More Halloween Crafts

Today I thought that I would share some of the projects that my husband and I have been working on.  I tried to make some decorations for his office.  To start with he has really high doors to his office so he wanted me to paint him this pumpkin to hang from it.  I thought that it turned out pretty good.  Although people in his office thought the kids painted it, LOL.

So Rob has been working on projects for around here.  He decided to make a sign for our front door.  Looks pretty good.  He put a layer of Glow in the Dark paint on it, but then we remembered there is always a light on it, OOPS. :)

I made him this coffin to keep on his desk filled with candy.  I am so happy with how the bat on the outside turned out.  For the dots I just used a Q-tip on it.  Then the inside I Mod podged the really cool fabric of bats on it.  I think hubs was really pleased with it.

On a personal note I wanted to share that our cousin had a premature delivery last week.  She is need of a blood donations for the baby.  If any of my readers live near Hackensack Hospital and have O- negative blood please consider donating in her name, Jaelyn Camphausen .  Hackensack Hospital M. - F.  201.996.4819  Thank you.

Halloween Garland

With Halloween getting so close I thought that I would start to share some of my projects that we have done this year.  So today I thought that I would show you my Garland.  It has the things on it that make me think most of Halloween, candy corn, witches hats, and of course pumpkins. 

I made three of each one and then sewed them to a nice "spooky halloween" ribbon.

I think the candy corn was my favorite one of all of them.

I loved how the pumpkin has lines to show the roundness of it.

I thought that the witches hat came out cute.  I was not really sure what to do with it because it such a basic shape.  So to give it some dimension I sewed a line across close to the bottom to give a little brim to the hat.

When it was finished we hung it up in our front window.  I just love how she glows!  What things have you made for halloween this year?  I would love to see, let me know!

Our halloween swap...

My friend Mamagames over at mind games set up a Halloween Swap this year.  It was alot of fun.  We got a really sweet family up in Ohio for our swap.  Here are some of the pictures of the great stuff that they sent to the boys.

The sent a package of Twix (yes we could not wait to get into them, yummy).  A pumpkin Spice granola,
some cool orange bowls.  Then a really fun ice cube tray, skull heads.

They also sent along a few things to play with.  A pirate play set, and a kitty mask (as I am typing this I realize that I forgot the Knights shield,oops)  Some glow in the dark braclets that Gabe is very excited to try.  Finally they sent a book to Sam.

A really great package as you can see.  Thanks so much to our swap family in Ohio.  What is everyone else doing for fun this halloween.

Pure Cuteness!!!

Sick

Sorry about the lack of posting lately.  All my guys came down with a nasty cold last week.  So it has put me behind a bit.   Gabe was put back with his breathing treatments.  He gets so bored sitting there that he starts to get a little silly.  Thankfully he is back as well as my other two guys.  I am trying to work on a few new post to share with you.  Until then just wanted to say hi and let you know that we are still here.  Have a good one.

Ducks!!!!

Look at our new little friends.. The Duck Family!  The other morning I noticed a duck laying in the bushes right below our apartment.  I thought that I saw something moving below it but I was unsure.  Later when I was outside I saw this by the pool.  She did have babies, Yeah!  They are so cute.

She lead them over to the bushes below our apartment again.  I was able to get pretty close to them too.  Here are a couple other shots.  I took a bunch but I thought I better limit how much I put on here.  Enjoy!

Don't you just want to snuggle them?

I LOVE that we live in the middle of the city and the boys get to experience baby ducks.  They are loving checking on them every day.  Homeschooling at its finest!

A Halloween Craft

Ok so I am super excited for Halloween this year.  I have already started putting together some crafts for it.  I wanted to share some of them with you as I finished them.  I found some little coffins at Micheal's the other day and I thought that they would be really cute all decorated up and filled with candy.  Here are some shots of the finished project.

I painted the outside black and and the inside silver.  There is a sound box on the inside that sets off an evil laugh every time you open it.  I painted a cross on one and the other I put circles like it was nails in the coffin.  Also to give it something a little more I Mod Podged the outside edge with some cobweb and spider ribbon.  I love how these turned out.  I can not wait for Halloween.  I would love to see what everyones else is doing for Halloween. 

Make sure you head over to Mind Games and sign up for the Halloween swap.

To make a snake...

One of the lessons that I do with the boys is have them sew as a life skills lessons.  They actually have their own sewing machine that they got for christmas last year.  Sam is becoming really good with it.  Gabe is good as long as he realizes that it is not a race car.  Well I am always trying to have some fun projects with them to sew.  Recently Gabe started to become really interested in Snakes (he watches alot of Jeff Corwin).  I saw this project and I thought how perfect it would be for them to do as a joint project.  I was actually sewing something on my machine at the same time, more on that at another time.
Being the smart momma that I am (hehehe) I actually thought to document their process in photos for you.  Hope you enjoy, I know that I did. 

First step.  Pick out the material and cut out your pieces. Side note, The helmet is on because he recently started learning to ride his bike.  He has gotten obsessed with the helmet, wears it all the time.

Step two.  Get pins in so you can start sewing.

Then big brother realizes that you are big enough to start sewing on your own.

After you get it all sewn together, it is time for stuffing it.  Phew that sure is a tiring job, LOL!

Once you get all of the stuffing in that you want, it is time to sew it closed.  Look at that concentration, he is just to cute sometimes ;)

There you have a super easy and cuddly soft snake made by two brothers.

the full snake

I just gotta wear shades

We just got them some new glasses.  Look how handsome they are!



A picnic with friends

Labor day weekend we got together with some of our friends for a picnic.  The best part of the picnic was that Sam planned and put the whole thing together.  He did such a great job.  Here are a few pictures from the day.

Connor resting up before the picnic (I guess he would not take his nap after, oops)

Picture was taken by Sam

Sam with Carl and Li Mei.

Connor Having a blast playing in the dirt.

Picture taken by Sam

All the kids having some food.

 

My monkeys hanging out in trees

After lunch we went down to the water and the boys had so much fun with the buckets of water.

You can not see it in this picture but Carl had just thrown a bucket of water at him, that is why he looks like that.  LOL

Sam had some fun playing with Connor in the water too.

After the water we went up for the kids to play on the swings.  Look at that smile, he is just to cute. :0)

Picture taken by Rob

Sam, Li Mei, Connor, Gabe, and Carl at the end of the day.  It was such a nice day.  Good job on your planning Sam.

(Sorry about the darkness of the picture, we were right under a big tree)



A common view...

I thought that I would share a picture that is becoming more and more of a habit around here.  It is just the sweetest, don't you think?

A little spell building...

So I am always on the look out for new and fun ways to teach my kids.  Well one topic that I find kind of, well boring to teach is grammar.  Then I saw this idea on Filth Wizardry.  What a great idea, I mean who does not have a ton of big legos lying around.  What not put them to good use and teach your kids something with them.

He was so excited to show what he wrote.  He loves making up sentences this way.

Make a Didgeridoo..

With our studying of Australia, one thing we had to make was a Didgeridoo.  I was so excited to find this link on how to make one. We gathered up the supplies and started making it.

First step is to get a three foot of pvc pipe.

Then we spray painted them all one color so that it would look like wood.

Then you let 2 very excited boys design up one each, with aboriginal style paints of course. :0)  Once they finish painting DH melted down the beeswax and made mouth pieces for them.

The finished products.  Gabe made the one on the left and Sam made the one on the right.  The boys love having them.  They love to put on little shows with them.  Thank goodness the noise level is realitvly low on them. LOL :0)