Guest Pots: Tips for a Happy, Healthy Easter

Thanks to Health Wise Home for this fantastic set of tips for keeping Easter Happy AND Healthy!! 

Tips for a Happy, Healthy Easter

Easter is almost here! As an adult, I look forward to our family’s traditions that surround the holiday. When I was a child, I looked forward to many of those same traditions, but my main focus was centered around one common theme: Easter candy! Between school celebrations, a visit from the Easter Bunny, egg hunts, and family celebrations, I was practically swimming in jelly beans, marshmallow chicks, and chocolate bunnies by the end of the Easter weekend.

As a health-conscious parent in today’s over-commercialized world, trying to maintain a healthy balance can be especially challenging around the holidays. It seems like everything is centered around candy, and lots of it. I have found that the best solution for our family is to allow our children to enjoy the celebrations outside of our home (class parties, community events, etc.) at their own discretion, and try to make our home and family celebrations centered around more meaningful things, like having fun together!

With a little planning, you can help create a happy AND healthy Easter for your family. Here are a few tips to get you started:

1.     Choose a Healthier Theme for Easter Baskets. Chances are, your kids are going to get plenty of Easter candy between school, community, and family celebrations. Instead of focusing on filling their baskets up with candy, pick a healthier theme that appeals to your child’s interests or upcoming events. In years past, we have done a Sports theme, a Beach theme, a Garden theme, an Art theme, and a Rainy Day theme. My kids look forward to seeing what the new theme will be each year!

2.     Mix Up the Egg Hunt. Who says that all of the plastic eggs have to be filled with candy? Mix things up a bit. The anticipation of “What will be in the next egg?” makes the egg hunting even more fun. Fill some of the eggs with trinkets, money (always a BIG hit), or family fun “passes” (family movie night, stay up 30 minutes past your bedtime, a trip to the zoo, etc.). You can even turn your egg hunt into a scavenger hunt by filling each egg with a different clue leading everyone to a final prize or destination.

3.     Play with Your Food. Healthy food doesn’t have to be boring. That’s what Pinterest is for, my friends! With a little creativity, you can create an Easter spread that is healthy and visually appealing to your children. Better yet, let your kids play with their food to come up with their own healthy Easter creations.

4.     Enjoy the Holiday. At the end of the day, holidays are meant to be joyful celebrations that bring family and friends together. Don’t stress over the little things. Instead, try to find a healthy balance that works for your family and then focus on enjoying the moments and time shared with those that bring the most love and joy to your life.

Happy Easter!






Sarah Young is a wife, mother of three, Health Education Specialist, and healthy living advocate. She created Health Wise Home several years ago to help educate, empower, and inspire others to "Eat Healthy. Live Well.". In her spare time, she enjoys running, hiking, gardening, and spending time with her family and her dog, Maple. You can find her at her website, Health Wise Home, and on Facebook, too!

Previous St. Patrick's Day Shenanigans I Have Had

This year I've been a little preoccupied with Silver Sparkles and I haven't done anything fun, but if you're still looking for some St. Patty's ideas, here's what I've got in the "blast from the past" department.

1) Leprechaun Room Raid (2012)
"We're neither Irish, nor Catholic, but Logan's favorite color is green and Riley spent all his free time building "Leprechaun Traps" after being jealous about the treats and mischief at Savannah's preschool.  I decided (at 12 am, which is when my best inspiration always strikes) that I'd go with it, so, here's what I did.  The leprechaun mischief:  This involved a skein of yarn, some tape, and a package of green balloons.  Luckily the kids are having a "sleepover" together tonight, so I only had to sneak around one room!!  In the kitchen I drew a picture and threw down some glitter.  I have 0 artistic skill, I know, so no laughing at my leprechaun!! Also on the table are goody bags for the kids.  Each kid got a shirt, bracelet, 7 Up, crayons, gum, granola bar, lollipop, and jello.  The boys have flat green shirts and green "lucky" bracelets."

