Spooky Books

As part of my non-hoarding, I've been collecting old books from the recycle center and garage sales. I saw some fun spooky books made from old hard back books last year. When I finally had some books this year, I couldn't really find anything online with pictures.

Here are my old books:


I sanded the edges and roughed them up a bunch. Then I added new titles to them. If I'd had a metallic sharpie, I would have done some with that. But, I just used what was on hand, a black sharpie.



We now have a books titled: History of Magic, Dragon Care, ___ of Witches, Intro to potion, and Spells.


Hubby has put the TV on the mantel, and while I like it being up and out of the way, I miss the mantel space. I'm left with just little corners to decorate.


The kids put some chunky yarn and their face spiders and footprint ghost from last year on the curtains.

other preschool fall stuff

Here are a few fall themed preschool items:

Here's one we did at the nature center. I'm sure I saw it online or maybe in mailbox magazine or something. I had thought we might do it at preschool too, but goodness, I had so many pumpkin things.


This is one I did last year at our house. I made it a little nicer to take to school.


I made up a little acorn bag with a bottom sewn in. I was thinking it would be nice to have the bag sit up a little on it's own. I'm hoping this prevents the acorns from spilling as easily.


I also printed up some different sized pumpkins for the sorting mat. I just found a clipart online that I liked and printed it out in different sizes.


I don't know how I've never come across this website before. I was going to make up a leaf matching game when I found this website File Folder Fun.com. Oh what a nice site. It's one of those where you should go unless you have a lot of time, paper and ink on hand.


I'm taking all these to the nature center to try out this week to test out and then they're off to preschool.

Fall Table runner -sorta

When I saw this Fall table runner at Make it and Love it, I get pretty excited. I had the vinyl just waiting for a project.


I picked up some fall leaves at Joanns on clearance. This little guy came together in just a few minutes.


I told the kids we could only keep as many pumpkins and gourds on the kitchen table as would fit on the mat. They sure filled it up.

I also made one long thin piece. We've been trying it out a few different places.

wax paper fall leaves

I've been pondering how to display fall leaves. Of course... wax paper and crayons. V and Co shares her wax paper fall leaves here. Perfect craft for this lovely fall day.



As soon as I get all the wax off my iron, I have a quilting project underway!

tuesday cookin' -three bean soup

I feel like I'm cheating sharing another recipe using canned chicken broth. At preschool we say, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." Because surely everybody will be all worked up about my recipe. Pretty much.

Three bean soup is a yummy soup that we like to enjoy on taco night. It's fast and we all like it. It's an easy one too... You could certainly use store bought or freshly homemade chicken broth or stock. Ive found that one whole chicken usually makes up about 4 cups of broth cooked in my crock pot.

4 cups chicken broth (or 2-3 pints)
4 cans beans (feel free to mix and match)
2 cans great northern white beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1/2 t thyme
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t salt
Chili powder to taste
1 T olive oil
cheddar cheese- to top


Cook everything together about 15 minutes, give or take. Use a blender or food processor to smoosh and mix it all up. I usually puree it pretty smooth, but hubby was suggesting that next time we leave it a bit chunkier. Cook a few minutes to thicken it up to your liking. Top with shredded cheese if you like it that way.


Here are the other lovely ladies in today's, "I canned a whole LOTT and now I'm cooking in my bistro."
a Latte' with Ott, A http://www.alattewithotta.blogspot.com

From Mess Hall to Bistro http://www.messhalltobistro.blogspot.com

Gourmet Meals for Less http://www.gourmetmealsforless.com/

From the Hive http://mamabeefromthehive.blogspot.com/

Frog Belly Soup http://frogbellysoup.blogspot.com/

We had enchiladas on this evening. We also had some guacamole. The kids LOVE guacamole. I just smoosh up avacadoes and add some homemade salsa.


We also really like to make up chips out or tortilla shells. I kind of oil them up a little with olive oil, add some salt,


slice them up and bake until golden. I guess I have no pictures of them being golden and crispy.

I'll just keep the crispy ones for myself.

squirrels and the nature center

I don't write about the nature center much anymore. We are still volunteering each week to lead/co-lead the toddler program. The building is undergoing a major renovation and we are forced into a shelter house. It's been months that we've been outside, and it's working out fine. The back of my vehicle is a storage site apparently, I have tubs of crayons, markers, glue sticks, tissue paper, googly eyes and other random craft supplies crammed in there. I went about three weeks with a large stuffed raccoon in the back. A real, stuffed raccoon. The dead- used to be a alive kind.

