I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving that last photo up for very long, so I decided to get the “real” Halloween pictures posted tonight.
Last year we high-jacked a photo session that some friends of ours had set up for their son at the mall. The pictures came out so wonderfully cute that we decided to take our girls back again this year.
Annabelle made the very big-girl decision about what to dress up as this year. I had been throwing ideas out at her for weeks: a pirate, a bear, a bumblebee. Nothing interested her. Then, one day her daycare center sent her home with somebody else’s underwear because I had forgotten to replace her spare. They happened to be Tinkerbell underwear, and the rest is history.
Thankfully, I had more say regarding Charlotte’s costume. I was flip-flopping between Princess Leia and Little Red Riding Hood, and had even begun making a felt beanie with little buns attached. Ultimately, I decided that the cute factor was a somewhat higher for Red and, since I already had enough red felt for the cape, I went with it.
And here they are together, partners in crime.
I also have to say thank goodness for these wonderful internets. I had a great starting point for Annabelle’s costume after finding this skirt pattern (see the bottom), and this hooded cape (found via The Crafty Crow) was absolutely perfect for Little Red Riding Hood (and it was very easy to make). For the rest of Charlotte’s costume, I made a simple apron for her to wear over a dress she already had. I wish I had a better picture of the apron, because it really is adorable. I’m now determined to find a way to incorporate them into her wardrobe more.
I went into planning this party thinking, “Fall Harvest.” You’ll see from the pictures, however, that my one-track mind kept bringing me back to pumpkins. Lots and lots of glorious pumpkins!
The favors: Pumpkin finger puppets
These little finger puppets were super easy, albeit somewhat time consuming, to create. I made about 10 of them and each one had a different face. I really had fun with them.
By the end of the party the kids were really getting into them, too. One of the kids decided he needed one for each hand!
The Games:
One of the games we played was a pumpkin roll. It was absolutely perfect for the little ones. We have a slope in the back of our yard and they had a blast rolling their pumpkin balls down the hill and then running down the hill after them to bring them back.
Not quite as popular was the pumpkin ring toss. Although a few of the kids gave it a go, it proved a bit too challenging to keep their interest for very long. Perhaps it would go over better with an older crowd. All you need is a pumpkin with a nice long stem and some rings. We made our rings by cutting some rope and attaching them using masking tape (which can be seen partially on towards the bottom of the photo).
The Cake:
For the cake I went out and bought a fancy pumpkin cake pan, which is really just two bundt cakes joined together. It was supposed to look like this:
I should know better than to try something fancy. It was doomed from the beginning. As I rushed around at the last minute trying to get everything together (as usual) I relinquished the task of putting the cake together to my mom. Who then passed it on to my dad. By the time I came back to check on it, my husband’s cousin was putting the finishing touches on it.
The cake was a excellent reminder that setting a picture-perfect, Martha Stewart-esque table is really not that important after all. Plus any attempt at something fancy would have been thrown out the window by all that debris left on the table. Good, grief… you’d think we would have cleared the table before setting out the cake, wouldn’t you? Just FYI, it was a pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese icing.
Decor:
We kept things simple by sprinkling pumpkins, gourds, and acorns throughout the tables and such, and picked up some hay bails for extra seating.
Lastly, we have the birthday girl’s dress. Which I made. Which we did not get one SINGLE good picture of. Which got icing all over it during the cake eating. Which completely fell apart when I washed it. I’ll paint a picture for you: dark green corduroy, a-line jumper, little felt squirrel applique on bottom right-hand side. Very cute. The end.
And of course I have to include a picture of the birthday girl eating her cake.
After carving the pumpkin for the birthday invitations, I knew I wanted to do something with the seeds, but I wasn’t sure what. A quick consultation with our Nature’s Art Box book gave me the inspiration I needed: a pumpkin seed necklace!
I decided to paint some of the seeds orange so that I could introduce Annabelle to the concept of repeating patterns. We used:
Sewing/embroidery needle
Fishing line
Twine
Pumpkin seeds
Scissors
First we strung the fishing line through the seeds. Annabelle helped pull the needle through a few times before deciding she would just tell me which seed to use next. We alternated orange and white seeds.
Once we had enough seeds (read: once she started losing interest) I cut some twine and tied the fishing line to it. Just a note, it’s important to make sure the knots are really tight so that it won’t come apart (we learned this first hand!).
Once both ends had the twine attached, I went ahead and tied the necklace around Annabelle’s neck.
It came out great and I always love activities that teach children about alternative uses for things, especially items from nature.
Oh, and the seeds that weren’t used for the necklace? We roasted them and gobbled them up!
I came across these instructions on making paper mache fish a couple weeks ago and my thoughts immediately turned to Halloween and jack 0′ lanterns.
You could hang them from a line or display on a shelf. Either way they’re fun to make!
Here’s how we did it:
I used the paste recipe from the original link, blew up some balloons, tore newspaper into strips, cut out some shapes from black construction paper for the face, and mixed some orange paint. You could skip the paint part if you use paper that’s already orange.