2. Rice Krispies Treats Shamrocks (2010) 

(Did you know that you can dye your rice krispies treats any color you want by adding food coloring to the melted marshmallow goo? You can. You can also cut them and frost them to look like clovers. With decorator sugar. FYI.)

3. Teacher Gifts (2010) 

"These are a little more involved, but we did them over two days. So, here goes. First the supplies. You will need to assemble some glue, glitter, a terra cotta pot, your green scrapbooking paper scraps, scissors, bamboo skewers, a green crayon, tape, floral foam, small brads and ribbon. o, first things first, paint a line of glue around the top edge or rim of your pot and roll it in glitter. We put our floral foam inside first. Also, if you've never tried Martha Stewart's glitter- you totally should. So, next, paint a little glue on your floral foam (or sqeeze it out, whatever floats your boat) and let your baby cut up a ton of ribbon to be grass. We also added some confetti. That's optional :) So now we have a glittery pot of grass! Hooray! Next, cut up your scrap papers into hearts. You'll need 4 as far as I'm concerned, per 4 leaf clover. Savannah preferred 3 and Logan enjoyed 5. But I say 4. Either way, it was a good way to practice counting to whatever number. Line them up in circular formation, and attach them one at a time with the brad. We also had a little circle plastic embellishment that came in our brads. I had run out of green by the time I decided to take this picture, so there's an orange one. True story, the flag of Ireland is Green, Orange, and White. I'm an unintentional GENIUS ;) Fabulous! Now, peel your crayon a little so that you can use it on the side and color the skewers green. I'll wait. Done? Excellent. So, now you'll want to either glue or tape them to the back of your shamrock. I'm not very patient, so we prefer tape. Once you've assembled them, stick them into your floral foam. At the end, we add a square piece of paper to a skewer and write "I'm so lucky you're my teacher" and the child's name. Or, in Savannah's case, Coach, since she has a swim coach, but no teachers yet. :) Although this would be cute for a Sunday School teacher, too, no? People tend to forget them, and they need love, too!"

4. Limericks and Graphing Marshmallow Lucky Charms (2015) 
I should note that as the kids get older (and by kids, I mean "the boys") things get less cute at my house.  This "adorable" Limerick exercise ended up being about a dead guy.  Thank you 5th grade boys.

We also graphed Lucky Charms.  I made them glue them down and told them they couldn't eat them (I had extras as a treat) but the boys ended up licking theirs after they were glued down to show me who's boss.  Thanks, again, Y chromosome! 

Review: Homespun Holidays: Fall and Winter

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine sent me a copy of their "Homespun Holidays: Fall and Winter" ebook to check out for you guys as part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew! I was really excited to share this particular ebook with you because I know that you guys are always looking for fun ideas for the holidays with your kiddos.

Set up with reader contributions, this book reads a little like a Pinterest board, but without all the clicking.  Fall includes funny poems, book recommendations for you to read with your children, craft ideas for scarecrows, front porch decorations, etc, and a bunch of tasty recipes.  Winter includes an idea for a "Night Before" party, car bingo, paper angels and snowflakes, ideas for recycling all those Christmas cards, and additional tasty recipes.

What I like about the ebook format, as opposed to Pinterest, is that you don't get sucked into a death spiral of pinning.  The ideas are already selected for you, so you can't just pin one more thing (instead of spending time actually making something!).  I also enjoyed the sweet stories from readers who included their holiday traditions.  I know that we have several readers who are military and can't always be with their own families during the holidays, so being able to develop your own special traditions, whether it's a family leaf-raking or a special tree decoration, could be vital to keeping the holidays special when you can't be with the special people you love.

By the time I had a moment to read this, we'd actually had our Thanksgiving/Fall decorations up for some time, so I bypassed the decorating section altogether, although there are some cute ideas. However, we were able to pick up the two books recommended to read with your children and especially enjoyed the illustrations in the book by Vera Kay.  It is so overwhelming to try to pick holiday books- there are just a plethora and I want to know what's going to be quality, so I really appreciated these!

