"You can do it Mom!"

I have a cheerleader!...a child who likes offering encouragement whenever he can, and he demonstrated it this morning. My Oldest was off at a sleep-over Birthday party for a friend of his last night, leaving my Youngest, my Husband and I at home this morning. My husband was off to work at 6:30 this morning like usually, so my Youngest and I got to sleep in as late as we wanted. This morning he got up at 8:45 and came in to the room to convince me it was time for me to get up too. I was dragging this morning...I wanted nothing more than to roll over and fall back to sleep, but he was persistent that it was time to get up. I said "I know honey, I'm just having a little trouble getting up"...which was his cue to cheer me on with..."Come on Mom, I know you can do it! Fight that sleep off and get up! Come on...I know you can do it...just a little further! Yeah, Mom you did it!" Isn't this a fun way to get out of bed in the morning even when you're dragging!

1st Band Concert

Last night my Oldest had his 1st band concert! He's been practicing everyday to get ready for it and he was very good last night...for someone who's only been playing the clarinet for little over a month! He began with the oboe, but he was struggling so his teacher moved him to the clarinet. The sixth graders have only been playing for about 3 months so the fact that they could play music and have it recognizable is amazing to me (who is tone deaf and NOT musically inclined...good thing his daddy and aunt can sing!)
He looks so grown up here. His school mascot is The Lions, that's why he's posing with a lion.

One of his good friends plays the trombone...they look nice up there together. They dress up nice (when they try! :-)

On stage after the concert. His class only has about 30 band students, and only about 8 clarinets. I am hoping he goes back to the oboe or if his hands grow the bassoon (which he really wants to play!) next year.

They grow up so fast! I'm proud of you!

My favorites at Christmas time

My favorites at Christmas time:

Top 5 favorite Christmas songs:
1. "Little Drummer Boy"
2. "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"---a true Christmas classic :-)
3. "Grandma Got ran over by a Reindeer"
4. "Silent Night"
5. "O, Little Town of Bethlehem"

Top 3 Christmas Movies:
1. "Rocky Mountain Christmas" with Dolly Parton---I used to see myself as the children, now I visualize myself in the roll of "Mother" in the movie.
2. "The Santa Clause"
3. "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer"---a classic

Favorite Christmas Tradition:
We buy a new family ornament every year at the Craft Show the day after Thanksgiving. My husband and I were looking over the 12 years of ornaments we have hanging on the tree and we were remembering when each child came into the picture.

Favorite Stocking Stuffer:
The boys get color tablets that when they're put into the bath water they turn the water different colors. The boys love changing the colors daily.

Favorite Present (given to you):
Gift cards to book stores are always appreciated.

Favorite Present (given away):
I love baking and giving the goodies away at Christmas.

Favorite Breakfast served on Christmas morning:
Monkey bread with sausage...easy and yummy!

Favorite Christmas Meal:
We reserve the turkey for Thanksgiving and the ham for New Years, so we usually have a nice beef roast of some sort...I like changing the seasonings every year.

A few Christmas traditions dear to my heart. What are some that you enjoy?

Sleeping...in a box!

My husband and Oldest son went to a Scout lock-in last Friday night, leaving me and my Youngest at home by ourselves. We bought a new lawn mower a couple of weeks ago to finish our lawn before the cold set in, so we didn't have frozen weeds up to our knees. It came in a large box that I drug into the house, knowing my 12 and 5 yr old boys love boxes. Friday night my Youngest received permission to sleep in that box!

They are so adorable when they sleep. I thought about packing him up and over-nighting him to his Aunt, Grandmother or Grandfather's house for Christmas, but I decided to keep him...he is just too much fun!

My Youngest's Christmas Program at School

Last Friday, my Youngest's Pre-K class put on a small program during their morning Friday Focus (this is when the kids put on programs, get awards such as attendance, or TERRIFIC Kids, or just come together for some school spirit!).

