Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to everyone! Since I didn't get around to it last week, today I'm showing off the kids costumes for this year.

My oldest wanted to be a red gypsy. I made a peasant blouse for the top using this tutorial and a yoga waist band skirt using this one. For the wrap around scarf and head piece, I just kind of jumped in and pretended I knew what I was doing.

My next girlie wanted to be a mermaid, NOT Ariel, just a mermaid. She found this picture on line and wanted her costume to be just like it.
I'm not sure it's just like it but here's what we came up with.
And for my little man, you've been wondering what the bow tie was for right! He's Alfalfa! I used the bow tie I showed in the last post and one of his dress shirts. I made the suspenders using this tutorial. And his pants are a pair that he has grown too tall for so they are nice and short to show off those white socks! He will even have a fantastic spike in his hair. I've been growing his hair out for three months just for Halloween. Tomorrow he'll be getting a hair cut!
Happy Trick-or-Treating!

What Snow Does To Me

My kids and I had croup last week and they missed the whole week of school. So this week I have been super busy getting them all caught up on the gops of homework they missed. But we're all caught up now so I can have my blog time back.

It has been snowing here for the last few days. I really don't like when it snows before Halloween, I hate driving in it, and I don't like the super cold. But I will say that the first snow always puts me in a very good mood. It makes me feel like Christmas and I LOVE Christmas. We've been lighting fires and drinking hot chocolate. It's so cozy. I would listen to Christmas music but my husband won't let me until after Thanksgiving. But I have started my Christmas shopping.

Every year I try so hard to get my shopping done by Thanksgiving so I can just enjoy the Christmas spirit and not feel stressed. And every year I fail, and the stress gets to me and ruins it for me. So this year I am bound and determined to make it happen.

I've made our Christmas cards. Ordered Santa presents for 2 of the 3 kids, they just better not change their minds. I talked my husbands family into drawing names early so I can get started on those too. And I've planned most of the presents, I'm just spacing them out so the financial burden gets spread out. I think this just might happen this year.

How early do you do your Christmas shopping?

Also, go visit Raising 4 Princesses. I was featured on their link party earlier this week. I've just been absentee and haven't been on to let you all know. Thanks.

A Valentines Treat

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Valentines Day. It has taken me all day to post this. Everyone in our house, except the baby, is sick. A great way to spend the holiday, right. And between taking care of sick kids and resting myself, I have not gotten to post before now.

I wanted to show you the fun Valentines treat we made this year. I found this idea at Disney Family Fun. They were very yummy and we will most definitely be making them more often.

Jam Tarts

2 1/4 c flour

3/4 t salt

2/3 c shortening

12 T water

Any flavor Jam

1 egg beaten with 1 t water

Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Use a fork or pastry cutter to cut in the shortening to pea sized clumps. Cut in water a couple of tablespoons at a time. (This is just a pie crust recipe, so if you have your own that you love use it.)

Roll out pie crust 1/8 inch thick on a floured surface. Use a cookie cutter to cut out cookies, you need two for each tart. We used a heart shape, but you could use any shape.

Place your cookies on a greased cookie sheet. Scoop some jam onto the center of the cookies. Make sure to leave space around the edges to seal your tart.
Brush the egg onto the edge of your cookies and place a second cookie on top. Press a fork around the edges. Bake at 400* for 15 min. Place on a rack to cool. After they have cooled decorate with frosting/sprinkles, whatever you want. We used frosting to make a cute quilt pattern.

Valentines Wreath

I have seen a lot of cute Valentines wreaths out there in blogland. But this week I found my favorite. Actually I didn't find it in blogland, but hey here it is now. My cousin (have I mentioned she's amazing) made this wreath for her door.

Cute huh! So can you guess what she made it out of......

COFFEE FILTERS!!!

She dyed the filters and made them into flowers using pearl straight pins for the centers. I absolutely love this wreath. And will be begging for lessons from her soon on how to make my own.

Oh so cute! I can't get over it!

Heart Series

Did you notice something different about my header? Yes, this month I am doing my first series- a series all about hearts. And let me tell you why.

We all know that hearts are the symbol of Valentines Day. We use them to decorate and to tell people we love them. Hearts are used in so many fun ways to celebrate. But for heart mom's like me, Valentines Day carries a whole different meaning.

You see our children have broken hearts, literally. They were born with a Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) which means their hearts didn't form right and are not whole. So though we take the opportunity to use Valentines Day as a way of expressing our love to those around us, it is also a reminder of the burden our little ones must carry. And our minds are taken to the hearts our children carry and not so much to the hearts that act as symbols.

Because of this, every year, February 7-14 is CHD Awareness Week. It is a week where all those affected by CHD rally together to spread awareness of the #1 birth defect in the United States- CHD.

But I thought hey, why not do it for the whole month, not just for a week. So February is going to be a Month of Hearts!

All my post this month will be related to hearts (the real and the symbol). And every Wednesday for the whole month I will spotlight a CHD hero. I would also love to share any "heart" posts you may have. Just email me and lets all get involved.

Recovering From The Holidays

I hope everyone had a good holiday. I love Christmas but we have been going non stop. I feel like I need a vacation from vacation. Does anyone else feel like that? So as I am still trying to recover from the holidays, I do not have a new recipe this week. Sorry.

But I will share with you some treats we made. My oldest daughter was born on Christmas Eve so she took birthday treats to school today. And here's what we made:

I saw these melted snowman cookies over at Crazy Domestic (click here to see them). They are so fun that we decided it would be a great treat for her to take to school. I used melted chocolate chips for the arms, buttons, and face and I must say that it was a little hard to handle. Next time I think I'll use chocolate frosting.

I used the same sour cream sugar cookie recipe from my Halloween treat post (click here). To get the frosting smooth I made some thick frosting and put it into a piping bag with a small round tip. Then I outlined on the cookie where I wanted to have the snowman "melt". Then I made the rest of the frosting runny. Using a spoon I spread the thin frosting around the cookie inside the outline. Because it's runny it all the bumps spread themselves out and you get a nice smooth, glossy look.

My kids love them and I think I'll have to make more for them soon.

Thanksgiving Traditions

Since I was little, one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is: (drum roll please)

Ta-Dah!

Yes the wishbone. I am the youngest and only girl in my family so needless to say I always got the wishbone. Every year my little hand was on one side of it. And as I got older I learned how to figure out which side was going to win so I could hold that side. Oh good times!

I also love just hanging out at my Grandmas playing games with everyone and nibbling at the food all day long.

So Happy Thanksgiving to all of you (I think I only have like four followers so far, but oh well) Happy Thanksgiving to all four of you!!!!!

So-
and I'll see you after the crazy weekend.