Christmas Gift Ideas Series #1 - Little Ones

I have always loved picking out toys for Christmas time, so I thought I would do a mini series, over the next couple of weeks, to help you with your holiday shopping, and share some of my favorite toys from years past.  For more information on these fun toys follow my Amazon affiliate links.  Here are my top ten picks for the little ones you are buying for.

What's under the Tree?

My first pick is Tommy Toot by Schylling Ambi, you can toot this little fellow on the top of his hat, it fits perfectly in little hands, and I think would make an excellent stocking stuffer.  I think I love this little toy as much as my kids enjoyed it, so cute!

Schylling Ambi Tommy Toot

My second pick is this beautiful set of wooden stacking and nesting bowls, stacking and nesting bowls have so many uses in the playroom, in addition to stacking and nesting they become bowls to serve pretend food, and wonderful for little sorting games.  I love this wooden set for the playroom.

Grimm's Spiel & Holz 5 Wooden Stacking and Nesting Bowls, Red Outside

These Stacking Barrels were one of Sarah and Joe's favorite toys growing up, they would stack and nest these barrels, and loved to practice opening and closing them.

Guidecraft Stack'N Sort Barrels

This was our favorite sorting board, again, a multiple use toy, great for sorting, and shape learning  as well as stacking, and the little pieces often would stand in as food or other imaginative play.  This is a toy with staying power.

                                                         Plan Toy Geometric Sorting Board

These are the first lacing beads I purchased, they are perfect for little ones, they are nice and big, and easy to lace.  I loved this big chunky set, and Sarah and Joe got a  lot of play value out of them.

Jumbo Lacing Beads Classic Made in USA Wood Toy


This Remo drum was a long lasting favorite of our family, my husband picked this out for Sarah and Joe, very nice quality, great sound, and sturdy.  This drum lasted for years, and we passed it on to younger family members when are kids were teens.  Great investment.  I think it is nice to have a section of the toy shelf devoted to musical instruments.

Woodstock Percussion Remo Kid?s Floor Tom Drum 10" Diameter

A nice bouncy ball is always a hit, here is a cute one from Melissa and Doug.

Melissa

We have always been big on the Schleich animals and have collected them as a family for years, when the kids were little though, they loved these jumbo sized animals.  I think these would be fun set up under the tree!

Learning Resources Jumbo Zoo Animals

Of course puzzles are always fun, we started out with these wooden puzzles with chunky handles.

Melissa & Doug Jumbo Knob Wooden Farm Puzzle

I think a cuddly gift is always welcome under the tree, Paddington Bear is my all time favorite bear, when Sarah and Joe were little the nursery was decorated with Paddington Bear everything.  I am swooning over this cute little guy right now.

My First Paddington Bear 7.25 Plush Teddy Bear Stuffed Animal by Yottoy

I love simple, open ended, high quality toys, I also think it is nice to include books and art supplies under the tree every year as well.

Hope everyone has fun picking out their special gifts, next up, Preschool through early grade school aged gift ideas.  Come back tomorrow. :)

Christmas Gift Ideas Series #2- School Age Children

Roasted Carrots and Mushrooms

November is moving along at lightening speed, I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is only a week away!
The Thanksgiving decorations are up, and I have been gathering ingredients for our Thanksgiving dinner.

November has been full of activity from Election day to the school musical that my son is preforming in last weekend, and this weekend.  This is his first musical play, Annie Get Your Gun, everyone has done such a great job, it was a real treat to watch.

We have had some beautiful fall days recently, with fog and the beauty of the changing leaves.  My husband took this beautiful picture while he was out and about the other day, I think it is so pretty.  I love thick fog and crisp cool air!

Tonight I finally got to try a new recipe for dinner that I have been eager to make.  I had a big bag of carrots in the fridge, as well as a large package of mini portobello, and I knew I wanted to roast them together for a nice fall dinner.  I am really loving roasting veggies this year, it may be my new favorite way to enjoy them!

Here's how I made our Roasted Carrots and Mushrooms.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

First I peeled and cleaned about 10 carrots, then cut them into chunks on the diagonal, Then I put them in my roasting pan and tossed them with olive oil, probably a little more than 1/8 of a cup of olive oil.  Then I seasoned them with sea salt, pepper, dehydrated onions (I love the sweet taste of dehydrated onions), and about 2 teaspoons of McCormick's Tuscan style Italian seasoning (blend of thyme, garlic, marjoram, onion, rosemary, oregano, basil, savory, and sage) you could also add regular Italian seasoning, and a pinch of garlic.  Toss together to incorporate seasoning.  Then start roasting carrots, give the carrots a 15 to 20 minute head start on the mushrooms as they take longer to cook (a tip I read about while reading up on roasting veggies).

