All About Fall

I have been counting down the weeks until the official beginning of Fall. It has taken everything within me to not skip ahead and go crazy with pumpkins and apples. But now is the time. For us who live in Florida, we need to trick ourselves into believing that seasons actually happen.

I tried to plan out the next month's worth of lessons so that I could buy whatever I need before it all sells out. I'll add the individual pages for the weeks and hopefully create a master list in case you too want to get all the supplies at once.

Welcome Fall
Books: Let it Fall - Maryann Cocca-Lefler. I love this book. I bought it last year through Liam's school and we read it all the time. Also Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell, is a really cute story with great illustrations.

Music: Fall Into Fall. This is the best song I could find that talked about all the different things that happen in fall. I plan on learning how to play this on the ukulele, but we'll see how that goes.
Activity: Decorate your home with your kids. There are plenty of ideas on pinterest or you could just go to your local craft store and get inspired by what they have.
Art: Make Fall Wreath

Food: Hot Apple Cider and Pumpkin French Toast. I've had my eye on this french toast recipe by the Minimalist Baker for a while so maybe this is the year I actually make it. Seems like it would be perfect for a Saturday morning.

Halloween

Peter Pan & Wendy - Halloween 2014

Halloween can be really fun without all the spooky, scary, monster, and ghost stuff. I didn't grow up celebrating Halloween but I love the costumes, treats, and the celebration of fall. Now that I have kids, I love celebrating with them and keeping it lighthearted.

Film: Curious George Halloween Boo Fest. This is available on Netflix and I think we watched it five times last year. There are also plenty of Halloween episodes of your kids favorite shows playing this week on TV or on Netflix and Hulu. Our kids still love the Disney Junior Halloween episodes of Little Einsteins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Sofia the first, Doc Mc Stuffins, and Elena of Avalor. I grew up watching Hocus Pocus, but now that I'm a parent, it doesn't seem that kid friendly so I haven't let my kids watch it. But who knows, maybe this is the year.

Activity: Trick-or-Treating of course!! Enjoy your time as a family, stay up past bedtime, and indulge in way too much candy.

Art: For me, this week will be spent putting the final touches on Halloween costumes. You can get your kids to help out if you trust them.

Music: I found this Youtube video of fun Halloween songs for little kids. It's like 13 songs and 30 minutes of music in one video or you can search and find the individual songs.

Food: Mummy Dogs. These are great to make for Halloween night before Trick-or-Treating or maybe for a playdate lunch. I think I have made them the last two years.  These Candy Corn Parfaits are easy and a fairly healthy snack.

Holy Week for Kids

Easter is coming up this Sunday and I would love for my kids to know that it means more than a bunny and lots of delicious candy (that I will steal). Growing up, I only celebrated Easter Sunday so I am still to this whole "Holy Week" deal. I love the tradition of it all and want my kids to appreciate and understand the purpose of Easter. Last year our church had special services for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday (in addition to the Easter Sunday services) however, being a mother of two small kids, I didn't have the energy to trek them across Miami, so we had our own special services at home. If you find yourself home with kids, here are some things you can do. And please share any of your special family traditions if you have them.

Maundy Thursday

Supplies:
- Jesus Storybook Bible
- water basin and pitcher
- towels
- crackers or bread
- grape juice
- chalice or cups

This can be done after dinner as you are getting ready for bed. Together, read "The Servant King" pg 286. Once you reach the bottom of page 288, pause, and take turns washing each others feet. This will inevitably end up in a huge mess. Continue reading and as you get to the part where Jesus breaks the bread and pours the wine, do the same with your bread and juice. When you are finished you can ask your kids questions like "Why did Jesus wash the disciples feet?", "What is a servant?", "What do the bread and juice remind us of?"

Take a break to clean up, brush teeth, and change into pajamas if you haven't done so already. Then you can continue on with the last story, "A Dark Night in the Garden" pg 294. This story might stir up a lot of discussion for your kids. You can ask them "Why did Jesus go to the Garden?", "What happened in the Garden?", "Did Jesus do anything wrong?", "Why did the people want to kill Jesus?" Your children might not like ending the night with this story, but it's supposed to be unsettling. Pray with them and remind them that God is good and this is part of his plan to fix all that is broken in the world.


