PineCone Placemarkers

Everyone had a great time at our Thanksgiving.  We did dinner pot-planned (it's like potluck but you tell people what to bring) so it wasn't too much work for me.  DH cooked the turkey.  All I had to do was pre-clean the house, make stuffing and eat pie. Since I used paper plates, clean up was a breeze.

Part of the fun this Thanksgiving was making the placemarkers for our dinner table.

I don't remember where I got this idea, but it was really fun and simple.  I cut 1x2 inch squares of card stock paper and wrote everyone's name nicely on them.  Then BG finished it up with hot glue, toothpicks and a cinnamon scented pinecone.  I think you can figure out exactly how they went together. 

This is a cute and pleasant smelling craft for any kid to put together. 

...I wonder if this can pass for a Christmas decoration, too?  I'm just joking.

Our Table

I thought that because it is Thanksgiving week I would wait to show you our big Christmas Tree.  Because you know, it's Thanksgiving.  And Thanksgiving is about eating.  You can't eat without a table, well you could.  We did for 6 years in LA.  But it's so neat to have a real table that everyone can sit at for the holidays this year. 

Here's our table.  Seating for 7 adults and LG .  BG and her two cousins were at the picnic table that I brought inside. 

Yeah, I know.  That is Santa Claus in the middle of my table.

I have a confession to make, I don't have any Thanksgiving decorations.  Maybe that is why I put up the Christmas stuff so early.  Because I'm loving the season and all I've got is Christmas stuff?

I'm lucky I even have the Christmas stuff.  When we were in LA we had one of those table top sized trees that we used on a side table 'cause our coffee table was for dining.  I didn't decorate anything else.  (BG asked me where we hung our stockings in LA and I told her we didn't.)  Now that we have space, I really enjoy filling it.

I've received a few items as gifts over the years, most of which I didn't care for.  I picked up some ornaments that I loved which had been discounted the day after Christmas a few years ago.  Last year was the first year I got to buy my very own big tree and I had a ton of fun decorating it.  I picked up a few other things, like stocking holders for the fireplace.  This year there has been a bit more shopping.  I figure I should at least get a good sized Christmas arsenal before I start buying for any other holidays.

Back to the table.  I really wanted these turkeys from Pottery Barn, but have nothing to go with them.  I was thinking that since I already put up the little tree and it's right next to the table, I needed to match the tree.  So red placemats it is.  Red is a Thanksgiving color, right?  The little Santa was a gift I received from my MIL years ago.  He fit perfectly on my skinny table. 

I didn't totally miss the Thanksgiving holiday.  I found these great Turkey paper plates.  They make me laugh. 

The Small Tree

 You may have noticed that I've been working on the Christmas decorations.  No, I don't think it's too early.  In fact, I would rather put it all up too early than after the Holiday Break from school has started which I was afraid would happen if I didn't jump on it now.  

Part of my motivation to get everything decorated was my Dad's visit last week.  He's single and doesn't really put up a tree unless someone is coming to his house.  This year he is traveling everywhere, so no tree.  I thought that he could share in the holiday spirit here during his visit.  Mostly he got to see the empty trees and all the decorations in the boxes still.  That's okay.  

The small (and new) tree was the first to go up.  While taking a quick trip to Walmart with my Dad, I saw this tree for $20 and was wanting a "kid" tree so that I wouldn't have to share the big tree.  I'm a little OCD with the tree decorations.  This tree is all kids.

If you look you will see that most of the decorations are in the middle of the tree.  At one point BG was reminded to put ornaments on the top of the tree, too.  There are no decorations on the bottom of the tree.  We hand strung some fresh Honey Nut Cherrios that will be fed to the birds after the holidays, if LG doesn't eat them all.  There are even fake presents, thank you empty Harry & David boxes from last year.

While school is out for the Thanksgiving holiday, I'm going to take BG shopping to get a few more things for the tree.  It needs a skirt and plastic ball ornaments because all the ones I own are glass.  I should be able to share with you the completed look sometime next month.  

I am glad that I picked up the second tree.  It's perfectly sized to be next to the fireplace with the stockings and our rocking horse.  The horse stays there year round.

All this early decorating wasn't without consequences.  BG put her hand in my stocking and quickly pulled it out because she felt a spiderweb.  While evicting our unauthorized tenant I discovered that it was a Desert Recluse.  It's like a Brown Recluse only the West Coast version.  Still poisonous though.  I really hope that it enjoyed the garbage disposal. 

Cherrios

Don't be fooled by the innocent face...

LG is up to no good...

And she LOVES the new Christmas tree decorations... 

She loves them so much, she wants to eat them.

