Our fall leaf people

We are enjoying the beginning of Fall weather here in our little west corner. 

So the next obvious thing to do is make 

Fall Leaf People,  you know those little creations that come from the fallen leaves. ;) 

We used a glue stick and a hot glue gun for the larger sticks.

Isaac loved this and made his creations without much help, except the hot glue gun. 

This one was mine. The kids called it the 'fat leaf fairy'. :) 

On the day that we went and collected these things I was determined to find a place away from apartments and not one of the two parks we go to ALL the time. It is very hard to go for nature walks here and I had a moment that day to feel bad about it or ask the Lord to help me find somewhere to go. We got in the car and I prayed. I was reminded of a little walking area that is REALLY small but it has lots of trees so off we went. It really was amazing to me how much kids just love to be out, they did not notice that it was really small and had no grass just dirt. They had a riot looking for bits and bobs for our creations. My attitude and determination make such a difference in the fun of our days. Also that day I was again reminded the Lord cares about my/our daily lives and that makes my heart full.

Enjoy the beginning of this glorious fall weather. 

Tea will be abundant at my house so feel free to stop by!!!

Learning to ask the Lord to help me 'use what I have' to create and enjoy life. 

In my little west corner,

Becky

Our Thanksgiving ideas, crafts and SHOW

Our Turkey Veggie Tray! (or is it a Dog ??)

We had a few Turkish friends over during the Thanksgiving dinner, we asked one of them what he thought this was.  He thought for a bit and then said a DOG! Ha ha ~ I laughed pretty hard because of course all the Americans said a Turkey because they knew that is what it is suppose to be. So really what does this veggie try look like?(lol)

If you remember our little tp tube pumpkins, they became our napkin and name tag holders!!! This was a great way to reuse our craft for the Thanksgiving table. :)

In order to teach my kids about Thanksgiving and the history  I decided to do a few crafts to help as aids. It helps me to tell the story, I am not the best teacher but I can do much better when I have a craft to point to. So here is what we did..

Thanksgiving Crafts 

Pilgrim paper bonnets and pilgrim paper hat.

Water bottle boats to represent the Mayflower.

Our fun corn craft. Popcorn corn of plenty.

This is a PERFECT craft for little boys. My little guy doesn't love crafts so much right now but he loves to EAT and sooooo this worked out perfect, half in the mouth half on the craft.

Cardboard tube pilgrims and Indians.

We used one long thin tube and turned it into the pilgrims and Indians.

My oldest daughter came to me a day before we celebrated Thanksgiving and asked if she could do a show. She incorporated all the crafts we had made and came up with a show all on her own, that she preformed at our friends house on Thanksgiving day. We were really proud of her. It was fun for her to be excited about her own cultures history and watch her talents come out.

She used the corn to show a great harvest had finally come to the Pilgrims. 

Here she is at the beginning of her little 'show'.

Off I go to start thinking and planning for her 8 year old Birthday and Birthday cake that is in 3 days. ~ 

In our west corner of Turkey having enjoyed a weekend of our American traditions.

Becky

Thanksgiving Mail opened!

Thanksgiving morning (or rather Friday morning when we celebrated our Thanksgiving) the kids ran to get our Thanksgiving Mailbox, it was mail time!

Over breakfast of homemade scones and tea/coffee, everyone received an envelope with notes inside from each of us about the things in that person we were grateful for.  The  two older girls LOVED it and just shined when they read or we read to them all the encouraging notes. 

 We also read all the things we had written over the two weeks that we were grateful for. The kids enjoyed it more than I thought and it was a fun way to celebrate Thanksgiving morning.

With a heart full of gratitude. 

In our west corner enjoying our mail,

Becky

I HAVE LEARNED THE SECRET OF BEING CONTENT IN ANY AND EVERY SITUATION, WHETHER WELL FED OR HUNGRY, WHETHER LIVING IN PLENTY OR IN WANT. I CAN DO EVERYTHING THROUGH HIM WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH." PHIL. 4:12,13