recycled art

lately i have been pulling things aside from the recycling because they are great for bowie's art.  she has been working on painting an egg carton for a few days now with tempera paint cakes and glitter glue.  great example of process art!

it's beginning to look at lot like christmas

the best thing about having an artificial tree is grabbing it from the garage the day after thanksgiving!  the kids were so excited and the lights on the tree make me happy.  unfortunately after a day i had to take all the ornaments down because the kids were pulling them off, throwing them, bouncing them and even though they are shatterproof i just couldn't take it.  so bowie and i made some paper chains, which are also in the process of currently being destroyed.  i do look forward to one day when i can take out my beautiful glass ornaments.  

2 year old holiday play dough kit

this year i am making play dough kits for my 3 nieces.  this is what i am making for the 2 year olds.  i had to find things that were age appropriate and not a choking hazard.  i am getting it to them early so they can have all of december to play with it!

i added a few other items for bowie, like gems and small plastic figures.

thanksgiving dinner

it was an unusual but good thanksgiving.  we did our traditional hike, connected with family throughout the day, watched a christmas movie, had a fire and filled up on delicious but a non-traditional thanksgiving feast.  

thanksgiving tradition

thanksgiving this year may not look for feel like holidays past, but one thing we are keeping alive is our hiking tradition.  jarad and i started doing this when we were dating, a hike either the day before or on thanksgiving.  and this year is no exception.

thanksgiving prep

in this house we have to serve 2 different kinds of pumpkin pie.  jarad likes the mrs. smith store bought one with cool whip and the kids and i prefer the "impossible" version made with bisquick.  we are not making a traditional spread this year, but we are making pies! the kids and i baked our pumpkin pie for tomorrow.

persimmon

whats better than fiesta?  getting it for free.  i was lucky to score 4 ring handled mugs from my buy nothing group.  3 of them were repeat colors, scarlet, sunflower and cobalt, but excited to have coffee in persimmon.  

century & hostess tray

picked these guys up last week.  the shape of them looks like my riviera dishes but are called "century", and they have the homer laughlin backstamp.  they are 9 inch plates from the early 1930s in the briar rose design.  these are not my thing, but i got them at a great price and will try to resell.  surprisingly they are in great shape!  as with the riviera they are much lighter and tend to chip easily, but only 1 dish has a chip on it, makes me wonder if this was someone's formal dishes and not used as often?

 

 

but my more exciting (to me) find of the day was a white fiesta hostess tray.  i can use my fruit bowls for the center.  or they would make a good veggie dip or charcuterie board.  i think white fiesta is totally underrated.  as much as i love the bright colors, i think the white is so pretty.  i regret selling the white bowls i found a while back.  but i love this tray in white so i can add and mix up colors with the bowl.  this style tray was only produced from 1997-2007, so it is a retired piece, a fun find for sure!

stuffies

when grandma leaves she usually sends a gift for the kids as something to look out for and be excited about.  we decided it was best to cancel travel plans this year, so grandmas trip was cut short and grandpas trip was cancelled.  but the kids were very excited about their new stuffies.  by request a panda for bowie and a dino for ryder.

immunity booster

made two double batches of elderberry syrup this week!  i have two bottles in the fridge and 5 batches in the freezer.  now i am curious about making something called "fire cider?"  have you heard of this?  another home made immunity booster.

mommys helper

i love how ryder is developing an interest in helping me in the kitchen.  i was making pancake batter and he immediately pushed over his chair to help.  and the other night he did the same as i was making some corn bread.