We were given a few of the best Halloween books from my mother in law’s expansive collection of all things autumn.
Halloween was her favorite holiday, by far. We lost her recently, so even though I don’t generally go all out for this particular holiday, I decided to do a Halloween themed story time with my munchkins in her honor, complete with a craft, game and treat. She also loved all things crafty, and was a retired Head Start teacher, so I know that she would have enjoyed it.
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It’s quite the cute little book, and not the least bit scary. My little girl is strongly opposed to all things “creeeeepyyyyy”, as she says, so that was a must. 🙂 This book and activity would be fun any time of the year, but especially for fall and Halloween. I love that it fits the season without being too scary for little kids.
Pipe cleaner arms and legs
First on our agenda are ghost and monster puppets!
To make these, you just need craft sticks like Loew Cornell 1021254 Woodsies Craft Sticks, 1000-Piece (or popsicle sticks), Crayola Construction Paper, Assorted Colors, 240 Sheet (99-3200)or cardstock, pipe cleaners like these Creativity Street Stetems/Pipe Cleaners 12″ X 4mm 100-Piece Assorted Colors, tape and something to color with. I sketched the requested outlines for their ghosts and monsters, but if you don’t have a knack for drawing, just print or trace the outlines. While I let my five and two year olds loose to decorate their respective puppets, I grabbed a couple of pipe cleaners and snipped them into four pieces each for the monsters’ legs and arms. You need one pipe cleaner per monster. I just twisted loops at one end of each to make hands and feet. Once they were finished coloring, I cut out their creepy (bahaha!) creations and helped them tape the arms and legs on the monsters and the craft sticks on all of the puppets. See? Super simple, easy peasy!! As I mentioned, even my two year old could participate in this activity.
If you don’t want to bother making your own puppets, this set of teeny tiny finger puppets is super inexpensive and awfully cute Monster Finger Puppets – Collect all 8!
Halloween Monster Back
Below you see my munchkins proudly displaying their one-of-a-kind ghosties and monsters. Quite the colorful creatures, aren’t they? 🙂 They get all the credit, since Mommy literally left them to it while she finished the legs and arms and worked on dishes.
Monster and Ghost Puppets
Now for the next part of our freaky fall fun fest!! Halloween storytime, with a game!
I settled them down in our oversized chair, and instructed them to hold up their ghost puppets when they heard the word “ghost” and their monster puppets when they heard the word “monster”. As you can see, they had to concentrate to hear those key words, but they did really well and thought it was the neatest way to read a book together.
Halloween Game
We weren’t ready to be finished with that, so the kiddos put on a Halloween puppet show for me using their new monster puppets.
While I won’t pretend that the script was riveting, they were pretty doggone cute in their attempts at a story line. My two year old really didn’t get it, and wound up watching his sister’s puppets more than doing anything with his own, but they had a blast, anyway. Puppet time is great for creative children!
Monster and Ghost Puppet Show
For the grand finale, I brought out their trick or treat buckets from the fall festivals we attended the other day and let them both pick out a sweet treat. As you can see, they were quite pleased with that finish! 🙂
Do your little ones enjoy books and puppets? What are your favorite books for autumn? For a fun pumpkin activity to do with your little ones, try No Carving Pumpkin Family!
You love food, I love food, we all love food! I mean, who can help it? We’ve all gotta eat! October 24th is an extra special day in the world of food. It’s not only the official celebration of Food Day, but also the birthday of one of my all-time favorite food lovers- my dear ol’ Dad! It’s only fitting that he was born on the day we celebrate one of his most beloved things (other than his darling children, of course! 😉 ). He sure loves himself some good vittles! Love you and a big happy birthday holler, Daddy!
Food Day isn’t just about any food. It’s about making an effort to eat real, healthy food and about the people who work hard to make sure these choices are readily available. It’s about encouraging families to choose more natural and less processed. According to http://www.foodday.org : In 2014, Food Day will have a special focus on food access and justice for food and farm workers.
Jalapeno Poppers
I just finally got my late autumn garden of kale, broccoli and butter lettuce planted a couple of days ago to give us a continued supply of some fresh healthy green veggies for a couple more months while produce is getting more and more expensive. I wanted to plant spinach, too, but I waited too long to start the seeds and couldn’t find the plants anywhere locally. I’d love to have more in, but life interfered with my larger plans for this year. The only thing still producing well from my summer garden is the jalapenos you see pictured. They are doing amazingly well! 🙂 If you want to know how I made those yummy unfried poppers in the picture, just click the photo for instructions.
