Chasing Cheerios

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!



O was Laura Ingalls, I was Ma, and E was our cat.  What a fun Halloween!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Foam Haunted House




I bought this foam haunted house kit from Michael's last year after Halloween, and we were excited about putting it together.  I hope I never buy one of these again! (I have a hard time resisting really good deals, so I just need to stay away from after Halloween sales!)  It was NOT fun to put together.  It fell apart constantly as I built it.  However, O and my niece had a great time decorating it after I built it, so I guess it was worth it.

Making Caramel Apples

O and I had a great time making caramel apples for her Halloween party at school.  To make the caramel apples, we bought 2 14oz bags of caramels.  We removed the wrappers and put them in the crockpot along with a fourth cup of water.  We turned it on high and in about an hour and a half, the caramel was melted. 

O and I stuck the popsickle sticks into the apples.  I dipped the apples in the caramel, and O rolled them in sprinkles.  We put them on buttered (and flattened) cereal bags (instead of waxed paper) to cool. 



I put them in glass containers covered with saran wrap overnight, and when I checked them Thursday morning I noticed that I could see a lot of apple and not a lot of caramel.  I was in a hurry to go to work, so I didn't think much of it until a few hours later when it suddenly occurred to me that I should have refrigerated the apples overnight.  I called my mom, and she confirmed that the caramel had slid off of all of the apples.  Oops!  We'll be taking grapes and sliced apples for O's party!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

My niece, O and I had fun cleaning out the seeds out of a pumpkin and then carving it. 


While I made the pumpkin milkshakes, Elliott roasted the pumpkin seeds.  He roasted half with cinnamon and sugar and the other half with garlic.  The girls and Elliott loved the cinnamon and sugar seeds, but I thought the garlic seeds were delicious!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

A Candy Corn Math Work

I gave O this set of Halloween foam stickers that have the numbers 1 to 10 written on them.  To complete the work, she was supposed to put the numbers in order and then put the correct number of candy corn under each number.  She enjoyed putting the numbers in order, but she was not interested in putting the correct number of candy corn under the numbers. 


Fast forward a couple of weeks, and I found this activity hidden in the top of the computer armoire...Elliott put it up there when he was cleaning the kitchen one night.  So, today I asked O if she was interested in this activity.  She wasn't that interested, but she really wanted to eat the candy corn.  I told her that she had to do the work before she ate the candy because we wouldn't have enough candy corn for the work if she ate it first.  So, she did it.   As she was working, she commented that the candy corn looked like the red rods.  She then commented in a surprised tone that 8 was the same length as 7.  I asked if she was sure, and she checked her work and realized that she had only put 7 pieces of candy corn under the 8.  She laughed and corrected herself.


As she worked, she excitedly chose the pieces of candy that she wanted to eat.  She was excited when she finished the work and had 2 pieces of candy left, and she immediately ate a piece.  I reminded her that she should have had the exact amount that she needed.  She checked her work and quickly realized that she had only put 7 pieces of candy corn under # 9.  She added a piece to make 8, but didn't have enough to make 9.  I was surprised by how upset she was that her work was not correct.  I told her it was ok, and reminded her to check her work before eating the candy next time.  Then we each ate several pieces of candy corn...I admit it...I have a candy corn addiction :)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Fun with Foam Pumpkins

Foam pumpkins are on sale at Michael's, and we bought several for various projects (we actually had more projects than pumpkins, so THANKS to Auntie EB for giving us another pumpkin!).  E LOVES to carry them around the house, and she always seems amazed that she can actually pick them up and carry them. 

I punched holes in the pumpkin, so she could put eyes, ears, noses, and mouths in it.  She liked pulling the pieces out, and they were much easier to remove than the Mr. Potato Head pieces.  However, she can't put them in by herself, but she doesn't mind.




The pumpkin will replace Mr. Potato Head on our shelves for a while.   Another great thing about the pumpkin is that all the pieces will fit nicely inside of him (once I find the time to cut the top off).