While the carrots are beginning to roast, clean and chop mushrooms into quarters (or sixths if they are bigger mushrooms)  In a bowl toss them with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, and more of the same seasonings that went on the carrots, except I left off the salt, as I felt there was already enough in with the carrots.  After the carrots had cooked for about 20 minutes (or until they just start to be a little fork tender), I mixed in the mushrooms and continued roasting until the carrots and mushrooms where cooked to my preference, the carrots were nice and tender.  This took close to an hour.  Different thickness of carrots may cook quicker.

Here's how they turned out.

Our dinner was simple, and the star of the show was our roasted veggies, I served it with keibasa, and some delicious brown and serve warm sourdough baguette that my husband brought home from the store that is made right in Portland, of course with real butter.  Delicious fall meal, the roasted carrots and mushrooms were great!  I think they would be a wonderful side dish to a roast or baked chicken as well, and would even be nice for Thanksgiving.

I hope everyone is having a nice November.  What veggies do you like to roast?

52 Weeks of Fairy Tales Week #39 - The Youth Who Could Not Shudder

For Week # 39's fairy tale post, I am posting one of my favorite spooky fairy tales.  I first heard this tale while watching Fairy Tale Theater back in the 1980's, I had no idea it was a tale from The Brother's Grimm until I began reading about it for this post.  I had meant to share this tale for Halloween, but got too involved with Halloween festivities to finish my craft.  I look forward to sharing it now though.

The tale is called The Youth Who Could Not Shudder, The Fairy Tale Theater Version is called The Boy Who Left Home To Find Out About the Shivers.

This is a tale of a man with two sons, when the Father asked his youngest son what he wants to do for his future, the boy only cares about learning how to shudder (The young boy has never been frightened before). The young boy is sure that this will be a good thing to learn.

A Sextan came by the House, and when hearing about the boys desire to learn how to shudder, told the father that he would take the boy with him to ring the church bell.  The boy went off, and that evening went to ring the church bells.  The Sextan dressed as a ghost, and stood near the bell tower where the boy could see.  The boy was not afraid, and asked the figure to speak up, after asking a few times, when the ghost didn't answer, the boy thought it was someone up to no good, so he pushed the figure down the stairs.  The next day, it was discovered that it was the Sextan that the boy had shoved down the stairs, and that he had broken his leg.  The boys father was so disappointed in him, he sent his son away with some money to find his own fortune.

Along his way, a man advised him to sit beneath the gallows to learn how to shudder.  The boy didn't find it scary at all, and made a fire under the gallows where men were dangling and swaying in the wind.  Not realizing the men were dead, the boy cut them down, and sat them around the fire to warm up, when they wouldn't converse with him and their clothing caught on fire, he hung them back up since they were so careless.

An inn keeper told him of a haunted castle, and a king who would offer his daughters hand in marriage to anyone who could spend three nights in the castle.  The inn keeper told the boy he should go there to learn how to shudder.  So the boy went.  This way he would learn how to shudder, and gain a wife as well as the castle riches.

The King told the boy he could take in three non-living items, so he asked for a fire, a lathe, and a cutting board and knife.

The first night the boy heard strange noises and then was attacked by two evil black cats, which he did away with using his knife.  After that even more evil black cats and black dogs came, the boy was unafraid and got rid of them all with his knife.  He then went and laid down on a bed, the bed started moving around and around, the boy urged it to go faster, and he still did not shudder.  Giving up, the boy went to sleep by the fire.  The King was surprised when the boy was still fine the next morning.

The second evening the boy was visited by ghoulish men, one was even headless, they were playing nine pins with human bones as pins and skulls for the bowling ball.  The boy was unafraid, offered to round up the skulls on his lathe, and played along with the Ghouls, betting some of the money his father had given him.  The ghouls disappeared at midnight, and the boy went off to sleep.  The next morning the King was again surprised, and asked the boy about his evening, the boy said all went well expect for losing a bit of money bowling, and he still hadn't learned to shudder.

The third evening, the boy was visited by six large men carrying a coffin, the boy thought it was his cousin in the coffin, and took the body out and tried to warm it up.  When the surprised body came alive, it was violent with the boy, the boy was upset with its ingratitude, and put it back into the coffin.  Then a man with a long beard appeared, and bragged that he could knock and anvil into the ground, the boy tricked the old man, and caught his beard in the anvil, and then tormented the old man until the old man begged for mercy and agreed to show the boy the castle treasures.

