Thankful Toddler Turkey Banner

Kim over at Newlywoodwards is hosting a DIY blog party challenge for the next few weeks and I  thought I'd join in since she's pretty darn swell.

This week, in anticipation of Thanksgiving, the theme is:

Dare to be... THANKFUL!

So, after browsing Pinterest for ideas, I was thrilled when Mary-Carolyn Longbrake pinned this charming little banner:

Source: lovelylovelythings.wordpress.com via Caroline on Pinterest

Awesome. Decision made. I'm stealing Mary-Carolyn's pin like a thief in the night. Now... Time to make this activity toddlerific!

Step 1: Convince toddler that it's fun to trace hands onto paper.

Step 2: Pin toddler's hand to paper and trace to the best of your abilities as he squirms all over the place and tries to escape because he doesn't think it's fun at all. Perhaps he thinks if I capture the shape of his hand on paper, I will be able to steal his soul?

Or maybe my kid just has alien shaped hands. You'll never know...

Step 3: Find some cute scrapbooking paper to trace your modified hand template onto. Or, maybe just steal some of your kid's fingerpaintings off of the fridge.

Yeah. Much better idea. This is Joseph's banner after all.

Step 4: Cut out as many turkey hands as needed. Keep scissors away from toddler. No matter how sad he pretends to be.

Step 5: Alphabet sticker time. I let Joseph do the honors.

It took some fierce concentration and some straightening assistance from Mommy, but we managed to spell out "Happy Thanksgiving".

Step 6: Add beaks, eyes, and legs to your turkeys and then sew them together to create a banner.

I actually really love how it turned out. It's not quite as cute and neat as the Pinterest inspiration, but it's mostly Joseph's work and that's what I like about it. Well, it's Joseph's work if you discount the cutting portion. It's not his fault his mother is unreasonable and won't even let him use safety scissors. Harumph.

In the spirit of Daring to Give Thanks, I wrote something we were thankful for on the back of each turkey. For example, Joseph is thankful for getting to play outside and having a toy lawn mower. I know this, because he went and grabbed his lawn mower when I asked him what he was thankful for. See? I speak Toddlerese. I also wrote down many things which I am grateful for... such as my husband, fantastic sisters, our home, getting to be an aunt, etc. It's all there on the turkeys.

We don't host Thanksgiving, but we do attend several different family Thanksgivings. So, I think we are going to take the banner along with us for the festivities. I think Gran and Grandmom will like it ;).

And, since I'm keeping things real... here's the banner with the view of my kitchen. The sewing machine is sitting on the kitchen counter because that's where I put the banner together, there are dishes and suitcases everywhere, and Joseph is methodically removing all of the ABC magnets from the front of the fridge. Because he's helpful like that.

Thank you Kim for hosting a party and thank you Mary Carolyn for your pinning awesomeness. Now, since I'm feeling the Thanksgiving spirit, I'm off to write some long overdue thank you notes.

Extra Classy Gingerbread House Party

I love decorating little graham cracker houses, but when it comes to Christmas, I'm all about the real stuff. So, in celebration of the last of the twelve days of Christmas, I'm going to share our Girls vs. Boys Gingerbread House Party.

Houses built with actual gingerbread. It's tough, sturdy, and turns hard as a rock in under an hour. I usually use the tried and true gingerbread recipe and house plans laid out in the Joy of Cooking. For our glue, we made royal icing. I recommend keeping the icing covered with plastic wrap while you work. Otherwise, it dries very quickly. You can also use a plastic bag with a corner cut out to pipe the icing and keep it from drying.

Most recipes will tell you to cut out your gingerbread patterns before you bake it, but I actually prefer to bake the gingerbread in large sheets and then cut everything out while it's still hot. That way, I end up with flat edges instead of rounded ones.

It makes for stronger structures, but you really have to cut out your pieces right after the gingerbread comes out of the oven and is still soft. Otherwise, it hardens and breaks. Don't you just want to outline the poor guy in chalk?

We like to add some extra class to our gingerbread houses by giving them "stained glass" windows.

They are really easy to make. Just crush some jolly ranchers or life savers, place them in the precut window hole, and pop the whole thing in the oven at about 350 degrees until the candy melts. I recommend using parchment paper or wax paper. The wax paper will stick to the candy, but you can just peel away the excess and leave it stuck to the window.

You can choose to go with one solid color or mix the colors together to get a marbled effect. Ooo pretty!

To build our houses, we split up into two teams - boys versus girls. Since we worked in separate areas of the kitchen, the boys frequently accused the girls of practicing espionage anytime we needed materials from their table. And vice versa.

