Valentine's Day Gingerbread House

So today, we had school then we went and ran some errands including buying Valentine's Day themed candy for our next gingerbread house. We also picked up a jar of strawberry frosting so it would be pink.

I think Hazel liked taking the wrappers off the chocolate hearts because she kept using them.

She really likes just sticking the candy on. She asked me all morning before school to do it and then couldn't wait to do it when we got home.

Ok, I did this side. Hazel looked at it and noticed my wreath. Then she wanted to make one.

So the line on the side of M & M's is her wreath. She didn't quite get how to do it, but who cares. She had fun!

So what do you think of our Valentine's Day Gingerbread House?

Now Hazel is at my mother-in-law's house for the afternoon so I get to go work on (and hopefully finish) my quilt!! I will post pictures of it finished--I promise.

Tomorrow we have a tour (without Hazel) of the nursery room and kindergartens at Hazel's school and then our interview with the nursery teacher (with Hazel) in the afternoon. Such excitement. Hazel is beginning to get excited for it as well. She is talking about going to school without Mommy and needing to be potty-trained before then, which I'm happy to report she is doing pretty well except the setback from the pediatrician wanting a sterile urine sample. We had many accidents for a few days to avoid giving it, but after we got it, she has been doing well. :o)

So something to share: We were asked to view this video before the tour tomorrow. I think you might find it interesting. http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/prescriptionforplay Let me know what you think.

Winter Candles

As they suggest in the Waldorf school, we like to have candles on our table. In the fall we made some tissue paper candle holders with Mod Podge and fall colored tissue paper pieces on old baby food jars. They are perfect for tea light candles. I found some beeswax ones at the Holiday Fair at school.

For the winter I saw some beautiful ones on Pinterest. We finally got around to making them yesterday. I followed the Pinterest posting to here. I bought some Epsom salts at the drug store for less than $2 and had the Mod Podge glue and jars and some food coloring. I also had some votives already in glass leftover from favors for a baby shower I threw. One thing I discovered, the smallest baby food jars are not big enough to get the tea light with its container into. I removed the plastic/metal container and just put the candle in the one we made, but I would suggest not using them for candle holders. Hazel had a blast painting on the glue and I did the rolling. She also had fun mixing the colors.

Now we have candles that remind us of a snow storm. Since we haven't had much snow yet, that is a good thing. Some winters I wouldn't want to be reminded of snow, but this one is ok. Aren't they beautiful lit up?

The other thing I would like to share is our breakfast table today. Apparently many of Hazel's dolls and animals wanted to eat waffles with us. Of course her new doll high chair is not big enough for all of them at the same time, so she had to pull up a chair as well for one Baby.

And Barney is in there too!

Come back tonight or tomorrow for the new Sharing Saturday. There will be some changes announced tonight!!

Busy Weekend Slow Down

Well this was going to be our busy weekend this season besides of course Christmas weekend. Yesterday morning started with a breakfast with Santa Claus at my church. I was helping organize and run it, so I went early and Steve brought Hazel later. Hazel is afraid of Santa so she didn't want to go near him, but she loved the crafts and shopping part of it. She got tired and Steve brought her home early though she did not nap for him. Yesterday late afternoon we took Hazel to her grandmother's so Steve and I could go to her school for The Shepherd's Play. We, of course, had no idea what The Shepherd's Play was and hadn't heard of it before, but we knew it was a nativity play put on by the teachers and parents of the school. It is a play that is traditionally performed at Waldorf Schools. They have two showings at Cape Ann Waldorf School. It is a heartwarming and humorous version of the Christmas story. The second showing they also perform The Paradise Play. We will save that for another year to see. Next year we will bring Hazel to The Shepherd's Play.

