ABC Halloween Countdown

Okay so today is the last day before my favorite month! Yeah I am so excited for October to come. Halloween has been my favorite holiday off all times and I wanted to help make my girls excited too. So I made an ABC Halloween countdown. Remember that vase that I stuffed my extra screen scraps into well I was taking a walk around my neighborhood and found a dead tree in one of the empty lots. SCORE I cut off a couple branches and put them in my vase. Then I found these cute little bags at the dollar store and wrote a letter on each of them and the number of days left till Halloween. Inside of the bag is just a little piece of paper with a word relating to the letter of the day. I have a sheet explaining what we are going to do for the day for each letter. Most of them are decorating crafts so that by the time Halloween comes I will have lots of cute little homemade decorations from my girls.

These are the bags with the letter of the day and how many more days until Halloween. I then hole punch at the top so I could just put them on a branch easily

This is our ABC Halloween countdown tree















I will also post a picture everyday of our activities in case they don't fully make sense in my description.


Here is my Halloween alphabet that I came up with

A-     Apples

B-      Bat

C-      Cats 

D-     Donuts

E-      Eyeball

F-      Frankenstein

G-     Ghost   

H-     Haunted House

I-        Icky

J-       Jack-o-lantern

K-      Knight

L-       Lantern

M-   Mummies

N-     Night

O-     Owl

P-      Pumpkins

Q-     Quivering Queen

R-      Raven

S-      Spider

T-      Tombstones

U-     Ugly Face

V-     Vampire

W-   Witch

X-      X-ray

Y-      Yucky Yummies

Z-      Zombie

27- Halloween wreath

28-Flying purple people eater

29- corn maze

30-MOVIE

31- Halloween breakfast

And here is the explanations

A-     Apples Stain glass apples*, apples faces, pull and peel for hair and mouth and m&ms for eyes and nose stick together with peanut butter

B-      Bats Stain glass bats* and bat cups but use children’s hands for the wings bat puppet http://www.craftjr.com/halloween-crafts-finger-puppets/ http://www.thebestkidsbooksite.com/craftdetails2.cfm?CName=1758

C-      Cats and costume Stain glass cats* Cat finger puppet http://www.craftjr.com/halloween-crafts-finger-puppets/

D-     Donuts play the donut on a string game

E-      Eyeballs edible eyeballs http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/edible-eyeball-treats-685115/

F-      Frankenstein  Frankenstein Paper plate http://www.dltk-holidays.com/halloween/mplatefrankenstein.htm

G-     Ghost Ghost Foot print trace foot and cut out two hot glue them together but leave enough space to stuff with cottonballs then seal it up and hang  and ghost suckers

H-     haunted house Build a ginger bread haunted house

I-        Icky Icky game. Blind fold children and have these things in a plastic bag and have the kids guess what “body parts ” they are touching  Hot dog chucks: nose, Peeled grapes:eyes, Cooked spaghetti: guts Pistachio shells: finger nails,  

J-       Jack-o-Lantern Jack-o-Lantern egg carton http://www.allfreecrafts.com/halloween/egg-carton-pumpkins.shtml Felt jack-o-lanters Make a pumkin and small shapes out of felt. Let the kids put the shapes on the pumkin to make a jack o lantern, Jack o lantern puppet http://www.craftjr.com/halloween-crafts-finger-puppets/

K-      Knights Make Knight customes out if paper bags from the grocery store and a shield from cardboard and helment from an empty gallon milk jug

L-       Lanterns Make black and orange paper Lanterns

M-   Mummies Glue two googly eyes on a toilet paper roll(if you don’t have white toilet paper rolls paint them white first.) wrap in white streamers fill with some yummy mummy treats. Make hotdog mummies http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-recipes/halloween-dinners/hot-dog-mummies-715031/

N-     Night paint empty milk jugs black poke some small holes all over the jug if you are going to put these outside, put some dirt in the jug. Place a tea candle or the little fake tea candle lights inside of the jug.

O-     Owl Build an owl out of shape http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mshapesowl.htm

P-      Pumpkins Stain glass Pumkins* and visit a pumkin patch make pumkin snacks http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-recipes/halloween-dinners/pumpkin-roll-ups-684822/

a.       Gumdrop pumkins-  get two orange sliced-shaped gummies and trim the semi straight side on both gummies to make straight sides so that you can put the two together to make a full circle. Now get a green gumdrop and trim the bottom off and press it on top of the candy pumpkin.

