Fun on Halloween!

 We had a really fun Halloween last week (and throughout the whole month of October, really)! I wanted to record our memories here. 

Ashtyn was a Pokemon Trainer. 

Rylee was her Pikachu.

Parker was Spider Gwen (from Into the Spiderverse). 

Halloween morning, the kids wanted to watch Halloween Town. This was a movie that Ben and I made the mistake of trying one week for movie night. It's not a bad movie (as in, there's nothing inappropriate in it) but it is a very weird movie and Ben and I weren't impressed. The girls, though, loved it. Instead of making pumpkin muffins, I decided to make orange pancakes with purple whipped cream for breakfast. 

Then I decided to let the girls try The Nightmare Before Christmas while Ben and I got ready for the day. The girls liked it, but didn't love it. 

During naps, the girls played with their friend Elsee. They shared the last caramel apple and painted this Halloween thing I'd bought at the store in September, then went over to Elsee's until it was time to get costumes on. 

We got the girls' costumes on and then woke Rylee up a little early to do a local trunk or treat type thing they do every year. We stopped at Smith's first to get their little trick or treat thing, then went over to the Rec center for The Mayor's Walk. It's a collection of businesses in Vernal who set up a table and hand out candy in a long line. We weren't sure if they were going to do it this year, with Covid, but they did. Ben stayed home because he had a cold and wanted to be careful in case, and I wore my mask. 

Then we went home and got a little bit of food until their friend Elsee was ready for trick-or-treating. Then we spent almost two hours going up and down just our street. They had a lot of fun and got so much candy, though by the end they were all done and ready to go home. Ashtyn and Parker both fell and scraped their knee, Ashtyn was tired of walking, and Parker's bag had two holes in it. I was done, because I was carrying Rylee from house to house for almost all of it. 

Then we went home and really got food. I had the girls eat lemon chicken and rolls and Ben and I had chili with rolls. Then I took the girls over to Ben's grandma's house. She always has a lot of treats and loves when we come to visit. 

Then we took the girls home and got them in bed around 9:15 (it was daylights savings the next day, so we were putting them down later on purpose). Then Ben and I sorted their candy, giving them all the same amount of each candy and pulling out our favorite. We ended up with way too much candy, but we let the kids eat a lot of it and donated the rest to Lindi for her piano students. 

It was a fun Halloween! 

And here are some pictures from our Halloween activities throughout the month: 

Halloween sugar cookies!

Some Halloween themed science experiments!

Painting pumpkins!

Orange and purple rice krispie treats!

Rylee wanted a "grumpy, grumpy, grumpy" pumpkin, and this is her "grumpy" face.

Ashtyn drew out a bunch of faces before deciding on this one.

Parker wanted the traditional jack-o-lantern face, with one tooth.

Playing with the spiders afterward was their favorite part of making paper spiderwebs.

We had lots of Halloween books to read and Rylee especially loved it!

We made homemade caramel for the apples and they turned out really yummy.

And we did lots and lots and lots of different Halloween crafts throughout the month! 

The girls and I had tons of fun this month and I know we've started a couple fun traditions. It's so fun to be a mom during the holidays! 

Our THANKSGIVING Homeschool Plans!

 Halloween is behind us and as much as I want to move on to Christmas (hee hee hee), I do love Thanksgiving. I'm very excited this year to make pies. Last year, I basically learned how to make pie crust, so it should be fun to make a bunch of pie this year! 

Now that Halloween is past, I'm going to be finding some homeschool activities to do with the girls that are Thanksgiving themed. We had so much fun doing that with Halloween (and I'll do a post about that next week) that we're really excited to continue doing it with Thanksgiving! 

Sunday, November 1 

GRATITUDE TREE - I'm starting today because it's the first of the month, and I like everyone to do a leaf each day of the week. I found and started this tradition last year and loved it. I made a tree out of paper and taped it up (we put it on the pantry door so Rylee doesn't take the leaves off), then each day we wrote something we were grateful for on a leaf and taped it onto the tree. It was a beautiful way to emphasize gratitude all throughout the month together. 

Monday, November 2 

LEAF RUBBINGS and LEAF PAINTING - As part of our activity, we will go out and collect leaves together. Leaf rubbing is where you put the leaves under the paper and color over them to get the imprint. Leaf painting is where you paint over the leaf, then move the leaf so you get its silhouette. 

Tuesday, November 3 

DANCING CORN EXPERIMENT - this is a vinegar and baking soda one, which the kids always love. The vinegar and baking soda make the corn kernels dance in the water. 

