Fun Witch Craft

Here are some directions to make a very scary witch this Halloween!  Plan to set aside a bit of time as the paint will need to dry and mom or dad will most likely need to do some cutting.

Supplies:

1/2 Sheet Black Construction Paper

1/2 Sheet Orange Cnstruction Paper

1 White Paper Plate

Green Paint

Paintbrush

Scissors

Glue

Black Marker

Directions:
With the black marker, help your toddler draw a face on the paper plate.  Using the green paint, paint the plate as much as you'd like.  We left the border white since it was easiest to paint this bottom of the plate.  

While the paint is drying, you can begin tracing your toddler's hand on the orange construction paper.  We drew 4 hands to make the hair shown.  Trace and cut any shaped hat out of the black construction paper.  

After cutting out the hands, glue along the rim of the plate to be used as the witch's hair.  Next, glue the hat on.

Good luck!

Easy Pumpkin Project

If you are looking for a quick and easy project to entertain your toddler for about 30 minutes, this is the one! There are just a few things you will need, and most can be found around the house.

Supplies:

1 Paper Plate

1 Sheet Orange Construction Paper

1/2 Sheet Black Construction Paper

1/4 Sheet Brown Construction Paper

Toddler Scissors

Glue

Directions:

Cut 20-30 squares out of the orange construction paper.  Each square should be roughly 1 inch by 1 inch.  Depending how comfortable you are, you can help your toddler cut the squares or just let them cut their own.  I chose to draw lines on the paper first and let her cut with those as a guideline.

Help your toddler glue the squares all over the plate.  There doesn't need to be a pattern or order to it, just let your toddler apply them where they feel works best.

Help your toddler cut a small rectangle out of the brown construction paper.  This will serve as the stem for the pumpkin.  After this is cut, you will want to help glue it to the top of your plate.

Next is the really fun part. You can help your toddler determine what type of face to make.  Get creative!  Use the black construction paper to cut out whatever type of eyes, nose and mouth you would like then glue them to your face.

While glueing and pasting we refer to it as "squishing the paper together". This seems to help h remember to hold them together for longer than a quick second. You can also try counting together up to 10.

Be sure to hang your final product proudly so that your little one can see it!

Let's Pretend this Never Happened

This month our book club selected Jenny Lawson's "Let's Pretend this Never Happened".  I really don't know much about the book prior to reading it except that it was a memoir of Jenny's eccentric life.  After the first chapter, I was hooked.

Jenny has a way of writing where she makes you feel like you were right there during the event.  Not only that, but she has a hilarious way of explaining it all, including her inner monologue.  As someone who also has a high sense of anxiety, it was almost comforting that she thinks the same as I do.  I was able to feel connected with her and actually quite understood many of her situations.

In more that one chapter I found myself laughing so hard that I had tears running down my eyes.  One afternoon I even had to leave LeAnn Chin's because I was shaking so hard trying to stifle my giggles.

I would definitely, and have already, recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun, fast read.

For more information on Jenny Lawson, visit her blog at www.thebloggess.com.

Alex Cross

About a year ago at our Book Club meeting we chose to read "Alex Cross" by James Patterson.  I did a quick search on my Nook and mistakingly bought "I, Alex Cross".  It sounded like the same book to me!  I decided this fall to read the correct choice and hopefully catch up on some backstory and answer some questions I had from "I, Alex Cross".

If you enjoy murder mystery thrillers, I would recommend this book.  There were certainly some graphic parts that were hard to read though. I found myself having to consciously remember "this is just a book, this is just a book."  With that said though, this was one of those few books that I just couldn't put down. I was staying up past midnight on weeknights because I needed to know what happened next.

The last chapter was written so well that I literally gasped at the last sentence.  It was able to wrap me up and make me feel like I was right there with them.  

Many times when I read books that are part of a series I can't quite motivate myself to read the next book.  The author either wasn't able to get me to care enough about the characters or it just wasn't my type of book.  In the case of "Alex Cross", I was left DEFINITELY wanting to know what happens to this set of characters.

For more information on this book, check out:  http://www.jamespatterson.com/books_alex_cross.php#.UlGlK4y9KSM

I love a Good Deal!

