Today I'm sharing a simple little craft you can make for your kids. But first, here's a sneak peak of Carson's Halloween costume. Hopefully I'll have some more pictures to share after trick or treat tonight!
I originally saw this idea here and thought it was so cute! Not only is this a fun activity, it's CHEAP! I bought more foam than I needed for less than $2.
What You Need:
2 sheets of foam, orange & black (I bought the 12x18 size at Michael's)
scissors
*optional: pencil
How to Make:
First cut out your pumpkin. You can do this by eye or you can lightly sketch a pumpkin onto the foam with a pencil.
Next, cut your jack-o-lantern face shapes. I did a Google image search for "jack-o-lantern" faces and just borrowed a few of those ideas. (That's how not creative I was that day, ha!) Make sure to make plenty of options for eyes, nose, and mouth!
Finally, get the shapes wet and let your toddler create a masterpiece!
Next Appointment: My next OB (doppler) appointment is November 11th!
Gender: We know but I'm going to keep you all in suspense until we tell all of our immediate family members! :)
Total Weight Gain: I'll find out on 11/11! (I'm not sure why I put an exclamation point, I'm not excited about it, haha!)
Maternity Clothes: Not yet. I'm lucky and my jeans are still comfy. Once they get snug I won't hesitate to switch over to some elastic-y goodness! ;)
Sleep: Sleep is pretty good. If I can't fall asleep, reading will definitely put me to sleep. It's like my Nook is laced with a sleeping drug or something! I've been debating on buying a pregnancy pillow but I just can't decide if it will be worth the cost.... Movement: I swear I felt some flutters this past week but I have yet to feel them again so who knows. I didn't feel Carson until 21w so I'm hoping to feel this babe sooner! :) Food Cravings/Aversions: I've started to enjoy sweets again! I went to the mall and stopped at the chocolate store and got a little bag of delicious goodies! I also have been craving Sprite this week - so random! It helps my stomach when it's upset and I LOVE the fizzy bubbles!
Best Moment This Week: Definitely finding out the gender! I can't wait to fill you all in on our little secret! :)
What I Miss: I can't really think of anything I'm missing this week!
What I'm Looking Forward To: Hearing that sweet little heartbeat at my next doctor's appointment! I'm also really excited to take Carson trick or treating next week!
Extra Notes From the Week: I think my nausea is finally subsiding (woohoo!) and I'm getting my appetite back! I've been able to eat normal sized meals without feeling overly stuffed and if I go 3-4 hours without eating I don't feel sick! Big success over here! :)
I love doing little crafts during the holidays with Carson so that a.) I can save them and b.) I can use them for festive holiday decor!
This is what I did last year for October:
I wanted to do something a little different this year but I was hoping to find a footprint craft so I could compare the size of his prints! I saw this Frankenstein idea on Pinterest and I thought it was too cute!
This craft is pretty self-explanatory, but in case you are intimidated, here are some step by steps! :)
What You Need:
white paper (I used a piece of cardstock)
green paint (I just used an acrylic I already had)
paint brush or foam brush
black marker
"googly" eyes or white paint
wipes or wet paper towel for clean-up!
*Optional: ribbon & glue/tape for embellishment
How to Make:
Get your paper ready and do a few test footprints without paint. I put Carson in his highchair with a snack and put the paper on a clipboard so I would have a hard surface under it.
Paint the bottom of your child's foot (one at a time!) with the green paint. Just a thin layer will suffice but make sure to get the entire foot and the toes!
Bring the paper to your child's foot and press the foot onto the paper. Make sure to gently press on each of the toes to get a good print!
Clean your cutie's foot and repeat steps 2-3 with the other foot!
Once your child's prints have dried, you can add any embellishments you want. I used a sharpie for the "screws" and stitched mouths. For the eyes I just glued on some gooly eyes I had but you could also do some white paint with a black dot in the center.
Optional: Title your masterpiece! I typed mine up on the computer in a creepy font and then mounted it and embellished with some coordinating ribbon.
Have fun! Make sure to share your craft with me if you try this!