Their program consisted of several nursery rhymes they've learned along with a couple of Christmas songs, such as: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Jack, be Nimble", "Little Jack Horner", "Jingle Bells", "S A N T A" sung to Bingo and "We wish you a Merry Christmas". They were all very cute, very sweet and non of them all that shy!
My son is a natural on stage! He had the songs and rhymes down pat...he's been practicing them at home for weeks now, and he knew all actions and gestures to go with the songs and rhymes. I will not be surprised if he sings, dances or acts on stage every chance he gets. He's got Charisma!

A Picture from After...he seems very pleased with himself! I send Kudos out to his teacher, who was able to wrangle 16 kids aged 4-5 years old and put on such a great performance. Congratulations Mrs. Barrett!

Menu Plan Monday

I've been posting my menu's on Mondays in a sporadic way, so I thought I would get a little more serious. I found the site orgjunkie.com which hosts a Menu Plan Monday site, which I'm going to try and link this post too.

Throughout the month of November I was trying new recipes left and right and came up disappointed too many times to count, so I've gone back to several of my tried and true recipes and I might only add one new recipe each week or so. This is a busy week for us with Scouts on Monday and Tuesday and Saturday evenings, a Band concert on Thursday evening, and a Holiday work party on Sunday afternoon, so my menu this week is very easy and uncomplicated.

Menu for the week of December 7-13, 2009

Monday---Chicken Sandwich w/Noodles and Salad
Tuesday---Red wine Pork Roast w/Rice, Carrots and Green Beans
Wednesday---Onion burgers w/Onion Rings and Pasta Salad
Thursday---Clam Chowder w/Cheesy Biscuits
Friday---Salzbury Hamburger w/Mashed Potatoes and Butter Corn
Saturday---Pizza Rolls w/Salad
Sunday---Bacon-wrapped Chicken w/Fried Potato and Salad

Happy St. Nikolaus Day!

To all my German and non-German friends out there: HAPPY ST. NIKOLAUS DAY! My boys and I have been studying German culture the last couple of days and so this year we decided to celebrate this German holiday in our home.

We put our shoes out by the door hoping for a visit from St. Nikolaus. He brought us Christmas pajamas and candy! I guess this means we've been good boys and girl this year!
Then I cooked a traditional meal:

Sauerbraten, Green Beans, Parsley Potatoes, Red Cabbage and Salad with Sweet and Sour Dressing.

My plate. It was surprisingly sweet and very good! Even the cabbage which is not one of my favorite vegetables.

Christmas Tree is Up!

The Christmas Tree has been up for a week now. I was actually late getting it up, the Friday after Thanksgiving being the day I usually set it up. This year I postponed it until Saturday. Thanksgiving really wore me out this year.

I love this tree. It's not huge, just the right size for our tiny house, but what I really love is the decorations. I've made some, our family gets a new dough one every year from the first Craft Show of the season. My mother made several and when she downgraded her tree several years ago she gave me some of my favorites to put on the tree.

There's just something about a lit tree that brightens the Winter, so here's wishing everyone a happy Holiday Season!

Cookies and Cards

Went and played cards with my Mother (middle), her friend (left) and my friend (right) last night at her house. This is not a picture from last night since I forgot to take the camera, but the same ladies and the same game. We had a lot of fun, it was nice being able to get away from the kids and husband for a few hours and just relax.

I made the chocolate mint cookies from my last post for last night and let me tell you they were delicious. They taste almost exactly like Girl Scout Thin Mints (which are my most favorite cookie ever), so I'm going back to Target and stocking up on the morsels. I can have the taste of thin mints whenever I feel like it!

New Nestle Morsels and Recipe

Out Christmas shopping the other day at Target, I stumbled across this bag of Nestle Dark Chocolate and Mint Morsels. I love it when new types come out so I always grab a couple of bags and try the recipes on the back. I'm going to try this recipe this afternoon:

Mint Chocolate Delights (recipe on back of bag)

• 2 c. all purpose flour
• 2/3 c. baking cooca
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 c. butter or margarine, softened
• 2/3 c. granulated sugar
• 2/3 c. packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 bag Nestle Dark Chocolate and Mint morsels

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Combine: flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in large bowl until creamy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
5. Stir in morsels.
6. Drop by rounded tbsp. onto ungreased baking sheets
7. Bake 11-13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and centers are set.
8. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, remove to wire rack and cool completely.