Good Friday

Supplies:
- 4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups salt
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon oil
- paint
- pipe cleaners
- small cloth
- sticks for cross
- rock

The kids really enjoyed doing this last year. We didn't have enough flour or salt at the time and had to halve the recipe, so our hill was pretty small. I found the instructions on this blog. It takes about 4-5 hours to bake and then you have to paint it, so plan for enough time.

You can read the story, "The Sun Stops Shining" pg 302, when you are finished with your Easter hill. With the pipe cleaner people you made, reenact the story. Place Jesus on the cross, take him down and wrap him in a cloth, place him in the tomb, put the rock in the opening and place guards around it. Don't forget to ask questions, to see if your kids are understanding what is happening. "Was this a good day or a bad day?" or "Why did Jesus have to die?" You will want to place your Easter Hill in a place where it will not be disturbed but where the kids can still see it.

Easter Sunday

Supplies
- plastic eggs (6 per kid)
- items for eggs: bread crumb, cross, rock, strip of cloth, candy

Before your kids wake, remove the Jesus figure from the Easter hill. Fold the cloth, roll the rock to the side and put an angel on top. Begin the day by reading "God's Wonderful Surprise" pg 310. I didn't add any questions to this part because I felt that the story was sufficient enough. When you finish reading the story, have the kids check on their Easter hill if they haven't noticed it already.

Move on to their easter baskets. I found a pack of a dozen eggs for $1 at Target and labeled two sets from 1-6. The night before place the items in the corresponding eggs. 1- bread, 2 - cross, 3 - cloth, 4 - rock, 5 - empty, 6 - candy. Whenever you decide to open them (before or after church), do so WITH your kids and talk about what the items represent. Happy Home Fairy made this cute little guide with corresponding verses that you can print or pin.

Bringing new life into a broken world

I anticipated that some part of the birthing/newborn process was going to be emotionally hard for me, I just didn't know when it would hit. The last time I had a baby, my father was still alive. The last time I talked to him was on the phone at the hospital. The moment I woke up from my first night being at home with my newborn, everything changed. 

This is where I am now. The first night home with my newborn. And this is where I am facing grief head on. This is a whole new "first" for me. The first time I have brought life into world where my father doesn't exist. And I hate it. 

I hate living in a world where he doesn't exist. 

I tried to think of a different word to use besides hate, but I believe it's appropriate. Death is something to be hated. Brokenness is something to be hated. And I am more aware of that brokenness when I hold my newborn daughter and mourn the absence of my father in her life. 

It's all very surreal and weird. Even after three years, it's still hard to believe he's not here. In my mind, memories and dreams, he's very much alive and active. Because I knew him so well, I can picture exactly what he would do, what he would say, and how he would interact with our kids. I can see him now with my son, giving him music lessons or sitting at a table intricately building Legos together. I can see him with with my daughter (I guess I'm gonna have to start specifying which one) sneakily eating some kind of treat because she would have him wrapped around her finger. I see him with my nephew, laying on the floor playing with his trains. I see him with my niece, holding her and making embarrassingly goofy faces just to make her laugh. Because I can imagine these things, it makes the loss that more difficult. He would have been the best grandfather.  

It sucks and I hate it. I wish I could just sit here and stare at by daughters beauty without all these thoughts in the front of my mind. Without anticipating the next terrible thing to happen. I am so acutely aware of how fragile life is and how quickly everything can change, that I feel like I'm just waiting for the next bad news to happen. This is not where I want to be.  I want to be hopeful for the future and have joyful anticipation of what's to come instead of fear. 

My prayers these days seem to echo the words of my favorite Christmas hymns

"Come thou long expected Jesus

Born to set thy people free

From our fears and sins release us

Let us find our rest in thee."

"O come thou dayspring come and cheer

Our spirits by thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death's dark shadows put to flight"

Praying for a more hope-filled tomorrow. 

*DISCLAIMER: I am sleep deprived so if anything doesn't make sense, I apologize, just go with it. 

