My Memories Suite Review and Giveaway

I was recently given the opportunity to download My Memories Suite Version 3.0, a digital scrapbooking software, so I could review it. And they offered me another copy for a lucky reader. More details soon--I know I'm so excited for my first giveaway!

Halloween Countdown for Toddlers & Spiced Pear Muffins

So Hazel has been getting excited for Halloween. Last year, she had a teeth breaking through and was miserable. She also refused to wear her lion costume that I made her. You can see in the picture when I forced her to try it on, she was not happy. For a Halloween Party at the library I got away with putting her in a dress and saying she was a princess. It was all she was willing to wear or should I say unable to take off herself. On Halloween, she literally refused to dress up. She was feeling miserable. So we did not go trick-or-treating. So I'm excited that she getting into it this year. She has changed her mind a couple of times (with some influence from her grandmother), but she has decided to be the dish and carry the spoon from Hey, Diddle, Diddle. If you have been following me, you will know this is one of her favorite nursery rhymes.

So to help keep the excitement going, I made her a way to countdown the days until Halloween. I was going to make something more formal and have things to do or stories to read each day, but didn't get my act together (or should I say the plan together) soon enough and also thought this would be perfect for her age. I made her an October calendar with the correct dates and the number of days until Halloween. At the bottom I included pictures of kids trick-or-treating. On our's I also included a picture of the dish and spoon. However, I removed this before I saved it as a pdf. Here it is in case you want one. Halloween Countdown Each morning Hazel will put a sticker on that day. This way she will have a sense of when Halloween is. She has been asking to go trick-or-treating every day, so I have been trying to give her a sense of the time.


Since we did not bake yesterday, I baked today. I had five very ripe pears to use, so I combined some recipes to make spiced pear muffins. The verdict is good. All three of us liked them!

Spiced Pear Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
dash of ground cloves
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, divided
1 large egg, lightly beaten
6.5 ounces Greek non-fat yogurt
5 pears, cored and pureed in food processor (I did not peel them)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray 18 muffin cups and set aside.

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices and set aside.

In mixer bowl cream butter, granulated sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Beat until fluffy (if butter was not at room temperature it will take slightly longer but the mixer will do the work). Add the egg and mix well. Add yogurt and pear puree. Mix and stop to scrape bowl at least once.

Add flour mixture to mixer and mix well. Remembering to scrape bottom and sides of bowl.

Put batter into muffin cups. Divide and sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar on top of each muffin.

Bake for 10 minutes at 450 and then turn the oven down to 400 and bake for another 10 minutes. The muffins are moist, so it takes a bit to bake them. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!!

Quilt Top

So I posted a few days ago a preview of the quilt top that I won the pattern and fabric for from Sew Happy Geek for her blogiversary and Fat Quarter Shop. I have finished piecing the quilt as it is written. I've ordered more fabric to enlarge it to fit our bed so now I wait. But I wanted to share the "finished" top with you thus far.

Steve and I need a winter quilt. We currently have a quilt I made very lightweight for the summer, so this will be our winter quilt. I think the bright, cheerful colors are perfect for the long New England winter, don't you?

In the meantime I'm going to make a similar quilt for Hazel's bed using a Hey Diddle Diddle panel for the middle square and some new and mostly old nursery/children/novelty fabric I have (and some my mom wants to get rid of). In this one I'm going to use the other option of the pattern where the last four corners are from one fabric (usually the middle fabric, but I'm using a book panel of nursery rhyme pictures I found). Plus I want to sew a new fall outfit for Hazel--possibly for her first day of school which is Thursday!! I better getting sewing!

Center Panel

For corner blocks

And the dish ran away with the spoon (again!)

Ok, we are hooked on Hey Diddle Diddle here. Yesterday when we were out running errands Hazel turned to me (while we were holding hands) and said, "Let's run away. You are the dish and I'm the spoon." She repeated this a few times during the day. I decided it was time to make her The Runaways. I found the pattern at Happy Together. I changed a few things like adding arms and using 100% wool felt instead of fleece. Hazel loves them. I should also note that I did not follow the instructions carefully and wish I had on the spoon more so if you are going to do it, follow her instructions. Overall they were pretty easy to make and I know she will love them at least while she is on this kick. I'm thinking I may try to make a dish and spoon costume for Halloween. Hopefully this year she will be willing to put her costume on. Last year teething made it impossible to dress her up.

