Thanksgiving Photos and Crafts 2014 December 4, 2014

Hello dear ones! I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving and that you are enjoying the Christmas season. This year we made Thankful jars to store our thankfulness during the month of November. On Thanksgiving we took turns reading our blessings. The person who had the most in their jar, won the first slice of pie. Mom won. I also made these pilgrim hat place settings. I saw the idea online to use these as crayon holders for kids but I wanted it to be more.

Fof the Thankful jars I had Michael paint his handprint and we made it into a turkey. Then we put a thankful verse on the other side of the jar.

Chris did a great job on the ham and turkey. The turkey was a lil late so I didn’t get a pic. Mom and I tag teamed the rest of the meal. I usually cook most of mine the night before. It’s easier that way. We spent the morning watching The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

Michael helped me make pies this year.

After we ate we took down all the fall decor and put up Christmas decorations. I needed all the help I could get this year.

Mom helping Michael decorate his room.

Chris went hunting the next day.

Well, that’s how we spent our Thanksgiving. How about you? What traditions do you have? God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Fall Wrap Up in Second Life November 30, 2014

Hello dear ones! Another post long overdue. I took these pictures in SecondLife for Autumn. There’s The Bayou and The Garden of Dreams. Both are gorgeous. Enjoy! God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

The Bayou

I love the rain.

Lovely Fall Colors

The Garden of Dreams

Playing Piano

The Tree in The Garden of Dreams

There are these great bubbles that take you to dream locations. Here is a cozy library.

Fall Festivals, Pumpkin Carving, & Archery 2014 November 4, 2014

Hello dear ones! How are you? We ended October with several fall festivals and pumpkin carving. I thought I’d share with you :). This year I was a Snowy Owl and Michael was a Ninja Turtle. Chris didn’t dress up.

Snowy Owl costume~ I wore an off white dress with white tights. I sewed white feathers onto the dress. I glued feathers onto a mask and used a black Sharpee for the markings. A white feather boa was my wings. I put my hair up in a white and black bandana.

Snowy Owl makeup~ I dusted my face with white eye shadow. I put tons of white eye shadow on my brow and put yellow in the crease of my eyes. I used black mascara for the markings. My eyes are hooded so it’s really hard to see the makeup. My mask covered most of my face so the makeup didn’t have to be perfect.

A couple Fall Festival pics
Our church

The Museum- Michael with living art for the scavenger hunt

Chris and Michael tag teamed to make a Darth Vader pumpkin carving.

Michael cleaned out the pumpkin guts.

Chris found the pattern online and carved the pumpkin.

The results: one really cool pumpkin!

Lastly, Chris, Michael, & a couple guy friends got together for a day of archery practice. I didn’t go so of course there weren’t many pictures. I’ve got one of Chris to show you.

So how did you spend October? Did you catch any festivals? Did you dress up? As what? God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles) 2014 October 28, 2014

Hello dear ones! This is our 7th year celebrating Sukkot. Usually we go camping but pregnancy and other circumstances changed our plans. We did however continue our pottery tradition, learn about some neat birds, and enjoy a small town Harvest Hoedown.

I’ve got a couple of links to update you on this holiday and our family traditions.

• Here’s info on what the holiday celebrates and Sukkot pictures going back to when Michael was itty bitty:
  https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/my-family-rocks-sunday-sukkot-the-feast-of-tabernacles/
• Last year’s Sukkot celebrations at Enota Campground and the Dahlonega Gold Mines. Also a short trip to Helen, Ga:  https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/09/29/my-family-rocks-sunday-sukkot-at-enota-dahlonega-gold-mines/
• Our trip to the pottery store last year and a look at how it all works:                   https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/crafty-monday-part-1-ancient-egypt/
• A look at last year’s pottery when it was finished and also a picture of all our Sukkot pottery together (minus this year): https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/crafty-monday-ancient-israel-and-her-neighbors/

Autumn is a very special time for our family. I go to town with the decorating because it’s my favorite season. Sukkot (a Biblical harvest celebration) is one of my favorite holidays. We usually go camping since Sukkot means feast of booths/tents basically. We also take a trip to the pottery store and paint harvest themed pottery. This year I did a bowl with owls on it. Since I’m pregnant I added an egg for “the year of the baby”. Michael painted a small owl. We spend hours at the shop and we have to wait a week to pick up the finished product. Here’s pictures of our pottery in the works.