We went to pick up Hazel and she had been telling her grandmother that her mouth hurt. Hmmm....interesting. We took the scenic way home to see some Christmas lights and pick up some take out for dinner for me and Steve. Since Hazel had not napped she was tired and we knew she would fall asleep in the car. I noticed while Steve was getting dinner that her nose was a bit runny, but nothing to worry about. After all she is really tired. We got her to bed and ate dinner. This morning our plan was church for Hazel and I while Steve went to the gym and then a Christmas party in the afternoon. Unfortunately this morning it was very obvious that Hazel was not feeling well. Her nose is very runny and she complained about her mouth to both of us (which I realized was probably her throat) and she feels warm. So we put a stop to our plans for the day. I still went to church and Steve is going to the gym now that Hazel is napping and I'm home. However Hazel is staying home and hopefully getting better.

But I wanted to share a few crafts with you. Hazel has been working on these pine cone Christmas trees for awhile. I got the idea from a book, but have since seen it on line as well. I spray painted them green and a bit gold and then we put them in pots. She has been decorating by gluing things on and with glitter glue. We were suppose to paint the pots as well, but I'm liking them plain so they don't take away from the trees. These are the first ones I have declared to be done. She still has a few more to finish. I have to keep turning them for her so she gets all sides.

She also made some crafts at the Breakfast with Santa. She only did two of the four crafts, but she made a Rudolph ornament and a Christmas tree. Now I'm off to rest and work on some Christmas gifts for her teachers. I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Rudolph

Stained glass tree from Oriental Trading

St. Nicholas Day

Today is when Hazel's school celebrates St. Nicholas Day. This is a holiday that is not traditionally celebrated in the United States, so I had not heard of it. However, in her advent calendar she got a needle felted St. Nicholas (I made it last night). I did some research and the best site for information on St. Nicholas including free stories--printable or on-line-- is St. Nicholas Center.

We read a story about The Real Santa Claus after opening  the advent calendar. She then started to color one of the print-outs from the website, but got distracted.

Before her nap, she sat on my lap while I read to her several of the stories on-line. Many are like books on-line. She fell asleep in my arms. The free stories can be found here.

This website also offers crafts and activities. Printable ones are found here.

They also have suggestions to celebrate on your own. The idea I liked most was leaving a gift of food at a neighbors with a card about St. Nicholas (printable). If we have time to bake some banana bread after Hazel's nap we may try this. Run a loaf with a card attached to a porch, ring the bell and run.

I'm hoping by celebrating the different saint days with Hazel that the Waldorf School does, she will get a better understanding of each of them. I know Steve loves this part of her education, being the one who is Catholic in the family.

So Happy St. Nicholas Day! I hope you find a way to spread some love and goodwill to all.

Craft Night

I just returned home from a lovely  craft night with a mothers from the parent/child classes at school and our teacher and the handwork teacher. It was so much fun to meet new mothers and share experiences while we made a simple craft. We made an angel. This angel has been added to our Advent calendar. I have through the 8th done. I better get crafting some more for the rest of the month.

Anyway, this angel came from the first issue of Living Crafts Magazine. However, we changed it a bit since we had wood balls and not wood beads for heads. Instead the handwork teacher quickly needle felted each of us a head for our angel. It came out beautifully.

She is relatively easy to make. Her body is one piece folded in half with a small hole cut for the pipe cleaner neck to go through (for the head needle felted or wooden to be attached). The pipe cleaner also makes the arms. You attach the head and the hair to the head and the halo (a felt circle) with glue. You glue wooden beads for hands and sew on the felt wings. Then you have a stick with a wooden star on it (glued on) and just fold her arm over it. You can add a string to make it an ornament, but I didn't since I want her to be part of our homemade nativity.

One of the things I love about the Waldorf School is how much they encourage community among the families as well as the students. It was so nice to have time with other mothers and share handwork and snacks. I am so glad we made this decision for Hazel's schooling.

Since I have an early doctor's appointment tomorrow morning, Hazel slept at my mother-in-law's so I wouldn't have to rush her over to her house in the morning. Therefore, Steve got the evening off. We went out for dinner before I went to the craft night. What a great evening! Now it is off to bed. Good night!!

