Sweet Treats ~ Again!

If you still need some special sweet treats for some special little pumkins this Halloween, it does not get any easier that Candy Corn Cookie Bark. This was too easy...and too cute!

Pumpkin Carving

We carved our pumpkin today and I was sure I could convince Anna Claire and Mallory to help us clean out the inside {yuck!}. Walter ended up scraping out the pulp, then I did the carving. Anna Claire was pretty disinterested from the get~go, but Mallory hung around and helped her Daddy sort out the seeds...

 Our jack o'lantern...

 Spoooooky...

 Doesn't it seem like the jack o'lantern and Anna Claire are looking at each other?

I always like to roast the seeds. Well, I found a recipe that said to avoid having to wait for the seeds to dry you could use a hair dryer. I am thinking this idea is genius! It's going to save me so much time.

Allow me to warn you that if you try this method, be sure to start out with your blow dryer on low at a fair distance away from the seeds. I didn't do this and let me just tell you there were pumpkin seeds flying everywhere.

It's okay. You can laugh at me. My family did. Like I said, genius!

School Picture Proofs

I just scanned these and in doing so realized I missed the deadline for ordering ~ today. Oops! I think I'll try to call the photographers tomorrow. These are too cute {and too funny} not to have as keepsakes!

Scarecrows on the Square

Wednesday Grandmom took Anna Claire and Mallory to see the Scarecrows on the Square. It looks like they had a great time!

Halloween Here We Come

The girls could have worn their Halloween costumes to dance class Wednesday afternoon, but I was a little concerned about what condition their costumes would be in by Monday if they wore them Wednesday afternoon and then again to school on Thursday. Not to mention, their costumes are fleece, so I thought they might be hot.

Solution: They wore their sassy little Halloween skirts Grandmom just bought them and could not have been happier about it. They wore witches' hats and danced to Ghost Busters, The Monster Mash, and Flying Purple People Eaters.

We didn't get word until late Tuesday the girls could wear their costumes. Come to find out, they were the only ones dressed even remotely Halloweenish {maybe some didn't get the message at all?}. Here I was worried they'd be the only ones whose mommy didn't let them wear their actual costumes, but now I'm really glad they didn't go to class decked out in their costumes from head to toe!

They did wear their costumes to playschool yesterday and looked too cute. Pictures coming soon. We are all ready for Halloween and Trick~or~Treating...are you?

Field Trip!



Last week Anna Claire and Mallory had their class field trip to the corn maze {this is the same corn maze we visited last year as a family}. Everyone wore their jack-o-lantern t-shirts they made in class, and it sure did help keep everyone together while looking cute at the same time.
Despite the fact that it was unseasonably HOT for 10 am on an October morning {which I think accounts for a bit of fussiness from Mallory not long after we arrived}, both girls had a great time! Mallory was the only student in class who raised her hand to answer questions about the farm animals and she answered them correctly. {What do horses eat? Hay. Are pigs clean or dirty? Clean. And another question about cows that I can’t remember.}

Because we traveled around the “farm” in a group, it made it difficult to get good pictures of the girls, so I’ll just share a few.

 

Note to Self: The next time Anna Claire and Mallory go on a field trip to a farm, take the whole day off from work. Do not plan to go back to work wearing the same clothes you wore on the farm!

Why I Shouldn't Be Sharing Recipes

If you're making "Working Mom's Apple Pie," be sure to pour one cup of milk over everything before popping in into the oven. ;-)

More Sweet Treats ~ Revised!

Anna Claire, Mallory, and I were at it again in the kitchen this weekend, this time baking up not one, but two sweet treats. First up, our fall~favorite: chocolate chip pumpkin muffins.  The pumpkin~chocolate combo isn't for everyone, but we think these muffins are yummy...

1 box of chocolate chip muffin mix
1 cup of canned pumpkin {not pumpkin pie filling}
1/2 cup of milk
1 large egg
1/2 t pumpkin pie spice
Bake in a greased mini-muffin pan at 400 degrees for 10 minutes {for mini-muffins}.

Now, this next dessert might not look so pretty, but let me just tell you that it is sooooo good! My mom brought us back half a peck of apples from the mountains and that is a lot of apples in case you're wondering. I was trying to figure out what I could do with all those apples before they went bad when my mom shared this recipe from the produce stand where she bought the apples. I love apple pie but I 've never made one because, really, who has time to make apple pie these days? So, I am naming this recipe Working Mom's Apple Pie because it tastes just like apple pie and only took this working mom about 15 minutes to whip up.

