Halloween 2009

It was a GORGEOUS night...no rain! WOOOOO HOOOOO! Beautiful cloudless sky...a perfect night!

Here are our little goblins for all the grandparents out there.

our little zombie princess. She wanted to be scary but still wear a pretty dress!

here's our headless horseman. I wanted her to carry around a little stick pony that we have- she said no.

and here's our scarecrow. She's sitting out on the porch tonight scaring trick or treaters...so far she's mostly scared the parents...its stinkin hilarious!

baking

What better way to spend a rainy dreary fall day!? The smell of cinnamon-y Apple Muffins filled the house...yummmmmmm!

The girls and I baked a batch of the these sweet apple-liscious puffs and are seriously considering make another batch or maybe even a DOUBLE batch!

I want to learn how to make applesauce. I also want to learn how to can and make preserves. Our dream house has two mature apple trees and two lovely garden plots! Super exciting, right?!

Since I really want the house and am trying to think positive....I decided to brush up on my apple recipes. I found alot of apple pie and cake and preserve recipes. And I found alot of recipes that substituted apple sauce. Then about two weeks ago, our Organic bimonthly magazine came with recipes for preserving and canning your own applesauce. (hopefully, that's a sign!)

Having all those things mingling around my noggin for a week or so...I came up with this muffin recipe. Actually its a combination of about three recipes...bits and pieces added together or subtracted until I had perfected it. At least it was perfect in my head...now came time to try it out.

I help with a group of girls from church- and the activity for today was canceled because of the rain. So we had the girls meet at my house instead. One of the projects was baking...so we tried out my muffins. Now I know- you should really try a recipe out before making three dozen of them to send home with the girls...but I didn't have time.

Disaster averted! The recipe was a success!

Here it is:

1 1/2c unsweetened applesauce
1 c white sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3 c melted butter
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c quick oats

Optional add ins: crushed walnuts, raisins (I always add in 1 cup increments)

Mix together the baking soda, baking powder, salt, flour and cinnamon. Set aside. Mix remaining ingredients (minus the oats) in mixing bowl. Slowly add in dry mixture until well blended. Fold in any additional add ins - I always add oats to my breads and muffins.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

What would make this recipe even more perfect you ask...some hazelnut spiced butter! heaven!


If nothing else- it really makes your house smell yummy and warm!

fall

I put the kiddos to work...raking the backyard. Now this requires some 'strategerie' (pronounced stra- teej-er-ee...thanks George W Bush!)...because those of you who own a dog- know that little steaming presents can be found hiding beneath the pretty fallen leaves.

I walked through the yard twice with different scouts- just to be sure we found them all. I mean can you imagine how horrifying it would be to pick up a pile of leaves and put your hand in it- or heaven forbid jump in a pile of leaves with Emma nuggets hiding below...I mean seriously...GROSS!

And my kids...like most kids, can't resist playing in the leaves.

Sooo...here's pretty much how it went.

Pucca raked them


Kynna bagged them


and Kwynnie watched them..being raked and bagged by Pucca and Kynna


When we only had one pile left, the girls begged to jump in them. whatever. Frankly, I never saw the appeal...dirty crunchy leaves in your hair and clothes and unless you have a grove of trees supplying your bounty...you never seem to have enough leaves to provide sufficient cushioning for jumping. You always just kind of hit the ground with a thud and think 'huh!? That wasn't as fun as I thought it would be!' And then you have to re-rake all the crumbly leaves. BUT that's just me...if they wanted to jump- then by all means jump!

Kwynnie jumped and landed on a stick. She didn't jump again.

Pucca jumped - then got mad because her nice neat pile of leaves got all messed up.

Kynna picked through the leaves to make sure there were no sticks and poo and then cautiously sat down in the leaves.

I quickly snapped a picture (the annual leaf picture). And then the leaf war began...I sooo knew that was coming!

It lasted less than sixty seconds because Pucca went into hysterics "Look at what your doing to my pile! My lovely leaf pile is a mess!" She calmed down once they were raked and bagged. We then spent the next thirty minutes pulling leaf bits out of the girls' hair. good times.

quality time

Fall break is upon us...the kids are home for nine whole days! And we're staying home this year- had to put the kabosh on the annual fall break-colorado trip. Too much going on right now, but definitely next year!

Saturday was spent sleeping in, watching the game with the girls (John went to the game with some co-workers...it was hard enough watching on tv...I can't imagine having to have witnessed that disaster first hand), baking banana bread and quiet reading time.

I'm so lucky the girls like to watch football...however somewhere during the second quarter my swear words kept spilling out unintentionally. The girls decided to watch a movie downstairs rather than increase their vocab with such common crude words. Probably for the best...by fourth quarter I swear I had developed a case of turrets...it was that bad! Finally, I just turned it off and headed to the kitchen to chug some dish soap in an effort to clean my dirty little mouth.

Now at this point your probably wondering...quality time?...hmmmmm...not quite seeing it!
Well, for lunch on Saturday, we had a mini tailgate. We had veggies, bottled soda and football and pumpkin shaped grilled cheese. We even spread a blanket and picnic-ed in front of the tv.



Today we spent most of the morning at the dentist office...all three had their 6 mo cleanings. But then we came home and started some fun crafty projects.

We tried this

project from
bhg.com

But used candy corn scrapbook paper.


We also tried this

project from
bhg.com

Here's Kynna working on hers



I learned three things during this craft session.
1). my kids have developed my love of scrap book paper. And I don't scrap book...its nuts.
2). I really need to get Pucca a pair of left handed scissors...poor thing had a heck of a time.
and
3). Kwynny really colors outside the lines (you know- thinking outside the box)....and in some cases on a completely different piece of paper



Pumpkins were the theme of the craft today...and she ended making a spider...uh huh!?