Giving Thanks

Gratitude Door

This year, I wanted to set up some ways to remind us of all that we have to be grateful for, and how we can share what we have with others. We are trying to center our family "mission statement" around one of my favorite hymns:

"Because I have been given much, I too must give."

(I love the print of this quote by the Caravan Shoppe HERE).

That said, I decided to pick up some pictures from Deseret Book of the Savior, the prophet, the temple, etc. I developed some recent family photos and put out some magazines where they could cut out pictures of things they're grateful for. We set everything out on the floor and started choosing our favorites and taped them to our front door, where we could see it every time we come and go.

 I had the "G-I-V-E" letters from last year. I was pretty sure we had "Give Thanks" but turns out I actually just had TWO "Gives." It works.

 This picture may not show it, but we had a lot of fun looking through the family photos. Edison got so excited when he saw a picture of himself on his bike. And Charlotte wanted to keep a picture of Jane for her room. (We had to keep all the photos up high so Jane couldn't reach.)

Turkey Tablecloth

 We're starting a new tradition. I bought a white canvas tablecloth at Target and a pack of fabric markers...

 We're calling it our "Turkey Tablecloth." Charlotte had this idea that we could trace our hands to make turkeys and Hazel said we could write what we're grateful for inside the turkey.

I love it when my kids have ideas. Especially when they involve their little hands.

 The idea is that we will add a hand each year with five things we're most grateful for that year.

 Some of us are still brainstorming.

 I really love the legs on Ellie's turkey.

 I like the idea of writing down what we're grateful for every year, but I also like the idea of being able to keep it and look back at it every year that follows. I hope this works and one day I'll have a tablecloth FILLED with growing hands and words of gratitude.

Here is Hazel's completed list for this year.  I love that she's grateful for food.

And Charlotte's list: Water, house, world, food, and family.

Also, check out my other Thanksgiving ideas here.

Fall activities for toddlers: Homemade Scarecrow

Homemade Scarecrow 

  

So one of our very favorite books this fall has been The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. My two year old loves this story and has memorized the sounds that each part of the scarecrow makes as it follows the old lady back to her house. It may seem a little Halloweenish, but it still fits the fall season since it's about the making of a scarecrow.

During one of my activities with just Charlotte (two year old), I pulled out the parts of the scarecrow so that she could hold them up as we made the sounds (the pants go "wiggle, wiggle" and the shirt goes, "shake, shake..."). I grabbed whatever was closest, so I ended up with Hazel's shirt, Charlotte's pants and a pair of my husband's boots! We have everything here but the gloves. As we read the story, we put each piece in its place to make the scarecrow that the old lady sees out her window in the end of the story.

On Saturday we're making fall "lanterns" since my four year old has been so fascinated with them lately. Thanksgiving is coming so quickly, I almost can't believe it. I think we'll do another Gratitude Turkey like we did last year, but use the feathers as a countdown to Thanksgiving day...We're all about the countdowns in our house. We made a paper chain to count down the days until Dad gets home (eleven to go!) and it seems to help the girls wrap their minds around TIME.

I'm grateful for the responses to my last post about patience. I've been thinking a LOT lately about what kind of mother I want to be and how it's a CONSTANT work in progress to learn how to maintain my cool and be the eye of the storm. I truly believe that EVERY mother feels overwhelmed in her own way and has those moments where she "loses it" and has to regroup and start over again. And of course we don't share those experiences with one another very often because they aren't our finest moments. 

But doesn't it help to know you're not alone?

Whenever I'm having a difficult day, it really helps to know that there are thousands of other mothers out there going through a similar battle. At my last Power of Moms retreat, they kept repeating to us, "You can do this. You can do this." April even had a t-shirt that had that phrase printed on the front backwards so that you could read it when you looked in the mirror. 

You CAN do this.

