Search Results for: leaf

Fall Leaf Rubbings

If you have not done leaf rubbings before, it’s a fun and easy activity for you and  the kiddos. For you, it’s not messy making cleanup a breeze. Also, you can transform the product into notecards or thank you cards.  For the kids, it’s an art project that is easy to learn and fun for all ages! Here’s the process and how I made the thank you cards.

Materials:

fall leaves (preferably flat ones)
tape (any kind)
scissors or sliding paper cutter
crayons (without paper wrapper)
thin white paper
colored construction paper (or other colored card stocks for notecards): Optional

Put a leaf or leaves facing down so veins are facing up. Put white paper on top of the leaves. Tape down the paper corners to hold it in place.
Rub the side of crayon where the leaves are.

Beautiful leaf rubbings framed or simply tacked onto your bulletin board for a touch of fall.

I trimmed some leaf pictures and pasted them onto precut construction-paper notecards.

For further study of leaves, being the homeschool mom, I printed out this leaf-part diagram and used it as a study tool. I went over it with my kids before starting this craft project. They decided to color this page after their leaf rubbings.

Click Leaf Part Names for a copy of this leaf coloring page.

For beautiful pictures of fall leaves, check out children’s books Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert and Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber. For a list of fall books for children, read 10 Fall Books for Children.

What fall activities does your family enjoy? I’d love to hear from you. Please share in the comments.

Sites to List Your Giveaways

Giveaway sites to list your giveaways

The following is a list of giveaway sites that I’ve comprised. These giveaway sites are ones that I’ve come across and  have used. I will periodically add more to this giveaway site list as I come across them. If you know of other giveaway sites, please shoot me a message or leave a comment.

Ongoing Giveaway Sites:

Giveaway Promote

WAHM Resource Site

Sweep Tight

Oh So Savvy Mom

Real Mom Real Views

The Steady Hand Blog

Simply Stacie

Howard House Reviews

The Chic Boutique

Online Sweepstakes (Need to be a member)

Great Blog Giveaway

Etsy Giveaways

By Hand Giveaways (Handmade items)

Winning Readings (Family-friendly books)

San Frontiers Giveaways (International Giveaways)

Canadian Mommy Giveaways (Ok to list US Giveaways)

Contest for Moms

Sweeping Me

5 Minutes For Mom

 

Weekly Blog Linkys:

Monday Giveaway Sites

Blessed Beyond Words

Mommy Gaga

Debra’s Dollars

Earnest Parenting

A Happy Hippy Mom

Tuesday Giveaway Sites

Mommy Has To Work

Growing My Kids Reviews

Frugal Follies

Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House

3 Boys and a Dog Deals

Eco Baby Mama Drama

Mommyhood’s Diary

Frugal and Fabulous

Mommy’s Money Cents

Outnumbered 3 to 1

Freebies and Much More

Wednesday Giveaway Sites

All Ruby Cakes

Cha Ching Queen

Shopper Strategy (Low Entry)

Win It Wednesdays

Mama Loves Her Bargains

Planet Weidknecht

Coupon Clippin’ Mommy

Mommies With Cents

The Mom Reviews

Thursday Giveaway Sites

Lemon Tree Cards Blog

Mom Vs the Boys (Canadian Friendly Giveaways)

Baby Loving Mama

Jolly Mom

Piece of Me

A Daily Dose of Toni

Coupons Are Great

Linda’s Lunacy

Keeping Up With the Rheinlanders

Tammy’s Two Cents

Maple Leaf Mommy (All giveaways must be Canadian friendly)

Shibley Smiles

The Shopping Mama

 

Friday Giveaway Sites

A Hen’s Nest

A Renaissance Woman

Bonggamom Finds

The Busy Woman’s Guide to Surviving Motherhood

Musings From a Stay At Home Mom

Fabulous Finds

Saturday Giveaway Sites

A Nut in a Nutshell

Mama to 4 Blessings

Happily Blended

Just Another New Blog

Bargain Fun

The Life of Rylie…and Bryce Too!

