Pumpkin Cut Out Craft

Here's a craft for kids 4 and older.  Joseph (5) loved it but needed a great deal of assistance.  Older kids could probably do it all with some instruction.  This took us about an hour but we did it in stages, since five year old boys aren't known for their long attention spans (and neither is this mama).


Joseph cutting out pumpkins

1. Find a template for a pumpkin.  I found mine in a Halloween book from the library but I'm sure there are plenty online. 
2. Trace onto printer paper, cut out the pumpkin shape, and trace onto orange and black construction paper. Have your little one cut the pumpkin shapes out.
3. Draw some jack-o-lantern faces on orange, black and yellow construction paper.  You or your child can cut those out and glue them to the pumpkins
4. Use a hole punch to cut a hole in each pumpkin, use some string or twine and hand the pumpkins up.  Of course, if you prefer you can put them all on one string and hang it like streamers.  We hung ours by the plantation shutters around the kitchen table since we spend so much time there.

Glue the faces on

The finished product!

Pumpkin pick-me-up

Pumpkin Goodies

In south Florida it doesn't get cool until December, and you don't have to wear a coat more than 20 days out of the year.  I'm not complaining, and I know how good I have it.  But as soon as football season begins, and especially once the football fans on TV are wearing sweatshirts, I want to feel like we have a season called Fall. 

True story, as told by my mother who taught elementary school for many years.  The standardized test they give kids in Florida, FCAT, asks elementary school kids questions about seasons.  Questions that would assume they had any experience with leaves changing colors, snow, first blooms in spring.  We have to read our kids books about seasons and explain that they happen somewhere else.
It may be a high of 92 degrees outside, but once I see the sweatshirts on TV, the inside my house will be Fall!

Pumpkin truly makes me happy.  I am not a morning person, no matter how much sleep I've had, but when I light a pumpkin candle and drink some pumpkin flavored coffee I am instantly transformed into a productive, alert, happy woman.  I don't know whether it's because of the pumpkin or because of what it represents: heading into my favorite time of year with football, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. (Note: my anniversary is in December, my first child was born in December, and my third child is due in November, so most of the great and exciting events of the year fall within these months. Also, my sanity wanes significantly...stay tuned for posts about that later).

As I mentioned, normally I wait until it feels like Fall somewhere in the United States to break out the Fall decorations and the pumpkin goodies.  I needed a little pick me up this year, so I started early and I'm so glad I did!  I found some Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Via that you mix with milk for a concoction almost as yummy as the real thing.  I bought a Nature's Wick Pumpkin Nutmeg candle at Target that is strong enough to scent the whole downstairs. And, I made Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies from a recipe on Pinterest.  If you need a pick me up or some inspiration, I highly recommend this combination!

Is this my latest passing phase?

I'm pretty sure people have called me fickle. I prefer to think that I'm well rounded.  I changed majors in college five times, but I know a little about a lot of things and still managed to graduate in four years.  (In truth, the threat of my scholarship running out was enough for me to stick with a Geography degree). Most people have several jobs throughout their twenties and thirties.  I'm 33 and I've had five careers.  Teaching high school, land use planning, economic development, marketing, and my current career in IT Sales.  Well rounded.

Among the other passing phases...learning to speak Italian (which royally messed up what little Spanish skills remained from high school and college) and exercise (which comes and goes along with 20 pounds).

It is with this knowledge of myself that I start each new journey in life, including this blog.  In fact, I give this blog less than 6 months to live.  However, as many passing interests as I may have, there are certain things in life that have withstood the test of time.

• Cooking and eating good food

  

  Halloween Dinner Menu 2012

  
  
   
• Traveling, or at least dreaming about it
• My husband (we've been married 8.5 years) 

  

  8th Anniversary Dinner at Sea Salt in Naples, FL

• My three boys, ages 5, 2 and due in November

  

  My THREE Sons - Joseph (5), Christian (2) & Baby Boy Three due in November

• My faith
• Relaxing in a tropical atmosphere, preferably on a pool float with a boat drink in hand
• Trying new things

I recently became intimate with Pinterest and began reading people's blogs.  I realized in the process how much I've missed having a journal of sorts.  So more for my benefit that anyone else's, but certainly for everyone who wishes to read it, I begin this blog.