Monday, October 25, 2010

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

After trying a pumpkin pie milkshake while on O's field trip, I knew we'd have to try to make them at home!  They are easy and delicious to make.  You need canned pumpkin, vanilla ice cream, pumpkin pie spice, heavy cream, and milk. 


We used my mom's bullet blender to make the milkshakes.  I put in about 3 or 4 scoops of ice cream, 1/4 cup of milk, 1/4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, and 2 heaping tablespoons of canned pumpkin and blended it until it was smooth.   We topped the milkshakes with fresh whipped cream (we briefly blended heavy cream in the blender).



The milkshakes were delicious, and the girls LOVED them!!! Pumpkin pie milkshakes are a new fall tradition at our house!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

A Fairy Dress by Sarah's Silks...A Review AND a Giveaway!!!

Sarah from Sarah's Silks sent us a beautiful silk fairy dress for O to try.  O LOVES it!  It is beautiful, and O loves to wear it to fly around the yard.  Playsilks are our all time favorite "toys," and we love the silk dress-up clothes, too. 


The fairy dress is made of soft heavy weight silk with georgette rainbow wings attached. It is easy for O to put on and take off, and the wings have handles to make flying a little easier. 



Sarah's Silks is offering a silk dress-up costume to one lucky reader.  The winner will choose between a pink or purple fairy dress, a gold knight costume, or a wizard cape.  




I'm going to make entering the giveaway slightly more challenging than usual.  This time you have to go to the Sarah's Silks website and look around the site.  Come back here and leave a comment telling me what your favorite Sarah's Silk item is...that's simple enough, right? 

Also, if you go to the Sarah's Silks facebook page and "like" it, come back and let me know in order to have a second chance at the giveaway.  This review is open to everyone (not just US residents!!!).  O will choose a winner on Friday night (October 29).  Please make sure to leave your email address in order to make contacting you simple if you are the winner.  Thanks!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Halloween "I Spy" Bottle

I'm very slowly starting to read blogs again after an almost 6 months hiatus, and I was excited to see this idea for a Halloween "I Spy" bottle on Pink and Green Mama.  What a fun idea...and SO easy to implement! 

I gathered a bunch of small Halloween themed items from around our house.



I drew black eyes onto white beans to make them look like ghosts.



I combined all of the items with black beans and black eyed peas in a plastic bottle.  I had O in mind when I was making the Halloween I Spy bottle, but E turned out to love it much more than O.  I am not exaggerating when I say that we shook the bottle and found the cat at least 15 times in the first 20 minutes after I made the bottle.  She kept saying "cat!" over and over and over again.  This afternoon she saw the bottle and started yelling "cat! cat!"  So we found the cat many more times.  What fun for my cat obsessed baby!



I love the idea of holiday themed "I Spy" bottles, and I'm wondering why I never thought of this!  I'm looking forward to making Christmas and Valentine's Day bottles!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Fun with Mr. Potato Head

I put a basket with a potato head and several accessories on E's Montessori shelf, and she thinks it's pretty cool!  She needs help putting the pieces in and getting them out, but she loves to try to get them out (and really works her little finger muscles while trying!)...sometimes (often) she resorts to using her mouth :) 

Playing with Mr. Potato Head is a great way to learn body parts and colors!  And it's fun, of course!










Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Talking on the Phone

This old phone is always a hit with babies and toddlers.  E loves to pretend to talk on it, and O makes calls to her imaginary friend with it.   I'm actually a little surprised that they recognize that it's a phone...it looks so different from the phones we use now :)  I guess I should show them a record player.  That would really blow their minds!






Monday, October 18, 2010

Skeleton Puzzle

Here's another repeat

O loved her skeleton puzzle last year, and she's enjoyed it just as much this year.  She liked looking at the skeleton on her flip chart as she put the skeleton together.  After she finished (with help), we labeled the bones and talked about them for a while.  She's very interested in this kind of thing since she plans to be a doctor (as well as a ballerina, fire fighter, artist, and mama) and LOVES to pretend to have broken bones.