I updated these adorable guys with some needle-felting. You can check them out here.

How to ride out a hurricane...

Well Hurricane Irene came and went. We spent the day home trying to keep busy. The only time the tv was on was to check the weather and when Hazel was sleeping.

And the dish ran away with the spoon

One of our first activities was to make Hey, diddle diddle mobiles. We got the print out from Free Kid Crafts. You need to print out 2 for each mobile, but one needs to be the mirror image. I did this by saving it as an image and putting it into Word and flipping the picture with the rotate tool. Then we colored and cut out. We added in the arms and legs to the dish and spoon and gave them extra long strings to run away on.

The little dog laughed to see such sport

The cat and the fiddle...the Cow jumped over the moon

Next we danced. Hazel finally wore her Beatrix Potter twirly skirt (and wore it today to nonni's house).

Where the pattens came from

And during nap time I finished a new outfit for her. I made the pants Saturday night. And finished the top yesterday. Unfortunately we had a potty training accident before we went out today in it. These patterns came from Little Girls, Big Style by Mary Abreu. Very cute clothes to make for girls sizes 2-6. Definitely recommend this book if you like these styles.

Our final craft of the day was to make flower fairies. We got the instructions from Family Fun. Hazel loved doing this though she needed a lot of help. We made three each and she took them with her today to show Nonni. I'm thinking she can use them in her fairy garden to play. Plus it used up some of the extra supplies we had from the fairy garden.

Flower Fairies

Now the hard part of the hurricane (or any storm) is on me. I have to entertain Hazel and keep her quiet while her poor father sleeps since he worked overnight. The one draw back of working for the power company is when the storms hit he is called in. Oh, well. Today she is with Nonni (his mother) and tomorrow I'll make some playdates or something. The weather is beautiful now, so I'm off for a walk. Enjoy!

Hey, Diddle, Diddle...And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon

Hey, diddle diddle

The cat and the fiddle

The cow jumped over the moon

The little dog laughed to see such sport

And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Hazel has fallen in love with Hey, Diddle, Diddle and many versions of the story in different books we have read. In particular she loves the dish and the spoon. In one of the stories (more about the cow than anything) she likes to point out where the dish and spoon are in every picture. So I got to thinking about how easy it would be to make a dish and spoon with her.

Mine

Supplies needed are a paper plate (I used a small one), a plastic spoon, three pipe cleaners, small googly eyes (optional) and larger ones (also optional), glue and/or tape, and crayons, markers, paints, stickers, etc. to decorate.

The Spoon:
Cut one pipe cleaner into two pieces: 4 inches and 8 inches roughly. Use the 4-inch piece to be the arms on the spoon by wrapping it around the spoon a few times. Then use the 8-inch one to be the legs. Wrap it around the bottom of the handle and bend it to look like legs and feet. Glue the small googly eyes on the top of the spoon (or draw eyes) and draw a mouth. Decorate as child wishes.

Hazel's creation

The Dish:
Glue one pipe cleaner across the back of the plate to be the arms. Bend the last pipe cleaner in half and twist the top to be legs and then glue to the bottom of the back of the plate. You may want to tape both of these to secure until the glue dries. On front glue on googly eyes (or draw them) and draw a mouth. Then decorate the plates. I used a cow sticker and drew on a moon for the cow jumping over the moon. Unfortunately I didn't plan so I didn't have dog and cat stickers.

Finally I attached the hands of the dish and spoon since they are running away together.

Books to use besides any Mother Goose book:

• And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon by Janet Stevens
  
• Moonstruck: The True Story of The Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon by Gennifer Choldenko
• Hey Diddle Diddle by Kin Eagle (I picked this one up at a used bookstore for only $1.29)
• The Adventures of The Dish and The Spoon by Mini Grey

Please note I provide the link to Amazon only so you can see the book and whether it is available new. In no way am I supporting that you buy it there. Also, I listed these in the order of my favorites among them.

