Merry Christmas to All...

...and to all a goodnight!

Sugarplums are Dancing...

Happy Tuesday!!  Today we made graham cracker houses :)  Mr Gingerbreadasaurus LOVED it.  I took all the great tips out there and hot-glued out little cottage in place and made glue-like icing out of powdered sugar and water.  As for all the candies, a quick rummage through our ridiculous candy stash provided more than enough.  It's quite the sight to behold on our dining room display.  And I think this picture says it all...

And after we were all done I remembered the gingerbread and snowman marshmallows that I bought specificially for the project (doh!)  Oh well, I guess we'll just have to eat them instead ;)

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas...

Happy Monday!!  Whew - Christmas is THIS WEEK!  Now that much of our holiday shopping...baking...crafting craziness is drawing to an end, we have time to do some fun tot-tivities this week :)  Here's what we're up to...

Letter of the Week: C

Creative, Crafty, Sensory Fun:

• C is for Christmas letter craft
• Graham cracker 'gingerbread' house
• Christmas sensory tub
• Forrest of christmas trees paper collage (using some lovely glitter christmas trees I found in JoAnn's $1 bins)
• Decorating foam christmas trees
• Paperplate 'wreath' craft

Books (some of our holiday favorites)

• The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia M Scarry
• The Littlest Christmas Tree by Janie Jasin
• A Wish to be a Christmas Tree by Colleen Monroe
• Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson
• Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire by Mel Torme and Robert Wells
• Bunny Wishes by Michaela Morgan
• Christmas Magic by Michael Garland
• Christmas Mice by Bethan Roberts

And of course there will be lots of watching of Christmas movies, specials & shows! 

Crazy Holiday Fun

Happy Tuesday!!  Ooops, has it been um, 2 weeks since I posted.  Once those turkey leftovers are put away, the holiday rush begins (seriously, I was at Toys R Us at 9 pm on Thanksgiving night lol).  Since then we've been decking the halls, sewing like mad and doing a little kitchen makeover (oh yeah, because nothin says holidays like some end-of-year reno!)  For some incredibly deluded reason, I believed that I could sew a felt advent calendar in a week.  I started it the day before Thanksgiving.  I seriously underestimated the time commitment here (by oh, about a month).  So I'm now sewing an ornament/pocket a day - keeping juuuuuuust ahead of the actual calendar.  But Munchkin doesn't mind - he's happy to have an advent calendar draped over the couch in the evening...

I absolutely {heart} the sew along that Homemade by Jill was doing.  I just jumped on that sew-wagon a teensy bit late ;)  Oh well, it might not be really finished this year, but I'll have a huge jump on next year!

I should have some homemade crafty goodness to share in the next week or so.  Until then...the best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear :)

Lil Gobbler Garland

Happy Monday!!  I can't believe Thanksgiving is THIS WEEK!  Where did this year go?  Since the mantle has been pretty much swagged for every holiday...season...whim this year, obviously I had to make something for Thanksgiving.  And because Mr Gobbleupagus is only 3, I went with a colorful turkey theme:

It was nice and easy to put together - it took me one full Sunday (and if I was faster on the sewing machine, it would've gone a little quicker).  I just cut out my turkey parts pattern from an old file folder:

Bought some felt and a few fat quarters:

And went to town making turkeys :)  The turkey body is two pieces of brown felt, sewn together.  Each of the feathers is a piece of cotton sewn on top of a coordinating piece of felt.  Once all the pieces were sewn, I simply hot-glued everything together (including the little beak) and then hot glued the finished turkey to the ribbon. 

Once all the turkeys were glued on, I just added a little rag strip treatment in between each of the them and viola - gobbler garland.

Falling Leaves Pillows

Happy Thursday!!  Last week I was wandering around Walmart and saw these awesome leaf placemats on clearance for $1.50.  What else would a crafty girl do, but open a seam and stuff em.

Ahhh, just what the loveseat needed for fall :) 

How I Spent My Weekend

Happy Wednesday!  Hip Hip Hooray...I finished my first ever quilt....and I LOVE it.  I started it last Thursday night, sewed through the Karate Kid (new one) on Friday night...all day Saturday...Sunday morning...more Sunday night...and finished the binding Monday evening.  I used the Road Trip pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew and it was the perfect beginner quilt.

Sure, it's a little wonky, but it was made with love for one very Santa-wary little boy.  And he is THRILLED with his special Christmas blanket.

