Halloween Cupcakes

I made Halloween "Funfetti" cupcakes this week to go along with a dinner I was bringing to a neighbor who just had a baby. Since we had several left over (and I didn't want to be tempted to eat them all myself) I let Payton and his friends have a cupcake decorating extravaganza yesterday.

They each had their own bowl of orange frosting, and tons of toppings to choose from...

I love watching kids be creative!

 They each made a wonderfully delicious creation.

 Even Parker got to have a couple bites of an undecorated cupcake:

 I can only imagine what this kid is going to be like on his 1st birthday with a smash cake. Please remind me to strip him down to his diaper before he dives it... it could get ugly. :)

Have a great Halloween weekend everyone!

(Starting Tuesday I'll be listening to Christmas music... just thought you all would like to know). :)

Chubby legs

The only time in one's life when cellulite is cute...

 

"Hey...why are you taking photos of my rear end???"

Our Week

Our week started off on Monday with the Cub Scouts Halloween Party at Payton's school. Remember the Angry Birds game we made? Well, it was a HUGE hit! 

The balls and pigs turned out so cute:

The kids had so much fun hurling them at the cardboard boxes:

 You can see from the line, it was one of the most popular games that evening:

 

 Sorry there aren't any great shots of the boxes crashing down. It was hard to get good pictures due to the quick pace of the game and trying to manage the crowd of children. But trust me, those boxes went a-flyin!

Also, this week, someone lost another tooth...

He put it in his tooth pillow (thanks Aunt Cheryl!!) and the tooth fairy left him some special goodies! Wish I had a pillow like that. :)

 And someone else is really on the move these days...

Notice how all these pics are blurry?? I can't get him to stand still for one moment.

 Oh how that smile brings joy to my heart!

 Little man also has 2 teeth coming in, but we haven't been able to snap a photo of them yet. But the non-stop drooling, chewing on everything, and constant desire to be held by mommy are sure signs of new teeth!

Hope you had a great week too.

Halloween Greetings!

Free digital greeting personalized with Smilebox

Angry Birds Game - post #1

Payton has a Halloween party for his Boy Scouts meeting tomorrow night. Each den was asked to create a game for the kids to play. Brian and I found an Angry Birds game on Pinterest and thought the kids would really love it. 
Basically you stack up cardboard boxes and throw balls decorated as the Angry Bird characters at them and try to knock them down.

So, you know how it goes... ye who comes up with complicated game must make complicated game components. Just teasing. We really didn't mind doing it, and I know the kids are going to have so much fun playing it.

Brian purchased/found all the necessary "bird" and pig items and I have been decorating them all day...

Rohy was a good helper...

 Here they are while they dry...

 Here was my other little "helper"... ahem... I use that term very loosely.

You can tell by the look on his face that he's thinking, "Geez Mom, put down the markers and come play!"

 Here are the finished birds and pigs (except for the green ball, which I finished a bit later):

 Tomorrow night will be the real test.

100 elementary-aged boys throwing these balls at cardboard boxes. 

I wonder if any of them will survive?

Some football

The Chicago Bears played the Tampa Bay Bucs today... in England. I'm still not exactly sure why they played there, but Brian was thrilled that the Bears finally won a game. He and Payton had their jerseys on and played football in the backyard. 

Don't you just love this jersey representing his namesake? So cute!

 Check out my boy in all his football glory...

 P.S. Speaking of football... did you see how great Tebow did today?? 

Go Broncos - Go Tebow!!!

Hayride and Fall Fest

We went to a fun little Fall Festival this weekend with our neighbors and good friends, the DeAngelos. Our kids get along great, which makes any outing fun, but this one was particularly good because the weather was cool, the kids were all in a good mood, and we were all ready for some fun fall activities.
Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the "game" area which included a hay maze, a hay crawl, a hay mountain, and several carnival games. My friend did take some pics of us on the hay ride though!

Parker thought it was great.

 So did our other big man.

 Of course there was a haunted graveyard...

 (This is what you get when you say, "Act scary" to kids in front of a graveyard):

 And there was a petting zoo...

Payton checked out the goats:

And then he checked out the sheep:

 And then the bunnies:

 But I think he loved the rat the most... yes, I said rat...

 He hung out with that rat for the longest time. I think he thought it was "Ralph" from the Beverly Cleary book "Mouse and the Motorcycle." However, this was no mouse. It was clearly a rat.

Moving on...

There were also lamas. These things were SO funny. There was one that had some out-of-control bangs. He looked like one of the Beetles. It was hysterical!

 He was by far, my favorite animal there! (BTW, how can he see????)

On our way out, we ran into Frankenstein and his girl. Guess they wanted to check out the hayride too...

 Later that night, we reconvened at our house for a little fire pit action and some s'mores. 

 Another great night spent with great friends!

Daddy's Pancakes

I love a laid-back morning. 

Love, love, love it! 

And I adore it even more when it's cold outside and my husband cooks breakfast. 

This only happens once-in-a-blue-moon. So when all the stars aligned this morning and it was really chilly outside and my hubby offered to make pancakes... well, this girl poured herself a big 'ol cup of coffee (with pumpkin spice creamer of course), put on her fuzzy slippers, turned on some country tunes and chilled out! It was heavenly. The baby even cooperated and took a 2-hour nap! What a glorious morning it was. 

And here's proof (mostly for myself so I can look back and remember this once-a-year occurance) that Brian really did make pancakes (chocolate-filled as they may be)...

Payton always helps make pancakes... he's a wiz with a spoon.

Of course they added chocolate chips to the batter.

An insane amount A LOT of chocolate chips.

See that grin... he's knows a sugar high is coming...

And here it is...

 Guess that's what happens when you leave it to the boys to make breakfast...

 Hey, you only live once. All those smiles were worth a little dietary failure. But there will be broccoli with dinner!

New Header

I changed up my header a little bit this week. 

Do you like it? 

I recently learned how to import fonts from other web sites so that I can use them in craft projects. Then, to my (happy) surprise, they turned up in Picasa too!

For all you obsessed with Starbucks lovers out there like myself, you know why I posted that picture on the far right.

For those of you who may not live scarily close just down the street from a Starbucks, that drink has the letters "PSL" written on the side of it. That stands for "Pumpkin Spice Latte." 

It is my favorite coffee drink of the year! I get so excited when I see the sign out front that they are serving it again. 

So, in honor of my caffeine addiction love for coffee, I thought I'd include a photo of my fav. 

What's your favorite coffee?

Recipe Book Re-Design

Do you have one of these?

A large binder filled with random recipes that you've torn out of magazines, newspapers and printed off the internet?

Well I do! And it's busting at the seams!

Time for a little recipe book re-design...

First step, take everything out and discard the recipes that you will never make (you know the ones... they call for 20 ingredients - some of which you've never heard of - but it looks so pretty in the picture. Come on... toss it.)

Then, categorize the recipes you'll keep into piles based on food topics or meal times:

 Then, get some dividers to help keep things orderly in the notebook (I got the ones with pockets so that I can quickly stick a recipe inside the notebook in the proper category and then file it later):

Label the dividers according to the topics in which you sorted your recipes:

Put recipes back in the notebook inside plastic sleeves (this will protect the recipe from spills and splashes when you take it out of the notebook while cooking.

I also put a "table of contents" at the beginning which helps me with meal planning. I can just look at the category (chicken, crock pot, meat, etc.) and choose a meal that sounds good to me.

Stick some scrapbooking paper in the front cover and smile at a job well done!

What's your favorite recipe?