Post Halloween Candy Mayhem

How many of you guys woke up this morning with a chocolate hangover? I found myself trying to eat enough cheerios to soak up all of the sugar realizing that I just might have to...hold on a second...this is hard...give up chocolate.  Well some of it at least.  So when I received the email from our Orthodontist I was convinced to participate in their charity event.

Mark your calendars for our 2nd annual Smiles Change Lives Candy Exchange: NOVEMBER 3RD ! Bring your extra candy and come by the Landen office to help support our troops!! Enjoy food, drinks, entertainment and visits from our firefighters and military men and women!

Northeast Orthodontic Specialists


Being a dental assistant if you don't live in an area where your dentist participate in this program here are some tips to try to avoid cavities.

•  Limit suckers  hard candies.  These are the worst because the sugar is not only on the teeth for the amount of time they are sucking on them but for at least thirty minutes after.
•  Always have them brush their teeth after eating any candy. Especially the sticky stuff like sour patch kids, swedish fish or tootsie rolls. Those types of candies stick into the grooves of the biting surface of teeth guaranteeing a trip to the dental chair.
• Starting at the age of three always see your dentist every six months for a routine thorough cleaning.

Art World Foam Paper

Seemed like it was going to be a gloomy day outside so to brighten up the inside, I give Ava another art project. I cut foam paper into various shapes (mostly rectangles), put some water in a bowl and let her dunk the pieces in the water. Next step is just letting her stick them onto the window. Easy & Fun! The only hard part for me was, well besides cutting shapes other than rectangles was, was making sure the water didn't get everywhere since the toddler thought it was funny to stick all her toys and her head in the water.

Items Needed:
Foam Paper

Scissors
Water

Now I was going to post this last  week but forgot oops and yesterday the weather was definitely not gloomy, hello sun & 78 degrees, but since its getting close to Halloween I made some ghosts & pumpkins though my little art critic told me it wasn't a pumpkin.

Morgan's Haunted River

Can you tell I love free?? Another post involving something free.  One free child's admission when accompanied by a paying adult. Coupon Link With only one weekend left until the Halloween festivities are over you do not want to miss out on Morgan's Spooktaculor Haunted River. Your journey will start off with a spooky hike through the Forest of Lost Souls. Then if your one of the lucky ones to escape the deranged doctor you will make it to a raft that's waiting for you for a short ride down the haunted river. Just when you think it's safe you'll find yourself paddling maybe even screaming to death through Zombie Island...Get Ready Paddle or Die....(In all respects my little one is a scaredy cat and she thought this was the coolest Halloween activity we have done together by far. Actually our whole group thought that this was one of the best Haunted Houses of all time.)
 
 
 

 

You won't be seeing any photos from the hike or the river...There was no way I was stopping for a photo shoot. 

All children 17 and under must be accompanied by and adult.
Price: $15 for Adults, $10 for Kids 12 and under
Price with Reservation: $13 for Adults, $8 for Kids 12 and under. Call 1-800-932-2663 .
Bonfires and movies will be provided while you wait! Our deli will be opened too, with an offering of beverages (both hot and cold), food and sweets, including s'more kits.
Because this is a guided tour, there may be a wait, so please feel free to bring your own s'more fixins to roast around the fire. A movie will be showing too!
7-11PM on the following days:

• Fri. Oct 5 and Sat Oct 6
• Fri. Oct 12 and Sat Oct 13
• Fri. Oct 19 and Sat. Oct 20
• Fri. Oct. 26 and Sat Oct. 27

Last tickets will be sold at 10:30                  

 

Trick or Treat With Dinosaurs

Hurry only two more weeks left in the season. Don't miss out on the countless hours of fun for all ages. (Children 2 and under are free)  Kings Island has out done themselves and is now offering two attractions that are Fun Scary not Scary Scary for family friendly Halloween fun.  Their hours of operation for these attractions are Saturday and Sunday 11:00 - 6:00.

Trick or Treat With Dinosaurs is located in the Coney Mall section of the main amusement park. Although it is an additional $5.00 it is well worth the money. You will travel along a path filled with humongous animatronic dinosaurs that are dressed up and ready for Trick or Treating. Along the way you will stop for treats from employees that are also dressed up in Halloween costumes. To a dental assistant's delight they went beyond the typical candy and had some treats that were apples, pretzels and even toys. Around the halfway point through our prehistoric journey there was a Dig Site where they provided the kids with shovels, buckets and paintbrushes to see if they could uncover some dinosaur bones...oh and a bench for the parents for a much needed break to sit and relax watching the kids have fun. After having fun in the sand you will continue on your journey ready to pick a pumpkin in the pumpkin patch being overseen by very large sharp toothed dinosaur...ack...Stop by the craft station to personalize your pumpkin then off to the rest of the treat stops.  Some of our favorite moments...The little one repeating "Their lookin at me", or "Their talking to me", Roaring back at the dinosaurs and being able to press buttons to see the dinosaurs move.

 

 

 

 

 

yes they are moving and roaring every once in a while...Little one peers back to make sure they aren't coming any closer.

