Reach For The Sky Woody and Jesse

YAY! I completed the kids costumes. Woody and Jesse turned out to be pretty easy to make. A pair of jeans, a couple thrift store finds, and some fabric. I just loosly stitched the faux cow hide to a vest for Woody and a pair of jeans for Jesse. For Jesse’s shirt, I fabri-tacked the cording and the satin ribbon for the sleeves. The kids are so happy with their costumes that mom made.

See my previous post for the holsters.

Halloween Goodie Tubes

These are awesome! I found the tutorial here: the muddy princess

The Town Hall Halloween Ball

They're bob, bob, bobbing for apples

They're sip, sip sippin' on cider

They're pop, pop, poppin' their popcorn

and they're packin' in the  puuunkin pie (say with lots of attitude)

at the town hall Halloween ball

I found some links to unusual pumpkin pie recipes

Recipe: Pumpkin Praline Pie

Recipe: Pumpkin Pie Dip

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie

recipe: Pumpkin whoopie pie

recipe:pumpkin pie drop cookies

-Tip- Roasting Pumpkins for Pie

Start by washing the pie pumpkin (a great variety for pies is Baby Pam) and then break off the stem and hack it in half.  Then scoop out the seeds.  Fill a 13×9″ pan with 1/4″ water.  Place pumpkins skin side up and roast at 400 degrees until very tender… This usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour.

Scoop the soft flesh from the skins and puree in a food processor with desired spices.  Use in the same porportions for pie as with a canned recipe.

Taste the difference!

Avocado Dip

Easy-n-Yummy Avocado Dip

I think that these ingredients bring out the essence of the avocado. Of course it's great with fresh tortilla chips.

• fresh ripe avocado


• juicy lemon


• sea salt


• fresh cracked pepper


• canned diced mild green chili peppers

Chop, sprinkle, juice and mix to taste.

Halloween coloring book page

Free downloadable PDF coloring book page. Illustrated by me. Enjoy!

colorpage_halloween

featured at it's so very cheri

Marvin the Misunderstood Spider Ball

I found this baby toy on Etsy. Isn't he cute?

Marvin is made with 100% cotton, super soft flannel and stuffed with high loft poly-fil. A Zady®Ball is about 7 inches in diameter with 8 knotted strings (LEGS), each about 1/2 inch wide and 5 inches long. A bell is included inside!
***100% MACHINE WASHABLE***

spider craft for kids

Supplies needed:

• egg carton


• scissors


• glue


• big fat black chenille stick for body


• regular size black chenille sticks


• black paint and sponge brush


• red felt


• googly eyes


• something like a poker from your pumpkin carving kit to make holes

1. cut egg carton into individual cups


2. poke 3 holes on each side for legs


3. paint black


4. cut red fabric into a small diamond shape and glue on inside of carton


5. cut regular size chenille sticks into about 4 equal pieces for legs


6. cut big chenille stick into about a 2-3 inch piece to wrap around the egg carton


7. glue big chenille stick down


8. insert legs into holes


9. glue on googly eyes

you're done!

Kit it! and give as a Halloween treat!



 

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super hero party

These are the invites for my sons 3rd b-day party. They were the easiest I’ve made yet, and I think they are my favorites. I just laid out the invitation cover, saved it as a HiRes JPG photo size 4 x 6 and had them printed at Walgreens as photos for $0.19 a print. I then glued a black and white print of the invitation details on the back. How simple and inexpensive is that?

Now for the party:

Super Hudson showing off his super muscles in his bat cave

Now for the fun part, the party.

Every super hero needs a cape and mask to hide their identity so I made one for each super hero.

The masks are a simple oval shape with slits for the eyes. I used a black satiny fabric for the front, fast2fuse for the middle and a gold velvety fabric for the backing. I used  stretchy black elastic for the strap. I just sewed around the outside of the mask and eyes to hold it together and keep the strap on. I don’t think they look great but the kids thought the masks were cool. It just shows me that my work doesn’t have to be perfect for the kids to have a good time.

The capes look cool. I sort of traced a cape that my son already had  for the basic shape. I folded the sides in and sewed all around the outside edge of the cape to make a hem. I used velcro on the top to hold the cape on. You could put stars or the initial of each child on the back.

The bat cave. I made this out in our back yard. We have a gazebo in the center of our yard, so I covered the entire thing with outdoor black fabric netting and a big tarp. My husband spray painted a huge bat on the front of the tarp. I hung a bat in the middle inside the bat cave and put the capes and masks in there. The cave was really low tech but with a little imagination, it was real! Hudson was bringing all the guests into his bat cave to “fly” with him. He was so cute.

The party. We started with the super hero training camp which was an obstacle course. Once the heroes completed their training the kids drove Hudson’s bat mobile to the bat cave to get their super hero gear (capes and masks) and their crime fighting tools. batman balls and spider man silly string “webs”.  The kids went through the bat cave tunnels to get to the villain poster targets.

I think I had almost as much fun planning this party as the kids had at the party.

homemade baby food purée

I make all my baby's food and he is the best eater of my 3 kids. These are some of my different blends for purées.

• carrot, zucchini, apple

• broccoli, cauliflower, potato

• yam, broccoli

• butternut squash, zucchini

• corn, baby milk, potato

• spinach, sweet potato

• green beans, acorn squash

• apple sauce (Apples, cinnamon stick in with apples when steaming)

Apple Sauce Variation

• apples with raspberries or any berries

Tropical Blend

• papaya, banana, strawberry

• avocado, papaya

-Tip- I mix a little of the water from steaming while pureeing so that I get more of the nutritious juices that are left behind in the baby food.

for a little older baby:

• meat (chicken or sausage ) with apple sauce


• roasted veggies chopped small

Party Perfect Halloween Party

This website has such pretty photography and the parties are really inspirational. I love the Halloween page.   http://www.saraspartyperfect.com/

roasted broccoli and cauliflower with lemon zest

My mom made this and I will never eat boring steamed broccoli again. I added cauliflower to my mom's recipe because these two veggies make a perfect match

• broccoli
• cauliflower
• garlic
• lemon
• basil
• parmesan cheese
• roasted pine nuts

in sheet pan roast broccoli, garlic, and cauliflower at 425 sprinkled with olive oil, salt, pepper

when roasted stir in bowl lemon juice, a little olive oil, fresh grated parm cheese, roasted pine nuts, lemon zest, and fresh basil