I was thrilled to be able to celebrate Sukkot this year. Morning sickness ruined any chance I had at celebrating Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Talk Like a Pirate Day (I like holidays). I knew I wouldn’t be able to tent camp though. So I booked a cabin at Roosevelt State Park. Unfortunately, when we got there we couldn’t stay. A water line had burst and the management booked us a room at Callaway Inn instead. We were a bit disappointed. I had cooked a lot of food and most of it went to waste. We couldn’t play the guitar and the t.v. was a distraction we wouldn’t have had in the cabin. There was no camping about it. But we did however get into Callaway Gardens for free and we still got to see Roosevelt State Park.

Pic: The view from Roosevelt State Park on Pine Mountain.

We did make a leaf chain to decorate our “sukkah”, which was a hotel room. It didn’t have the same feel at all but Michael got to have fun collecting leaves atleast.

We had a big breakfast at the Inn restaurant. We hadn’t budgeted to eat out but it was nice to eat well. We visited Callaway Gardens which was right by the Inn. We’ve been to Callaway many times but we’ve never seen their Birds of Prey program until now. It was great to see an owl, a hawk, and a vulture in person. Okay, the vulture wasn’t that glamorous. I learned about the benefits of vultures but I did not enjoy the thing flying so close over my head. Here’s a pic of my favorite critter: the owl.

We took a walk in the vegetable garden. It’s a great place to take photos. Here are my favorites.

So it wasn’t camping and we did end up watching a lot of HGTV (we don’t have cable at home), but we did do our devotional and learn about the harvest. The day we left we caught a small town harvest hoedown in Warm Springs, Ga. We found our pumpkin for the year (another Sukkot tradition). You’ll see pictures of it in another post when the guys carved it. Warm Springs is such a charming town. The festival was small but quaint. We walked away with home cooked barbeque and some delicious funnel cake. Here are my favorite pictures.

Balloon animals!

Country music while we chomped down on boiled peanuts

Michael decorating a small pumpkin

We didn’t get to have our s’mores and hotdogs until we got home that night. We’ve got a fire pit in the backyard so it worked out.

The best laid plans don’t always work out but you can still have fun if you’re flexible. Our Sukkot celebrations are usually not by the book and this year they weren’t for sure. But it’s important to get to the heart of any holiday. The Israelites lived in tents in the desert. They faced all kinds of hardship and unexpected events. Our plans didn’t work out and we had to stay in a dwelling that wasn’t what we wanted. Our sukkah was a hotel room but it still wasn’t home. It’s a reminder as believers that the Earth is a temporary dwelling. Our true home is in Heaven. For now we are pilgrims and this world is our wilderness. It’s a crazy journey with surprises around each corner. But the Lord Jesus dwells with us and reminds us that home isn’t that far.

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: Enjoy these festive pics of our cat Chester (Winchester).

My Family Rocks! Sunday: Terabithia & Costume Fun November 3, 2013

In this post: The family transforms Michael’s playhouse into Terabithia. Costume fun at Fall festivals. Also a pumpkin carving and owls that share God’s love :). Meet Glinda/Evanora, Bilbo the Hobbit, and Jace from Duck Dynasty!

Hello dear ones! We’ve had an eventful October. We don’t do scary stuff on Halloween. We like to go to Fall festivals throughout the month. So costume fun isn’t just one day for us. I’m really against anything gory or ghoulish. I love Autumn and I love dressing up though (candy’s not that bad either). I also think Halloween itself is a great opportunity to reach out to kids.

