Decorating Disaster?

Start with a nice clean table and clean supplies....give some cookies, icing and candy and end up with black-fingered, icing crusted mouths but very HAPPY kiddies. They loved decorating their Halloween cookies and I think their strategy was...decorate some, eat some, play some and repeat. I used this Royal Icing recipe again for the second year and love it!!! If anyone wants a cookie....stop by!

My Little Cookie Helper

For the second year now, I have used this recipe (Brown Sugar Cutouts) to make our Halloween cookies. It is very easy and quite tasty!! Angelica loves to "help" in the kitchen and this year she actually did all the cookie shapes herself and even tried to help roll out the dough...although she did enjoy some nibbles along the way!

Pumpkin Time

This year we had three pumpkins to carve....the girls painted their little pumpkins. We decided to let Angelica help draw face ideas on her doodle board for two of the pumpkins and then we used the pro-life template from American Life League to do the third carving of the unborn baby. Appropriate for the month of October and for us as we eagerly await the arrival of our little one. So while Jason did most of the work, Angelica enjoyed using the little tools to carve her pieces as well...and loved the finished products. Emma slept and woke up excited to see pumpkins lit up and carved!!

Harvesting the Seeds

The girls had a really fun time this year helping scrape the pumpkins out and harvest all the seeds for cooking. Emma wasn't wild about the "squishy stuff" but did a good job helping. Even with as much work as it is, we LOVE eating the pumpkin seeds every year and I was shocked that both the girls like them too...and they are so healthy for you! I have put together my own recipe and it is a huge hit!! YUMMERS. Note to self: when you are drying the seeds though after rinsing before cooking, do not put on paper towels as they will stick and not be fun to pry apart! Recipe I use now: Separate and rinse seeds as clean from pulp as possible, let dry. Preheat oven to 350. Spray pan. Depending on how many seeds you have you adjust recipe to taste, sorry no real measurements. This year we had 3 pumpkins. I melted couple TBs of butter, bit of Worcestershire sauce, Season Salt, garlic powder and TB or so of brown sugar. Mix and then pour over seeds in bowl and coat. Then spread on pan and bake for at least 40 minutes or so, stirring occasionally and checking to see when they look nice and brown. Then I put on wax paper to dry and then snack all week long!! Enjoy.

Interesting Swine Flu Reads

Building Cathedrals had an interesting POST on the swine flu vaccination and the comments were good. We have decided a long time ago that we will never have the kids get the nasal sprays (it is a LIVE virus) and just too many known side effects. And this year we are opting NOT to get any of the H1N1 vaccines anyways for many reasons....many of which I agree with in this interesting read:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/03/What-We-Have-Learned-About-the-Great-Swine-Flu-Pandemic.aspx

So far we have stayed very healthy which is a huge blessing with expecting a newborn any minute. Hope you and yours are feeling well and if sick getting better!!!

Update

Mostly leaving detailed updates on baby's website (sidebar) in the journal...so please take a look and leave a message.

Monday I had an appointment (39 weeks) and 3 cm dilated and 60% effaced...OB said head low and ready to go so hoping water breaks soon. Last night I had 3 long hours of contractions and today has been sporadic. Not sleeping....tired...anxious...uncomfortable...come on baby!! If I make it to my due date (unchartered territory for me) which is Sunday, then Monday I go in for a non-stress test and ultrasound to monitor baby and check fluids...then see what the doc says!!! Prayers please!!

School Days

Along with the different learning activities we do at our house, we are getting together with a friend every couple weeks for letter lessons and school fun. We try to learn two new letters each time, read corresponding books to whatever we are learning, do an art project or two and have lunch together. So this time we decided to do letters B and P. We did P so that we could "P"aint our "p"umpkins we got at the patch the previous week. Angelica wanted to paint EVERY inch of her pumpkin and Emma was not happy when we had to put the paints away....way too much fun. Then I picked up some frames at Michaels and foam stickers and let them decorate the frames with a "p"icture we took from the patch field trip. Again, Angel tries to cover every free space that there is.