Actually, it was amusing observing the boys working together on their gingerbread house. They appointed a team leader, used assembly lines, and were very methodical about the construction of their house.

And when they attached the rooftop... they used some extra pieces of gingerbread to keep the roof pieces from sliding down. Whereas, the girls just took turns holding the roof in place until the icing dried.

Did I forget to mention that the boys called themselves Team Bone Shrapnel? This is their mascot:

They later wrote "BS" on their mascot's chest. For Bone Shrapnel, of course.

Here's their pretty rooftop:

They also placed "wreaths" on the front of their house. Or, at least, they claim they are wreaths. We think they look like boobies.

I call it the Booby Frat Ginger House. Or Fort Bone Shrapnel.

The girls team was a little less organized than the boys. We didn't really have a leader. We just took turns, made suggestions, and debated over what would be prettiest. To each his own.

For our rooftop, we went the more colorful route.

We used sprinkles on top of the house, no spikes. We wanted Santa to be able to land smoothly ;).

We also added "icicles" around the edge of the roof. Again, it's a fairly easy technique. Pipe some icing onto the edge of the roof, then pull downward with your piping bag. Voila!

Theresa constructed the most adorable little tree for the front yard. And there was so much icing left over at the end of the night, that I decided our house needed LOTS of swirlies. Everything is better with swirlies.

So, here's the question. Who won the competition?

The boys?

Or the girls?

We'll let the internet decide.

On the 9th Day of Christmas, I Finally Shared My Tree...

And ain't it purty?

It's huge. And 9 feet tall. And fake. But it's a really nice fake. Most people think it's real at first. I like that it doesn't drop needles, but as someone who grew up with real Christmas trees, I miss the evergreen smell.

After telling my husband this, he bought some pine tree car air fresheners... and promptly hung them inside the tree

Bwahahaha. It must be love. But then, who wouldn't love this handsome lumberjack??

 

I swear, he's not nearly as smelly as Theresa is trying to make him out to be... Unless he's been camping. Then yes. He is. Ah, love.

This is us in 50 years:

Aww! If you look closely, you can see that 50 years from now Stephen has Xs for eyes. That's because he failed to eat his vegetables throughout our entire marriage and died prematurely. He claims that it's because I'm plotting to have him assassinated. It's true, but only so that I can run away with Don Juan, my Latino lover. The truth is the truth.

I may have mentioned this before, but my (ill-fated) husband LOVES Christmas. He usually starts begging me to drag out the tree in June. He left his own tree up for 3 straight years in college. Since he likes Christmas so much, we've decided that his consciences probably appear as Santa Claus.

I think he refuses to eat green vegetables because he's constantly listening to his Bad Santa Conscience. And he's stubborn. And probably because he's a lumberjack... They only eat pancakes, right?

We have a lot of random hand me down ornaments, so we used red and gold Christmas balls to tie the whole tree together. Give it a unified look.

And candy canes. I'm a firm believer in having real candy canes on the tree. In case of a candy cane craving emergency. Very serious.

Theresa joined us for the Christmas tree decorating fun and games. If you are wondering why we keep her around, all you have to do is take a good look at the next picture... It speaks for itself.

 

There's also this reason and this reason. Both very compelling reasons to hang out with Theresa ALL THE TIME. It was a fun night ;). (Sorry Freesa... I do love you! Honest!)

We let Joseph hang up his first ornament ever. It's from his Great Grandmom.

 

It may or may not have been knocked to the floor and lost a small piece which may or may not have been glued back on. I plead the Fifth. And/or blame everything on Joseph.

Ahem. Because, that was definitely that other ornament. The non-important one.

Oh, Christmas! I'm so glad you aren't over until January 5th. It means I can continue to enjoy the pretty glow of my tree... And not feel guilty about the fact that it's still in my living room.

Because I'm definitely going to be responsible & take it down on the 6th. Definitely. *Cough*

Clearance Christmas Bauble Wreath

A while back, my sister-in-law Sarah emailed Theresa and I a Whatever tutorial on how to make your own bauble wreath. We liked it and decided to have a wreath making extravaganza evening. So, after Christmas, Theresa picked up some clearance Christmas balls, wreath base, and a hot glue gun. Thrifted ornaments would be even better, but unlike Sarah, we don't have a Goodwill Outlet. ;)

It's super easy and only took about 30 minutes.

Instructions? Just hot glue the Christmas balls to the wreath base in whatever order you want.

Isn't it pretty? Bright, cheerful, beautiful, and happy. Like Ms. Theresa.

 

And before you tell me that I shouldn't be sharing Christmas blog posts, I'll have you know that it's only the SEVENTH day of Christmas. Live Christmas to the fullest peeps!