Some Finished Projects Finally

After Hazel's nap we finally finished some of our projects. First we made some easy paper lanterns for our Martinmas celebration. We did not do the lantern walk tonight, but are planning on it tomorrow night, so for tonight we hung them in her "house" made of Waldorf playstands and cloths. I also strung the four felt lanterns I got to sewing and hung them up. We had four of the battery operated tea lights, so I put those inside and promised Hazel we would get more tomorrow (I got a 3-pack at Dollar Tree).

What I discovered from making the lanterns, the thicker paper is better for the bigger ones. The smaller ones are easier to make. Hazel was able to help a bit with them. Oh and she pretended her Match game cards were candles in the ones we didn't have candles for. I also hung the paper mache one we did at school.

After dinner we finished some cards and some turkeys. We did handprints for the turkey tails the other day. Then I cut out some of her handprints for the body. We added googly eyes and drew a beak a wattle and feet. Then we stuck on some stickers from Trader Joe's. I love the ones that say "I'm thankful for_______" I always write in the name of who the card is for. We also did one out of all cut-out handprints.

My turkey

Then our final craft is from a library book called Holiday Handiworks by Gillian Souter. We didn't add the feet, but I like them.

Hazel's turkey

Family Sunday

Well today Hazel and I went to  church.While blog hopping the other day I found a neat blog which for some reason I didn't bookmark, follow, or whatever so I can't find it again. Ugh!! The author is a minister's wife and she was talking about a study that showed children taken regularly to religious services were more confident and other things (which I can't remember and thus why I want to find the post again). Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Hazel's school, Cape Ann Waldorf School, is hosting a holiday fair on November 19th. One aspect of the holiday fair is a wee folk shop and I have been trying to participate in some of the handwork times to get ready for it. The first one fell when my parents were visiting, so we took the opportunity to show my parents the school. My father stayed with Hazel in her classroom (with her teacher as well) and my mother and I knitted. We made gnomes. They were fairly easy to knit once we understood the handwork instructor's pattern. She wrote it down from somewhere, I'm not sure, but it was more a picture than anything. To make him you cast on 28 stitches then knit 6 rows. In the next row you bind off the two middle stitches and then in the next row yarn over 2 stitches in the middle to get them back (this creates the hole for the head). Then you knit 6 rows and then in the next row you bind off 9 stitches on each end. Then you increase on each end until you end up with 22 stitches. Then you knit 10 rows. Then you put half the stitches on a stitch holder and knit half the stitches for 18 rows and bind off (one leg) then knit the other side the same length (for the other leg). Then you sew it together. The top becomes the arms and shoulders folding it down and the rest gets folded sideways. Then you make an appropriate sized head from stockinette and for the hat you cast on 22 stitches, stitch 4 rows in stockinette and then make a ridge (5th and 6th rows are purl) and then stockinette 3 more rows. Then you gather one of the long ends to make the hat. Sew the hat (and the head) on after the body and head are stuffed. Pretty easy.

I'm off today for another craft time. I believe today we are doing needle felting, so I'm rather excited. I hope to learn some new things since I'm more or less self taught at needle felting. I'll let you know what I make.

Oh, no, I feel like one of the stores with my Christmas stuff out too early

I hate how all the stores already have their Christmas stuff out. It is really crazy. Stores around here have all their Halloween costumes marked down 50% already. One of them has had all fall decorations and costumes marked down 50% for a month. What is wrong with this picture?

Hazel in her new house for a tea party

Anyway, we decided to do a few crafts last night and this morning. One of the first things we did was to make a thank you note to the wonderful family who gave us their Waldorf playstands (which an uncle had made for them). (Please note that the link for the playstands is to illustrate more what they are for those of you that may not know than to advertise any specific store or playstand.) Now Hazel can make a "house" without using every chair in the room. We use large pieces of cotton flannel and smaller silks and large clips that I found at Michaels on clearance for 50 cents each. They are not as nice as the Waldorf ones, but much cheaper. Well anyway, Hazel and I made them a card today to thank them for the playstands. I still cannot get over their generosity. The mother keeps thanking me for taking them since she was worried about what to do with them. She even delivered them to us since she didn't think they would fit in my car. Needless to say I used this as a lesson in gratitude and we made them a nice thank you using construction paper, crayons, stickers and a rubber stamp. Plus I included the picture above so they could see Hazel in her house.

