I had every intention of surprising my girls with something called Spidery Eggs for breakfast in the morning. My nephew was over so I recruited him to help me make them. The problem was, nothing went right so I ended up changing my plan. I actually like these Alien Eggs better anyway! I started by boiling three eggs. One however, completely split while it was boiling. No problem, I had two more anyway... I then mixed a bunch of blue, red, and green food coloring together until I got something that resembled dark black water. If you are one of those people that worries about artificial dyes, you can substitute boiled blueberry water for the dye water. Next, my nephew and I carefully removed the hard boiled eggs from the boiling water and held them with a folded towel. Now, my nephew was suppose to put his egg on the counter, cover it with the towel, then gently tap it with the end of a wooden spoon...this would have given a nice spider web looking crack on the bottom. … [Read more...]
If You Had Months to Live…
Last week my local news did a follow up story on the family of a woman named Amy Taylor. Her life was cut all too short at the age of 34 due to breast cancer. She left behind a husband and two small children.What's so different and special about Amy that she made the local news? It was her attitude and what she left behind for her children that made an impression on many. When Amy was told that her breast cancer was un-treatable, she chose not to dwell on dying, but to live and to continue "living" for her children even after her death. Please watch this video. I'm warning you though, you WILL need tissues! I will be 34 at the end of this month. I can not imagine leaving my children behind, not being there for all of their "firsts". This amazing woman found a way to be at her children's "firsts" despite not physically being there. What if you knew you had less than a year to live? What would you leave for your children? How would you spend those last months? For those … [Read more...]
Easy Spiderweb Making
We don't have a lot of store-bought Halloween decorations for our house because we prefer to make them. Here's an easy, fun, and occasionally messy way to make spiderwebs for decoration! To make them you'll need: White yarn (or black if you want to make your spiderweb shadowy) Simple flour and water paste (mix four and water together to make a paste) Paper Pen Wax paper Scissors Start by drawing a spiderweb on your paper. We made ours a corner spiderweb but you can make a full round one. Yes, I realize that I drew my lines wrong above. We figured that our half-way through making our web! If your children are a little older, you probably do not need to draw a spiderweb first. Cover your paper with wax paper to prevent sticking when you glue it together. Dip pieces of yarn into your paste mixture and put them on the wax paper following the lines you drew. Make sure to press together the places where your yarn meets. Wait till your spider web … [Read more...]
Cotton Swab Skeletons–Pinned it, Did it!
I saw this pin on Pinterest and could not resist. What a perfect craft for Halloween and we had everything on hand! We used: Cotton swabs (or as Tottie calls them--"ear waxers" Glue Wax paper (to prevent glue from getting all over the table Unfortunately, the photo in the pin did not link back to a website for directions so we had to guess how to make it. Not too complicated though, we simply followed the photo... This craft was a little more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Getting cotton swabs to stick together with glue is not as easy as it looks! Cutting the cotton swabs was fun though! They are hard to cut (at least ours were) so when we snipped them, the small end flew across the kitchen! Tottie thought it was funny! Hint: Make sure to let your skeleton dry completely before you try moving him! He's fragile and can easily come unglued! Our skeleton vs. their skeletons. We only made one because Tottie got frustrated and I didn't want … [Read more...]
Nine Awesome and Unique Halloween Treats
We've scoured the internet in search of awesome, unique, and fun Halloween treats. Below you'll find nine of our favorites from our search! 1) Shrunken Heads In Cider--Creepy is all I have to say about this drink! 2) Cheese Witch Brooms--Cute and healthy! 3) Eyeball Donuts--Easy and fun! 4) Weiner Worms--Just plain gross! 5) Icky Intestines--I'm not sure anyone would actually want to eat these! 6) Mad Scientist Potion--Cool for kids AND adults! 7) Melon Brain--Genious and healthy! 8) Finger Food--A little too realistic for me! 9) Pumpkin Seed Brittle--Um...Yum! What awesome Halloween treats have you made? … [Read more...]
Simple, Beautiful Sun Catchers
Last month Tottie and I made Fall Sun Spiral Sun Catchers. Today, Nutty and I bring you simple, yet beautiful sun catchers that older kids can make! To make them for yourselves, you'll need: Fishing line (shhh...don't tell my husband that I stole some from one of his fishing poles!) Small mirrors (6 per sun catcher) Beads (6 per sun catcher) Hot glue gun (or similar glue) 1) Make sure you give yourself plenty of fishing line. You'll need a longer string than you think because you'll have to put a hanging loop at the top. 2) Start by tying two beads at the bottom of your string. 3) Next, glue two mirrors back to back a little further up the line making sure your line is in the middle of your string. (Click on the photo to enlarge it if need be) Your sun catcher should look like the photo below. 4) Repeat steps 2 and 3 two more times moving further up the string. 5) Make a loop at the top to use for hanging. *Helpful hint: Put a dot of glue on each … [Read more...]