Grace Family Advent Celebration

I'm literally due with baby number three any day now, so I've been spending any free time I have trying to get things done for Christmas. Things like making Christmas gifts, decorations, ordering Christmas gifts online, and most importantly, finishing up an Advent booklet. I've wanted to do this for a couple of years but always ran out of time. This year, since I'm having the baby soon, I wanted to get a plan down for how we would celebrate the season of Advent.

Now I didn't grow up observing Advent, so this is all fairly new to me. I think once we experienced great loss, Christmas became a sweeter, more longing-after holiday. I've experienced Christmas in a new way and I wanted my kids to know what Christmas was really about. I'm all about the fun and excitement of Santa Claus, Christmas cookies, decorations and what not, but they aren't so important to me anymore.

There are many Advent reading plans out there but honestly, they were too intense for me. I can't commit to a reading everyday for a month. So I created a simple weekly plan. Every Sunday you get your family or friends together to read the passage, light the candle, say a prayer and sing a song. This could be done after dinner or right before bedtime. It's totally up to you. The point is for it to be simple but also keeping the hope of Christmas the main focus.

How to Celebrate 

Print out the attached booklet. You can print it by printing all the even pages first and then the flipping the pages and print the odd ones. Or if your printer is smart it might have the option to print double-sided and then staple the papers down the middle. There are more instructions in the booklet as to what other supplies you need. If you have any problems let me know. It took me forever to figure out how to make this booklet.

The first Sunday of Advent starts this coming Sunday, November 30th. I hope you will be filled with great joy as you celebrate.

DOWNLOAD BOOKLET

I'm Still Here and I'm a Terrible Blogger

Yes, I'm still around. It's been a couple weeks since I've written anything but that hasn't been from a lack of business. This is precisely why I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. I love that it gives me a platform and space to share my ideas and creativity but I hate how I often feel enslaved by it and feel like a failure when days or weeks go by without me writing anything. I don't really know how other people have time to document their life, edit photos, upload those photos and then write a cleverly written post about it. I told myself when I started that I would try to do everything from my phone because I knew that it would never happen if I had to transfer everything to my computer first.

So maybe you are awesome at blogging and post something every other day. Or maybe you're like me, who started a blog once and then life got busy and you didn't have time to update it. Good for you. I've learned that I need to be OK with being a lazy blogger. Sure I might not keep people's interest or might not generate a following, but that's not the point. I just want to share my thoughts and maybe encourage someone else to do the same.

Pumpkins

Last year we got super busy with our move, Halloween and Birthdays so we ended up merging the Pumpkin and Halloween lessons. Hopefully this year we can do everything. There are a lot of things on Pinterest about pumpkins and you might find other activities, recipes, and books that suit your family better. Please share what your family enjoys.

Books: Five Little Pumpkins (a bunch of different people have written their own versions), Pumpkins - Jacqueline Farmer, The Pumpkin Book - Gail Gibbons

Film: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. This is technically a Halloween movie, but it has pumpkin in the title so just go with it.

Activity/Art Pumpkin patch and pumpkin carving. I'm sure if you live somewhere cooler than Florida, going to a pumpkin patch is more of an event.

Music: Five Little Pumpkins. My son learned this at school last year and taught it to us. I searched all over YouTube to find the version that he was singing.

Food: Pumpkin Rice Krispie treats are ridiculously easy and always a win. They could be a good gift for the kid's friends wrapped in some cellophane. Roasted Pumpkin Seeds I have yet to find a recipe that works for me but I plan on trying this one. I will let you know how it goes.

Leaves

Books: Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf - Lois Ehlert; Why do Leaves Change Color? - Betsy Maestro
Music: Leaves are Falling and for the adults Autumn Leaves
Activity: Collect Leaves. That is if you live somewhere where the leaves change, otherwise just look at a book.
Art: Watercolor leaves. This lesson says to use liquid watercolor in droppers. I've done a similar project with coffee filters and washable markers and then you spray the filter with water to get the colors to spread. Markers seem less of a hazard than liquid watercolors. But she has a template already made so we'll go with that for now. Maybe I will make my own later.
Food: Maple Leaf cookies from Trader Joe's or if you are feeling really ambitious and have lots of time on your hands you can try these Martha Stewart ones Homemade

Apples

There really are endless amounts of things you can learn, create, and eat that involve apples. I had to limit myself here so I didn't go overboard.   