Next, I moved on to a recipe.  My brother-in-law is a Hare Krishna Monk (yes, this is related) and recently came to visit us and brought a GIANT bag of pecans from Texas, where he'd been just a few weeks before. My kids have actually had a blast shelling pecans over the last week, so we decided that we'd try out the recipe for pecan pie with our hard-won goods!

Nobody complained.

In the Winter section, I was a little bummed there wasn't a printable car bingo card.  We have a few car trips coming up to various hockey tournaments and it would have been nice to just print the page out without having to make my own boards, but I still like the idea. We went to the recipe section again for something quick to try, and ended up going with the hot cocoa jars because we had all the ingredients on hand.  My older son is excited to try the paper snowflakes, but he's waiting for a friend to come over.  I like that some of the crafts have very detailed instructions so that children who are older (like my almost-12-year-old) can feel confident following them on their own.

(All my hot cocoa pictures turned out SUPER dark because my iPhone was having a bad day.  This one is from google free images, but you get the idea! We put bows on ours and plan to give them as part of our teacher gifts this year.)

If you're looking for a fun compilation of holiday crafts that's ready-to-go without a lot of searching, give this a try!  It's a nice grouping of simple, easy-to-follow ideas that you can do easily with your children.  If you're looking for high-end crafts, this isn't it, but it is simple, fun ideas your family will enjoy.

____________________________________________________
Disclosure: I was provided with a free copy of this ebook to perform my review.  All opinions are my own.

Turkey Cupcakes

Hi Guys!

If you followed me here from News Channel 8, welcome :)

Here's our video on how to make our Turkey Cupcakes! The materials you need are:
1- Cupcakes
2- Chocolate Frosting
3- Nutter Butter Cookies
4- Orange or Red Frosting
5- Eye Candies (or white and black frosting)
6- Candy Corn

A quick note on the candy corn- most grocery stores have already flipped over to Christmas, so they can be a little hard to find.  Check the clearance section, and if you can't find them there, then check an actual candy store.  Amazon always has your back as a last resort.

Hope you enjoy!

Review: Peace of Pottery

 I love this kid.  He's awesome.  He's funny and smart and he does hilarious voices and impersonations.  He's the first person to comfort someone who feels left out or scared, and he's just an all around great person.  He's also the middle kid, so that makes getting alone time all the more special to him.  We had some time on Saturday to hang out, just the two of us.  I decided that we'd grab lunch and visit Peace of Pottery- which is located at 9838 Libera Ave in Manassas just across from the car wash.

 If you've never been to a paint your own pottery establishment, this one works pretty much the same way all of them do.  When you come in there are a large variety of plain white pottery pieces for you to choose from.  Little statues of animals, plates, bowls, tea pots, big small, inbetween.  Each piece has a different price, so be sure to set a budget before you go in.  Peace of Pottery also charges a $6 studio fee on top of the price of the pottery (some studios include this fee in the price of the piece, others charge it separately- either way you're paying it).

 There are plenty of tables, you can sit and enjoy a quiet afternoon or you can host a party (scout troop, large family, etc). Logan and I each picked a mug.  Mine had polka dots and Logan opted for a mug with a "mouth" for cookies. The first step is to wash your piece of pottery and then you pick out glaze colors.  To get an even, non-streaky finish, the owner recommended three coats of glaze, which takes a little bit of time, but getting on base colors is pretty mindless work and we had a lot of fun chatting while we worked.

I didn't get a picture of my finished mug, but I thought that Logan's minion mug turned out really cute.  He's planning to make some banana cookies to eat with his tea when we get it back on Saturday (firing turnaround is about a week).

Peace of Pottery is a lovely, inviting space.  It's not a cheap afternoon- we spent $45.92 for two mugs, so it was perfect for a one-on-one day, but isn't something I'd just do on the spur of the moment with all three kids (which would have put me closer to $100 assuming they'd all picked mugs and not something bigger).  Pottery parties, on the other hand, start at $19 per person, so if you have a large group of kids you'd like to take, that could be a great way to keep your costs a little lower.

