Thank You Tree (Thanksgiving)

 

Help keep track of all your family is thankful for

during the month of November with a

Thank You Tree.

 

Step 1:

Find a nice branch to use for your tree.

Step 2:

Decorate an empty oatmeal container and fill with rocks to hold your stick in place. We also cut an X our lid to help hold our stick upright.

 

Step 3:

Ask your local paint store if you can have some of their leaf shaped paint samples for a project like we did,  or just make your own leaves out of paper. 

 

 

 

Step:4

Have your family decide together, or take turns deciding on one thing you are thankful for each day in November (dinnertime is a great time to discuss this). There are no wrong answers.  Write that thing on a leaf and hang it on the tree. By the time Thanksgiving comes your tree will be full of leaves! 

 

Fall Leaf Rainbow

 

We couldn't pass up a project where God gives us such beautiful supplies.

These are our trees. Today they are in full force. They contain 5 different colors, and every shade in between. Yes all on one day, and all on one tree!

 Red

 Orange

Yellow

 Green

 Purple

 

 And although I have a to-do list for the day a mile long, we had to stop and do a craft, how could you not. So we took out a sheet of paper from Grandma's expired desk calendar, a bottle of glue and the leaves we gathered from our trees.

 

I asked if he wanted to make a circle (color wheel) or a rainbow.

He chose rainbow.

 

 

I am in awe of Gods creation this time of year and putting these leaves, that all came from one tree, in rows next to each other really made me amazed that they are so different yet came from one tree.

This reminds me again of the variety in all of God's creation.

 

 

Suddenly I am really hungry for Skittles!

 

No worries! We had some in the house.

 

So we matched the colors of the skittles to the colors of the leaves before we ate them.

Yum. Taste the rainbow!



Almost Too Easy, Luke Skywalker Costume

 

I am not sure what our official costumes are going to be for Halloween this year. Last year the three ended up all as characters from Narnia.

 

This year my oldest, may just be Lucy again from Narnia, or Judy Moody by wearing one of her favorite outfits she got last year for Christmas.

 

My middle child is still undecided. My youngest however, who is now 3 and a half, has a list of about 20 things he wishes to be this year for Halloween. He tells me every day that he wants to be something different than yesterday.

 

One that keeps coming up is Luke Skywalker. Now that was almost too easy. So easy in fact I had to share the costume with you.

 

What you need:

   A white karate top-pretty easy to find at a thrift store, but big sister had one at our house.

White T-shirt 

Khaki Pants

Brown belt, ours is a finished strip of polar fleece fabric, and a light saber.

 

Done!

Dry Erase Lunch Box Notes!

Notes in kids lunchboxes are a way cool way to let your child know you are thinking of them while they are at school. I used to write little notes, and I even used to print off some generic little notes. This year however I just didn't feel like dragging out the paper and markers, or printing and cutting notes to have ready.

 

 

Then I got a great idea! I pack my kids lunches in Ziploc three compartment containers, then put them into their lunchbox. I really like the containers and they seem to hold up well given I only had to buy one set of two for my daughter to use last year.

 

I took a look at a popular website that has people pack lunches in similar containers. One container was decorated with permanent markers. This made the little light bulb go off in my head.

 

 

Dry erase lunch box love notes right on their containers! I grab the magnetic marker off the fridge and scribble them a doodle or note each day. Easy quick, and no paper waste! I erase them before they get washed and they are ready to go for the next time.

If you do wash them in the dishwasher before you wipe them off, they get baked on a bit, they still wipe off, but not quite as easily.

Clean and Organized Kids Rooms

The kids are off to school and now I only have one child left in the house. I decided to use this two week time before story time and other fun preschool activities start for my youngest to clean out the kids rooms.

I have learned it is much easier and more efficient to do so without my daughter present. She likes to keep every little scrap of paper. I get rid of bags of little pieces of paper and she never knows what is missing if I purge while she is gone. Out of sight is out of mind, she has not once missed anything I have decided to get rid of, and she is always super happy with her clean and organized room.

My kids clean their own rooms, don't get me wrong, but there comes a time where they need a good going through and reorganization to make it easier for them to put things away.

I know some of you have wondered what my kids rooms look like anyway, so here we go..

 

Child #1

7 years old

 

She got a new desk this year got to LOVE Ikea. She also loves her loft. She enjoys displaying all of her school artwork on the walls. Not my choice to hang them up there, but it is not my room and she LOVES it.

Click over to learn about her Mosaic Mirror.

Click to read about Robie the Red Robot you can see in the photo below.

 

The Loft with reading area, and icicle Christmas lights underneath. She also made her own fairy mobile a few years ago from her fairy party decorations, still hanging up. There are also various stuffed animal elevators she made out of recycle materials to transport her stuffed friends up and down from the loft.

 

 

 

Click to learn about her loft curtains, or her hanging READ book holder.

 

 

 

Wipe off board, world map and Judy moody printable.