On Tuesday I had to take all three girls to vote for our local representatives here in Ogden. It was around 5pm which is of course the worst time to bring my children into public but I had no choice. I balanced Ellie in my arms as she reached for all the buttons in my kiosk while the other two played tag behind me and grew increasingly louder. I managed to keep my cool and whisper gentle but urgent reminders to "please be quiet" and "be obedient." I cast my ballot and the four of us made our back to the car with Charlotte complaining that she never got to see the "boat" (I realized the entire time she thought I was "boating," not "voting"). As we crossed the street, I had the older two hold on to my jean pockets while I carried Ellie and the diaper bag, the keys in hand. A car came to a stop to let us cross and I saw that the driver was smiling widely at me and my little chickens clinging to me. And for some reason I felt really content in that moment because although I was so anxious to be done with this difficult errand, I was grateful to be surrounded (literally) by these healthy happy kids who for the time being, were all mine.

It's really hard, it is. But those quick and simple moments of complete fulfillment really do make up for the hours of hard work, endurance and "growing experiences" that make up the rest of motherhood. I know one day I'll be an old lady who sees a little two year old and aches for those chubby cheeks pressed up close to mine and the warmth of her hand in mine.

Today I want to remember the dirt smudges that line the wall in our stairwell, right at Charlotte's level. I want to remember the pin-dot freckles on Hazel's nose and how proud she is when she helps me with her two sisters or when she creates something new with a crayon and paper (and scissors and tape and string...) I want to remember how amazingly cute Ellie's naked tushie is and that look she gets on her face when she's really listening to you and learning something new. I want to remember Charlotte's cute little legs and her spontaneous kisses on my arm. I love how Hazel has a dimple in her chin just like her Dad and how she loves to tell me everything that she's thinking about, all the time. I want to remember how excited Ellie gets to see Charlotte after nap time and how she jumps up and down and screams with happiness. I want to remember putting my paintbrush down today so that I could do an activity time with my girls and just enjoy them.

YOU CAN DO THIS.
I can do this.

Halloween Activities for Preschoolers and Toddlers

I heard this idea of creating a seasonal activity basket and decided to give it a try! I started a fall basket with several Halloween and fall-centered crafts made up of stickers, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, construction paper, felt, pom-poms, magnets, yarn, etc. I found most of my activities at JoAnne's where their Halloween and fall crafts are 50% off! This basket has been a life-saver on rainy afternoons and "I'm bored!" moments.

Some "pre-packaged' activities in this basket include packets that have foam cut-outs of ghosts, pumpkins, turkeys and owls that you put together and glue onto popsicle sticks. There's another that has pumpkins with decorations you add and a magnet that goes on the back. These have been great activities for the kids to do (mostly) on their own while I work on dinner or dishes. All of those were in the seasonal section of JoAnne's.



Here are two Halloween activities I created by using some of the resources in our basket. I used these for "Activity Time" with my two year old this past week:

1. Fill the pumpkins (with skeletons!)

I bought a bag of rubbery skeletons and mini plastic pumpkin "buckets." I gave my two year old a pair of tongs and asked her if she could pick up the skeletons and place them into one of the three pumpkins.

 
Pin It  I added the fact that these skeletons will BITE if you touch them with your fingers.You can only use the tongs to pick them up.



At first, this was a difficult task, but she got better and better as she worked on filling all three pumpkins. This is a great activity for eye-hand coordination and focus!
 2. Pumpkin FacesFor this activity, you need two sheets of felt in black and orange. I cut out several different shapes from the black felt including squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, crescent moons, diamonds, and a half circle. I cut out a large pumpkin from the orange felt.

Then I asked my two year old to help me decorate our pumpkins, using the shapes to create several different faces.


Pin It  As she placed the different shapes in the pumpkin, we talked about the names of the shapes and how they're different from one another.



Here are some of our favorite Halloween books this year: The Costume Copycat


This book is about a little sister who always feels like she is competing with her older sister's "cuter" costume until one year she decides to be creative and come up with her own costume. We found this at our local library and it quickly became a favorite. AND last night my sweet four year old fell asleep with this book in her bed and then THREW UP on it in the middle of the night. I guess it's ours now! The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches
This is my two year old's favorite book this week which is funny to me because the main "witch" is afraid of her older sisters, who are master witches. This is a story about this young witch who finds her own powers through an unexpected friendship and becomes better friends with her older, scarier sister witches. We're getting close to Halloween! More spooky activities to come...