Google+
Showing posts with label walk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walk. Show all posts

Decorating for Halloween & Fall

Have you entered my new current giveaway?

This past weekend we made a very easy Halloween decoration. Our decoration was inspired by the DIY Halloween Tissue Ghosts I saw over at Shindigz back when I was doing a review for them. I happened to find the tissue paper bells on clearance at the Christmas Tree Shop and I think I paid something like a dollar for all four. Then we took a piece of black construction paper and cut out eyes and mouths. I let Hazel cut her own and then we glued them on.

Since the bells had strings and the bottoms had the round ball that would ring the bell, we hung them on our chandelier to greet anyone who comes to our front door. Since we were hanging them, we skipped the tulle as well.
I guess we did a good job since Steve thought I had bought them that way. We also hung the extra spider web we had leftover from our various crafts and added the big spider we used at Hazel's nursery rhyme birthday party for Little Miss Muffet.
We also went on a wonderful nature walk around our neighborhood. We of course took our wagon (to carry everything and in case Hazel got tired) and a bag to collect things. We some saw fun mushrooms. We thought this one might be a fairy bathtub or pool.

And here is a fairy village.
The colors were also beautiful on the walk.
The trees have been so wonderful this fall. The colors are so vibrant.
We were collecting leaves and such and Hazel picked up a stick and started putting leaves on her stick. She decided it was a leaf stick. It came out beautifully and we have it sitting in a glass jar on our table now.
We planned on making more, but haven't made it out there yet.
But in the jar it looks like a flower. We love it! How are you bringing nature in to celebrate the season?

Autumn Nature Walks & Crafts

The last few days Hazel and I have taken nature walks. The autumn colors are so beautiful around here. We bring along her red wagon and a pail in which to put our treasures.
When she gets tired of walking, I pull her and she then takes any treasure I pick up and pretends I'm paying her and the pail becomes the cash register. 
One day it was particularly windy and Hazel commented on how the leaves were racing. I asked her which one was going to win, but she wasn't sure. We tried to get a picture of the leaves floating around, but had no luck. However we did get a pleasant surprise at the other end of the street.
Have I mentioned that Hazel loves cement mixers! And to watch the cement go up the big thing and back down to form the basement walls was really neat. We picked the perfect time to walk!

Now on these walks we have been gathering lots of treasures. Most of the treasures are leaves of every color. We bring them home and I have been sealing them with Mod Podge.
My craft room has several spots that look like this. Ugh!! The leaves are taking over and she keeps wanting more. Now we need to get crafting with them again. We made a few pictures.
Hazel's Leaf Fairy
My Leaf Fairy
My Leaf Owl

My favorite treasure thus far however is this huge pine cone we found. I have never seen one so big before.
We will share some of the pine cone crafts we have been doing at a later date. Enjoy!!




Happy Family Times #26--Family Walk, Play & Dinner

In case you have not entered yet, please check out my current giveaway for a fantastic book!!
Have you and your family done something fun or different this week? Kelly from Happy Whimsical Hearts and I are collecting all of our great family ideas so we can all be inspired to spend more time with our families! Please share yours below.

This week after Hazel's second day of school, we decided to go on a scavenger hunt at a local state reservation. However Hazel was a bit tired from school so we kept putting it off and decided to wait for Daddy to get home. He agreed to go with us, however we did not plan for the early sunset and the mosquitoes. So we did not get too far on our walk/scavenger hunt. We did however find some neat holes that we were guessing what could live there (well and wondering who would throw their trash there), a huge rock, and a maple leaf and an oak leaf.
Going into the woods only a short bit, we turned around and headed to the Visitor's Center. Of course this was after a bug flew into my eye and Steve had to get it out. Not fun. Then we headed for the small playground. (The big playground is by the lake and about a mile walk from the parking lot.) We let Hazel play for a bit.


She was very excited that she could climb the "rock" wall since she could not last year. And one of the most exciting things for Hazel was sliding down the pole. We had to help her get on it, but she loved sliding down it and did a happy pole dance after the first time!
Steven noticed the back of the "rock" wall the dinosaur skeleton imprint. It is the first time we ever noticed it. After playing for a bit, we headed to a local pizza place for some dinner. Hazel has discovered their ice cream freezer and always wants one after dinner there. As you can see she enjoyed it!

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


~ please link up (family time oriented giveaways are ok, but please no Etsy shops)
~just crafts will be deleted since this is to share family times ~ use our button so others can join the fun


Photobucket


Button Code:




~ we'd love for you to follow us Crafty Moms Share and Happy Whimsical Hearts
~ check out our Happy Family Times Pinterest board where we will be pinning some of our favorite ideas



