Witching You A Happy Halloween

The girls and I had the best time making these foot-witches! I think they turned out so cute...it's my favorite Halloween craft that we've done this season.

Witching You A Happy Halloween!

I was inspired to make this spooky craft from here.

Halloween Felt Cookies

I made Izzie some spooky Halloween felt cookies!

stART: Go Away Big Green Monster!

We read, Go Away, Big Green Monster!, for our stART project this week.

This was Izzie's first time reading this book, I was a little uncertain at first about reading it to her. She isn't afraid of anything at this age, so I wasn't sure how she would handle a "monster", but she didn't seem to mind...she giggled each time we read it.

On morning, as I read the story, Izzie created a lower-case "m" monster.

Izzie also had a great time using her Dot markers on the Big Green Monster.

I found the face template and dot marker page here, which has a lot more activities to incorporate with the book.

For more staART projects, jump over to A Mommy's Adventures.

Tree Hugging Tots: Pumpkins

This week's theme for Tree Hugging Tots is pumpkins! This was our first year craving a pumpkin with Izzie.

She refused to stick her hands inside the pumpkin...she kept saying that is was "messy" and "sticky".

However, she did enjoy scooping out the seeds with a spoon!

Our little pumpkin!

To see more Tree Hugging Tots, visit Mommies Wise Little Bookworms.

Upcoming Posts and Giveaways!

I absolutely love this time of year! It's the perfect weather for outside adventures, the trees are changing to bright colors of red, orange, and yellow, and I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with our families.

Taken a few miles from our house. I never get tired of looking at the beautiful mountains!

This time of year also makes me think about Christmas and all the joys of the season. I've already started making my To-Do List, which includes a lot of shopping, baking, and crafting!

I'd like to share what I'll be sharing here on my blog for the next 6 weeks (starting next week, November 2).

Sunday: Tot School hosted by 1+1+1=1

Monday: Review and GIVEAWAY: must have stocking stuffers!

Tuesday: Tree Hugging Tots and Open-Ended Art hosted by Mommies Wise Little Bookworms

Wednesday: Review and GIVEAWAY: must have stocking stuffers!

Thursday: stART project hosted by A Mommy's Adventures

Friday: Toy Review carnival with Mr. Linky

Saturday: Homemade Christmas Gifts carnival with Mr. Linky

Yep, you read it correctly...I'll be hosting TWO giveaways each week for 6 weeks! I have some fabulous stocking stuffer must haves for your little ones.

On Fridays, I'll have Mr. Linky up and working (I hope) for everyone to share information about toys for Christmas. I'm always curious about what toys other parents are buying for their children and want to know the pros and cons of each toy before buying it. So, each week there will be a different toy caterogy to share.

I'll go ahead and list each caterogy for those of you who want to prepare early.

Nov. 6: Books, Music, and DVD

Nov. 13: Games and Puzzles
Nov. 20: Pretend Play and Dress-Up
Nov. 27: Arts and Crafts
Dec. 4: Dolls and Action Figures

Dec. 11: Electronics

On Saturdays, again Mr. Linky will be ready for everyone to share their homemade Christmas gifts. I have a huge list of gifts to make and this will give me incentive to finish at least one gift per week.

In addition, I would LOVE to host an Ornament and Stocking Exchange similar to the Super Summer Swap hosted by Superheros and Princesses and The Dairy Queen. Please leave me a comment, if you would be interested in participating in the swap...if there's enough interest, I'll move forward with this idea too!

stART: Adam and Eve

We've all been under the weather this week, so we've had a very relaxed school week. For our stART project this week, we read the story of Adam and Eve from our Read and Share Bible.

Izzie colored story pages from here.

Izzie separated her animals from Little People A to Z Learning Zoo into three different living environments...water, land, and air. She had a really fun time with this activity and repeated it several times this week! It was her favorite shelf activity for the week.

Izzie made the sneaky old snake from the story. I found this idea from Live, Learn, Love.

Izzie is in her pajamas in all these pictures (funny), but we normally do Bible Study after breakfast and before she gets dressed for the day.

To see more stART projects, head over to A Mommy's Adventures.

Matching Shapes To Shadow

Another matching activity...

Izzie matching shapes to the correct shadow.

Traced each shape on cardstock. This is a great activity for introducing new shapes!

My blog is doing very strange things today...the above picture will NOT upload the correct way and I was trying to change by background and somehow LOST all my favorite blogs on my sidebar...it will probably take me a few days to get everyone back on the site.

Matching Objects To Pictures

Matching Objects To Pictures...Apples and Worms!