As I look for new ways to cut spending this year I came across Coke Rewards.  Every time you purchase a two-liter, 12-pack or 24-pack of Coke products you receive a unique code to enter online. I have participated in similar programs with Pepsi but never found the rewards (within reach) interesting enough to keep entering the codes.

With Coke they have a variety of rewards from practical to more silly.  Since my daughters birthday and Christmas are right around the corner, I have been saving up for some Shutterfly gift cards.  For a mere 120 points (approximately 6 12-packs) I can redeem for 12 Shutterfly cards.  This is just perfect since I typically order our cards from them anyways.

Last week I was able to design some cute, personalized birthday party invites and have them delivered to my house for just the cost of tax and shipping (around $2).  The Coke reward saved me approximately $7!  It's as easy as that!  

Happy birthday to me!

Every so many years I end up sharing my birthday with Father's Day.  It was very important to me that we make equal time sharing and celebrating; I didn't want one "holiday" to overshadow the other. Tis ended up being the perfect day. We started off both getting to sleep in since our little one actually slept in until 8:00am.  From here we went and had a lovely breakfast with J's family.  Next I got my birthday wish as we went as a family to a nearby park.  L & I walked around the lake with J & Joey went to the dog park.  After our walk we sat and watched our little buddy playing with his new friends.  It felt good when he ran over to the fence to say "hi mom!", then ran off to do some more exploring.  After nearly a month of rain it seemed to work out perfect that my birthday fall on a sunny, 80* day.  Next we went home and took our weekend family nap.  Next we were off to have dinner with my family.  As we made our way home a quick storm tried to deter us from stopping at Dairy Queen.  It wasn't strong enough though and we went home with ice cream in tow. To top the whole day off there was a documentary about Queen Victoria on PBS. Really, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday/fathers day.  Here's to the next time we share a holiday.

Miss You

Dear Gramma, I can't believe you have been gone for three years already. I don't know if a single day has passed where I don't think about you and wish you were still here with us.  I'm sorry I didn't visit you more when you were sick and in the hospital, I think I was just scared.  I would give anything to have you back for one more day. There is so much I wanted to ask you or tell you, but now I can't.  More than anything I wish you could meet your great granddaughter.  You would love snuggling with her and cuddling her. I'm glad that grandpa is able to see her, but it breaks my heart to know that you are not there.  I hope you on know that I miss you like crazy and think about you all of the time.  You will be happy to hear that I am teaching L how to sign.  I want her to have a little part of you with her.  She likes the sign for cookie which I think is the first sign I can remember learning.  I hope you are okay and feeling better.  It was hard to see you in so much pain and frustration.  There have been a few times where I am sure that you are with me, it's like I can feel you or sense you near me.  Thank you for being there and checking up on me. I love you and miss you.

S

Chasing Harry Winston

Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger

I have to admit, this book started out a little slow.  The only reason I continued to read past the first chapter was because this book is by the same author of The Devil Wears Prada, a book I quite enjoyed.  I am certainly glad that I stuck with it.  This book follows three friends through a tough year in their lives where they are deciding and discovering what will make them happy.  Not everything is quite as wonderful as it seems for these three friends and this book shares their successes and personal hardships.  I enjoyed reading how each of these girls was their for the other and able to help pick up the pieces.  Each chapter had a little snip-it of what was happening in their personal and professional lives at the time.  Some chapters were a bit hard to catch the transition so I found myself having to go back a few paragraphs just to find out who were talking about. All in all, this was a very heartwarming story of the power of friendship and the struggles of discovering who you really are and what you really want.

Gone Girl

                                   
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn


This book was written so well, I could barely put it down. Every other chapter is written from the husband's point of view, then the wife's point of view. It starts off as a murder mystery that seems so obvious.  Pretty soon you realize that one of these people isn't telling the truth and that there is a whole lot more to this story. I found myself gasping at some points of the book and unable to put it down because I just had to know what really happened.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries.  At points there are some gruesome details, but nothing that will make you ill.  It is filled with many twists and turns and makes for a great read.