Another Reindeer Craft

Here’s another reindeer craft we made. The kids traced their hands and cut them out. They also did the same with their shoe. Then we glued them together to make the reindeer. The kids added eyes and a nose.

Reindeer Ornament for Kids

I made these with my preschoolers this week. Aren’t they cute?!

Here are the supplies we used.

I hot-glued three popsicle sticks to make the reindeer head.

The kids picked a glitter glue color and painted it on.

I attached the yarn to the back and then placed on the eyes. The kids picked the nose color.

Older kids would be able to do it all on their own with liquid glue.

Harry Potter Party

It’s been so long since my last post!  Getting married sure kept me busy. But now I have time for my creations once more. My latest baking was for my first get-together at my new house. And what better a theme to have on the premier weekend of The Deathly Hallows Part 1 than Harry Potter!

Follow me through the Hogwarts Express…

And check out all the treats!

We used Cream Soda as the Butterbeer and added a layer of whipped cream on top. It tasted exactly like the real deal from The Wizarding World…Which was our honeymoon destination, haha!

My husband and me!

We even had a Sorting Hat, which was a quiz on our computer. And I made badges!

I made the owls and signs, too.

I love seeing my house full of my friends surrounded by my creations!

Fishing

Fishing was a part of life growing up. My dad never had a little boy, so I filled in as his fishing buddy. I never remember a time of life when I wasn't bating my own hook or taking off the fish. That was one of dad's rules: If you want to fish with it or fish for it, you have to touch it.

My dad bought a little farm with a lake a few years ago, and it's been our fishing get-away since.




My friend, Justin, creates his own flies for fishing! Check it out in his new blog The Great Outdoors.

Puppy Pictures

My family was on our way to Indianapolis to hang out with family for Father's Day.

Here's Mollie trying to be comfortable in the back seat.

That's better!

Here are all the family dogs. Hehehe!

We're all dog people...if you couldn't tell...

Apple Butter

My parents went out of town this weekend, Andy went to a conference, and Mollie and I were left all alone...so we went on a little trip to our new family's house!

My wedding is in September and I've finally pinned down the theme. Elegant Fall Festival. For the wedding favors, I wanted to have jars of apple butter sitting on the tables along with the center pieces. Luckily, my in-laws-to-be both grew up on farms and canned for a living! So we spent all weekend making apple butter and jarring it:)

Look at all our jars! We first cut up two bushels of apples and cooked them on the stove till they were mushy.

We used a ricer to separate the good stuff from the skin. Being the curious person I am, I had to know why the ricer got that name. Andy's dad looked it up and apparently the holes of a ricer are not much bigger than a grain of rice. Interesting!

I then added tons of brown sugar and cinnamon. Unfortunately I cannot tell you how much exactly. We just kept tasting until it tasted right. With a different spoon each time, of course!

We poured the apple butter into jars, placed the lids on top, and put them all in a pressure cooker. It took about 5 rounds of this until we had all the jars finished. Here's how the pressure cooker worked: The jars sat in a bit of water under a lid until the pressure gauge showed 5 pounds. Then we removed a pressure cap and let it sit for five minutes. This sealed the flat part of the lid to the jars. Once the jars cooled, the flat part popped in. So when you hear the pop of a jar when opening it, that's the pressure being released. If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can place the lids in boiling water and then place them on top of the jars. However, the experienced canners felt that the pressure cooker would better ensure the freshness of the apple butter.


I cut out a bunch of circles on adorable fabric that I felt was perfect for the apple butter jars. The lid can screw off since the flat part of the lid is sealed. See, you may have figured that out already, but I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about jars and canning!

And here's our final product!

I think the jars are so cute! And I can't wait to share them with the people at my wedding:)

I love my wedding theme. It gives me an excuse to start fall crafting early:)

Favorite Quotes from Pre-K

My Pre-K kids make me laugh every day. It amazes me how funny little kiddos can be! So here are some of the best quotes of the year. Funny quotes are so common that I forget and they come back to me later. So this will probably not be the last post about this.

At Circle Time - Prior to my engagement:
Kid 1: Why aren't you married, Miss Lyndsay?
Me: I'm still really young.
Kid 2: So you're still a teenager?
Me: No, I'm just a young adult. Younger than your parents.
Kid 1: You're still a teenager if you're not married yet, Miss Lyndsay.
Kid 2: Do you have kids?
Me: No, I'm not married yet.
Kid 3: Uh Oh....
Me: What do you mean, Uh Oh?
Kid 3: (With head down ashamed) You should really have kids, Miss Lyndsay. Yeah, you're defintely still a teenager.

While watching Tarzan
Kid 1: Is Tarzan real?
Me: Well, it's just a cartoon movie.
Kid 1: (With legs crossed like a little lady) I really wish Tarzan was my husband.

At Circle Time. A child saw me at Target the night before with my fiance.
Kid 1: Miss Lyndsay, I saw you with your son last night.
Me: (Laughing like crazy) My son? That was my boyfriend! (My fiance is much taller than me!)
Kid 1: (With head down and face red) (Gasp!) Miss Lyndsay's boyfriend...

She repeated this comment over and over throughout the day, completely surprised she had seen me with him. I don't know why, haha. Kids are just funny about stuff.


I gave my kids a final assessment for Pre-K. One task was to write the ABCs. A certain child was doing really well. Then he stopped at K and looked up...thought about it...then looked at me:
"Miss Lyndsay, I forget how to write an eleminopy."
I must not have done my job! He thought L M N O P was all one letter! I tried so hard to keep a serious face when I said, "That's okay! Just move on to the next one."

An ongoing funny thing: No matter what is going on between parents at home, I hear about it. The most interesting comments to hear are, "Daddy slept out on the couch last night" or "Daddy decided to stay at Grandma's for a few days".

More funnies as I think of them!