Our Thanksgiving Weekend

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone...and that the Christmas season is here! Here are some fun activities and crafts we did over the Thanksgiving holiday.

I found these paper place mats at Target for the girls to do before breakfast one morning. They had fun coloring the turkey, doing a maze, unscrambling words and writing down what they were thankful for.

Of course, Little S just scribbled away (we didn't know what she was writing, but I'm sure she did). She had a crayon in one hand while holding a spoon in the other!

Alyzza made this costume at school and had fun wearing it all weekend.

I don't remember what spurred this idea on, but I ended up doing a quick craft for Q and Alyzza. I made these rubber band shooters out of dowels and clothespins (a fantastic idea from Family Fun). They had a blast, and of course, some of us got caught in the middle of it all (I need to make one for myself, too!)

a close up view of this fun, handmade toy

I found this banner at Target, too. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, we started these links of thankfulness.:) It was fun to see what the girls would say. Little S said she was thankful that Jesus gave her water and then said almost the same thing about milk the next day. It was too cute!

Little S and I went on a short walk and gathered the best pine cones we could find.  I made this trio of owls for her. She chose the craft out of a fall-themed Family Fun book that my secret sister at MOPS gave me. Alyzza chose the craft below out of the same book. If you haven't noticed already, I really like Family Fun. It is the source of so many of our creative endeavors around here.:)

Here is Alyzza's pilgrim pal. We started off working together, but then I had to finish it later because we ran out of time. He is made out of a toilet paper tube, felt, yarn, pipe cleaners, colored paper and a bit of aluminum foil.

On Thanksgiving morning, Q read the story of Squanto to the girls (and yes, that's a bow in Daddy's hair, compliments of Alyzza).

After nap time, we drove to Loveland to have Thanksgiving dinner with Q's cousin and her family. This acorn squash with beet soup was the appetizer. After that, we had so many dishes to choose from to complete our meal. And of course, we kept some room in our bellies to enjoy some pie. We all had a fun time together and hope to get together again before too long.

A family tradition we have is to set up the Christmas tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving. The girls were so excited and helped Daddy put the ornaments on, while I put out some of the other things. Do you want to see how it all turned out?

Come back soon and find out!:)

The Little Nativity Family

Last week, we did another craft at our M.O.P.S. group. Because we wouldn't meet up again until after Thanksgiving...and some of us like to decorate for Christmas the day after that, I thought it would be a good idea to make this little wooden spool nativity set:

 Some of you have seen a couple of the other sets that I've made in the past, so this one isn't much different. It took me a few tries to realize that the best fabric for the head coverings was felt. We also used fine-tipped Sharpie markers for the head details and used the yarn for the bodies.

I found this stable at the Dollar Tree right before we did our craft, so it was a neat thing to show the ladies how they can complete their set. I made a star out of craft foam and glued it on the top. You can also add some animals from a barnyard play set, as well as other wooden people to represent the shepherds and angels.

For the most part, I thought the craft went well. I had to set up the steps on two tables, so the ladies made their sets in assembly-line fashion. I only wish that we had more time though and that I could have set up more glue guns to keep the line going faster; those were the main problems that I did not foresee or have control over...oh well. However, the last group that went had ladies who were so understanding and they loved the craft so much they thought they could enjoy making it at home with their kids. That made me happy.:)

The girls have played with our set a couple of times already. Little S loves the baby Jesus story already and enjoys singing, "Away in a Manger." Two days ago, she played with the set and lost baby Jesus, so we'll hope and pray he returns to the stable soon!:)

Coming up soon...Thanksgiving activities this year....and as time permits some random Christmas gift and organization ideas! Stay tuned....

A very happy 60th anniversary!

Not too long ago, we had a celebration for a couple in our church--they reached a milestone--60 years of married bliss. To honor them, Quentin decided to dedicate a service to them and to have a party afterward. I worked on decorations and Alyzza helped me decorate. I decided to go with a fall theme; it looks pretty at this time of year, plus we could keep it up until our Thanksgiving potluck.

Here's what we did to give the Sander's a super celebration....

These felt circle garlands came out sooo cute; it gave me a good excuse to do some sewing again! I found the basic idea here and I just love it!

Pretty garlands make me happy!:)

We used the fabric pumpkins we made last year for centerpieces. Laying these out with some Dollar Tree leaves were the perfect project for Alyzza.

This simple bulletin board was easy to pull together. I stapled cardstock up there and had a couple of pens nearby for church friends to write the Sander's a note.

The pens were placed in a paper pocket that I stapled to the board.

This beautiful cake was made by Janis, another church member who we adore (she loves doing special things for our girls, too, and we appreciate that so much).

Congratulations, Dr. and Mrs. Sanders!

Quentin wanted to give them gifts during the service, and one of his ideas was to give Mrs. Sanders a bouquet of flowers. I had just stumbled across this idea for a fall bouquet, and knew this would be the perfect gift for her. She absolutely loved it. (I hope to make one of these soon for us, but it will get greater use next fall.) Quentin also gave the Sanders a large-print New Testament and had their names engraved on it.

All in all, it was a great celebration. To God be the glory for a tremendous example of love and ministry. Thank you, Dr. and Mrs. Sanders; we appreciate you.

Pretty in yellow

A few weeks ago, it was Spirit Week at Alyzza's school. We looked at the themes of each day and everything looked fine--except for the fact that Alyzza did not have anything yellow to wear for her class color day. We kept brainstorming on what to do so that she could participate. One of my ideas was to look for yellow polo shirts at Goodwill (or even find a white one and dye it yellow) for her to wear. 

Well...an idea hit me when I was out shopping one day. I found a ladies yellow sleeveless tank at the Dollar Tree. Surely, this could be turned into a dress, right? Next door to the Dollar Tree is Goodwill, so we always have to go in and take a look. :) There, I found a men's yellow polo shirt for $2! So far, so good--$3 for a fun yellow dress is awesome!

Well, after some tweaking and sewing, here's the dress I made for Alyzza. She was sooo excited when I showed it to her.

I had just a tiny bit of fabric left over from the men's shirt after making three ruffles each on the top and bottom of the dress. For school, she needed to wear a polo underneath it, but if it still fits her by next spring or summer, she could go sleeveless with it.

Making this dress for Alyzza reminded me of the many times my mom sewed something up for us for a school event. Sometimes, she worked late into the night and early the next morning to make sure that something was ready to go. I've always appreciated that about my mom; she's such a hard worker and puts so much creativity into what she does.

 Thanks, Mom, for instilling that desire in me. I'm now enjoying making things for my girls.