I”m excited to be a part of another edition of Collectively Creative, thought up by the incredibly organized Kelly over at Cobwebs, Cupcakes and Crayons. The theme for this month is, appropriately, being Thankful.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I did a project using the letters in the word THANKFUL. I took each letter and did an activity with my kids represented by that letter. It was a little harder to do with my younger son since he’s only 9 months old, but we included him as much as we could!
We’re so busy that we don’t often get a chance to sit down and just talk, even with out own children! So Evan and I made some hot chocolate and had one of our ‘Hot Chocolate Chats’. If it’s not too cold, we like to sit on the front porch, but it was snowing and freezing this weekend, so we cuddled on the couch and talked about our day and what we were going to do for the rest of the weekend.
Sometimes we get so caught up in activities and schedules, we forget that the most important thing is just being together.
I talked with the kids about Thanksgiving and then they helped me go through our cookbooks to look for recipes and make our grocery list for Turkey Day! Evan got his own paper and a crayon so he could make his ‘list.’
I had to do this anyways so I just asked the kids to help. We played ‘Cookbook Dominos’ and lined up the hardback books upright and pushed them down like dominoes. Our 3 year old thought it was hilarious and it was even an activity our 9 month old could do.
I decided to do an art project that was also a game to get the kids in the Thanksgiving spirit.
This was a really cute cardboard box turkey project that I will post about soon!
This one is all about food. Evan helped me cook breakfast one day and Owen just ate! Evan loves to help cook, even if it just means putting things back into the fridge. He also likes to pour and stir, so I try to include him as often as possible.
Then we went grocery shopping as a family to get all of the things on our list. I don’t have photos of either of these activities, but it’s nice to put the camera down every once in a while (which I don’t do often!)
The kids and I looked through some of the pictures we’ve taken in the last few days and are getting them printed. We also looked through Thanksgiving photos from the last few years and printed them for our new ‘Thanksgiving Through The Years’ album.Here’s one from last year:
I also sat and showed Evan some family videos on the computer. He loves to look at videos of our adventures. By adventures, I mean him running back and forth across the house chasing the dogs.
For this activity, Evan got to choose whatever sounded fun to him and that’s what we did! Evan wanted to roast marshmallows so we roasted them in our fireplace. It wasn’t quite the same as a campfire, but it was a lot of fun and Evan loved it!
We spent a day without computers, cartoons and video games. That is QUITE the accomplishment for us! I have to admit that there was football on tv. However, me and the kids busied ourselves with other activities and got out of the ‘technology zone’ all day long! It was great (and a little difficult). It was definitely worth it though. I need to add that to my weekly routine!
My kids love music so we spent a while listening to kid’s songs on a couple of kid music CDs we have. It allows us to dance, sing and learn about instruments. Again, there are no pictures because you don’t really need to see a picture of me dancing to ‘Sally the Camel’, do you?
This project helped me to look at different ways I could interact with my kids and I think we all benefited from it in a lot of ways. Probably my favorite part was the ‘unplug’ project. It actually gave me time to do all of the other things on the THANKFUL list. I am definitely thankful for my kiddos!
There were a lot of other bloggers who participated in Collectively Creative this month to share how they were all thankful. Click on the links below to see their posts and be sure to check out the rest of their sites while you are there!
Neaten Your Nest 
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Wow! so nice and thoughtful, I love the idea of including your kids in these activities! 🙂 Love the art project a lot! 🙂
Thanks so much! I love doing crafts with the kids. I think I’ll look back on them when the kids are older and be so happy we did them.
Oh my Erin! This is sooo creative and sooo delightful. It may not be totally about organizing but it is about something so much more important… quality time and special time with your family. I so love the ‘Hot Chocolate Chats’. You are creating such special memories for your children!~Thea
Thank you so much 🙂 It was a hard theme to tie into organizing! But like you said, this was more important. 🙂 And I figured there were a couple things like the grocery list that I was going to do anyway, so it was fun to figure out a way they could help me!
This was just too cute! I love all the ways you brought thanksgiving into your kids lives! I’ll be stealing some of these ideas for sure!
Thank you Stephanie! It was a big lesson for me too on how to focus on the important things more often. 🙂
Erin, this is so wonderful…I love the “talk” and “unplug” ones. How cute is that picture of the two of you snuggling with your hot chocolate?? My daughter is just getting to the age where she actually wants to cuddle with me and talk, so I’m really looking forward to spending more time doing just that. Can’t wait to see your post about the turkey, looks like he is putting something in his mouth? Seriously adorable! 🙂
Thank you! The best part about the hot chocolate chats is that my 3 year old is NOT a cuddler. I can’t get him to sit still. But something about the hot chocolate makes him my cuddle bug. The turkey craft was fun, I’ll post it soon!
What a beautiful post, especially the unplug part, thank you for sharing 🙂
Thank you! I’ll definitely be ‘unplugging’ more often!
What a nice idea! I love the way you interpreted that theme! And your kiddos are munchable 🙂
Thanks so much! I actually spent multiple hours trying to figure out good words for each letter in Thankful! It was a lot of fun though. 🙂
When Alex comes over for marshmallows, can I come too? 🙂
I love this — so wonderful and so many fun things to get the kids involved in the spirit of thankfulness. And I think we might try a day of unplugging smart phones and computers and do a board game marathon. Of course, the TV will be on. We watch the Macy’s Day parade and the dog show before the football starts. I don’t know why… but I love it.
We should all get together and just do S’mores! I watch the dog show every year! The ‘unplugged’ day was truly a wake up call for me. The kids were more attentive during the day and actually slept better at night.
Isn’t that interesting about the kids on your unplugged day! Makes me wonder if I’d conquer my insomnia if I maybe disconnected a little more…
Love that dog show — it’s like my family’s guilty TV. My husband doesn’t really get it, but he checks out the best in show on the sly…
Can I come over and roast marshmallows too? 🙂
The more the merrier! I actually got the best part of the deal. Evan and my husband actually roasted the marshmallows and I just got to eat them!
I loved this post, Erin. I think Annabelle and I need to have some “hot chocolate chats”! And Unplug is a great idea…I’ll let you know if we give it a go. Thank you for being a part of The Thankful Edition.
Thank you so much Kelly! I’m thrilled to be a part of Collectively Creative. Thanks again for the great idea and for hosting! Evan loves hot chocolate chats. I know it’s important to him because he asks for them sometimes and that melts my heart. It’s the sweetest thing.
What a great activity to do with your kids!!
Kenley
Thanks Kenley! I think it was actually more fun for me than for them! 🙂
What a lovely post! 🙂 You’re making lots of fun memories that your children will always treasure . . . and pass on to THEIR kids someday!
Thanks so much! The more I do with them, the more traditions I want to start!