Carolers Meal

Mother and daughter carolers sang for T at mealtime today.

The mother is a sandwich with pimento cheese for the hair, sprinkles for the mouth (2 candy canes) and eyebrows (chocolate jimmies), and candy eyes.  The hat is a piece of bread with tinted frosting and red sugar crystals, mini marshmallows (cut in half) for the brim, and a marshmallow (flattened) for the pom-pom.

The daughter is a sandwich with carrots (cooked) for the hair and sprinkles for the eyes, mouth, and pigtail decorations.

The song book is a flattened piece of bread (inside pages) and a flattened end piece of bread (cover) with alphabet pasta (cooked) for the words and sprinkles for the holly decoration.

The Faa Laa Laa letters are Scrabble Cheez-Its.

I wasn't able to get any photos of T enjoying his meal.  However, he ate all of it except for the candy sprinkles and the carrots (even though he does like carrots, cooked and raw!).

Turkey Time

Since the month of November is almost gone, I suppose it's about time I mentioned some of the books we read this month....

For week 1 of the Book-It! Program, we read books with a turkey theme.

We read:

• I'm a Turkey!                                                by Jim Arnosky
• Farmer Goff and His Turkey Sam                               by Brian Schatell
• Turkey in the Straw                                          by Barbara Shook Hazen

The information-filled book, I'm a Turkey!, gives the reader an up-close-and-personal look at life with Tom the Turkey as he flocks, squawks, and flees (dangerous animals) his way through the story.  The book is a spoken-word song which can be downloaded from the Internet.

The book, Farmer Goff and His Turkey Sam, is about a farmer and his prize-winning, pie-eating turkey.

The book, Turkey in the Straw, is a tale of a farmer who would rather fiddle than farm, a wife who was born a worrier, and a shy daughter named Emmy Lou.  Emmy Lou's pet turkey dances a do-si-do to the farmer's music, and the rest is history!

For week 2, we read books with a Thanksgiving theme.

We read:

• I Am the Turkey                                              by Michele Sobel Spirn
• A Turkey for Thanksgiving                                    by Eve Bunting
• Beauty and the Beaks (A Turkey's Cautionary Tale)            by Mary Jane and Herm Auch

I Am the Turkey is an "I Can Read!" book (level 2 - high-interest stories for developing readers).  In the story, Mark is so excited to be the turkey in his class Thanksgiving play -- until he discovers what the turkey's real role was in the first Thanksgiving dinner!

The holiday story, A Turkey for Thanksgiving, captures the spirit of Thanksgiving sharing in a fresh and funny way.  While setting the table for Thanksgiving dinner, Mrs. Moose tells her husband that she wishes they had a real turkey (not just turkey decorations) because everyone always has a turkey for Thanksgiving.  So, Mr. Moose sets out to find one for her.

In the book, Beauty and the Beaks, Beauty and her friends think Lance is one conceited bird.  The turkey swaggers around The Chic Hen beauty shop, boasting that he is the only bird invited to a special feast.  But while Beauty is practicing her favorite "eggsercise," flying, she accidentally finds out just what kind of guest Lance will be at the feast.  Beauty comes up with a plan to save Lance before his life "eggspires."

We enjoyed the variety these books had to offer.

Santa and His Elves Meal

For supper tonight, Santa and two of his elves visited T.

He had:

three reindeer sandwiches (peanut butter on whole wheat bread with mini pretzel twists tucked inside for the antlers, chocolate chips for the eyes, and a raisin for the nose),

including a Rudolph sandwich (with half of a maraschino cherry for the nose)...

and two presents (crackers with garden vegetable cream cheese spread and jumbo flower sprinkles embellished with food-safe writers for the bows)...

underneath the Christmas tree (Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake)....

T enjoyed the visit!  :)

No, his lip is not bleeding.  It's the red gel food color on the cracker present.
BTW, notice that he ate the cake Christmas tree first!  :)

I made the Santa and elves picks by cutting out some Christmas characters from a double-sided playset on the Family Fun website.

Check out some bentos featuring handmade picks...



and some other muffin tin meals....

Thanksgiving Countdown - Day 11

The activity for today is:

     Have a HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Thank you, friends and family, for visiting my blog.  :)

Thanksgiving Countdown - Day 10

I'm behind on blogging about our Thanksgiving countdown.  Anyway...

