Fall Leaves - 3rd Grade Art

I loved getting to do this Fall Leaves - 3rd Grade Art project with my son's class. And now that I already had two class projects under my belt I felt like this one would go pretty quick. So last week I packed up my materials, my Fall Leaves example (after finding it on Pinterest!) and headed to Tyler's class to teach the kids what we were making.

Like the previous months, Witches Feet, I took my completed painting, a paper with just the lines drawn out and a blank paper to draw it step by step with the kids. This really seems to be what works for us!

Thanks to DecoArt for supplying this paint at the beginning of the school year so I had everything I needed for them to make this fun picture. We used a white sheet of art paper and the paint from the picture below. I used a couple of different browns since no tree is just one color. I love the dimension it can give.

For the leaves, we used toilet paper rolls that I cut into threes. Each kid had two pieces, one for yellow and one for orange.

We started with drawing the tree with a pencil. After they were done drawing they used paint brushes to fill in the tree trunk and branches. And once they were done with the brown we used the toilet paper rolls to "stamp" on the leaves. Some of the kids loved that if they did it just right their toilet paper roll bubbled and filled in the leaves with paint.

I love that every one of these paintings are different, because no two trees, or people are exactly the same. It is easy for some of them to do their own work but sometimes kids want to make it look exactly like mine.  I try to remind them it is okay for theirs to be different. Last, we used our paintbrushes to just add a few small green leaves onto the tree.

Where we live, right now trees are at all stages. Some still have lots of leaves, some have none. And you'll see all sorts of colors on the tree or the ground below.

I am super proud of the kids and I think they did a great job!

In December we have a short month due to Christmas!  I am still helping and looking forward to a fun themed project coming up soon!

3rd Grade Art Projects

At the beginning of the school year, Tyler's teacher asked parents during open house if anyone wanted to help him with doing 3rd-grade art projects for the class.  I asked Tyler what he thought of me being in his class even more often and he just shrugged. I took that as if he were okay with it since he didn't say no. And for a split second, I thought about if I really needed to take on another project but I always love getting to be in the kid's classrooms. After all, that is one of the reasons I have continued to not work, so I can help in their classes as often as the teachers would let me.

I decided to mention to the teacher that I'd be interested, asking what all was involved. He explained what he was looking for and to let me know. So the next day I decided to take it on. Pinterest makes kids art projects pretty easy to break down and teach, thankfully! And a huge Thanks to DecoArt for providing all the paint I am using for the projects throughout this school year.

For our first project, I wanted to do something without paint. Mainly to get a feel as to how the kids work, how fast they work, etc. Obviously, I know how my own son works, but since each kiddo is different I didn't want to assume anything. I chose "name art".

I made mine ahead of time so the kids had an example. One thing I didn't consider was that I have a short name and some of these kids don't! Also, I have easy letters to "block" and easily touch the edges, where some letters aren't as easy! And one thing I wish I had done differently is to have a couple of examples at different stages so they could see it a little more "step-by-step". Kids at this age love to bubble letter everything and that made things tricky too. Even though I said a couple of times that we don't want to do bubble letters, some just gravitate to that because it's what seemed to work for them.

So going into a Halloween projects I made sure to break it down a bit more. I took a completed project, a penciled in version with me. Then used a blank sheet to draw it out, having them repeat me line for line until completed.

Breaking it down definitely helped the kids and they did a great job!

3rd graders are pretty great artists! This project seemed to fun for the kids and I felt like it went smooth!

I have many more fun projects lined up to share this year. Do you have any fun suggestions for me or others ideas that would be good for 3rd grade art projects?

Don't forget to check out my Pinterest boards for some more of the ideas I've found! Or HERE for other DecoArt projects!

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

While everyone is sharing all their Christmas desserts, I am over here still sharing pumpkin everything! But that is because I made so many delicious pumpkin treats this fall that I can't keep them all to myself! And these Pumpkin Sugar Cookies are no exception!



I am always browsing Pinterest for recipes to try and if you have ever looked at my pinterest, you already know, I have waay too many recipes pinned. But what you don't see are my secret boards full of more recipes that I think I need to try right away!!

Lately I have shared the Pumpkin Puree I made and an amazing Pumpkin Poke Cake, so today I want to share some delicious Pumpkin Sugar Cookies. This recipe made a great amount of cookies and I froze abut half of them. It is always nice to pull out a package of cookies in a couple of weeks and eat them again!