The boy survived the third night, and as agreed, married the Kings daughter, although he was still disappointed that he had not learned to shudder.  The boys wife was tired of hearing about her husbands desire to learn how to shudder, so one night, while her husband was sleeping, she had her servants fetch a pail of cold water along with fish, from the stream.  When they were back, she tossed the cold fishy water on her sleeping husband, he awoke with a shudder, and was very glad that he finally learned what it felt like to shudder.

~

For this weeks craft, I decided to do a paper cutting of my favorite scene in this story, the bowling scene.  This was a harder tale to craft, so I kept the paper cutting simple.

This tale was one of my favorite Fairy Tale Theater Episode when I was younger, you can watch it on YouTube   You can find the entire Fairy Tale Theater Series on Amazon as well, I enjoy watching it from time to time, it brings me back to my childhood.  I will suggest that it is better for older children, as some of the tales are a little spooky, you might want to preview it first before showing it to more sensitive children, I was probably around ten to twelve when I enjoyed it most.  A fun series to have along with your study of fairy tales!

You can also view my Week #38 Fairy Tale Post - The Emperor's New Clothes that I finished this morning.

52 Weeks of Fairy Tales Week #38 - The Emperor's New Clothes

The Emperor's New Clothes is a tale written by Hans Christian Anderson, and is a classic tale that most people are familiar with.  So this is our tale for Week #38.

The Emperor's New Clothes

This tale begins with an Emperor, who is vain and obsessed with clothing.  Two swindlers come to town and learn of the Emperor's vanity and fondness for clothing, so they hatch a plan.  The two swindlers spread a rumor that they can weave the most beautiful and magical cloth, and that the cloth is invisible to anyone who is stupid or unworthy of their position.  The Emperor soon hears of this wonderful new cloth and insists on having an outfit made of the cloth.  So he sends the two swindlers along with fine thread and a large amount of money.

The two swindlers set up shop, but instead of weaving with the fine threads, they pretend to be weaving on the loom, and working for days and moving the loom along as though they were very busy weaving.  After awhile the Emperor becomes anxious to see how his cloth is coming along, but he was a bit nervous that he would be unable to see the magic cloth, and be deemed stupid and unfit for his position.  So, instead of going himself, the Emperor sent his faithful Prime Minister to look at the cloth.

When the Prime Minister arrives, the swindlers lead him to their loom, and pretend to show him their fine cloth.  The Prime Minister, of course, cannot see the cloth, and begins to worry that he will loose his job, so he pretends to see the cloth.  When he returns to the King, the Prime Minister tells him how beautiful and wonderful the cloth is.  After hearing this, the Emperor decides to go and see it for himself, along with some of his trusted men.

Of course when the Emperor and his men arrive they cannot see the cloth either, the swindlers pretend to show them the cloth, and everyone, too afraid to be thought stupid and unworthy, praise the cloth, and talk of its beauty.  So the Emperor asks the men to make him a new suit of clothing, and that he will wear it in the parade.

The swindlers pretend to make the Emperor his new outfit, and bring it to the castle, and pretend to dress the Emperor in his fine and magical new clothing.  All of the Emperor's men, too afraid to admit they can see nothing, tell the Emperor how wonderful he looks.  The Emperor proceeds to march along in his parade in his new clothing.  The people who came to watch the Emperor's parade knew of the new cloth, and everyone not wanting to be thought stupid or unworthy, also pretended to see the clothing, and talked of its beauty.

Then a voice was heard over the others, it was the voice of a young boy who hadn't heard the stories about the cloth, and whose father had always taught him to be truthful.  He shouted " The Emperor Has No Clothes On!!"

Someone else in the crowd laughed, and admitted he too saw no clothing on the Emperor, soon everyone was saying it.  The Emperor was feeling cold, and realized he wasn't wearing anything, but he held his head up and finished the parade, his face blushing red with embarrassment.

He sent his guards after the two swindlers, but of course they were long gone with the Kings money.  From that day on the King paid less attention to his clothing, and more attention to more important matters.

~

This tale is full of wonderful lessons in vanity and about truthfulness, I always enjoyed it as a child, and I really enjoyed that is was a child who told the truth.  This is a wonderful story to share.

I was busy with more paper cutting this week, it was one of the only ways I could think of crafting for this tale.  Here is how it turned out.  I chose the parade scene with the boy pointing out the truth about the King.

I will be sharing another paper cutting I did this week as well as Week #39's Fairy Tale Post later this Evening.  A Tale that I was looking forward to sharing for Halloween but didn't finish the crafting in time- A Grimm's tale called The Youth Who Could Not Shudder.