The other letter we did was B mostly because it was Eddie's "B"irthday that day!! My friend has the Handwriting Without Tears manual and we use the worksheets from there, I am going to have to get...really great! Then we also practice making letters with Play-Dough and cardboard pieces. Angel is doing really well. Then the girls got to decorate cupcakes with icing and candy for Eddie's birthday and of course it was more tempting to eat the goodies along the way than to decorate. Really enjoying these lessons and fun to share with friends. Next week I think we are doing letters F for Fall and E. We swap houses each time so that each person prepares more for the crafts and hosts the lunch.

After Dinner Fun

Last night the girls enjoyed helping mama make some home made play-dough (thanks Christina for the recipe) and even more fun playing with it once it was cool. Angelica kept saying she loved the smell....kind of like strawberries from the Kool-Aid. I have to say, we threw out all the store bought stuff we had last night because this kind is so much better....barely falls apart or crumbles and just smells and feels good! Going back to the store soon to get other flavors to make more colors.

Then it was Smoothie making time...an after dinner dessert the girls LOVE. We call them our little smoothie hogs...because they are supposed to share with their mama and papa but we don't end up getting very much!

Updates

Sorry, have meant to post updates on our "false alarm" baby story from last weekend and my lovely baby shower a friend had for me....I have been journaling it all on the baby's website, so if you would like to check out the latest news, pics etc...please go to:
http://www.babyjellybeans.com/web/do/site/home?ID=566228
Don't forget to leave the baby a message and please tell her to hurry up and arrive already!

Pampered Chef Indeed

Most of you know, but I am officially a Pampered Chef Consultant now. Have always wanted to give it a go...so hopefully I will enjoy it as much as I am hoping. Thanks to the family and friends who have already given or signed up to do a show for me to get me started. So it anyone ever wants to place a personal order, do a fundraiser, host a cooking or catalog show, bridal shower or know someone to do a bridal registry....please let me know. Would be honored to work with you and you can always order and check out my site at: http://www.pamperedchef.biz/erinsplace

Three Weeks to Go

Emma went to the doctor's today and I got to see the x-rays. Luckily the fracture and the bulge are not serious but still needing time to heal. So, she now has a hard cast (still pink!) on for the next three weeks...then we will bring her in and do x-rays again and hopefully be cast free. She is being a trooper but life has become a bit more difficult with normal tasks. I am hoping she doesn't keep hitting the baby in the head with her hard cast...whenever the baby decides to make her grand entrance.

Hunter Farms Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday Angelica and I went to a pumpkin patch with my friend and her son. She goes to this one every year and while it is a bit of a drive, it was definitely worth it. Hunter Farms was very beautiful and the kids loved it. They had animals to see including chickens, roosters, goats, llamas, emus, pigs, and even a reindeer. There was a huge hay maze and play area set up in the big barn and at the top of the haystack was a big tunnel slide to go down. Angelica and Eddie could have played on that alone all day! I had decided to leave Emma with my mom even though I knew she would have loved it....she just has some trouble with her arm and it was still only in a splint and I didn't want her to hurt it more. Next year! We took a covered wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch and it was huge....lots of pumpkins to choose from. Angel walked all over the patch trying to decide on which one to get....my friend's rule for her kids is they can bring back whatever they can carry...I like that rule! Angelica actually decided to go with a smaller pumpkin so she could also carry one back for Emma....so sweet!!! They have a produce store there as well with lots of yummy fruits and veggies to buy. We lucked out with the weather too, it was a bit cold and foggy but dry! Then we went to a park on the way home and had a picnic lunch by the water. The kids enjoyed throwing rocks in the water and then we headed home....a fun day was had by all! I was kind of hoping the bumpy wagon ride would break my water, but no such luck!!