Michael helped me color these owl papers and I put John 3:16 on the back. Then I taped it to a bag of candy.

I grew up being well aware of the roots of Halloween etc… But I believe what the enemy means for bad can be put to use for the good (in some cases…). For example, the mall had trick or treat and a church gave out candy bags to hundreds of kids. We got home and found a gospel tract in the bag. So hundreds of kids were given the gospel of Jesus….because of Halloween.  This is also why we keep our light on and leave a bowl of candy. One year we gave away cds with the gospel message for kids on it (cute musical). I don’t believe Christians should fear the day.

Another Halloween tradition that can be used for good is the Jack-o-lantern. We like to carve pumpkins and we don’t worship the devil ;). The story behind the Jack-o-lantern is grim but I like to put the light to good use. Jesus is the light of the world and what better night to share His light than Halloween when all manner of ghouls are glorified? Chris is pretty handy and he’s carved elaborate designs like “Jesus loves you” and a cross before. This year we went simple and stayed with “God’s love” as a theme. So we had a big heart. I didn’t bother with real candles this year.

Michael used gloves to dig out the pumpkin guts. My lil man doesn’t like to get his hands dirty! 🙂 We saved the guts so we can plant the seeds back in the pumpkin later. Chris carved the pumpkin but I came up with the design. So it was a family matter.

Now, a little break from trick or treat. I’ll get back to the costumes in a bit :).

Michael finished reading “The Bridge to Terabithia” the week before. I wanted to save the details for today since the biggest Terabithia project was a family thing.  Michael read the book and reviewed with me. I had him draw his own fantasy land in his reading journal. It’s called “Funnyland” with “magic and funniness”. He also made a leaf crown which we reused for our Greek studies. We were going to build a small bridge but didn’t.  We also watched the movie. But the best idea came from Michael….

He wanted to transform his playhouse into Terabithia. I’ve been wanting to paint the faded playhouse for ages. Chris took Michael to the hardware store to pick out paint. I found various odds and ends to make a wind chime or “bells”. I hung up string to make a nature loom that Michael could weave leaves and flowers into. Then we all painted. You can see “Terabithia” written on the top. Chris helped me fill an old tire with dirt and Michael’s flowers. Chris also cut pieces of wood so I could have fantasy road signs. We have Narnia, Terabithia, Oz, the Shire, and my own fictional city, Davar.  I went back later and made “Narnia” more legible. I’ve never had nice handwriting.

Michael likes to read and do schoolwork inside Terabithia. It was a lovely sunny week so what the who! I love the bubbles picture. My baby is adorable :).

Now, for costume fun. Are you ready to meet some celebrities? Okay, so it’s really us but I think our costumes were great for the price. Jace was super easy. Chris was just himself!  He usually keeps his hair back in a pony tail though. If you’ve kept up with this blog then you know we love Duck Dynasty. They remind us of family :).  Michael’s Hobbit costume did cost a pretty penny and we had to order it online but his was the only one.

I decided to be two people. This time I was Evanora the wicked witch of the East from the movie “Oz the Great and Powerful”. I don’t like evil but I really liked Evanora’s style. No one knew who I was but this outfit was the prettiest of the two.  I got the black dress from Goodwill way back when. I added green sleeves. I bought the necklace online. It’s not the official necklace but it’s so much prettier. I got the earrings at Target. I will be re-wearing the jewelry often for sure.  I ordered Evanora’s head band online.  I had difficulty achieving her hairstyle so I did a simple bun and pulled my part loose a bit. I went with green eye shadow and lots of silver glitter.

We all went to a church Fall festival and visited my Mom afterwards.

