It’s almost trick-or-treating time! As excited as your kids may be for their forthcoming sugar high, it’s important that we parents perform a couple of simple safety checks before letting them dig into their Halloween loot.
So join me over on The Neighborhood today as I share six Halloween candy safety tips all parents need to remember.
(And then feel at ease as you steal your little one’s miniature candy bars while they’re sleeping!)
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween! Is your candy bowl filled? Doorbell in working order? How about your pumpkins — are they carved or decorated?
If you’re looking for a last minute Halloween arts-and-crafts project for your preschooler, why not make a drip paint pumpkin? Granted, it likely won’t be dry by the time trick-or-treaters start ringing your bell, but it’ll be a fun way to pass the time this afternoon.
(Or you can always bookmark this post or pin these images to Pinterest and make some colorful drip paint pumpkins next Halloween!)
Here’s what you’ll need:
I was inspired to make a drip paint pumpkin after sharing Stacy’s painted pumpkins in my no-carve pumpkin decorating round-up. Levi was incredibly excited, repeatedly asking if it was time to paint pumpkins. We set up shop in the unfinished portion of our basement the weekend that my parents were in town — with three adults crafting and one adult carving pumpkins, we needed space to spread out (and get messy!).
It turned out that, at 27 months old, Levi was a bit too young to fully appreciate our arts-and-crafts project. He lacked the hand strength to really squeeze the paint bottles without assistance — and the patience to see the pumpkin painting process through to the end!
However, Levi was happy enough to suggest and hand over paint colors and wander around inspecting everyone’s work. Occasionally, he’d sit front of his small pumpkin to smear more paint with a paintbrush or apply more Halloween stickers.
Here’s a tip: In addition to dripping paint on top of the pumpkin, squeeze the paint onto the pumpkin’s sides just past where it starts to curve. Gravity will help the paint slide down easier!
When the paint was completely dry we spray the pumpkins with a clear acrylic sealer to give them a subtle glossy coating and (hopefully) make them slightly moisture-resistant. However, we still noticed that the paint still shriveled and cracked a bit as it dried — perhaps because we waited several days before applying the acrylic sealer. Not that it really matters; this is disposable art, anyway!
I’d love to see the pumpkins you carved or decorated for Halloween! Please post a link in the comments below or share a photo on our Facebook page. And, of course, have a very happy Halloween!
After a sudden onset of nausea around 10pm yesterday, I spent all of last night awake and vomiting and crying. We finally decided to drive over to the women’s hospital ER at 4:30am, where they hooked me up to an IV and let Zofran work its magic.
As I type, JB is rushing to get Levi dressed and ready for school. It’s class picture day, and we’re running late after being discharged at the peak of rush hour. Oh, and Levi needs a bath because the coconut oil I massaged into his head last night to relieve a random bout of cradle cap left his hair disgustingly greasy-despite washing it out at bedtime.
Sigh. I can blame this chaos on Mercury in retrograde, right?
Now excuse me while I take tiny sips of water and hope it stays down. See you on the flip side.
We went pumpkin picking again this weekend, increasing our total pumpkin count to nine! Whereas our trip to Vala’s Pumpkin Patch with my parents was a big production that included lunch, a train ride, a petting zoo, and more, this was a quick one-hour outing to Bellevue Berry Farm and Pumpkin Ranch. But we got to take a hayrack ride to the pumpkin patch!
Rather than schlepping along my DSLR camera, I decided to only use my new iPhone 5S to take photos. The picture quality is so much better than my old iPhone 4, which means that I’m likely going to take even more photos than before. (And I was taking a lot of photos!)
Between our two pumpkin picking and pumpkin carving adventures, I definitely have enough mobile phone pictures to create a Halloween photo book — and that’s not even counting pictures of Levi in his costume!
Instead of transferring all of my iPhone pics to my computer, this year I’m going to make life easier by creating a photo book straight from my phone using the new Blurb mobile app. Blurb’s Small Square (7×7 inch) books start at $12.99 for a 20-page softcover, and shipping is just $3.99.
With Blurb mobile you can also import the photos and videos in your camera roll (including your saved Instagram pics), add captions, and record audio to create shareable online stories. They’re kind of like digital books that you can email to family and friends or share on your favorite social media sites.
You can even create a Blurb mobile shareable online story for instant gratification and then order it as a beautifully bound book (minus the audio track) to have as a keepsake.
What do you do with all of the photos your take on your phone? Print them? Create photo books? Nothing?
P.S. — Don’t feel like carving your pumpkins? Get inspired by these nine no-carve pumpkin ideas. Plus, my favorite iPhone photo editing apps and sticky notes for your iPhone.
Pregnancy is really killing my productivity. Twice this week I fell asleep on the couch when I should have been working.
Growing a baby makes your body tired. Unfortunately, part of my exhaustion also stems from the fact that I haven’t been sleeping well lately. I’ve been having really, really scary dreams — the kind that make you toss and turn and wake up in the middle of the night sweaty. I’m no stranger to anxiety-ridden nightmares, but these have been more frightening than stressful. I’m talking monsters-and-murderers frightening.
Do you ever try to interpret your dreams? What could mine mean? Are my nightmares related to the moon’s cycle or something? Or are they just bizarre pregnancy dreams? I’d love to know how I can start having more restful nights…soon!
While I take a nap, here are five links to explore this weekend…
Once when I was little, I fell asleep wearing Lee Press-On Nails, and my hair stylist found them tangled up in my hair during my pre-haircut shampoo the next day. True story! Although I’m still wary of the longevity (and look) of press-on nails, Kara from Beauty Bets claims these last a week and look natural. I’m curious, would you try them?
Levi was so excited to paint pumpkins for Halloween that I’m actively searching for more art projects we can do together. I found some good ones in this round-up on Spoonful of 20 art activities for two year olds.
I may have a donut eating addiction (and Levi may be able to identify a brown Dunkin’ Donuts napkin as a “coffee napkin”), but Kelly from Studio DIY has a donut DIY addiction! Her dessert-inspired mini pumpkins are maybe the cutest Halloween craft ever.
Lauren from The Little Things We Do has inspired me to throw together a toddler Halloween party, but I’m not sure planning something for this weekend is possible. Yet I feel like it’s strange to celebrate Halloween once the calendar flips to November (next weekend, friends!). Tell me, am I overthinking this?
Is it really time to start thinking about 2014 calendars?! I like the idea of one-page calendars that double as art prints to hang in my office/guest room/baby #2’s room, and Oh So Beautiful Paper has a great round-up of pretty options.
See you back here on Monday!