These look really good and I can't wait to try them.

Winter has Arrived!

For the last 2 1/2 months, we've had very weird weather! The summer was normal enough...100+ for several days in July and August...normal weather. September arrived and the weather again normal...it dropped 20 degrees on average and nothing seemed strange. Then October arrived and so did the strangeness. It got chilly here...the normal is in the low 70's during the day and 50's at night...very mild. Not this year! 60 degrees was our average high...and cloud cover...I think the clouds covered about 20 of the 31 days in the month...this is not normal! They were comparing our weather to Seattle's weather...and if it came any where close...I'm glad I do not live in Seattle. It drizzled... A LOT...it was depressing...I'm glad it's over.

November dawned bright and warm. We had October's usual weather in November this year. The word that comes is mild...all month, little to no rain...very mild. Only 2 light freezes at the end of the month...the average day for a hard freeze is mid-November, but we haven't had one yet. Winter arrived today...about 2 weeks late. Cold rain last night turned to snow showers this morning (a mix of snow and rain...at the same time!), the wind is blowing 25+mph and the temperatures have dropped 20 degrees from that which we saw in November. It's going to be colder tomorrow and our hard freeze will be tonight or tomorrow night.

It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas...ah, weather in the Heartland.

Advent Calenders

I brought out another German Christmas tradition today and introduced it to my boys: the Advent Calender! I remember learning about these when I took German in Highschool so many years ago and was glad I could bring the fun to my boys this season. They used to be hard to find and at one time my hometown had a German store that my husband and I would go into to buy our calenders and many German goodies. We miss that store! Now you can find the calenders in places like Michaels and Target, and although they are not as fun or as decorative as making your own (note to self...make advent calenders next year :-) they will still be fun.

I'm looking forward to sharing St. Nicholas day with them on Sunday. Remember to put your shoes outside your doors on Saturday evening and hope St. Nicholas brings goodies, not twigs or switches! (my boy's might be getting switches... :-)

Countries of the World

I love learning about other countries, their peoples, their traditions and their cultures, and I think this is why I decided to get my degree in Anthropology with a minor in History...it was interesting! My boys are old enough now that I want to start sharing this with them, so we will take one country a month and learn about it.

We started in November with the true story of Thanksgiving, why the Pilgrims came to the New World, who Squanto was and the beginning of our Thanksgiving traditions. The boys really enjoyed reading about the food. They thought deer, turkey, goose and lobster sounded good, but the eel, oysters and clams would not be to their liking. They both agreed that our tradition of turkey, mashed potato, sweet potato, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie was the best.

For December we are going to immerse ourselves in the wonderful world of Germany! We are going to get advent calenders to open every day, we will read the story of Hansel and Gretl and make Gingerbread houses, we will celebrate St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 6th with shoes outside our door and a traditional German feast (stay tuned for details of our foray into Germany).

Today we started with school life for German kids. We learned that Kindergarten is for kids ages 3-6. Elementary school is for age 6-10 and in some states the kids go to school on Saturdays! (My Oldest did NOT like this!) and school days usually last from 8 AM-1:30 PM. Kids usually eat lunch at home and their summer vacations are only 6 weeks long.

At age 10, children are put into 1 of 4 different secondary schools that focus on preparing for a University or Trade school. Student's do not rotate their classes, but rather stay in one "home room" and their Teachers rotate (something my Oldest found very interesting since he's 12 and in Middle school now). All schools are free, including University if you qualify to attend.

Schools do not have sports or music classes, instead kids join clubs after school in whatever hobby, sport, or music they enjoy. They can also spend time with friends at cafes or discos in order to socialize with other kids.

So far Germany is very interesting!