We definitely had a fun time and enjoyed the laid back, peaceful atmosphere.  I'd definitely recommend Peace of Pottery for a fun afternoon or a great venue for a party if you've got a kid with a little artistic flair!
____________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: We just went to Peace of Pottery.  Nobody invited us or asked for a review.  All opinions are our own.

Kid Ornament Ideas

Remember that time that my husband didn't set up the Christmas tree correctly and it fell over and all my ornaments broke?

(Yes that really happened)

(Okay, fine, and yes, I'm just sharing that story because so many of you agreed that they're just towels....but it happened!)

Ever since that incident, homemade Christmas ornaments are some of my favorite things to get! Luckily PwcGrammy is amazing and frequently when the kiddos hang out with her they come home with presents for me! These ideas are all very simple and would be great for your house, or as presents to send to family and friends!

 Rudolph and Frosty here are super simple.  They're just made from 1.5 inch terra cotta pots that you can buy at Michael's! You'll need ribbon, white paint, brown paint, sharpie markers (black, orange, and pink), ribbon, brown pipe cleaners, goggly eyes, and pompoms.  You can use regular glue and let it set up, or if you have older kids, you can use the hot glue gun while they supervise- but you might still burn yourself....or maybe that's just me.

Paint your pot brown for Rudolph or white for Frosty.  Then, just let your child decorate! We added antlers and a red nose for our reindeer and ear muffs for frosty.  Use ribbon to make a loop to hang your ornament. If you're using regular glue or craft glue, be sure to allow enough time to fully dry before hanging.  Hot glue will basically dry instantly.

 Okay, so this guy is not so cute when you're looking at him like this....but....

HE HAS A LIGHT UP NOSE!! These are just tea lights wrapped with a ribbon scarf and decorated with sharpies.  I found the tiny tiny top hats on Amazon.  They're actually totally cute :) You could draw circles for coal or even regular facial features.  Be sure that when you buy your tea lights they already have the batteries in them.  You can find REALLY cheap packages of them, but then you have to buy and install all the tiny batteries, so just save yourself the hassle and buy them with batteries inside :)

Enjoy!

Christmas Crafts: Embellished Wine Bags

These were such a fun craft for our Cookie Swap and Craft, and they can be done on the cheap! Dollar store frequently have the wine bag sized gift bags, and you don't have to use them for wine! If you prefer not to drink, these will dress up a bottle of sparkling cider just as easily, and they're a much more festive way of toting your drink to the next party you attend!

There's not much here in the way of directions- just snag a few embellishments and get going! We did cut out trees on the Cricut, which most people wrapped ribbon around since they have "indentations" between the tree layers, but other than that, you'll just need ribbon, stickers, cutouts and jewels.  Quick and easy!

Fun Idea: Make Your Own Candy Kits

I am a huge Mindware.com junkie, and while they're not paying me to write this, I would totally be okay it if they wanted to.  Our craft shelves are full of fun activities from them, along with puzzle books, manipulative sets and more.  Being a homeschooling family of 5 in a townhouse means that we can't do major storage of "stuff" without our house looking like the wrong side of an episode of "Hoarders" so we try to get our kits completed.

I actually really do love having things like this around.  They're perfect for a day when the weather makes you change plans last minute and you need something to distract your children from whining at you about how GROSSLY unfair it is that you can't go to the pool without severe risk of death from electrocution due to those pesky afternoon thunderstorms.  

On just such an afternoon, PwcGrammy pulled two make your own candy kits from our shelves.  I think they were actually part of a box that my mother-in-law sent at Christmas, but with all my health adventures, we hadn't gotten to these yet.  Oddly, the chocolate kit seems to have been completed separately.

If you'd like to pick up your own set, we got these, as I mentioned, from Mindware, although Amazon could probably hook you up, too.  The kits are $12.95 each or you can purchase 3 for $36.95.  As mentioned earlier, Chocolate is not pictured.

What's neat about these kits is their focus on ecology.  The gummies are made from fair-trade algae called Carrageenan, which my middle kiddo is holding in his hand in the picture above.  The brochure that comes with the book includes a story about how harvesting the particular red algae used to extract Carrageenan provides revenue for an island village, and how the harvest of seaweed is a sustainable agricultural endeavor.

