Happy Halloween!

Bringing the Pumpkin Patch to You

Grateful Garland

I just finished tracing 103 leaves onto construction paper! Thankfully I have a couple of days to cut them out!

We've been doing this for several years now. Starting November 1st each family member (who semi-understands) says one thing they are grateful for each day through Thanksgiving and it goes on a leaf. The leaf then goes up on the ribbon and by Thanksgiving (actually by the end of the first week) we have a nice leafy garland and we've hopefully embraced the spirit of Thanksgiving!

I Know You're Out There

Hi! I'm Becky.
 I see you visit my blog often.
You never leave a comment but I know you're there. There's a function on blogger that I am obsessed with check occassionally. It tells me how many people have viewed my page and which post they've been looking at. I know that my blog has been viewed (a mere) 637 times in the last month and that Autumn Leaves are Falling is thus far my most popular post.
 Seeing as how I know this, feel free to stop by and introduce yourself. You can even follow me if you'd like. Join the other two people that (say they) follow ...

Pumpkin Pizza

We are talking pumpkins this week! One of the reaons I love homeschooling is all the fun things I get to do with my children!

Monday night the Adam & the girls carved a pumpkin.

I tried to get a picture of all 3 kids next to the pumpkin but the boy decided he didn't want to sit and flung himself backwards, landing in the bowl of pumpkin mush!

Tonight the girls made pumpkin pizzas. Cute and yummy!

I have another pumpkin treat planned for this week. What are you up to at your house this week?

Pattern Painted Pumpkins

I love fall! Its really giving spring a run for its money this year! We had a great time at a fairy birthday party this afternoon and then enjoyed painting pumpkins this evening. 80 degrees on an October night? I'll take it!

To make these pumpkins you'll need contact paper and acrylic paint. We used black but any color would work.

Cut your desired shapes out of the contact paper. This year we went for stripes and dots. It was the easy way out but we've done cats and stars before. Stick your contact paper on the pumpkins.

Then paint the whole pumpkin, contact paper and all.

Let it dry.

Then peel off the contact paper and wa-la ... you have cute pumpkins!

A Blast from the Past

We did the Wizard of Oz theme for Halloween 4 years ago, too! Kennedy was Dorothy and Aubrey was Toto!



Aubrey was just a few months old so I wanted something that would be warm and comfy without a lot of fuss. She wore a gray fleece shirt/pants set. I sewed felt ears to the hoodie and a tail to the back of the pants. And of course cute red ribbons so that people knew this Toto was a girl!



I can't believe my babies are so big now!

The Cutest Scarecrow This Side of Oz!

I finally finished Mr Haden's scarecrow costume! Thanks to Audrey @ Auds & Ends for helping me with the hat ~ if I only had a brain I could have figured it out! OK, that was corny (ha! and that's kind of punny! b/c he's in a corn field ...)! Alright, I'm done.

Seriously though, I couldn't wrap my head around how to make that hat! I had the brim but the tall part looked more like the pope's hat! Not exactly what I was going for! I ended up figuring out exactly what I wanted through trial and (a lot of) error but I am so thankful for the help of a fellow blogger!

I spent only about 25 cents on this entire costume! I made good use of an outfit that is too short, the cozy fleece pants, and a bag of raffia that seems to be never ending! The patches were made from a sample piece of decorator's fabric that I picked up at Hobby Lobby. The only thing I purchased was the felt for the hat!

I can't wait to take my little Wizard of Oz trio out for all the upcoming fall festivities!

See big sister's Lollipop Kid costume here!

Apple Nachos

Another yummy fall treat!

A friend of mine made these last week and I just had to try them!

2 apples washed, cored, sliced

18 caramels melted (follow package instructions for melting)

15 large marshmallows, melted with 1/2 tbsp butter over low heat

mini chocolate chips

peanuts, chopped

Arrange apple slices on platter. Pour melted caramel and then marshmallow over them.

Sprink with chocolate chips and peanuts.

Enjoy!

Baby in a Basket {Wordless Wednesday}

Autumn Leaves are Falling!

Today has been the perfect fall day! Crisp air, nice breeze and it has been raining leaves! I ran across this idea last week and thought there would be no better day than today to do it. I made a few adjustments and used this chocolate pie filling recipe in the place of chocolate chips. Instead of raw sugar we used colored sugar to make our leaves pretty.

 Baking with my girls. I sure do love them!

First we rolled 2 refrigerated pie crusts out to 1/8 inch thick.

Then we cut out our leaf shapes.

The first pie crust made 20 maple leaves. This will make 10 cookies.

The second crust made 18 oak leaves but I could have squeezed two more out of it. However that would have messed up the symmetry of my baking stone. Yes, I'm anal special like that. :)

I set the leaves to the side and we got started on the chocolate pie filling. I only used half of the recipe and it was plenty. The girls were so excited about the cocoa ... until they tried a lick!



After the pie filling was ready I let it cool for a few minutes and then put it into a decorating bag fitted with a round tip. I put a mound of filling on each leaf. I was a little conservative with the amount of filling I used this time since I wasn't sure how much it would spread as it baked. Next time I will use more (the 1/2 recipe is still plenty).

After I had the chocolate on each leaf I dipped my finger in water and got just the edges of the leaf wet. I put a second leaf on top and pressed gently around the edge to seal it off.

Almost done! We brushed the tops of the leaves with an egg white and then sprinkled them with colored sugar.

Baked at 350* for about 12 minutes until the leaves were just starting to brown. They turned out perfect!

Daddy came home just in time to try them out!

They sure are yummy !! The perfect fall treat!

To make these cookies you will need:

2 refrigerated pie crusts (or your favorite recipe) rolled out to 1/8 inch thickness.

Leaf shaped cookie cutters (mine are wilton)

Chocolate pie filling (recipe below)

Colored sugar sprinkles

Make an even number of leaves. Place one set on cookie sheets (if you don't have a baking stone you should probably line your cookie sheet with parchment paper first) and then put a mound of pie filling (I recommend using a decorators bag fitted with a round tip for this step) in the middle of each leaf. Using fingers, get edges of each leaf wet with water (just a little will do!) and the add a leaf over filling pressing gently with fingers to seal edges. Bake at 350* for approx. 12 minutes or until edges start to brown. Enjoy!

Chocolate Pie Filling (the amount used to make approx 20 cookies)

2 tablespoons cocoa

6 tablespoons sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

1 egg yolk, slightly beaten

1/2 tablespoon butter

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, flour, cocoa, salt, egg yolk & milk in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, until it bubbles & thickens. It took exactly 5 minutes for this to happen for me.

Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla

Enjoy!!