November Thankfulness

In the month of November we have always (as many of you also do) done a daily thankful post on facebook.  We started several years ago, thanks to my friend S, and it has become an annual tradition that I really look forward to.  As little V has gotten older, it has been great to see her perspective shift.  This year we are doing it a little differently.
Rather than posting it on facebook, where little V will never see it, we are making a wreath.  A wreath filled with leaves of thankfulness.  Every morning we each fill out our leaf for the day then pin it to the ribbon covered foam wreath.  The wreath is something that we all walk by several times a day and it serves as a daily reminder of how fortunate we truly are.

By Thanksgiving we should have an almost full wreath that we will set on our table, with flameless candles in the center and use as our Thanksgiving center piece.

What to make...

Lately I have a very strong desire to make things.  Knitting, sewing, crafting, organizing, gardening, decorating, cooking, baking, I want to do it all.  (I blame pinterest, I am on pinterest overload.  I really think I need an intervention!) 

I would be getting a lot of these ideas accomplished if it weren't for this little face...





But I am going to make this...



http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Meringue-Pie-with-Graham-Crust-364673

Big V asked for lemon meringue pie.

I'll let you know how it turns out!

How about you, are you making anything these days?  Are you obsessed with pinterest too?  What is distracting you lately?

Diorama

This past Sunday, the V's made a little project for themselves.  You never know what will happen when these two put their heads together... 

A factory, a castle, a house, two cars, a lake with a dock, lots of trees, a huge sun, and an igloo.  They made a village!  (Well, a diorama of a village!)

The my little pony's and polly pockets promptly took up residency.

The polly pockets had quite the afternoon!  (As did both V's!)

Big V then used the diorama to teach little V all about perspective in photography while using her new camera.  Thanks for the great pics, little V!

Leaves

Its hard to ignore the spectacle that mother nature puts on this time of year.  I am stunned on a daily basis by one tree or anothers brilliant show of color.  Of course, around here all of these great fall colors & leaves must lead to an art project...

A walk around the neighborhood to find the 'goods.'

A leaf butterfly,

and a few leaf people.

Leaf rubbing, collages, and poems are all on the agenda for this week.

What is your kids favorite ways to create with all of these beautiful leaves?

Poetry

There has been a lot of talk about poems and poetry around here lately.  A few weeks ago we picked up the newest Shel Silverstein book Everything On It and we have really been enjoying it (much like we love his many other books - The Giving Tree is our absolute favorite!)  We have also been reading The Tree That Time Built which is a great compilation of poetry all about nature and imagination.  Then there was that episode of Arthur on PBS the other day about poetry (he's an aardvark, right?)  After that little V decided it was time to get to work on her first piece of original poetry.  Out came the pencils and paper and to work she went...

There's a pumpkin, there's a pumpkin

sitting on my gate.

Such a scary pumpkin.

Oh my, it's getting late.

It's not a pumpkin, it's not a pumpkin.

it's a Jack-o-lantern!