I made three apples (red, green, and yellow), 2 worms (1 long worm, 1 worm coming out of a hole), 1 empty hole, 2 type of leaves (1 leaf and 2 leaves), and 2 type of stems (thick and thin). I placed all the materials on a tray that I found at the Dollar General Store for $1.

I took pictures of different apple designs, printed and laminated each apple card design, then placed in a bowl.

I had Izzie choose an apple design card to match and create on the felt board.

She did really well picking out the correct materials to use, but had a difficult time manipulating the materials on the felt board to get it to look exactly like the picture.

Homemade felt board...old picture frame without glass. I love how it can sit-up!!

I found this activity at Itty Bitty Love.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day...remembering our little ones, who would have been 5.5 years old, 4.5 years old, and 4 years old.

stART: Ten Red Apples

This week for our stART project, we read Ten Red Apples.

I made matching story board pieces for Izzie's large felt board. Farmer and most animal pieces are from here and the others were downloaded from Microsoft Word. The tree and apples are made from felt.


Izzie enjoyed having each animal remove an apple from the tree, as I read the story.

Save an apple for me!

For more stART activities, jump over to A Mommy's Adventures!

Knife Cutting Practice

Learning happens everyday...all day, and most of the time it's without the "Mommy Made Activities." I admit, I spend countless hours making activities for Izzie...some she likes and others are in a basket, waiting for Mac. When I see Izzie come up with her own activities with her toys, I laugh at myself and think, "Why did I think of that?"...that would had been so much faster and easier than...

Today, Izzie came up with this great fine motor skill activity...she spent so much time cutting the apple/tomato.

Melissa and Doug materials

Weekend Fun

We spent Saturday afternoon at our library's Fall Festival.

The girls were amazed by the enormous scarecrow!

Izzie's favorite activity was decorating the "baby" pumpkin. Notice the cupcake on her face...this was the first time she wanted her face painted and of course she didn't want a Halloween picture...she requested a cupcake!
Mac with our scarecrow that we made. I think she turned out really cute, the scarecrow...well, Mac too!

Letter A

For our apple theme week...

Izzie created a 'capital A' apple tree and 'lowercase a' apple.

We read "My 'a' Book", which included a variety of objects that begin with the letter 'a'.

stART: Ten Apples Up On Top

This week we have been doing a lot of activities about apples. So, for our stART project, we read Ten Apples Up On Top.

Izzie had so much fun counting and placing the apples on top of her head! I first saw this activity at A Mommy's Adventures. I really had her focus on placing the apples in correct number sequence.

To make it even more exciting, I took an egg carton, added numbers and a little green object (party favor). I had Izzie shake the egg carton and whichever number the green object landed on was the amount of apples she placed on top of her head. This was a great game to practice number identification. I saw the egg carton shake at Live, Learn, Love.

Izzie created her own activity with the apples and egg carton. She enjoyed matching the apples to the correct number in the egg carton.

Izzie also worked on patterns. I found this simple pattern activity here. Izzie hasn't been interested in completing pattern sequences, but this activity really caught her attention and she completed all the pattern cards...several times!

To see more stART projects, please click here!

Open Ended Art: Fall Colors

This week's open ended art theme is Fall Colors: red, yellow, orange and brown.

I decided to have Izzie create a fall tree with falling leaves. She really enjoys finger painting.

It is so colorful...this masterpiece is screaming to be framed! It would look amazing in our dining room.

To see more open art fall colors, check out Growing and Learning by Leaps and Bounds.

Review and Giveaway At Live, Learn, Love

Did you notice my new header? I've been trying for days to stagger the heading, but couldn't figure it out. Well, to my surprise this morning, while checking my e-mail, Annette from Live, Learn, Love had sent me the header fixed...it looks fabulous!! Thank you so much for taking your time to help me.

Be sure to stop by Live, Learn, Love this week because she's hosting a giveaway from Carolina Pad. There are a ton of amazing prducts that will help you get organized.

Tree Hugging Tots: Trees

This week's theme for Tree Hugging Tots is Trees! Our family really enjoys being outdoors during the fall...it's the perfect time of the year.

We took the girls to a local orchard to pick apples.


We read Johnny Appleseed.

Izzie made a tissue paper apple.

She insisted on making the apple green, which is her favorite type of apple.

To see more Tree Hugging Tots, click here.

I Heart Faces: My Favorite Things

This week's theme at I Heart Faces is "My Favorite Things." My favorite season is fall. I adore everything about fall...the cool crisp mornings, the leaves changing colors, watching college football, snuggling in a blanket on chilly nights, wearing the perfect outfit (jeans and a sweatshirt), visiting the pumpkin patch, and picking apples.

This past weekend, we visited the pumpkin patch...

And picked apples.

To see more Favorite Things, check out I Heart Faces.

What are your favorite things?