Now, we are off to the library for Move and Groove. Enjoy your day and stay safe this weekend especially those of us on the East Coast.

Library Book Review and More Books

Today we went to our local library for the Move 'n Groove program. Hazel loves it. It gets her listening to music, singing, playing with instruments (maracas, rhythm sticks) and scarves, dancing, jumping and marching with other kids and their parents. While there we also usually update our Summer Reading Program, check out books and visit our library friends. (I use to volunteer at the library so just about everyone knows us there.)

One book we have been enjoying reading lately is The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney. The only words the book has are the sounds of animals. The pictures are amazing. It is a new twist on the old story and I really enjoy making the story up with the pictures.

Hazel is also beginning to enjoy some of the classic tales. Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears are the first two we have been reading. We read The Gingerbread Man awhile ago and she liked it (however Steve does not so I haven't taken it out again). Today we tried Little Red Riding Hood, but she did not like the beginning of the version we had. We did however buy The Ugly Duckling at the used book store and she liked that story.

After the library we went to the used book store at the mall. I had an idea for Hazel's birthday party (I know, I'm planning way too far ahead, but I like to do these things) and wanted to look for some books to use for decorations. I found them and more and discovered that they were having an anniversary sale of 50% off all used books (they do sell some new books there as well). I spent under $6 on children's books (around 60 cents each) and a little more getting the newest from my favorite authors that I haven't read since having Hazel. Now I can start reading for pleasure again. And we found Hey Diddle, Diddle by Kin Eagle for Hazel since we returned it to the library and a Caillou book (she loves Caillou from when we let her watch tv).

On a very positive note, today was a good day in potty training. We only had 2 accidents. One at the mall (not sure when it happened but when she told me she needed to go she then told me her pants were already wet from prior) and once at home with Daddy. I think we are getting close to being trained at least while awake. Nap and Nighttime are a very different story, but that will come with time, I'm sure.

Have any good toddler books to share?

Two More Craft Books from the library

This morning after my dentist appointment I stopped at the library to pick up two of the books I requested from other libraries. Thought I would give a quick review after flipping through them here. And of course I just checked my email to see more of the books I requested arrived today at the library, so it looks like I'll be going back tomorrow.

The Little Hands Nature Book by Nancy Fusco Castaldo--flipping through this quickly, I cannot wait to dive into it and find some good activities to do with Hazel. This book has great activities for ages 2-6 with an educational side to them as well.

Little Hands Celebrate America! by Jill Frankel Hauser--I got this one for craft ideas for my Fourth of July party. It is full of lessons and then a craft on different things in America--pledge allegiance, flag, constitution, so so much more. It looks like a great way to introduce some of the American history topics especially if you home school.

Now onto the other books that I haven't written about:
The Little Hands Big Fun Craft Book by Judy Press--Packed full of craft ideas for 2-6 year olds. I really am loving this series. It is not as educational as the ones above, but does include Celebrations from Around the World.

Kids Create! by Laurie Carlson--This book says it is for 3-9 year olds and definitely is for older kids. It goes through paper and paste crafts to clay crafts and printmaking and seasonal crafts. Lots of great ideas, but I think I want to get it out again when Hazel is a bit older.

Nature's Art Box by Laura C. Martin--looks like a great book, but again is definitely for older kids. Will return with the desire to take it out in a few years.

Crafts for Kids Backyard Book by Greta Speechley--thought this might give me ideas for our Fourth of July BBQ--activities to do with the kids is always a good thing.--It has a few good ideas, but not much that is different from what I have already seen.

Look What You Can Make With Newspapers, Magazines, And Greeting Cards edited by Kathy Ross--a lot of papier-mache and some new ideas, but mostly things I have seen before.

Look What You Can Make With Paper Plates edited by Margie Hayes Richmond--full of easy ideas to make things with paper plates. Some I could do now with Hazel or save them for when she is older. There are animals, holiday stuff, mobiles and more.

Another book Hazel has been enjoying:
The Little Moon Princess by Y.J. Lee--great tale about how the stars became stars
And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel--a new take on Hey diddle diddle with some other nursery rhyme themes thrown in