Confession: We’re so ready for Fall, but around here it comes slowly. It’s usually pretty late. In fact, here in the tropics of South Alabama, we’re still wearing shorts in October November. It can be a little hard to get into the spirit of things when we’re basically living in Tahiti, sans all the fantastic benefits. {Where’s my glass bottom boat and house on stilts?}
So I usually have a pretty hard time dragging out the pumpkins and feathers when the weather is just so dang… 95 degrees. Boooo. Wah.
So the other afternoon, we decided to do a simple project with the kids to help get them into a spirit of things. It’s so simple, I almost feel a little funny sharing it with you, but they had such a blast doing this, I couldn’t help myself.
They love putting their own twist on things in the Homeschool space every season. It’s a way to make things a little more exciting and personal for them, to know they had a say in the space. So this fall, we chose to make a simple leaf garland. Here’s what you’ll need:
• Large pieces of watercolor paper {from the craft store, I always snatch them up with a coupon} OR a watercolor pad
• Basic watercolors of any kind + brushes
• Pencils + scissors + twine or yarn
I simply drew out two basic shapes of leaves, over and over again on watercolor paper, lightly.
Then I let them loose. I basically broke out the watercolors, some cups of water, and some paper towels, and let them get crazy with their leaves.
Before I knew it, we even had polkadot Mine Craft ones.
It was such a great little therapeutic activity, and super low maintenance. Watercolors aren’t a borderline catastrophe if they’re spilled, and they’re fun to work with.
You can either have a cutting party after that, or do them yourself. That night while Jamin and I watched a movie I broke out the dry sheets, and cut out the leaves. It took no time at all.
When we were finito, I punched holes in the top, and strung them on a fat piece of fun fuzzy yarn. Because everyone needs a fat piece of fu fuzzy yarn.
You could even do them with coffee filters like the ones we used in our party, here. {Just cut to leaf shapes} We were out of coffee filters, so I broke out what we had.
They’re fantastic, festive fun strung up in our homeschool space!
The kids love their little creations!
What are some traditions you do with your kids to celebrate the fall season? As always, let us know if you make these… we’d love to hear!
And a little update on Chloe:
We promise this won’t become doggie lymphoma updates central, because we realize that we all certainly have big stuff going on in our lives. But after our little mention on Wednesday, we just had to thank you. For your sweet comments, wonderful well wishes, great advice, and the comforting camaraderie in knowing that a lot of you have been down this hard road before us. A lot of you know the sadness and heartache we’re feeling right now. It’s a bittersweet part of life, but this part really hurts.
We know that everyone takes different approaches on this one. Everyone feels differently. We usually don’t share about things until we’re sure. But after researching some more, calling our vet from out of town last week about five more times, {he deserves a medal for putting up with us and answering all. of. the. questions. – we were on the road right after finding out} discussing the pros and cons and then turning them over and out and reshuffling all those icky thoughts and possibilities… Discussions in the middle of the night and early in the morning because we literally lost sleep over the options for what is best for her and what is best for our family…
We went back to this: When we brought this wild puppy from the shelter to our first little home almost 12 years go, we made a real promise to her. However daunting, however messy, however wild, however crazy… she had a home here with us. We would love her. But the thing is, she ended up teaching us so much more about unconditional love than we ever could her. She trained us for parenthood. And almost 12 years later, we want her to stay here just a little longer. We’ve done a full about face on this one. In our gut, it just feels right, for her and for us. Chloe starts full on chemo today.
We know that in the end, there is no cure. But we also know it’s not every day that a dog like this one comes along in our lives. At the end of the day, we want to know we’ve done everything we possibly could. As long as she’s comfortable and happy, we want to keep her that way. We’re working alongside our vet and looking at natural options to go hand in hand with this. We want to do everything we possibly can. As long as that tail is wagging, we believe it should remain so. We want to soak up every last moment, and memory. We want to give her more loving hugs and snuggles and kisses from her little ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’. We want to give our children more time. She’s brought our family so much happiness, we feel it’s the least we can do for her. We’re all in, for as long as we can.
It feels right.
Just a few more memories. Just a little more time. As long as that tail is still wagging.
Here’s to {hoping for} one more good year. And at the very least, absolutely no regrets.
The post easy fall garland {+ a chloe update} appeared first on The Handmade Home.
