Helping Families to Connect and Thrive

A Simple Halloween Spider Craft

10.09.18

Loving holiday and seasonal crafts as much as we do, Isla and I are often dreaming up artsy ventures and scouring Pinterest for creative ideas. One October afternoon we wanted to create a simple and quick Halloween craft. Inspired by a similar painted paper plate spider project, Isla and I decided to make a spider for her room using collage. We thought the tissue paper would add interesting texture, and the process of gluing each tiny piece on provided Isla with some great fine motor practice.

Supplies needed:

paper plate
black tissue paper, cut into squares (approximately 1″)
black pipe cleaners (we used black glittery pipe cleaners)
8 googly eyes
Elmer’s glue
a few tablespoons of water
small container and a popsicle stick for mixing
small sponge brush
hot glue
string or yarn to hang the spider (we used an extra strand of tiny seed pearls that we had)

Start by mixing equal parts Elmer’s glue and warm water. Stir until they are completely blended.

Using the sponge brush, paint the glue/water mixture on to one edge of the back side of the paper plate.Start sticking individual squares of tissue paper onto the glued section of the plate. Make sure they overlap so that you don’t see any of the plate. We started by covering the edges of the plate and then worked our way inwards. For younger kiddos, or those with shorter attention spans, you could cut the tissue paper into larger squares.Once the plate is covered in tissue paper, use the Elmer’s glue to add 8 googly eyes. We chose different sized eyes, since real spiders often have different sized eyes (authentic learning opportunity- we were inspired to do a little research on spiders!). Wait for the glue on the plate to dry, then flip the spider over and add legs and the thread to hang it from using the hot glue gun. We cut our pipe cleaners in half and used one half for each leg.Our little craft inspector had a good time watching us work while he ate his lunch.

Last but not least, find a great spot to hang your spider!

First Pumpkin Patch Visit of 2018!

10.06.18

We couldn’t even make it ’til October to take part in one of our favorite fall traditions. On September 30th we were at the pumpkin patch!

We kicked off this year’s Pumpkin Patch Palooza at Lakeview Farms with Madelyn, her family, Grandma Roofie, and Nana! Robin and I had so much fun picking out the girls’ matching outfits for the fourth year in a row! The shirts say, “Friends for life.” (2017, 2016, 2015)

Isla’s headband and the girls’ shirts | Madelyn’s bow (these are our favorite bows!)

We love riding the little train out to the pumpkin patch!

First pumpkin of 2018!

The girls found “twinsies pumpkins” and HAD to have them.

Cole enjoyed drumming on the pumpkins, but was most interested in crawling around in the dirt and seeing just how dusty he could get himself.

There were pony rides and the girls were so excited!

Cole loved watching the girls on the ponies and waved at them every time they came around.

Then the dads became ponies =).

I asked Madelyn and Isla to pretend they were the queens of the hay bales. Any guesses as to which girl has lots of practice envisioning herself as royalty?!

Cole’s first independent slide. Woo hoo! He loved it!

Hooray for the pumpkin patch! Thank you, Lakeview Farms, for a wonderful afternoon and the perfect pumpkins!

Welcome, Fall!

10.05.18

Fall is here! Hooray! Hooray! Each year we get more and more excited for fat orange pumpkins, snuggling up in cozy clothes, colorful leaves twirling from the trees, and decorating for Halloween. To kick off our favorite season with a little extra fun, I decided to put together some gift boxes for our kiddos and let them open them on the autumnal equinox. Every gift inside was fall or Halloween themed: outfits, jammies, books, games, decorations, and craft supplies. The kids were absolutely THRILLED to open their gift boxes, and it was such a festive way to welcome in the fall.

A few helpful tips for putting together your own fall gift box:

Include items your children need (pajamas, warmer clothes, consumable art supplies, etc.). These are all things I would have purchased anyway, but putting them in a box for the kids to open was WAY more exciting!
Buy sale items this year for next year’s box. Last year I purchased a number of items after Halloween and stored them away for this year, like the kids matching jack-o-lantern jammies ($6.50) and Isla’s skeleton tights ($1.50).
Include items that encourage family time, like books, games, and crafts. Books are ALWAYS a worthwhile investment. Period. You can find really affordable seasonal/holiday art supplies at any craft store. You can also find lots of crafty staples at the Dollar Store. Target stocks up on darling fall/Halloween themed games that are compact and affordable in both their dollar section or seasonal section.
Make a list of what you want to include in your box, and make note of what you have purchased. If you’re like I am, this helps ensure you don’t go completely overboard on buying things when you start seeing all the cute fall items on store shelves.
Make sure your gift wrapping doubles as storage. I put the kids’ fall gifts in some darling Halloween themed storage boxes from Joann’s. The boxes are fun to display through the holiday and they will be helpful when it comes to storing our Halloween decor at the end of the season. Win-win!

