Happy Halloween!

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Scary Good!

Okay, I'll be the first to admit, I don't really enjoy cooking with my kids. There, I said it. It's not that I don't enjoy spending time with them, because I do. I can just think of 1000 other ways that I would rather do it! It's not the kids that make it unenjoyable, it's the actual cooking itself.  Heck, I don't really even like cooking without my kids! I hate the preparation but even more than that, I hate cleaning up my mess!  I'm not a "cooker", never have been.  I do enjoy baking, but even that manages to stress me out if done in large doses! 

 But, I thought in honor of Halloween I'd suck it up, put on my Perfect Mom costume and do a few fun and easy Halloween cooking projects with them!  We found a couple of recipes online and got cookin'!

Hot Dog Mummies

(Makes 10) 

These were so stinkin' easy!  The kids literally did everything themselves.  All they really needed me for was to get them in and out of the oven and Hannah probably could've handled that if I had let her.

Ingredients

1 can of refrigerated breadstick dough

10 Hot Dogs

Mustard (optional)

Directions

*Separate the dough into individual pieces. 

*Use scissors or a knife to cut each raw breadstick into 2 strips

*Wrap the strips around each hot dog, starting at the bottom, to cover the hot dog like a wrapped bandage.

*Leave a small area unwrapped at the top (this will be the “face”).

*Wrap a final piece of dough around the end of the mummy in a turban fashion.

*Place the wrapped mummies on a cookie sheet and bake at 350° for 15 to 18 minutes until the dough is golden brown.

*Let cool for 3 or 4 minutes, then use the mustard to draw a face on the exposed area of the hot dog.

 Mummy in your tummy!

Tombstone Cupcakes

Makes 20 - 24

These were more work than the Mummies but the kids had so much fun making these!

Ingredients

*1 box cake mix

*16 ounces chocolate frosting

*3/4 cup chocolate cookie crumbs (we used oreo’s)

*Milano Cookies (or any oblong shaped cookies.  We used some vanilla sandwich cookies and pulled them apart.  We scraped the frosting out of the center and we got 2 “headstones" out of each cookie.)

*Black piping gel (you can find this at almost any grocery store.  Wilton and Betty Crocker both make it)

Directions

*Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions for cupcakes.

*Lick the beaters and crumble up your cookies while you are waiting for your cupcakes to cook.

*Once they are out of the oven and cooled completely, frost them, and cover generously with the cookie crumbs.

*Use the piping gel to write "RIP", Mom, or the names of every person in your family, like my kids did on each cookie.

*Stand each cookie up and push down into the top of the cupcake to create a headstone. 

Enjoy your Graveyard!

Eosino.........what?

In case you were wondering about this picture from yesterday's Wordless Wednesday post.........

It is Ethan in my bed with his "barf bowl" on his head.  It was taken on Tuesday evening after a long day spent in the hospital getting blood work and IV fluids to get him rehydrated after a week long bout of nausea and vomiting, likely due to an ugly beast............ 

Eosinophilic Esophagitis

  It's a mouthful, but this is the disease that Ethan lives with every single day. Thankfully, right now his E.E. is pretty well maintained but for a couple of years he was a very sick little boy.  Ethan was finally diagnosed almost 2 years ago after suffering for far too long.  Throughout everything, he always seems to have a smile on his face and a positive attitude.  There is no cure, only strategies to deal with the symptoms.  Luckily, Ethan doesn't have many flare ups but when he does they are doozies and they are heartbreaking for me to watch as there is virtually nothing I can do other than comfort him.  He is fully aware of the foods he can and can't have and although I know he feels isolated when he can't have the ice cream, cheese pizza and peanut butter sandwiches that his friends are having you will rarely hear this kid complain.

Wordless Wednesday!

Monday Moans...........

What better way to start the week than having my car and my hair begging for attention!

Yes, those are gray hairs poking up off the top of my head. No, I'm not happy about it.

It's Monday, enough said!

What's your Monday Moan??

When life gives you lemons..........

Make Lemonade!

That's exactly what Hannah and some of her friends did this past Monday. They decided to make the most of their day off of school and learn the value of hard work by setting up a lemonade and cookie stand!

I have to say I wasn't too optimistic. Truthfully, I wasn't sure they'd even break even. Well, I was proven wrong pretty quickly when barely and hour after they opened I got a phone call that they were out of cookies! So, I spent the next 4 hours running back and forth from the grocery store to the oven to the Lemonade stand keeping them stocked! Those girls gave me a run for my money I tell ya!

They had to be convinced to shut down for the night at around 6pm. They had a taste of success and they didn't want to quit!

The girls had such a great time and more than tripled their investment! Several of their friends came by and hung out and they even put some to work! They already have plans to do it again in a few weeks.

Tricks or Treats?

Ahh, Halloween is upon us. I have to say, I have a love/hate relationship with Halloween since I became a parent. I LOVE seeing the kids in their costumes and running door to door filling their bags with goodies. I LOVE watching them get so excited to get to stay up past their bedtimes so they can dump their loot all over the floor as they marvel at what they have collected!

