Thankful Thursdays: Little Red Truck

It's Thursday and as good a day as any to give thanks! I hope your week was filled with many blessings that you could hardly narrow down your joys into just one.  

On Monday, in my hurry, I tripped over this little fire truck that was left up in my living room. I could not help but look down and feel blessed that among the mess there lives in my home play, fun, and happiness. This week I was thankful for that little red truck and all that it reminded me of. Sometimes I need to let in a little mess in the name of fun because one day there won't be trucks to clean up.

What are you thankful for today? Leave a comment below or snag my graphic and link up to share. I love hearing how you are finding the little things in life that make it all the sweeter!

Thanksgiving Decorations

Last week I shared how we decorate our home for fall and make it Halloween themed for the first part of the season and Thanksgiving themed for the second part of the season. I really like using the strategy of decorating for the season and then swapping out a few decorations to transition through holidays. It's quick and easy and it gets my family excited for what is to come. If you missed our Halloween decorations you can read about it here.

All in all it took me about 10 minutes to collect my spiders, Jack-o-Lanterns, and a few Halloween signs from around the house and get them put away. I kept the table centerpiece up, the leaves in the vase above my kitchen window, the paper bunting banners, and a few scarecrows I have sitting on shelves and the piano which I forgot to take pictures of last week. Then I added in my Thanksgiving accents. All together it took me 20 minutes to get our home ready for the next three weeks.

First, I removed the spiders on our table. I used to have acorns and pine cones but this year just kept it simple with the leaves and pumpkins.

Over my kitchen window the Halloween signs were swapped out for little Turkey and a Thanksgiving sign. I just stamped Happy Thanksgiving using a gold ink pad onto card stock I had on hand. It was inexpensive and adds a little festive touch.

I took down Shane's Jack-o-Lanterns that he colored from the kitchen window (well now our "office" window because we just did a big furniture move around the house) and replaced them with a bunch of cute little Turkeys that we made as an activity this past week. I will show you how we made our turkey family next week. They were so fun and easy!

For Thanksgiving and again at Christmas I have a special book bin from my teaching days that I dive into and place seasonal books up. I keep these tucked away with our holiday decorations to make them new and exciting each year. I piked out a few age appropriate books from my current favorite author P.K. Hallinan. Shane loves these books so much

I also purchased a few more mini pumpkins to scatter around the house because Shane and Keith are really enjoying pumpkins this year.

Lastly, I put our Thanksgiving Book out which I am so excited to share about as we get closer to Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite traditions that we started when Shane was born and this year Keith gets to start adding to our book! 

Hope you enjoyed a peek into our home. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

How We Celebrate Halloween

I have wonderful memories of Halloween growing up. My mom went all out every year from costumes to decorations. I can remember her dressing up as grapes, a pirate handing out gold coins, and one year rigging up a contraption to the front door that dropped a huge black spider when the door was opened. We never celebrated with ghosts or goblins just with imagination and creativity. It was one day a year we could put on angel wings, a princess crown, or be a cheerleader and I loved it. We decorated pumpkins, went to our churches harvest party, and trick or treated with our Dad around our small neighborhood. It was a day of fun.

I wanted to continue some of these traditions on with The Brother's and add in a few new ones. We head out to a pumpkin patch each year and pick out pumpkins and carve them. This year we made our Hack-o-Lanterns on Halloween morning. I love how they turned out! Shane was especially excited for the eyebrows and bit round mouth on the top pumpkin.

After nap time we headed to The Town Center around 4:30 in costume and met up with one of Shane's buddies, aka Spider Man, and Trick or Treated. All the stores and businesses hand out candy and the street is blocked off so its safe and at a convenient time for The Brothers. Shane was a construction worker and Keith was a chef. They looked ADORABLE!

After we Trick or Treated a bit and looked at all the costumes we went home and made our Jack-o-Lantern pizzas. I started this tradition last year because Shane is allergic to egg. Seeing as how egg is used in lots of candy I only took him to one neighbors house and he got one piece of candy that was safe for him to eat. I wanted Shane to have something special last year so we made cookies and a pizza in a pumpkin shape. I wanted it to be a special day for my sweet little one year old not one filled with tears because he could not eat anything that he was given. Truth be told, at the age of one, he did not know any better but I knew this year would be harder so we started our tradition and at least the pizza stuck.

Then we put Keith to bed and popped in a movie for the rest of us while I handed out treats. This year we handed out temporary tattoos and some dye free organic lollipops. Yup, I am that mom with the non traditional treats and proud to be. I could not find a picture of the tattoos but Target had a box of 20 for $2.99 and I grabbed two plus these lollipops from Whole Foods for $3.99 that were really good.

