Cute Tot

Just need to brag for a second- Eva is one of the Cute Tots this month on Totally Tots.  Stop by and see her along with all the other cuties!

Star of David Ornament

Today we made a Star of David using craft sticks.  (I found a pack of multi-colored craft sticks at the Dollar Store but you could always paint or color plain sticks with markers.)  I set things up for Eva by placing glue dots on the ends of some of the sticks to hold the triangle in place.  Eva did a great job of connecting them to form two triangles.

Then I added a few more glue dots to attach the two triangles together.

Eva then used gold glitter glue to decorate the star.

We set it aside to dry and then added some string to hang it up.

We also gave the orange play dough a sendoff by playing with it one last time using some Hanukkah cookie cutters I found at the Christmas Tree Shop.

Hanukkah Happenings

Hanukkah begins on Wednesday so this week we will be learning all about this special holiday.

Crafts
Handprint Menorah- we'll be making a simple menorah similar to the one above that Eva made last year (her "my nora")

Star of David Ornament- popsicle sticks will be transformed into this six pointed star

Cooking
Latkes- you can't celebrate Hanukkah without some yummy potato latkes!

Dreidel Cookies- fig newtons will be transformed into edible dreidels

Activities
Dreidel- we will try our hand at playing this traditional Hanukkah game

Books
               

The Thanksgiving Beast Feast

We read this book several times leading up to Thanksgiving Day and it inspired us to leave our own feast for the beasts that live near us.  Before heading out to dinner yesterday we selected some items from our exploration station to set out for the neighborhood creatures.  We included cracked corn, popcorn kernels, Indian corn, walnuts and a sliced apple.

We made some guesses as to which would get eaten first.  Eva thought the Indian corn would be the first to go.  My guess was the apple.

Amazingly, nothing has been eaten.  Either all the animals have hibernated/migrated or we have some very picky eaters living around here!  We hope all of you had your fill to eat yesterday and were able to enjoy time with your friends and family.  We will be back on Sunday with our Hanukkah theme all set to begin!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving (or a very happy Thursday for those of you outside the States)!  Be sure to take a moment to today and count your blessings and may they be many!  I know mine are and I count all of you among them.  But here are my greatest blessings- my wonderful husband who provides us with a life so full of love, laughter and happiness, and the sweetest little girl, my Eva, who brings us more joy than our hearts ever thought possible.

It's Just Not Thanksgiving...

without pumpkin pie!

Of course, this one isn't edible but it was fun to make.  Eva started out by painting the rim of a paper plate tan.

Then she painted the center a fun pumpkin color we mixed up.

While the paint was still wet, she sprinkled some pumpkin pie spice in the center to make this a yummy smelling craft.

After everything dried, I cut the "pie" into slices and Eva added a dollop of cotton ball whipped cream to each slice.

Yum!  Yum!