I'm not sure how much of that they retained, though, because they were too busy noticing that the seaweed smelled like old ocean.  Bad.

The make your own gum kit also has a similar sustainable and eco-friendly slant, and uses chicle, which is the sap from a sapodilla tree in South America, rather than a chemical agent, to provide the appropriate level of "chaw" to your gum.

The actual age on these kits (does anyone with more than one kid actually listen to the age on packages?) is ages 8 and up.  I would go just a tiny bit higher on the gum, to be honest, because you have to microwave several items together and then flatten them out to roll (see daughter getting powdered sugar EVERYWHERE) and the mixture is incredibly sticky and really hot.  PwcGrammy burned her fingers trying to get it out and flat enough for the kids to handle before the whole thing just solidified in the microwave container.  The gum can be flavored mint or cherry, and while it doesn't hold its flavor for long, it does taste and chew just like gum, and has no artificial dyes, so if your child is sensitive, this might be fun for them.

As far as the gummies went, we had a little trouble using the "molding starch" provided in the kit- but you could just as easily use candy molds or cookie cutters from your house and skip the starch step.  Also, as bad as the seaweed smelled, the sour mix (your gummies are sour-patch style) covered up any "ocean" smell or taste.

The kids actually really enjoyed making these, and they especially liked learning about the tree sap and seaweed that went into the treats.  They weren't the best candy we've ever had, and I think that everyone just tried a piece and the rest, honestly, went in the trash a week later, but the process itself was really fun and enjoyable.  Both kits did have a white powdery component, the gum used powdered sugar for rolling and the gummies had "molding starch" which just seemed like cornstarch, but obviously no matter what kind of food-grade powder your slinging around your kitchen, you're going to make a bit of a mess!

We're giving these "Make Your Own Candy" kits 3 out of 5 stars.  The kids loved the process but didn't really eat the candy (not necessarily the worst problem on earth!) and the hot gum was a little hard to navigate without burned fingers.  We had a good time and learned something, but wouldn't probably buy the kits again.

Passport To Imagination 2013

 

This summer, Michaels Arts and Crafts will be offering their "Passport to Imagination" program where children ages 5 and up can learn about the 7 continents through crafting.  It's $2 per session, and a great rainy-day backup! Mark your calendar, and check the schedule if there's countries you want to visit! 

Preschool Busy Bag Exchange

 Preschool Busy Bag Exchange 

by Courtney Power

If you already have a Pinterest account I am probably not going to tell you anything you don't already know. If, like me, you still don't pin keep reading because I've got an exciting idea for you. Preschool Busy Bag Exchange Being a non-pinner I had to google the term when an interest thread was started on my local neighborhood mom's Facebook page. Basically, it is the same principle as a cookie exchange but instead of baked goods you swap games/activities geared at the preschool age group.


As a mom of a 4yr old and 21 month old with self-professed "paint by numbers" crafting ability, I jumped at the idea of making multiple copies of a kid's game in exchange for getting back all new games in return. Our exchange was the Wednesday before Spring Break and the activities were lifesavers on vacation. A special thanks to Kelly who organized our neighborhood exchange and to all the other Montclair Moms who participated, you ladies ROCK!


We had 16 moms participate in our exchange. This may seem like a lot, especially when you’re in the throes of making 16 copies of a game, but when you walk away with 15 new games it is totally worth it. Below are pictures of the different games made. [Note: there are 17 items listed because two were bundled together] Some are overtly educational (alphabet match-up), some are just for fun (I-spy bottles) and some build great fine motor skills (anything with clothespins). While this was titled as “preschool” busy bag exchange the games really fit a spectrum of ages. My youngest one uses the I-spy bottle as a shaker and loves the pool noddle threading with no concern for following a pattern whereas my older child can easily do color matching but has been stretched by letter and sound identification.

A picture of my haul!