 

 

 

After all that fun you would have thought that was enough but heck no not for us we hopped on the train that took us through fields of hay bale pigs, cows, skeletons playing the banjo and even a bear stealing a pumpkin over to Howl O Palooza located in Soak City.




She's still talking about how the Dinosaurs were "Lookin at Me"

 

 

 

 

As you enter Safety Town is there to greet you featuring a Firehouse with a Firefighter handing out stickers, City Hall, Police Station and Hospital. Then you find yourself winding through the Twisted Tales maze perfect for little ghouls and boys where some of your favorite fairy tales take on a different twist. As you exit the maze your off to a small area of games costing around $1 to $2 per game featuring a guaranteed treat. (the kids were more interested in the animals so we ended up skipping this) Across from the games you will find a petting zoo filled with goats, llamas, bunnies, chickens, a cow and even some miniature ponies.  Some of their friends offered a Pony Ride that was only $1.00 per rider. (You should have seen those little faces light up.  Little one was proud to have done it all by herself and they even had a big horse for Rosey to ride) After that they have little tractors to ride through a hay bale course, a mini jumping blow up trampoline and a Dance party with foam waves (we skipped these to attempt another day little legs were getting very tired and I wasn't prepared with towels to clean them up after a foam bath) As you walked around the PEANUTS gang were there to have photo shoots and even had several of their own Halloween Party's scheduled at 1pm, 2pm, 3:30pm and 4:30pm making sure to celebrate Halloween with some of their favorite spooky classic songs...Now...we are definitely done off to take a nap...hopefully we won't have any nightmares of sharp toothed dinosaurs lookin at us.

 

 

 

Scarecrow Paper Plate Craft

Its #pickmeuptuesday, glad I stopped into our library for story time. It really brightened my day and was not the "job" I thought it would be. So for today change how you perceive an activity that makes your child happy, get on the floor or in the dirt, see it through their eyes.

Today's books & crafts were all about Halloween. They also gave us flyers for a parade they are doing for the kids on October 29th & 31st. Kids that want to dress up prior to story time will be part of a parade through the library getting treats along the way. Being a stay at home mom its awesome to see Ava interact with other kids & have so much fun just talking to them & being near them. Today while waiting for the door to open she was enthusiastically telling a little boy about her pockets & he was enthusiastically telling her about how he can jump. ::ahhhh the sweetness::

Scarecrow Craft

Items Needed:
Paper Plate
Yellow paper for the straw hair
Any color for the hat, and triangle nose
Googly eyes
Marker for mouth (and eyes if you don't have googly ones)
Glue
Optional: leaves (bought or from the yard) for the hat

Instructions:

• Cut out the hat. There's a template here granted I didn't use this one just found it for you. Or forgo the template and draw/cut your own.
• Cut the straw hair two 5 inch long, 1 inch wide rectangles one for each side. Cut it down the middle but leave an inch so you can easily glue it to the hat. Let the child crinkle the hair.
• Draw the mouth
• Glue the leaves to the hat
• Glue eyes, nose, & hat to the plate (for the hat I found that it was easiest to glue the plate then attach hat that way the hat won't stick where you don't want it to.

We sang some songs I'm sure they are all over the web but some had offensive language (ie fat) so I changed them see below for Ava's favorites.

Scarecrow Sung to the tune of "Teddy Bear Teddy Bear turn around"
Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around
Scarecrow, scarecrow, jump up and down
Scarecrow, scarecrow, arms up high

Scarecrow, scarecrow, wink one eye
Scarecrow, scarecrow, flap in the breeze
Scarecrow, scarecrow, climb into bed
Scarecrow, scarecrow, rest your head

Pumpkin Song Sung to the tune of "Have you ever seen a lassie?"
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin,
Have you ever seen a pumpkin that grows on a vine?
A round one, a tall one, a big one, a small one.
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?

Paper Plate Crafts

Spooky Ghosts "Did I scare you?"

Items Needed:
Paper Plate
Black Paper or Markers or Paint for the eyes and mouth
Glue
One sheet Tissue Paper cut in half
Scissors
Yarn or Ribbon

We decided to use the Black Paper so the first step is to cut the black paper into shapes for the eyes and mouth. Rosey did hers easily but I cut the pieces for the 2 year old even though she said "I do it myself". ack safety first. I did let her use the glue stick to glue the pieces to the plate by herself  which is the next step. For the ghostly paper shreds Rosey cut the tissue paper in half one for herself and one for Ava then she cut them each into strips not all the way through the paper but by leaving at least 2 inches at the top uncut. Again using the glue stick to adhere the tissue paper to the back of the plate hanging down. Last we punched two holes in the top of the plate and knotted the yarn from one hole to the other to hang them.

Spider Webs

Items Needed:
Paper Plate
Yarn
Paint
Spiders (spider can be made out of pipe cleaners)

Paint the plates if the child wants it painted (come on what child doesn't want to paint? maybe that should have said if the adult wants to clean up the mess. Make sure you do this either earlier in the day or the day before so the paint has time to dry). Cut half inch slits into the plate around the edges. Cut yarn and let the child manipulate them into the slits to create a spider web. We had fake spiders from last Halloween that we decided to hot glue them onto the yarn web.