Pumpkins, Leaves, and Halloween

Today has been one of those days. I knew Hazel would crash and it was just a matter of when. She woke up at 3 a.m. and would not go back to sleep for anything no matter what we tried. It threw us all off for the day. Sure enough I finally convince her to get dressed and go run errands around noon and she falls asleep about five minutes away from home. Needless to say the errands did not get done. So far she has been sleeping for two and a half hours and I slept for about an hour as well. But before she slept we did some crafts.

First we finished up a craft we had started the other day. Hazel wanted to do a craft when I was leaving so I suggested to Steve to paint coffee filters with her watercolor paints. Then we cut them into leaves. I saw the idea at Frugal Family Fun Blog.Then taking the idea from 1+1+1=1, we glued them onto a spiral to look like falling leaves. We also hung some of the leaves on the window to look like stained glass leaves. I love how the light shines through them.

Trick-or-Treat, Smell My Feet!

Hazel as Delia

Next we did some foam activities I had found in the discount bins. Frames and magnets for Halloween. Nothing too exciting. Then we did a cutting activity I saw on Mer Mag.  We started with pumpkins and then did ghosts and witches. We decided the two witches were the witch twins from Trick-or-Treat Smell My Feet! by Lisa Desimini.

Then we cut open our sugar pumpkin. Well we tried to cut open two, but one was not ripe and wouldn't cut. Hazel wanted to see if it had a star inside like the apple. She didn't want to touch all the strings, but loved putting her hands in the bowl of seeds.

We have been reading books about pumpkins. I posted about some from the library previously. We also bought two at a library book sale. The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons which goes into the biology behind growing pumpkins as well as the significance of them in Thanksgiving and Halloween. This book is written so a young child can understand it but also so an older child can get more from it. It includes how to plant pumpkin seeds and how to dry them from your pumpkin to plant them next spring, which we plan to do. We also bought Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington. This is about a young boy planting seeds and caring for the plant until he can harvest his pumpkin and have his parents help him carve it to be a jack-o'-lantern.

The Pumpkin Book

Finally another book to check out is All Hallows Eve: The Story of the Halloween Fairy by Lisa Sterlazza Johnson. It is another version of the pumpkin fairy. Although I like my version better, it is nice to have a story to read to Hazel at this age.

Book Sharing Thursday

So, today I'm hoping to start a new tradition of sharing favorite books on Thursdays. Thursdays are busy days for us, so this will be a good day to do this. I will have two categories, Children's books and Adult books about parenting or crafting with kids, or crafts. Please enter as many as you would like.

Children's Books:
What are your child's or yours favorite books to read right now?






Adult Books:
What books do you found helpful as a crafting parent or as a parent?



Thanks for joining us!!

Exciting day

Today I am honored to guest blog at SewHappyGeek. You may remember I was the winner of Jenna's blogiversary giveaway which was her Square It Up! pattern and fabric to make it. Well after I made it, I decided I wanted it bigger so it could go on our bed. Her pattern was so easy I had to make more. I made one for Hazel out of various nursery fabrics including her favorite nursery rhymes and story characters and I had leftovers from that so I made a baby quilt.  Here are a few pictures to check out and then you can head over and visit my guest blog.

Our Queen Size

Baby Quilt

Hazel's Quilt

As for our day, I messed up on a doctor's appointment which I thought I had this morning, but apparently I missed it on Monday. Oops!! So Hazel is with my mother-in-law, and I have to go get her to bring her back to the doctor since her cold has moved into her chest and her cough does not sound pretty. After that hopefully she will nap and then we can do some crafts to post tomorrow. I've also been working on my angels for the angel swap at we bloom here. I'm also thinking of what Hazel can do for hers. She is also participating. Want to join us?

And of course I'm working on our Halloween costumes! I have most of Hazel's body part done, now I need to figure out her head gear which will be the bowl of the spoon. I am working on the decorations on the front of the plate right now for mine, but mine is much easier. Don't worry I will share pictures. Have a great day!!

Halloween Memory Games & Halloween Book Memory Games

As you know we have been reading Halloween books (click link to see the books and some crafts to go with them) we borrowed from the library. Last night I decided to make her some memory match games for Halloween. I saw the idea on A Pumpkin and A Princess. I bought some Halloween scrapbook paper yesterday at Joann's. It is on sale 5 for $1 this week. Then I went into Word and used the clipart to find some good (not too scary) Halloween pictures. Since Hazel has been so into Erica Silverman's The Big Pumpkin, I made sure to include a witch, ghost, vampire, mummy, bat and pumpkin. I added a few others as well, but the game could be played with just those if you want to relate it to the book.Click Halloween Match Game  for a downloadable link.

Then I cut out each card and cut out 18  3" by 4" rectangles from 2 sheets of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper. I glued each card onto one of the scrapbook paper rectangles. Then I covered them with clear contact paper to protect them and make them a bit more durable, and cut them out of it. I laid them all down on one sheet and folded it over them to have the contact paper on both sides. Hazel loves playing it!

I also made some from another favorite Halloween book, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. For these I made 12 rectangles (six designs): the shoes going clomp, clomp, the pants going wiggle, wiggle, the shirt going shake, shake, the white gloves going clap, clap, the tall black hat going nod, nod and the scary pumpkin head going boo, boo. To download these cards click Little Old Lady Match Game.

Then I cut them out and put them on different scrapbook paper and covered them in clear contact paper and cut them out. For this scrapbook paper you only need one sheet and cut 12 rectangles measuring 3" by 4". 

Needless to say (after the number of times I read this book to Hazel) she loves them!

I am loving these simple crafts that lead to hours of fun and entertainment and learning for her! Do you have any to share? Visit our Sharing Saturday link  party and share them with us! Anything kid friendly is welcome!

Also check out this sharing of  an announcement of a giveaway. Have a great day!!

2 Quick Things to Share

Literacy and Laughter is giving away an autographed copy of Square Cat by Elizabeth Schoonmaker and a $15 gift certificate to Lettering Delights. Go over and check it out.

Also wanted to share this fun picture that I took today. I would say this visitor is about a month too early. This was in our next door neighbor's yard.

We weren't sure how he got into the fenced in yard with all the gates closed and he didn't seem to know how to get out. My husband opened the gate for him and hopefully he was able to get out and go home. Hazel loved seeing him though!