 Books: Apples - Gail Gibbons; Johnny Appleseed - Steven Kellogg; How do Apples Grow? - Betsy Maestro. I don't have any of these books and had to reserve them at the library so you might need to do that as well.
Music: A.P.P.L.E. and Applesauce
Activity: Identify Parts of an Apple 
I found this easy diagram online to use.
Art: Tissue Paper Apple 
This is super easy. All you need to do is print this apple shape out on cardstock and then glue red, green, or yellow scraps of tissue paper.
Food: Homemade Applesauce. You might have your own recipe or like to tweak it a bit like I do. But you can never go wrong with Martha.
Film: Apple Dumpling Gang

Primary Colors

I'm very excited about this week and hope that I get around to finishing all the projects.

Books: Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Songs: Primary Colors - OK Go I saw this on Sesame Street and thought it was so great.
Activity: Mixing Colors. All you need is plastic cups and food coloring. We have done this before but I found a color wheel online that you can print out and they can color in as they learn. (courtesy of Art Factory)
Art: Mondrian inspired. I have been very excited to do this art project with the kids for a while. I created a little sheet that you can print out to get started. You can choose to either have the kids color the page using the primary colors or cut out squares and rectangles out of construction paper and allow them to glue wherever they would like. Try not to fill every square and to leave some white spaces.
Food: I figured we could do something easy and make jello.

Numbers

Book: Ten Black Dots - Donald Crews
Activity: Number sorting with beads. You need 10 paper or styrofoam bowls, and large beads
Art: Imagination play with black dots. Cut out 10 black circles and let them create something with them (like a scene from the book).
Food: Domino Snack. I'm thinking a graham cracker covered with marshmallow fluff and chocolate chips for dots. You could do a healthier version with nut butter and raisins.
Music: 10 Little Numbers. I grew up singing a non-PC version of this song. 1, 2, 3, 4 by the Plain White T's. This is just a fun song to sing.

Learning about Rain

I was going to do a number theme this week since last week we learned about letters, but the wet Miami summers changed my plans. What better way to learn about rain than when its raining outside. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with me. Here is my plan for this week and we'll see what happens.

Music: Singing in the Rain. My kids are obsessed with this clip. We also sang "If all the Raindrops Were Lemon drops and Gumdrops"
Film: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood - A Stormy Night (available on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime).
Activity: Rain science experiment. Like this one from Pinterest Requires water, shaving cream, and food coloring
Book: Rain! - Linda Ashman; Come On, Rain! - Karen Hesse
Art: Watercolors and rain. The rain didn't cooperate with us so we will have to go back and finish this. You have the kids paint with watercolors and then put the paper out in the rain to see what the rain will do.

Letters - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

My son started PreK-4 last week and they began a lesson on Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Since we were hearing about it non-stop, I decided to make it our theme this week. Now everyone in our family knows the song and the kids have to read the book at least twice a day. Needless to say, I will be very excited when we move on from this one.

Book: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Music: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom song. This will be forever stuck in your head
Art: Make a Coconut Tree. We used construction paper but feel free to use whatever supplies you have. Pinterest is full of ideas.
Activity: Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Matching. I made a simple sheet that you can print on cardstock and cut out. You can find that here.
Food: Coconut Smoothies. Cococnut Milk, Pineapple, Banana, and Honey.

Creative Learning Intro

After a long hiatus, I've been encouraged by friends to blog again. And of course the day I decide to do this, my daughter has a crazy night of crying and tantrums that has left me with about 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep (with some cat naps). So, if what I'm writing doesn't make sense, just go with it.