My Sons

I've been thinking about my sons a lot this last week. My Oldest celebrated his 12th birthday yesterday so I've been taking stock of them, their personalities and what makes them who they are.
This is my Oldest, and he was welcomed by a Mother twelve years ago, who knew nothing about babies! I didn't know how to hold them, how to feed them, how to change their diapers. I had never been around babies before he came into the world...it's surprising then that he turned out so well :-)

He's a lot like me when it comes to his personality, and like his father when it comes to his talents. He doesn't stand out in a crowd, he doesn't make friends easily (although he has a lot of good acquaintances), he can't stand chaos and will step into a Leadership position if no one else is willing too, he wants things done his way and he tends to suppress his feelings until he explodes. He's smart, which he got from both his father and I, although he enjoys math and science like his father, not reading and history, which are my strong suits. He's athletic...again he doesn't stand out in baseball or football or track...but he gets the job done and is a decent athlete. He has some musical talent (something he did not get from me), but he prefers to play the clarinet in the band rather than sing like his father.

He's a good kid that likes school, doesn't really act out, and tends to keep to himself.

This is my Youngest and unlike his brother in so many ways. He's five now and attends school, which he loves! Personality wise, he is...Nothing like his father or I. He's vibrant and alive and someone others cannot over look (and if they do, he stands in front of them until they do notice him). He's not shy, he's not scared, he is playful and smart and funny and stubborn and the center of any crowd. Other kids are going to migrate to him, and adults just smile and shake their heads. He jumps into things feet first and seems to always land on his feet. He's active in t-ball and gymnastics, enjoys school and meeting people, wants to be just like his big brother and has a will of iron. If he wants something he goes after it and people better get out of his way! He's more artistic than his brother...he likes to sing and dance and play the recorder, and he loves to paint. Everything interests him...it will be interesting to see how his personality develops.

They are the joys of my life, and I thank God everyday that he gave them to their Father and Me.

An Active Weekend!

We had a long and active weekend this last week, that really got us out of the house and into the great outdoors. I promised you pictures of the American Indian festival and the first group belong to that great event, which we attended on a blustery Saturday afternoon. We also attended my Oldest son's 6th Grade Championship Football game on a drizzly Sunday evening.
I love tepees. Here the boys are exploring the smaller of the 2 set up.

Here is the decorated tepee with the camp set up in front of it

Indian symbols painted on my Youngest's face. Don't remember the symbolism though.

My Oldest picked a more complicated pattern for his face.

These nice people are members of the Kiowa and Comanche tribes and they performed several dances, we learned the meaning behind one of the songs the drummer in the back was singing, and we heard several traditional Kiowa stories. My boy's were enthralled.

My husband and I are of the philosophy that everyone should know how to cook, be they boy or girl. The best time to teach them is when they are interested in learning, are old enough to use the knives safely, and are willing to experiment a bit. My Oldest will be 12 this week, and so is old enough to work safely in the kitchen.

This is my son's Velvetta, Egg, and Veggie pie found in Kraft's food and family, Holiday '09 cookbook. It has mushrooms, broccoli, green onions, velvetta cheese and eggs all cooked in a pie crust. The only thing I helped with other than giving directions was fixing the store bought pie crust because it was cracked and had holes in it. He sauteed the veggies and mixed the eggs and cooked the pie himself.

He served the pie with bacon and hashbrowns with ketchup on top. Neither boy liked the pie (not really surprising), but they ate it and my husband LOVED the veggies.

Sunday evening we spent at my Oldest son's 6th Grade Championship Football Game for the City. They won 26-19 in OT! My son is #14 in the front. Go Longfellow Lions!

Our Optimist Club also offers cheerleading to girls in grades K-6th and they cheered at the 6th grade games all year. Here's the football team with our wonderful cheerleaders!

Of course we had to take pictures with the trophy once we got home. I didn't take the camera since it's new and there was a chance of rain during the game.

This was his 1st year to play football and he loved every minute of it. Next year he will get to play with his School's football team...they grow up so fast.

