Turkey project

One of my favorite crafts as a kid was a big thanksgiving turkey that I had to "color" by glueing on different types of dried beans and peas.  I think I was in Kindergarten and I still remember how much fun I had making it.  I decided that the boys should make one too!  They were excited when I told them about it.

E

N

N concentrating

We made quite a mess but that's ok 

N's finished turkey! 

E's finished turkey!

All the leftover beans went into the craft/upcycle box for a future project. Clearly I need to find some crafts that use paper towel rolls!

 Hopefully I can get some Thanksgiving pictures up soon!

New goal

One of the really popular diy blogs that I read daily participates in a Pinterest Challenge.  I thought it was such a great idea.. I pin way more than I do.  So I have given myself a new goal.  I am going to try to make/use/do/cook at least one thing a week that I have pinned.   I've made a few things before from there, though usually it's more inspired by things I pin rather that an exact remake.  I do it a little more to my style/budget/taste/laziness.  That's ok, I say it still counts.

This week I was inspired by all these pins I see of curtain rods being used to hold pictures or art.  I thought it might be the perfect solution for the kids' art work.  I usually hang their pictures on the fridge, but the kitchen is quite cozy and we brush my the fridge a lot so the pictures fall off all the time.  We needed a new location.

I went to Big Lots for a cheap curtain rod and hooks.  $10 later, I had a little display area!

I kept it like that for a day or two but I was a little disappointed that the rod could only hold a few pictures even though it's about four feet long.  I still had left over rings though so I decided to buy another rod.

 So much better!

I love it! The wall isn't empty anymore, we have a place for the kids' pictures, and it was less than $15.  Oh and I should mention that I did it all myself! And they are perfectly level and evenly spaced (though the angle of the picture is deceiving) Go me! I normally suck at hanging things up unless I am using command strips or poster putty haha

Changing leaves

The leaves around here are turning so many beautiful colors!  I feel like an old lady for being so amazed by this but what can I say, I grew up in Florida, I haven't seen things like this before.

This is what we are seeing on our balcony lately.  We have probably the most private apartment in the whole complex as far as our balcony goes. (Yes I realize that "private apartment" is kind of an oxymoron)  Nobody can see into it and we don't face any other units.. just trees.  The downfall of course is that our apartment gets almost no sunlight but oh well.  

These pictures don't even show all the reds in there but you get the idea.

 This one shows the reds but not the yellows.  I can't win.  I need to learn how to use my camera.

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updates

We made the decision to let the boys ride the big yellow cheese wagon.  Partially because they wanted to but also because me and J are now sharing a vehicle which means lots of driving back and forth and lots of gas. Cutting out the trip to their school and back every morning kind of helps even things out.. almost.  I still pick them up in carpool in the afternoons though because the bus takes way too long to get home. It's like a 40 minute difference. 

E and N first time on a school bus

This picture is a tear-jerker! 

 In other news, Nathan got an award for responsibility from school!  So proud of him! His teachers are always telling me how sweet and calm-natured he is.  What a wonderful compliment. 




Recently, the kids were asked to bring in a donation to JDRF and in return the principal allowed them to have crazy hat/hair day.  N chose to wear a crazy hat which in reality is pretty much his only hat.  It is a fun hat though, it has a mohawk of fringe.  I like it.  E wanted crazy hair but since I only learned about this on the morning of, we made a quick batch of red "goo" (cherry jello powder plus hair gel) and spiked his hair up with that.  It was a subtle red, not even visible in the pictures, but he could see it in the mirror and he was all smiles the whole day.  

N 

E

I volunteered to help with "reading treats" for the kids at the school who are on track with reading 20 minutes a day at home.  I made dirt cups.. almost 30 of them.  I was kind of hoping E or N's class would get them but they didn't.  That's ok, I saved them 2 for at home :-) And I saved one for J too.  If you could have seen his face, you would have thought it was his birthday.. that man loves him a dirt cup. 

 Ethan had a day home sick with a pretty bad cough.  It was kinda nice in a way to get that one on one time because he was just barely sick enough to warrant staying home so he wasn't miserable or anything, especially after the medicine.  We had breakfast together and then rented a movie.  After that, he mostly just played pbskids games on my computer.  

E

And the last random thing is my new vacuum.  We had our last one for about 3 or so years which was pretty good considering how much we use it but it finally gave out on us so we went to best buy to get a new one.  We ended up picking out the electrolux nimble.  It's kinda funny looking.. like something from the Jetsons, but it came with good reviews and a 5 year warranty so we were sold.  I got it home and tried it out and holy cow! It picked up so much that my last vacuum couldn't get! J asked me if I had steam cleaned the carpets and I hadn't so that must be a good sign.

In case you wanted to see

Field trip!

A few weeks ago, the boys had a field trip to a somewhat local place called Hillridge Farms.  We had been here a couple times before as a family but it was extra exciting since this time it was a field trip!  I was a Chaperone in N's class.  It's quite a drive to get to this place, and since parents are no longer allowed to ride on the bus, I had to take that long drive alone.  AND since my car is having troubles, me and J are sharing the SUV which meant that I had already taken J to work and then the boys to school and then back to this farm (and later back home, back to the school, back to j's work and back home again!).  If you were to draw the lines on the map, it was a ridiculous amount of back and forth and crossing paths and gas guzzling. Anyways, aside from that, it was a fun day!


The little town that you have to pass through to get to the farm is so cute! Very old and quiet and clean.

Farmlands 

Old grocery store (now an antiques store I think)

It was nice seeing how N interacts with other kids.  I was only in charge of two kids, N and one other boy. They were such good buddies. They held hands everywhere and stayed together.


There was a walk through maze, and animals and all sorts of stuff but most of the pictures I took have too many other kids' faces in them which I don't feel are fair to post here but I did get a few pictures that I can share.

This is a huge slide/tunnel that you ride down on a piece of burlap.  I think it's steeper than it even looks.  This is always the highlight of the trip.  Look at that line!

N at the bottom of the slide

We got to take a hayride on the back of a big tractor which was exciting!  

N and his buddy looking out the wagon

This place had lots of pumpkin patches!

Something about blurring out faces makes a picture weird and kinda creepy but oh well..

The whole class on the hayride! 

The day wrapped up with a picnic and then a hayride back to the buses.

Picnic on the farm

The kids had a blast!  I even bumped into E a few times when his class was at the same activity.