I was in the process of putting together a music and art class for toddlers starting this fall, but the logistics of that got complicated and I realized that I was putting a lot of thought and energy into that while neglecting my family. I decided to put that project on hold and actually use my organizational and creative skills to be intentional with my children. What has resulted is a curriculum of weekly themes using music, art, books, activities, food, and movies. I'm trying to make it easy and not too structured because, let's face it, sometimes you have terrible nights and all you need to do is lay on the couch. It might turn out to be like three days a week where you have a planned activity. Here is a list of themes we will cover and I will add links to their separate pages as we complete them.

1. Letters - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
2. Rain
3. Numbers
4. Shapes
5. Colors
6. Fall
7. Apples
8. Leaves
 9. Jazz
10. Pumpkins
11. Halloween
12. Tree
13. Harvest
14. Corn
15. Thanksgiving

Encouragement for the Failing Parent

Nothing makes you feel like a failure more than parenting. Especially when you are a new parent. You're never sure if you are doing things "right" and are constantly second-guessing your methods. Unfortunately for us, we felt like failures from the very beginning. Liam had colic and acid reflux for the first four months and didn't sleep through the night until he was nine months old. This was not because of a lack of resources or effort, that's just who he was. I remember crying all the time (both of us), reading books and blogs, trying to figure out what I needed to do differently, but nothing worked. Luckily, I was blessed with a very wise husband who told me I had to put away the books because they were causing more stress than help in my life. And he was right. These books and blogs created expectations about how a baby should act if you do A, B, and C, so I was really discouraged when I tried everything and it still wasn't producing the results I wanted.

I remember when Liam was teething and still not sleeping through the night, he had one fluke night and slept for like 9 hours. I attributed this to the medicine that I gave him and was convinced that this was the magic potion to get him to sleep through the night. In efforts to recreate this, I would give him the same cocktail every night. It didn't always work, but I was sure that it was helping. One night, before Dylan and I headed out the door for a date night, I realized that I forgot to give him teething medicine and started freaking out, "Oh man, he's for sure gonna wake up tonight!" I was so distraught that Dylan (the wise one) suggested we pray about as we were out on our date. I realized that I was putting all my hope in a little tube of teething gel (and my own discipline in applying it) rather than the God of the universe who is in control of everything. And you know what happened that night? Liam slept through the night. And the next night. And the next.

It didn't last forever but I was okay with that. Just experiencing the grace of God in an area that was so stressful was enough for me. It was his way of telling me to let go and and give him control. I relied way too much on my own intellect, logic, and parenting resources and not enough on the ultimate resource. I wish I could say I learned my lesson then, but that would have been too easy :)

So now I am in the throws of disciplining a three year old. For some reason I thought this would be easier but boy is it hard work. Every attempt at discipline fails. Time outs, spankings, quiet times, rewards, reasoning, etc., nothing works. The phrase we say over and over in our house is, "Please just listen and obey!" The most frustration comes with nap time and bed time. Liam will just not stay put no matter what we do and some nights it would take us over an hour to put him to sleep. Those are the times when I want to punch a hole in the wall and go on a long vacation by myself.

One day during what was supposed to be nap time, I felt completely discouraged and angry. I left the room and started reading my bible because I was fuming on the inside. God must have known because my mother happened to come by earlier than expected and was able to play with the kids so I could have some down time. This is when I was confronted once again with my control issues. I was upset because I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong and why Liam wasn't responding the way he was "supposed" to.

Over the last couple of weeks I've been collecting verses to encourage me during those times when I feel like I'm failing. Hopefully they will bring hope to you as well.

Good, but not Great

I was thinking today about how awkward it is when people ask how things are going or how we are doing. "Good", "Okay", or "Alright" are my normal go-tos and that changes hour by hour. But I wondered if I would ever again answer that things are "Great".

Life after loss is like a dark cloud over your head. It's like my new neutral state is sad. And it's not that there isn't any happiness left in life. There will be moments of joy; when I laugh, smile, enjoy a movie, spend the day at the beach, go on a date, play with my kids, etc. But when the dust settles, it's back to sadness.

I'm not saying that this is a good thing, it's just how it is right now. When things stop moving, the loss is what my mind goes to. Even moments of happiness are quickly dimmed when I think about my father not being there to share in the moment. I wonder if it will always feel this way. If I will always feel this overarching gloom about life.