A new tradition was added this year called the Teal Pumpkin Project which encourages communities to have non-food treats available for those that have food allergies. Though Shane has partially outgrown his egg allergy I have a heart for children and their families that miss out on the fun because of a food allergy. It is hard having to tell your kids they can't eat at parties, holidays, and events especially when they are little and don't understand why they can't eat what everyone else is having. I snagged this picture from the 100 Day's of Real Food  Facebook page of  Lisa's family's teal pumpkin where I first read about the project so you could get a visual for the campaign. I did not get around to painting a pumpkin teal but I still had a sign out and handed out some non food treats.

Here are a few ideas taken from the FARE website of what you can hand out instead of candy if you need a bit of inspiration. Next year I will be ready with my teal paint and I hope your family will too!

Glow sticks, bracelets, or necklaces Pencils, pens, crayons or markers Bubbles Halloween erasers or pencil toppers Mini Slinkies Whistles, kazoos, or noisemakers Bouncy balls Finger puppets or novelty toys

Coins Spider rings Vampire fangs Mini notepads Playing cards Bookmarks Stickers Stencils

Energy Balls

Around The Brother's house we have snack every day after the afternoon nap. I also send Brian to work with a snack because working a 10 hour shift is a long stretch to go on one meal. Needless to say, snacks are a very important staple around my here. I like to make something quick, healthy, and easy but finding something that both Brian and Shane will enjoy can be a challenge. I finally found the perfect snack for both Brian and Shane called Energy Balls. However, they are so good, Shane calls them Cookie Balls!

I was introduced to these little snacks after I had Keith. A sweet friend brought them over as a snack along with a meal. Yes, she is a blessing of a lady in my life. We devoured these so I had to get the recipe. You will find recipes for Energy Balls all over. There are lots of variations to. You can swap out the chocolate chips for seeds, nuts, and dried fruit but my family prefers mini chocolate chips and I add in chia seed because Shane eats it and I don't want to miss out on a healthy add in.

The great thing about this quick snack is that it uses honey as a sweeter as opposed to sugar, you can mix and match your add in ingredients to your liking, and they are bite size. If you are short on time you can make these even quicker by pressing, chilling, and cutting them up into bars. They are high in fiber, loaded with healthy ingredients, and I think they are decently clean as far as snacks go which as a mom I think about when picking snacks. I hope your family will enjoy these as much as we do! 

Homemade Chocolate Chip Energy Balls

Ingredients

1/2 c creamy peanut butter

1/3 c honey

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c old-fashioned raw oats

2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (for added flavor you can toast the coconut but its not needed)

1/2 cup ground golden flax seed 

1 T chia seed (optional)

1/3 c mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

2. Stir in wet ingredients until mixture is well combined. 

3. Chill mixture for 30 minutes then roll into 1 inch balls. 

4. Store in an air tight container up to one week. 

That is it! So quick and easy. I hope your family enjoys these as much as mine does!

I Did Not Want Another Boy

When I found out I was having another baby I was over the moon. Brian and I kept the news to ourselves until the second trimester and then proudly proclaimed that we would be a family of four. At twenty weeks we went in for an ultrasound to check on the health of our baby and were asked if we wanted to know the gender. We found out the gender with our first son and again this time. We were having another boy. We we going to have brothers! 

We went home, told Shane, then told our world. However, I was floored that along with the congratulations I was often asked if I wanted a girl this time. Was I disappointed I was having two boys? Would I miss the braids, the bows, the dresses, and the special bond a mother and daughter have? My answer was always the same. I never wanted a boy. I never wanted a girl. I wanted a baby. I was happy to have a healthy baby who happened to be a boy.

My second born was a missing part of my family. I prayed for him. I welcomed him into my heart and into this world. I have watched him grow, thrive, and change and will always love the sweet, winsome, easy going boy that is my second born. So in answer to the many questions of if I wish Keith had been a girl I can easily answer no. I never wished for anything other than another child. I did not want another boy. I wanted a child and who God made him to be.

I am so blessed to be this Little Man's mama.

One of my families favorite books these days is Brothers Forever.  This book talks about the special relationship that brothers have. It shows these two brothers doing chores, building forts, laughing, and even having a disagreement and making up. My boys love this book and in honor of the special bond of brothers I am giving away a copy of Brothers Forever to one lucky reader. Simply enter the contest below. Winner will be contacted by email next week for a shipping address. Good luck!

Next week you can come back and see what we did for Halloween, get a recipe for a healthy snack my family loves, see our fall decorations transition to Thanksgiving, and link up with me again on Thankful Thursday. I hope to have you back next week.

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Thankful Thursdays: The Brothers

Welcome to Thankful Thursdays!

I wanted to start a blog to write down memories of the fun activities I did with my boys, keep track of our favorite recipes, and share a few thoughts on motherhood among other things. My absolute favorite idea was to set aside one day to give thanks. I am smack dab in the middle of the happiest season of my life and I want to be reminded of all that I have been blessed with. So often we are reminded to be thankful when life is not going as planned, we have a bad day, or need a pick me up.  I hope you join me each week to share what you are thankful for no matter life circumstances. So share a comment or link up with The Brothers Mama and share what you are thankful for each Thursday. 

