Dear Santa {Printable}

Am I the only one who loves having a little blackmail to hold over my kids head this time of year?  This is me the entire month of December, "Santa's watching you!"  Or, "Santa knows if you've been naughty."  And of course, "He knows when you are sleeping!"  The countdown starts tomorrow (officially).  Its time to get those letters out.  Need a free printable letter for Dear Old Santa?  Check this one out!

InDiAn cORn favOrs and MaYfLoweR MuffiNs

So as I've mentioned, my 3 year old is having a Thanksgiving Feast at preschool next week and as part of that feast they are going to have some games and crafts for the kids to do.  A friend of mine and I were put in charge of doing a game...have you ever tried to come up with a game for Thanksgiving?  It's tricky.  Thankfully, she's a teacher and had lots of stuff to work with.  We came up with "Don't Eat ToM {the tuRkeY}!"...our version of "Don't Eat PeTe!"  So since she's doing all the work getting the board together for the game I thought I would make a little favor to hand out to the kids...cause games ALWAYS need favors, right!  I was so excited when I accidentally came across this post at It's Always a Party at the Parkers...her and I would get along just fine!!  I loved all of her ideas.  But I was super stoked when I saw her InDiAn cORn favOrs!  So cute and so easy!!  I totally printed off my FREE printables and got to work. 

Made up a few of my own...

And to take full advantage of her creativity, I think I'm going to turn my PB&J muffins into little Mayflower Ships...

(I used scrapbook paper for the bottoms of the ships rather than printing them out).

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

My little guy is having his ThanKsGiviNg fEast at preschool next week...really, it's gonna be quite the feast!  His teacher is so fun and creative and has come up with the idea of having each kid bring a taste of one of their favorite dishes for everyone to share with their friends.  Then they'll all sit down to their own special tHanKsgiViNg feAsT.  She's also going to have a recipe book made up of all the goodies to give to each kid.  SO fUN!

So I was dying to ask my little guy what his favorite dish that mommy makes was, until...he came back with,"Peanut Butter and Jelly!"  Oh, great!  PB&J.  And he was not about to back down, he wanted to share Mom's delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with everyone.  Really I can't blame the kid...I'm no cook that's for sure, but I thought we should at least come prepared with something that actually had a recipe.  So we compromised and came up with Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins.  He still gets a PB&J (essentially) and I get to fill like I'm actually fulfilling my duty as the mother.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

Ingredients:

• No-Stick cooking spray
• 2 cups All Purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup Creamy Natural peanut butter, stirred, OR 1 cup creamy peanut butter

• 1/3 cup Pure vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup Seedless strawberry jam OR strawberry preserves
• 1/4 cup sugar


How to make it:

• HEAT oven to 375ºF. Spray muffin pan with no-stick cooking spray. Stir together flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Add milk, eggs, 2/3 cup sugar, peanut butter and oil to bowl. Combine ingredients on low speed of electric mixer, just until moistened. Do not over beat.

• FILL prepared muffin cups evenly with half of the batter. Place 2 level teaspoons jam or preserves in the center of each muffin. Evenly divide remaining batter between muffin cups. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar. Bake 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool in pan 5 minutes.



ThankFuL TReEs: ActiVity DaYs

This week for Activity Days we talked about living in ThANksGiViNG daily and how we should be thankful each day for the blessings that we have...not just at Thanksgiving time.  I found some cute journals at Michaels for a buck and gave them to the girls to use as Gratitude Journals.  I told them that they need to try to write in their journals each day for the rest of the month (if not longer). 

I glued a printout of this scripture inside to remind them of blessings of living in ThaNksGiVinG daily...

(thanks again to A Bushel and a Peck for this idea!)

As a craft we made ThaNKfuL trEes to take home and share with their families.

 

I made a few thankful for tags for the girls to take and have each family member add to their trees.

I used mini clothespins to clip them to the branches.

 

Their challenge was to go home and share the message of living in ThaNkSgiVinG daily with their families for FHE (one of the ideas for Faith in God requirements) and have everyone add their thankful for tags to the tree.

