Spooky Lunch

Ghosts and mummies are on the menu today!

I'm pretty smitten with this mummy juice box wrapped in white party streamers. I got the idea here. He is looking a little shifty, isn't he?

These mummies are wieners wrapped in store-bought biscuit dough. They were a hit last year and they are so easy to make ... just 12 minutes in the oven.

· Grape tomatoes and some grapes

· Cucumber

· Mozzarella ghost

· Mummy juice box

· Mummy dogs

Happy Halloween Eve

We are getting pretty excited about tomorrow's festivities. We finally got to pumpkin carving today. This year's Jack o' Lantern is designed by Spud and brought to fruition by Hubs + Dremel tool. Kinda looks like those crazy pigs in Angry Birds, no?

One more sleep. Until we eat so much candy ... we can't sleep.

Envelope Templates for Writing Bin

Here's Spud's new Mailbox bin, similar to his Poetry Box but more about writing letters to family and friends. Once again I've been inspired by Playful Learning! 

Scroll down to see what's inside and to download the templates I made to make these envelopes, liners and note cards.

Here I am cutting and folding. For the envelope liners I used some decorative paper we had on hand but also some cool textures I found in an old magazine.

Letter writing is not Spud's favourite thing in the world to do, yet, but by filling the bin with little note cards for secret messages as well as stencils and stickers, well, sometimes he just can't resist.

The writing bin inside:

CONTENTS

· alphabet reference sheet

· stencils

· two sets of dollar store stationery packages
 (blue clouds and orange city themes)

· pens, pencils, scissors, glue, cute erasers that he will never use but loves anyway

· stamps and return address labels

Adding a set of pencil crayons to draw with and a few postcards is on my list of things to add.

For your downloadable envelope set template, click here.

This has been too much fun, I hope to make more templates for his writing bin in the future! In the meantime, hope you enjoy this. Please leave a note, I would love to hear from you.

Autumnal Bento

Today's lunch is brought to you by Fall colours and autumn leaves.

TOP:  wholewheat turkey roll ups and grapes
BOTTOM: leaf shaped, tri-coloured bell peppers and jelly beans!

Write-A-Spooky-Poem

Getting in the mood for halloween over here! So I took our recent Write-A-Poem printable and customized it with some terribly spooky words. Now it's Write-A-Spooky-Poem printable which you can find here.

Spud was more into drawing than "wording" on this day so we changed things up a bit — I quietly took notes on what he was saying while he was drawing and wrote them down, poem-like. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Crooked house. Stinky and smelly. Green slime goo.
Angry skulls. A yard full of scary rib bones.
Floating witch's hat and a giant pumpkin with wings says "Boo".
Smokey cobwebs everywhere.
Happy Halloween.

DIY Stop Motion Movie

I just rediscovered this gem ... Spud went on a play date a few months back and came home with this sweet animation that he and his friend directed. He sure has fun friends (not to mention their parents!) It's called A Magic Way of Architecture. No need for popcorn, it's not that long.

A Magic Way of Architecture from mpau on Vimeo.


Completely inspired to do one, one of these days.

Playful Learning: Poetry Puzzle

This was a fun activity, found in Playful Learning, to add to our newly created Poetry Bin. Fun, and in my case, totally nostalgic.

Spud and I started reading through a Canadian classic kids poetry book from my childhood, by Dennis Lee, called Alligator Pie (circa 1970s). The title poem is one I remember repeating over and over as child.

Spud responded to a couple of them right away. I printed them out on letter sized paper and cut the sentences into strips then jumbled them all up. The first poem: Ookpik. I think I even used to own an Ookpik ... made out of seal skin or something. Anyway, I found an image of it that I knew Spud could not resist.

The moment he saw this activity, his eyes lit up and he proceeded to take the jumbled pile of sentences to an orderly comprehensive poem, using the book as a reference.

I simply observed. Once completed, he read it over and over, maybe 6 times, with such intent and concentration. It was fascinating to see how engaged he was. This morning he woke up and recited the poem from memory. Oh to have the memory of a child! Next step? Cut the sentences into words.

OTHER POSTS OF INTEREST:
Write a Poem Printable
Playful Learning: Poetry Box

Sweet Robot Gear Garden Dress

Having someone make something so super cute out of your own fabric design might just be one of the coolest things ever. Check out this darling dress! Pop over to Oh!Sew's flickr site and tell her you love her work.

(Image Usage: permission granted from Oh!Sew)

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Here are our party favours for our guests for tonight's feast. How many legs did that turkey have, you ask! Ha. I first saw idea last year when I posted about it on ohdeedoh.

Ours are not nearly as cute but as you can imagine Spud was all over it anyway. I mean look what's inside!

Well, those drumsticks are for after dinner. Before dinner we will give thanks like this ...

May We Appreciate and Remember 

Today may we appreciate this food and remember those who are hungry.

May we appreciate our family and friends and remember those who are alone.

May we appreciate our health and remember those who are sick.

May we appreciate the freedoms we have and remember those who suffer injustice and tyranny.

Peace on earth.

I found this somewhere on the blogosphere years ago; it pretty much sums up how I feel about things.

Makes Me Happy: Like Father, Like Son

I'm the one that goes around the log.