Q-     Quivering Queen  Quivering Queen game. Have the kids dress up as queens or kings and fill a plastic teacup with jelly beans or other small candies and they have to quiver until their cup is empty. When they quiver they cannot have their feet leave the ground because that would be jumping and also they can’t move their arm they have to quiver with their bodies

R-      Raven Hand and foot Raven. Trace one foot and both hands on black paper. Use foot for boy and hands for wings glue googly eyes on and glue a yellow triangle on for beak

S-      Spiders  Trace two hands on black paper and overlap the thumbs for the spiders head and glue on googly eyes Egg carton spiders http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/insects/mspidercarton.htm spider finger puppet http://www.craftjr.com/halloween-crafts-finger-puppets/

T-      Tombstone Paint empty cereal box gray to make their own tombstones

U-     Ugly faces- Make a felt face with separate facial pieces that the kids get to put together to make ugly faces

V-     Vampire Vampire suckers http://familycrafts.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=familycrafts&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.craftster.org%2Fforum%2Findex.php%3Ftopic%3D272046.0

W-   Witch Make witches brew (homemade root beer made in a cauldron) Make witch hats http://4crazykings.blogspot.com/2009/09/halloween-kids-craft-witches-hats.html

X-      X ray x ray gingerbread men http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-recipes/halloween-desserts-cakes/gingerbread-skeletons-929720/

Y-      Yucky yummies- Make Halloween treats to share and to save for movie day.

Z-      Zombies Make zombie silhouettes.  Get a large piece of cardboard and trace your childs body in a zombie position . cut out and paint it black. We will be sticky these in our window.

27-Hand print Halloween color wreath

28-Recite the Flying purple people eater poem then play game Draw a large one eye one horn flying purple people eater on cardboard and cut a big mouth out of it. Make circle bean bags out of white fabric or felt and let the kids draw faces on the bags. Now toss them into the purple people eaters mouth.

29- Go to a corn maze

30-MOVIE DAY! Watch Kid Halloween movies all day

31- Happy HALLOWEEN have a Halloween breakfast http://hoosierhomemade.com/halloween-breakfast-food/

*Instructions to make stain glass
Supplies
       -Jolley ranchers
       -Metal cookie cutter in the shape you need cats, pumpkins, etc
       -Aluminum foil
       -Canola or safflower oil
       -wooden skewer
Pre heat oven to 350* F

Line the bottom and interior sides of the cookie cutters with aluminum foil and brush lightly with oil, set on baking sheet.

Arrange the jolley ranchers in a single layer in the cookie cutter and bake until the candy is melted about 10 min.

Remove from oven, let cool for 1 min. then poke a hole in the top with the wooden skewer. Cool then pop out the stain glass shape and peel off the aluminum foil. Thread some thin ribbon through the hole, and hang where ever you would like.

Homemade Halloween decor

So Halloween is my all time favorite holiday and last year I did not decorate so this year I want to make up for it. Now since I don't have any money to spend on holiday decor I am going to be making all the decoration from stuff lying around my house. When James went on his business trip awhile back I was at Lowes and they had these HUGE screen sliding doors for 95% off they were only .78 cents! I had no Idea what to do with them I just knew I couldn't pass them up. Now I am glad I grabbed them. I bought like 4 of them and with one of them I took out the screen and put it on my front door. I then drew a spiderweb with chalk and cut it out. Then with another one I had my two girls and a neighbor girl lay down and I traced their bodies to make some shadow people, and topped it off with some of my cornstalks I dried from my garden. With the little black scraps of screen I put them in a vase and put it on my front entry table. So far I have liked the decor and I can't wait to make some more!

Easy Chicken cordon bleu bundle

Ok so I am all about easy quick dinners because sometimes we don't get home from work til 7 and need a quick easy to make dinner. One time on one of those late days I had stop for gas and decided to get an already made food from Maverik. I was craving Maverik hot dogs and was sad to find all the buns were gone so I grabbed a chicken cordon bleu bundle and it was AMAZING! So this is my take on the chicken cordon bleu bundle.

This is makes 4
Ingredients
refrigerated Big phillbury crescent rolls
precooked chicken (I cooked it before I went to work and just left it in the fridge no need to preheat)
ham slices
Swiss cheese

pre heat oven to 350
1-put 2 of the crescent roll dough together and pinch the seam to make a rectangle
                      layer the cheese, ham, then chicken
2-fold it all up and pinch the seams,
3- then flip it over seam side down. You will have a seam on the top side from pinching the two dough
                      together but it is a lot prettier seam.
Do not grease your tray
Bake for 17-20 Min.
In the picture from left to right is step 1 then 2 then 3

 I actually liked how when I cooked them the top split open and goosed cheese!

I want to be here for all

To all my dear friends especially to those I have not talked to in forever. These past few days since I have learned about Jordan’s death have really been hard. I have been feeling really numb because your not suppose to be burying your friends. 22 is just too young to die. I think I have felt more regret more than anything. Regret that I didn’t try hard enough to keep in touch with all my friends. Instead I got caught up in my own life. It hurts me that I wasn’t there and I lost touch and had no idea what was going on . Back in High school I felt just like this when JJ died. Why wasn’t I there. Why didn’t I try hard enough to help someone out. It hurts a lot that I never received a phone call when someone needed to talk, and I know that is my fault. I didn’t try hard enough to keep that relationship up to where they felt comfortable to call me when they needed to talk. So that is why I am writing. I want everyone to know I don’t care if we never really talk now or even if we never really talked in school, I am here to listen and to comfort. I want to be the shoulder you can lean on. No matter how long we’ve known each other. I am here. I have had to bury to many friends in my 22 years of life that I would not wish upon anyone. I know I suck at keeping in touch but I want everyone to know to please call me if you are ever having a hard time and just need some support.