Wednesday, November 4 

MAYFLOWER MAP - I found a printable map of the voyage of the Mayflower that the girls can color and label. 

Thursday, November 5 

THANKSGIVING ACTIVITY PAGE - Anther one from Pinterest. This has some coloring, a word search (Ashtyn's favorite thing right now) and tic tac toe games. 

Monday, November 9

LEAF PEOPLE - We'll collect leaves again, then put them together (glued onto paper) in the shape of people and add faces. 

Tuesday, November 10

Make HOMEMADE BUTTER - Because butter starts off as cream, and undergoes a chemical change in order to become butter, this is a great science experiment for kids. Plus, it's no prep, easy, and mess free! 

Wednesday, November 11

COLOR BY LETTER - I have some Thanksgiving pictures that are color by letter, which I think will be especially beneficial for me to do with Parker, since she is learning her letters this year. 

Thursday, November 12

GRATITUDE TURKEY CRAFT - With this one, the kids have different feathers that they can write or draw what they are grateful for, and then glue them onto the turkey's body. 

Monday, November 16

LEAF GLIDERS - This is a paper airplane activity, themed leaves. You trace leaves onto colored paper and then make gliders out of them. Ashtyn LOVES making paper airplanes, so I know she'll be excited for this one. I might be able to rope Ben into helping with this one some too. 

Tuesday, November 17

POPCORN AND SALT EXPERIMENT - For this experiment, you take a jar pour in a cup of salt and a fourth of a cup of popcorn kernels. You shake the jar so the kernels and salt are all mixed up, the put the jar upright again and watch what happens (the kernels separate back to the top again). 

Wednesday, November 18

PILGRIM EASY READER COLORING BOOK - I found this on Pinterest as well. It tells a simple story of the pilgrims and has pages for them to color before putting them together into a book. 

Thursday, November 19

SNOWMAN NAMES - By the end of November where I live, it gets pretty cold and wintery, so I'm switching from more "fall" activities to more "winter" ones. This one is simply where the kids make a snowman out of paper, and each circle under the head will have a letter from their name on it. 

Monday, November 23

TOILET PAPER ROLL TURKEYS - We will use different colored paper cut up for the tail and make the head and body out of toilet paper rolls. I'm not a huge craft person, but I do like them at holidays sometimes and I think the girls will really like this craft. 

Tuesday, November 24

THANKSGIVING HATS - I have a free printable from Pinterest, with different hats. They have turkeys, pilgrim hats, etc. I thought this would be fun to do right before Thanksgiving, because then they can wear their hats during Thanksgiving dinner if they want to. 

This is also PIE CRUST day! Any pies that I can make the pie crust ahead of time, I'll do it on Tuesday. I might also start making pies as well, depending on how many I decide to make. 

Wednesday, November 25

This is going to be PIE MAKING day! I think that the girls will have fun helping me, and if I need to, I will distract them with crafts and movies. 

Thursday, November 26 

THANKSGIVING! I love Thanksgiving. We will obviously do Thanksgiving dinner (though it might be a lot smaller this year, with Covid). Even if it ends up just being our little family, I'm excited for it. I love the feel of Thanksgiving and all the food. 

Last year, after dinner and after all the family had left, Ben and I drew handprint turkeys with the girls and it was really fun. I would love to make it our little tradition and do it again this year. We will also watch Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, because I love that one.

Friday, November 27 

WINTER COLORING PAGES - I have a lot of these on Pinterest, including some color by number ones that the kids will loves. 

This is also the day that we can start getting READY FOR CHRISTMAS! My biggest goal is to have most of the presents wrapped before December, and the girls already have some that they can help me wrap. We may also start watching Christmas movies, much to Ben's chagrin XD

Monday, November 30 

BUILD A SNOWMAN - This is the day before we officially start our countdown for Christmas (I'm doing a whole post on that in just a couple weeks), and I wanted to do another winter themed activity. 

There's a really cute printable on Pinterest that has the different pieces of a snowman for the kids to color, cut out, and glue together. I think they will all really enjoy this activity. 

One other thing I want to do this year is dependent on when it snows. When it does, I want to do a MELTING SNOWMAN EXPERIMENT. You make a miniature snowman and use a ruler to watch how quickly he melts inside your house. All the kids will like it, but I think Ashtyn will LOVE it.

 I am loving this holiday season and I know we'll have a lot of fun celebrating and learning together this month!