 

Yep I did all the clothes and closet stuff too. I just moved the shoe hanger to her closet because I think it will get used more here for odds and ends than I was using it in my craft room. 

Child #2

5 years old

 

Notice the fishing pole holder on the wall behind the basket ball hoop. He is all about fishing.

 



 So it is not surprising that he has a poster of local fish right by his bed. Also this year he got a new fishing bedspread from Cabella's.

 



 

His closet is ready to go. His dinosaur lives in there because his siblings are afraid of it. Yes even his big sister has an issue with the dino.

 

The shelf on the right came from Menard's. We got it back when he was a baby. It was a five shelf kit and we modified it a bit so we could use it at his changing table. Now it works well for books and toys.

 

 

Child #3

3 years old





 

I still love being in this room as much as the first day I finished it.

 

We built his wall bookshelf ourselves.

After doing painted wood letters in the other kids rooms this time around we went with the block style paper letters from Hobby Lobby and I covered the fronts with scrapbook paper,

 

 

 I also covered many large puzzle pieces from a thrift store puzzle with scrapbook paper or paint to decorate his room.

 



 

 

I cut out large wooden puzzle piece shapes out of wood and attached hooks too them.

 

 

 

 

 

I covered the edges of each piece with paint or scrapbook paper to coordinate with the room colors.

 

 

 

All of my kids rooms have decorated windows used as frames.

 

The boys have a pottery barn alphabet card set letter in each frame.

 

My girl's is from her baby days. I had the kids who I taught in preschool paint these drawings in for me. The three kids who painted these are going to become teenagers this year!

Arial, Kyle and Bryce.

 



 

Ahhh... I have donated two boxes and 3 bags of clothes and toys to the local foster care store, and gotten rid of 5 grocery bags full of recyclables and garbage. We are officially clean and organized.. for now.

Easy Outfit Shopping List, My Thrift Store Friend

When those days come around that Savers has 50% off their clothing it is a day I get ready to shop!

But how does one sort though all those racks for just the right pieces to complete your wardrobe?

My Style Pinboard

Pinterest has helped me put some pretty neat outfits together while out thrift shopping. I just pin outfits I think are cute into my style board so when I get ready to shop, I have some idea of what to shop for, but I have mostly gone from memory when I get to the store. This has left me forgetting to look for some important pieces, and spending too much time looking at things trying to decide if I like it or not.

I know I like my style pinboard on pinterest so I started to write down some of the pieces I need to look for. But my descriptions of grey sweater leave way to much to my imagination. Even if I get specific with my descriptions they are not always easy to decipher.

So that is when I got the idea of printing off my pinterst style board. I suggest you do so in color as well so that you remember what colors to look for. Now I am set to head off to my favorite thrift stores to shop for the pieces I am missing from the outfits I have pinned.



All I need is at a glance!

To make sure all your pins fit onto your page, go to File, then select Print Preview. Then select the shrink to fit option. If you choose 50% all your pins should fit on the page width wise. You can also adjust the side margins by dragging the dotted lines on the preview page. It can take a bit for the photos to load to the preview page so be patient and don't worry if you are staring at a blank page for a few extra seconds.

Before I head out I plan on printing off my sewing inspiration boards too. You never know when you can upcycle a good thrift piece into a great new piece.

Sewing Stuff

Kids Sewing Fashion Inspiration

Savers does happen to have 50% off summer clearance today (August 21st) for Super Saver Card Members.
So head there and sign up for the Super Savers Club today. It is free and is not a credit card, just a perks type of card.
Happy Shopping!

Back to School of Fish??

First day of school here and this year I sent off two children! Now I only have one left at home. I swear it was his idea to go shopping today, he didn't want to go home to an empty house. So I followed his idea and headed off to Gordman's and Walmart. 

I wanted to get the kids something special to remember their first day of school, after looking at various toys and such. I decided to go with fish.

I guess I thought I needed something to take care of now that I was down two things to take care of during the day???

My youngest son picked out the fish for his big brother and sister (he got a new Star Wars guy so he was ok with not getting a fish of his own.)

A blue beta for brother, since that is his favorite color, no brainer there.

He is now happy in his new home in an empty Fisher Peanut container.

 He was pretty feisty and energetic, a pretty good fit for my son honestly.

For his sister he chose a white beta. I had never seen one this white before, he shimmers in the sun.

very pretty. I hope my daughter likes her brother's choice.



He was much calmer than his blue friend, but swam beautifully around the tank once we put her in. We had this tank from a set of goldfish we had a few years ago. We had rock, and even already had beta food. So we are set.

I set each fish on their desks with a new outfit I had saved and a note that says.

A group of fish is called a school, so to help you remember your first day of school, I got you a fish. I am sure you will get along swimmingly. At bedtime when you have done all you need to do and you are ready to crawl into bed you get to feed your new fish friend.

The fish are named after each child's school to make it even more memorable, and the names fit the fish pretty well I think.

  They are both attending new and separate schools this year.