Advent Calendars

It is time to get your advent calendars ready for a countdown to Christmas!    Today I am getting down all of my Christmas decorations from the attic.  I have to find our advent calendar and have it ready for first thing in the morning!

At my house we use my Fabric Candy or Activity Advent Calendar!  Here at Roots And Wings Co we have made a number of Advent Calendars.  You must go check them out!

Anjeanette’s Handmade Ornament Advent Calendar!

Anjeanette’s Fabric Chain Advent Calendar!

Anjeanette’s Pizza Pan Advent Calendar!

Katrina’s Framed Advent Calendar!

The no sew version of Katrina’s Framed Advent Calendar!

 

I’d love to know, or see, what kind of advent calendar you all use!  I think they are so much fun to help keep kids excited the whole month long!

 

Other things that I am doing today to prepare for the first day of December:

 

Put out the book of 24 Christmas short stories that we will read from each night, starting tomorrow night!

 

Christmas Pillows, new Pajamas for the month, Christmas socks, and Christmas place setting are all ready to go for tomorrow morning!  Their breakfast will be waffles with whip cream (they rarely get whip cream so that will be such a treat) and Christmas sprinkles on top!  I think I’m more excited than they are, for December to be here!

 

Rebecca

Olay Review and Sweepstakes

I have a review of an Olay product, with a sweepstakes over on my brand new review site!  I get to give away a $100 Visa gift card (from BlogHer) so go on over and leave a comment on that site’s post to enter to win it!

Happy Thanksgiving! Turkey Cookie

Happy Thanksgiving!

My Top Ten Thankful List:

1.  The most amazing children!

2.  Friends and family

3.  Home in a great neighborhood, in the United States (thank you military)!

4.  Great teachers for my children

5.  The opportunity to go back to school myself

6.  My van and the mechanic who keeps it running

7.  A kitty for my children that snuggles so well!

8.  Technology (computer, IPad, IPods, cell phones, the internet and blogs)

9.  Time to spend with those that I love

10.  Milky Way Bars (you have no clue…)

Bonus-The wonderful community that I have found on the internet through my blog!!  I love you guys!

 

I love making these thanksgiving turkey cookies.  I remember making them sooo long ago with my Mom and siblings.  My Grandma even had one in her curio cabinet that she left there for YEARS! 

I made a few modifications from how we used to make it.  We never had a full face, we used just the red hot for the waddle.  We also used gumdrops for the body!  But I had the pumpkins on hand.  Maybe I can talk my Mom into making some with me next year, using the original way we made them!

 

Either way, I think they are so cute and fun!

 

We boxed these cuties up in a cute tiny bag with fun metal thank you tags and fall colored ribbings and then gave them out to those we love and are thankful for (teachers, friends, and family).

 

Rebecca

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, drives safely, and enjoys family and friends.

Fun Finger Painting For Thanksgiving

I have always loved children’s fingerprints.  I am even in the midst of making up a whole alphabet book of animals that we turn our fingerprints into. 

So, today we had some fun using our fingerprints and handprints to make turkeys and trees.

I saw these adorable turkeys over at my new favorite site, Silly Eagle Books.  You must check her out!  My version is a little different than hers, and years ago I made these with rows of feathers.  A row of red feathers, then orange, then yellow, and then the body.  Fun!

How sweet are little hands!? 

We put our turkeys along the bottom of a page so they could draw and color the scene in themselves.  Sorry about the lighting, just imagine that you could see their cute eyes and beaks!  I couldn’t get the picture’s lighting right to make them show up!  I guess for blogging, a lighter color of brown would be better!

Then we went all out and painted up our hands and arms to make trees! 

This time our fingerprints were the autumn leaves.

I like how both of these activities turned out and the kids ALWAYS love when we paint!

Had to throw this in.  Do you see the orange face?  This is what my kids were doing as they ate their snack after school today.  I just love having them home and can’t wait for our 4 day weekend to begin!!

Rebecca

Last Minute Thanksgiving Food Ideas

I have compiled a bunch of fun recipes to add to your Thanksgiving meal!  The first one I posted about a month ago.  These yummy Pumpkin Pie Spiced Pumpkins are actually filled with apples and caramel!  YUM!