We also made some lollipop spiders. I saw these posted on a few blogs and thought they would be fun. Hazel loves lollipops and has a good friend with severe nut allergies, so I thought we could make some for him to make his Halloween special. I bought organic lollipops at Trader Joes and used some pipe cleaners, a pom pom and googly eyes and glue. Hazel had some trouble with the concept. I went out last night to a talk at Hazel's school on the math curriculum and left Hazel and Steve to make a few. This is what I came home to:

Well at least they are decorated.

Now for my Christmas ornament crafts. I got this idea from Sesame Street Parents Christmas Holiday Projects for Parents & Children. I picked it up at Ocean State Job Lot for $2.99 last year when we were still letting Hazel watch some tv and she loves Elmo.

I of course did not read the directions first. If I had I would have seen that you should glue before painting, though I don't think this would be as much fun for Hazel since she would have to wait to decorate. Having them painted ahead of time worked well. Needless to say we glued the pasta together and then glued on decorations (mostly pom poms). I still need to tie strings to them so they can be tree ornaments. And we have more painted pasta to work with, but this at least gives you the idea.

Our Tree

Hazel's Tree

Our Wreath

My Tree

Family Visiting = Little Break

My parents came to visit us this weekend. They came early on Saturday and went with Hazel and I to a Holiday Fair Craft Making Get-Together at Hazel's school. My mother and I attempted to help knit small gnomes while my father played with Hazel (and some other kids and her teacher) in our classroom. Hazel was so excited to show my parents her school. I have to finish knitting my gnome and then bring them back for the hand works teacher to help me finish them. We didn't completely understand her "pattern" that she wrote down off of seeing one done.  My mother got the body put together but wasn't sure of the size of the head and couldn't figure out how to put the hat together (it is knitted though).

For those interested in Waldorf Education or wanting to know more about it, check out this NY Times article.I love that so many high tech experts do not think their children need technology in the elementary grades.

Well for the most part I have been working on our Halloween costumes. Hazel's is almost done. I just need to add the velcro to close the hat and the dress. Mine on the other hand is still needing much work. I will be working on it today hopefully, though I'm hoping to go to a talk at Hazel's school on the Waldorf Math Curriculum and tomorrow I tutor, so if not, hopefully I can finish it Thursday. I will post pictures once I get Hazel to keep it on.

Today Hazel wanted a hot dog for lunch so we had the mummy dogs that Beth from Living Life Intentionally posted on our first Sharing Saturday Link Party. Our Second Sharing Saturday is still open. Please link up any activities, crafts, etc. for children or to do with children. My goal for this blog is to make it a place for parents to share ideas and get help when needed.

Finally, I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick of all the Halloween decorations and crafts being thrown around. I'm not sure when Halloween became a holiday where we decorated so much. Nor do I want to store so many decorations for it, so I started thinking about Christmas. My preview for our next craft are the following pictures. I did some prep work on it by painting the pasta. If Hazel wakes up with enough time to do the crafts and we finish them, I'll post some pictures later and if not, hopefully it will be tomorrow's post.

To paint them, I used the plastic bag method. Put the pasta in a ziploc bag.

Add paint. Shake and rub gently until covered. Then pour out onto wax paper. Let dry. You get your hands a little dirty trying to make sure the pieces are not sticking together on the wax paper, but besides that it is relatively a clean method. The next steps will be posted soon with pictures.

Have a great day!!

