Fright Night 2011

Your renowned expertise is requested for an experiment at
Dr. Frankensteins Laboratory
To be conducted Sunday October 16th at 3 o clock post mortem.
Come prepared to operate


Specimens
_____________________

Poison IVY

Snipe Hearts in Formeldahyde

Abynormal Brain

Gravediggers Meat

Poisonous Iced Hemlock

Spot the Cat for Dessert


We had our annual Fright Night dinner on Sunday and it was very spooky. Dinner was served in the laboratory of Dr. Frankenstein. The menu items were more appropriately termed "Specimens." We had a secret spooky friend deliver some awesome packages on Saturday night.(I think I know who you are, and Thank you!) In the packages, there were some very cute mad scientists glasses that came in perfectly handy for our dinner!
You can see in the pictures that there was an abynormal brain for the centerpiece. We also had the ever mysterious Gravediggers meat that on normal days is referred to as Meatloaf. The Snipe hearts in Formeldahyde were Peach halves in lime jello that were prepared in mason jar "test tubes." The poison IVY was a Green Salad. We actually had 2 abynormal brains-one for the centerpiece sitting in food colored water and the other was steam and served with a cheese sauce. The poisonous Hemlock was Kool Aid dyed black. (one gulp could have been deadly.) And Spot the Cat was actually Brownies cut into a Cat shape with a cookie cutter topped with a "spot" of icing. Everything was served on a white surgical sheet table cloth, and we wore latex gloves while eating.
On the sideboard, was a spooky display of bubbling test tubes. (This involved some dry ice and more food coloring.)
We had a lot of fun as always. I love being married to David because he always knows the perfect touches to add to make things extra fun.

Halloween Festivities

We went to a Pumpkin Festival last week and the girls got to do a bunch of fun things like decorate a cookie, pumpkin bowling, donuts on a string, making a wood craft, facepainting and a bunch of other stuff that we didn't do. (Children are not made for standing in lines, you might know.) They also got to pick out a Pumpkin and I thought it was so funny to see which pumpkins they decided to pick. They both saw the perfect one and couldn't be persuaded towards any others. Very cute.

Getting ready!

I don't think I've ever had costumes for Halloween ready this early. Usually, we are usually still deciding what to dress up as on Halloween day. This year, I didn't want to spend much money on costumes and so I started early trying to see how inexpensively I could make the costumes for. We decided on circus costumes, although, Mckinley has thrown a wrench in the plan and you will have to wait and see what she is going to be. Dolce is going to be a very cute Clown, and Rome is going to be a Strong Man. Hopefully I remember how nice it is to have things ready beforehand and make it a habit.

Beached!

This little boy is growing so fast! He's growing out, rather than up. He wears 6-9 month clothes right now, and at the moment, things are getting a bit tight. He may need some custom made, chubby boy clothes because we can only roll up the pant legs so many times on most things. Everywhere I take him, people ask, "how old is that baby?" At not quite 5 months old, he shouldn't be quite as gigantic as he is. (He should be wearing 12 month clothes.)That's ok. There's just lots to love. This post is titled "beached," because Rome has learned to roll over from his back to his tummy. But when he gets to his tummy, he's stuck. He doesn't know what to do and so he usually lays his head down on the ground and looks for something to eat. Like the floor. He hasn't missed too many meals, and with the help of his sisters he has sampled things like cheese it's, and sprinkles, he loves ice cream, but hates any type of baby food I try to give him. He only wants to nurse! It's getting to be hard work for me to feed this bottomless pit. Yesterday, I told him that he had to either eat carrots for lunch, or a sandwich. Carrots are a new UN- favorite.

A Book Pumpkin

This was such a fun and easy project. I saw the idea from a Ucreate post. I'm such a sucker for any decoration that uses bookprint so I really couldn't resist this. To make this, find a pretty thick paperback book. You can thrift these for 50 cents usually. Remove the cover and back cover of the book. Now on the front page of the book. Draw a half circle or you could experiment with a different variation of a half circle. Now take some scissors and cut around the shape. (I was able to accurately cut out about 5 papers at a time.) Cut all the way through to the spine of the book. Now, you will have pieces above and below the pumpkin shape. Pull these off, leaving the middle pumpkin shape. (To pull them off, just pull them away from the spine of the book.) Now keep tracing your pumpkin shape and cutting around it through the book. When you've finished your cutting, you'll be ready to attach the front cover to the back cover, making the pages fan out. I used hot glue for this step. You may also need to use the glue to keep some of the pages fanned out.
Now you're ready to paint your pumpkin. You don't need a lot, just enough to ink the edges of the papers. Now find a short little stick and stick it in the hole at the top of the book. Glue it really well and then tie a ribbon around it and you're done!

Another Infinity Scarf

I love, love scarves! Especially right now because I am still breastfeeding Rome and so when I feel like I may actually be turning into a cow, I feel better wearing a scarf. This scarf is made from about a yard of fabric sewn into a circle with the ragged ends sewn under. PS, it's cold enough today to actually wear a scarf. Brrr!

A lamp Revamp!

Since I've already shared that secretly I'm a Thrift store HOARDER, I'm feeling comfortable enough to share that I dumpster dove this lamp. And it works. And David was embarrassed at the time. And whoever threw it away is going to be very sorry when they see how cute it is now. And..that's it. No wait. And, if you don't think it's cuter now, you better lie and tell me it is anyway.

In the Fall you have to eat soup!

This is kind of funny. In the picture above, I made a soup called Broccoli velvet soup. However, after making it and taking the picture, I decided that a better fall-ish soup might be another favorite of ours called Zuchinni Bisque soup. I know, if you aren't a big squash fan, this might sound pretty sick. But to let you in on a little secret: I'm not a big squash fan myself. But I love this soup. And ....I especially love it when my Husband makes it so I don't have to. So here it is. Make your Husband cook some up tonight!

Zuchinni Bisque Soup

2 cups of diced onions
2 Tbs Butter
3 and 3/4 cups Squash (Zuchinni or you could try another squash if you'd like.) diced.
3 cups Chicken Broth
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup cream (Why do all of my recipes have cream?)
Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese (or cheddar if you prefer)

Cook onion in butter until soft. Add Zuchinni and cook for a few minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Simmer together for 15 minutes or until squash is tender. Add seasonings to mixture. Using a blender, Puree the mixture and return to the pan. Add cream and heat through. Serve with grated cheese on top.

Another Fun and Easy Skirt!

This started when my cute neighbor Brooke made a skirt very much like this one. I loved it and wanted to make one too. So I cut out the fabric and it was way too fluffy and not long enough. This is what I get for trying to figure it out on my own. My Mom told me to try a tutorial found on Simple Simon and Co for this skirt, which I did after I added the white border to the bottom of the fabric. (haha! It could have been okay without that right?) So, to make this, don't do anything I did. Go directly to Simple Simon and co and look for the Starboard Skirt tutorial.