Oh, that I would find joy in the hope of my salvation and not in my circumstances.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

It sure doesn't seem like the most wonderful time of the year. With recent tragedies in our country I am reminded that for many people this is the most depressing time of the year. A time filled with grief, loss, heartbreak, and pain. And all around us we are bombarded with what we don't have.

I came face to face with this last year dealing with my father's death in the midst of the holidays. I couldn't stomach much Holiday music because I felt like they were all lies. It wasn't the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. I wasn't having a Holly Jolly Christmas. My days weren't Merry and Bright. And social media didn't help. Seeing people's awesome family vacations, family pictures, shopping adventures, and Holiday parties was all too much. Life was terrible, thanks for reminding me.

I say the word Holiday instead of Christmas because it was the superficial aspect of the Holidays that made me depressed, not Christ. When Christmas was about Christ and his coming to redeem what what broken, then I was hopeful.  I remember being in church during one of the Advent Sundays, pacing back and forth with Felicity in her Ergo carrier, and having tears well up in my eyes because Christmas had become real to me. Hope was birthed in me because I had tasted the bitterness of death. Christmas wasn't about being merry and bright because we're baking cookies, playing in the snow, and singing silly songs. Christmas is about hope. And with that hope in mind, I can enjoy the time spent family and friends eating good food, giving gifts, singing carols, and celebrating what Christmas means.

"A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices"

This was certainly true in my case. Never have I been more thankful that Christ had come to our world, born a baby, died on the cross, to conquer sin and death, and restore all that is lost.

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'"
Revelation 21:3-5

Gifts for Moms

I meant to write this post a while ago and had planned for it to look all awesome with pictures but, as my friend Sweet Brown would say, "Ain't nobody got time for that!" Now I realize that not everything I say is going to be applicable to all women. You know the moms in your life and their personal preferences. I'm just saying that, at least for myself, these are always good gifts anytime of the year.

1. Gift Cards to Specific Stores
Do not get a mom a gift card to Target or a Visa gift card. She WILL use that money on groceries and diapers. Instead, choose a specific store where she can only spend it on herself. Victoria Secret is a great one because moms never buy themselves good underwear.

2. Bath and Body Treats
You can never have enough bubble bath, hand soaps, or lotion. I'm always happy when someone buys me stuff but that also depends on the fragrance. If you don't know what their preference is (flowery or fruity) stick to the basics, vanilla or lavender.

3. Candles
No one wants to spend $10 on a candle, but we love when someone else buys them for us.

4. Pamper Her
Consider giving her a gift certificate to pampering services. Maybe a trip to the spa, a mani-pedi, or even a hair cut. It's hard to make time for these things, so maybe you could also offer to watch the kids while she goes and does these things.

5. Make Up
I don't know the last time I bought make up besides eyeliner and mascara. Everything else has been given to me. And it doesn't matter how small it is, I'm just as excited. Splurge and buy her something from a department store instead of the pharmacy store.

6. Stationary
Note cards, journals, and note pads are all great gifts. Anthropologie has some great ones or you could order some personalized sets online through many different companies.

7. Annual Passes for Kids
This might not seem like a gift for mom, but there are many days when I just wanted to take my kids somewhere to get out of the house. Passes to indoor playgrounds are a life saver for rainy days. Zoo passes are awesome when the weather is nice. If you REALLY want to splurge, Disney passes are where it's at.

8. Free babysitting
I think this is an obvious one. Babysitting is expensive and when we can get it for free, it's awesome. Instead of leaving all the initiating up to them by saying, "If you need a babysitter, let us know" take the initiative. Recently we had friends that just approached us and said, "We want to babysit for you this Saturday night, so make plans." We were forced to go out and we didn't have to do anything.

9. Pinterest Insipred
If you're thinking how broke you are to give any of these gifts, look to pinterest. Maybe you are crafty or are great in the kitchen and can make things. You could even stalk their Pinterest page and see what things they like and make them. I think you would have to know the person and whether or not they like making the crafts or would just like to have them. Instead of stealing their joy in making things, you could provide all the supplies needed. Kitchen gifts are great cheap ideas. Maybe homemade cookies, a spice rub, or jam.