There are not too many ingredients, so this is pretty fast cooking! But after you make your dough you do need to let the dough sit in the fridge for at least 20 minutes to chill. I should have let them sit longer because my dough wasn't interested in rolling. It was still pretty sticky! I ended up just scooping out my and sprinkling with the sugar.



Home made pumpkin puree is just amazing. You really know where your food is coming from and the ingredients in it: Pumpkin!











These pumpkin sugar cookies really are delicious and they have the perfect amount of pumpkin in them too!



Pumpkin Sugar Cookie Recipe adapted from Wine and Glue

• 1 1/2 c sugar


• 2 1/2 c all purpose flour


• 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1/2 tsp cinnamon


• 14 Tbsp butter (1 3/4 stick) room temperature


• 2 tsp vanilla extract


• 1 egg yolk


• 1/2 c pumpkin puree

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350®


2. In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together and set aside.


3. Using a mixer, mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.


4. Add in the egg yolk, vanilla, and the pumpkin until well combined.


5. On low, mix in the flour mixture until well combined.


6. Refrigerate the cookie dough for 20 minutes.


7. Roll the dough into one inch sized balls. Roll in sugar and ut onto a lined baking mat.


8. Bake for 10 minutes


9. Let cool on the pan for a couple of minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.

What are your favorite cookies?

DIY: Easy Home Made Pumpkin Puree

So yeah, it's December. Maybe you have snow on the ground, you're sipping hot cocoa by the fire, but that doesn't mean you can't still be thinking of all things pumpkin.

I don't think I actually know anyone who doesn't like pumpkin. I am not sure if it is even possible!

We love pumpkin everything in our house and because of that I love having pumpkin puree on hand all the time. And luckily, this year we had a pumpkin abunance! I bought 5 pumpkins to carve but we only ended up carving 4. And Tyler and Summer both had school trips to the pumpkin patch and got to bring home a decent size pumpkins. I decided that instead of letting them go to waste I was going to cook them up! It is easy enough and the result is always worth it!



Some people might say you need a certain kind of pumpkin to make your puree. But I am here to tell you that you do not! They taste just as good as a sugar pumpkin and you are not going to know the difference, especially after adding the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. for all the goodies you are about to make with it!



You are going to start with cutting your pumpkin in half and cleaning out the seeds and stringy goop!



Then you will lay it down (cut side down) on a lined cookie sheet, cooking on 350° for 45 minutes.



Be careful when you take it out of the oven because it is HOT!



The most awesome part of this is how easy the skin just peels right off of the pumpkin! It is super quick!



I used a potato masher to mash it all down and then I used my blender to get it to the puree that I wanted! That way it is nice and smooth!





Then 2 cups at a time I placed the pumpkin puree into freezer bags. We have the perfect cups that fit a freezer bag right over the edges and it makes it so much easier to fill the bags!



Some of our favorite things to make with our pumpkin puree is:

• Pumpkin Pie


• Pumpkin Poke Cake


• Pumpkin Sugar Cookies


• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies


• Pumpkin Cheesecake


• Pumpkin Whoopie Pies


• Pumpkin Zucchini Bread


• Pumpkin Waffles


• Pumpkin French Toast Sticks

What are your favorite things to make with pumpkin?? 

A Halloween for the books

Our Halloween started off a little rocky...
After Tyler woke up in a fabulous mood, I tried to put on his costume and that basically started a war. Yes, war with a two year old.... You know how that goes, right?
So I left out the costume in hopes if Tyler trying it out himself.Needless to say, he didn't touch it all day.And he was crabby all day!
I talked up trick or treating and Tyler really could have cared less.I figured we were in for a short session of trick or treating. 
My SIL came over with her son William, who is just 8 months older than Tyler,and we enjoyed some quick bites of pizza and started to get ready.
As Taryn got William ready in his little costume, I was dreading getting Tyler ready.But once again, he surprised me. We put it right on with no struggle or whining! I think after he saw his cousin, and the kids at the door, he had relaxed a little.
We loaded up the boys in our double stroller, and Summer into the front pack and we headed out. 
The first few houses George was a little Curious, and had no problem walking with Daddy andcousin William up to the houses. He wouldn't say Trick or Treat, but he would say Thank you. And he also had no problem sticking his hand in peoples buckets to take his own candy!(Yep, he's my kids all right!) 