USS Midway

To keep with the Veteran's Day spirit, today we went to the USS Midway.  It's a retired aircraft carrier that has been converted into a museum. I sent BG to school because these military themed field trips that I take my dad on are usually very boring.  Don't get me wrong, they have a cool, nostalgic feel to them but we're bored out of our wits after an hour while my Dad hasn't made it through half the displays.

 Gunnery area of the USS Midway

The USS Midway is not boring.  I learned that they average 3000 visitors a day and are constantly changing up there displays and demonstration speeches.  There are even simulator rides.  We only toured the Hanger and Flight Decks, skipping the lower decks with all the living area displays.  We just didn't have time to see everything.  I'm told that the lower decks are what the kids really love.  Now I feel like I should of taken BG out of school.  I'm going to have to take her on another day. 

LG tampering with the "safety equipment."  We got in trouble when she pulled it off the fence.

In all I would recommend swinging by if you like Navy stuff and are in the San Diego area.  I'll definitely be going back.  I even picked up gifts in the souvenir shop.  A USS Midway hat for my dad and a little surprise for Nimitz.  (The USS Nimitz is also docked at North Island.)

Another extra to the day was that the Carnival Splendor was docked right next door.  That's the cruise ship that was stranded off the Mexican coast after an engine fire. There were news trucks but no other exciting activities.  Just cool that we got to see it.

Veteran's Day

First of all, a BIG THANK YOU to all of you Veterans out there and everything you have done for freedom. 

Today is Veteran's Day so there is no school.  I got up at my usual early time and did what I wish I could do every morning.  My chores.  Now they are all done and I have the rest of the day to have fun... until it's time to cook dinner.  Normally my mornings are filled with getting ready and going to school.  When I get home, LG is ready for me to pay attention to her all day long and the chores get squeezed in if at all.

Yesterday was one of those super busy days when no chores got done.  I think I have to start with Friday to get this story going.

Friday, we had our first Girl Scouts meeting.  The other moms will tell you that my co-leader and I were super organized.  My co-leader will tell you that she thinks it went really great.  I'll tell you that I think we need to got more organized. 

It went really well for being our first meeting and not knowing what we were doing.  I think that we, the leaders, need a little more practice bouncing off each other so that we don't bounce the meeting right out the door.  The girls need to learn that even though it's a Friday after school, they still need to settle down and listen like they would in class.  I checked out a book from the library called Games to Play with Girl Scouts.  This might help them get some of the energy out and helps me feel more organized.

We put a big rush on getting the troop together and having our first meeting because we wanted the girls to participate in their first big scouting event. 

Every year on the day before Veterans Day the Boy and Girl Scouts of our school host a flag raising ceremony.  Local Veterans of various times of war and peace are invited to our school for a breakfast and then recognized at a flag raising ceremony done by active Marines.

The scouts get to have a special meet and greet time with the Veterans and (most important to a grade schooler) wear their uniform at school.

I tried to get BG to let me take a picture without all the kids in the background.  But she wouldn't leave her classmates.  Then when I had a chance to, I forgot. 

Right after the ceremony I was off to buy this from Craigslist for $75.  That's a deal since you rarely see a good one for under $150 and the $100 are small little pieces of junk.

It is currently hiding on the side of my house where the kids never play until Christmas.  I think this is the only time I'm ever grateful that our yard has pour drainage and is still soaking wet after all that rain we got.  You have to walk through the soggy grass to get to the side yard.

LG was with me the whole time while I picked it up and re-assembled it.  She "oohh" and "aahh"ed the entire time.  Of course I let her play in it until naptime.  That is the nice thing about shopping for kids this age.  When she sees it again it will be brand new all over.

Then it was off to school pickup and no homework because of the holiday.  LG went to bed early while BG and I stayed up watching movies.  This morning LG had a playdate at our house and my dad is driving here as I type.  Actually, he's late so I have time to type. 

I think these last two days have been the most fun I've had in a while.  Thanks Veterans for the holiday!

School Party and the Pumpkins

One of my jobs as an assistant room mom was to help with the class Halloween party.  It's days like that when I am glad I'm crafty and have lots of ideas.  I thought up the pipe cleaner spiders and the Kleenex ghost, though I didn't have to pick up the supplies for the ghost.  I was super excited to do one of my favorite Halloween games.  The Mystery Box.  

I spray painted a box from Costco black that was already missing the bottom (or top in real life) and had a cut out in the back.  The only cutting I had to do was the hole that I covered with construction paper so the kids could put their hand in but not see in.  I also spray painted the little foam letters white and they were added all three sides and the top of the box.

