Flowing Well Park, A Return to Conner Prairie, and Some Fall Odds and Ends

This is a continuation of a fall travel series.  If you missed any of my previous posts you can find them here:  Bird Watching at the La Crosse Marsh, A Return to Galena Illinois, A Visit to the Lincoln Home, A Visit to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, and The Lincoln Tomb and Historic Springfield,Turkey Run State Park, and Fisher's AgriPark Fall Festival

Today wraps up my fall midwest travel series, and just in time for my Christmas blog break!  If you missed any previous travel posts of our fall vacation, just click on any of the links in the first paragraph.

In this post, I am covering just a few more fun activities we did while visiting the kids, along with our Thanksgiving break.

Conner Prairie Kiln

                           Flowing Well Park

One of the activities we did with the grandkids was to go to "Flowing Well Park".

"Flowing Well Park" is a sweet little park in Carmel Indiana that has an artesian well which visitors are free to bring their empty water jugs and "fill up".  My kids do this on a weekly basis because they believe the water is so much better to drink than city water.  But in addition to the free artesian water, the park also has a mile long nature trail through the woods and along "Cool Creek". The creek is a great spot for fishing and wading.

The grandchildren love wading in the creek and finding seashells and rocks.

The nature trail through the woods is pretty cool too!  It's the perfect size trail for little feet!

Conner Prairie

I already did a very extensive post on Conner Prairie HERE, so I will not elaborate much more except to say that this is a place that constantly has new programs and activities every weekend and throughout the different seasons.  We went back in the fall because they had a lot of fall activities, plus they have a huge fall festival.   One of the events on the day we were there was was their "Kiln Burn" which they only do ONE day out of the whole year, and we were lucky enough to be there on that day!

But first, we took some time to grab more family fall photos.

And now, onto the kiln burn.  This was fascinating, and scary to watch.  We couldn't believe the heat, and the fire and smoke that came out the top.  Be sure to watch the video below to really get the full picture,

After the potter forms the pottery, it is placed in the fire. Yes, right inside that very hot fire!  We could see the pottery live but it's hard to find in the photo and video.  The staff, dressed in period costumes, explain the process and fuel the fire...and they were hot and sweaty, let me tell you!  It's not a job for the faint of heart.

They also sell the finished pieces on site.  They are pricey, but the proceeds help support the Museum.  I purchased a small mixing bowl for $30 and a soup mug for $22.  I use them a lot too!  They are so strong!

This is the building where the kiln is located.

Of course Atticus' favorite part is always the carpentry shop.  Here he was learning how to make a rake.

Elisha enjoyed exploring the old town wagons and stores.

Thanksgiving

The kids came up to us for Thanksgiving.  Baby Lazarus isn't crawling yet, but somehow he manages to move around and found himself under my curtains, of which we proceeded to play a game of peek-a-boo.

The grandkids were up early and played hard everyday.  They often fell asleep wherever they were at.

I make the same "3 Cheese Ball" every holiday because it is a family favorite, but this was the first time I turned it into a turkey.  The grandkids and I had a lot of fun making this turkey.

The kids have been dying to see "Moana 2" so we decided to treat them to their very first movie theater experience.  Their reaction was priceless:

They really enjoyed having their own reclining seat, especially Elisha,  he would not stop playing with those buttons! 😆

We had the tradition meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls, beans, corn, and stuffing, plus our special occasion beverage:  Sparkling Juice!  Everything tasted great.  The grandkids especially loved my "Make Ahead Potatoes" which are loaded with cream cheese, sour cream, and butter...what's not to love?  😆

 All in all it was a great Thanksgiving week and a great fall!  So much to be grateful for.

See you in 2025 with my newest travel series:  "Yellowstone and More!"

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm on Fall Break to enjoy time with my family.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever! "

Psalm 107:1

 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!  Amy

A Thanksgiving Table Setting for Children Under Five

Every year I see all these beautiful tablescapes of holiday tables, and I envy them.  I would love to have a beautiful, elegant table to sit down at for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It's not that I'm incapable of creating my own lovely tablescape.  No, I'm pretty good at holiday decorating if I do say so myself.  But my dilemma is I have three adorable little munchkins at my holiday table which I wouldn't trade for all the perfect, beautiful, elegant tablescapes in the world!  My grandchildren are what makes celebrating every holiday more meaningful.  So I decided, in lieu of the typical stunning Thanksgiving table setting you are seeing everywhere on Pinterest and Blogland right now, I'd show you what my Thanksgiving table looked like last year.

I covered the table with an old vinyl tablecloth that was way too small for our table, but it was the only one I had.  A cloth table cloth would just be ruined immediately with stains from the little ones, or my messy husband. 😁

Each table setting had a whimsical, hand-made item by me, whether it be a Thanksgiving figurine, or a paper turkey, plus a Thanksgiving Bible verse, and some corn nuggets (more on that later).

Last year I made these cute little pilgrim and Native American figures out of toilet paper rolls.  It ended up being my most popular post of the year,  even when I couldn't include directions because the link was broken.  Go figure.  The grandkids loved these little figures and played with them all week.

The paper turkey I made years ago following a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers. 

The Thanksgiving faith index cards I made two years ago and we have used them every year at Thanksgiving.  The kids love them and they bring a spiritual element to the table.  Each family member picks a card, then reads the Bible verse on Thankfulness on the front of the card, then they talk about what that verse means to them.  The experience takes it a little beyond just mentioning what you are thankful for, since for most of us that doesn't change much year to year (family, friends, health, job, etc.).  You can find more information on the Thanksgiving Faith Index Cards HERE!