What are you doing to make healthy food choices for your family? How knowledgeable do you think you are about things related to the growth and production of the food we eat? Take this quiz, and let me know how you did! http://www.foodday.org/food_literacy_quiz I took it, and got 12 out of 15 right. A couple of my wrong answers surprised me! Can you outdo me?
The friendly face of Food Day. Happy birthday, Dad! 🙂
Want something fun to do? How about celebrating Wear Something Gaudy Day with us? The official celebration is today, October 17, and it’s the perfect holiday for the free spirited fashionistas among us! This is a day my mom would have adored, since she loved wearing some far out outfits! My daughter is definitely a kindred spirit when it comes to her sense of style. She- like my mom- can look fabulous while wearing something that would just leave the average person looking funky! She’s training her brother well, by being his personal stylist, as pictured. 😉
What would you wear for Wear Something Gaudy Day? Have a crazzzzzzy outfit to share? Please go like my Facebook page below and share a photo in the comments of this blog post there. I’d love to see what kind of gaudiness y’all have come up with, as long as it’s a family friendly kind of kookiness! 🙂
I’m a stay at home mom, married to a firefighter paramedic who is literally gone over half the time just for work. I spend a lot of time alone in the crazy kingdom of kiddos….and it’s definitely a craaaaaaazzzzzzyyyyy place to be.
Want some examples? Happy to oblige! Maybe it’ll make someone else feel less alone in their own personal kingdom of kookiness. 🙂
Just the other day, my 4 year old decided that it would be a good idea to use a cooler and the counter to climb up and get the candy Mommy has safely stashed on top of the fridge to prevent the candy coma inducing binges she is so wonderfully prone to. My intervention was met with howls of indignation, instead of appreciation for the fact she didn’t break her stubborn little neck.
On the same aforementioned day, my potty training 2 year old came running up to me with a huge smile saying “Mama, me pee! Me pee!”. When I asked where, he proudly pointed under the kitchen table to the spreading yellow puddle. “Me pee!”. Yep, you pee… but don’t expect a treat for this one, baby boy!!
Some days my 4 year old doesn’t want to get dressed, because she thinks her jammies are the coolest outfits in the world. You know what? Sometimes I let her. Hey, a mommy gets tired! Ever heard the phrase “Choose your battles”? It seriously applies with small children of the strong willed variety. If I’m not doing a daggum thing other than puttering around the house, and the kid wants to wear her princess jammies all day, who am I to fight? I’ll fight when she wants to jump off the deck railing because it looks like fun or when she doesn’t want to brush her teeth because the toothpaste makes her milk taste funny, but wearing clean jammies all day now & then doesn’t hurt anything.
My munchkins were both playing happily with their water table recently as I watched out the kitchen window while doing the dishes. What I didn’t know was that the little stinkers had dumped a bunch of dirt into the table, and my little guy was smearing the resulting mud all over himself. By the time I did realize what they were doing, he was a pretty mess. In fact, the face in the photo came just before he started hollering “Bath!” and running for the house. You know a boy is filthy when he’s actually begging to be cleaned up! 😉
My 2 year old is all boy, no doubt about that. What he doesn’t yet know is that allowing your big sister to deck you out in her sparkly purple princess dress Disney Princess Sparkle Dress – Rapunzel 4-6Xand outgrown white Mary Jane shoes does not a macho man make. Gotta give the kid credit: He can almost make that get-up look masculine, as he struts around making superhero sound effects and rolls up the front of the dress to make it easier to charge around on his little red fire truck “saving the world” one stuffed animal at a time.
Yep, this kingdom of kiddos is completely crazy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. 🙂 What craziness has happened at your house recently? “Penny Pinching Peach is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com”
I am a different parent the second time around. The first time I was nervous, worried about what people would think & what society said I was supposed to do, and more insecure & unsure of my decisions as a parent. The second time my child and I almost didn’t make it, which in turn made me realize the little things didn’t matter nearly as much as I’d thought they did, and I didn’t give a flying flip what anyone thought or what current parenting trends said I should do. My first child was an amazing gift, and she’s a beautiful, vibrant, one-of-a-kind little person, but the first time parent jitters caused our start to be a wee bit more difficult. Our family is not typical, my kids are individuals, and as long as we are a happy & healthy little family, it’s alllllll good! If someone thinks my second child method of parenting isn’t up to par, I’ll listen, smile, and generally continue with life as usual.
