Activity Days Service Project: 42 of 52

For October our theme for Activity Days was Service and Citizenship. I decided to focus on the service aspect. I had read about the Ronald McDonald House projects of providing blankets and cards. When my little sister was a baby she was in the hospital with Failure to Thrive. She was too young to connect with toys but the blanket mom made her remains with her today in her late 20's. She carried that blanket with her everywhere. When it became nothing but rags- literally mom promised to make another EXACTLY like it. Well, being attached to it and a bit of a smarty pants she always replied, "you can make me another one mom, but you can't take this one". We have a RMH close but I also work at the local community hospital. It is just a small hospital but there are quite a few kids that come in. With RSV season around the corner I thought it would be nice to provide service for our own community.

I managed to get fleece on sale 40% off at Joann's. I bought enough for each girl to make 2 blankets. They are just small lap blankets but the idea is for the kids to have something warm and fuzzy to cuddle up to when they don't feel good. I was hoping to get 20 blankets made....

We simply cut and tied the fringe on the fleece. No sewing required and simple enough for 8 and 9 yr old girls who out number their leaders 4:1!

We also planned to make cards. I searched for a couple of ideas that could easily be assembled by the girls. I found The Handmade Card Blog. She has several ideas that I was able to adapt cards from. Many others I hope to make as well. It was a great find!

From my scouting days I learned that individual kits are great helps when doing projects with young ones. So I pulled out my cricut and searched for supplies I had on hand already......

I precut what I needed from my cricut (love this little gadget!) I spread the sets out so each girl would get the supplies to make 6 cards; 2 each of 3 different styles.

Then that night I just walked the girls through the assembly process. I had ideas of what they should/could write on the card. Some of the girls provided their own variations too. In the end we had a great bunch of cards to be filled out by family and friends or even staff and given to a little one feeling blue.

Our last meeting of the month we piled in the cars and delivered the blankets and cards to the hospital. The nurses were excited and so glad to see the fuzzy gifts.

On the way home we stopped for an ice cream cone- enjoying the "Sweetness of Service".

Cooking from your pantry challenge....

After seeing my shopping list for this month I realized I can do this challenge put forth by Around My Family Table: cooking from your pantry. So I will be posting our dinner pictures and recipes.

I posted my menu plans for the month but here is the breakdown for this week:

Roast and mashed potatoes

Cafe Rio Pork and rice

Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

French Dip with green salad

Italian Crockpot Chicken

Leftovers

As long as I have the main dish planned then I can just throw in whatever vegi goes well. I have lots of beets, beans, carrots, and corn bottled in the pantry not to mention the stock of fresh fruit and vegi's from Bountiful Baskets. I love to go through my cookbooks and realize what all I can make without shopping much. The great part about fall cooking is the oven is put to great use! 

So what are you cooking from your pantry? Link up and share with us!

Sock Hop- Activity Days

This month we are planning to learn about Hospitality. I wanted a fun way for the girls to learn how to be a hostess, introduce others, and what not. They have been wanting a party and I'm not sure if they have had a Daddy Daughter activity yet so I thought we could have all this in one with a Sock Hop.

I plan to have the girls plan the party, make the invitations, and help decorate. Since we have an extra Tuesday this month I planned a nice service project just in time for the holiday season.

Here is the calendar I made for each of the girls....

Okay- so the calendar is more for moms but that's important. Activity Days is only requested to be 2 days a month but I decided on each Tuesday night. I have been doing Cub Scouts for the last 5 years so I just translated a lot of what I had learned in scouting into activity days. I find that having a consistant time and place improves attendance and enjoyment of the acitivities. Tuesday night is when scouts and mutual are all held. It just made sense to have activity days then too. Now, mom and dad have one stop to make and drop all the kids off. Plus they know right where the kids should be every Tuesday night.