After hitting quite a few houses we ran into Zachary and his friend William, who had been out doing their own Trick or treating... Can I just say, those boys scored big time! It was by far the mostcandy Zachary has ever gotten. And also... it was his first time going with a friend and he had a lot of fun! It is so funny to see Zachary wearing his "Scream" outfit- which he was too hot and ended up taking off everything but the mask.I remember when I was a teenager and Scream came out, that mask was so popular, and here we are years later, and my kid is now wearing that. Guess it will never go out of style!
My little Summer girl gave a fuss a few times, but mainly just cuddled against me and slept.And Tyler, well, he loved Trick or treating so much that he didn't want to come home. He loved carrying around his bucket and would tell me, "heavy". 
Even though the middle of our day was full of crabbyness, I am glad it started and ended with a happy happy boy!

Growing, Growing, Growing!

Wow... Tyler is growing like a weed! (but is way cuter!) 

I can't believe he will be 1 month old on Friday-- The time has flown! 

It feels like we have had so much going on too. 

With check ups for both of us, his "snip snip" visit (which he handled rather well!) visits with his BFF Raylee, and a trip to Montana to Grandpa's house for hunting season-- 

where his Dad bagged a big buck! 

Now we have just a couple more weeks of relaxing before Travis has to head back to work. It has sure been nice to have Travis home all this time so I can get back on my feet. 

I have been feeling pretty great for a while, but it was still nice to have the extra help, and time with Trav. Here are a couple of pics from the past couple of weeks!

Tyler's first Halloween!

Tyler and his BFF Raylee- Trying to take a picture of 2 babies is NOT easy! 

One of them is always moving (mine) and one was always crying (mine again....)

Raylee Jane-- My BFF's little lady! What little cuties we have!

A lot has been going on with Zachary too-- Here are some pics!


 











Zach with Travis and Grandpa at school launching his rocket.
Zach has been learning about rocket science and had a big exam-- He rocked it too!! I am a proud mama!!

Zachary wanted to be swaddled like we do with Tyler! lol... this was great! We got his blanket and Travis wrapped him up!

Zach's school Halloween party!
I love getting to help with these!

The time is drawing nearer...

Life.is.busy
We are as prepared as we are going to be for Tyler to get here, so now it's about trying to relax, and enjoy our last days as a family of 3. The weekend before last we ventured up to Greenbluff- a place I never miss a chance going to- and got our pumpkins. I also enjoyed some huckleberry ice cream, and we got some apple cider. YUM! It was a pretty rainy day so we didn't hang around for too long, but I was worried that if we didn't go then, we might not get the chance. It was a nice day though.
Also I have really been wanting to paint my stomach like a jack-o-lantern beings we are going to have a fall baby. This is something I wanted to do with Nicki, but we didn't get to since her pumpkin came a week early! so we finally got some paint and here is the result!
Pretty cute huh? Here is another!
Me with all my pumpkins!
This was pretty much my last project to do before the baby gets here.

It is amazing to me that I am 38 weeks pregnant. I will have a new baby boy as of this Friday and it is so surreal. I am so excited for Tyler's arrival. And nervous too, of course! After watching my best friend in pain after having her c-section I am not quite as excited for that. I think I was hoping to forget the pain that occurs afterward until it actually happened. Though I still have ZERO interest in birthing this baby the "natural" way..... NO THANK YOU! I know it will be okay, and because I have been through it I am aware of the process but it's still natural to have those concerns.
I really am just excited to get Tyler here, and have him home, and start our daily routine. Luckily I will have Travis home with me for the first 6 weeks, and it will be great for all of us!
So this Friday, if not sooner Tyler will be making his appearance. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Zach is doing great in school and adjusting pretty well. They are working hard in science learning about airplanes, rockets, etc. Right now we are working on an airplane project that is of course due while I will be in the hospital! But Zach had to design an airplane, based on certain criteria, which we have built and now just need to write up the written part of the assignment. They will be flying their planes next week and Trav will hopefully video record it for me to see! He also is doing great as always in reading! Takes after his mama and grandma! And is looking forward to his Halloween party and trick or treating!