This week I am thankful for The Brothers I am blessed to call my sons. I prayed for this sweet duo and The Lord has blessed me. They are a handful of energy, they make me laugh, they give me the sweetest hugs, and eat up the attention I happily dote upon them. I love these two dearly and cherish my role as their mom.


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Fall Decorations

Fall!

It's my favorite season for so many reasons. I get giddy seeing the leaves change color and hearing them crunch under foot. Pumpkin and apple anything makes my mouth water. I never feel more comfortable than in my skinny jeans, boots, and a warm top with a scarf tossed over. I love the cool weather, the promise of Christmas, the harvest activities, and  the decorations. Sigh. It almost makes my heart skip a beat when I think of this time of year.

As a former teacher I am all about planning and organizing to stay on top of my to do lists. At the end of summer its time to get our home decorated for fall. If I had it my way I would have decorations up at the first sign of fall which in Washington can start a bit early depending on the weather. My husband has a firm rule that I can' t decorate until September 1st so each year the boxes are out on August 31st ready to go. 

As a perfectionist I like my home, neat, clean, and looking like a Pottery Barn windows display. I used to have tables decorated with vases filled with pine cones and acorns, ceramic pumpkins, and dishes filled with candy corn. After I had The Brothers I had to let go of some of the neat and tidy to make room for fun a memories. It took Shane knocking down a huge vase and having it shatter around him for me to realize my need for this change. Total mom fail. Now my decorations are kid safe and not breakable. These days I traded glass fall decor for scarecrow dolls, some fun bell spiders, and pumpkins that the boys can touch and interact with. I still keep some of the old decorations out of little hands reach but I want my kids to have snowmen to hug at Christmas, advent calendars they can play with, little turkey pillows to lay on, and fall leaves to feel between their fingers. So with that said here is how I now decorate for fall with The Brothers in my life. Here is how I make our once neat house a kid friendly, happy, festive home. Come on in!

I like to decorate for fall as opposed for Halloween and Thanksgiving then I add in a few spiders and bats through Halloween and in November swap them out for a few turkeys. It makes my decorations last all season with little effort to transition from each holiday. It's also important to me to have decorations my kids can touch and interact with so they make memories and experience the holidays in our home. I have changed a lot of how I decorate after having kids. It's not quite like a Pottery Barn catalog but it is defiantly a kid friendly zone. So today I am showing you how I start off each year with my fall decorations.

Above my kitchen sink I changed a little display for fall. The square vase I had on hand and filled with extra leaves left over from my table centerpiece. The small box is one Brian made in wood work class in 8th grade and I think its just perfect. It is simple and adds a layer of height to this area and the natural wood color is beautiful. The signs I purchased at The Weed Patch in Bothell Country Village and I added a black bow to one just to make it a bit more Halloween themed. 

Above my kitchen cabinets and strung from my mantel are these great paper bunting banners. I made these last year and have a LOT of them in my home for various holidays and occasions. Shane loves flags so they are extra special and exciting for him. He even has them in his room now because he loves them so much. They add a inexpensive pop of color and are so easy to make. 

On my kitchen window S decorated pumpkins when we made our Halintines and we put them up. Prior to kids I would have cringed at this idea but Shane enjoyed decorating and seeing his art work up and you know what, so do I! I love seeing the boys play with these and that they can be on the window for some fall cheer. 

My table always has these big pumpkins on them scattered with Pottery Barn leaves that I have had for years. The center pumpkin is also Pottery Barn and the two smaller ones on the end I purchased at a small craft store a few years back. If you look close you will see my spiders crawling all over the pumpkins to throw a bit of Halloween in for the first half of fall decorating.  

I found these little spider on clearance one year from The Weed Patch in Bothell Country Village. I love them. They have a bit of glitter for fun, jingle when you shake them because they are made out of bells, and they are sturdy enough so my kids can touch and play with them. Shane thinks the are hands down the best part of our Halloween decorations.

I always purchase a few little pumpkins and add them to tables, the piano, and counter tops.

Right by the inside of the front door I switch out a welcome sign for each season. This one was a gift from years ago and I still use it each fall.

Outside I hang a wreath that has twigs, leaves, and acorns. Some years I hang spider webs but this year and last I have gone for more of a natural theme and cleaner look.

Shane picked out pumpkins for us all when we took the boys to the pumpkin patch the first weekend in October. I usually pot a mum or some kind of orange, red, or yellow flower in my pot that will stay until winter time.

There you have it! Some years I add more but this year with a two year old and a 9 month old it's as much as I could set up for while still keeping it baby proof. Decorations have simplified a lot around the The Brothers house because those boys can break more items and everything goes in the mouth...or an ear...or the nose. This is my happy balance as a mom to two little ones. I keep a bit of fun in while still letting them have their adventures around the house. I hope you enjoyed my little tour. How do you decorate with little ones around? Do you stick with a fall theme or go all out for Halloween?  I always like to hear what others have done!