{happy thanksgiving}

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We've been busy here and having a good time with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Debbie. I promise to post pictures soon!

{woo hoo!}

T minus 7 hours....

{pictures!}

You want pictures, Grandma? Here's your stinkin' pictures!

I forgot to share what I made for Gerard's Halloween treats for his class. I made the little treat bag toppers and wrappers for Hershey miniatures. Aren't they cute?

And then Gerard told me he was bored on the bus. He has tried bringing a book to read or a pad to color/write on, but he was still bored. So I made him a little magnetic tic tac toe board. I used one of those $1 gift certificate tins (I got mine at Michaels). Then I used clear glass pebbles with one flat side (I got mine at Michaels, but I've also seen them at Wal-Mart) and Mod-Podged a small piece of cardstock on the bottom with either an X or an O written on it. Then I put a small magnet on the bottom, made the lines on the tin for the board, and viola, MAGNETIC TIC TAC TOE for the bus. It's been a real hit!

Oh, wait. You wanted pictures of the kids? Oh.... Sorry.... Here are a few.... :)

One day a few weeks ago we were on our way to the bus in the morning and Morgan wanted to bring her backpack, just like Gerard and the other big kids. The Dora backpack used to be Ashley's and Morgan loves it even more because it was from her. I think she's all set for preschool!

Here is Morgan helping me make the little jack-o-lantern bites for our Halloween party. My little baker...

Carving pumpkins...

At Gerard's last cub scout meeting the boys did a little team-building activity before they started. Here they are putting the puzzle together:

Gerard is still loving hockey. He's in the U-8 (under 8) league.... I think they used to call them mini-mites. The other day the zamboni stalled out before his game so all the boys were standing around waiting. When Gerard came out of the locker room about a dozen kids yelled "Gerard!" You would have thought he was Norm from Cheers. It was really cute. Then of course the boys started chanting "Let us in! Let us in! Let us in!" Ah, hockey players...

fighting for the puck:

And finally, here is Morgan wearing the dress Grandma Andrea made her. Doesn't she look cute?

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. I'm off to make some lunch and then polyurethane Gerard's desk! Expect after pictures of his new room soon!

{projects}

I've been working on a number of projects here, the largest of which is re-doing Gerard's bedroom. We finished painting this weekend, including painting his chair rail and all the trim. His new bedding is all washed and on the bed. I found a desk on Craigslist and sanded/primed/painted (3 coats) of blue. All I have left to do is polyurethane the desk, paint his night table, hang pictures, and accessorize!

So that's why I haven't posted in a while. I actually have some pictures of random stuff to post when I get a chance. It probably won't be tomorrow as my schedule is pretty packed: the gym, our weekly playdate, lunch with friends, volunteer in Gerard's class, nap. And by nap I mean a nap for ME. Wishful thinking, I know....

Goodnight!

{wee deliver}

The third graders at Gerard's school run the "Wee Deliver" program which functions much like an actual postal operation. Their post office has its own student postmasters, clerks, sorters and letter carriers that rotate on a bimonthly basis. Each classroom has its own street name and address, and each hallway has its own drop box for mail. Students and staff members write and receive letters from each other. The mail is collected, sorted, postmarked, and delivered by student postal workers. They can also send and receive letters from off-campus.

It is always exciting for the students to receive mail, so if you'd like to send a letter/note/postcard/etc to Gerard, let me know and I'll e-mail you the address to use. He'd love hearing from you!

{fall back}

I no longer look forward to this time change. We should get an hour more of sleep but Morgan's internal clock still wakes her up at the same time. So we've all been up since 6:00 this morning even though both kids went to bed late last night.

Speaking of last night, the kids had fun trick-or-treating, but as expected they had just as much fun handing out candy at the door. Big Gerard had to go in to work RIGHT when we were leaving to go trick-or-treating so I didn't get to take as many pictures as I had hoped. I took both kids up and down our street and then Chris (our friend next door) took Gerard and Maddie and Abby to another street or two. Thank goodness for that! Gerard would have been bummed if he had to stop after just one street!

Gerard was batman (as you saw from his school party pictures) and Morgan was a candy corn princess. It was pretty cold last night so they both had LOTS of layers on underneath their costumes. Morgan wore tights and pants UNDER her yellow pants and tutu, plus a shirt and a turtleneck underneath her orange shirt. Gerard had on long underwear and pants and a sweatshirt under his batman costume. Welcome to winter!












And from the other night (Morgan was NOT interested!)...

{party info}

For those of you who are interested, here's where I got my ideas...

The bat wings are just chicken wings that I ordered (duh).

The mummies are from Pillsbury. They were easy and delicious. Two tips...Use the crescent roll seamless dough SHEETS if you can find them instead of the crescent rolls so you don't have to worry about pressing the perforations of the crescents together before slicing. And use a pizza cutter instead of a knife or scissors to cut the dough. So easy!

The deviled eyes are just my usual deviled egg recipe with half of a pimento-stuffed green olive for the eye, little gherkins for the eyebrows, and cut up red pepper for the eyelashes.

The roasted bones are from Pillsbury and the blood was my regular pasta sauce that I make.

The gooey ghosts are just regular PB&J sandwiches that I cut with a ghost cookie cutter.

The jack-o-lantern bites are from Bakerella. Usually her stuff is too complicated for me, but these were really easy. I ended up using black gel decorator icing for the faces because I had it left over from Gerard's birthday cupcakes, but next time I would go with melted chocolate like Bakerella suggests.

I can't remember where I got the candy corn pudding idea, but it was really easy to do. I used instant banana creme pie pudding for the bottom layer, instant butterscotch pudding for the middle orange layer, and cool whip for the top. I think if I ever make these again I might just opt for all vanilla pudding and use food coloring. I think the different flavors were a bit too much.

The witch's fingers were a last minute addition. I had seen several variations on cookies like THESE and I had planned on making them. Of course, since I am not much of a baker I bought the Pillsbury refrigerated butter cookies and planned on using that. Good thing I tried a test "finger" a few days ahead of time, because they just didn't hold their shape and ended up more like a big flat oval with an almond stuck on the top. So at the last minute I thought of making them with pretzel rods, broken in half, first dipped in red chocolate (it looked more like pink, though). Once that chocolate had hardened I dipped it in white (so it would look like a white finger with blood inside once bitten) and placed a sliced almond on top while the chocolate was still warm for the fingernail.

I got the pretzel idea from a friend last Christmas and made them last Valentine's Day. You can see that post HERE.

Oh, and I made cute little food labels and I got that idea from HERE.

That's about it! I hope everyone had a happy halloween and stayed safe! Gerard and Morgan had fun trick-or-treating (although big Gerard got called in to work). I'll post more about it with pictures tomorrow! Goodnight!