Christmas tree crafts and there is a giveaway at the end!

Painted Rocks & a Super Bowl Craft -- Crafty Weekends Link Party

This week we have done a few crafts. The first to share is our Super Bowl craft. It was Patriots Spirit Day at Hazel's school on Friday. I checked out Patriots t-shirts and refused to spend the $20 on them, so I bought some printable iron-on transfers and made her one. This way she could participate and not wear her uniform and we didn't spend too much on a shirt she will wear once. (I already had the grey t-shirt.) My father now wants one since he is the huge Patriots fan in the family.

Cute, Fun & Informative Animal Picture Books

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Who doesn't love a cute animal book? Little kids usually love animals and today I am sharing a round-up of new picture books focused on animals. And with the state of the world right now I think we all need some cuteness and fun to distract us. The books feature cute puppies, baby animals and dinosaurs and all three books are from National Geographic Kids, so they are full of photos and more. We will start with So Cute! Puppies by Crispin Boyer. It is recommended for ages 3 to 5.

Creating a Cozy Reading Nook -- Decals Tree Product Review

Disclosure: Decals Tree gave me a wall sticker and is supplying the ones for the giveaway free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the wall sticker for your convenience.

In Hazel's bedroom there is a little nook between her closet and what may have been another closet at some point with a window. I have always wanted to make it a reading nook for her. I wanted a cozy spot with some fun pictures to help her imagination go wild. She fell in love with bean bag chairs at the Whole Foods play area near us. So we got her one at Target and moved her fluffy rug over there. Then Decals Tree offered us any wall sticker on their site for $50 or less and are offering a giveaway of the same thing to one of my readers. 

Multicultural Monday: Learning about the World through Animals

On Friday Hazel and I went to the first of three Toddler Treks that I signed us up for at our local zoo, Stone Zoo. We will be going to one each month this summer. Since the zoo expected 800+ students from various schools, the instructor decided to keep us in the Discovery Center since it would be too hard to stay together as a group. She had planned several activities for the kids including showing them cards and asking what animal it is and would you see this animal in your backyard or at the zoo. This got me to thinking that the zoo is a perfect place to look at some multiculturalism. It is where we go to see the animals we do not see every day or in our own neighborhoods. The Stone Zoo is one of two zoos in the Boston area known as Zoo New England. The other is bigger and is in Boston. The Stone Zoo is nice since it is a good size for a young one and we do not have to drive into the city and deal with parking. (You may remember I shared our last visit to the zoo in a Happy Family Times post.)

 A great book to go with this lesson is Around the World on Eighty Legs by Amy Gibson. The book has hand drawn animals from around the world--broken up by regions of the world with poems and sometimes information about them. It is a fun read, but not as informative as I had hoped. However it is a great starting point to see which animals live where and then you could easily research them more.

Stone Zoo itself is divided into sections having to do with where the animals are from (or at least the environment they live in). Since our class was to start (and ended up staying in) the Animal Discovery Center, we went to the right (which is the way we usually go anyway). The first animal you see is the American Bald Eagle. They also have a replica of a nest. As the visitors we were talking to said their family of three could lay in it comfortably if they had to. Then there are the black bears. This is one of the newest additions to the zoo and one of my favorites. Since both of these are native to the United States, I will not go into them. Then we looked at the llamas. By this time it was time to head to our class so we went to the Animal Discovery Center where they have a corner of the room as windows to watch the llamas. The llamas like to come and stare into the glass so it was quite fun. These of course are normally found in South America. Although according to Wikipedia, they originated from North America and migrated 3 million years ago.

Llama on left is staring at window!

Inside the Animal Discovery Center they have six Panamanian Yellow Frogs (I found four of them in the tank), corn snake (who was very active), gecko, tarantula, and box turtles. From this list you can see they are also from all over the world. The Panamanian Yellow Frogs are obviously from Panama. The other animals can be found in parts of the U.S.A. as well as other places. A box turtle was taken out of the tank for the kids to learn more and to touch. I did not take any pictures in here, but I did take a picture of Hazel's craft. They had the kids play a game where they were caterpillars and had to bring the instructor five of the foam leaves they had "hid" around the room. Once they had found five, they received a butterfly and then had to find a flower of the same color. Then they had the kids make a paper chain caterpillar and if they wanted they stapled the butterflies on to change them to butterflies.

Hazel's caterpillar

Turned into a Butterfly

After class we joined the crowds to check out some of the animals. We continued in to the Sierra Madre area of the zoo. This includes the llamas, coyotes, bats, coati, cougar, jaguar, and gila monster.

Sleeping Jaguar

We got to see the coyote, but did not get a picture of him. The jaguar and the cougar were sleeping.

Coati

We did see the coati briefly, but there were large crowds around their cages. We didn't bother trying to get into the bat area  or the gila monster because of the crowds. We did see the rosy boa (in a cage here as well as in the Animal Discovery Center). After all this, we went and saw one of Hazel's favorite animals--the flamingos! They were building their nests and sitting on their eggs. Hazel thought they were sitting on rocks, but I showed her that they were mud and not rocks. This of course took our journey to the Carribean!

We went indoors to the exhibits there. They have the African crested porcupines, the Inca tern, a hornbill, Emperor tamarins, blue macaws, meerkats, and two-toed sloths and a large tortoise. I did not get any really good pictures here because it is dark and the windows tend to show dirt in pictures. Sorry!

At this point we went to the gift shop. I found some great books for references and learning more.

This book was written by an 8-year-old about the zoo!

Dover Press Books that use stickers to help learn about animals and their environments!

A coloring book that gives details about each animal on the page

Some origami for us to try!

Next we saw the American river otter. Ok, I have to share this picture because it was so cute. The otter came out to say hi to a zookeeper. Maybe he thought it was feeding time or something. You can see him standing on his hind legs towards the back  here (look below here).

Then we saw the monkeys and the white cheeked gibbons. The white cheek gibbons take us to Asia. They have a family of them. The father lost part of his arm at his previous zoo. The mother was carrying her baby this time.

At this point, Hazel was getting tired and wanted to go to the playground which is in the barn yard. It was a bit crowded there with older kids and I had to help her get down the slide since the older boys wanted to climb up the slide and then were chasing each other around it. Then we went for the rides near the snack bar. She of course had to go on the train.

Then the pink hippo.

Then she went on the zebra truck. Then it was time to go. We were tired and hungry. We talked about getting lunch but the snack bar was full of all the school kids getting lunch. So we went to the car. There I called the vet's office and found out we could pick up Fluffy (second day of x-rays), so we headed there which is basically down the street from the zoo. We found out Fluffy was fine! Best news of the week but we needed to watch her as we started to feed her again. Overall it was a fun day with many things to learn about and how animals live in different parts of the world. I am sure we will share more zoo visits with you soon.

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