Fun Halloween Crafts

I wanted to share two cute Halloween Projects with you.

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Project #1

My cute mom sent this to the kids one Halloween.

They thought that it was so fun and easy to make and a great place to put a treat for their teachers.

What is needed:

2 paper sacks

1 witchy stick

scissors

raffia for bow

treats to put in bag

Broomstick Goody Bags

Take one bag and cut all sides down to the bottom of bag.

The more strips cut the better it looks.

Take the remaining bag and just cut the top 2 inches to help it match the outer bag.

Place your goodies in the second bag.

Place the goodie bag on top of the frayed bag, like so.

Place your witchy stick in the bag.
Then gather up the outer bag around the stick.
Hold in the center and tie on raffia.

There you have a great, CHEAP, Halloween goodie bag, or even just a cute decoration for the kids to make.

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Project #2

Tye-Died Halloween Shirts from the October edition of FamilyFun Magazine. Click here for all the directions.

Here are my hints:

Make sure that you use large rubber-bands for the outline of the pumpkin. We did not! I had to take a paint brush and Clorox to make the pumpkin outline more noticeable. Also we let them soak for at least 3 minutes in the dye and it was dark. So I would let them sit for double the time it says. It was dark tangerine and came out really light orange. Other than that it was a really easy and fun activity.

Sweet-boy did the big one and loved wearing it to school.
Look at that adorable face.

Drama Queen did the smaller ones, I would recommend lots on the smaller ones, both front and back.

Both were adorable and so fun for a family project!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Broken Bones Diner and Follow-up to A School Chair Did That?

To Celebrate the first Broken Bone in our family, dinner was at the "Broken Bones Diner".

The menu:

Everyone got a Menu by their place-setting and we got to light the candles. That is a big deal in our house. It means something special is happening.
The kids thought that this was such a great idea. I just hope that Sweet-boy does not take BIG chances so he can break a bone too.
The Bone cake.

I should have left it alone, the crack looks nothing like a cracked bone.

I never claimed to be a cake decorator.

Oh well it tasted great!

The kids did however really enjoy the dinner and wanted to have "Broken Bones Breakfast".

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Today we went to the Orthopedic Surgeon or Bone Doctor to get the good news.

It is going to be fine.

It is broken good, but nothing that requires more then continued wearing of the soft-cast and weekly checks of the healing. They want to make sure that the finger does not rotate out and grow funny. It was good news for a mom, but very sad news for a kid that desperately wanted a cast for people to sign. So on the way home we stopped at a craft store, picked up a blank t-shirt, some Sharpy pens and prepared for a signing of the shirt vs signing of the cast. She was delighted over that one. Even though it has been a hard time for her and painful she has really been a good sport about things.

Of course I get to sign it first.

Then we were off to have lunch together and then back to school.
Here she is home from School with a signed shirt.
I hope through all this she remembers how much I love her. It has been nice to have her need me. She needs help getting dressed, washing her hair, even doing her hair - something that she NEVER lets me do. I have always wondered that when her brother showed up 4 years into her perfect-world-revolves-around-me life that she did not feel pushed out? I wonder did I push her too hard or too soon to be independent? She is and I am proud of that, but I also miss my little sweet-pea shadow, the girl that wanted to go everywhere with me. So even though it is for a sad reason that we must spend alot of time together, I am going to relish all these appointments, all these moments where she is mine to enjoy. I hope that it will register somewhere in her mind that Mom is and always will be there for her.

A School Chair Did That?

A the end of school today Drama Queen came home with a very sad face.

Q: So what happened that your face is so sad?
DQ: Nothing mom..... (still a very pouty face).
Q: Are you sure.....?
DQ: Well a chair fell on my hand and it kinda hurts.
Q: Let me see.

Ouch!!!Her little pinky is all swollen. So I start looking at it and poking around but it looks bad. As a Mom I like to err on the side of caution so we are off to KidsCare for a check and the wait.

Q: So what really happened honey?
DQ: I was holding Bob's feet so he could be a wagon and I tripped on the projector, fell into my desk and knocked my chair off my desk and it landed on my hand.
Q: That would do it! So you were goofing off?
DQ: Not really Mom, just waiting for school to end.
Q: Wow!