Fall

I love this season....the cooler weather, fires in the woodstove, gorgeous fall colors, the smells of leaves and pumpkins and autumn candles, the hot cider, soups, breads and getting out some decorations. We set up a hay scene on our porch each year and the girls love it this year....they love to go play with the scarecrows and pumpkins. So I posted below some pics of our fall decorations as I have been seeing lots of others, love to look at what people do!! And if you have any good fall recipes, please share!! I am looking forward to carving the pumpkins soon and roasting those seeds!

Preschool Days

I posted before about our ideas and curriculums I am trying to use for some fun preschool learning with Angelica. A friend of mine who has a son about Angel's age have also decided to do a school day together every two weeks. We are using the Handwriting Without Tears manual for helping with correct letter formation. My friend has cut out the letter pieces just like the program's wood ones out of cardboard for now and those help. We have met once already and done letters L and O....we are trying to tie them into certain things going on. So L was for Leaves for fall and O for orange and round like pumpkins. We do letter worksheets, the cardboard pieces, color the letters, and make them out of play-do. Then we do story time with books that I can find that tie into the letters, or theme for that week. We are incorporating the program and music I purchased from Making Music Praying Twice and I cannot wait to add some instruments and such to our collection and fun. Then we do a craft or two and have lunch together. We made tissue paper leaves last time and Angel loved it! Angel knows so many of her letters already but it is fun to practice and expound on them with friends and learn the correct formation as well. Yesterday we went to a pumpkin patch together (I will do a post on) and so next week we are going to get together to do letters P and B for pumpkins and birthday since it will be Eddie's birthday. So looking forward to paining our pumpkins they picked and making picture frames with a pumpkin patch picture and celebrating his birthday! Of course, this is hoping I will not have a baby before then....that would be a great B word!!!

Baby Update

Had an appointment this week and baby's head is DOWN, thank the Lord! I was worried with as active as this child has been and still is that this would not be the case. So that brought a lot of peace of mind. I am 50% effaced and 1.5cm dilated....so progress. Will keep you posted as I am feeling the time is getting close!! Can't wait to see her little face and we are still undecided big time on names!!!

Good Reads

This is a post that appeared on one of my favorite sites, Building Cathedrals. Click HERE to check it out, all about pros and cons and advice and opinions about celebrating Halloween, All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day etc. The post is great and all the comments are even better. For us, we enjoy celebrating both. We feel fortunate to live in a pretty good neighborhood and I have such fond memories of dressing up and going door to door with my pumpkin to receive goodies. It is even more fun now to have my girls wearing the costumes I wore when I was their age. The past couple of years we have always had some friends and my youngest sister over for soup and cider and they get ready and go trick or treating. Angel had a blast last year!! We do however realize the dangers out there, some worse for others and our plans might have to change along the years. On the other hand, we love to celebrate All Saints Day as well. How fun to learn more about them and dress up like your favorite etc. I am bummed as right now our church's All Saints Day party is held on Halloween so we have to choose which to go to, wish it was actually on All Saints Day. So we shall see and I am sure traditions will change but for now...keep your eyes peeled for a couple of very cute cats!!

Another GREAT read (in my opinion) is THIS LINK to an article and interview about the truths and myths and facts about the swine flu, vaccines etc. As many of you have read in my past posts about vaccinations (which are all on my sidebar under label vaccines) it is a topic we have heavily researched over the past couple of years and made lots of decisions about and continue to do so. I feel even more confident in our decision not to get the flu shot or H1N1 vaccine right now....and so glad to hear that the New York state supreme court put a hold on the mandate that all health care workers were forced to get the vaccine or get fired....finally some confirmation and support for informed consent and personal health decisions!!! Anyways, check it out, some good information and what you will not hear in most of our biased media that loves government regulation and providing only the extreme cases to us on the nightly news! Bottom line....do the research yourself and make decisions that are best for you and your family and do not penalize others for theirs!

WII Fit

While I haven't even learned how to use this yet, Angelica is enjoying the stretching exercises!