Michaelmas

Felt dragon we brought to school for the classroom

Today is Michaelmas. This is the day of celebrating of St. Michael and to celebrate the harvest, change of seasons, etc. It is the first year we are celebrating. Last week I knew nothing of the holiday, so this is all new for me. My first question of course was what is Michaelmas? I did some web research and came across a few good sites to help. In general terms wisegeek explains some of the history behind Michaelmas. We of course are looking at the Waldorf side of celebrating. For this I found some great blogs giving information, recipes, etc. to help with the celebration. The first blog is Lady I Swear By All Flowers. She gives details of her celebration (her first time) last year including the story of St. George defeating the dragon which she shortened to be one page. Our Little Nature Nest has a slightly longer version of the story/legend. She also offers a link to a similar story where a little girl slays the dragon, Li Chi Slays The Serpent. Needless to say we will be reading this version as well.

So what is Michaelmas and why am I celebrating it? Michaelmas is the day of celebrating St. Michael the archangel and St. George, St. Michael's earthly form. St. George came to earth and slayed the dragons to save the people. This is the legend in the United Kingdom. So Waldorf education celebrates this day to celebrate the harvest and the start of autumn as well as using the dragon stories as a way of celebrating courage, strength and fighting our own inner demons. What a strong message to send to children. I think it is always positive for children to see that we struggle with our own inner demons and can reflect on it, but also to show them that each one of them has strength and courage to fight them.

Bread before the oven

Bread after baking

From what I have learned on line, it seems a must for celebrating is dragon bread, or bread shaped like a dragon. I found a couple of recipes for this. The first doesn't seem to let the dough rise, so I'm a little suspicious. However, if you are in a rush that would seem like a good thing. The second comes from Our Little Nature Nest (which is one of my main resources today) and lets the dough rise 30 minutes--not a long time, but at least it rises. This is the recipe we are going to use. I used whole almonds for the spikes and almond slivers for the teeth. I found candied sunflower seeds for the eye and the wing.

Dinner tonight will be our main celebration. We are going to have Carrot-Tomato Soup from Soule Mama's blog. (I did find a recipe for dragon soup on Uncommon Grace, but I didn't think my family would actually eat it. However this entry is also a good reference for Michaelmas.) And of course our dragon bread will be served with the soup. Then for dessert I am going to make a Michaelmas Pie (scroll down for this recipe on the link).

Carrot Tomato Soup

Michaelmas Pie

Well, I enjoyed the soup, but no one else seemed to, but that is not a big surprise in my family. The bread was ok, but not great. Next year I will make a better more complex recipe.  We have not cut into the pie yet, but I cheated on that. I used a store bought pie crust and sprinkled cinnamon on it. I'll give you a report on it tomorrow.

Another view of the dragon

And of course I found some dragon crafts for us to try. The first thing I made was the felt dragon. I found the pattern and the instructions on Rhythm of the Home. I promised Hazel I would make her another one if she gave this one to the teachers.

Next we made toilet paper roll dragons. I found this at DLTK. It is of one of the dragons from PBS's Dragon Tales, so it is not too scary of a picture. Hazel had fun coloring and gluing. I did the cutting out. We forgot to glue the tail on mine. Oops!

The last dragon craft we did was a handprint dragon. Ok, really I just traced Hazel's handprint and had her pick out the colors. She was feeling off today, so I did this craft while she rested. I got these instructions from Activity Village. They have many dragon crafts on their site.

Handprint Dragon

Some other dragon crafts can be found on:
Babycenter has one with a 16 ounce cup
Family Fun has a dragon hat and a dragon kite
Activity Village has a sock puppet, Egg box dragon, Wooden Spoon and a You Tube video on making an origami dragon head and many coloring pages
And of course traditionally Waldorf classes focus on autumn crafts for Michaelmas, so you can see any of the days this week for ideas.

Finally I was told today that Michaelmas festivals are for four weeks. I have not found that supported on line, but thought it was interesting. Well enough of our celebration. Happy Michaelmas and Happy Autumn!!