More about Halloween

The tastes of Halloween:

 Oh my, did Madeline ever have fun!  Even in the rain. Madeline would call out enthusiastically, "Trick-or-treating!"  Notice the new touch of her arm bands. . .so pretty!

 Lot's of roars from my dinosaur:

 And lots of colored tongues too:

 We had fun trick-or-treating with our lumberjack cousin too!

 And here are the goods from last night, let's not mention the two huge bowls they collected earlier in the week.  Maybe they'll forget about those . . .

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Costumes!

ROAR!!!!!!!!!

 How do you like my little dinosaur?

 And how about a PINK princess?  No other color princess would do!

 I think she likes being a princess, what do you think?

 Mimi, THANK YOU for making these perfect costumes.  I don't think they could possibly be happier!

We've had two chances to wear them already, and two more to go.  Halloween sure is an extravaganza around here!  We already have too much candy!  But the candy I really think is a second thought for these two.  They just like wearing their costumes! 

October's Ten Things

I think every month really does go faster than the last.  How is October almost over?  It sure has been a great month!  Joining with Emmy Mom:

I give you my Ten Things to Smile About this Month:

1.  Homemade Peach Jam.  I'm so in love with Peach anything!

 2.  Having a chance to decorate the top of my hutch

 3.  Celebrating Mimi's birthday with her, and many other family member's birthdays who live far away.

4.  Being able to sing each week in choir.  I can't get over how fun it is to sing Christmas music in a huge group with tight harmonies and fun arrangements!

5.  New Jammies!

 6.  Our new piano was delivered!  Playing it has been wonderful - even if I can only play four hymns!

 7.  Yummy FHE treats every week

 8.  Spending this past weekend reading an entire book!

9.  Hearing Ethan give a talk in Sacrament meeting

10.  Seeing my kids in their Halloween costumes that Mimi made them.  WOW!!  Thanks Mimi!!  Pictures to come!

Sunday

I couldn't resist the urge to take pictures on Sunday of the kids.  They were just too cute before church!  Especially Ethan, all ready for his Primary Program.  

 He gave a talk in during the program in sacrament meeting and I was so proud of him.  He did a great job, spoke clearly, and smiled like this:

 While Ethan was giving his talk, Madeline stood up on our bench and said, "There's my Ethan!"

 Twirling is fun too . . .

How I Want to Be

Two things I've read this week inspired me.  Both come from President Thomas S. Monson.  When I think about how I want to be, what I want to become, these pretty much sum it up:

To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven.

Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down.  It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily.  It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings.  It is accepting people as they truly are.  It is looking beyond physical appearance to attributes that will not dim through time.  It is resisting the impulse to categorize others.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

I can't let too much of Fall go by without making some sort of pumpkin treat!  First treat of the season, pumpkin cupcakes with brown sugar frosting:

Another reason I love Fall!

Trick-or-Treat Bags

Last night, I finally finished Ethan and Madeline's Trick-or-treat bags!  I've been planning to make these since August, but I guess I needed Halloween to be fast approaching for some motivation.  Oh yeah, and my sewing machine was out of commission for awhile too . . .

I am very happy with how the turned out, especially since I made the pattern up - a first for me:

 Ethan's has the black lining

 Madeline's the white

Now they'll be able to say, "trick-or-treat" with style!

Park

Last night we enjoyed going over to the park after dinner.  Talk about perfect weather!  I love Fall!  The kids sure had fun:

 Blurry but still cute:

Random Fact Friday

This little plate is attached to the inside of our piano:

Makes me smile . . . and,
Makes me wish I could play and sing just a little better.

Because Not All . . .

                                                    baby dolls have to be girls!

                                     

Art for Wrapping Paper

Ethan draws SO MUCH (about two hours every day) that I thought we should use his art pictures as the wrapping paper for Mimi's birthday present.  The bigger the box, the more pictures we could use:

 They were so proud of their wrapping job.  Madeline had quite a few pictures on the box too!

 Mimi was kind enough to let Madeline and Ethan help her open all her presents too.

It's so wonderful to live by family and celebrate birthdays.  We enjoyed Kneaders for breakfast and then had a dinner party with a couple of my mom's siblings and their families.  What a great day.  Happy Birthday again, Mom! 

Pineapple Upside-down Cakes

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday!  We had so much fun celebrating with her yesterday that when I put Ethan to bed last night he said, "Mom, that was the best birthday ever!"  I'll post more of the festivities tomorrow, for now, here are a few pictures of my Mom's birthday cake.  She requested Pineapple Upside-down cake and was kind enough to let me do it a little differently and make one of my favorite things, cupcakes! 

These are made in a jumbo cupcake tin.  I think it's cool that the pineapple rings fit perfectly!

 Look at all that brown sugary goodness . . .

 Jumbo cupcakes/mini pineapple upside-down cakes!  They turned out to be tasty too!

 Happy Birthday Mimi!  We all love you so much!!!

Thanks for letting me make your cakes.

Christmas in October

I've typed and re-typed this post several times and it's just not working for me . . . what can I say?  I'm so happy and excited and I can hardly believe it's really mine . . . today our piano was delivered!!!!  WE BOUGHT A PIANO!!!!  After piano shopping and watching ksl like a hawk for weeks and weeks, we stumbled upon this beauty for a great deal:

 How do you like the 70's bench?  I'm seeing some reupholstery in it's future . . .

It has a few minor issues, but considering it's age, it is in wonderful shape?  The sound is beautiful and we are so happy to have found this piano.  When Todd and I first got married, we made a list of our short and long-term goals.  One of our long-term goals was to have a piano before Todd turned 30.  He'll be 30 in February.  Over the course of the last few years, I never thought we would actually be able to get a piano by Todd's 30th birthday.  Lots of things made it seem impossible, but in the last couple of months, it just fell into place.  I pulled out my old piano books and tried to play this morning.  I haven't played in about 10 years and was never that good even then, but I'm hoping to teach (or reteach) myself to play.  And I'm grateful to have such a beautiful instrument in my home!

Even Tomato Paste Loves Me

Last night was one of those evenings where I did not want to make dinner.  I didn't feel all that good and I just wished dinner would appear on our table.  I tried to decide if I should pull out something lame or make myself cook.  That's when I decided to cook.  Even when I don't like cooking, I always feel happy when I have a good meal to give my family, so I figured cooking was the better option.  And since I had decided to cook, why not go all out?  I made corn bread, cooked gnocchies, and made homemade sauce.  I was feeling tired, but when I opened up my tomato paste, look what I found . . . no joke:

It made my day!  And the dinner turned out delicious.  Both my kids ate happily and, let's be honest, that REALLY made my day.  It was one of those moments where I thought to myself, "yes, I really am glad I made dinner tonight."

I Heart My Mom

I am so spoiled living by my mom.  And I feel lucky that I get to every day.  I've been craving peach freezer jam lately but having already made strawberry and raspberry this year, I decided I would just make peach next year.  But, my mom knew I wanted peach and so guess what she did?  She brought over a bag of fresh peaches and a box of pectin and told me to make my peach!  Today I made it and it TASTES SO GOOD!!!  Thanks Mom!  Thank you Thank you Thank you!



FHE Treats

Every Monday, we have Family Home Evening.  And after the lesson comes the treat!  FHE treats are always exciting around here, you never know what you're going to get:

One week we had Smores!

 Messy, but good!!

 If we are lucky, we get donuts!

 REALLY messy, but REALLY GOOD!

 And sometimes cookies (these particular ones are Blondies) hit the spot . . . open wide!

 No matter the treat, we sure enjoy Monday nights!