Here she is having her X-ray's done. What a trooper, it hurt but she was real strong!

Results come back and she has fractured her pinky just below the knuckle. Due to the growth plate we need to go see an Orthopedic Surgeon to set the cast just right.

Drama Queen with our cute Doctor. She was so fun and so happy to be on our Blog.

Thank you Dr. Strasser!!After she got all casted with a temporary cast we decided that a sling would help. She of course picked a fun Snoopy one. She was again very brave with it all!
Drama Queen all medicated for the pain and set in her bed for the night. She was read to and kissed and loved up so she did not feel bad about it all.

Sweet-Boy making sure she is alright for the night.

Drama Queen is the first kid to break a bone in our family. It think that is really great after ten years and all the things that we have done. Who would have thought that a school chair could cause so much damage....?

Side note: As a Mom I have slipped into this whole "Mom is bad" standing with my daughter. It has been really hard all week with her, she does not want to be with me and most nights we are done speaking to each other by 7pm. Needless to say it has already been a hard week. When we were waiting her dad was on the way and I asked her twice if she wanted him to stay. She asked for me, "cause Mom, this is more your thing." So I stayed with her and loved it. We talked, we hugged, it was my sweet little girl again. When we got home I talked to her about what she might expect, if she had pain in the night to come to me, that we will take the morning as it comes and see how she is doing. At the end she asked me if I was mad?

Q: "No of course not, you are more important to me then anything. All we have is our family. Besides we got to spend some time together and that was fun, right."

DQ: "Yeah Mom, it was a good night and I liked spending time with you, by the way, I love you Mom."

Tonite I am going to bed with a smile on my face and a renewed sense of my role in my daughters life. I know that we will still have times where communication is in grunts, but below all that I know that she still needs me and that she does still love me, even through the sneering look. I guess today I am glad for a falling school chair.

Try-It-Tuesday

With all the lovely delights of neighbors gardens we got Zucchini'd this morning.

I am overjoyed!

I now have the fixings for a fall favorite - Zucchini Bread! Wash and grate the zucchini.

I usually use the largest grater for this so it does not get too mushy.
This is what is needed:

1 cup oil

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 tsp vanilla

2 cups shredded raw zucchini

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking powder

optional: 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Combine oil, sugar and eggs, beat well.

Blend in vanilla and zucchini. Sift dry ingredients together and add to mixture and blend well. Fold in nuts. Pour batter into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degree for about 1 hour.
Let stand in pans for about ten minutes and then turn out on racks to cool.
Enjoy!!!

The middle wife

I recieved this as an e-mail and wanted to pass it along to all of us who are teachers in our own right. Ihope it makes you smile!

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The 'Middle Wife' by an Anonymous 2nd grade teacher.

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back.

When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they're welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater. She holds up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday'.

'First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.'

She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.

'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!'

Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans.

'She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!'.

(Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)

'My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this.'

(Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.)

'And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!'

(This kid has her legs spread with her little hands miming water flowing away. It was too much!)

'Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push,' and 'breathe, breathe. They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom's play-center, (placenta) so there must be a lot of toys inside there.'

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat. I'm sure I applauded the loudest.

Ever since then, when it's show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another 'Middle Wife' comes along..

Foto Friday

I have never done the Friday Fotos' but today just could not go by without some sort of remembrance of it.

All week long it has been safety week at the school and to finish it off it was crazy hair day. So we got to work and came up with this. I think it totally fits Drama Queen. This is how I feel today people.
Okay a more normal looking picture.

Where is Sweet-boy in this crazy hair expo?

He is home with a swollen paw.

Seems that at our Fire Station outing on Wednesday night he got bit by something mean. It got his neck and his hand. The neck welt is fine but his hand is about 3 times the normal size.

So he is home with me today, soaking his hand and getting cream rubbed into it every 2 hours.

Poor kid, when he gets bit by things he swells up, but this is the best one yet. I cannot wait for all those bugs to finally go away......

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Queenie Needs

I cannot remember where I saw this but wanted to try it.

Google the following: Your name needs....then just watch what comes up.

Okay I have to cheat since I do not disclose my real name I had to do my aka, but it rings true to what my real name said.....

Here are the top 10 results.

