Milestones

It's been a week of milestones for us. On Friday, DS turned 11, and I survived an all boy slumber party (that's another post). Today, he got braces. Looks like my baby is turning into a young man.

Everybody walk the dinosaur

Open the door get on the floor, everybody walk the dinosaur...

Sorry, but that song has been stuck in my head since we bought the young un tickets to Walking with Dinosaurs. He's been eagerly awaiting the show, especially after seeing the haulers arrive and unload earlier this week. Tonight, for mom/son date night his wait was finally over. And just so you can share my experience, here's the young un's play by play:

Here are the brachiosauruses eating from a tree. The baby brachiousaurus is the one closest to the camera. Can you believe his size?! Just for a baby?

The battle of the two fierce long-horn torosauruses. The young male (the challenger) is on the left. The leader of the torosuarus tribe is on the right. After the young one wins, he eats some flowers and grass and then poops this huge massive ball of dung.
Intermission.

Giant bird swooping between the cracked lands(continents) over the newly formed Atlantic Ocean. It was the only thing that could travel between continents. It would struggle on land. The hungry predators of the early Cretaceous period, the Utah Raptor. The weakest of the three has to wait for it's meal, that's the tradition of eating.

Ankylosaurus and torosaurus versus baby t-rex. While it's cry is weak, it is still in danger, but you'll see what happened next.

Ankylosuarus and torosaurus versus baby T-rex and mama T-rex. First up in the arena we have mama T-rex and torosaurus. She's bringing her roar around with all she's got. Then she charges! But then ankylosaurus smashes her leg. She tries to bite him, but she misses. *Then for back-up baby T-rex comes around and bites ankylosuarus on the leg. Then BOOM! ankylosuarus is knocked out of the fight. Now it's baby T-rex and mama T-rex veres torosaurus. Mama T-rex charges, she means to miss, and baby bites torosaurus in the stomach, but torosaurus is still up fighting for his life. But then he goes down. Love of the two T-rexes; mother and son. It is the end of the late Cretaceous period. The battle is over, and they have won. But then, after the happy moment the comet comes. And they don't look too happy about it. And mama T-rex gets angry and roars and BOOM! it's the end of the dinosaurs... well not literally the end. Most are still with us today--they're birds. And that is the past of Walking with Dinosaurs.

So there you have it. I had my own personal commentary the entire show. And the * part wasn't in the show. He added it to "give it a little excitement."

Shake ya Tail feather

I have to admit, most of my crafty ideas come from someone else. A few years ago I discovered Family Fun magazine and it contained a plethora of inspiration for the young un and I. The turkey cookies in my header are one of those inspirations, and such an easy project. Here's my turkey tail feather tutorial:

First bake your cookies. You can do this with sugar cookies or peanut butter cookies. We used the slice and bake kind cause I'm not a baker.
You also need:
chocolate frosting
candy corn
mini chocolate chips
orange icing coloring
vanilla frosting (if you can find the orange icing writers, they work great!)
ziploc bags

Next slop a little chocolate frosting on the "top" of your cookie. It doesn't need to be super thick, just enough to give the candy corns staying power.
Apply your candy corns so they slightly overhang the edge of your cookie. I did single layers here, but for larger cookies you could double layer (see header). This is the part the young un loves to do-- usually because he snacks on the extra candy corn!

Now for the personality: spoon some orange vanilla frosting into a ziploc bag and carefully snip the very corner of the bag. This will allow you to draw your beaks and legs.
Next repeat with the chocolate frosting for the eyes of your turkeys. I also add mini cholocalte chips on some of them.Now step back and enjoy your gaggle of gobblers!If you're not a cookie person, Betty Crocker offers this cupcake alternative:

photo from Betty Crocker