Chocolate & One Cool Cat {Halloween 2017}

This Halloween we took Coen trick or treating for the first time. This amounted to bribing him with the promise of going home and changing into his costume in order to get him to leave his beloved preschool for the day. Then, once we got home, we had to bribe him with chocolate in order to get him to put on his costume (This really shouldn’t be at all surprising if you read this post). Three-year-olds are so much fun.

Before I picked Coen up I got a text from Jeremy’s cousin’s wife, Chelsea. She asked if he was a fan of Frozen and suggested we come by her dad’s house where they were dressed up as the characters from the movie. I talked it up while we drove home, but even telling him we were going to see Chelsea didn’t convince him to put on his cute cat costume for trick or treating. Somehow, after a lot of coaxing and a little dark chocolate, we still made it over there right around when they were starting. It was a good thing too because by the time we left there was a line of trick or treaters waiting for photos and a traffic jam in front of the house! My little cat wasn’t feeling the photo op though and all we got out of him was this sly half-smile. It really was the purr-fect expression considering the temperament of most cats!

A frozen themed house set up just for Halloween!

We ended up going around the block to trick or treat at the rest of the homes in the neighborhood. By the time we made it back around our little kitty was hungry and ready for a cat nap so we headed home. I’m still not sure what we are going to do with all the candy we brought home. I was considering starting a Switch Witch tradition, but surprisingly Coen hasn’t been asking for any of it! We may just wait until next year for that. Plus, shhh, don’t tell, but I already ate quite a bit of it anyway. My favorites are the Reese’s!

How was your Halloween?

Last Minute DIY Kids Cat Costume

Need a last minute kids Halloween costume? This DIY cat costume is simple and cute!

This Halloween was all about taking the easy road. So why the DIY costume you may ask. Why not hightail it to the nearest Walmart and purchase a costume and be done with it? THAT would be easy, right? It’s true, I can’t think of anything easier. The thing is, I already had this costume made from last year. I know, I know, not everyone has an unused DIY costume to reach for, but I swear, I whipped this one together super last minute last year. Only, my kid flat-out refused to wear a costume last year. I wasn’t going to just let my handiwork go to waste! Okay, I did last year, but that was only because I knew that it would still work this year.

Now, last year I thought I would blog about how to make the costume and I even remember taking step-by-step photos for the post. However, those photos are nowhere to be found. In fact, I may have just imagined doing that. Luckily, I still had this inspiration post pinned on a Pinterest board, waiting for me. The costume can be done with absolutely no sewing, but I did do a tiny bit of sewing.

We started with a base of a black turtleneck and black leggings (I couldn’t find what I wanted in the boys’ section, so I just picked up a pair from the girls’ section at Walmart). Then I used an oversized (big boys size small) crewneck sweatshirt and cut off the sleeves. If you can find one that is not raglan sleeves it will probably be easier, but this worked just fine. Then, I turned the edge in and glued it with fabric glue. I am sure you could skip the sweatshirt if you want to, but we were glad we had it when the weather for Halloween festival at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks ended up being chilly and wet.

A few things I did differently:

Ears: The post I linked to says to use some of the leftover sweatshirt sleeve material to make the ears. I tried this, but felt like it was too droopy. Especially if you add some of the marabou to it as they suggest. The glue only helps so much. Instead, I cut triangles out of felt and glued them to the headband.

Looking for an easy last-minute costume idea for Halloween? This kid's cat costume is super simple and cute!

Tail: They suggested to glue the tail to the back of the sweatshirt, but when I had it pinned with a safety pin to figure out where to glue it my child was able to easily rip the tail off. This prompted me to sew it in place instead of using glue. You could probably do glue and see how it holds up, then if it doesn’t seem to hold well you could always still put some stitches in it to reinforce it. We also wrapped some electrical tape around the end of the wire hanger so that it wouldn’t poke through.

Looking for a last-minute DIY costume for Halloween? This no-sew cat costume is super simple and cute!

Whiskers: I knew there was no way my kid was going to let me put floral wire on his face for whiskers so I skipped this step and drew some on with face paint. Simple.

Looking for an easy last-minute costume idea for Halloween? This kid's cat costume is super simple and cute!

I think it turned out super cute, if I do say so myself. That ridiculously good-looking kid has something to do with the cuteness factor, but I take credit for him too!

I’m linking this post up on my friend Lacie‘s Funtastic Friday Link Party and her fabulous Halloween Blog Hop (Check it out, there’s a giveaway, too!)

