and the countdown begins....

Tomorrow is the first day of October and so the countdown to Halloween begins. I talked about this Halloween calendar on my blog last year and you can read about it here. I got the calendar at Pottery Barn Kids after Halloween one year for 50% off the regular price! I have noticed similar calendars at stores like Marshall's for an even more reasonable price.

This year I started collecting small items when Halloween stuff started hitting the shelves in August. I filled the whole calendar today so that it would be ready for the kids tomorrow. For the days when I don't have any small gift I put in pieces of scrapbook paper. I left the paper blank for now so that I can fill it in with a joke, or a gift certificate to bake cookies or do a Halloween craft. That way I can pick an activity based on how busy our day/week is. On the first day of Oct. both of my children will receive a gift that I will write about later. The rest of the days they take turns getting what is in the calendar. That way I don't have to buy as many items and they learn to wait their turn. My daughter was looking at the calendar this afternoon and said "I see a lollipop" and "I see bubbles." Since the "lollipop" is really a bath fizzy and the "bubble wand" is actually a glow stick, I told her there may be some tricks this year too! For the gifts that were a little to big to fit into the calendar, I wrapped them and put corresponding number stickers on them.

welcome fall

It's officially fall! That means that it is time for our local county fair where we enjoy taking rides on the Ferris wheel and playing with baby goats.

(photo courtesy of Barnes & noble)

The fair inspired us to start reading our very first chapter book. My daughter is enjoying listening to it as much as I am enjoying reading to her.

(photo courtesy of family fun)

We also made some of these mini caramel apples as a treat for my daughters pre-school. The directions can be found here. I wanted to make them with caramel instead of the suggested chips. Since regular caramel won't stick to the apples I used sheets of caramel (you can find them near the apples at most grocery stores). I cut them into circles using a cookie cutter before folding them around the apples. They came out cute and the kids loved them!

What are you doing to celebrate this glorious season?

cup-cake

Did you know that you can bake cupcakes right in a ceramic mug? Just make sure the mugs are oven safe, fill them with cake batter, and bake at the specified time for cupcakes. Next time I think I will sprinkle them with a little cinnamon on top to make them look even cuter.

gift idea

I gave this gift to my sister in law for her birthday this year. She mentioned that she liked the shoes so I started with those and then found some fun things to put inside. The card read "wishing you a year filled with..." and then I wrote "shoes for long walks, tissues for good health, ribbon for pretty gifts, etc." Wouldn't this be fun to do with a pair of high heels? The possibilities are endless.

color wheels

A few years ago I used this project to teach my daughter about colors. I used round cardboard circles and had her paint them in different colors. Then she went on a treasure hunt around the house and found items that were the correct color. I used my glue gun to hold everything in place. Just the other day my daughter found some of the wheels we had made and asked if she could make more. Now she is using them to teach her younger brothers about colors. When he gets a little bit older I will have him look for things in these colors and glue them right on to the wheels. I also saved a few colors for him to make all by himself. I got this idea from a friend who taught nursery school. She had all of the kids in the class bring in an item for the color of the day. The wheels were covered in fun little trinkets and it was really fun to look at all of the different objects that made up each color. I plan to hang these in our playroom for everyone to enjoy.