Turkey Time

Happy Monday!  Well it's just about time for turkey :)  This week (and next week's) Munchkin Theme will be all about gobblers and giving thanks.  Here's a list of our turkey-tivities for the next two weeks:

Letter of the Week: T
Creative, Crafty, Sensory Activites:

• T is for Thanksgiving letter craft
• Turkey handprints
• Thanksgiving Sensory Tub
• Indian Corn Paper Collage
• Paper Plate Turkey
• Thanksgiving Matching Game
• Thankful Tree

Books:

• Five Silly Turkeys by Salina Yoon
• The Little Engine That Could Saves the Thanksgiving Day Parade by Watty Piper
• A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman
• 10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston
• The First Thanksgiving Day : A Counting Story by Laura Krauss Melmed
• Happy Thanksgiving, Curious George by Cynthia Platt
• P is for Pilgrim : A Thanksgiving Alphabet by Carol Crane
• One Is a Feast for Mouse : A Thanksgiving Tale by Judy Cox
• Thanksgiving Rules by Laurie B. Friedman
  

My Big Boy's Birthday Party

Happy Wednesday!  I just realized that I never posted the few handmade bits from Mr Birthdaypotamus' birthday bash.  Since the little one is obsessed with cars (lets just say I might have the entire Cars movie memorized) he wanted his birthday theme to be Cars.  Since this Mama wanted to be able to reuse the birthday decorations for a few years, we went with a little more vanilla theme for the handmade stuff.  He still had Cars invites and plates and cake (from a local bakery - I do not do cakes!) with a little festive bunting and wreath to use for years to come:

First up the oh-so-popular balloon wreath.  These babies are all over blogland and I wanted one for myself.  I didn't have any floral prong-y things (yep, I'm pretty sure that's the technical term), so I used a combination of straight pin and hot glue to adhere all those balloons on.

And here is the Happy Birthday felt bunting that I am oh-so-proud of.  This was pretty simple - cut out 13 big circles (I used a bowl for the size) and 13 smaller circles (big cup).  Then I printed out a simple Arial font and hand-cut the letters out of dark brown felt.  Another 13 snips of colorful ribbon and I was all ready to hot glue these babies together (sorry mom, no hand stiching here).  I love that I can get it out year after year and just string it across the mantle.

Ok, so I didnt' really make the birthday hat, but I did put it on top of the light post.  Surprisingly, most of the guests didn't even notice it.  How do you not notice a birthday hat on a light post?!?

And finally, one little pic of the birthday boy.  In Elton John glasses... that say Happy Birthday.  Yeah, this picture is going to haunt him later ;)

Oh, and the birthday boy's dirty little secret - he doesn't like birthday cake.  Nope.  Not at all.  So he's eating one of the chocolate 'tire' donuts.  Bought especially for him.  Because he LOVES donuts :)

20 Pound Tuesday Update

Happy Tuesday!  Another week, another sad sad scale day.  Nothin new to report - hmmm, maybe this challenge should be for Christmas 2011.  At this rate, I'm not sure if I could even meet that target!  Oh well, onward and fatward ;)

More Robots!

Happy Monday!  Our normal tot activities ended up being put on the back burner last week, so we're going to try Robots again this week :)  Here's a recap of our planned Robot activites:

Letter of the Week: R
Creative, Crafty, Sensory Fun:

• R is for Robot letter craft
• Paper roll (TP) Robot
• Magnetic Build a Robot (found here at No Time for Flashcards)
• Build a Robot game
• Robot shape matching

Books:

• Robots! by Derek Matthews
• Me And My Robot by Tracey West
• Mama Robot by Davide Cali
• Clinks the Robot by Christianne Jones
• Rolie Polie Olie by William Joyce
• Little Robots by Jimmy Hibbert
• See Otto by David Milgrim
• Robots Everywhere by Dennis Hebson
  
  

Best Potato Soup Ever

Happy Friday!!  Ok, so maybe I'm a little partial...but I love this loaded potato soup.  It's cheesy, creamy, warm, snuggly, comfort food.  It's even more 'add 5 pounds to your thighs' good in a bread bowl :)  Oh, and did I mention that it only takes about 30 minutes to make?

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

4 cups of cubed potatoes (I usually use russet)
2 1/2 Tablespoons minced celery
2 Tablespoons minced onion
2 cups chicken stock
2 teaspoons Montreal Steak Seasoning (my super secret ingredient)
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheese (I usually use a fiesta blend)
6 slices of bacon, cooked (crumbled if desired)
fresh chives, chopped

1. In a large saucepan, combine chicken stock, vegetables, vinegar, salt and seasoning over medium high heat
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes
3. Whisk together flour and milk
4. Add flour-milk mixture to the pot and stir well
5. Continue to simmer for another 10 minutes uncovered until thickened
6. Add cheese and stir until melted
7. To serve, spoon into (bread) bowls and top with bacon and chives

Robots!

Happy Monday!!  Hope everyone had a frightfully delightful Halloween!  Munchkin has been pretending to be a robot every now and again, and after all the birthday and Halloween festivities, I needed an easy theme ;)  Here's our planned robot fun for this week:

Letter of the Week: R
Creative, Crafty, Sensory Fun:

• R is for Robot letter craft
• Paper roll (TP) Robot
• Magnetic Build a Robot (found here at No Time for Flashcards)
• Build a Robot game
• Robot shape matching

Books:

• Robots! by Derek Matthews
• Me And My Robot by Tracey West
• Mama Robot by Davide Cali
• Clinks the Robot by Christianne Jones
• Rolie Polie Olie by William Joyce
• Little Robots by Jimmy Hibbert
• See Otto by David Milgrim
• Robots Everywhere by Dennis Hebson