It's a Zoo Around Here!

We've had a busy week exploring zoo animals this week!

After we made our giraffes on Monday, we added to our zoo with snakes on Tuesday!





Yesterday - Lions! Rawr!





Today we marble-painted some stripes on zebras. Once they're all done drying, we'll add a cute li'l yarn tail and add them to our zoo displays! Everyone loves marble painting!



We snacked on animal crackers today and the kiddos loved it because I told them that I WANTED them to play with their food! (though some of them were really far more interested in eating them!)





We've also been exploring the letter M. We snacked on Marshmallows...





We did some M actions... -Moving like machines...





-Moving like motorboats - (see that tongue making the motor boat sound?!)



-Marching...





-Moving like monsters...





-Acting like monkeys...





We played with and sorted some pretend Money... Which led to playing store and "buying" concert tickets - and throwing money up in the air and dancing in it as it fell just like you know you'd be doing, too, if you had a whole big pile of it like this!







And we looked at the number 8, too! We made necklaces with 8 beads that turned out super cute!

You're Invited - Come Craft the Day Away!

I'm so excited to be getting ready for a fun day in just a couple of weeks. An ALL DAY STAMP/SCRAP get-together! I want anyone and everyone to come join me!

Saturday, December 5 from 9am - 9pm.
Hoyt Community Building

Bring your projects - scrapbooking, cardmaking, gift-making, photo-organizing - whatever!

Come stretch out in the spacious Hoyt Community Building;

Work on your projects;

Enjoy a day with the "girls" and some fun and friends;

Register for door prizes - You can be registered for door prizes (stamp sets!) by RSVPing, Being new to one of my events, Paying in advance, Placing an order any time between now and December 5;

Borrow any of my Stampin' Up! stamps, inks & punches & die cuts; (I will not have paper or consumable materials available for purchase on a cash & carry basis, but will have the above items available for your use at no additional charge! If you need paper, ribbon or accessories, I'll be happy to help you get them ordered through Stampin' Up! before then! Reply with your email address and I'll send you information about my Black Friday sale, too!)

Shop "Garage Sale" stamps (and bring your own to put in the sale! - If you have crafting supplies you want to get rid of, mark them with your name and desired price, bring them this day and let the other gals shop!);

Participate in a card swap - sign up with me by Thanksgiving to make a set # of cars (# dependent on number of people participating), turn in those cards to me on the 5th - receive one card back from everyone participating!

Enjoy the yummy snacks, lunch and dinner I'm making for you (tea, coffee and water available for drinks);

Sign up to make up 6 different Christmas Card designs! You choose how many of each design you want to make! (Only $1.50/card - must be signed up for in advance; see designs below!)

This is the perfect time to work on your Christmas cards, work on Christmas gifts or just get away from the hubbub of the season for a day!

The cost is only $30. (or if you can only come part of the day - come from 9am-3pm or 3pm-9pm for only $15!)

Please sign up to reserve your spot now so I can plan materials and food. Invite your friends!

Need adhesive? I will be placing a bulk adhesive order next Wednesday to arrive by December 5! Only $2.50 for each Tombow refill. Just let me know how many you want and send payment to me before then!

Email: dawnstamping@embarqmail.com, comment here or call me at 785-986-6829.

Card #1


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Card #3


Card #4


Card #5


Card #6

Girls' Night

Last night was our first planned-ahead monthly, Girls Night Out. Being friends with girls who are busy with the kids and their families and their jobs and their homes makes it hard to plan impromptu nights out where very many of us can go. Since our friends are our sisters-by-choice, we wanted to have every opportunity to get as many of us together as possible. So, we've set aside one Monday night each month to get together and hang out, catch up and have fun!

Last night we celebrated Brandi-Loo's birthday from a couple weeks before. Her favorite place is Chili's so we met and Chili's and enjoyed a great meal!

We ordered yummy meals and toasted each other and the birthday girl! Brandi, being the fun nut she is, brought in party favors for all of us! Twilight candies, plates & napkins - in anticipation of the upcoming New Moon movie!







And some of us were too full for dessert, but Brandi and Lisa indulged and seemed to enjoy every crumb!!!





I wasn't the best at fully documenting the night as I didn't catch a picture of all of us or even Kelli at all :o(. But we were a loud, fun, silly group of 5 last night! Me, Lisa, Brandi, Kim and Kelli!

Our waiter wasn't sure about us, but we had a blast. We had a great time together and even though our evening was cut short by the snow, I know we're all looking forward to doing it again next month, when hopefully the gals who we all missed last night can join us!

