crafting with the boys

last week i had a special crafty day with the boys.

we practised using scissors. i found scissors with 'lift assist' at dollar tree so that they're easier to cut with. aaron had a hard time with regular scissors but these were a lot better.

here is oscar cutting some triangles for his pumpkin

and here is oscar with his finished pumpkin. he glued all the pieces on all by himself.

and aaron glued pieces on his pumpkin. they did great with the glue. i used pieces of egg carton to put the glue in and then bent up pipe cleaners into glue applicators.

we also did ghostie toes. these were really fun. while the boys were coloring a picture i painted a foot and made prints. then i showed them how to make the eyes and the mouth. can you tell which one oscar colored? can you tell which one is aaron's foot?

more paper decorations

this is one of my favorite halloween decorations because it's so cheap to make. plus it makes me not mind the ugly blinds quite as much.. just cut some ghosts out of tissue paper and tape to the window. oscar saw me uploading this picture and said 'there's goats! remember when we put goats on the window?'

craving some paper garlands

i've been getting the apartment nice and festive for halloween. i needed some garlands and found this on paper crave (heh.. they just reposted it again today!). i changed it up a bit by adding some color and circles and using black ribbon to attach them. i love garlands!

crunchy crunchy granola

this week i made some pumpkin pie granola. i made some soup using a pie pumpkin this past weekend and saved some pumpkin and the seeds for in the granola. it tastes pretty good, but is almost TOO crunchy. i'll include the recipe, but with the warning that it needs to be tweaked. actually, i made it up.. lots of the ingredients are optional and you can really just use whatever you have on hand..

crunchy pumpkin pie granola

1/3 c. brown sugar

4 c. rolled oats

1/2 c. chopped almonds

1/4 c. chopped pecans

1/4 c. chopped walnuts

1/2 c. pumpkin seeds

1/4 c. golden flax seeds

1/4 c. unsweetened coconut

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. cloves

2/3 c. pumpkin (cooked and mashed or canned)

1/2 c. agave nectar

1 Tbs. vanilla

1/2 c. raisins

1/2 c. cranberries (ok.. i only had like 10 cranberries, so i used mostly raisins..)

1. combine dry ingredients and spices in a large bowl. stir.

2. combine pumpkin, agave nectar and vanilla in a small bowl. i was using fresh pumpkin so i smoothed this mixture in a blender.

3. combine wet and dry ingredients and stir stir stir until all is coated and happy.

4. bake at about 250 degrees stirring every 15-20 minutes until toasted and crispy.

5. remove from oven and cool. stir in raisins and cranberries. store in an airtight container.

makes about 15 - 1/2 c. servings

being a good sport

it's that time of year again and i'm trying to be good sport while jeremy is glued to the tv. this weekend i made him some popcorn in a giant football bowl while he was watching the jets get killed.

oscar helped him cheer on auburn saturday night

and i helped a bit too. (actually, we spent most of the game shelling pumpkin seeds...)

and in between football games (and playing fantasy football) he's cheering on the twins, too.. he's been very busy! i'm wondering what kind of sports withdrawal he'll go through while we're camping this weekend..

T party

Today oscar was saying something about it being his birthday party and they were going to have Tea (yeah.. i dont know either.. i'm wondering if someone has a Tea set That he's played with?).. and i Thought, ok! let's have a Tea party! and Then i Thought but why have a Tea party when we could have a T party? so we did.

while we waited on The Tea kettle to heat up The water, we each got a letter T to Trace and decorate. we Talked about all sorts of Things That begin with The letter T, like Tickling Toes, Tea and Toast, Telephone and The number Two.

we hung our pictures up on The fridge and The boys enjoyed some Tea and Toast.

aaron was all for some Toast.

i have no idea what this face was about, but it was hilarious. This is what i got when i said, 'say cheese!'

This post was brought To you by The letter T and the number 2!

whole wheat banana and peanut butter alphabet pancakes

this weekend i made some whole wheat banana pancakes for dinner.. i decided to try out making letter pancakes, so i put some of the batter in the blender to get the banana lumps out and thought some peanut butter might be yummy in them. then into a squeeze bottle for letter making. they were so fun!

oscar pancakes! we asked him what it said and he said, "o - s - t - a - r!!!!" (close enough:) the S was a bit tricky, but i think it was just because it was the first letter i tried to flip.. the next one was beautiful

special pancakes for jeremy, too

oscar trying to shove the whole letter A in his mouth..

i had extra batter so i made another set of oscar pancakes and some aaron pancakes for them to eat monday morning. isn't it nice that they both have five letter names?