Sleep.
Sleep is a big issue for parents of small children. My baby right now is two, and he still comes calling for Mommy at some point in the night over half the time. First time around I was blessed with a baby girl who inherited her mommy’s wonderfully interrupted sleep problems and tendency toward insomnia. Not only that, I tried to fight to sleep train her, because everyone said that would make it all better. HA!!!! We moved her from the bassinet by our bed to her crib in her own room at six weeks old. Attempted to let her cry it out, insisted on her staying in her own crib regardless of how many times she got me up and other conventional methods of sleep training, none of which ever worked. The result? We were exhausted, grumpy and loopy, and I spent most nights for the first two years and beyond in an insanely frustrated attempt to make her sleep like a “normal” child.
My second child was born premature with undeveloped lungs, and spent time in the NICU before we could bring him home. I was scared he would stop breathing at night for a long time. He spent many night sleeping on my chest while I was propped up, since it seemed to be the easiest position for him to breathe in. He also stayed in the bassinet by our bed (propped at an angle until his breathing troubles lessened dramatically) until he outgrew it around six months old. Once we did move him out, he slept okay in his crib for a few months before he started thrashing around and whacking his head and arms on the rails. I moved him to the futon in the living room because he napped so well there, and I lay there with him when he doesn’t sleep well at night so my husband can get some rest before having to head in for a 24 to 48 hour shift at the fire department. The result of this more relaxed approach? We are all better rested and less cranky. This method has extended to my daughter, in a compromise now that she’s older and more reasonable. She is allowed to come snuggle in Mommy’s bed after daylight, and if she sleeps through the night without waking me until then, she gets a sticker on her sleep chart. Once she gets five stickers, she gets a small prize (we started with three stickers). Guess what? We all sleep better than when I was fighting it out trying to follow normal expectations. Relaxing works, y’all! 😉
Sleeping Booties
Breastfeeding in public.
Most first time breastfeeding moms are self conscious. My husband was more self conscious than I was. I don’t know that he had ever seen a woman breastfeed before our daughter was born, covered or not. It’s not that common to breastfeed for any extended period of time in our area. I was nursed, and always knew that’s how my babies would be nourished, but he was even more self conscious about people seeing it than I was, in spite of being extremely supportive and proud of my choice to breastfeed. When we were attending church, I never made it through a service without having to go to a back room to cover and breastfeed our little girl. I had to nurse her in the back seat in parking lots, back rooms everywhere and all sorts of things. At work with my dad, though, I just did my work as I fed her, with a covering, as when we were visiting with other family. Otherwise, breastfeeding made me feel very isolated, but I still happily breastfed for 17 bonding months with her.
Our second child could not stand to have anything over his head or face, maybe as a result of his time covered with tubes and contraptions in the NICU. My give a *bleep* had busted on all things ridiculous by this point, and my husband was completely comfortable and on board with whatever kept his wife and babies healthy & happy, so if my munchkin didn’t want covered, I sure as tootin’ wasn’t covering him. I used strategically placed toys and carefully draped blankies to prevent embarrassing nipple flashes, and if anyone had a problem with knowing that my baby was eating as God intended him to…well, let’s just hope they weren’t crazy enough to say something about it. 😉 We had an openly happy nursing experience for 21 months.
Ouchies.
As first time parents, we were more likely to fret about all the little booboos and bug bites. Honestly, my husband couldn’t imagine a bug biting his little princess’ tender skin, and would get mad about it. My response generally being something along the lines of a drippingly sarcastic “Yes, honey, I should’ve told that mean ol’ skeeter that it didn’t have permission to bite your little darlin’.” LOL By the time our son was born, we’d both calmed down a lot about it, and realized that bruises, bumps and bites just happen, and they’re okay.
Getting dirty.