This Jack-O-Lantern birdhouse/nightlight was a huge hit! Isla and I have already painted it, and it is now sitting proudly on her bookshelf.

Go Beavers!

Cole tore right past all his clothes and went straight for his new books!

We’ll share a list of our favorite fall and Halloween books soon!

Isla has been living in her “bat girl” dress so far! Anything with sparkles is sure to be a hit with this girl!

An Early Birthday Present: Isla’s New Bike

10.01.18

Nana wanted to gift Isla with a pedal bike for her birthday, and so she asked us to help her find one that Isla would love. A few weeks ago, we found the perfect pink bike on Craigslist and scooped it up! Knowing the rainy season was on its way (boo!) and Isla’s birthday wasn’t for another month, Nana decided to give her the bike early so that she could enjoy it as much as possible this year. She put a giant bow on the handle bars and set it out in the backyard. Then she called Isla outside. Isla’s reaction was absolutely priceless!

She couldn’t wait to test out here new bike! Being a fairly cautious little soul, she started out slowly, and practiced breaking about every 10 inches down the sidewalk.

When searching for the bike, Daddo had a really productive Craigslist run and picked up a bike for himself, a bike trailer for the kiddos, and this fun walker for Cole!

Isla has been riding her new bike every chance she gets, and is growing stronger and more confident each time. Thank you, Nana, for the wonderful gift!

2018 Annual Girls’ Beach Getaway

09.30.18

We recently had our annual girls’ beach getaway. It’s one fabulous weekend where 3 generations of friends enjoy lots of games, food, laughter, and beach time. We’ve been looking forward to this weekend all year, and I’m pleased to say our time together was just perfect!

The girls are now old enough to really play independently, and we grown ups are loving it! On the first full day of our girls’ getaway they set up a little art station on the front porch, and painted shells all morning!

The painters hard at work, and some of Isla’s finished creations.

This darling little hermit thrush somehow got himself trapped between our front door and screen door for a bit. We were heading outside for our beach walk when we discovered him. He was a little bit stunned, so he took some time sitting on our front porch. The girls and I had so much fun watching him. After a few minutes, he started to try and fly off and bumped into the glass, so I quickly picked him up and released him outside into some nearby bushes.

Madelyn, Robin, and Grandma Roofie (as Isla affectionately dubbed her when she was a baby who couldn’t yet pronounce her “th” blends) all love collecting as much as we do! On Saturday morning, we spent several wonderful hours walking to the mouth of the river and back, and collecting all sorts of treasures together on the beach.

Madelyn’s darling new puppy, Tinker, joined us this year and she had an absolute ball on the beach!

The tides have changed the shape of the mouth of the river so much this summer that we had a clear path to the secret beach we so rarely get to visit!

The girls clambered up as many rock walls and boulders as they could. Isla boasted, “I’m an experienced rock climber! I’ve climbed lots of rocks before.”

We were excited to discover some shell fossils on the back wall of the secret beach!

Grandma Roofie was a dedicated sand dollar hunter! She was telling me how the excitement of finding the sand dollars far outweighs actually having them, and that it is a fun personal challenge to see how many she can collect- I felt like she had reached right into my head, because that’s exactly how I feel about searching for sand dollars!

After a long morning on the beach and an afternoon of games, we spent the evening making (and devouring) dumplings! My mom came up with the idea, and she worked so hard to get everything prepped for us while we were out collecting. I was feeling super nostalgic recreating the dumplings we learned to make our first year in Shanghai! What a warm and special experience it is when happiness from our past connects with our present and continues to bring us joy.

As could be expected, making dumplings was such a fun and wonderfully messy experience to share with the girls, and we all loved every minute of it. Plus, the dumplings were really tasty!

On Sunday morning we drove north to Oceanside to look for agates. We stopped for coffee in Pacific City, for how can you have a true girls’ outing without a fancy coffee?! We arrived in Oceanside just before low tide. Robin and I took the little girls through the tunnel to the rockier beach to start finding agates. It didn’t take long before the girls were excitedly uncovering shiny treasures.

Speaking of our time in Shanghai, I love that Isla has maintained her “Shanghai squat” after all these years!

Madelyn found agates all by herself this morning!

After hunting for agates, everyone had worked up an appetite, so we visited the newly renovated Tillamook Cheese Factory for lunch and some ice cream. It was a very sweet way to wrap up our wonderful weekend together!