1) Counting/Shaking Eggs: match egg top and bottom, insert lentils or candy to match the number
2) Connect the Dots: a laminated flip book of connect the dots puzzles and a dry erase marker
3) Color Match: grab color card with appropriate clothespin
4) Number Tracing: trace numbers with monster finger puppet using rhyme to help remember
5) I-spy Bottles: small water bottles filled with rice and assorted treasures to find
6) Pool Noodle Lacing: pool noodle segments of different colors & numbers, pattern cards to replicate

7) Double Trouble: use the loose shapes to recreate the patterns
8) Felt Puzzle: match felt puzzle pieces to outline on background
9) Magnetic Fishing: wooden dowel fishing pole, felt fish with shapes and numbers
10) Color/Number Wheel: grab color or number with appropriate clothespins
11) Popsicle Shape Makers: Velcro dots allow creating of shapes with Popsicle sticks

12) Popsicle Stick Puzzle: line up popsicle sticks to create the puzzle image
13) Lacing Cards: practice lacing shoelace in the holes
14) Playdough Gingerbread House Mats: use playdough to make assigned number of decorations
15) Pipe Cleaner Threading: thread appropriate color and number of beads on the pipe cleaners
16) Colored Animal Sorting: use tweezers to sort animal figurines by color or animal type
17) Alphabet Match Up & Beginning Word Sounds: match uppercase letter bottle cap to lowercase letter or to picture that matches the beginning word sound

If you are interested this would be great to do just before school ends, in the middle of summer when boredom sets in or anytime really. Some thoughts on successfully executing a busy bag exchange. -- 16 participants were a lot and more than probably a high threshold level. You want to have enough participants to make the crafting effort worth your time and money, especially since it is generally more cost effective to buy materials in bulk but not too many that it becomes overwhelming and you run the risk of repeat or extremely similar activities. -- we used a Facebook event to organize our exchange. This way each participant could post a link to or describe what they planned on making (avoiding repeats). You could also feasibly use a Facebook group to coordinate as well. The communal forum also allowed for sharing of supplies that participants might have had in excess or weren't using. -- the exchange date should be set a couple of weeks if not at least a month from the initial setup time. This gives everyone time to browse for ideas, shop the sales and make the game/activity. -- Pinterest and Google are great places to get ideas. There are a ton of very crafty mom bloggers out there. -- for all you military mommas out there we had a participant from out of state who mailed in her contribution. If you were organizing for a geographically separated group you could either share addresses or ship to a single POC who would then separate, collate and ship.

The school year is drawing to an end of if you are going to host one of these with your child and classmates, now’s the time to start organizing!

Courtney Power is an Air Force wife and mom to two crazy kids. She lives in Montclair and can’t say enough good things about the Prince William County community and Montclair Moms in particular. 

(C/K)Han(n)uk(k)a(h) Craft

However you like to spell it, here's a fun Hannukah craft that's super easy!  You'll need some candy canes, a baking sheet, and an oven. 

Break the candy canes into pieces and make equilateral(ish) triangles on a greased cookie sheet and bake them for 2-5 minutes at 300 degrees. Take them out, stack one on the other, back in for one minute to set them together, and then out to harden. Use a metal spatula or board scraper, the plastic ones are too fat and roll the candy. These are SweetTart candy canes, and they're pretty yummy :) Blueberry ones would be cute and the right colors :) When they're hard, you wipe any non-stick spray residue off with a napkin, and then you can hang them up or eat them after you light your candles :) You can use little pieces all put together, too- actually my favorite one was all the different leftover colors together!"

Christmas/Advent (Or whatever) Countdown

Quite possibly the easiest craft you'll ever do! You could easily alter this project to be a countdown to Hannukah (use blue and white peppermint patties!) or Easter (pink, yellow, and green wrapped candy), or even a child's birthday. If you prefer not to use candy, a small toy or trinket would fit, too! You could also easily dress this craft up (Look at THESE!!), but we planned this craft for our CC friends to come over and do, so I wanted it to be easy enough for the kids to do fairly independently.