This one was all me. Hubby never minded our daughter getting dirty, but I was not too keen on her smearing mud in her curls or messing up her pretty outfits. I’d allow it, but I’d cringe at the thought of the mess. After nearly not being here to enjoy my little piggies wallowing in the mud, I am able to focus more on their happy grins than on the big whoppin’ disaster they’ve made of themselves. Well, unless they decide to take off running through the muck in their Sunday best, because then manic mommy is coming out to play! 😉 As you can see from the picture, they find plenty of dirt around these parts. I didn’t even have to suggest a bath, though. From the adorably horrified expression on his little face, can you tell that right after the shot he took off running to the house hollering “Yuck!! Bath! BATH!!!!”? I’m so glad I didn’t freak out, because that, my friends, was priceless!!! 🙂
Muddy Mess
Life.
The point of all this? It’s normal to be a bit uptight and insecure and worried about what other people think. We all do it sometimes. Don’t let it get so out of control that you can’t just let loose and have fun and enjoy childhood with your munchkins. You won’t regret having to wash that laundry, kiss that booboo, hide that nipple, or let that kid sleep in a weird place that makes him feel comfortable. You will regret it if you miss that dirty grin, the joy of running freely outside with a giggling child, snuggling up to that nursing child or just letting them be little. Embrace the crazy! Don’t be afraid to adapt to your own unique family situation and each child’s different needs. If people judge you, that’s their problem. Don’t waste energy worrying on it, as long as your life is truly working for you. Childhood goes by so quickly, but the moments can be so long at times. Don’t get so caught up in those frustrating details that you miss the magic of life with your kids!
I’m glad I got the chance to relax by the second time around. 🙂
My children are like any other child I’ve known: fascinated by the worlds in their own imaginations. I am always looking to find things that keep their busy little hands and imaginations occupied without a lot of expense or mess. Something they’ve been having fun with lately is a huge box. I have given it to them as their own home within our home, to decorate as they please and have altered at whim.
They scribble on it at whim. I’ve put in window flaps and ceiling flaps and little eye shaped peepholes galore. They think it is awesome, and have spent hours and hours pretending it’s their castle, house, doctor’s office, art center, restaurant and who knows what all else. It’s their creative corner. I am thinking I should give them stickers to put on it, but I’ll have to supervise that one pretty well. 🙂
This is a simple, free activity that brings them endless fun. I’d encourage you to try it with your kiddos. 🙂
I always I try to stretch a dollar while feeding my family with healthy foods is to keep a garden and put up what we won’t eat while fresh for later.
To be honest, I haven’t progressed to the point of having a humongous garden to provide limitless bounty to can for stocking a huge pantry of shelves I don’t yet have. I was raised doing it, but haven’t been able to do it myself yet as an adult on my own. This year I have a little semi raised bed measuring roughly 16′ by 3′, plus a few potted veggies. It won’t provide enough food to last us year round, but it does provide a large chunk of our produce for the spring and summer, plus a bit to put up for later.
*May contain affiliate links, which help my little family without costing yours any extra.*
One of my favorite vegetables I put up last year was excess peppers.
Order non GMO seeds and supplies using the coupon code SAVE10NOW for 10% off at SeedsNow!
Since I don’t get enough of anything at once to make a big batch of anything, I tend to freeze things more than canning. I can always can most things later if I get enough of something frozen and want to make a sauce or jelly or some such delicacy out of them. I froze bell peppers and cayenne peppers to use in cooking.
Wanna know how to do it yourself? Here’s how I froze my peppers…
Preserving Your Own Bell Peppers!
Wash and seed peppers, then slice and lay out on cookie sheets. Pop them in the freezer just like that. This step keeps them from clumping together in a big mess in your freezer bags. I left them in for about an hour, then got them out and tossed them into labeled freezer bags. I squeezed out all the air I could before sealing, then laid them flat to freeze. They should keep like this for at least several months. I still have a couple of bags left from last August, and they are fine & dandy.
Which veggies and fruits do you prefer to freeze to keep them fresh & yummy? Which would you like to try freezing, but haven’t yet? Go see how I made some great diy topsy turvy style tomato planters!
During the summertime, I know alot of parents are looking for inexpensive activities to fill the days with fun. Alot of those activities are available in the great outdoors, but sometimes you might prefer a cooler way to beat the heat. There are alot of awesome programs for seeing great family movies with your munchkins this summer without going through lot of change! Here are a few summer movie deals I have found for the kiddos:
Carmike Cinemas have different promotions according to location. The one closest to me is offering a movie, drink and popcorn for just $4 total. You’ll have to look up your location for their times and promotions.