Well the sports are over until the spring when baseball starts for my Oldest and my Youngest will finally get to start playing T-Ball. My Youngest has attended every game my Oldest has ever played, starting at 5 months old and now he's ready to be the ball player! My Oldest will play any sport you put in front of him, I heard him say this to me this morning..."Why won't you sign me up for Basketball?" Basketball is not in the future, but track is a possibility in the spring, but until then let the boredom begin!

Menu Plans for Nov. 16-22, 2009

Quiet week here...no baseball, no football, and my Husband and Son will be camping on Friday and Saturday night...Quiet!

I have 4 recipe's I'm doing out of Kraft's food and family cookbooks, Holiday '09 and Fall 2007 issues.

Monday---Catalina-Cranberry Chicken Breast (pg. 15, Holiday '09 book) w/Rice and Roasted Broccoli

Tuesday---Marinated Steak & Caramelized Onions (pg. 40, Holiday '09 book) w/Cheesy Potato (pg. 41, Holiday '09 book), Butter corn & Rolls

Wednesday---Quick & Easy Pork Chop Skillet (pg. 34, Fall 2007 book), w/Rice & Green Beans

Thursday---Hamburger Hotdish (my own recipe)

Friday---Little Smokies and Chips (just Youngest & me)

Saturday---Pancakes and Bacon (Youngest & me)

Sunday---Potato Soup w/Ham Sandwiches

Hamburger Hotdish recipe:
-Brown Hamburger, drain grease.
-Add 1 can tomato soup, 1 can tomato sauce, fill tomato soup can with water twice, tomato sauce can once and add.
-Add elbow macaroni (about 1 1/2 tomato soup cans full)
-Season with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper
-cook on medium heat until noodles are ready and liquid is gone.

The National Weather Festival

Two things we like celebrating in our part of the country: Weather and Native American Culture. Last weekend we had our National Weather Festival and this coming up Saturday we will be attending one of the Native American Cultural Activities put on by our local library system. Both are fun (although we like the Native American festival more...pictures will follow next week).

We checked out the 4th Annual Storm Chaser Car Show...can you believe that this is a fun past time in the Southwest...chasing storms and if a tornado drops, these people are in heaven! Most natives in this part of the country can dissect a storm in 2 minutes flat and when watching tornado coverage on the news stations we can tell how close it will come to our house and how soon we must crawl into our safe areas. I know many transplants and our storm seasons in spring and fall can really scare them. This is my son showing one of the cars (out of about 20 at the car show), that belongs to a local TV station.
The boys are relaxing by the fountain after touring the National Weather center, having fun at the children's activities, and hitting all of the booths that had weather-related information and products.

They launched weather balloons every hour and here's my Youngest and his Dad watching the balloon sail off. I tried to get a picture of the balloon itself, but those buggers are fast! I do have a great picture of the clear, blue November sky though!

It was fun. I'm looking forward to the Native American Festival though. They will have dancers, storytellers, crafts and Indian tacos!

Mini Potato Corn Cakes with Cheddar and Sour Cream

I found this recipe for Mini Potato Corn Cakes with Cheddar and Sour Cream in a magazine I bought the other day. You can also find this recipe and many, many, many others on the Hungry Jack website. I made these Wednesday evening for supper and my boys couldn't get enough of them!


Mini Potato Corn Cakes with Cheddar and Sour Cream

Ingredients:
2 cups Hungry Jack® Mashed Potatoes, flakes
1/3 cup Martha White® Yellow Corn Meal
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne or chipotle chile powder or to taste
1/2 cup very thinly sliced green onions
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded sharp or smoked Cheddar cheese
1 (12 oz.) bag frozen super sweet corn (2 1/4 cups), defrosted
•
Crisco® Olive Oil No-Stick Cooking Spray
•
1/2 cup sour cream

Preparation Directions:

1. MIX potato flakes, corn meal, garlic salt and cayenne in medium bowl. Reserve 2 tablespoons green onion for garnish. Blend in remaining onions, milk, cheese and corn.
2. SCOOP into sixty 1-inch balls, gently flattening into 1 1/2-inch patties. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray with no-stick cooking spray. Pan fry patties until golden brown on both sides.
3. SERVE warm with a tiny dollop of sour cream and a few slices of green onion on each, if desired.

