Halloween Goodie Buckets

When I saw these cute little metal buckets at the Target dollar spot, I knew they would make a nice treat for Trent's teachers. However, I only purchased two of the small ones so one of his teachers got the BIG bucket. It just looks big compared to those tiny ones actually. I hope they enjoy their treats.

I made simple tags by using my Spooky Sweets set from Papertrey Ink, punched it out and mounted it onto a scalloped circle. I then tied on some cute ribbons to jazz up the buckets.

I hope his teachers like Hershey's nuggets 'cause that's their treat. The nuggets have simple Avery labels wrapped around them that have been stamped with different Halloween images. A cute way to liven up the candy and coordinate it with a theme like Halloween. Oh, I also threw in a spider ring just for fun and spookiness. (I'm doing my creepy witch laugh now...........scary!)

What Have You Done To Our Child???

Yes. This is Ivy with a slightly different look than usual. Here she is sporting the slicked back greaser look. Now, I , of course, think she's gorgeous hair slicked or not, but I would have preferred --NO GEL IN THE HAIR! So, you may be asking yourself,"Who's the culprit?". Well, we were walking down the hall at church Sunday and my hairdresser and friend, Tonya was looking at Ivy and commenting on her hair while William was holding Ivy. Then she sarcastically said, "You could put some gel in it." It's true that I can't put bows or clips or, well, anything in her hair because she pulls it out and puts it in her mouth, but we just tuck it behind her ear and make do. William had joked with me all that evening saying he was going to put gel in her hair, but I didn't think he would. Then, who do I see coming out of the bathroom with big smiles on their faces but Will and Ivy. My words,"Oh no you did not!" Will's words, "Oh yes I did."She looked like she could have been a greaser from the movie The Outsiders. I have to say it was pretty funny and it did keep her hair out of her face, but we're not going to be adopting this new style anytime soon. I'm pretty sure he just wanted to see the look on MY face. After we had our laughs,Will did get to give her a bath and wash out all the icky stickiness. I think I'll hide the gel just in case.

Pie Time

I think individual and mini desserts are so fun to eat. Maybe it's the size or that they just look so cute. Not sure, but I like to make them and eat them. The other night I made these scrumptious individual cherry cream cheese pies. This has to be one of my all time favorite pies. It's a classic.
These little babies went over very well with my family. Everyone liked having their very own pie. With a big smile on her face, Laci said, "Oh mom. These are sooo cute." Thanks Lace!


Individual Cherry Cream Cheese Pies
1 pkg. Keebler mini graham cracker crusts
1 (14 oz. ) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (8 oz. ) pkg. cream cheese @ room temp.
1/3 c. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
cherry pie filling

Let cream cheese stand at room temp. until softened. Beat cream cheese with mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in milk; add lemon juice and vanilla. Stir until well mixed. Pour mixture into mini graham cracker crusts and chill until firm. Top with cherry pie filling before serving.

Peeps for my Peeps

Okay, okay. I know it's corny,but when I spotted these Halloween cat Peeps at Target I couldn't resist. I'm not a big Peeps fan, but I thought it would be fun to share them with the young women I teach at church(16-18 yr. old). Who, by the way, are a great, special group of girls that always listen and participate in class.For those who don't know, peeps is a slang word for friends. I'm always joking around with my baby sitter, who is in my class, and asking her if she's been out with her peeps. She just looks at me like--okay, you really don't need to say that. It's so funny! Sunday, I found out that my peeps-ha! ha!- like cocoa cat Peeps and they really don't mind if I use one of "their" words. I hope they will always choose their friends and their words wisely.

W.E.S. Fest

I'm finally posting these pictures of W.E.S. Fest at Laci's school which she enjoyed a couple weeks ago. I didn't actually get many pictures. We were just too busy having fun. What's W.E.S. Fest? It is Wetumpka Elementary School's annual fall festival. There's food, inflatables, games, prizes and even a haunted house. We stood in line for the haunted house because Laci really wanted to go in. However, once we got to the front of the line and she heard the shrills of those coming out, she changed her mind. I asked her if she wanted to go and she just looked at me with big eyes and said "no, I'm scared". That's okay, I'd rather not go in the haunted house than have her wake up with nightmares. I'm not much for those things either. We moved on to something a little less intimidating.................

face painting and tic tac toe!

One Project Down, More To Go

Yesterday my parents came down to visit for the day, so I took a break from the blog. Well, actually my break was doing some last minute cleaning up around the house. We had a great time with them yesterday. Thanks for coming down! I'm back today with Trent's new desk. My talented husband, William, made this for him. He drew out the plans, cut the wood, painted it and put together this desk, with some help from Trent.Their were some paint issues, but Will got those straightened out and moved Trent's desk in last week. It's awesome honey! Great job! Even more exciting, that's one project marked off of my long list. Woo! Hoo! Now Trent will have a quieter place to do homework. Although, I think he likes it more for playing with action figures and dabbling with his Erector set, which is fine too. Hmmm. I wonder what our next project will be?

For A Friend

One of my favorite things to give as a gift is food. Some of my favorites to give are breads,cookies, and mixes. I guess I like to give food because I like receiving it as well. Last week I finally made pumpkin cranberry bread as a thank you for my sweet friend Chris and her mom Loretta. They kept Ivy all day a couple weeks ago while I went on a field trip with Laci. I was very appreciative that they did this for me. This time I made a big loaf , wrapped it in cellophane and tied a "Fresh Baked Just For You" tag with chocolate satin ribbon to give it a special touch. I hope they enjoyed their bread. It's one of my favorite pumpkin recipes. Probably because it tastes more like a dessert. Try this bread as a gift for your special friends.

"Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only a true friend will leave footprints in your heart."-Eleanor Roosevelt

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. sweetened dried cranberries
3/4 c. pumpkin
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1/4 c. orange juice or water

Beat together pumpkin, vegetable oil, eggs and orange juice or water in large mixer bowl until blended. Add mix, stir until just moistened. Spoon batter into greased and floured 9x5 loaf pan. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 60-65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes; remove to wire rack to cool completely.

We All Scream For Ice Cream!

It seems without fail once a week the kids ask me if we can stop and get an ice cream when we're driving home from school. Sometimes we stop, usually on a Friday, and get a cup of ice cream or a sundae. Of course, they think that is just the best thing ever. So, I decided I would have an ice cream party for them after school one day. Last Tuesday, they walked in the door and to their surprise was a table set with all the fixins' for ice cream sundaes. I had set out cute little tulip sundae cups on striped napkins that matched well with the green table cloth and turquoise tulle table runner to make it colorful and fun. The toppings were in separate small bowls on top of a cake pedestal with gummy bears sprinkled all around them. A candy lover's dream! They were speechless. Trent finally said, "Is this for us?". They had a "sweet" time making their sundaes.

Our ice cream sundae bar :

vanilla ice cream

sprinkles

chopped pecans

crushed Oreos

gummy bears

hot fudge sauce

caramel sauce

whipped cream

cherries

french vanilla rolled wafers

Trent kept piling on the goodies and I didn't mind at all. They were all so thrilled that they got to put on as much as they wanted. Mmmmm!

It looks like this girl knows how to make a good sundae! That's our friend, Althea, beside Laci. She comes home from school with us everyday and stays a little while. Althea made a scrumptious sundae as well and even had a cherry on top, but she did not want me to take her picture.

Costumes of the Past

2007

Trent the army man;Ivy, our plump little pumpkin and Laci as Stephanie from Lazy Town.

Today I wanted to share some of our kids' Halloween costumes of the past. I love to look back at all of our memories. So do the kids. They could sit and look at scrapbooks, pictures and listen to stories for awhile. It really captures their attention.

They already have their costumes for this year. Yay! It usually takes awhile to figure out for them, but it was really easy this year. :) We will do trunk-or-treat at church, which is always a fun time, and trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. Bring on the candy!

2006

This picture always cracks me up. Laci was just a bit scared of her brother the vampire at first.

2004

Trent as a ninja. This was one of his favorite costumes.

2004

What a cute little bunny! Laci did not want to wear those ears. Good thing I sewed the bushy tail to her pants.

Yummy Mummies

Trent and I are making these "Yummy Mummies" for one of his classes at school. I thought it would work well since their course of study is Egypt. They're actually going to get to see the mummification process on one of their field trips this year. He's very excited! Anyway, I came up with this idea after seeing some little candy bars wrapped with gauze and thought, Hey, I can do that with tissue rolls. These little mummies are super simple. Just wrap gauze that has been cut into strips around the tissue roll and glue on googly eyes with glue dots. I also inked up the gauze a bit with brown ink to give them an aged look. What makes these mummies so yummy? They are stuffed with two fun size candies. I hope his class likes them.

Laci informed me that the mummies keep looking at her when she goes in my room where I have them stored.
BOO!

Halloween Treats

On Sunday evening, the kids and I made these fun "Mummy Dogs" as part of our dinner. They're so cute. One of their favorite things about Halloween, besides costumes and candy, is making fun food and spooky treats. I like it too. We get to spend time together and make something cute and yummy. We all got a kick out of these. They tasted pretty good,too.

Mummy Dogs
1 pkg. beef franks
1 pkg. refrigerated crescent rolls or bread sticks
mustard

Unroll crescent rolls and roll between hands to make a long rope. Wrap around beef frank starting at the end. Bake on cookie sheet at 350 for about 15 mins. or until rolls are browned.
Make mummy eyes by dotting with mustard.



After dinner, we made dessert. Spooky spiders and witch hats. We have made different Halloween treats over the years, eyeballs, fingers, ghosts, etc., but these were a first. I think they're keepers. The kids really enjoyed making these......and eating them.

Witch Hats
Keebler Grasshopper cookies(any flat cookie would work)
Hershey Kisses
Icing in piping bag

Put a dot of icing on bottom of a kiss and set kiss on top of cookie. Line kiss with icing or decorate to your liking.


Cookie Spiders
Keebler Grasshopper cookies
pretzels
peanut butter

Spread peanut butter on bottom of one cookie. Break pretzels to make spider legs. Set pretzels on peanut butter topped cookie. Four on each side. Top with another cookie. Squeeze two dots of icing on top of the cookie for eyes.

Laci was really into this. She even put hair on her spider(with icing). Creepy!

Trent was whippin' out spiders and hats pretty quick. The witch hats were his favorite to eat, spiders favorite to make.

Cute Cupcake Kit

Cupcakes Anyone? Check out this cute cupcake kit. When I was shopping last week I spotted the Halloween funfetti mix and frosting and purchased a couple of them. As soon as I saw them I remembered a post I had seen of a cupcake kit. This is where I got my inspiration. The kit contains everything you need for an easy treat. Cake mix, frosting with bat sprinkles, and spider cupcake picks. I wrapped everything ,except the frosting , in cellophane and tied it with black tulle and a festive orange and black polka dot ribbon. It's an easy and fun Halloween gift! I look forward to making more of these for different holidays.

For the cupcake picks, I punched out white card stock with my 1 1/4" circle punch and stamped a black spider from Papertrey Ink's Spooky Sweets set. Then I glued the circle onto an orange scalloped circle that I punched. I then taped the spiders onto the lollipop sticks and tied a coordinating ribbon on each stick.

Fun Frankenstein

Today begins my week of fun Halloween projects and treats. I hope you'll enjoy them and try some of them. These fun Frankenstein pails are too cute. I actually found this idea on Splitcoast Stampers and had to make it. You can look at those pails here. They are so easy to make. The green pails are from the Target dollar spot. (I did see some at Wal-Mart in the Halloween section.) First, I cut out some crooked hair using black card stock . I made the eyes by punching out white card stock with my 1 1/4 inch hole punch and black card stock with my standard hole punch and then just glued everything on with glue dots. The mouth is drawn on with a sharpie. It is a really simple craft. I plan on giving one to Laci's teacher and another to a friend. I hope they like them. Visit tomorrow for another Halloween idea!

My Favorite Season

It's not feeling so much like Fall here in Alabama, but you can tell it's here. Fall is my favorite season. I like when it starts getting a bit cooler outside,watching college football and seeing the leaves start changing colors. I put out my pretty mums, scare crow and pumpkins just the other day, as well as my fall decor for inside the house to help get us in an autumn mood. The kids enjoy this time of the year, too. They look forward to Halloween and the little activities we do leading up to Halloween and Thanksgiving. We usually make Halloween or Fall themed treats and crafts. It's fun for them and me. Please come back and visit next week. It will be all about Halloween. I'll share some fun treat and craft ideas.

A Simple Gift

Today I wanted to share a little gift I like to make. Sorry this isn't a great picture, but it's the only one I have of this item.(The tag on the container says "Yum Yum") It is an altered Crystal Light container. This particular one I made a while back and gave to a friend as part of her b'day gift. It was filled with peanut butter filled Hershey Kisses. You could fill it with all sorts of different things. Small cookies, bath fizzies, truffles, pens or pencils, etc. These would also be great for any holiday. Just customize your container to fit the holiday. Use halloween stamps or scrapbook paper, tie on a spider ring with ribbon and you have a cute gift. Their also pretty simple to make.

This is how you make it:
*Measure your paper to fit around the container and cut to proper size
*Stamp paper or use scrapbook paper
*Put sticky strip(some people call it bologna tape) around the edges of the paper and
a couple strips in the middle
*Wrap paper around container. (The tape is VERY strong)
* String tag or other embellishments and tie around container
* Punch out circle for top of container and stamp or embellish
* Fill your finished container

Sittin' Pretty

Until just recently, this was one of Ivy's favorite places to hang out in the house. She found out that she fits perfectly in the kitchen drawer. At times, I wouldn't know where she was because she was so quite only to go in the kitchen to find her just sitting in the drawer enjoying herself. I guess we really don't need all those toys, just some containers, pans and a drawer. We did have to child proof her little "play area" before the drawer broke. She's taken it really well and hardly ever tries to break in that drawer. Sweet girl.

Artwork Made Easy .......And Affordable.

Have you ever went looking for artwork only to find that the framed art you want is about $25 ? I have quite a few times . When I was decorating the hall bathroom a few months ago, I really wanted to use pictures of orchids, but the only ones I found were $25 each. I needed 3 pictures. I was NOT about to pay $75 for 3 pictures. So, instead I took my own pictures of the faux orchid, also used in my hall bath. I had them printed for about $2.50 in black & white and then bought 3 frames for $3 each at Wal-Mart. Ta Da! Three pieces of matted, framed artwork for $11.50. I'm very happy with the way they turned out!

Laci's First Field Trip

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I sure did. I am glad I got to listen to every session of Conference. I have been uplifted and strengthened from hearing from the leaders of our Church. I am thankful for their messages of love, hope, instruction and testimonies of Christ.

I also wanted to share a few pictures from Laci's first field trip which was to the Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch in Clanton, Al. Thanks to my friend Chris for keeping Ivy or I wouldn't have been able to go. We had a great time. I was impressed with how well behaved Mrs. Ellis' (Laci's teacher) class was. Good kids! This pumpkin patch was a very good one. It was well organized and very nice.

First, we all took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch . The kids thought the woods were scary and screamed all the way through.

Laci found her pumpkin! Here she is with her friend DeKysha. A very sweet little girl. She told me,"Laci looks just like you."

The kids also got to play on 4 big blow up "things." That's Laci in the middle going down the slide on her stomach.

She stopped long enough on the obstacle course to let me snap this picture.

While I was standing in line to get lunch, I saw this and had to take a picture. Ha! Ha! No thank you!

Roll Tide! and ....uh.... What's in your purse?

Alabama plays Kentucky tomorrow, so I wanted to give a big Roll Tide! So does Ivy! (I'll get to see a little of the game, but tomorrow is General Conference for our church. I'll be watching that and am looking forward to it.) When we were at my mom's she wore her new Bama dress she got for her. It's super cute on her. It came from one of my favorite little shops in Montgomery, The Shoppes of My Kids Attic. They have jewelry, home decor, stationary, clothes, and just about anything monogrammed you could want. Check it out if you're going to be in Montgomery.

For the b'day party last week, we played "What's in your Purse?" It was so funny. This is definitely a great game for a bunch of ladies. Laci even had her Barbie purse so she could play as well. The funniest thing was my nanny who had her purse loaded down with all sorts of stuff. She had a straw, spoon, candy and even a pair of pliers. I guess she knew how this game was going to work. Our winner,Tracy, had a big purse and 14 of the 18 items I called out.

It's a very easy game to play. Make a list of items that may be found in a purse, but make some of them odd items for added fun. Then just call out the items and have everyone keep track of how many items they have. The one with the most is the winner. Some examples from my list:nail clippers, baby wipes, hand sanitizer, pic of child or grandchild. Have fun playing!

Easy Party Favors

This is the fourth installment of the b'day celebration for my mom and sister.Cute and easy party favors. Everyone had one of these favors at their place setting as a thank you for coming.
I should have actually taken some shots of them being made and to show you what is in them. Hindsight, right. These little "nugget" boxes hold 3 Hershey's nugget candies. I've made them a couple times now. You can make one box from 1/2 a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock. They're easy once you get going. I'm not ashamed to admit I did need help from my husband measuring my 8ths and 16ths. I'm just not a good measurer I guess. You can find a tutorial for these little boxes here. My sister also sent all the guests home with a cute little bag of goodies. Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of that, too. I really liked all of my goodies.

The Menu

Today I'll be sharing the party menu and a recipe. I tried to pick a menu that everyone would like. Nothing too weird. Thanks to my nanny for helping me so much. She was a cutting, buttering sandwich machine. Thanks to my sister for helping clean up our mess.

The Menu

Chicken Salad Croissants

Ham & Cheese Appetizer Sandwiches

Salad

Fresh Fruit

Cream Puffs

Lemon Bars

Yellow Cake with Buttercream Icing

Water & Lemonade

Ham & Cheese Appetizer Sandwiches

1 c. butter, softened
3 Tbsp. poppy seeds, optional
1 onion, chopped fine
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 (12 oz.) pkgs. white party rolls
1/2 lb. chopped cooked ham
5 ounces Shredded Swiss cheese(I used slices)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together butter, poppy seeds, onion, w-sauce and dijon mustard.
3. Slice rolls in half horizontally and set aside tops. Spread bottoms with the butter mixture. Top with ham and Swiss chesse.Replace tops
4. Arrange rolls in a single layer in a medium baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven 10 to 12 minutes, until rolls are lightly browned and cheese is melted.

These are the pretty daisies from the party.