Bird Ornaments

I found these packages of white bird ornaments at Ikea this year. Four come to a pack for just under $4. It is a simple template if you want to make them yourselves out of cardstock or cardboard without the Ikea version of ready mades.


The kids colored them with permanent markers and we added glitter to the edges of the paper wings.


We are giving them as gifts and saving some for our own tree. I just love them.

Christmas Card Photo Session

The deadline for Christmas card printing is bearing down on me and I really wanted to get mine ordered before I leave town for my brother's wedding. So, despite the freezing temps and drizzling rain, I dressed up my kids and took them across the street to Delaney's favorite yellow wall. The best thing I did was put a hat on Delaney, therefore avoiding any hair fixing drama.


When I told my kids we were going out to take Christmas pictures they had this idea of Christmas greetings from Super Heroes so after the "pretty" pictures, I let them at it. I should probably just send out one of these this year. They represent them much better than the ones above!!

Pilgrim Hat Cookies

We are getting ready for Thanksgiving around here as I am sure all of you are. Today we made pilgrim hat cookies. They were so easy and turned out really cute and perfectly age appropriate for my kids. AND you only need 3 ingredients....Chocolate Wafer cookies, Orange icing, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Thanks Pinterest!


I haven't added the little buckle detail yet but thought I'd get this posted just in case anyone out there wants to make a few of these before tomorrow.

While on Pinterest looking for these cookies, Delaney saw this turkey craft without me even knowing it. She ran and got all the supplies and brought them to the table and told me all she needed was some googly eyes. She did a great job with it.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Halloween Party Time!!!

I warned you that I would make way too many October posts but luckily this month is almost over! Tonight was our annual Halloween Party which is my favorite party of the year because there is nothing I like more than people in costumes. I love dressing up which I owe to my grandmother who's favorite holiday is Halloween and who has dressed up as a very scary witch for my entire life. You can see her below scaring the latest generation of little kids!


This is my spider cider holder and it is my very favorite Halloween decoration. I filled him with punch this year for the little kids and found these great cups with lids by Solo. Below are my shelves that I change out seasonally. For Halloween, I use all B&W photos of all my childhood Halloween memories. The really amazing painted calendar is by my friend Ann and I love it so much. The shelves are from IKEA and I trimmed them out with green spider ribbon for this season.



We served delicious Mole Chili and Rosemary Tomato Soup followed by many sweet treats including these Pumpkin Joe Joe's from Trader Joes. The kids and I made these acorns with mini Nutter Butter cookies, a hershey kiss, and a chocolate chip.


Here is my grandmother scaring Buzz and Woody, her great grandchildren!


And here are all our little guests in their splendid costumes!


My dad came as Two Face from Batman because that is Ford's favorite villain. But Ford calls him "One Face Good, One Face Bad". I love this grandparent picture of my parents with my kids.


And here is my costume which is my favorite one ever. I got the idea on Pinterest and then my mom had the idea of adding the bubble to be a more authentic Lichtenstein girl.


Our craft for the evening was making fabric owls. I found giant fabric sample books in the dumpster and kept them for something someday. I cut all the owl shapes out of the fabric and set up our owl making factory.


Here are the finished products and their proud creators. I think they turned out just wonderfully.


HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO YOU ALL!!!!

Halloween Cookie Playdate

We had a fun time today decorating ghost and pumpkin cookies with our friends.


Why is that no matter how messy the project or how many things kids cram on one cookie, they always turn out looking so cute?

Gotta run, we are all in a sugar coma now.

Pumpkin Necklaces

In preparation for our pumpkin patch visit we made everyone in our party a pumpkin necklace. There are several pictures of us sporting them in my earlier post at Yahoo Farms. Here is our process in case you want to make some for your own pumpkin adventures.


We used those tiny Fun Fushion fuse beads. I helped the kids design the black faces in the middle of each grid and then they did the rest. They are learning about patterns in school so they had fun making patterns around the edges and filling in the rest of the pumpkins with orange beads.


When the grids are done, you iron the whole thing and it melts together. I used tiny o rings to hang them on plastic cording and then we used big wooden beads to complete our creations.

Which Wich

We've found a new restaurant we really like. The kids like the food and I love a good concept with wonderful marketing and great packaging. That pretty much sums up Which Wich. These sandwich shops are popping up all around the city.


You choose a paper bag depending on what kind of sandwich you are in the mood for. The categories range from Comforts to Classics to Breakfasts to Seafood to Vegetarian. Then you get to use a big red sharpie. For those of you who know me, I am a little Sharpie obsessed so this gives this place one leg up already. You get to mark up your bag with your name and lots of X's choosing toppings and breads and sauces, etc. Finally, your sandwich is made and arrives all nicely packed into the bag you made.


We have tried several sandwiches and liked them all. Our very favorite is the Elvis which is peanut butter, banana, bacon, and honey. I know! It is more like dessert than dinner but it is really delicious.


My favorite part is the bright yellow wall where you can pin up your bag for display if you were feeling extra artsy while waiting on your sandwich. They have extra bags just for this purpose! This keeps me and my kids thoroughly entertained.