Every year for Christmas my step mom buys everyone something silly and fun. Usually it's some sort of little game or something unique that you probably haven't seen before. Last year we got pig poppers
and Toastabags. That's right, toasta. Not toaster! :)
We had a pig popper war with my family on Christmas and I think after that, sadly, the pigs have lived in our basement. Sad life for them! Toastabags have been in one of my kitchen drawers next to my foil, plastic wrap, parchment paper, baggies, etc. To be honest, I almost threw them out a few times thinking they were silly but I felt too guilty throwing away a gift.
Finally (almost 10 months later), I decided to test them. You guys, they are SO cool!
I used my Toastabags
to make Carson's (FIRST EVER) grilled cheese. This is going to get difficult, so pay attention....
1. Assemble your sandwich and insert into your Toastabags
.
I was a little skeptical but these things really work! The cool part is that they're washable (even dishwasher safe) and you can re-use them up to 100 times! I know grilled cheese is super easy to make but this allows me to have NO dirty dishes! Bonus. :)
Here is a close-up of how my grilled cheese turned out. The left side of the bread isn't toasted as well because the type of bread I buy has larger slices and only fits one way into our toaster. It doesn't fully toast outside of the Toastabags either.
Carson definitely approves!
Get your own set of Toastabags here:
Note: I was not compensated in any way for this post. These are all my honest, personal opinions!
I just wanted to put my official guess in writing this morning! We have our elective ultrasound in a bit and I seriously can NOT wait! For a while I was thinking that baby2 would be a girl. This pregnancy has been so different than my pregnancy with Carson! But then this past week I changed my mind. When Nick and I were talking I noticed myself slip a few times and say "him" or talk about buying something blue for the gender reveal photo. This could be because we already have a boy so I'm used to saying "him"/"he" and buying blue things BUT I'm taking it as a sign!
My official guess is a baby BOY!
Also, I had a dream last night that I was having a girl....I'm obviously going crazy not knowing! :)
Carson is 17 months...that's a month away from a year and a half! How is this happening so fast?!
What Carson Loves Right Now:
-Carson loves putting things in containers (and taking them out again). We saved some old Powerade caps and he LOVES putting them into an old wipes box and then dumping it and starting again.
-Carson loves building towers. He has been practicing building towers with his favorite blocks
for a while, but now he's started to make towers with other things too. One of his favorite things to do while I'm in the kitchen is make a tower with our can koozies. {What do you call those things? My husband and I had a long discussion and ended up googling and it turns out there are so many different names....one being "coldy holdy"!}
-Carson still loves reading books. During play time he will run over and get a pile of books and then run back and plop himself in my lap. I love it! He also has quite a few favorite books. He has some of his favorite stories memorized. He has become very interactive too! For example, if we turn to a page with cows (even the tiniest cows in the background), he will moo and point. So cute! He does this without me even prompting! He also does other adorable things. There is one book with a "peekaboo" baby hiding behind a hat and Carson always covers his own face with his hands and says "gone!" I just love his interaction with the stories!
-Carson loves animals. Chip and Dixie are really good with Carson, but they're small so it's not like he can climb on them or anything. A few days ago when we were at my aunt's house, he was in LOVE with their black lab. He would just sit next to him on the floor and crack up the whole time while petting him. :)
-Carson still loves balls. If we go somewhere and there is an unattended ball, he will immediately grab it and usually hold on to it for the whole time. He even will try to collect multiple balls! So far, he hasn't taken balls from other kids which makes me happy but I'm sure that's in our future! He is still obsessed with basketball hoops and continues to point every one out during our walks around the block!
ball collector!
first blanket fort!