For our opening activity we rolled the big ball and shared our names. Lou is my ball roller helper. I try to remember as many names as I can. Once we had this super toddler story time librarian and she always remembered names and said "All our friends are here," and "I am so glad you are here today Bee," etc. She was just so sweet. I try to channel her during my time with the little ones.

The next thing we always do is the touch box. The mystery item(s) today were acorns. Bee walks around and lets each child take a feel of the item. We talk about what it felt like. Did it feel big or teeny tiny? Was is hard or soft? Did it feel flat, round, etc? I have noticed the kids are engaging more in describing the item and I hear good talk from the parents helping their child talk about what they think it could be. We take guesses. Only the occasional peaker gets it right.


Next come our stories. I've found that a few short simple stories are way more successful than a longer better quality story. These kiddos are 12mon-3 years. The main branch of our library has this awesome service where they will pull books for teachers. I tell them a topic and they pull about 10 books for me, some non fiction, some fiction. The lady that does it is really good at choosing interesting age appropriate books. This totally cuts down on my work load!

I do a lot of interaction with the story as I read, a lot of 'think aloud,' which is where you say aloud all of the internal dialogue that we as adult/good readers do. It helps kids learn how to make all the connections while they are reading. "Oh, I see that squirrel so high in the tree. I think he might have a nest in the tree." Oh, look at that squirrel running, I have seen squirrels run in my yard. Sometimes they run right up the tree." "I just read that squirrels are mammals, we have read about other mammals... what have been some others?"

We read Nuts to You by Lois Ehlert. This was a really good one though and I plan to read it again with preschool in a few weeks. We also read The Raggedy Red Squirrel by Hope Ryden and Hello, Squirrels by Linda Glaser.


Here was our craft. I thought it was a cute one. I cut cardboard egg cartons up for the bodies. The tails are that stiffer felt, although regular felt could have been used. I had some on hand. The face and ears are the regular gray felt. I didn't have a pattern, although I'm sure I've seen this online or in a book before. I'm not that original. Add googly eyes and a little pom pom nose (we used tiny black felt squares) and you have a squirrel. We preferred tacky glue for his project. ...Boy, they sure have some personality...



Here's our song. The running joke is you better sing with me or I just have to sing loud. It's a scary thing when I have to fill the shelter house with must my voice.

A squirrel Song (She'll be coming round the mountain)

I'll be gathering all the acorns till they're gone.

I'll be gathering all the acorns till they're gone.
I'll be gathering all the acorns, gathering all the acorns,
Gathering all the acorns till they're gone.
(Children make collecting motion with their hands)

And I'll put them all inside my little home.
I will put them all inside my little home.
I will put them all inside, put them all inside,
Put them all inside my little home.
(children pretend to place nuts in tree house)

And I'll eat the nuts until the winter's gone.
I will eat the nuts until the winter's gone.
I will eat the nuts until, eat the nuts until,
Eat the nuts until the winter's gone.
(children pretend to eat acorns)

Then I'll do it all again come next fall.
I will do it all again come next fall.
I will do it all again, do it all again,
Do it all again come next fall.
(children make gathering motion with hands and arms again)

We made it though the hot summer out in the shelter house, I'm not sure how cold we can go though. Our numbers seem to be based on the weather. I'll wear a coat, but I'm not shoveling the show to have outdoor toddler time. With the weather this weekend, it feels like that snow is ready to come!

mini apple pies

I don't have a picture to go with this, but this week we made something delicious using this mini apple pie recipe from Fun on a Dime. Seriously yummy. Really good. I'm pretty much drooling just thinking about them. They are portion controlled, but it didn't stop me from eating like 10.

completely unrelated... look at all the bees that discovered the hummingbird feeder. Candy store!

the large buttercup bag

I have been addicted to the buttercup bag. I have made three now and have fabric cut out for two more. This weekend, I decided to buy the official pattern because it came with the pattern for the bigger bag too. It also allows me to make and sell the bags. I am not sure that I'm going to do that, but I could.

I picked this fabric up for Bee for a dress and she hates it. It's a light corduroy. I've been watching it all summer. The dress is too big and we'll just save it for next year. Maybe she'll change her mind in a year. She said I should just save it for my Grand-kids.


I did a little something different with the buttons too. I got my inspiration from this gorgeous bag on etsy.

Here is the big bag compared to the regular smaller bag that I've bee addicted to. That's the fourth small bag.