1. Queenie Needs a Loving Home

2. Queenie Needs Help

3. Queenie - Special Needs

4. Displaced Queenie needs foster home

5. Queenie needs Tagprofil

6. Queenie needs your prayers

7. Queenie needs our help

8. Queenie needs a baby

9. What Queenie needs to know

10. Queenie and Doogie need your help dogs

After this I realized that I need a loving home, I need help (big shocker) and maybe some form of medication to help me through, I also need your prayers. Google really knows me and that was just under an assumed name.....scary!

Rocking Firehouse Fun

Tonite we went to our local Firehouse for some good family fun. Every year they open up the fire house and host a party that is really worth the visit. They have "See the Tot", Fire safety, Ident -a-kid and so many other things to help keep everyone in our community safe. Beside they made dinner tonite and I could just kiss them for that.

When we got there the kids wanted to spray the fire out first.

There was just a little line and the kids practiced their moves.

Drama Queen enjoying the excitement.

As we waited they were demonstrating Repelling off the big ladder. They went so slow but it was cool to watch. I really wanted to go do that one.

Here is Sweet-boy spraying with the fire hose, I think he got everything but the pretend fire. They told him he was hired.

Drama Queen doing her best to get those pesky flames out. She had a ball.

Next we are off to see the Medical Helicopter. As the kids were waiting it was time to get a helicopter tattoo. Where do my kids want it.....the forehead.

Drama Queen with her tattoo. She was so proud of that one.

Sweet-boy getting his tattoo. We have to do the same as cool sissy.

There we go. We even got some for later when they wear off.

The only time that my kids will ever be in a medical helicopter, I hope.

Great Story from the Queens' past: When I was a young thing I had this really great job working for an Air-Medical program. Okay it was LifeFlight with Intermountain Healthcare. Let me just tell you that it rocked!!! One year it was decided that we needed to replace the old helicopters with new ones. Thus, we were courted by all the manufacturers. Helicopters came in from all over the country and even from Sweden. To test them for our unique altitude and transport needs we flew those helicopters for hours and hours. Changing out payloads and going faster and farther up the canyons. My job was to fill the helicopter with anyone that was willing to go flying. I called my brother and he came and rode the entire day in those helicopters. He said it was one of the best days of his life. Word got round that I was the one to talk to and so people were banging on our office door to get a ride. It was great fun. Anyway, the organization bought 2 Augustas', Sweddish made to the tune of $3.5 million. That is per ship. Fast forward to September and we are sending one of those fancy aircraft to the National Medical Conference in St. Louis. I am one of the lucky ones to attend. So I fly out there commercial, attended a great conference, then flew home with the pilot in the helicopter. It was so amazing to just feel like you were floating. We would land in these small airports to refuel and all the locals would come out to see "that pretty red hellacuptre." It was so amazing till we hit a storm outside of Denver, Colorado and had to hanger for the night. While I worked there I got everyone I knew a ride. I even arranged for my hubby and me to have a special ride around the city on our first Valentines' Day as a married couple. Not only was it really romantic and something that we can remember but most people that ride that helicopter are in a coma or wishing they were. So there you go....

The kids with the tattoo lady/Flight Nurse.

The Big Fire Engine coming to give us a ride. However, we actually rode in one of the smaller brush fire engines and it was so fun. All the kids wanted to go on the fire engine and we didn't care so we had a private tour.

The kids loved being up so high.

The most amazing demonstration of the night was the Christmas Tree Fire. They had a stand fed by propane that mimicked a real Christmas tree on fire. This is when it first caught fire. The heat from it was so intense, we were backing up and I think that we were 30 feet away.

The firemen were amazing to watch, first they checked all their gear and aimed for the bottom of the tree.

Then they did this slow, moving as one dance towards the tree. You could almost hear the classical music playing as they danced forward. (I am remembering that scene from Roxanne).

As they moved forward the water changed from a stream to a mist. My guess was to shield the guys from all that heat.

Slowly they danced forward till they were able to shut off the valve for the propane.

Even then the tree still flamed. It was amazing and I think that we all were thinking that artificial is the way to go. That was just too scary to watch.

What a great night learning more about being safe. Our local Fire Department is amazing!