And to finish them off we added a few leaves.

I printed a bunch of leaves on one page and used my 2 inch punch to punch them out, added a loop of raffia to hang them and then backed them with another circle of card stock.

A fun way to teach the importance of living in ThAnKsgIviNG daily.

The trees can be used year after year.  We have a tradition of taking ours out every November and adding to the branches.  So fun to go back and look at what everyone was thankful for in years previous.

tHanKsGiViNg PriNtaBLe

 

It's simple. It's easy. It's free.

Copy. Paste. Print.


You can find the Keep Calm Print here.



A HaPpY HaLLoWeEN...

We had a good one. 

And we've got the treats to prove it...

 

These little sharks went out...

And they attacked!

Dad even got in on some of action...this way he gets to claim his share of the treats.

A veRy HaPpY HaLLoWeEN indeed!

How was yours?

PoiSoned ApPLes: Activity Days

So here's another not so quick but easy idea for Activity days.

I wanted to do something festive and a little creepy for Halloween for my girls this month.  I found these way cute (and a little bit creepy) beaded spiders.  At first I wasn't sure if they were going to be too complicated, but the girls had fun making them even though they were a little time consuming.  I enjoyed the craft time very much, it was a nice {QuiEt} activity.  They had to concentrate a little to get those little beads on there! 

And to add a treat to the tricks (there must ALWAYS be a treat) we did caramel apples.  Cause really, who isn't down with a little caramel apple this time of year. 

Have you used the Kraft Caramel Bits yet?  I recommend.  They melt quick and you don't have to mess with those stinkin' wrappers!

We carameled and sprinkled our apples...

Made our spooky spiders...

Ended up with a tricky treat...PoiSoned ApPLes.

MonSteR EyeBaLLs

I've been on a desperate search for a cute little Halloween handout and found this idea here.  LOVED it!  I did exactly what I was told and ran to Michaels to find the fun little eyeball stickers...but of course, as my luck goes...they were sold out.  Believe me I searched!  Very sad, I took myself home ready to give up on the idea...when it came to me...I can make my own stickers!  And so, that's exactly what I did.

Whipped up a few EyEbaLLs in Photoshop...

(copy, paste, print...if you're interested)

Made up a few tags to match...

I cut out the eyeballs and ran them through my Xyron (sticker maker...although I'm sure a dab of glue or glue dots would work just as well), stuck them in a cello bag with a piece of cardstock in the back to make the bag a little more stiff.  Then I stuck the tag on front and there it was...MoNstER EYeBaLLs for my little monsters to handout to their monster friends.

Now if EyEbAlls aren't your thing check out another idea from it is what it is...witchy hats.  So cute!  I still may have to make a few of these...

I'm thinking moNster eYebaLLs for the boys, wiTchY haTs for the girLs...

Another Feature!

If I was on top of things I would have told you that CoOper'S BiG ToP PaRty was featured on Catch my Party's "Party of the DaY" last week...but I'm lame and seem to be behind in everything these days, so I didn't.  So this is me telling you now.  And if you don't believe me you can go here to see for yourself, or don't...whatever.  I do suggest (again) that if you are looking inspiration for AnY kind of party you MUST visit their site.  Tons of great ideas!

Okay, in other news...I promise to have some sort of "ReaL" post up soon.  And as in soon, I mean sometime before Christmas...

;)

CraFtY SeasOn

Look at me, 3rd post in 3 days...I don't know what's gotten into me!  I'm on a roLL.  I think it has something to do with the fall season.  Something about pumpkins, the cool air and soup simmering on the stove makes me want to craft.  So I've been in the mood and decided just today that I just may break down and make something, not sure what yet...to be continued.  For now, because it's just not right to post without a pic, here's a look at my house all HaLLoWeENeD up...have you got your spook on yet?

Made these paper covered stars last year.

And this bOo burLaP baNner...

I've added a few new skulls this year.

Still one of my favorites...

And another SkuLLy...

My 3 year old asked me why I put the noodles in there (the spanish moss)...

I'm starting to think I may have as many haLLoWeEn decorations as Christmas!