Contest Corner

Mom’s Own Words

Savey Spender

Busy Working Mama

Maven of Saving

Mommy’s Hangout

Sunday Giveaway Sites

NYC Single Mom

Look What Mom Found

Enter Online Sweeps

Mommy Jenna

Living Montessori Now

The Mommy Files

Five Minutes For Mom

Easy Peruvian Quinoa Chowder

During the crisp, cold days of fall, one of our favorite meals is soup. We love a variety of soups like Brown Rice Porridge in a Crockpot, and here’s another one that we recently came across and have fallen in love with. My friend Donna introduced me to this Peruvian Quinoa Soup. Did you know that quinoa is a great source of protein? To learn more about quinoa, read How to Cook Quinoa, whfoods.com.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound peeled and deveined raw shrimp, roughly chopped
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt (divided)
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil or oil of your choice
  • 1 bunch scallions (about 6), whites and green tops thinly sliced
  • 3 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 to 2 jalapeño chiles, seeded and minced
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano (not powdered)
  • 2/3 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
  • 6 cups homemade or purchased gluten-free chicken broth or water
  • 1 cup corn kernels (defrosted if frozen)
  • ¼ cup coconut milk creamer or half-and-half
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • Lime wedges, for serving

Instructions

Put the shrimp in a colander over the sink and toss them with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Let stand until ready to use. (Use within about 30 minutes or refrigerate.)

In a large pot, heat the oil over moderate heat. Add the scallions and cook until starting to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeños and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the tomato paste, cumin and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes more.

Add the quinoa and chicken broth to the pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the quinoa is cooked, about 12 minutes. Stir in the corn, half-and-half and the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt. Simmer gently until the corn is cooked, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the shrimp and the black pepper. Cook until the shrimp just turns pink, about 3 minutes. Stir in the cilantro. Serve the soup with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Served alone or with your favorite fall salad.

Makes 6 servings.

Note: you can substitute chicken for shrimp. To make it spicier, add extra jalapeno at the end.

Adapted from the Oregonian Food Day.

For porridge recipe, click Brow Rice Chicken Porridge in a Crock Pot. For a kale soup recipe, click Zuppa Soup.

ThanksgivingTree

 

To start off the Thanksgiving Holiday, I decided to do a craft with the kids that will allow them to have a hands-on experience.  The idea of this craft is to get them to write down one thing that they’re thankful for each day.  Through this exercise, I am hoping that they are mindful of the many blessings that God has given to us as a family.  So, here’s the Thanksgiving Tree that’s in our kitchen.  Enjoy!

Materials:

2-3 yd. brown butcher paper (I think mine was 24″ wide, got it at a local educational store)
Fall leaves
Painter’s tape (doesn’t ruin your wall)
Marker for writing
Strips of paper (optional)

Instructions:

1. Lay out brown butcher on floor.
2. Sketch out a tree on butcher paper with black marker and cut it out.
3. Tape tree to a wall with marked side facing into the wall, and start decorating your tree with some fallen leaves.
4. Everyday, have each family member write down what they’re thankful for on a leaf and simply tape leaf onto tree using painter’s tape.

 Here’s our leaves after our first day.

Our Thanksgiving tree after day 1. Pretty soon, it’ll be filled with beautiful leaves with all our blessings.

Note: I bought these foam leaves from Michaels, and decided I’ll reuse them in the years to come, so I cut strips of paper for writing instead of writing directly on the leaves themselves. Remember Michaels and Joann both take each other’s coupons. There’s a lot of 40 or 50% off coupons out there at this time of year.

Does your family have a neat way of celebrating this season of thanks? I’d love to hear from you. Please share some of your traditions.

Cinderella Pumpkins and More

This past weekend I picked up two different varieties of pumpkins from my local farm stand that are great for baking. So I decided to have my photo session with Cinderella and Sugar Pie. I’ve also included some pictures that I took at a pumpkin patch. Hope you’ll enjoy them!

Cinderella pumpkin, great for baking.

Cinderella and Sugar Pie pumpkins, great for pies.

Left: Cinderella pumpkin, Rt. Back: Carving pumpkin, Rt. Front: Sugar Pie pumpkin.

Pumpkin patch with orange and white carving pumpkins.

Aladdin’s Turban Squash with its striped hat.

Ornamental Gourds.

For some fun and easy no-carve pumpkin ideas, click No-Carve Pumpkins. For other fun fall ideas, click Fall Leaf Rubbings, Fall Nature Walk, and Fruit Stamping.