Decorating Christmas Trees

Polymer Clay Food

The girls have been having so much fun making pretend food stuff for their "bobble heads" (Littlest Petshop animals) and for their Madame Alexander dolls (18" dolls similar to the American Girl dolls but much more budget friendly).

Pictured below is the clay pie Raven and I made last night for her dolls. :)

Cranberry Sauce

Ella, my little chef, helped me make the cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving tomorrow. The recipe is from the book we have been reading this week called A Pioneer Thanksgiving: A Story of Harvest Celebrations in 1841 Written by Barbara Greenwood and Illustrated by Heather Collins. It was a really simple recipe to make and Ella loved hearing the cranberries pop as they cooked.






Here's the recipe:

PIONEER CRANBERRY SAUCE

2 c. of fresh cranberries
1 Tbsp butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. water
1 tsp. cinnamon

1. Combine the cranberries, butter, sugar, and water in a pot. Ask an adult to turn on the burner to medium. Heat the mixture to the boiling point, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

2. Boil rapidly until the berries pop, about 5 minutes.

3. Ask an adult to take the pot off the burner. Let the sauce cool for 5 minutes, then stir in the cinnamon.

4. Cover the sauce and put it in the refrigerator until firm. Store leftover sauce in fridge or freezer.

Ella's Terrarium

Today I helped Ella make a terrarium. We found the directions here at The Magic Onions. We used an old mason jar and added stones, potting soil, some moss we found on one of our nature walks, and a little red and white mushroom. Not the best photo, but you get the idea. :)

Sewing

The girl's having been taking sewing lessons. Pictured are a few of the things they have made recently. They are so proud of what they have made. :)

Raven with her stocking she sewed

Gwen's stocking

little drawstring purse Raven made

A Day at the Park

Today was such a beautiful day outside. :) The temperature was in the 70's, fallen leaves crunched beneath our feet as we walked, the smell of fall surrounded us, and the sun was actually out today shining down warm and bright.

It was just too nice a day to waste indoors, so we headed to the park to enjoy the weather. The girls played on the playground, we went for a nature walk together, they collected fall leaves, and Miss Ella filled her pockets to the brim with acorn caps. lol

Cats

Last night we got to go see Cats! Raven has been wanting to see it again when she saw it was in town (she saw it when she was younger with her Grandma). So we were VERY excited when I unexpectedly won last minute tickets to the show!! Raven also took a couple of her best friends along with us. :)

Hopewell Culture National Historic Park

Today we visited the earthwork mounds at the Hopewell National Historic Park to learn about the Hopewell.

This week's crafting

Earlier in the week Ella made some cute sun catcher's using tracing paper and crayons. I drew the designs on the tracing paper in marker and then she colored them in and cut them out.



Raven did some painting on a mini wooden sled and little wooden wheelbarrow she found thrifting for her dolls.



This afternoon the girls had fun playing around with Crayola Model Magic and sculpting little animals. Ella, who is a big SpongeBob fan, made SpongeBob, a green Mr. Krabs, Gary (not pictured), Larry the Lobster, and a blue Squidward. Gwen made a blue bear and Miss Raven sculpted a crazy looking rabid rabbit after bring inspired by the Wii game Raving Rabbids that she played at a friend's house. Oh, and a crazy looking purple beard modeled by Miss Raven. LOL ;)