I used egg noodles for Monkey Brains and learned I had to tell the boys not to pull the stuff out of the box.  I used gum for Cow's Teeth and learned that spearmint flavor gives away what it really is.  I used hard boiled eggs for Alligator Eyes and learned that no matter how many times I told them, the kids did not believe that eyeballs smell as bad as eggs.  Then my favorite and the one that no one guessed.  A roma tomato that I rolled and softened two days earlier for a Bamboo Heart.  There were very specific directions not to squeeze while holding this one.

It was a total hit.

As I was put the box together we decorated the first of all our pumpkins.  These are a couple of freebies we got a week before Halloween.  I don't like carving pumpkins but I love to spray paint.  We decorated our pumpkins first with puffy paint.  They puffier the better.  

Then I spray painted them a solid color.  A white kitty for LG and a black bat for BG.  I would love to get a bunch of little pumpkins next year and do this for a table centerpiece.  Maybe I still can for Thanksgiving?

After going to the pumpkin patch, I still didn't want to carve pumpkins.  LG and I grabbed our assorted colored permanent markers and hand painted our pumpkins.

DH and BG carved theirs so they could have the pumpkin seeds.  The house smelled like Worcestershire sauce for hours.  I think that they did a pretty job and they looked awesome on Halloween night. 

The Pumpkin Patch

The day before Halloween we went to the local pumpkin patch and picked out our carving pumpkins.  This place was filled with fun and we got 4 pumpkins of assorted sizes for $11.50.  Best price on pumpkins around, though we did drive over half an hour to get there.

Our first stop was the petting corral and this was the best one that I have ever been to.  The animals were very tame.  They didn't bite your fingers or try to nibble your clothes.  They would steal your paper bag of feed it you put too close to their mouths.  Animals.  I think that because these guys don't get packed up and moved around the stare with the traveling carnival or state fair, it makes a huge different.

They were so sweet that LG could feed them one corn kernel at a time. Believe it or not we discovered this while feeding the larger animals not in the petting corral.  LG wanted to bring home a goat, but would settle for a sheep, pony, or llama.  She didn't want a chicken.

BG would like to put in her formal request for a pet bunny at this time.  Oh the bunnies.  So sweet and so soft.  I think BG held one of them for 10 minutes and the bunny just slept in her arms.  The cool thing about a bunny is that they will always feel as soft and cuddly and the day they were born.

We lost our way in the straw maze.  BG and I ran around trying to find the 8 stamps for our scavenger hunt while LG just ran.  I've never been in a straw maze, but they are really fun.  To be honest I think that it is the kids that make it fun.

Finally DH took the girls into the patch to pick out some pumpkins.  There were some incredibly giant pumpkins.  A friends of LG's took home a 124lb mammoth when they went to the patch.  (Then they carved it out and put their daughter inside.  I'm glad her dad's name isn't Peter or she may have stayed there.)

LG had a tough time picking out the perfect pumpkin, but finally found it. 

I can't wait to see what this place doesn't at Christmas time. 

All Dressed Up

I don't usually back-date my blog, but because last week was super busy and this is about a holiday before going into the major holiday season, I'm back-dating.  Since I haven't had time to read about what all of you did for Halloween, I will feel like I never skipped a beat.

You can tell which parent they take after based solely on their smiles.

This Halloween was a bit more work than usual when picking out costumes.

I wanted the girls to be ladybugs, mostly because of the cute tutu and the polka dots.  BG said okay, but she didn't want a puffy costume.  This was also after I got the idea of being a dead bride out of her head.  I don't really like dead things.  Unless it's a good zombie movie.

Then one day BG came home and said she didn't want to be a ladybug.  It's a long story and I don't want to take away from the costumes that we did pick out. 

BG and I went to three different stores to look and see what our costume options were. Then we found the Baterina and Caterina combo for the girls.  I liked that they had tutus and weren't dead.  BG liked that they still had a Halloween feel to them and she liked the purple color because, "Purple is kinda like blue and blue is kinda like turquoise and turquoise is my new favorite color."

BG's final makeup job.  She was gorgeous.

These costumes got a ton of wear with all the Halloween event over the holiday week.  There were three carnivals, two parties, and a dinner before Trick'o Treating.

Both of the girls loved their costumes.  Even LG got excited to get all dressed up when I pulled them out.  I think that she put together that when wearing the costume people gave her candy.  She loves candy.  I think the only thing that disappointed her was that her legs were too little to keep up with her sissy while walking from house to house.  BG went ahead with some of the other 2nd grade girls while LG  hung back with the rest of the babies.  The babies that weren't into Trick'o Treating as much as she was.

In the end, the girls came home with enough candy to fill our Boo box and that seemed like just the right amount.