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

Our Tuesday: Cooking, Nature and Play

This morning Hazel announced she wanted pancakes for breakfast. In other words, she wanted to cook. So we made some. We had some very ripe bananas that I wanted to do something with so I gave three of them to Hazel to mash. Then I gave her an egg to beat. We mixed with the egg, the bananas, a pureed carrot, 1 cup of skim milk, and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Next we mixed the dry ingredients in a separate bowl: 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/3 cup ground almond meal, 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 cup oatmeal. Then we poured the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and threw in a cup of blueberries. Mixed it well and then cooked the pancakes.
Hazel even helped scoop a couple into the pan, though she is very afraid of the hot stove. She really enjoys cooking with me.
Then we headed to Drumlin Farm for our last class this spring. Today we focused on all the senses for the end. This included popping popcorn since all five senses are used: hear it pop, smell it, touch it, see it and taste it. The kids enjoyed eating it. Then the class visitor was brought out. It was an opossum! The opossum is the only marsupial in North America and fifty years ago you would not find them this far north, but they have migrated with their food.
Our instructor, Alex, told us all about opossums. They only have babies inside of them for two weeks and then they are born the size of a bean. The babies then go into a pouch on the mother's stomach and live there until they are big enough. Their nipples are located inside the pouch (this is also true of kangaroos).
They also cannot hang by their tail. Their tails are not that strong. They do use them for balance and help, but they climb and hang by their claws. You can see in the picture below how big their claws are.
This opossum was in some sort of a fight and has a flattened and injured nose, which is why she lives at the Mass Audubon. They also had an opossum skin to pass around for the kids (and moms) to feel how soft they were. We also think she could smell the popcorn we popped. She kept trying to climb the plexiglass and sniff.
Instead of a craft today we got to go on the hay ride. Hazel enjoys this even if she won't smile for a picture. She also wanted to wear her binoculars we made earlier in the class. She came out with them on and said she was wearing them so she could see things better today. After this we took a walk to the top of the drumlin. We had never been there before and had a good time. On our way back we saw the model long house they made during the summer camp last year. The kids loved it.
It reminded me of the fort we want to make for Hazel. Of course this is much bigger than what we are planning. For those who do not know, the long house was the housing of the Iroquois and many of the tribes in New England. (One tribe in Massachusetts is the Wampanoag.) It would be covered with bark or wood and 20-30 people would live in it. They have a really neat complete long house at Plimouth Plantation.
Then we walked by a pond to look for crayfish. We did not see any, but saw a bouncing bug and a neat silver maple growing in the pond.
The kids had fun sitting by the water. They found bugs and just liked watching the water.

Then it was time to say goodbye. A few of us exchanged contact information so we can try to get together this summer. It was really a nice group of kids and moms. We will miss our weekly trips to Drumlin Farm, but will go back again.

After lunch we ran a few errands and then got one of our high school babysitters to play with Hazel so I could have a break and I am using it to write this, but at least this is relaxing.

Happy Family Times #9-- A Family Walk





Happy Family Times


Have you done something fun with your family lately? Kelly over at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I have this great link party to share those wonderful times. We hope to inspire all of us to have more quality time with our families. So have you gone to a game, cooked dinner or danced around the living room this week, please share your great ideas below!!

This week we took a much needed family walk around the block on Friday evening--well late afternoon since Hazel goes to bed so early it feels like evening. Hazel started out in her red wagon and then she wanted to pull it (this was at the house right next door to us). We are lucky because we live on a wide street that basically has two circles a small one and a large one. The large one you have to go on a main street which I don't usually do with Hazel even if it does have a sidewalk, but the small one is almost half a mile around and Hazel loves to walk it or ride in her stroller or wagon. It is always just enough to decompress Daddy after his long work week. Now that the weather is nice we will be doing these much more often! Oh, and Hazel did go back in her wagon again before we got home. Some days we look for different colors or animals. Some days Hazel and I will sing while we walk, but on this walk we just enjoyed the quiet and the decompression of Daddy's stress!


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



~ please link up (family time oriented giveaways are ok, but please no Etsy shops)
~just crafts will be deleted since this is to share family times
~ use our button so others can join the fun

Photobucket

Button Code:


~ we'd love for you to follow us Crafty Moms Share and Happy Whimsical Hearts
~ check out our Happy Family Times Pinterest board where we will be pinning some of our favorite ideas


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

The Colors in Nature on a Walk around the Neighborhood

After playing with our senses in our own yard the other day, Hazel and I took a walk around the neighborhood. She wanted to ride in her stroller which didn't bother me since I could get more exercise in. We decided to look and see what colors we could see in nature as we walked around our neighborhood. I didn't start taking pictures of what we saw until the last part of the walk, but here are a few things we saw.
Yellow Dandelions
Blue Vinca
Yellow, White, Pink and Red Flowers
White Flowering Trees
Pale Purple Flowers
Yellow and Orange Daffodils
Pink/Purple Azalea
Pink and White Flowering Tree
Red Tree and Yellow Bush
White barked birch tree
Orange and Red Pansies and Purple and Blue Violas
Grey Fur
Pink Flowers
Blue Sky
Yellow Forsythia and Pink Cherry Blossoms


We also discussed all the green and brown we saw everywhere and every shade of green.

Then we drew in our journal a day or so later remembering what we saw.
Hazel loves having me draw with her. I tried to label whatever we drew, but didn't get them all. I think the red and green on the last page was a car with eyes.


Some books to go with this walk... Rainbow Sheep by Kim Chatel and What Does Bunny See? by Linda Sue Park.

What have you been doing outside?