Menu for November 2-8, 2009

Our fall activities are winding down finally. Last week was a lot of quick freezer meals such as frozen pizza with salad or chili dogs, which I had to squeeze in between activities. This week we have about half of the activities as last week, so I can get back to planning decent meals...YEAH!

Monday---Roast Tacos (take a roast and put it in the crockpot for about 8 hrs with 2 packets of taco seasoning and shred...makes THE BEST taco meat ever!), refried beans and salad (which we put on the tacos with the ranch dressing)...Yummy!

Tuesday---Chicken with Mushroom Sauce, Rice, Stuffing and Green Beans

Wednesday---Herb Marinated Chicken and Mini Potato Corn Cakes with Cheddar and Sour Cream w/peas

Thursday---Ravioli w/Meatballs, Garlic Bread and Salad

Friday---Hamburger & Hashbrown Skillet w/Cheese Sauce and Green beans (this is one of my recipes modeled after a Hamburger helper meal that we love...brown hamburger and drain, add 1/2 c. butter or margarine to pan and melt then add hashbrowns, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and diced onion and cook until hashbrowns are cooked through, remove from heat. In a smaller pan melt together velvetta and 2 TBSP of milk, pour over hamburger & hashbrown mix and let sit for 5 minutes before serving)...again Yummy!

Saturday---Caramelized Onion-BBQ Burgers w/fried potato & corn-on-cob (another recipe I tweaked when I had the whiskey river burger at The Red Robin and fell in love. Cook the burgers on a grill pan with a little bit of barbecue seasoning sprinkled on, and in the meantime put a little butter and 2-3 medium sized onions, sliced into a pan to caramelize. To put the burger together, place down burger, add BBQ sauce and then onions...another option is to make some onion rings in the oven and then place these over the BBQ sauce and place the onions in the middle)...this is my favorite burger!

Sunday---Pork Roast w/Pasta Salad & Baked Beans

I didn't realize that I had put my chicken meals back to back and then I have 3 hamburger meals planned in a row. I usually work my menus better, but my boys won't complain so I'll just go with this menu.

Life Happens...then we Party!

I didn't get a chance to blog last week, because life happened! A very busy week for our family last week. It started last Sunday with a football game. Baseball games on Monday, Tuesday, and a double header on Wednesday, Trick-or-Treating on Friday, a Halloween Party on Saturday and another football game on Sunday.

We live in a College town in the South where football is king, so those of us who live here have learned to work around the local football schedule. We were scheduled to play a home game on Saturday evening, so the City moved trick-or-treating to Friday evening. My boys went with Star Wars this year.

My Clone Warrior and Darth Vader!

Darth Vader wins!

My boys.

The boys had Friday off of school for Teacher Work day, so they spent it in the kitchen helping me prep for our Saturday evening Halloween/Football Watch Party. Here they were taking the wrappers off the candy corn hershey kisses.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I invited my Mother, a wonderful Girlfriend and her son over Saturday night for a small party.

Some of the grub (from the plant clockwise): Chocolate covered marshmallows, Leaping Lizard Lime drink, Candy corn and Ghost cookies, Bread snake fro sandwiches, Carrot Fingers and Chips with Dip, and Chex Halloween Buddy Mix. Missing: The sandwich fixings and the Mummy Pizza's the boys made.

Leaping Lizard Lime drink with skull cups! (lime sherbet, uncarbonated sweetened lime juice and lemon-lime soda). The cups were $1 each at the Dollar Tree.

Candy corn cookies and Ghost cookies (Candy corn cookie recipe can be found on an earlier post) (ghost cookies are nutter butter cookies dipped in melted white candy and mini chocolate chips for eyes and noses). I like the candy corn hershey kisses, but I was not impressed with the cookies, I probably won't make them again. The ghost cookies on the other hand were a hit with everyone and now one of my favorites. They were sooooo good!