Here's what you'll need:

Ribbon (curling or fabric, either is fine), number printouts, quotation printouts (optional, but included at the end of this post.  You could also just use the numbers), scissors, a one-hole punch, plastic wrap, mixed Christmas wrapped Hershey Kisses. I like using my ironing board for this craft so that I can lay the plastic wrap out, but a long kitchen table would be fine, too! If you have a stampin up circle cutter that can fit around your numbers, all the better!!

This process could not be any easier! Spread out your plastic wrap. I've found that for 3-4 kids (so 3-4 kisses in each bundle) I need about 5.5 feet of plastic wrap. If you need extra, it's easy to add by tying it into a bundle and it sticking to the other piece, so no worries if you're short. For 2 kids I think 4.5 feet is enough. At the top of your wrap, use several colors of ribbon to tie a bow, using one piece to tie a loop so you can hang your countdown up!

Next, bundle in one piece of candy per child per night, tying securely under each bundle with ribbon. For an Advent countdown, you obviously need to have enough "bundles" to get from 1-25!

Next, cut out your numbers. I got mine from HERE and I think they're so cute! (Plus it's a free download!) You could mount these on Christmas paper, or you can put them on top of folded scripture cards, or you can just use them alone. Hole punch each card once so that you can thread it onto the ribbon between each section. The number goes under the candy it goes with so that when you untie it to take the number off, you get the candy above it, and then next number and its candy stay securely tied!

I love how it looks for two kids because you can put the kisses in a diamond shape and they fit so nicely!! For more kids it's a little harder to bundle nicely, but it works out!!

Fun! Some other versions that work, too, include printing numbered cards with quotes on them, or glueing your numbers onto folded scripture verses (we did these at a church I worked at):

After this post, you can get versions of my devotional scripture readings to go along with the countdown, or a more "meditational" version I designed with some quotes, carol verses, and a little less scripture. I printed these using a 4.5 inch margin on the left so that they could be folded over into cards with the number on the front. Again, you could also just use the numbers. I'm including these because it'll save those of you that want them tons of time trying to pick what you want to use.  If you don't think you're interested, then just don't keep reading :)

Happy Crafting!

Halloween Frankenstein Pops

Since you guys seem to enjoy craft and food ideas, I've been trying to share more of them since I really like to Martha Stewart it up as much as possible.

I especially like it when it's REALLY easy.  The Frankenstein Pops I shared on Facebook? They're so easy a four year old can do it.

Assemble your troops.  You'll need frosting, sugar bones, sugar eyes, lollipop sticks, and black sugar or chocolate jimmies, oh, and marshmallows.

 Step One: Get a bag of frosting out of your freezer.  Here we have cream cheese frosting, vanilla buttercream, and hot pink lemonade buttercream.  What's that? You don't make a double batch of frosting every time and freeze the leftovers for emergency cake-frosting? You don't MAKE your own frosting? Sigh.  Yes, go ask Betty Crocker for a can of white frosting...that'll work, too.

 Step Two: Plop your frosting into a bowl and microwave for about 30 seconds if it's room temperature, or about a minute if it was a popsicle when you put it in there.  You're looking for fondue-consistency frosting.

 Step Three: Curse yourself for not getting green food dye at the Walmart when you were JUST THERE.  Remember that yellow an blue make green.  Mix well. (These are Wilton gel dyes, which I love because they don't water down whatever you're tinting.  However, for this, you could use the liquid dye you get at the grocery store, too.  Wilton gels are sold at craft stores like JoAnn Fabrics and Michaels and Walmart stores)

Step Four: Pop a marshmallow onto a lollipop stick and dunk it in your frosting.  Tap gently on the side of the bowl to remove any excess and then set the stick into a heavy glass cup set over a plate to let the frosting set just slightly (a minute or two, tops).

 Step Five: After your frosting has had a minute to settle and drip off and excess, give your marshmallow a roll in the black sugar or chocolate jimmies to add hair.