Then on Halloween day I was Glinda the good witch of Oz. I mixed old Glinda with the new. So I have the modern Glinda’s crown and wand. My dress is pink for the old Glinda.  I wore light make up with silver and blue eye shadow. I added glitter too. It’s hard to tell with flash. I felt prettier in this outfit than I actually was. I should’ve used the pink fabric for a shawl instead of sewing it to the back of my dress. I had so many wardrobe issues.  I’ve had the pink dress forever. The tutu I made for Mom during our Oz party. I just made it shorter for me. My white tights were black from Evanora’s shoes :(. That little jewel on the crown left a bruise.

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/my-family-rocks-sunday-were-off-to-see-the-wizard/

Michael and I “trick or treated” at the library and mall. No one knew who I was this time either but all the little girls lit up and said “Look at the princess!”.  For a night I felt like a character at Disney World. There were adults dressed up but I think I was the only poofy pink adult princess. So the kids wanted to say “hi” to me. I felt like a nicer person in the Glinda costume. Ha!

I got so excited that I decided to have a fashion show when I got home. I even pulled out my wedding dress from the closet. It’s been 8 or 9 years since I’ve taken it out. I was happy to see that I still fit. It was a tad tight but that’s it. I really like that dress. I’m planning a costume for it without the train. I know I can never sell my dress and I hate for it to collect dust. It’s such a pure white dress…so delicate…sigh.

And I leave you with this…

Chris feeding Tessa with chopsticks. Ignore the cat’s bottom. What a week! Did you dress up this year? Please share your costumes/ kid’s costumes in the comments :). God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Crafty Monday Part 2: More Fall Crafts September 16, 2013

Hello dear ones, I hope you are well. I’ve got several Fall crafts to share with you: pillows, a family sign, and another fabulous centerpiece.

• “Give Thanks” centerpiece 

I found this idea online and you can see the links on my Pinterest at the end of this post.

This was super simple to make. I painted wooden blocks of various shapes different Fall colors. Then I glued them together, modge podged it to seal them, and glued a bow to the top.

• Autumn Sign

This idea was actually original. I needed a Fall sign to replace my heart sign in the kitchen.  So I painted a wooden sign and added wooden owls to it.

I hung the little wooden pieces by gluing the twine to the back. I put various Fall items on them. They don’t hang evenly but I guess that gives the sign character. Also I’m too lazy to pull off the glue.

I just had to throw in a pic of my crazy cat.

• Owl pillows

I wanted more Fall pillows for the couch. I usually don’t sew but I couldn’t find the right pillows anywhere.

So I found some gorgeous orange material with white dots on it. I bought some brown ribbon and little owl buttons.

You can tell from the zig zags that this is not professional.

I stuffed the pillows and then I wrapped them with ribbon and sewed the ribbon to the pillow. I sewed the owl buttons to the center of the bow.  They’re not perfect but I’m very happy with them.  You’d think the button would make the pillows uncomfortable but actually they are very fluffy and nice. I often prop one behind my back.

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: Here’s where I got inspiration for the sign:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/82824080619698752/

Crafty Monday Part 2: Forcing Autumn September 9, 2013

In this post: A Fall centerpiece, a personalized Fall wreathe, and Autumn decor. Homeschool fall craft links at the end.

Hello dear ones! I wanted to split up today’s post between fall crafts and what we’re doing in school. I’ve got several awesome Fall in the works. It may still feel like Summer…and technically be Summer but dog gone it I’m ready for Fall! So my house has already had the Autumn make over.

I started with this Autumn centerpiece. I got the idea here: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/82824080619698749/ & here:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/82824080620624050/

I filled a glass vase with popcorn kernels and then put a candle inside. I hot-glued cinnamon sticks around the smaller candles and tied them together with twine.  The orange cloth was on sale at Joann’s fabric store.

The Fall Biblical feasts have started and I’m so excited :). I love Sukkot! I put out our shofars for Trumpets. The real shofar was chewed up by a dog we had. So it doesn’t work anymore.

The craft stores were having Labor day sales. I got several owl mugs. I really like owls :).