Fall Family Fun!

It was cloudy. The high was in the 50s. There were no leaves on the trees. A great day to stay inside? Nope! Not for our family! We loaded up, geared up and headed out with the 4-wheelers again!

This time we were the only ones at the ride area so it was like our own little private trail system. We started out with nice, clean quads - knowing it wouldn't last...











And it didn't! Not only were the quads not clean by the first trek through the woods, neither were we! And it was great!





We still share quads so we take turns riding together. When it wasn't our turn to ride, we hung out by the bonfire, having fun together, reading, relaxing - perfect!



The kids found plenty of things to do to entertain themselves - ... they found a turtle. He quickly become Chloe's buddy - and she spent a lot of the afternoon singing to him! Too funny!





...made a make-shift trampoline.





...got some tree-chopping experience.





...And - no picture of this - Tyler managed to catch her shoe on fire! Luckily, she noticed it before she felt it!!

Knowing it would be cool that day, I planned a warm lunch. We grilled hamburgers. Being a ding-bat that morning - I totally forgot the buns! So we had "BBs" - Bunless Burgers - with all the fixin's! And - since we had planned on eating them as sandwiches, we had to make do with silverware we found in the clubhouse that day - spoons and knives - to eat our lunch with. It was hilarious and will be a great memory for us!



We had a blast riding that day, too - it's so carefree to have the trails all to ourselves. Happily - I did not get stuck even once this time! We had a fabulous time just enjoying nature! Spencer and Bronson even chased some deer through a field on one of their treks out!



Chloe is just learning to ride this year and is doing great! This time, she got to go off the open circle track in the campground and into the woods on a track there - and... there was a mud puddle! She loved it! She did a wonderful job and is getting much more confident - she'll be hitting the trails with us before we know it. And - what an amazing daddy she has! He hooks a tether to the kill switch on her little quad - that way, if she/it gets away from him, he can yank on that tether to kill the engine and keep her safe. He held onto that tether, running around the track over and over with her until it was nearly dark because she was having so much fun! He was exhausted from his own riding that day and he just kept on going because he wanted her to learn and have fun - fills my heart!





That was probably our last trip out this year - the weather is just not going to cooperate so it's time to winterize the machines and say good-bye 'til spring. Can't wait to start back up then!

Let's Go to the Zoo!

Or not... Because of this...





I cannot believe it's snowing today. I'm really not ready for it, but we have made the best of it and had a great morning exploring the mmmm sound and the letter that spells that sound - M. We made Macaroni Ms and played with Magnets.















We also started a fun week of zoo animals! Today we talked about giraffes and made these adorable giraffes with finger-print spots - so cute! Even if we ended up with stained up, ooey-gooey hands!







Can't wait to see what animal we'll visit from the zoo tomorrow!

Goin' on a Bear Hunt

Wrapping up our week of woodland creatures, today we explored bears!

We talked about the many different things we know about bears. We made these adorable bears - painted them with glue mixed with coffee grounds. They look rough and furry and they smell wonderful!





My favorite part of today - we made bear paws! The kids love cooking with me and they had a great time making these!

We took plain ol' refrigerator biscuits. One whole biscuit got coated with cinnamon-sugar, the placed on a cookie sheet (and yes, my cookie sheets are Well Loved/Used!).



Next, we broke another biscuit into 3 parts and rolled them into balls,



coated each of the 3 balls in cinnamon sugar.



Then we put the 3 smaller biscuit balls next to the big coated biscuit - for the toes!



What bear paw is complete without claws? We added almond sliver claws...



Then we repeated, repeated and repeated until we had a tray full of biscuit bear paws - ready to bake!



Now, they are cooling and ready to snack on after naps! Can't wait!



Next week: Zoo Animals!

Awww - nuts!

And squirrels! We had lots of fun today talking about the cute little rodents, errr I mean critters - squirrels! We made these adorable squirrel pictures with furry, fluffy tails - the little ones got to test out all kinds of vocabulary - soft, fluffy, brown, pretty... So much fun hearing all these words around here lately!





We also explored a variety of nuts - we checked 'em out with magnifying glasses, sorted them, counted them and tasted them! Just like squirrels! We had a couple run quick to the trash can to spit out nuts they didn't care for, but everyone still seemed to enjoy it.











And to whine about the sacrifices I make in efforts to expand the world and minds of these little ones, here's my new blood blister... created while cracking these stinkin' nuts! :o( It's all worth it, but dang it - that hurt! But, I promise - I didn't teach the kiddos any new words! :o)



Tomorrow - BEARS!