10. Photo Gifts
No one prints out photos anymore so you could do a lot with this. Print and frame a picture, make a photo book, or a family calendar. I don't have a digital frame but maybe that could be a good idea.

*New 11. Magazine Subscriptions
I don't know how I forgot this. Two years ago Dylan got me year subscriptions to Martha Stewart Living and Rachael Ray for Christmas. It was great. I loved that it lasted all year long. There are so many options of magazines to fit everyone's taste. People - for everyday popular stories. Martha Stewart Living - amazing recipes and crafts. Relevant - faith an culture. Parenting - tips and resources. The great thing is that you can get subscriptions through amazon.com so they are good last minute gifts. Just buy them the recent copy and tell them the rest are on their way.
 


Again, these are my go to gifts that are good anytime of year but especially applicable for Christmas. Do you have any that you would add?

 

Felicity's Rustic Pumpkin Birthday

As always, I have these great plans for parties and eventually have to scale back because they get expensive really fast. And now with Pinterest and Etsy, my expectations of a good party are way to high. I mean, it's a one year old's party for goodness sake.

So the theme I decided on was a Rustic Pumpkin Party for our little pumpkin. I got the idea from the Hostess with the Mostess Blog. I obviously didn't have the resources to do the same kind of party they did, so I changed it up a bit.

 The great thing about this theme was that it was very easy to find supplies. My brilliant plan was to wait until after Halloween so get pumpkin supplies because I figured they would be on sale, and they were. It's just that, things became really hard to find the closer I got to her birthday. So it kind of worked but I think that next time, I will get a few things earlier. Another good thing was that I was hosting it in my home, so I could decorate a little at a time. I made some burlap banners that were up pretty much the two weeks before the party and a good month afterward.

For the food, I decided on a fall themed menu. I didn't want to go too crazy with the whole "pumpkin" theme with the food, so I chose fall inspired dishes. I probably should have scaled back the food a bit, but the Puerto Rican side of me didn't want to chance people going hungry. There were lots of leftovers and we were happy to give them away. For the cake, I went with pumpkin spice with cream cheese icing. Everything was delicious.

 It was a great party, with good friends and family, celebrating our little princess. I went into a coma afterwards, but it was a great party.

My husband just whipped this up

Burlap Banner with lace and pumpkin appliques

We put roses around the house to add a girlie touch

The pumpkins were actually cupcake toppers that I glued to lace

The table spread

Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats

Mini Apple Pies

Autumn Trail Mix

Rose Smash Cake

Pumpkin Cupcakes

The Birthday Girl

She's passionate about cake

Happy Birthday Princess!

Food:
Smash Cake and Cupcakes - Princess Pea Cupcakery
Fall Fruit Salad
Mini Apple Pies
Pumpkin Rice Krispies
Fall Trail Mix
Pumpkin Hummus and Veggies
Roasted Vegetable Fall Pizza
Earth's Best Organic Pouches (Pumpkin/Cranberry/Apple & Butternut Squash/Pear)
Frozen mini corn dogs and pigs in a blanket

Drinks:
Apple Juice
Hot Apple Cider with Mulling Spices
Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat Beer

Nut-Free Fall Trail Mix

There are a lot of different trail mix recipes out there. For my daughter's birthday I tried to find one that was more allergy friendly since we have some friends with allergies. After much searching, I couldn't find one that I loved so instead I came up with my own. It isn't completely allergy free, but I think if you avoid eating certain elements, it could work. I tried to avoid nuts and gluten mostly. You can always adapt it to fit your own likings.

Nut-Free Trail Mix
4 Cups Chocolate Chex Mix
4 Cups Kettle Corn
4 Cups Tiny twist Pretzels (omit for wheat allergy)
1 bag of Autumn Mix honey candy
2 cups Fall M&Ms or Reeses Pieces (omit for milk, or substitute with dairy free chocolate chips)

*optional (if you have to omit lots of things):
2 cups miniature marshmallows, or two bags of Dandies Marshmallow
2 cups of Bugles or another gluten free snack