Our kitchen window all ready for Fall. The owl picture frame is new. I still need to put a picture in it. The ceramic owl and small black cat were painted by Michael at a pottery store. We made the acorn picture frame last year.

It just feels warm and comforting to have the color orange in my bedroom. I added an owl pillow to my Fall covers this year. Orange is my favorite color…for now.

I replaced my porcelain doll with a scarecrow on top of the piano. I also have a pumpkin basket with fake corn in it, a vase filled with pumpkin potpourri, mini scarecrows, & fall flowers, and there’s a fake pumpkin that I may carve later for a diorama. I even have Fall lights. You’re getting the picture. I love Fall :). The lights are new and they have leaves, pumpkins, and corn on them. It’s perfect for celebrating the harvest.

This tall lady scarecrow is new. I plan on sitting her in the doorway once Chris’ tools get moved to the new shed. She’s an indoor scarecrow and as tall as a child.

Time to bring out my Autumn paintings. The one to the left is a painting I did of a farm.  I got my inspiration somewhere else but the work is my own.  On the right is a painting of our cat Chester when he was a kitten.  Our couch actually has a fall throw on it but I took a picture before hand. I have a couple of fall pillows. This one is of a turkey but I have one of pumpkins as well. I bought those pillows the morning before my Dad died. Yeah…bitter sweet.

Personalized Fall Wreathe

I browsed several wreathes to form this idea. I took a styrofoam circle and wrapped it with orange ribbon. The ribbon says “Harvest blessings” or something like that. I made a brown bow and stick it on with a diamond pin. I wrapped a wooden letter “D” (for my last name) with brown and white ribbon. I hung it with twine from the center.

I thought I’d have more to show you but I didn’t finish some of my crafts. I’ll have to show you my homemade signs next week and hopefully I can make fall pillows for the couch. I’m not good at sewing but I want to try.

Last year in homeschool, we did some really fun fall themed crafts. I hope you check them out.

• Pumpkin Celebration ~ pumpkin crafts, games, and a homemade scarecrow! You’ve got to see the pumpkin diorama 🙂 https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/crafty-monday-pumpkins-sukkot/
• Candy corn, crows, and homemade root beer. The Fall inchies are too cute! https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/crafty-monday-candy-corn-and-homemade-rootbeer/
• Apple Week~ apple crafts, math games, & treats! https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/crafty-monday-apple-week/
• Owl week~ everything you need for a study on owls…crafts, treats, books, & a math game.  https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/crafty-monday-owls/
• Bats & Falling leaves~ several fall crafts: acorns, bats, pumpkins, spiders, & also World Pasta Day. https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/crafty-monday-bats-falling-leaves-world-pasta-day/

We’re not as seasonally focused this year because we’re doing a lot of world history and geography. That makes me a bit sad. Michael is growing up and the crafts have to as well. I miss second grade :(. But at least I can do my own Autumn crafts and I’m sure I can sneak in a few fall crafts during homeschool before the season is over.

Yeah, we named one of our almost adopted twins that died, Autumn Grace. I wrote a story about the twins awhile back, Anywho, my daughter in Heaven (if she’s a girl) is named Autumn. So yeah…I’m kind of obsessed with this season. Most of my friends are too, so happy times are comin’ :).

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Virtual Friday: Autumn in Second Life October 26, 2012

Remember: You can click on the links to visit these virtual places! 🙂

Hello friends and welcome to Virtual Friday! Today I take you to the virtual world of Second Life. I’ve been searching for fun family friendly things to do this fall in SL. Autumn is tricky because most of the virtual world is focused on Halloween. Back in rl (real life) we don’t  celebrate Halloween. I enjoy fall festivals and dressing up but I don’t like spooky things and I don’t celebrate death.

I also believe that ghosts a.k.a familiar spirits are demons. Demons like to mimic humans. It’s a great deception Satan uses to make people think their loved ones wander the earth. Thankfully there are only two choices when someone dies…Heaven or Hell. I know which one I choose. So don’t expect me to haunt your neck of the woods. Sorry but I won’t be here ;).

