puMpkiN carving

The boys and Chris did a little pumpkin carving on Sunday afternoon.  Of course, at our house we use drills and jig-saws instead of knives and spoons!  The boys were in heaven.  Sam wanted a "Super Sam"...Tanner used the marker dobbers to make his pattern then foll wed it precisely with the drill!

  

batman...and the little monster

Thank you Dad and Shelley for taking the boys to ZOO BOO!  They had a blast!

the Pinta and the Nina

Last week, the boys and I headed down to the River to see the Pinta and the Nina replicas.  The boats were is town for just a short time so I'm glad we were able to go.  Tanner loves reading about history.  He just finished learning about the Pinta, Nina and Santa Maria at school so he was pumped! 

They has lots of pictures of the replicas being built so Tanner spent some time reading (with help) about the construction.  He also read that a 14 year old built the small boat on the Nina.  Of course, now he wants to build a boat and knows for sure that Chris can help him do this! We stopped by the library on our way home and checked out a few books about Columbus and his ships!



5 little pumpkins...a fav game

Five Little Pumpkins

5 little pumpkins sitting on a  gate

the 1st one said "oh my its getting late"

the 2nd one said "there are witches in the air"

the 3rd one said "but we don't care"

the 4th one said "lets run and sun and run"

the 5th one said "we're ready for some fun"

wooo-ooh went the wind

and

out went the lights

and the 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight

ok...the boys can play this game for hours

what's the game??

when you sing "out went the lights"...the boys take turns turning out the lights

so SIMPLE

but

they LOVE, LOVE playing this

Sam likes to play with the felt pumpkins and some wood pieces.  He builds a fence thens adds the pumpkins as Tanner and I sing or read the story.

halloween decor by Tanner

Tanner has been very busy uping the "scare" factor at our house!

ghosts

spiders webs

cobwebs

sewing with boys

Did you know Tanner loves to sew?

I think it's getting to use the sharp needle.  About a year or two ago, I made him a sewing bucket with plastic needles, yarn and felt.  He picked up two simple stitches fairly quickly so we moved to real needles.  It had been a while since he had sewn anything so I thought a pumpkin would be perfect.

1. He hand drew his pumpkin shape then cut it out.

2. Trace the first pumpkin onto another piece of felt.

3. Pin the two pieces together.  He loves this part because it involves lots of sharp pins.

4.  Sew!  I always thread the needle, tie the knot and get him started.

Hint: Use a short piece of thread.  It's easier for little fingers...he needed 2 short pieces for this piece.

5.  Then he sews.

Our pumpkin became a Jack-o-Lantern bean bag...we filled it with beans right before he sewed the last few stitches.

ghost paint

GHOST PUFF PAINT

a big squeeze of Elmer's glue

a bigger squirt of cheap shaving cream

mix together...should be very thick

The boys love this recipe especially because they can pour, squirt and mix themselves.  You CAN NOT mess this recipe up.  I love that I always have the ingredients on hand.  It's very to use food colring to color the puff paint also! Once our ghost dry, we will cut them out and hang them in the windows "to scare people", according to Tanner and Sam.