Next up is a fun and healthy centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table, Katrina’s Edible Thanksgiving Arrangement.

 

OK, Anjeanette’s Parisian Apple Pear Tartlets were the inspiration for my pumpkin pie spiced pumpkins above because I loved them so much!

Anjeanette’s Rugelach is just so pretty.  My Mom used to always make croissant like rolls for Thanksgiving and the look of these totally brings me back to those memories!  Love that.

Pumpkin Pie Spiced Cookies are super fun because they are a modification from a box mix!

Anjeanette’s Chocolate Amaretti Torte.  Who doesn’t need a little (or a lot of) chocolate added to their meal?

Katrina’s Caramel Apple Pie Spiced Drink is better named Apple Pie In A Cup!  Katrina made this for us one year and just had it simmering in a crock pot.  Brilliant!

Hot Spiced Orange Drink is a mix to make ahead so that you can whip up a delicious hot drink when the mood hits!  It’s a quicker version of my families favorite hot spiced orange drink, Wassail!  Wassail is totally worth it to make.  For large gatherings it is PERFECT!

Now that you are making all those hot drinks you need some Marshmallows for your hot drinks! 

Don’t eat this one (though you could) but you still have to cook it.

Pumpkin Pie Spiced Playdough is so much fun to whip up for the kids to keep them occupied during the booking/baking hours!  It really smells amazing and can last for a while in a ziplock bag!

Don’t forget to carefully open your walnuts and save them to make your own Retro Mouse Walnut Mouse Ornaments.

 

Rebecca

I’d love to hear everyone’s favorite recipe’s for Thanksgiving.  What is your must have item, in order for it to feel like Thanksgiving?  Mine is my Spinach Balls, my Mom’s Layered Jello, and olives (of course Turkey and ham, and fresh rolls are a given!).  We always put the olives on each of our fingertips.

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Carving-Joint Post!

Pumpkin carving doesn’t have to just be for Halloween! 

Today’s post is so much fun because it is a joint post with my Fav-o-rite blogger ever!  Pam from Gingerbread Snowflakes!  I LOVE Pam!  I don’t remember how we “met”.  However, do you guys know the book or movie series, Anne of Green Gables?  Well, if you do you will understand when I say I feel like Pam and I are kindred spirits! 

Everything on her blog inspires me so!  I swear, everything on there inspires and intrigues me, it is as if she writes them just for me!  To the point that I immediately stop what I am doing and make the project from her post!  Remember my aluminum butterflies, yup it happened with that post (and by the way it totally saved my strawberries!).  I saw Pam’s soda can butterfly mobile and was hooked!  Recently her magnetic advent calendar had me printing it out as I read it!  Children in my life are already working on coloring up their own versions and they will give them to their families at the end of November!  But even more, we email back and forth and she is so wise and caring and inspires me even more!  Also, the bond between her and her Daughter reminds me of mine with my Mom!  Do you see why I love her so?! 

Pam and I both came up with our own versions of mini carved pumpkin candles.  Go check out her version and her post!!  Then, scroll through the rest of her site.  You will not be sorry!
These mini carved pumpkin candles will be so much fun for Thanksgiving!  They look so pretty in the day, but as your festivities take you into the night these fun pumpkin decorations will add the perfect ambiance to your gathering!

Super cute as place holders, right?


Or even down your table as center pieces!

See how that little light even adds ambiance during the day?


On the back side of my pumpkins I also carved out some words.  That way these are cute from every angle, and it adds just the right thoughts to the day.  I carved the words using my daughter’s polymer clay tools.

I also tried using an apple corer and that worked, though I could not make as straight of lines.  I used my drill a lot (notice the white pumpkins with holes?).  I’ve never used my drill with carving before and I have to say I loved it.  I also loved the look the polymer clay tools made in carving the words.


I have to tell you the story behind this fun venture with Pam of Gingerbread Snowflakes! 

