I'll be shoe shopping tomorrow.....

I just saw this great coupon offer on another blog and I thought I would pass it on. It's awesome! It's 50% off everything at Payless Shoes. Check it out here to print off a coupon.

Boo sign craft

This is a Halloween craft that I did for myself. I used Mod Podge for the first time ever! I admit that I was a little scared at first because I didn't know what to expect, but now that I've done it, I'm hooked. If was so easy and I loved the result.

I made this Boo sign because it seemed really simple and I already had some of the supplies. I found the idea here. This is as far as I have gotten because I'm a little stuck.


The letters are just sitting on the plaques right now because I don't know how to attach them together. The blog doesn't say exactly how to do it. I'm guessing some sort of glue, but what kind? Wood glue, tacky glue? I also don't know what to put it on to hang it up. Does anyone have any ideas?

Soft Sugar Cookies

Last year I wanted to make sugar cookies for Halloween. When that didn't happen I said Christmas. That didn't happen either, probably because I just had a baby. My last attempt was Valentine's Day. Did it happen then? Um, no. So here we are to Halloween again and I finally made them! They aren't hard to make, just time consuming so I would always tell myself, oh I can't start them now, I don't have time to mix them up, roll and cut them out, bake them all and then frost and decorate them. This year I told myself If you want to do something, Just do it!


M&M and I made these cookies using this recipe: (from my sister-in-law)

Soft Sugar Cookies
1 c. shortening
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 (16 oz.) tub sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla
8 c. flour (reserve 1 c. to work in as you roll out and knead a few times)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. baking powder

Cream shortening and sugar, beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in sour cream and add vanilla. Add flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Roll as thin as you can. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. I didn't count them, but I would say that they make about 4 dozen.

M&M really liked using the spatula to scoop the cut cookies off of the counter.


These cookies are SO soft. They aren't too sugary tasting, but the frosting that you put on them will surely make up for that! I made them Monday and they are still soft.

Halloween sensory/I Spy tub

I saw a few of these Halloween sensory tubs on several blogs and I wanted to try it with M&M. I just used dried black beans, but you could also mix in some orange colored rice like this one. To give it just one more element of fun I threw in some orange, yellow, green and purple odds and ends to make it an I Spy tub as well. I took a picture of all the things I put in so that she could have a reference of what to look for.


I'd like to say that she had so much fun with the I Spy part, but I have to admit that it was like pulling teeth to get her to finish picking everything out. Once everything was out she had fun scooping the beans into the little pumpkins though. It might have to do with the fact that we are all pretty cranky around here from colds getting us down for about 5-6 days. M&M is actually feeling fine, but the rest of us have no energy and we just feel yucky. We have a few more Halloween activities yet to do.

More Halloween crafts

We are having a blast doing Halloween crafts. Here's some really fun and easy things that we have been doing.

Hand/footprint ghosts. Saw the idea here. M&M really liked doing this one because she got to put her hands and feet in the paint.



Torn paper candy corns. This idea came from here. M&M didn't want to do this one alone. I usually have to do the things I plan with her. It'll be nice when Bubba is old enough to do stuff with us because then M&M won't feel so 'alone' when doing stuff like this when mommy needs a few minutes to get other things done.



Aren't these yarn and pipe cleaner spiders so cute? I got the idea for these guys here. M&M liked playing with them after they were done.


Tissue ghosts. Idea from here. We hung them from our light over our kitchen table.



Yarn pumpkin. This one I did on my own, but older kids would have an easy time doing it. I found the idea here. They did apples, but I just used orange yarn instead for a pumpkin.


I don't know if you've noticed a trend with these. They are all fast, easy, and affordable using things you probably have around the house. That's my motto when it comes to kids crafts. Stay tuned for more kid's Halloween crafts and activities.

Stuffed Pizza Rolls

Friday nights usually consist of pizza (either frozen, take-out or semi-homemade) and a movie as a family before the kids go to bed, but this past Friday I decided to make a slight change. I found a recipe for Stuffed Pizza Rolls. These were so easy and fun to make with M&M and they tasted really good as well. They are a great alternative to the other pizza choices out there. I'm feeling lazy so I am just going to link up to the recipe instead of typing it all out. Check it out here.

A few Fall/Halloween activities

We've done a few activities in the last week or so, most of them have been Fall related and I thought I would share.

Well this first one isn't fall related, but M&M really enjoyed doing it. M&M often asks to play with the pennies in her piggy bank, but they are really dirty so I really didn't like her to. So we cleaned all of the coins in there. I got the idea from here. They use a mixture of water, salt and vinegar to "magically" make the pennies shinier. It's really cool to watch! M&M separated the pennies from the other coins using a spoon (her idea.) We just washed the other coins in a tub of soapy water.


Shiny pennies.

This paper plate 'leaf wreath' (say that 5 times fast) came from the idea here. I cut leaves out of red, orange, and yellow construction paper using a template I got online. I'm thinking of having M&M use some glitter glue to make it sparkle a little more.

Getting inspiration from here, we used cookie cutters to make Halloween shapes on paper. M&M had to use a different piece of paper for each one. I'm thinking about making a decoration out of these somehow, we'll see.



Today some cousins came over and we had a craft day. It was much needed because we haven't been able to play outside in a while. They painted pumpkins first. This is M&M's pumpkin. I don't know if you can tell, but she used a house cookie cutter to get the basic shape of a house and then painted windows on it.



They also made pasta skeletons. I found the idea here (scroll down). I loved how she put the fingers and toes on. There's also a Q-tip skeleton here. The pumpkin is one of those packaged foam crafts. Not homemade, but I think it would be easy enough to do with sticky back foam sheets cut out into the shapes you want, like I did with my felt pumpkin.


A side note: I am really impressed with M&M's handwriting ability. She can write the whole alphabet with me writing a few of them first so she can copy it. I'd like to say that I've spent countless hours working with her, but I haven't. I don't know what is average for a 3-year-old, not that it matters, but I'm just curious. Maybe it's just that she's my first child and I can't believe she's writing already! Can you find all of the letters on this page? :)
That's all for now, but there's more to come. I have a bunch of leaf activities that I've been wanting to do, but we haven't been able to go outside and gather them because it wouldn't STOP RAINING! It's going to be clear the next few days so we will head to the park and pick up some leaves and enjoy some wonderful fresh fall air. I can't wait.