Anywho, I have not been on SecondLife in weeks. I was very surprised to go out my door and find my neighbors houses all spooked. My blue house is on the right (completely unscary) and you can see the pumpkins and ghosts on my neighbors’ houses.
What?!

With a little bit of investigating, I figured it out. My neighborhood is having a Halloween contest.

Well, what am I to do? Decorate of course……..for Fall. I know I won’t win the contest but still it’s nice to have pumpkins everywhere. I went on a fall leaf hunt through SL and won a few freebies.  Still, most of my decor I had to buy. Voila!

This great kiddie sim has a fall festival. Get over there before it ends and scrounge up some great deals! I found my lovely fall decor at these vendors. Remember you can click on the pics to make them bigger.

Visit EverLasting Family (85, 73, 24)

For all of you adult avatars, check out the french shopping district, Rue D’Antibes. Most of the shops look classy and pretty modest. The streets have a nice atmosphere.

Visit Rue DAntibes (90, 85, 28)

Rawnie Lane has this lovely Fall art gallery. You can purchase her pics to decorate your own virtual home.

Visit Mellor (241, 80, 22)

Upstairs her gallery features artwork by Babydoll.

Lastly, I took some great pictures at Wondering Dew. Warning: this place is a bit creepy but thankfully it’s not terrifying.

Visit Wondering Dew (167, 60, 22)

I stuck around to listen to the radio theater. It’s supposed to be scary but it’s not. Old horror movies and radio shows don’t bother me because they are way too dramatic to bring fear. It’s all the gory horror movies these days that bother me and ones that are based on real things like demonic possession. That’s the kind of stuff I don’t want in my over-imaginative head!

When I acted with Family Theatre, I did a few “scary” plays but really they had more comedy than anything.

Arsenic & Old Lace- I played the fiance of a man whose elderly aunts were poisoning old bachelors to “help” them out of their miserable lonely lives. Then they buried the men in the basement and had funeral services. The creepy thing was that they thought they were good Christian women. It became funny when the nephew, Mortimer, found out and tried to thwart their plans. Throw in a brother who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt and another brother that’s an ex-con and it gets really crazy! The worst part for me was nearly being strangled.

I’m bottom left and second to top right.

Ten Little Indians a.k.a And Then There Were None– This play based on Agatha Christie’s book is not nearly as creepy as her book. It actually has a happy ending so to speak. I played the “sexy” secretary, Vera Claythorne, which in Family Theatre mean’t I had to wear very uncomfortable high heels. I actually tripped and skipped backwards over a couch in these high heels while stealing a “gun” from my character’s love interest.

I’m in the middle, the one with the painful heels of death.

Ten Little Indians is about a group of not so innocents that are invited to a mysterious island. Trapped on the island they are picked off one by one. Since they are the only ones on the island the murderer has to be one of them. It sounds like Clue doesn’t it? What makes it super creepy is that the murders are based upon the poem “Ten Little Indians” and every time someone dies an Indian figurine goes missing. I did a lot of screaming in this play. I also got slapped….not fun.

By golly, I think she’s dead. Now repeat this 8 more times.

Oh, and I almost got hanged by the “real” murderer.

We did this play the weekend of Halloween a couple of years ago. It truly was a strange play. We had several actors drop out…some by illness and some for other reasons. Our director was mugged the day of dress rehearsal. She was actually playing a part in the play because an actress was too ill to play it. Then she was mugged and hurt in the mugging. Thankfully she’s fine. Another actor’s wife had to step into the part last minute.

It was crazy. Some of us were thinking the play really was cursed with all the accidents etc. It was an emotional play for me because I had to shoot a fake gun. The noise from the gun was really loud and traumatizing. So they had to use different bullets to muffle the sound.