• Dice and peel 6-8 apples and place them in the bottom of a baking dish.
• Sprinkle the apples with cinnamon and a cup of sugar {I just could not bring myself to use a full cup of sugar, so I used 3/4 of a cup instead and the apples were plenty sweet}
• Sprinkle all that with a cup of Bisquick (I used Publix pancake/waffle mix because that's what I had}
• Cut up a stick of butter and arrange it on top {yes, I used the whole stick of butter and that's all I'm going to say about that}
• Finally, POUR ONE CUP OF MILK OVER EVERYTHING!
• Bake at 350 for 45 minutes

Serve warm with Publix vanilla frozen yogurt {to offset all that butter, ha~ha}



Disney on Ice

Saturday we treated the girls to Disney on Ice and they loved it! Anna Claire was just mesmerized by the whole event and Mallory literally shrieked with delight every time a new "act" would come out onto the ice. I've got to say, I was a pretty awesome show. Once again, Disney does not disappoint.

Mallory says her favorite was the princess part {a huge emphasis on Beauty and the Beast, so no surprise}. Anna Claire's favorite part was getting a Dopey lovie. My favorite part was It's a Small World. I think part of that was my surprise that it was such a huge part of the show. And, they also told the whole Mulan story! We weren't expecting that either.

And in more true Disney fashion, there was no shortage of opportunities for them to take even more of our money. Of course, the girls had to had a toy. Mallory chose a huge Belle figurine bringing our total number of Belle dolls to three, and Anna Claire chose Dopey ~ another lovie. She hasn't let him out of her sight, though.

We had great seats and the girls had a wonderful time!

We're Crafty

I am constantly looking for crafting ideas for the girls to do becasue that's not my strong suit {I was not an elementary teacher}. So, when I see something like the jack o'lantern kit below at Wal-Mart for $1 I'm all over it. I don't know why I share pictures of stuff like this except that Anna Claire and Mallory love it so much, and I want us all to remember "the little things" someday. That, and I am continually surprised by their own creativity.

I showed them a picture of the finished product and let them have at it. Once again, I've got no pictures of the finsihed product, but I'll tell you that they got the eyes, nose, mouth, and stem all in the apprpriate places without any help from me! Way to go, girls!

Picking Our Pumpkin

Saturday we hit the pumpkin patch around the corner to pick the perfect pumpkin from the patch for our porch {try saying that five times fast}. And, it gave the girls a chance to look super cute showing off my latest creation. While I am most pleased with the pumpkin applique {my machine is amazing!}, I really impressed myself by making my first~ever button holes {I am a button hole wimp; I've always passed off the unfinished garment to my mom}.

But what am I most proud of? These beautiful girls!...

Could they get any cuter?!

Sweet Treats: Owl Sugar Cookies

So, the girls and I did a little fall baking this weekend...Owl Sugar Cookies. I'm not a huge sugar cookie fan, but I thought these were cute, and I knew the girls would enjoy decorating them.

The shape of the owl is made by first cutting out a circle then nipping off the top of the circle with an upside-down heart cookie cutter, then cheerios and chocolate chips for eyes, the tip of a candy corn for the beak, and almonds for wings.

After we each decorated one, we decided to just frost the rest and eat them that way. Who needs all the work of making it look like an owl? Does it look at all like an owl? I'm not so sure.

Cousin Catastrophe

Walt and Terence have a catch phrase for all their outings-gone-wrong {and there have been plenty of them ~ think trucks stuck in the mud, boats stuck on sandbars, wedding bands lost forever in water hazards}. They call them Cousin Catastrophes.

Hence, I give you the next generation of the Cousin Catastrophe:

Friday I took the day off and kept the girls home along with Connor and Dylan while Granny went to the mountains and Aunt Michelle went to work. I basically gave these four the run of the house for more than an hour as I tried to get some sewing finished and laundry done. I must say they did quite well considering all the freedoms they were afforded.

What you might not be able to tell from above is that every pillow in the house has been piled on top of Anna Claire’s bed. I can’t remember what they were pretending, but it sure kept them busy. While the house was certainly a catastrophe, after all was said and done I must say everyone did a great job in helping to clean up.

Sadly, the real catastrophe of the weekend is that Connor and Dylan both came down with a nasty virus. Seeing as they were at our house much of the day Friday, we are holding our breath in the hopes Anna Claire and Mallory don’t come down with it.

Halloween Rewind

This weekend, Anna Claire and Mallory decided to dress up in each others' Halloween costumes from last year. So, Anna Claire dressed up as Jesse {check out the rain boots and pink cowgirl hat}, and Mallory dressed up as Bo Peep.

Mallory's scary Halloween faces:

I've got to get started on this year's costumes!