The activity for today was:

     Tell your parent what you are thankful for.

I asked T what he was thankful for...what he would like to thank Jesus for.  He replied, "Thankful, Mama."  I wasn't sure if I got it right (or if it was wishful thinking on my part), so I asked him again.  He said (again), "Thankful you, Mama."

My heart is filled with JOY!  It doesn't get any sweeter than that!!  :)

Tiny Turkey Dinner

T enjoyed a tiny turkey dinner today.

The menu was:

• sliced turkey with gravy - Brach's Maple Nut Goodies (candy) with melted chocolate
• peas - green nonpareils
• mashed potatoes with butter - vanilla frosting with yellow gel food color
• cranberry sauce - red crystals sugar

T thought it was yummy, and he ate it in all of about three bites.  :P

I got the idea from the Family Fun website.  However, I never was able to find Peek Freans Arrowroot biscuits (cookies), so I substituted Anna's Ginger Thins (cookies).

Check out some other muffin tin treats,

some Thanksgiving bentos,

some Thanksgiving recipes, and
some other food adventures....

Turkey Gift

T received a Thanksgiving gift in the mail from his dear friend, Miss Bekah.  She crocheted this adorable turkey for him!

T opened the box and said, "Turkey!"

He was so happy....  :)

She also sent him a photograph from their time together in Tennessee in September.  He held it up and said, "Love you, Bekah; love you, T." as he pointed to each person in the photo.

T adores his Miss Bekah!

Holiday Expo

Last night was the Holiday Expo at T's co-op.  His class sang two songs.  The first was Five Fat Turkeys.

          Five fat turkeys are we.
          We slept all night in a tree.
          When the cook came around,
          We couldn't be found--
          So that's why we're here, you see!

T was one of the turkeys, complete with over-sized, stuffed shirt and mask.  There was also a "tree" with a crown of Fall leaves...and a "cook" who came rushing onto the stage, looking for her turkeys!

The tree and four of the turkeys

The second song was Thank You.

          Thank you for the sun; thank you for the sky.
          Thank you for the rain, and for the birds that fly.
          Thank you for the stars that twinkle in the night.
          They mean the world to me.

The children played hand-bells while they sang.

Playing hand-bells

The grand finale:  The two pre-school classes dressed as a live nativity scene.  They and all of the other classes sang Silent Night in English and in Spanish.

Afterward, there were lots of refreshments and time for visiting with family and friends.

Relieved that it's over!

Art work that the children had created throughout the semester was on display.

T's Fall tree

It was a very nice evening.  :)

Thanksgiving Countdown - Day 4

The activity for today was:

     Help your parent set the table.

Uh-oh...bad timing on that one!  We'll save the activity for T to do on another day.

Leaf Man

One of the books we read for week 4 of the Book-It! Program was Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert.  (~See my post dated Saturday, October 29, 2011.)  However, it wasn't until just today that we worked on this craft.

T made a leaf man out of leaves we gathered from trees in our yard.  (I saw the idea for this on another blog...but I can't remember which one.)

"A Leaf Man's got to go where the wind blows."
     ~from Leaf Man

T's Leaf Man

Linked to:



Update - Monday, November 28, 2011:

Okay...I figured out where I saw this idea.  The website is 2 Teaching Mommies.  :)

Thanksgiving Countdown - Day 3

The activity for today was:

     Tell your parent about the best thing that happened to you today, so far.

T's answer was, "Pizza."  Today at co-op, the teachers surprised all of the children with pizza for lunch.  T loves pizza!

Pizza for lunch!

Scarecrow Meal

For supper tonight, T had a scarecrow muffin tin meal.

The "pumpkin patch" is a pumpkin-shaped muffin liner filled with romaine lettuce and jumbo pumpkin sprinkles.

The scarecrow is a peanut butter sandwich, topped with fruit roll-up overalls and shirt.  The patches are "sewn" with a food writer.  The hat is cut from an end piece of bread and decorated with a strip of fruit roll-up and jumbo leaf sprinkles.

The scarecrow face is:

     eyes - dried cranberries
     nose - triangle of fruit roll-up
     mouth - "X" sprinkles

The straw is potato sticks.