I did wonder if I had bitten off too much as I have limited help. I talked with my dearest husband about time away from our family and taking on too much myself (I tend to do this). His response was (as usual) one of great support. He talked about how much the girls in our neighborhood needed this; how our boys are already gone to scouts that night and how he could manage the little boys at home just fine for an hour or two. What an amazing man I have. His concern was not for himself or our family but for the need of the kids in our area. I think he gets that from his amazing mom. She should be proud of the man who is following in her footsteps- always thinking of others. So I continue with Activity Days each Tuesday. So far the girls have loved every minute.

So for this month it's a 50's flashback. I'm thinking invitations made to look like a 45 record, ballon arches, poodle skirts and pink, black and turqoise; games, fun, and rootbeer floats. I will try to post each idea so keep watching. Hopefully you will find something fun to do with your group.

November Menu....

I came across Jaimie's post of her October menu and thought while I was in the search mode I might as well plan my whole month. Here is Jaimie's post. It's great to have the link to the recipes as well. I am planning several of her meals or my own variations of her meals.....

in no particular order....

Roast with Mashed potatoes and gravy

Cafe Rio Pork with cilantro rice

Creamy Chicken and Rice soup

French Dip sandwiches

Meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes

Italian crock pot Chicken

Beef stroganoff with peas

Orange Chicken and vegi stir fry

Taco Soup

Chicken wraps

Pizza

Italian Tortellini soup with quick and easy breadsticks

Sweet and Sour chicken with fried rice

Savory Spiral Stuffed Rolls -My Kitchen Cafe

Ham (planning for leftovers)

Lasagna

Spagetti with breadsticks and green salad (an ol' stand by)

Montreal Peppered Steak -WW recipe from Real Mom Kitchen

Roasted Pork Tenderloin- WW recipe

Italian Meatball Subs (make ahead recipe)

Ham and Potatoe Casserole (using leftover ham)

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole (make ahead recipe)

Johnny Carino's Bowtie Pasta

Chicken and Rice Wraps (make ahead recipe)

The best part to all of these meals is that most of it comes straight from my pantry. My shopping list is....

soy sauce

ginger

seesame oil

peas

orange juice

cheese tortellini

brocolli

cottage cheese

hoagies

provalone cheese

parsley (refilling my bottle)

potatoes

Italian drsg mix

4 cheese alfredo sauce

chicken

ummm, I think that's it for 1 month of meals! Horray!! Gotta love cooking from the pantry. Of course with Thanksgiving thrown in the mix I will still be shopping the deals but not bad if I do say so myself. I may even have enough supplies for a few salads for a couple of family dinners. Perhaps even make some homemade rolls, add a few vegi's from Bountiful Baskets and I might have it made!

My sewing machine is down....:-(

My project plans this week included curtains for our astronomy room and a new apron for myself, I am sad to say my sewing machine is on the fritz though. Needless to say, I will have to defer these projects. Of course this has to happen just before Christmas time when I so very much need my machine. Add to this the fact that my craft supplies are mostly still in boxes and I am a lost crafting mom. Oh but never fear, I have a few other projects filed away to keep me busy, and..........

Christmas is around the corner. Next week I can officially put up my Christmas decor!!! Yes, I am one of those crazy ones who pull Halloween down to put up Christmas. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! It is so warm and cozy. I love the feeling in the air and even enjoy the hustle and bustle of shopping. Of course most of my shopping is already done or will be nearly done by Black Friday. My darling husband is especially wonderful at this time of year. He gets his own kick out of indulging my Christmas decorating. He surprised me the other day with a special outside decoration I had been oogling. Yep, I am spoiled! He never balks at my decorating or how early I want to put up decorations! Isn't he great?!!

So just keep watching....I will be switching gears to Holiday projects including some handmade cards. My dear friend gave me a gift card to Micheals for my birthday- yeah she knows just what I like- and I finally remembered to use it. I bought coordinating papers and plan to make numberous cards to have on hand for all the "just thinking of you" moments. Thanks so much Rebekah! Snail mail is still great for sending a touching note to family out of state! 

I guess I will be searching blogs again too....Any suggestions?!?!