Wednesday, November 11, 2009

thankful

every year, at thanksgiving, i try to somehow capture what our family is thankful for.
for a couple years now we have made "trees" where the leaves say our blessings.
since we had off today and i only worked a half day, i had some time to work on it with the kids.

first step is to gather your goods.


i have used this old (maybe pickle?) jar forever now.
i fill it with river rocks then shove in a bunch of branches from one of our oak trees.
any branches will do.

make a leaf template by drawing a leaf shape until you like it.


be sure to make the leaf wide enough for little hands to write what they're thankful for. i made two different shapes.
then grab a couple sheets of pretty paper, i used scrapbook paper, some scissors and a pencil. (oops, forgot the pencil)


trace your template over and over again.


cut, cut, cut.
until you have lots of leaves!


you may notice you have lots of little helpers lurking around you.


give them some goldfish crackers (so they'll stop eating the uno cards) and they'll be happy to sit near you.


gather some older kids who know how to write and have lots of ideas of what they are grateful for.


try not to smile when they get it right.


you'll be surprised how wonderful their ideas are.

but don't be surprised if your other helper is still lurking.


this time in his jammies.
with crusty boogers (just noticed),
but still looking for goldfish crackers.

make a small slit in each leaf and tie onto the branches with some string, ribbon or fishing line.




we'll use our's as the centerpiece of our thanksgiving table.
and now i'm happy to mark that project off the list!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

very cute!!

...Nancy said...

very cute....but, am i reading this correctly - who is thankful for hair? ;-)

Kelli said...

Wow..that's great! I love it!

nana said...

I love the lurker! What a cute picture! Tell Josh and Anna they did a great job. As always,they know what they should be thankful for. I'm thankful for all my family-those in alabama and those in blackwood and everyone of our relatives and friends. I THANK GOD EVERY DAY! Love to all,Nana

Tara said...

Thats a great idea. Its beautiful.

Tracey T. said...

Amy,
You have always been full of bright ideas! Thank you for sharing them and your beautiful family. Miss You, Tracey T. xoxo

meg duerksen said...

it's beautiful amy.