I have tried for years, to grow my own pumpkins for carving at Halloween.  I’ve not been successful.  Two years ago I had major pumpkin vines!  Seriously so amazing.  But NO pumpkins.  Nada!  Finally one tiny pumpkin started growing.  I so wanted to carve that sucker up for Halloween but it was super tiny and still green at Halloween.  So, I let it grow until Thanksgiving.  I did pick that pumpkin for Thanksgiving. 
I was telling Pam about this and how I was determined to carve up a Thanksgiving Jack-O-Lantern.  That’s when Pam came up with the brilliant idea to use tiny pumpkins, and carve them up for Thanksgiving.  Although instead of  Jack-O-Lanterns make up pretty designs for the Thanksgiving table.  I LOVE the way Pam thinks!  I was more than excited to jump on this band wagon.  We decided to do this as a joint post.  See, I told you she was brilliant!

I am going to be baking up all the rest of my mini pumpkins thanks to this delightful post of Pam’s!  Did you know you can eat them?  I knew you could eat the pie ones, and the bigger ones (we bake meals in the larger ones).  But I just didn’t realize you could do this with the mini pumpkins.  How cute will an individual bowl that is a mini pumpkin to eat be?  My kids will LOVE it.  I’m thinking this will be a new tradition for me.  Nov 1st I will bake these beauties up for an after school snack to kick off the Thanksgiving holiday! 

Now go out and get some mini pumpkins and add these to your own Thanksgiving table!

Thanks, Pam, for doing this project with me!  So much fun and I love how it turned out!

Rebecca

PS I have to have full disclosure here.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  Obviously these were done now, a week before thanksgiving.  And pumpkin carving is usually a Halloween thing.  My kids were carving with me and while we did we were listening to Christmas music.  Yeah, that’s just the way I roll sometimes.  I love all of the holidays and loved smushing them all together a bit!

Even more full disclosure:  Yes, I do notice that I spelled thankful wrong on one of my mini pumpkins.  Do you notice I corrected it with changing the last l to a !  ?  Yeah, breaking that word up just made me feel it needed to be “full”.  I was just going to photoshop the second l out of the picture, but then ful was not centered!  Argh!
This bothered me.  I couldn’t remember if I ever spelled it correctly.  So I read back through a few of my thankful posts.  Thankfully (see, here I can use 2 l’s) I do know how to spell it and have spelled it correctly.  So, why, when I am carving the word up, do I choose then to misspell it?  Just for kicks and giggles I guess!

Turkey Trot Tradition

Most of the schools around here hold an event called The Turkey Trot.  I love this.  Of course I used to run Cross Country and Track in High School, so maybe I’m biased.  This is held on the day before Thanksgiving, thus the name.

However, I love the idea of fitness in the holidays.  Each grade runs a set course around the school yard. 

It brings tears to my eyes to see my children do their best!  Even typing this up has made me cry because I’m thinking about it. (I do that at my children’s sports events, too)  Seriously, I just eat stuff like this up! 
Kids fall down, get back up, and finish the race.  There is so much goodness in seeing that happen, who wouldn’t that put a smile on the face of!?

There are prizes given for the first 10 or so runners.  My kids don’t come in anywhere close to getting a prize (we have well over 100 students per grade).  But everyone gets a cookie afterwards!

We also have a Jingle Bell Jog in December on the day before Christmas break.  Can you spot all the Santa hats?  They are all also wearing a necklace with a large bell on it.  Thus the name.

One of my kids does not care for the race itself.  However, she loves knowing it is an event that her Mother will be at.  I’ve always been there, on the sidelines, cheering her on!  My other kids love the race as well as knowing I will be there.

This has become a tradition for us.  My kids get more excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas once the races are here.  It’s like a precursor for those two holidays.

If we ever moved we would have to hold our own races.  This is one reason that I am mentioning this on our blog.  It would be a fun thing to do, even as a family.  Or even better, start one at your school.  Ours is put on by our PE department.  I think combining fitness as a tradition is a win/win for sure!

What traditions do you have that are a bit different?  We at Roots And Wings Co LOVE traditions!  One reason I love this time of year so much is all the great traditions going on!  Have you thought about what traditions you have, or what ones you want to start?  It’s never too late and I believe it is one of the ties that hold families together!