Now about the little packet of corn;  our church has a Thanksgiving Eve service the night before Thanksgiving Day.  At the service, the pastor shared the hardships of the early pilgrims and how many had starved to death their first winter in the new land.  He said many pilgrims only had five kernels of corn a day to eat,  and we were sent home with little packets of five kernels of corn to remind us of the hardships of the early settlers and how much we had to be grateful for today.  

Now whether the story is true or a myth I don't know, but I love the lesson the legend can teach us today. 

Photo Credit

 I put the packets of corn on the grandchildren's plates so we could discuss the values we learned from the story during the meal.  The grandkids then decided to try and eat the corn 🤯😆,  so we had to quickly grab the corn bits away from them.  I think if I ever do this again, I would use candy corn.  😀

I have many different styles and colors of plates and cups already in my dining ware collection, and these jeweled toned plates and Harvest Gold glass cups are perfect for a fall table.

Fall paper napkins were used in place of cloth ones, once again, more practical with little ones.

And finally, prior to our Thanksgiving meal, I printed out some Thanksgiving scenes for the grandchildren and I to color.  This was one I colored in using Copic markers.  I displayed it on the hutch next to the dining room table.

I hope you enjoyed reading about how my family and I celebrate Thanksgiving.  I will be taking the week off in lieu of the holiday.  I will return November 29th with a Bible Journaling post.

Have a Great Day and a Happy Thanksgiving.  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids and A Thanksgiving Break

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers.  I am taking the week off from blogging to enjoy my family and celebrate the holiday.  I will be back to a regular blogging schedule starting the week of November 29th.

In the meantime, enjoy these cute little Thanksgiving figures I made for my grandchildren.  I plan to put them on our Thanksgiving table along with some paper turkeys I crafted years earlier.  My Thanksgiving table is filled with babies and pre-schoolers so no fancy table centerpieces for us.  I use our nice china, but the decorations are something the grandkids can touch and play with.

I wish I could link to a tutorial of how I made these adorable Thanksgiving figures, but the link appears to be broken.  I found the idea on Pinterest, but when I clicked on the link, it would just stall and never connect;  so, I made them by just looking at the picture.  They turned out pretty good for not having a template and/or instructions.  I think the only thing I messed up on was the Pilgrim Ladies hat.  Mine looks more like a chef's hat than a pilgrim's hat. 😁

If you haven't figured it out by looking at them, they are made using cardboard toilet paper rolls.  I then cut all the "colored" pieces out using card stock and then I hand drew the faces, necklaces, and buttons on.  They were a lot of fun to make!

PHILIPPIANS 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Amy

Thanksgiving Faith Index Cards

Bible Journaling has opened up the door to many other ways to grow closer to God and studying His Word.  Many Christians do not like to color in their Bibles so they have a separate book called "Bible Journals" that they create in artistic form what God is teaching them.  Other's do what is called "Faith Index Cards".  These are small index cards with art and Bible verses on them.  Last year I participated in a Thanksgiving Challenge.  Every day for the month of November, right up to Thanksgiving Day, we picked a verse out of the Bible that had to do with "Thanksgiving" and created a Faith Index Card out of it.  Then on Thanksgiving my family and I each picked a card, read the verse, and discussed what that verse meant to us.  It went over so well, everyone told me to save the cards so we could do it again next year.

To make an index card I used a template downloaded from the Internet then hand cut the tab and little openings out.  After that, I just decorated the card with fall images.

I'm not going to show you all 28 cards, but I will show some of my favs.  This first one I actually created an actual gate using a stamped image.  The gate swings open to see the rest of the verse.

For my Faith Index Cards, I used a mix of stamps, and digital images.

If the verse was too long to write on the front of the card, I would write the full verse on the back.

I mostly used my own handwriting to write the verses, but sometimes I used stamps to emphasize a word like the word "Thank" below.

 

I hope I've inspired you to find a way to bring a little "thankfulness" into your Thanksgiving.  Right now I'm praying I'll be able to see my family at all since Covid seems to really be rearing it's ugly head in our community.  

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

A Thanksgiving Card For A Little Boy

This past month I have been showing all the Thanksgiving cards I made for my family.  Today I have one more to share, my last one, the card I made for my beautiful grandson.

All the stamps were found in the dollar bins of a local craft store.  I stamped the main image, sentiment, and leaves directly on the main image image panel and colored them in with Copic markers.  The pumpkin and nut were stamped on a separate piece of card stock, colored in, cut out, then popped up on dimensionally.  I covered the pumpkins in Crystal Effects to make it shiny.

I stamped some grass under the fox.  Scrap ribbon from my stash was added to the upper left corner for some extra embellishment.  I adhered a leaf brad over the top to secure the ribbon in place.

I adhered the main image panel to a copper glitter panel, then I glued the two panels to an orange card base.

And here is the latest picture of the sweet little boy that received this card.  Babies change so quickly I thought you'd like to see a recent picture.  He still has the sweetest, most chill temperament.  I can't wait to see him and Alethea this Thanksgiving.

Have A Great Day! Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

A Thanksgiving Card For A Little Girl

The past couple of weeks I've been showing the fall/Thanksgiving cards I made for my kids.  I showed adult cards the first two weeks, now I'm moving on to the cards I made for my beautiful grandchildren.  This week I have a card I made for a little girl, my granddaughter, Alethea.

My image is an old MFT stamp.  I colored her in with Copic markers using all fall colors.  I made her a blond because Alethea is a blond.  Then I added some pretty leaf crystals because I knew Alethea would like that.

The sentiment was stamped directly on the main image panel then I adhered the panel to an orange card base.

Alethea was so cute when she got her card.  After she opened and looked at it, she immediately knew to put it on top of the bookshelf where it would stay safe but she could still see it.  Mom has her trained well. :)

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE