updated diego bag pictures

Our great yard and nice sunny lighting (and nicer camera) has motivated me to update some of the pictures in my etsy shop. Lou was my model today for the Diego rescue pack. I snapped pictures quickly, he only cooperates for 1-2 minutes.

acorns

Bee's preschool is doing Aa next week so we are sending in some acorns. There is the worlds largest oak tree in our back yard. It's pretty and very 'fall' with the acorns and such, but those little boogers hurt when you step on them or when someone mows over them and they shoot out at you! We did a fun day of acorn activities in co-op preschool last year so hopefully Bee's teachers will come up with some activity to use them for.


Here's the fun little baggie Lou and I whipped up. He's such a good sewing helper. He sits on my lap and mans the reverse lever.


Not bad for one evening of collecting.

I stuck my hand in this while collecting... yep, they bite. They are some kind of ant, but they were crazy about carrying some little larva to safety.

new lemonade apron

I have a new item in my shop. My sister helped me select the cutest lemon fabric to make into aprons. I am trying to get ahead of things before the Christmas rush comes. Bee was a fantastic model for me today. Here is my lemonade apron. It's such a fresh fabric, I just love it's brightness.

I've also been working for awhile now on a chef's hat. Here is my prototype.

I am excited to have some fresh things in my shop.

easy apple recipe

I was going to add this to yesterday's post about apple things, but it was getting pretty long. Here's our favorite quick and easy apple related recipe. It's a dip for eating fresh apples. It makes a lot so we usually end up eating it also on bananas too. Some of us have been known to eat it on ice cream too, just saying.

My friend Rene used to bring this sometimes to mom's lunch bunch in IN before we moved off to FL and they moved off to NC. She's such a lovely, honest friend and one I really miss! I'd link you to her blog but frankly, she hasn't updated it in months! hint hint Rene!

Apple Dip

1 carton caramel apple dip (in the produce area)

2 small cartons of vanilla yogurt

crumbled walnuts, handful

mix the caramel and yogurt well, top with walnuts. Serve with apple slices.... or ice cream

three things apple

There are many more apple crafts going on here than there were this time last year. Maybe it's because FL skips the whole 'fall' season. Here are two more apple crafts, both done this week at community things, library story time and a little toddler craft program we go to. Also, here is our apple tree behavior chart.

This one is an apple tree. It's just a ball of newspaper in a brown lunch sack. The grownup helpers then placed a rubber band on the bag to hold in the ball. The kids cut the branches by cutting slits down the sides. It looked to me like most parents did this job for their kids, but my kids of course did their own; even Lou shouted "by myself!". Then, the kids glued on red circles for apples and green tissue paper squares for leaves. I think that if you cut the tissue paper into more of a leaf shape and the apples into a more of an apple shape that it would look even better, but I know they had to prep the craft for a bunch of kids. They are looking cute and festive on out kitchen table next to our now full again bowl of apples. You know what happens when the bowl gets empty.

(you can see the real apples that Lou takes a few bites of and then leaves for later)

Here is a cute little one that works mostly on fine motor skills like cutting. There was an apple pattern traced on the red paper and a leaf shape on the green paper. The little ones cut out both pieces. The adults helped with the worm hole. The little poem was to be glued on the back but we wanted it on the front so we could read it while we had our fingers be the worm.

The poem reads "Way up high in an apple tree, I saw two eyes look at me. I reached for an apple and it started to squirm. Oops, I found a wiggly worm."

Here is our new 'behavior' chart. We have tried various charts and rewards for chores and good behavior. Each time I tweak things a bit using different ideas I came across while teaching. I think I was being too specific before, so this one is very general: They read, "_____ is kind and helpful and a good listener." Anytime we catch the kids being extra kind, helpful, or a good listener, we will reward them with an apple on their tree. When they have collected 12 in our case, they get a little something. The kids are pretty sure that they will be getting a trip to the candy store... um, I was thinking not. I drew on 12 stems and leaves so that they can count how many more they need.

Our previous chart had spots for earning 10 stickers in several separate categories... it took too long to fill up each separate category and the incentive to do good things was low. We had categories like: kind to your brother/sister, gentle with the cat, good listener, helpful around the house, cleaned room (that would be the row with no stickers!), etc

A different chart we had before had 5 chores listed down the left side and the days of the week across the top. It was working well, but was a little complicated for my little ones and they needed a lot of help using and understanding it. It was a good chart, and one I've used with students before, but I guess my two are just too little yet.

I think the most important tip for using any kind of chart like these is that they can not loose the stickers or apples. Once they earn it, they earn it. Bad behavior does not get them taken away. If you are doing a marble jar or something, then you can work in some earning/loosing rules.

Back to school outfits

I got pretty excited by a few cooler days we had a few weeks ago and planned the kids 'first day of school' outfits. Ok, only Bee is going to school this year, but Lou should have a cute coordinating outfit. Well, I way over shot the temperatures and we have been wearing warm weather outfits instead. Bee's school is in the afternoons, so we don't even have the cooler mornings to deal with. So, these outfits will be saved for a few more weeks, but I couldn't wait to share them.

I modeled Lou's pants and shirt after the ones Dana makes at her blog, MADE. Here's the inspiration for the pants and shirt. Hubby thinks the knees are silly and I think my sister thought the same thing when she saw them laying out in my sewing room a few weekends ago. I think they are darling.

His pants are made from old cord pants I picked up at a yard sale for $1. I think my brother has the same pants!

Big pants... getting ready to be cut.

Here's my helper and my homemade cardboard pattern.

Bee's jumper is modeled after a little from a jumper I saw in the JoAnns flyer. I loved these lightweight corduroy fabrics they had out at the fabric store. Selecting which print was a little tough, but I like what we ended up with. I wish I had picked up two packs of the buttons, I think the pockets would have looked cute with buttons too. When I went back to the store, they didn't have anymore. I allowed extra room in the hem at the bottom and extra length in the straps so it can grow with her. I can't believe how fast she's growing these days.

And on my models: Lou did not want to participate despite a bribe.

giveaway winner

The last time I had a giveaway I had 6 entries. My winner was my adorable sister in law Kelly. I was so pleased to send Kelly a sandwich wrap. I am even more pleased though that this time I had more people enter the giveaway. This time I had 23 entries. Using the random number generator: 18

Toady's winner is.... Linda K

congratulations Linda, I'm dropping you an email to get your address in just a minute.

thanks

two shirts to a skirt with tights

This is the last day for the giveaway. I will randomly select a winner when my kids are napping today after lunch... hopefully naps happen today!

I am all about using the shirts and such from my 'to remake' pile. I spied this great idea at Make it and Love it and Bee and I started digging through the pile. I think I like the look of Ashley's so much more than how ours turned out because I used two solids. I now see that I like how she has one that is patterned. Next time.





Her directions are great and as always, so easy to follow. I did my waist a bit different but either way it was pretty easy.

Bee doesn't like the shirt, because she isn't going bowling, duh. I'm not crazy about it either, I think because it's yet another solid. It will be nice though for her to have a warm skirt to wear to preschool since she said she is only going to wear skirts and dresses to school this year and people keep saying how they think it's going to be a 'cold one' this winter. great.