Friday, October 3, 2014

31 Days...

October is the time of year that a lot of bloggers start doing a 31 Days series where they focus on ONE topic and write about it for the month. The past two years I've done 31 Days of Halloween. This year, being that we are nowhere close to being unpacked and organized (and my Halloween stuff is all packed up in storage!), I'm going to skip. However, if you're interested in seeing what I've done in years past, here are my 31 Days of Halloween posts. Some are links and some are actually posted right here for your viewing pleasure. {Also, I wound up NOT doing ALL 31 days so these are sort of randomly ordered...} Look at the tiny babies in these pictures!

Day One - Leaf Hunting
Day Two - Halloween Books
Day Three - Pumpkin Cuties
Day Four - Chili Night
Day Five - Campfire Boys
Day Six - Pumpkin Muffins
Day Seven - Halloween Decor
Day Eight - Preschool Crafts
Day Nine - Canned Goods Drive
Day Ten - Pumpkin Pie Playdough
Seriously, one of my favorite things on this list. EASY to make, fun to play with! I wrote the directions down in my planner so I don't have a link for it. 

Ingredients:
5.5 c flour
2 c salt
8 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 c oil
1.5 oz pumpkin pie spice (I didn't put this much...)
orange food coloring (2 parts yellow to 1 part red)
4 c water

Cook over medium heat until lumps disappear and it has a play dough consistency. Knead until smooth! Store in a sealed container up to two weeks.


Day Eleven - Pumpkin Patch
Day Twelve - Q-Tip Skeletons
Day Fourteen - Drink Apple Cider
Day Fifteen - Five Little Pumpkins Thumbprint Art
This was simple and fun. And The 5 Little Pumpkins is one of James' favorite books. {When he was teensy we read it all year 'round!} I got a little fancy and cute a gate out on my Silhouette and then we each stamped our thumbs on top {James volunteered to go twice!}


Day Sixteen - Falling Leaves Handprint Art
This was fun...but ours really looks more like a turkey. I think I'll do it again in November!


Day Seventeen - Handprint Bat
James thinks this is hysterical. It was EASY, peasy to make. Took less than five minutes and then he played with it for a while! I just traced his hands, drew a bat body/head/ears (can't you tell?!), and attached the "wings" with brads.


Day Eighteen - Paint Pumpkins
This might be my LEAST favorite activity on the whole list. It took me longer to unload the dishwasher than it did for him to paint and he got paint everywhere. I know, that's expected, it just wasn't quite as much fun as I'd hoped.


Day Nineteen - Costumed!
Day Twenty - Footprint Ghost
So here's my advice on this. It was SUPER easy. But don't use construction paper. ;) The kindergarten teachers are all nodding their heads in agreement. Who knew? Not this high school teacher. Next time I'll use black cardstock. Hopefully that will solve the black paper + white paint = pink paint issue. Our ghost has high arches. ;)


Day Twenty-One - Halloween Jammies
James LOVED matching Will. Both sets of Will's are old ones of James' - one is Gap, one is Gerber from Target. Both of James' sets came from WalMart.



Day Twenty-Two - Dirt, Slime, and Worms
Day Twenty-Three - Pumpkin Carving and More!
Day Twenty-Four - Teacher Gifts
Day Twenty-Five - Monster Munch
Day Twenty-Six - Class Parties
Day Twenty-Seven - Spider Web Marble Painting
 Just like the ghost footprints, in hindsight I would've used black cardstock to avoid bleeding and white-turned-pink paint. I just put a piece of black paper in a shirt box, drizzle white paint in a circle, and let him roll a ball around to make the "web." You are SUPPOSED to use marbles because they're smaller but we didn't have any. Easy peasy!




Day Twenty-Eight - Spider Handprint Art
Super easy, fun project! This literally took just a few minutes. You could use both hands but I just smooshed the same one on the paper twice. I probably should've reapplied the paint. Oh well! Skip the thumbs for an 8-legged spider!


Day Twenty-Nine - Haunted House
This was FUN. James is allergic to tree nuts so I couldn't go the pre-done route, although I am making a Candy Cottage purchase in a few weeks at Mistletoe Market! (Have y'all seen these? Google them if not. They are plastic "gingerbread" houses that you can decorate, wash, and re-use! I'm so excited about them that I called a store an hour away the other day to see if they'd have them for sale at Mistletoe Market again this year!) Anyway, I put the house together and let James have full reign of the decor - a bit of an accomplishment for this control freak. He was SO proud and had SO much fun!



Day Thirty - Caramel Popcorn
This was good, but maybe just good enough to eat it every once in a while. It's Orville Redenbacher brand. I saw it at Target and didn't buy it, then I went back and DID buy it. Then it sat in my kitchen for about two weeks and yelled my name every time I opened the cabinets. I finally broke down and tried it. Ha! I do LOVE caramel corn but I think this is only good every once in a while! (It was easy enough to make, but make SURE you follow the directions about removing the kernels. I was a dummy and skipped that step and those suckers blend right in with the caramel. Thought I was going to hurt my teeth!)


Day Thirty-One - Trick or Treat and MORE!

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