First, Annabelle poured the paint into the bowl of newspaper while Gramma mixed.
Once all the paper was orange, she swished the pieces around in the paste
and then applied it to the balloon.
After a few applications, Annabelle became preoccupied with trying to blow up a balloon, so Gramma finished applying the rest of the newspaper.
However, she was happy to rejoin the activity when it came time to put on the jack o’ lantern’s face.
We used clothespins to attach the fellas to a hanger to dry.
Taking “pumpkin head” pictures is completely optional at this point.
I let ours hang overnight to dry.
I love the face Annabelle put on hers. Doesn’t he look like he has the sweetest little disposition? Must be the huge round schnoz she gave him.
One of the things we picked up from the powwow was this nifty wooden frog with stick toy. I loved this frog because when you moved the stick over the bumps along his back, it made a sound similar to a frog’s croak.
I was really digging this toy and I couldn’t stop wondering if there was a way to make something similar myself. I was trying to think of something hollow with ridges….then the lightbulb clicked on….and I remembered aluminum cans.
So, I found one with smooth edges (I try to be safe with the kids sometimes) and had Annabelle paint it green. I then added some little froggy parts just for fun. They’re just taped on, nothing fancy. Oh, and I also lined the inside with a foam sheet to help dampen some of the tinny sound.
And now, allow Annabelle to demonstrate the croaking-frog-can-thingie.
Listen:
Pretty cool, huh!
Just a note, Annabelle “played” the frog can beautifully, but I did the actual recording later under optimal conditions.
And another note, I used our new doll, Janie, in the first picture because she was available and cooperative. She is not one of my children and I have not developed any strange attachments to her. My editor (husband) thought there might be some, um, confusion about that so I wanted to make sure everything was clear!
Let’s Explore wrote last week about some terrific rollers that can be used for paint or clay. I loved the effect the effect that these rollers gave, and wanted to try to recreate it at home with whatever I could find around the house.
After a quick rummaging through drawers, I found a small foam roller, a roll of bandaging tape, and a lid to some sort of baby food apparatus. I wrapped a chenille stem around the foam roller and left the other two items as they were.
First up was the roller. You can see below the interesting stripes it made on the paper.
We tried out the lid next and Annabelle immediately decided that it was not suitable as a roller, but made an excellent stamp. However, since she was more interested in the rollers, I grabbed the bandage and gave it a go.
The bandage produced a textured look that varied depending on how much paint was globbed onto it. I would have to say that the bandage was my favorite, but I think Annabelle preferred the roller since it had a handle.
Now that we’ve tested out some off-the-cuff rollers, I think we need to find a better use for them. Maybe we’ll use them to make prints on a (much-needed) library bag or decorate wrapping paper for upcoming birthdays. Another ideas?
It occurred to me while watching the girls play with their fridge magnets the other day that most of the "play" is just them taking the magnets off and then putting them back on, which gets rather old for them after a while. I decided I would try to make some "fridge games" in an effort to provide them a little more variety and hopefully buy me a few more quiet moments while making dinner.
I loved the simple puzzles I saw at Chasing Cheerios and they seemed like they would transfer well onto magnets, so I decided to make puzzle magnets!
I chose a picture out of a newly thrifted children’s book and grabbed the Mod Podge, a magnet sheet (usually found in stores with photo display items), a piece of cardboard from a cereal or snack box for a little extra sturdiness, and a pair of scissors.
After adhering all the pieces together, I wiped a couple of coats of the Mod Podge over them as a sealant.
The finished project came out very cute, but I think I might try this again using board books. Even though I glued the paper onto the cardboard backing, some of the edges have come up as little fingers try to pry the magnets off the fridge.
I’m a normal mom. I want my kids to eat healthy and I try to limit their junk intake. But, I’m not usually the type of person who chooses green leafy vegetables as my toddler’s afternoon snack. I’m more of a fresh fruit kind of gal, with the occasional cucumber thrown in there.
But, when I came across a post at Enviromom suggesting that my kids would actually want to eat roasted kale, I knew I wanted to try it. Partly out of disbelief and partly because I like to shake things up every now and then and offer the girls something a little different than what they’re used to.
The directions were easy enough to follow, but it took a few batches to get the timing worked out on how long to cook the kale so that it was neither too crunchy nor too soft. I also had to experiment with how much sea salt to add.
Here’s how it looked all cooked up:
I can’t take a good photo of food to save my life. You’re probably thinking, “Um, yeah, ok. That really doesn’t look appetizing at all. Why are you showing me this?” I’ll tell you why. Because I’m a visual person and I like pictures…of everything. So that means you get a picture of the ugly roasted kale.
Once it was all done and I had eaten most of it during taste testing (from trying to get the timing right) I realized I’d better give some to Annabelle before there was none left.
She was a good sport and tried a bite.
She actually didn’t seem to like it at first.
But then she took another bite.
And then she turned into a zombie…
and continued to eat.
Yup…just like potato chips. Go on and give it a try!
Know of any other *surprisingly* good healthy snacks? I’d love to hear ‘em!
