Art / Craft Time – Leaf Guys

Last week our planned art project was a flop and I ended up deciding to not even post about it.  The very next day I saw the cutest little leaf people that my (real life) friend Jill made with her 2 oldest kids, and knew right away that we’d have to make these too. :)  I’ve seen this little project on blogs before but for some reason didn’t think M would be interested.

Turns out he’s interested.  After we made the first bunch, pictured in this post, he made more the next day, and the day after that!  This was definitely a big hit and if you’ve never done it with your kiddos, I highly recommend it!

Here’s how I had it set up: Sometimes I like to just set up a project and leave it until he notices it and asks, “What are we going to do?!” :)  It’s like a little surprise and makes him more eager to do it.  You’ll need colored paper, a marker for drawing in details, glue, and googley eyes.  M also wanted scissors once we started putting the leaves on the papers, so he could cut off stems or cut leaves in half.

Grab a basket and go outside to find some freshly fallen leaves.  You don’t want crunchy ones that will fall apart when you press them onto the paper.  Also pick dandelions if you see them – they make great earrings or eyes!Enjoy a little fall sunshine while you are at it:

The weather was just cool enough for him to need his new little mama-made hat with a pom-pom. :) 

Bring your leaves inside and start creating! 

       

This was so much fun!  I hope you try this with your kids!

Have a beautiful day! :)

 

Please keep this in your thoughts and prayers - UPDATE

I published the post below a little over a week ago, and just wanted to give a quick update for those of you who have been praying for John.  His surgery went very well and they were able to remove the entire primary tumor (yay!).  However, the cancer was at one time in almost every single bone in his body (including face and skull), and he will be undergoing another round of chemo within the next week or so.  He'll have radiation at some point in the future also.  And, for the very hard part, the medical team will destroy his bone marrow and then transplant stem cells from his own body that they gathered earlier.  During this time they'll have to be in total isolation for 60 days... with a newborn too!  I can't imagine how difficult this will be on their family, so please continue to keep them in your prayers.

Many of you commented or emailed me asking if there is something you could do.  I'm waiting to hear back from John's mom about this.  There is a bank account set up for donations to help defray costs.  If you are interested in this, email me (tiredneedsleep(at)q(dot)com), and I'll give you the information if I *know* you (ie we've emailed each other before or have been following each others blogs for a while, etc.)

Thanks so much for your prayers, I know they are truly appreciated!

A highschool classmate of mine has a little boy named John, who is 3 years old.  He’s cute, funny, sweet… and he has cancer.  3 years old.  My eyes well up just thinking about it. 
I’ve been following along on their journey as they battle this horrible sickness.  They’ve had to leave their 2 girls in Montana with grandparents while they’ve been in Seattle with John for the past several months as he undergoes some pretty serious treatments.  He’s had 5 rounds (I think) of chemo so far, and has made some good progress, although the chemo itself has taken a toll on him, as you can imagine. 
When they found out he had cancer it was already in stage 4, not good.  Can you imagine your sweet baby this sick?  Or the stress of living apart from family, in a single room of a Ronald McDonald house for months?  Not only this, but his mama (my classmate) is almost 8 months pregnant.
John’s last scan showed some improvement after all the chemo.  And he is scheduled for surgery Monday morning.  The hope is that the tumor is now small enough for the surgeons to get all of it out.
So, if you are a pray-er, and I know many of you are, please keep this little boy in your prayers tonight and tomorrow morning.  I will post again once I have heard how everything went.  Thank you!