My snake! It was supposed to be frozen french bread, but my local Walmart didn't have any, so I went with dinner rolls, which I think turned out really well. I was supposed to stuff it with the deli meat, lettuce, cucumbers, red pepper, etc. but when I started cutting into it (see tail!) I decided it was too much work so everyone just tore off a roll and made their own sandwiches.

The boys made mummy pizzas (not shown) with pepperoni and sauce spread on a English muffin, then string cheese torn into strips placed on top to resemble bandages and olives for eyes. They loved these.

It was a long week, but a great week and a wonderful weekend with family and friends. Next up: THANKSGIVING!

Hershey's Candy Corn Cookies

I am thinking I am not the only person out there with a candy corn addiction! I found this recipe at Cast Sugar's blog and it sounds very yummy. Not sure I've seen the candy corn Hershey's, but I haven't looked either!

Hershey's Candy Corn Cookies (from the back of the bag)

Ingredients:
3/4 c. creamy peanut butter

1/2 c. shortening

1/3 c. granulated sugar

1/3 c. light brown sugar, packed

1 egg

2 Tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/3 c. quick-cooking oats, divided

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

66 Hershey candy corn kisses (pretty much the whole bag)

*Heat oven to 350°F Beat peanut butter and shortening in large bowl until well blended. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together 1/2 cup oats, flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in remaining oats; place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten cookies with tines of fork to form a crisscross pattern.

*Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

*Remove wrappers from candies. Place 18 candies in heavy-duty resealable plastic food storage bag. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 30 seconds; knead bag and candies. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 15 seconds at a time, kneading after each heating, until candies are melted and color is uniform. Cool slightly. Cut off corner of bag about 1/8 inch from point. Lightly drizzle cookies. Before drizzle sets, place candy piece in center of each cookie

Decorating for Halloween

We've never decorated the yard for Halloween before. It's not that we don't have fun and enjoy Halloween, it's just a holiday we've never gone whole hog on before, but this year the boys started asking if we could decorate the yard. They're 5 and almost 12 and I want to encourage their enjoyment of the holidays so I bought a simple tombstone package from Walmart.
It came with the tombstones, the skull, hands and feet, the fence, the spiders and spider web, the rat and the flower. They had fun placing them in the garden.

We went out on Sunday and put this in the garden, before that the boys played Zombies in the living room all weekend. One would pretend to rise from the grave (he was laying in front of the big tombstone) and then he would chase his brother, zombie-style! They had a lot of fun. Now I will start picking up a couple of things every year and they can make the house really spooky!

Fall Break

We've been on Fall Break this week, which for my boys meant they had Thursday and Friday off of school. They've actually been playing with their toys this week and with each other with only a little bit of fighting thrown in.

Boy's playing with the Youngest's Pirate ship that he got last year for Christmas:
Football is a big game here and my boys play it in the house, and make up their own rules!

My Youngest has taken to playing with one of our new Halloween decorations. It's going to go out in the tree this weekend, but until then it's fun. My Youngest has an interest in bones and likes looking at books that cover the human body.

Last night I finally sat down and did some scrapbooking. This one is for my Oldest's 5th grade graduation last May. The colors of his school are red, white, and black, and the decorations at graduation included a lot of balloons.

I've been practicing my photography. I know I'm not very good yet, and I've got a new camera that I'm trying to learn my way around, but I think I'm making some progress. Well I'm off to watch the Sooners (hopefully beat the Longhorns!) Booooooomer!.....Soooooooner!

Christmas Shopping has begun

Went out to for coffee last night with my mother and a friend. We found ourselves at Borders Bookstore and had a delicious Hazelnut Mocha Coffee. While there we had to do some shopping (all 3 of us are avid reader's) and it helped that they had alot of items on their bargain shelves and they were having a buy 2 get 1 free sale, so I picked up a couple of Christmas presents. For my Youngest and his Cousin I found this adorable pirate package:
For my Oldest son I found this great cookbook:

3 down...too many to count to go, but it's a start.