I’m really nice in real life 😉

I had to induce a panic attack to get into character for my scene with the murderer. Thankfully I knew the “murderer” very well and he’s really a sweet old man in real life. Also, try eating tuna fish on stage and trying to say your lines…not pretty.

He really is a sweet guy I promise 🙂

Anywho, I took this little tangent to say……..well nothing really. It was just nice to reminisce. Have a safe holiday however you spend it. Please be careful and put your animals indoors on Halloween (especially if you have a black cat..like us) because people do horrible things at this time. If you trick or treat I hope you know your neighbors well. There are usually great church Fall festivals as a safe alternative too. God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Crafty Monday: Pumpkins & Sukkot October 8, 2012

Hello friends and I hope you had a lovely weekend. I’m posting this from Helen. Last week, we celebrated Sukkot. Our homeschool week was a bit different. Tuesday we went to the pottery place to paint things for Sukkot (a family tradition). Thursday I hosted our homeschool group. Michael got to stay up later during the week because he slept in the living room under our camo net sukkah lol. We made a homemade scarecrow.

Fall ideas here: http://pinterest.com/doverette/fall-crafts/

I took the apples off the apple tree in our school room and now we have a fall tree with pumpkins at the bottom. We still have to make the leaves for it.

Michael made a fingerprint fall tree.

The first night of Sukkot my true love gave to me, a partridge  we made a scarecrow.

Basically we stuffed pillow stuffing into burlap and Michael’s old clothes (Chris’ socks). It’s held together by staples and it’s sewn with fishing line.  Button leaves for eyes and felt for the nose. He’s wearing my sun hat.

Chris and I put together this dryer tube pumpkin.

Chris cut the tube into three pieces

We put them together to make the pumpkin shape and I sewed them together with fishing line.

Chris sprayed the pumpkins with orange paint and I added a stem (just a stick from the yard) and a curly vine (floral wire)

This is a 3-d paper pumpkin made of construction paper and a pipe cleaner.

I made these acorn candles for our pumpkin diorama. Michael helped me find the acorn caps. I cut some wicks and used a spoon to get the hot wax from my candle warmer. They really work!

Here they are with my pumpkin diorama

I carved a large circle in the front of a styrofoam pumpkin (from Dollar Tree). I also carved a square in the back of it for a window. I took contact paper that looks like wood and cut enough for the floor. I used tooth picks for the window panes. I cut a bit of fabric for curtains. Then I took an old ribbon spool and covered it with fabric to make a tiny table. I took a small wooden bowl (from the craft store) and glued beans in it. Then I glued the bowl to the table. I made a tiny banner of paper and glued it across the front. I glued bows on each side. Inside are two peg dolls: a squirrel and an owl. The little barrels are from the craft store too.

At the homeschool group we had a pumpkin/Sukkot celebration at the park.

I asked everyone to bring fall desserts. I showed the moms my three pumpkin crafts above.

I made this pumpkin toss out of cardboard. The pumpkins are supposed to look friendly but I had a hard time cutting the cardboard.

After lunch the kids played pumpkin toss. My homemade bean bags came apart after awhile but thankfully Hannah had some bean bags in her van.

I spoke to the kids about Sukkot.

I showed the moms and kids how to make paper bag pumpkins. I did this last year too.

Our pumpkin this year……not as orange as last year. Maybe I will make bigger pumpkins later.

The idea comes from:  http://www.thatartistwoman.org/2008/09/how-to-make-paper-bag-pumpkin.html

Last years pumpkins~

Hannah’s on the left, mine on the right

Mom making a big pumpkin

The kitty trying to help us. He was such a cute kitten!

We have cable in the hotel and I was watching “The Munsters”. Chester looks just like the Munster black cat lol but he is WAY too sweet to ever roar like a lion ;).  Btw it is freezing up here in Helen but amazing.

If you try any of these crafts or have your own pumpkin ideas please share in the comments :).

