Little Red Riding Hood

Checking out her basket (thrift store find!)

Big sister wanted to be little red riding hood this year.  We don't usually go trick or treating, but I LOVE to make costumes for dress up and we don't have little red riding hood so I thought it was a great idea!  I started out with a simple circle skirt with a thick waistband and lace at the hem.  Then I found the perfect shirt at the thrift store and I sized it down to fit my girl.  Then I cut the belt thingy out of red felt and poked holes in it and laced it up with black yarn.  The cape is two simple rectangles (my ruffler foot handled thick fleece!) out of red fleece for warmth.  Complete the outfit with sparkly red shoes that can be reused for Christmas and I think they'll have to wear thick white tights simply because it'll be FREEZING out!  It was such a simple yet beautiful costume.  I love it.  And when I was adding up how much it cost to make it sure it qualified for a linky party- I was amazed that it was only $8 to make!  $17 if you add the shoes, but I was going to buy them anyway for Christmas pictures!  I got the fleece on sale ($3) and needed about a yard- same for the gingham ($3) and the shirt and basket I got for $1each at the thrift store.  I had the felt and yarn and I have the white tights she will wear.  Not bad!

Such a pretty girl!

Not really into picture taking

This is what she thinks of her cape!

What a puss on this girlie

Pumpkin Muffins

TWO ingredient pumpkin muffins

Pumpkin cookie jar hard at work!

I've seen the recipe for two ingredient pumpkin muffins running rampant in blog land and on pinterest.  When I needed a quick snack to make how our home group last week I decided to make them.  They were REALLY good and so easy I'll make them again.  I only had a plain yellow cake mix so I added cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves into the batter as well- but realized after that I could have made that step even easier and added pumpkin pie spice!  So try them- you'll be pleased!

Pumpkin Muffins
1 yellow or spice cake mix
1 15oz can of pure pumpkin puree
If you are using a yellow or white cake mix I'd add 1-2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice or the equivalent of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove
Mix the ingredients together and I made mini muffins that I baked for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Little Sister loved "helping"

No eggs in the batter

I found these at the dollar store!  I LOVE mini muffins

Mmmmmmmm

Linky Party # 3

Oops!  I thought today was Monday not Tuesday!  Here's Linky Party #3 (I obviously need to come up with a catchy party name!)  Feel free to add my button on the side bar if you wish.  I LOVE looking at the links and getting ideas.  Enjoy!

McDonald's Pumkin Faces

I'm sure everyone has seen the pumpkin jars by good ole Martha here.  I came across this blog which used acrylic paint which I happened to have to I got started.  I basically threw some paint in a jar and swirled it around until it was all covered.  I did it twice, the second time with the extra paint that accumulated on the bottom.  Mine didn't take too long to dry maybe 24 hours.  Once they were done I wasn't sure quite what to do with them.  I am SO not a fan of Halloween, never have been even as a kid.  I'd be perfectly happy skipping right over October 31st.  But I DO really like fall decorations, so my decor centers around scarecrows, pumpkins, leaves, acorns- things like that.  So I planned on leaving these jars as plain pumpkins- they may not have looked as nice as the ones with the faces but I was ok with that.  I never got around to putting the handles on, and the next day I took my three little ones to McDonalds for lunch while my hubby was climbing a mountain with my three older kiddos.  They are doing the trick or treat buckets and thankfully we got the pumpkin ones.  The kids were happily sticking faces on their basket and I noticed that two kids got the same stickers and little sister got different ones- much smaller ones.  So I decided that little sister didn't need her stickers after all and brought them home for my pumpkin jars!  They turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself.  So if you don't have a vinyl shape maker or something cool like that- take your kids, grandkids, yourself over  to McDonalds and get happy meals!  One sheet has 2-4 sets of eyes, noses, mouths.  Plus the kids inform me the stickers glow in the dark!

I got the cookie jar at Walmart for $10- I LOVE it!

This guy is my FAVORITE

Pumpkin trio

I also have my THIRD linky party here!  I'd LOVE to see what you've been working on!

This and that

This fall has been crazy busy.  My oldest turned 13, soccer, dance, karate and various other activities started back up.  Homeschooling activities have started again, plus just the day to day things that are involved having six children.  So here is a small preview of what I've been working on.

Yes- I know this picture makes it pretty obvious!

My second linky party is still going on and I'd LOVE to see what you've been working on. HERE'S the direct link

Adding sleeves to a summer dress

I LOVE dresses for my girlies.  They look so pretty and feminine.  They are more comfortable than pants or shorts, IMO.  Plus my girls are tall but very thin- so pants (even the ones with the adjustable waist) don't stay up.  Big sister didn't even own a pair of jeans until she was probably 4 or 5.  Little sister has been given a few pair and I had one on her yesterday and she kept taking them off since they didn't stay up.  I don't have a lot of winter clothes for little sister so I decided I need to improvise.  I had this cute long sleeved onsie with pink penguins on it on under this pretty purple summer dress last week and it was cute, but a bit bulky.

So I decided I'd cut the sleeves off the onsie (since it was a bit short anyway) and sew them onto the dress.  It's not the most professional job, but it's fine for a 20 month old.  Plus usually sleeves stay more stain free than the front of shirts so I could find stained shirts with good sleeves and  do this too.  And I can always cut the sleeves back off if the dress still fits next summer (this purple one will not fit next summer) Now I have the rest of the onsie material to figure out something to do with it- it's too sweet to waste.

I also have my 2nd linky party going on here and I'd LOVE you to join!

HERE are are the many places I link to

Linky Party # 2

I was gone all weekend with the family and yesterday we did my 13 year olds birthday party at a challenge course.  Which was a total blast with 11 teenage/almost teenage boys!  So I was a bit behind and didn't post this until today.  I need to figure out exactly how to go about featuring the most popular link so hopefully next week I'll have it figured out.  Especially since *I* was featured so I'm pretty excited about that.