 Step Six: Add eyes (you could pipe these on, but this whole treat was inspired by the sugar candy eyeballs being on sale for $2) and imbed a sugar bone on either side of your Frankenstein's head.  You could also pipe on a mouth, but if I was creating a monster, it would do my bidding without talking back.  I'm just saying.

Optional Bonus Points For Step Seven: Pop some floral foam covered in a seasonal napkin inside your Frankenstein Can and go on a shock and awe campaign at your preschool party.  Winning.

You could also do these heads with cake pops, you'd just want to form them into squares instead of balls.  Witches would be cute, too, with purple frosting, a mini green m&m nose, and just the cookie part of an Oreo with a Hershey's Kiss glued on top with some melted chocolate.

Have fun!

What To Do During a Frankenstorm, Day 1

As of right now, it's not so bad out there.  Better safe than sorry, of course, but that fans that you're probably at home with some kiddos who need some entertainment.  While TV and video games are definitely an option, here's a few fun plans to try, too.

My kids spent the night with PwcGrammy on Saturday night so that we could go to a Halloween party.  Being the awesome grandma that she is, she had a whole night of fun planned for the kids including pumpkin carving, seed roasting, caramel apple making, and crafting.  I thought the crafts were adorable, and could be adapted to use what you have at home (or you could pop out to Walmart before the wind gets bad, but that's a personal judgement call).

Idea 1: Frankenstorm Can

 Alright, he's really supposed to be Frankenstein, but it's kinda funny to call him Frankenstorm :) This one is made with a #10 (Food Service Size) can painted green.  The "knobs" are wooden pieces that were painted silver.  You could just as easily use game pieces that have lost their home or empty prescription bottles.  Don't have silver paint? Glitter would work, too.  The smile is sharpie marker, the nose is another painted wooden piece, but you could substitute for a button or draw the nose, too.  The hair is sparkle felt cut to be pointed on one side and folded over the top of the can, but you could easily swap that out for construction paper if that's what you have at home!

Idea #2 Halloween Bat

 This little guy is also made from a can, but this time it's standard soup-can size.  (I don't think I mentioned this on Frankencan, but obviously you're going to want to wash your can thoroughly and dry it well before starting). Our bad is covered with glitter felt, but you could use black paint or black construction paper.  The smile is made of tiny jewels, but you could use pony beads or crayon.  I think googly-eyes should be a household staple if you have kids, but you could also do the eyes in paint or crayon.  My 4 year old made this craft, so you can see she added lots of pink using a crayon or chalk, and both showed up well on the black felt.  For the wings, use a black pipe cleaner (or you could use a wooden skewer, pencil, or other straight object) and roll it under a piece of cut felt or construction paper and then glue the wings to the back of your can.

Idea 3: Caramel Apples

We've always got apples in our fruit drawer.  That used to be because they were a cheap fruit option, but I refuse to say that about anything that's almost $2 a pound, so I guess it's just a habit at this point.  If you don't have craft sticks, you can use a turning fork to dunk your apples in caramel and then cut them into wedges after they dry.  If you still want the stick, use a toothpick on the wedges you cut.  Caramels are super easy to melt following the package directions, or, if you are a baker and keep the ingredients on hand, you can make your own caramel:
1 cup butter
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups corn syrup
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
In a large pot, combine butter, sugar, corn syrup and 1 cup heavy cream. Heat mixture to a boil just over medium heat stirring frequently. Once it boils, stir the other one cup heavy cream. Then without stirring, bring mixture to exactly 239 degrees then immediately remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Allow to cool 10-15 minutes before dipping apples.
The kids decorated their apples with fall M&Ms and sprinkles, but if you really want to go all-out, melt a couple of Hershey bars or chocolate chips in the microwave (30 seconds at a time, stirring frequently) and after you dip your apples in caramel, dip them in chocolate and then add your decorations.  Yum!

Also, you can engage your kids in some fun learning online about the storm! Try the Weather Channel for Kids or Oklahoma News 9s Interactive Weather Tracker, which even offers streaming video.

Stay Safe and Have Fun!! (And no matter how bad it gets, don't bring out Monopoly! That never ends without a fight!)