Pumpkin Decorating Party!

Last Thursday, the APA and the Advent Episcopal Church's Youth Group held our annual Pumpkin Decorating Party. There were over 150 people in attendance and fun was had by all!

This year we added a hayride, carnival games, a family photo area and face painting!

The Scarecrow Crunch was a great hit! I saw parents and children going back for more :) Here is the recipe if you would like to make it at home.

Ingredients:
4 cups crunchy oatmeal cereal squares (such as Life cereal)
4 cups tiny twist pretzels or stick pretzels
1 (24 oz.) bag autumn mix candy corn
2 cups Reese's Pieces (I used M&M autumn mix)
2 (6 oz.) boxes caramel popcorn
1 7 oz. bag chocolate graham snacks (I used Pepperidge Farms chocolate goldfish)

Huge thanks goes out to the Church member's who cooked and prepared all of the food for the event! We couldn't have done it with you. Also, thank you to all of the families who came out to make this event such a great success! We cannot wait for next year!

Havana Nights

The APA and Advent Parish Day School are gearing up for this year's Gala and Silent Auction. Tickets are still on sale for $35. You can get them in the courtyard before school or in Cristene's office. The proceeds will provide funds for major improvements at Advent include: enhancing the outdoor play area and providing infrastructure improvements to help ensure your children are playing in the safest possible area.

There will be Cuban cuisine by Gordo's, refreshing beverages, live music by Facing Quincy, and fantastic items to bid on at the Silent Auction. After you have finished your bidding, you can relax outside by the bonfire listening to Facing Quincy, who was much loved last year.

This year marks Advent Parish Day School's 40th anniversary, and we look forward to celebrating with you at the Silent Auction.

Silent Auction

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

Arch Angel:

Father G. Randall Sartin

Angel:

Beverly Burnsed Spencer

The Lawson Family

Disciple:

Applebee's

C & A Landscaping, Inc.

Betsy and Cory Couch

Michelle and Chase Dickson

Episcopal Church Women (ECW)

Laurie and Scott Hartsfield

Tricia and Adam Montgomery

Susan and Sean Stafford

Charlotte Watkins

Meredith and Brian Wilson

Jean and Daniel Woodring

Shepherd:

The Corum Family

The Doran Family

Maryanne and Tony Lancaster

Star:

John, Julia, and Izzy Harris

Judi McGinnis

The Walker Family

Owl Snack

Looking for a Amy to make these treats more healthy? Well, look no more, Ms. Kim has found a way!!

Here is what you need:
Graham crackers
Apple butter or peanut butter ( she uses apple since we are a peanut free school)
Bananas
Sociables crackers
Raisins
Cereal if desired

For the owl's head, spread the apple/ peanut butter onto the graham cracker.

For the owl's eyes place two sociables crackers and then add a little more apple/ peanut butter to use as glue for banana slices and raisins.

For the owls beak, use half of a banana slice.

For the eyebrows, use cereal if desired. Ms. Kim used Honeycombs.

She also had the children sprinkle some shredded wheat on top to represent feathers.

This is the closest picture I could find to Ms. Kim's creation. Hope you can get the idea :)

Too cute! She said this is a favorite amongst the children.

Apple Pizza

Here is what you need to make Apple Pizzas at home:

dough

cheese

apples

cinnamon

First, let your child sprinkle cheese on the dough. Next, have them count out 5 apple slices and place them on pizza dough. Then, sprinkle the cinnamon from spoon with parent's help. Watch as an adult puts it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes or until dough lightly browns.

Letter of the Week

We have some really awesome parents at Advent including, Tijen Owings. She has been making" Letter of the Week" treats for her son's PreK-4 class. 

Here are some of the fun treats she has been bringing in:

What a better way to learn than by eating something scrumptious?  Especially when learning things that start with the letter they are working on in school! Parents can build off of this at home by making "letter" themed dinners or lunches. 

For example, with the letter E, you could have: egg salad sandwiches, ears of corn, edamame, eggplant parmigana, empanadas, elbow macarroni, enchiladas and the list goes on.

All you have to do is Google, "Food that starts with the letter _" and you get great search results.

Thanks Tijen, for sharing your fun and yummy way of learning letters!

Pumpkin Pie Play Doh

Can you believe it is October? 

What better way to celebrate fall with your children, than to make pumpkin pie play doh! It is something you can to together, it is easy, and it smells awesome! After making your play doh, you can make it really cute to give to griends, classmates, or others by putting it in a plastic baggie without the ziplock, draw a pumpkin face with a black sharpie marker and tie it together using green yarn. How cute!!

What you'll need to make pumpkin pie play doh:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup water
• Food coloring (we used 6 drops of red and 15 drops of yellow)

Combine the dry ingredients in a nonstick saucepan. Add the oil, water, and food coloring and whisk until smooth. Stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, cook the mixture over medium heat until it forms a ball, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a counter, let it cool slightly, then knead the dough until it has a smooth texture, about 1 minute. The dough will keep up to a week in a ziplock bag.

To make stems, place some pasta (we used fusilli) in a ziplock bag. Add five drops of green food coloring and a teaspoon of water. Seal the bag, then let your tot squish the pasta around until it's tinted. Pour the pasta onto a piece of waxed paper and let it dry for about five minutes before pressing it into your pumpkins.

Activity adapted from: http://spoonful.com/crafts/pumpkin-pie-play-dough