Regal Cinemas is not free, but they have $1 movies certain days during the summer at participating locations. Check the link for details, to see if your local Regal Cinema is participating, and what their specific schedule is.
With summer dawning, alot of folks are hitting the road for family vacation or visiting relatives. Since most of us are on a budget, I thought I’d share a few of the little things I do to save big when we travel.
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We like our caffeine when we’re on road trips, so instead of stopping everywhere for drinks, I make a big jug of sweet tea (Lipton, of course!)ahead of time and put it in mason jars in the cooler. It’s extremely inexpensive, and easily poured from jar to travel cup. We also pack jars of milk and juice for the kiddos, as well as water if we’re going somewhere with questionable water quality.
Anyone who travels with kids knows that plenty of snacks are a must. I make things like cookies (Try my recipe for Healthy Oatmeal Cookies here. They travel well for a few days.) and snack mixes, plus take things like boxes of raisins, apples and bananas. I also pack some emergency treats like lollipops for when the little stinkers start howling about being stuck in the car. Since they are a treat to our kids, they work well at buying some peaceful time. We still sometimes stop for an icecream cone or some local delicacy as a treat, but we aren’t tempted to grab convenience treats for inflated prices at bathroom stops when we already have plenty of yummy goodies to munch on.
If you can, pack some sandwiches, canned goods, and breakfast items to eat for breakfasts and lunches while traveling. Also, gather up coupons for various restaurants you may stop at on your travels. Often, you can sign up for birthday clubs (see my post here: Happy Birthday Freebies) and get some really high value coupons for various restaurants just for signing up, even before your birthday comes around.
If you have pets, and know someone trustworthy nearby who also has pets, try to work out a pet sitting trade with them. You watch their pets while they travel, and they watch your pets while you travel. This way, neither of you has to actually spend any money on pet care. Just make sure to walk them through how to care for your furbabies, leave a list of the basic necessities of their care, and leave everything in plain sight that they will need to taking care of your critters.
Always look for the coupon books that are available in any tourist area, and search online for savings ahead of time at any attractions you intend to visit. You can rack up some serious savings on tickets and shopping this way.
I think most of us know to check the coupon books or make reservations online at discounted prices to save on hotels,and I’m really trying to focus on the more obscure little ways to save, but it must be mentioned. Also, if you are a government employee, in public safety or any career like that, inquire into what discounts are available to you. You may be surprised at how much of a savings some hotels will give you for those careers.
What are your favorite little tricks for saving big while traveling? Traveling with little ones, check out my post Traveling With Little Riders!
In honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday on March 2, we decided to read his whimsical books in a nook with a look for ideas to cook up for activities to do that go along with the stories. Today we read “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”. That is one of my munchkins ‘ favorites! I didn’t want to do a bunch of printing and searching activities yesterday, so I just free styled it. Maybe it will give someone else some inspiration.
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One fish, two fish was simple. I drew a large one and a large two on each side of the picture with the word fish, and let her draw. She decided to go rogue on that one, so I’ll skip a picture, but she did understand the concept. LOL
Red fish, Blue fish
For red fish, blue fish, it was pretty easy, too. I grabbed some red and blue markers, using the appropriate colors to title and illustrate a coloring page. My little artist colored them opposite colors, but she enjoyed herself. 🙂
So that it wasn’t just about the fish on the cover, I chose another of my daughter’s favorite parts of the book for the closing activity.
By the light of a star, by the light of the moon…
I drew a moon and star, sketched a rudimentary sheep, grabbed a bunch of cotton balls, rolled pieces of tape and stuck them to each, and turned my little princess loose. Glue would be easier, but we have issues with glue, curls and an independent streak. 😉 My kiddo was pretty tickled with the results of her project!
Is anyone else doing any fun activities in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday? Am I the only lifelong fan of his books? I was actually excited to read them to my babies, since I enjoyed them so much growing up! 🙂 If you want to get your own copy to do these fun activities with, just head on over here: One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
by Kay Winters for our fun Halloween themed activity time.
and outgrown white Mary Jane shoes does not a macho man make. Gotta give the kid credit: He can almost make that get-up look masculine, as he struts around making superhero sound effects and rolls up the front of the dress to make it easier to charge around on his little red fire truck “saving the world” one stuffed animal at a time.
Penny Pinching Peach 