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Easter Egg Shakers & Sensory Play for Toddlers

Repurpose your plastic Easter Eggs for toddler sensory play by making egg shakers! Let toddlers fill the eggs with rice, beans or both and then shake, shake, shake! #gerberlilbeanies #sensoryplay #toddlerplay #healthytoddlersnacks juliannegray.com

I was hired by The Women Bloggers to participate in this campaign led by Kendal King Group on behalf of Nestle. All words and opinions are my own.

Now that Easter is over, you may be looking for something to do with all of those eggs, both the hard boiled variety and the plastic. I am sure there are plenty of recipes to enjoy with the former (avocado egg salad, anyone?), but I am here to talk about what to do with the plastic ones. We are all about reusing and repurposing around here so I put together a fun, sensory activity that also involves making a little music. And, even if you don’t allow many sweets, you may have let your little one indulge in some sugary treats over the weekend as well. I am thinking you may be looking for a healthy snack to balance things out after the sugar rush (hey, same here). I have just the thing for that too!

Repurpose your plastic Easter Eggs for toddler sensory play by making egg shakers! Let toddlers fill the eggs with rice, beans or both and then shake, shake, shake! #gerberlilbeanies #sensoryplay #toddlerplay #healthytoddlersnacks juliannegray.com

While Young Master Gray was napping, I set out an invitation to play with dried rice, dried white beans and empty plastic Easter eggs. The object was for him to fill the eggs with the rice and beans to make shakers, but also to touch and experience all of the different textures. I also set out a snack for him to munch on as we played.

Gerber Lil' Beanies are a great new toddler snack made from navy beans and rice flour. Free of GMOs, artificial flavors, colors and preservatives. #healthysnack #gerberlilbeanies #toddlersnack juliannegray.com

Gerber Lil’ Beanies are a brand new snack for toddlers made from navy beans and rice flour, so there was an added element of talking about what our snack was made of as we played with the main ingredients! There are only seven ingredients listed on the can of the original flavor with sea salt which makes thislabel-reading mama happy! If you or your kids have food allergies like we do (or if you are just health conscious), you know that what is left out is just as important as what is in the food you give your kids. I was thrilled to learn that Lil’ Beanies are not made with GMOs, and do not contain artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

A fun toddler sensory experience using items from your pantry and leftover Easter eggs! #gerberlilbeanies #sensoryplay #toddlerplay #toddler snacks juliannegray.com

Because Young Master Gray cannot have dairy, I left the White Cheddar and Broccoli flavored Lil’ Beanies in the can. Just out of curiosity, I had a taste of them for myself. They were really good! I may or may not have finished off a whole can (hey, he can’t eat them anyway). They reminded me of cheese puffs, but they didn’t leave a whole lot of messy cheese and powder on my fingers, a big plus for a toddler snack!

When Young Master Gray woke up, he dove right into the activity!

Fill empty Easter Eggs with rice, beans or both for a fun toddler sensory play activity! #toddleractivity #sensoryplay #gerberlilbeanies #toddlersnacks juliannegray.com

Fill empty Easter Eggs with rice, beans or both for a fun toddler sensory play activity! #toddleractivity #sensoryplay #gerberlilbeanies #toddlersnacks juliannegray.com

And he dove right into the Lil’ Beanies as well!

Gerber Lil' Beanies are a great new toddler snack made from navy beans and rice flour. Free of GMOs, artificial flavors, colors and preservatives. #healthysnack #gerberlilbeanies #toddlersnack juliannegray.com

We experimented with filling the eggs with rice and then beans to see how different they sounded when we shook them. It didn’t take long for the beans and rice to get mixed together, so we filled some eggs with both rice and beans.

Rice & Bean Easter Egg Shakers

Overall, it was a really fun activity that kept him interested for quite a while (major win!). He is still talking about it today. I taped up some of the eggs afterwards so that we could continue using them as shakers in our everyday play. I am sure that I will still be finding rice in my rug for weeks to come, but all the fun we had outweighed the inconvenience of a little mess. Luckily the Lil’ Beanies didn’t add to the mess at all.

Gerber Lil' Beanies are a yummy, mess-free snack for toddlers. Just don't expect your toddler to share them with you! #gerberlilbeanies #toddlersnack #healthysnack juliannegray.com

Young Master Gray says, “Sorry! I didn’t save any Lil’ Beanies for you!” However, you should be able to find them in the baby and toddler snack section at Walmart!

Let me know if you try the activity or the snacks! I would love to hear how your toddlers like them!