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Owls Study: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/crafty-monday-owls/

Apples Study: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/crafty-monday-apple-week/

Bats, Falling Leaves, & World Pasta Day:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/crafty-monday-bats-falling-leaves-world-pasta-day/

Candy Corn, Crows, & Homemade Rootbeer:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/crafty-monday-candy-corn-and-homemade-rootbeer/

My Family Rocks! Sunday: Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles) October 7, 2012

Hello friends and happy Sukkot!. We are nearing the end of this biblical holiday. Here’s links with more information about Sukkot:

http://heartofwisdom.com/biblicalholidays/2012/09/28/sukkot-tabernacles-in-bible-times/

http://heartofwisdom.com/biblicalholidays/2012/09/28/birth-of-christ-feast-of-tabernacles/

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

KJV  Revelation 21:3

This will be our 5th year celebrating Sukkot as a family. I celebrated it once in highschool with some friends who now live in Israel. They actually built their sukkah (tent). It was made of wood with a very thin roof (thin fabric or leaves? I can’t remember). I hung out with the daughter and we looked at the stars. It was my first time camping out like that. I was so surprised when I woke up the next morning soaked with dew :).

In the beginning we would put up a large tent in the backyard. We would forget to take it down and it’d rot :(. But during Sukkot we ate most of our meals in the tent. We even hooked up a tv in it one year. Mom, Chris, Michael, and I all watched the nativity. Read the links above to understand why. Btw we still celebrate Christmas. I love both :).

Last year we camped one night and my mom came. It was fun. We read a Choose Your Own Adventure book around the fire. It was about pirates and people got to choose how the story would progress.

Shadow Puppets

Michael and I make leaf decorations to decorate the sukkah (tent).

This year we camped inside. Chris stapled camo netting to the ceiling and he strung Christmas lights over the top. With our Scarecrow and pumpkin decorations the living room felt like the outdoors lol. Michael and I watched the nativity. We stayed up to watch Star Trek episodes and Michael enjoyed hot chocolate.

The first two years we painted plates for Sukkot. The third year we made Sukkot t-shirts and the fourth year we painted a mug.

This year I painted a tea canister and Michael painted an owl. They should be finished next week for pick up.

Chris stopped by and helped me near the end.

Usually we take a trip to the farm near the end of Sukkot. We find a pumpkin to carve and I begin the process of cooking everything pumpkiny.

Last year we visited a farm with our buddies Hannah and James  and their kids Olivia and Liam.

Olivia & Michael

This place had the coolest playgrounds

Chris decided to play in the ball pit lol

This year we  ended Sukkot by camping with Hannah and her family.

Me chompin’ down on a s’more

hot chocolate and apple cider

We had a big breakfast the next morning

Hannah and James 🙂

The campground had a nice playground

My Michael

Liam, Michael, and Olivia

Roasting marshmallows again yummmm

Btw, I’m a fall nerd but I had to show you my cool orange bed sheets. I got the fall quilt last year but I got the orange sheets recently. Chris picks on me because I squeal when I look at them lol. They make me feel like I live in a ritzy hotel.

Also we got this cinnamon broom. Mom didn’t think it was very fall like. So I added some leaves and a bow to it. Voila!

I’m actually writing all of this ahead of time because today we are in Helen. Another check off my bucket list! So we also end with Octoberfest. I hope to see lots of fall leaves. I’ll show pics next Sunday, Lord willing. 🙂 It should be obvious why Sukkot is one of my favorite holidays. We have such a blast.  I hosted our homeschool group Thursday and I talked to the kids about Sukkot and how Jesus left his Heavenly home and came to tabernacle with us. I asked the kids who they wanted to meet in Heaven etc. It was great to hear their responses. More on that tomorrow.

Well, I hope you’re having a blessed holiday. It’s been nice getting comments. For my reader in Hawaii, I wish I could bring fall to you! Maybe you could do fall crafts anyways and make a fall tree in your house? That just may be something I would do. I’m a bit eccentric. If I visited you I’d bring a fake fall tree ;).

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover