Cute Food For Halloween

I made these cute lunches for the kids today for Halloween.  K doesn't eat bread on her sandwiches so hers is just meat and cheese.  J had mandarin oranges and peaches in a cupcake liner.  I added a few black and orange sprinkles.  They both had yogurt with a spider web and a spider ring along with a mini muffin liner full of Smarties. 

 

 

 

Last week, I made monster quesadillas.  I used mozzarella cheese for the eyes and teeth.  The arms and mouths were made from fruit roll ups.  K loves meat so she got a little extra meat on her plate. 

Happy Halloween!

Peter Pan and Tinker Bell wish you a very happy Halloween all the way from Never Land!  They fly very fast so a good picture is hard to come by.  But don't you think Mamaw did a great job on their costumes?  And check out those pointy shoes on Peter...I can do wonders with a hot glue gun!  Yes, those are actual green tights he is wearing.  Hope your holiday was fun!

 

Trick or Treat?

The kids left Never Land to do a little trick or treating (on Tuesday because tomorrow is church night).  The night started out great...

 

with suckers and toys at Ms. Loretta's

 

and photo ops with friends and Mr. Tom and Mrs. Katie's.

 

These four are great friends.  They have so much fun playing together. 

 

The babies aren't babies this year.  They are becoming great friends just like their big brothers and sister. 

 

These little girls are going to rule the world!

 

Group shots with this bunch are almost impossible.  K was in awe of E's crown.  Look how grown up she is this year!  I love these kids and I am enjoying watching them grow up together.

 

Next, we visitied Mr. Chester and Mrs. Joyce.  Things are still going fine!

 

This is where things started to go downhill (Sorry, Mr. Kevin and Mrs. Tammy!)  K was beginning to get tired and decided pictures were no longer her thing. 

 

Mr. James and Mrs. Jenny were happy to see our flying babies.

 

Mrs. Jan had cupcakes...J was thrilled!

 

This is where things went really bad!  Papaw came to the rescue and after a quick (45 minute) vehicle change, we were on our way again!

 

Granny was waiting with suckers!

 

K had fun filling J's bucket at Uncle Phillip and Aunt Linda's house.

 

We ran into a cute black cat at Aunt Jacque's. 

 

A little cowboy showed up too!

 

Uncle Jim and Aunt Bernie were a hit with Tinker Bell!

 

Aunt Jules was waiting for us even though it was a little late. 

 

Our last stop was at Uncle Val and Aunt Sara Lynn's.  They loved seeing the dogs and got a ton of treats because we were last! 

 

After such a long night, all three of us went right to sleep.

 

J's loot...K had a lot too but I already sorted hers and put it up.  

 

The Good and Bad from Pinterest: Recipes

I have been cleaning up my boards on pinterest and decided it was time to share some of the things I have tried.  I'll start with recipes.  Some have been good and some, well, not so good!  I may have shared some of the recipes before but it's been a while.  Let's start with the good.  (Click on the picture or the name of the recipe for the link.)

Hot Fudge Pie...This is my all time favorite recipe I have tried on pinterest!  I have made it twice and don't dare make it often because I could eat the whole plate...just out of the oven...with a spoon...by myself!  If you haven't made it, go cook.  Now!  It will change your life and your jeans size!

Mini Taco Cups...These were easy and good.  They made a lot and were great for the party I took them to.  They would be good with salsa and sour cream or even topped with lettuce and tomato.

"Faux"tess Cupcakes...Who doesn't love Hostess Cupcakes?  I made these and they are so much better.  Easy and so much fluffier than the original.  Yum!

Pina Colada Cupcakes...These are in my top five favorite cupcakes!  They are super moist and light.  I love the pineapple cake and the frosting...wow!  This is the perfect summer cupcake. 

Crock pot Chicken Tacos...We love this recipe!  I have made a couple of times and it is so easy and makes a lot.  I have some in the freezer now ready for another taco day.

Jello Cookies and Play Dough...I wrote a post about these the other day.  These were fun to make and the kids loved them.  The cookies tasted pretty good but the fun part was playing with the dough.  

Salted Caramel Kiss Cookies...These are delicious cookies!  I made them this summer and will probably make them for Christmas this year.  I love salted caramel!

Corn Dog Muffins...These were a hit with my kids!  K isn't really a bread eater but she ate these.  J loved them!  They were easy to make and lasted for a few days in the fridge.  I think they would freeze well too.  I may try that next time I make them. 


And the bad...

Cheddar Scalloped Potatoes...These were okay.  Blake said they were good but he will eat anything!  The kids and I didn't think they were so great.  They took longer to cook that the recipe said and they had a funny taste to them.  I won't be making them again. 

Parmesan Crusted Chicken...I tried this using the original recipe which called for mayonnaise.  Several pinners wrote to substitute yogurt or sour cream but I'm not sure I would like it either.  It just tasted like flavorless chicken with mayo spread on top.  Yuck!  Blake liked it but like I said, he will eat anything!  It did not make the cut at my house. 

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes...Before I say I didn't like this recipe, I didn't make them exactly like the recipe said.  She made mini cakes and I made cupcakes.  The cake was very dense so it didn't make a very nice cupcake.  I think it's because the lemon concentrate is such a heavy syrup.  The flavor was good but very strong.  I don't think I would make them again even the way the recipe says. 

Jell-O Cookies

The kids helped me make THESE sweet cookes yesterday.  They helped add the ingredients to the mixing bowl.  Then they each got two balls of dough and two flavors of Jell-O.  They mixed the flavor in with their hands.  The fun part of making these cookies is before you cook them, you can play with the dough like play dough.  J made ghosts and pie while K mixed and cut her grape dough in the bowl.  I baked the peach and lemon dough while they were playing.  After about an hour of dough fun, J rolled his dough into balls and rolled them in the leftover Jell-O.  His were the most sugary!  It was a fun way to spend the afternoon and the cookies were pretty good to eat too! 

Fall T-shirts for J

I love holiday clothes for my kiddos.  But finding cute things for J that aren't cartoon related or covered in words is getting hard to do.  So I made a pumpkin shirt for him to wear to the pumpkin patch.  I cut out all of the pieces and Mom sewed them on.  I decided to do a plain pumpkin so he can wear it through Thanksgiving.

J helped me make a cute monster shirt for Halloween.  We made handprint monsters (idea found HERE) on paper one day and I decided they would be cute on a shirt.  He made the handprints on white fabric and I stitched them onto a black shirt.  I found buttons and used ribbon and different stitches for the faces.  I made this one ALL BY MYSELF!!!  I was quite proud of it even though the stitching is a little wonky.  J wore it to the movie with his friends.  I love things with his handprints!

The paper craft

Field Trip

Monday afternoon, Leanne and I took our kids to see Hotel Transylvania at the theater.  It was the perfect way to end J's unit on make believe, and it was even better to go with friends!  The kids had a blast and laughed through the whole movie.  Leanne and I laughed a lot too!  It was a cute movie.