Jordan please forgive me for not being there when you needed someone. Please forgive me for not keeping in touch. I will miss your bear hugs and how it was impossible to be in a bad mood after one. I will miss the way you ran too. In middle school during lunch one time, I believe it was Kevin Cooper that said it, that you reminded us of Mario when you would run. How you had these short legs that could run so fast and how after that day I always imagine you in a Mario costume whenever you would run. Oh how I wish I could turn back the clock to middle school where we use to hang out behind the cafeteria. I will truly miss you.

In loving memory of Jordan I would love to hear your favorite moment or moments with Jordan. It was so nice to hear some of Jordan’s stories at his funeral today. It really helps remembering how kind and loving he was.

Peace be with you until we meet again.

Thank you every body for reading. I feel much better getting this of my chest. Now I must return to watching cartoons with my girls and eating my ice cream.

James's Vacation fun or should I say my fun

Yeah I am finally posting again. I have been so busy but since Vienna has strep throat today and hasnt been on anitbiotics for 24hrs yet we are stuck inside for the day. Both of my kids are asleep right now so I am taking advantage of it and finally updating on what I did while James was out of town.Back in July James had to go to a two week trainning in Ohio. I was beyond excited for him to be gone. I had all my projected planned out and was counting the days till he was leaving. I love to suprise James with things so I had so much fun. My first project was our old kitchen table. I had dreams for this table at one point but we found a table that was going to be for my sewing room and James like it to much for a kitchen table so this old thing got left behind and was taking up space in my garage. Then I had a better dream for this old table. I first cut it straight down the middle with a skil saw using the same legs I was able to make a skinny table that fits behind our couch. Then with the other half of the table top I made a shelf/mantle to hold our tv above the fire place.



TABLE BEFORE

MANTLE/SHELF

 SKINNY TABLE. Maybe one day I will use it as an entryway table.

Next I went to Ikea and found these scraps except the brown board which was sitting in my garage and decided to make a bench/laundry storage. I know I had seen a bench similair to this that held laundry but I can not recall where. I want to say Ikea but when I looked around last I saw no such thing. the total of scraps cost 13$. Now I am no good at tutorials but my neighbor friend is. And I made my bench from a combination of this bench and this bench from her blog.

SCRAPS FROM IKEA

Bench before I painted

BENCH AFTER AND NO IT'S NOT A TOILET HOLE IT'S TO HIDE LAUNDRY

I have some more project that I have not currently finished but will try to very soon.

24th of July lesson recap of last Year

I thought I would share this again since we are living in a new place and I know there are a lot of primary workers especially for the little ones that would like to do a special 24th of July lesson. This is what I did with my nursery class last year and it turned out wonderful. The kids listened and all had fun at the same time. If you are not a primary worker this would also work for preschool or even family home evening. Hope you enjoy.

 I had the lesson for nursery and I wanted to teach the kids about how the pioneers lived. How they traveled, what they played with, how they made their own food and ect. So I made aprons out of hot pads, ribbon and wash rags with a coffee filter for a bonnet, then I made rag dolls out of my fabric scraps that I keep around because Itylee likes to pretend they are noodles, and finally I got little baby food jars and put heavy cream in it to make butter and we all sat on the floor and sang some primary songs while we shook the jars. Or you can play primary songs on a CD and every time the music stop you freeze and when it starts playing again you pass your jar and ect. I was planning on make some bread but got way to busy. but the best part was my dad and I built a little handcart out of my old bike trailer. The kids had soo much fun and to top it off I made an amazing cake! Thank you Alessandra. Check out her website at howicook.com for the recipe and directions because you will be the hit of the party if you show up with this cake.

The top picture from left to right is James, Jesse, Hailey, Itylee, Henry, and Brynne The rest of the pictures you can figure out yourself :)

Celtic Celebration 2011

So Celtic Celebration was AMAZING this year. Everyone did so good. I want to say thank you to Liesl, Emily, and Amy for working hard and choreographing some amazing dances and of course Leia even though you are not there you did a wonderful job on Mother Nature and you are not forgotten. But also for all my fellow ADC dancers for working their butts off to make this happen. And also a shout out to all my friends and family for their support. I couldn't have done it with out you guys. My husband recorded our dances on his phone so sorry if you don't like the quality and thank you James for recording them for me. If anyone is interested in learning to Irish Dance come join us at An Dragan Ceilteach Irish Dancers I hope you enjoy our fun dances. Sorry about the Pirate dance if you want to watch the whole thing I shared a video on my facebook that someone else recorded. Its amazing! Check it out