Rebecca
PS  This year I am so lucky that I get to spend the whole day at school.  I start off first thing in the morning with one of the Turkey Trots, then a Thanksgiving Play, another Turkey Trot, a Thanksgiving Feast, and then my last child’s Turkey Trot.  What are the odds that all of these would be scheduled so that I could make it to all of them?  It’s never happened before, but it did this year!  I’m so excited!

Being Thankful

Well, today I can sure use a good dose of being thankful!  Just having a crummy day (nothing major, just one of those days!).  So, I thought I would throw something up on the blog that reminds me to be thankful. 

 

I really am thankful for so many things in my life.  I am thankful for my wonderful children, my family, and my friends.  I am including all the wonderful people that I have “met” online.  This blog has brought people in to my life that are so wise, sweet, giving, and of course so creative!  Thank you all for the inspiration that you are to me and the friendship you have offered

me!  I really am thankful for you all!

 

The above picture was for a project to make thankful letters that I did with my children last year and I posted it on the blog.

 

The bucket is filled with scrolls of cute autumn stationary that I printed up on my computer. I love quick, easy, but with meaning.

 

This project is about sharing with others the reasons that we are thankful for them.

 

I wish everyone Happy Holidays and hope you are taking the time to see all that you have to be thankful for as well!

Rebecca

Leaf Skeleton-How To

These leaf skeletons are beautiful!  I love using nature for projects and this is a really fun one to do.  While doing research for our leaf week last week, I learned you can make your own leaf skeletons…out of real leaves.  I saw a post about this from The Other White House.

Gather some leaves.  We live in Phoenix so our large waxy leaves were few and far between.  The ones I could get my hands on that worked the best were from my Grapefruit tree.  In fact those skinny ones on the right of my picture did NOT work at all, they just disintegrated when I did this. 

Get some Washing Soda.  This is not Baking Soda.  I had to go to 4 different grocery stores before I found some.  I found it at Fry’s grocery store, in the laundry isle.  Please note the cautions on the box of Washing Soda.  You should wear gloves, handle leaves carefully, etc. 

Put your leaves in a pot and boil them with 4 Cups of water and 3/4 Cup of Washing Soda.  Once this boils, reduce the temperature to a simmer.  I let mine boil longer than the directions that I found.  Mine simmered for at least 2 hours.  After awhile the pot will start looking really yucky, like above.  Make sure to keep adding more water as the water reduces or you will lose all your water and scorch your leaves.

The next steps I found difficult to understand so I went my own way.  I scooped the leaves out of the pot with a large plastic spatula.  They are very fragile at this point.

I put the leaves into a shallow tupperware container with fresh water in it. 

Next I took two hard paintbrushes and started pouncing on the leaves.  This will break up the green flesh part of the leaves.  Do this very carefully as I ripped a few leaves skeletons during this part.

This part was very time consuming.  I would do this for a while, then come back to it later.  I also made sure to keep turning the leaves over to work from the opposite side.  Sometimes you could lift a whole section of the flesh/skin. 

I also would drain this water out as it filled up with the flesh/skin bits and refill with fresh water.

 

All your hard work will be paid off with this amazing leaf skeleton!  Next I am going to try bleaching and spray painting some of these skeletons and then turning them into art.

I used one of my leaf skeletons to make this tin foil leaf rubbing.  I will also be using this in some artwork.  I love seeing the whole skeleton of the leaf.  It is quite beautiful, as well as a great lesson for my kids!

Has anyone else tried this?  Did you do something different?  What were your results?  Are there any suggestions for how to use these?  I’ve thought of them clued onto clear vases or just in the center of a pretty matted picture, like a silhouette I guess.  I love the natural green color, but what other colors would be fun to try?  I’m thinking black would make quite a contrast against matting.

Rebecca

PS When I researched this project online it appears that other people had a much easier time with this.  I’m going to guess it is because of the type of leaves.  We do not have maple leaves or anything close to that here.  Maple leaves seemed to be the preferred leaf to do this with, or other waxy type of leaves.  Again, those just are not to be found here.  So, the good news is that if you live anywhere else, you might find this a much quicker project.  In fact the sites I looked at online made it sound like the pulp/flesh/skin part of the leaf will mostly fall off in the simmering water.  Mine was still TOTALLY intact, so it was a lot of work to get it all off/out.