What, I HATE is all of the hooplah that occurs in preparation for the big day! I always find myself stressing about costumes, accessories, etc and end up putting it off until the last minute. And the fact that they charge $30 for a costume that looks like it was made out of crepe paper and hot glue just adds insult to injury!

This year I had the kids start looking early. I was determined not to do my usual procrastination dance. We made several trips to the local Halloween store so the kids could get an idea of what they wanted. Once they made their decisions I got busy looking online for a better deal! I gotta say, I'm pretty darn proud of myself this year! I not only got their costumes early but I saved nearly HALF of what I would have paid at the local Halloween store! Plus, all three kids costumes fit, which is always a concern when ordering online.

It feels so good to have it done and just be able to look forward to trick-or-treating!

Now, lets see if it carries over to Christmas shopping! I'm not counting on it!

Friday Favorite!

Spring used to be my favorite season, even back when I was a little girl. I used to love sitting out on the porch on warm spring afternoons collecting roly poly bugs in an old butter dish! I still love Springtime but as I grow older I have really fallen for Fall. One of my favorite things in the world is to open up all of the windows in the house and to let Autumn in. I love seeing the curtains flutter around as the cool breeze floats through the house. And I really love flipping that switch on the A/C to OFF!

Another one of my favorite thing about Fall is CANDLES. These candles to be exact. Now, don't get me wrong I love candles in Winter, Spring and Summer too but there is just something different about candles in the Fall. The scents are so warm and welcoming and often times nostalgic. I love that my Pumpkin Patch candle sends me right back to my Mamaw's kitchen when I was no more than 5 years old.

I just love the way a burning candle can change the atmosphere of my house. Sometimes a comforting scent is all it takes to calm me down! I don't know if any of you are like this but I don't like to burn a candle in a room that is messy. I feel like I am "wasting" the candle when I do that. I guess because I can't fully enjoy the candle because I'm to busy stressing over the messy room! I know.... weird. But I have been known to quickly pick up the living room or the kitchen just so I can light my favorite candle ;)

What is your Friday Favorite?

Full Swing

Well, the new school year has been in full swing for a little over a month now and we have finally all settled in. It has been a year of change for all three of them.

Hannah turned 11 on August 10th, just days before starting Middle School. She is officially a Briarhill Bulldog! Her nerves about starting a new, much bigger school, quickly subsided once she had the first day under her belt. She has completely immersed herself in "middle school life" and is loving it! She is full of school spirit and is enjoying her newfound independence. She is riding the bus to and from school and has begun taking voice lessons. She has been a little shocked by all of the homework she has now but she is acclimating well. It is really bittersweet watching her start this new journey. It's sometimes hard to accept that she is growing up so fast but being her mom is so much fun right now.

First day. About to head to the bus stop....

Hannah and her BFF Kaitlyn showing off their new backpacks!

One last goodbye.

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Ethan tuned 9 on his second day of 3rd Grade. This is the first year he hasn't been in the same school with Hannah. I was a little worried at first about him not having her there but he has done great. If we're being honest here, I think having her there with him was more reassuring to me than it was to him... I think he likes just being "Ethan" and not "Hannah's little brother"! He adored his 2nd Grade teacher and asked her numerous times last year if she would go to 3rd Grade with him. Each time, she hugged him tight and told him that she couldn't go, but would come check on him in his new class. Imagine his surprise when just 3 weeks before school started this year a sweet little note came in the mail from Ms. Hamm letting him know that she WAS moving to 3rd Grade and had already made sure he was in her class! He is already having a great year!

He was rather annoyed that I was trying to take his picture so this is all I got!

Ethan and Ms. Hamm

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Andrew has had the least amount of change but has had the hardest time. He returned to his preschool in September and is doing great now but we had a few stumbles along the way. Aside from going from a 2 day a week class to 3-days, he has a new teacher. I never anticipated that this would even phase my little ball of fire but he was very resistant. He wanted his old class and his old teachers! Drop-off was hard on both of us for a couple of weeks but has since become a breeze. He still plays with a lot of his "old" friends on the playground but all in all he is happy, so Momma is happy!

................Until next time...............

Blog FAILURE?

I prefer to think of it as a hiatus. A time-out. A leave of absence.

Thank you all for sticking around. I am still alive. Life happened. Things got a little crazy here for a while and I just couldn't muster up the energy or the brainpower the blog deserved!!!!

Well, here it is, over a year since my last post. I don't even know where to start, actually. I could go back a year and try to update you on all of the milestones that occurred but that seems really daunting and quite frankly I have a hard time remembering 12 minutes ago, let alone 12 months ago! So, I'll tell y'all like I tell my kids.... You get what you get and you don't throw a fit! I'll try t throw in some "flashbacks" here and there though. ;)

I'll end this post with some recent pics of the kids 'cause I know that's the reason you are really here!

Until next time............