Here's my button if you want to add it to your blog somewhere! Thanks!


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StubleUpon and Caramel Macchiato

My blog is relatively new so I tend to obsessively check my stats most days.  And I'm doing REALLY good if I get near 100- usually it's 60-70 hits per day, which I'm happy with.  Yesterday I checked it late morning and it was 43 (not bad!) and I checked it less than an hour later (obsessive- I know!) and it was 278!!  I was sure something was wrong so I looked around the stats and I saw StumbleUpon as the referring site.  I  had never heard of it before so I googled it a bit and came to the conclusion that it was a very good thing!  Very short-lived, but good none the less.  I think the frenzy was over in 15 minutes but my grand total of hits yesterday was 334.  There seems  to be no rhyme or reason to having StumbleUpon show your blog- and it's probably just a fluke that this newbie blogger had my few minutes of fame, but I'll take it!!

Now on to coffee- more specifically Caramel Macchiato's.  I bought the creamer from the store this summer and loved it!  Its sweet, slightly burnt taste was so delicious.  I heard about coffee syrups like they use at Starbucks and was googling to buy some.  I came across a few recipes- and my motto is "If it can be made I will do it!"  I found one from the joy of cooking that the reviews said tasted like caramel macchiato!  It was easy and I had all the ingredients so I decided at 9:30 that night to make it.

Caramel Macchiato Syrup

1 Cup sugar
3/4 C water, divided
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

1.  Mix 1/4 cup water and all sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat til sugar is dissolved. DO NOT BOIL UNTIL SUGAR IS DISSOLVED COMPLETELY.

2.  Turn heat to high, cover and let boil for two minutes.

3.  Uncover and stir gently while it continues to boil until it turns a nice deep amber color (it's pretty neat to watch it go from clear so brown). Remove from heat.

4.  CAUTION: READ CAREFULLY: Stand back to avoid scalding yourself as mixture will begin to bubble rapidly when you do the next step. (I meant to get a picture of this step, but it scared the crap out of me when it bubbled up so I got distracted!!)

 5.Add the rest of the water and then when the bubbles settle a bit the vanilla and salt and stir gently to mix. Let cool and it will keep in the fridge for up to six months.

Play food

My favorite- the banana!

For my baby girls first Christmas 2010- I crocheted her a bunch of play food.  It turned out so incredibly cute.  I made her a banana, donut with pink frosting, apple, pear, fried egg and ice cream cone.  The apple disappeared (which is too bad, it turned out adorable!)  They've gotten played with, chewed on, stepped on, etc and look slightly ragged but still in good shape overall.  I couldn't find the egg today when I went to photograph the food, but it seems to be everyone's favorite.  It didn't take to long to make each food, probably less than an hour for most of them.  It was a bit tedious being so small- and hard on the hands crocheting so tightly, but I was please with how they turned out.  Maybe this will give someone a good idea for that young child in your life.  My 3 old son enjoys them just as much as my 18 month old so they are very gender neutral!  I'm not sure where I got the patterns from- they were all online for free.  Ravlery.com is an amazing site for knit/crochet
I also have my SECOND linky party here.  I'd love for you to join!!  Feel free to add your links!

And I'm SO excited!!!  I've been featured over at Truly Lovely with the Laney sisters!! Thanks!

I figured out a button!

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I am proud of myself! I'm not overly tech savvy, but I will spend (waste) lots of time pretending I am. This time I was successful!!

First Ever Linky Party

I'm trying to figure this whole blogging thing out and I LOVE participating in linky parties so I'm attempting to host one!  I don't have a button- so if you'd link back to my blog that'd be great and I'll hope to figure out a button later this week.  Please- family friendly only- no giveaways and link to the page and not the main page of your blog.  Thanks!  Any tips please let me know how to make it better.

UPDATE::
I think I figured out the button! Let's see if it works

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Homemade Butterfingers

I hate eating candy corn.  I don't like it's waxy feeling when you chew it, the flavor- nothing about the taste of candy corn do I like. If I were in a Dr Suess book "I do not like it here or there, I do not like candy corn ANYWHERE!"  I've seen a few recipes involving candy corn running around pinterest that I have bookmarked since I'm married to a man who adores candy corn.  It is his favorite candy and he will go through 2-3 bags of it every season.  This works out well since he gets to eat it himself (with the kids of course!) and he stays out of my "good" candy like Milky Ways, and basically anything chocolate.  So I toyed around with candy corn ice cream recipe, but it seemed a bit involved.  I happened upon a butterfinger recipe with THREE ingredients: Candy Corn, Peanut Butter, and Dipping Chocolate.  And it had rave reviews, everyone who made it said it tasted like real butterfingers.  I'm not a huge fan of butterfingers, but I will eat them- so I  thought I had to try it!  They were DELICIOUS!!  I didn't stir my candy corn and peanut butter together enough so it crumbled a bit more than it should and made dipping not fun, but the taste was good.  So here is the simple recipe (and it's made in the microwave to make it even simpler!!

It even LOOKS like a butterfinger with the layers!

1 pound candy corn
1 pound peanut butter (or equal amounts of both)
Chocolate chips of other dipping chocolate: I used chocolate almond bark
Melt candy corn in a bowl for 1 minute in the microwave, stir and cook at 15 second intervals until melted.  Stir in the peanut butter well and put into a butter greased, parchment lined 8x8 pan.  I put mine in the fridge until it was set and cold.  Cut into (small) squares and dip.  ENJOY
I kept mine in the fridge for the 8-9 hours or so that they lasted, but I'm not sure you'd have to or not.  I liked the taste of the cold.

A little messy in my dipping, but they tasted delicious!