Our Halloween Open House and Easy Appetizer Recipes

Every year I host a Halloween open house, I make up a crock pot full of steaming hot mulled cider, and a spread of snacks and appetizers for whoever might stop by.  Sarah and Joe and a group of their friends met up here before going out to trick or treat through the neighborhood, we have a very nice community to trick or treat in, lots of friendly family homes, and everyone seems to get into the spirit of the evening.  For Sarah and her other senior friends this was their last year of trick-or-treating, they will be graduating this year, so it was fun for them to go around to neighbors homes one last time.

We were ready for passing out lots of candy as well. :)

Before and after their walk around town they had fun watching Halloween shows, playing Apples to Apples (always fun), and snacking on appetizers.

This year I wanted to try some new appetizer recipes, and I found some yummy and easy recipes.

The favorite of the night where Bacon Wrapped Tater Tots.  I saw a picture of these while I was looking for different bacon appetizer ideas, Bacon and Tater Tots, yum!  Such and easy recipe.

Slightly thaw a bag of tater tots (I microwaved mine for a couple of minutes) until they are thawed enough that you can push a toothpick through, but not so soft that they will fall apart.   Open a couple packages of bacon, cut the bacon in half, wrap each tater tot with half a slice of bacon, and secure with a toothpick stuck through.  Cover a baking sheet in foil, and place an oven safe cooling rack on top of the foil, and put the wrapped tater tots on the rack.  Bake at 400 F. until bacon is crispy and tater tot is cooked through.  Time varies based on thickness of bacon, just keep an eye on them so they don't over cook.

Here they are just out of the oven, you can see the rack above the foil lined baking sheet, this is the same way I oven bake bacon for breakfast as well, the rack keeps the bacon out of its fat and keeps them uniformly shaped.

Here are the bacon wrapped tater tots ready to serve, everyone enjoyed them, these would be amazing at a breakfast buffet as well.  This is going in my list of go-to appetizer recipes!

I also wanted to make an appetizer that didn't require last minute use of the oven.  So I came up with mini Roasted Brown Sugar Pineapple Kabobs.

First I emptied three cans of drained pineapple chunks into a roasting pan that was drizzled with a little cooking oil.  Then I sprinkled the pineapple with brown sugar, probably a little more than a cup, enough so all the pineapple had a little brown sugar topping.

Then I roasted them at 375 F. for about 30 minutes, checking them frequently, and giving them a stir so the sugar didn't burn or stick, and long enough to evaporate some of the liquid from the pineapples.  Heres how they looked when they were done.

I transferred the pineapple with a slotted spoon to another container, and cooled them in the fridge until they were about room temperature.  Then I rolled up ham slices, and cut the rolls into bit size pieces, skewered a pineapple chunk on a frilly toothpick, then the roll of ham.  The salty ham went perfectly with the sweet roasted pineapple, great little refreshing tidbit!

I made a batch of the classic sweet and sour meatballs, I baked two bags of frozen turkey meatballs, while they were baking I heated in a saucepan one jar of chili sauce and half of a large jar of grape jelly (probably around a cup or cup and a half of jelly), until the jelly and chili sauce were combined and let it come to a low boil, stirring constantly, then simmer, stirring frequently until meatballs were done baking, and sauce had thickened a bit.  I transferred the meatballs to a large stainless steel mixing bowl, poured the sauce over the top, and gently tossed until they were coated.  I transferred then to a large casserole dish, and kept them covered in a low oven until I was ready to serve them.

Here are the sweet and sour meatball with serving skewers ready to eat.  A smaller batch would be a wonderful meal served over rice, definitely a classic favorite.

I baked a batch of pumpkin doughnuts, but they didn't rise, I had tried a new recipe that I found online, and I'm not sure what went wrong. I usually use my own recipe, like my Maple Spice Doughnuts or my cranberry orange doughnuts and they are yummy, so I will have to work on this pumpkin doughnut recipe to work out the kinks, although it was too moist and not risen enough it did have a good flavor.

Sarah and Joe had a fun Halloween, we came up with some fun costumes this year, Joseph was an Indiana Jones type explorer with a rope and compass and hat.  Sarah was a Lumber "Jane" with flannel shirt, suspenders, a black stocking cap, and a painted cardboard ax.  My camera was being persnickety about taking low light indoor pictures, I will add a better picture from my hubby's camera when he gets home today.  I love costumes made from items that can be found around the house.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.  Halloween is always the kick off into the holiday season, I am looking forward to Thanksgiving in a few weeks, and am getting excited for Christmas as well!