-Carson's favorite foods would be bananas, peanut butter sandwiches, cheese, and oatmeal cream pies. Yes, oatmeal cream pies. I know they aren't the healthiest. I got them for myself for a snack and made the mistake of giving him a tiny taste once. Now whenever he hears that crinkly plastic wrapper he RUNS over signing more! How can you resist?! :)
What I Love Right Now: I'm loving Carson's personality (still)! He is really starting to express himself (even if it isn't through words). His latest thing is grabbing our hand and pulling us to where he wants to go. I love that he has favorite toys/books and gets so excited when we get them out. He has started to be a little more snuggly at times too. He will sit still for multiple books and HAS to be on my lap (which I love). The other night he woke up crying in the middle of the night (which, thankfully, almost never happens). Since it never happens we were worried and went right in to check on him. HUGE crocodile tears. :'( We brought him in our room and he was so cuddly! Normally he immediately tries to hop off the bed but this time, he insisted on sitting ON me the whole time. When he finally decided to move I was sure he was going to try to escape but he curled right up next to me with his head on my shoulder. Seriously my favorite thing ever! He slept with us the whole night and he looked like the top middle picture here:
Front and center at story time! He loves it!
being silly :)
Carson helping feed the dogs (aka pouring food on the ground!)
Some of our Biggest Struggles: I would say one of our biggest struggles is Carson's lack of communication skills. He knows exactly what he wants but doesn't have the words to tell us yet and it REALLY frustrates him. He has resorted to pulling us wherever he wants to go (high chair, outside, upstairs, etc.) but if we don't go where he wants us to go he gets SO upset. I'm trying to use words with him in hopes that he'll be able to verbalize his wants and needs soon!
Someone got into Mommy's coupons!
Exciting Milestones & Physical Changes: Carson has added a few new words (yay!): "truck" & "trash". He doesn't always use all of his vocabulary all the time, but when he does it's adorable! It seems like he adds words to his vocabulary but then doesn't use some of his old words. The words he uses most often are definitely "wawa" (water), "daw" (dog), "up", "gone", and "Da" (Dada). His complete word list is below.
Carson also 2 more molars (bottom one years) so he now has 4 molars! All together he has 10 teeth now! I don't see any others coming through yet but he constantly is drooling and has his hands in his mouth. Maybe it's still the molars.
17 Month Word List:
"all gone"/"all done"
"gone" (always with upturned hands and a shrug)
"done"
"up" (sometimes sounds like "uhhhh")
"Mama" (not very often still)
"Dada"
"daw" (dog)
"bird"
"book"
"ball"
"vroom vroom"
"duck"
"wawa" (water)
"shoes"
"truck"
"trash"
Animal Sounds: Cow, Elephant, Pig, Fish, Duck (although it doesn't sound like a quack...more like "duck! duck! duck!")
Body Parts He Can Identify: Head, Hair, Ears, Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Tongue, Fingers, Feet, Toes, Tummy, Belly Button, Knees.
Things We're Looking Forward To:I'm excited to get Carson into his adorable Halloween costume! We're hoping to do a few different activities so we can get some good use of the costume. Some of our ideas are Boo at the Zoo, Library Costume Ball, and Trick or Treat (haven't decided if we're actually going out or not yet)!
I'm also excited for Carson to add more words to his vocabulary. Watching him learn is so much fun and it's really exciting to see him be able to express himself!
I love doing crafts with Carson and I really love doing crafts that I can save for years to come! Holiday arts and crafts are fun because you can get them back out and use as a little decoration each year!
This craft is SUPER easy and SUPER cheap. A+, right?
What You Need
Orange paper (I used scrapbook paper I had in my stash. You could also have your tot finger paint or water color some white paper orange!)
Jack-o-lantern stickers (or you can make your own!) - I found mine for $1 at Walmart.
How to Make
1. Cut your paper into the shape of a pumpkin (don't forget the stem). I colored the stem brown with a marker.
2. Give your toddler the stickers to place on the pumpkin. I suggest giving one sticker at a time! :) Tip: Since Carson was only 17 months during this project, I pointed in a general direction on the pumpkin to give him an idea of where to place each sticker. He followed my directions pretty good except for one eye....which is what makes it a Picasso pumpkin!
Use any extra stickers as accessories! Carson is STILL carrying around this witch hat days after we completed our project. :)
and 
. That's right, toasta. Not toaster! :)
for a while, but now he's started to make towers with other things too. One of his favorite things to do while I'm in the kitchen is make a tower with our can koozies. {What do you call those things? My husband and I had a long discussion and ended up googling and it turns out there are so many different names....one being "coldy holdy"!}
