Halloween Activities

I have been reading (and now following) lots of fun crafting and homeschooling (I'm not planning on doing this) blogs.  They have great ideas that are easy and not very expensive.


I made these jack-o-lanterns where you can change the face.  Since it is with felt it sticks, but is easily changeable.  All you do is take orange felt and cut out pumpkin shapes.  Then with black felt you make shapes for the eyes, nose, and mouth.  We also made hair, bows, and tear drops.  This is fun for everyone.  It was easy for Ariel for make her own and Annabelle and  Caden had a lot of fun creating different faces too.

 

I also made this super cute Halloween Memory Game for Annabelle.  You just have to print out pictures of whatever you want.  Then I covered the back with paper (I"m really liking orange and purple for Halloween colors) so that the picture doesn't show through.  I laminated mine because I love all things laminated and I own my own laminator. 

Cinderella

Annabelle says to me, "Mommy can I clean the deck windows?"  
"Of course you can.  Let me get you the supplies."


My two girls cleaned the windows for me and looked adorable doing it!

Summer Allowance Recap

I never summed up my experience with having only $10 a week this summer.

I still love to buy things and wish I could buy lots more than I can.  
However, even though I am not giving myself $10 I am still thinking about what I am buying.  I am getting pretty good at avoiding the Target One Stop.  Do I really need the light up ring (actually yes, we needed 2 of them and 1 broke 10 minutes after we got home), but I am really thinking about what I am buying.  

I am currently not giving myself a set amount of money for a couple of reasons:
1.  I really don't have that much time to go shopping.  And if I do I really can't do a good job with two little ones.
2.  We are trying to save our money.  We would really like to move into a bigger home within the next year or so.  I'd rather have another bedroom in a new house than a new pair of pants (plus my sister just gave me some so that saved me probably $15-$20).

Try to do this challenge.  Take 10 weeks and give yourself $10.  This might be a good time to do it especially as we come into the Christmas season when we have to buy gifts for others.  You can just do what Annabelle does when she wants something and says, "I'll put it on my Christmas list."

Overall this was a good experience for me.  It didn't cure me of my want to spend, but it did help me examine my spending.

Good Luck to you if you try it!  

Riley Trails - Round 2

This past Sunday we decided to go back to Riley Trails for our hike.  We really liked it and didn't do very much our first time. This time we actually hiked for quite awhile.

Looking for a different trail to take.

Ready to hike.

Ariel playing in the sand.

Ariel adding a leaf to her nature bag.

Annabelle actually held the grasshopper!

Ariel wasn't so sure.

Se took the yellow trail.

Posing by the Fairy Moss.

"Look at me!  I am strong!"

Not  my best, but this shows how much fun Ariel is having.

Annabelle took our picture.  

Craft Time!

Ariel's placemat.

Annabelle's placemat.

James caught a grasshopper for the girls to see.

Annabelle found a walking stick.

I'm not sure why the pictures got out of order.  I can't seem to get them in the right spots.  It might be mostly my problem since somehow my precious baby turned blogger into (what I guess) Russian.  I am not able to understand anything they are telling me on here.  I do know that Linkki means Link.


Anyway you can probably figure out that we did the placemat craft last.


I hope that you are inspired to take your family out on a hike and enjoy these beautiful fall days!

G&G Koppenaal

Our girls love my grandma and grandpa - their great g&g.
They love to go over there and play with the toys (some are toys my dad even played with), have a snack, and just play with Grandpa Pete.

Grandma Rae had cookies for the girls.

After a snack, Grandpa read the girls a book.

I love that my grandparents get to play with my children.

Hiking Hemlock Crossings

We took another hike this past Sunday.  The weather was beautiful so we wanted to be outside.  
  



The Nature Lady who works there offered to take our picture.  We don't get the four of us that often so I was happy she offered.

Deciding which trail to take.

We are ready to go!
 

Annabelle got new "hiking" shoes.  

A big improvement from last week's hike in jellies.

(She actually threw away the jellies all by herself when we got home). 

Kind of pretty for hiking shoes, but they were the ones she liked. 

Ariel wanted to show of her shoes too.

 
Away she goes.  

We got to see some kayakers coming down the river.

 We have really been enjoying our hikes.  

Our plan for next week is to collect pretty leaves and make placemats.

Crafter Wannabe

I like to think I'm good at crafts, but when I am actually honest about it I kind of stink.

I am good at researching and finding ideas.
I am bad at getting the supplies all at once.
I am good at starting a project.
I am bad (I mean really really really) bad at finishing a project.
I am good at thinking I am a crafter.
I am bad at proving it.

However, yesterday Erica and I felt in a crafting mood.  I had found some super cute projects and we decided we were going to do a complete project.

Erica was a bit more successful than I was.  She made 2 wreaths.
The first one was a super fun balloon wreath.



The second wreath was a ribbon wreath using Halloween ribbon.

I attempted a ribbon wreath, but it just wasn't happening for me.
Then I tried to make a cupcake Halloween basket - totally ugly.
Then I actually started and completed this fun wreath.

This is the back, I thought it looked cool.

 I am hopefully going to make more of these wreaths.  I was thinking it would look cute to make one to match the girls' room.