The bird is a mini heart-shaped sandwich, decorated with edible glitter and sprinkles for the eyes and feet.  ~Didn't have anything black for a crow...so it's a bluebird!  :P  (I forgot to add a beak....It looks a little like a walrus, eh?)

That's a haystack beside the scarecrow...more potato sticks, bundled with a piece of fruit streamer, and jumbo pumpkin sprinkles.

T went for the salad first.  ~No surprise there!

Check out some other muffin tin meals....

Thanksgiving Countdown - Day 2

The activity for today was:

     Call a relative, just to say, "Hi."

We decided to call T's Grandpa and Grandma.  They didn't answer their telephone.... I guess they were out and about.  ~Probably just as well; T doesn't like to talk on the telephone.

Update - Sunday, November 27, 2011:

Later that evening, T's Grandpa returned our call.  Although T would not talk to his Grandpa on the telephone, T kissed him (i.e., kissed the telephone) when he heard his Grandpa's voice.  :)

Thanksgiving Countdown

I came across this fun Count Down to Thanksgiving calendar at the Family Fun website.  We started it today since the countdown is for 11 days, ending on Thanksgiving Day.  There's a simple activity for each day.

T liked opening the little "door."

The activity for today was:

     If you could make your own pie, what kind would it be?

T's answer to the question was:

     "Cake."

I asked him, "What yummy things would you put in your pie?"

He answered, "Pizza."

Hmmm...Do we know what a pie is??

Cornucopia Meal

Well that was definitely a new and "interesting" experience...making sandwich balls.  It wasn't too difficult, once I finally kind of figured out what I was doing.  :)

My husband and I had homemade vegetable soup for supper tonight, which T isn't crazy about...so I went ahead and made him a "sandwich balls meal" for his supper.

The sandwich balls are the "pumpkins" with peanut halves for stems...filled with peanut butter.

Also pictured above are:

• "cornucopia" - waffle cone
• "apples" - apple slices cut with a mini-sized apple cutter
• "acorns" - red and green grapes
• "nuts and berries" - pecans, pistachios, and honey roasted peanuts; fresh blackberries and blueberries
• "leaves" - cinnamon-sugar toast cut with a mini- and regular-sized leaf cutter
• mandarin orange segments
• raisins and dried cranberries
• dried pineapple

Here is T, enjoying his meal!

Check out some other meals featuring sandwich balls at:
Bento Blog Network

Christmas Ornaments

Last night was Hallmark's Holiday Open House...by invitation only.  (All that means is that I've spent waaay too much money at Hallmark throughout the year.  So what am I going to do??  ~Attend the Open House and spend some more money...!)  Hallmark does "reward" us shopaholics with a gift bag full of wonderful Christmas goodies.

Ceramic Christmas Cookie Jar
WoodWick Jar Candle
Keepsake Ornament, Welcome Christmas!
Hallmark Confections

~And it's fun.  The employees dress up in themed outfits...and they serve hot and cold beverages, brownies, cookies, candies, seasoned snack crackers, veggies, and dips.  Actually now that I think about it, they probably have an ulterior motive for the drinks and food; they don't want anyone to pass out from standing in line for 45+ minutes, waiting to check out!  :)

I do love Christmas ornaments...any, really.  I have several Hallmark "series" going.  My "longest running" series is Puppy Love.  I think this is year number 21?

Hallmark Keepsake Ornament
Puppy Love

I've also been collecting A Pony For Christmas for quite awhile; this is year number 14 on that series.

Hallmark Keepsake Ornament
A Pony For Christmas

I wish I had started collecting the Crayola ornaments way back when.  I like those a lot.

My husband likes Snoopy, so you know I have to purchase all of those ornaments (for him, of course).  He says he doesn't care...but then he goes and does something like purchase three more Snoopy ornaments (all the same, mind you) when he comes across them at the flea market.  Hmmm...sounds like he likes them quite a bit, if you ask me.  Also, we put up a Christmas tree with only Snoopy ornaments on it.  That tree goes up without fail...every year.  (A second tree, if it gets put up, is the one with all of the other 400 or so ornaments on it.)

I don't know why I do it to myself.  Every year, I think I'm going to cut back...and then I see the new ornaments...and they're so cute...and I can't seem to resist (much to my husband's chagrin).

So...has anyone else started thinking about Christmas?