Halloween Grub

If you know me at all, you know I don't like cooking…UNLESS I have something fun to make. I have made it a tradition to make Halloween-inspired food the week of this fabulous holiday. It is always fun! Yes. I am admitting that cooking can be fun. Here goes with the fun food and drinks we enjoyed.

On Monday night I made Stuffed Jack-O-Lantern Peppers using this delicious recipe and Mummy Veggie Dogs for my kiddos, vegetarian son included.

On Tuesday we intended to eat the left-overs. It didn't happen.

On Wednesday Grandma and Grandpa were to arrive pretty late, so I didn't plan for dinner, but just had a few snacks instead. (Yes, my in-laws came to visit for Halloween! I'll blog about that awesomeness later.) We had Bloody Eyeballs, Vampire Donuts and a 5-layer bean dip. WARNING: The Bloody Eyeballs can be a trick along with a treat if you don't allow for enough dry time for the food coloring. My son ended up getting red food coloring all over his hands and our ottoman. Eeek! They were less messy in the evening though.

On Halloween we had a late lunch at a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant, which was a treat in itself, so we skipped out on dinner. Plus you're just suppose to eat candy for dinner on Halloween, right? Anyway, after trick-or-treating we had ourselves Shirley Temples, in fun fashion of course! These are simply made from lemon-lime soda over ice with a shot of grenadine in the syringes. My RN husband and former CNA mother-in-law were pretty grossed out by these fancy drinks. Haha!

On Saturday evening we had Pumpkin Rolls, chicken noodle soup and Candy Corn Fruit Cups. These are the rolls before they were baked. They sort of resemble pumpkins. 

After baking they looked more like gourds, if we're being euphemistic.

 On Sunday we ate a mini Thanksgiving feast. I'm already onto the next holiday!

Bike Love

Shay and I went on our first Nevada mt. bike ride together! Desert riding was a bit different than I'm used to, but the moments of thick sand and the lack of trees did not ruin my ride in any way. I loved it! I loved being with my man! 

King of the Rock!

Halloween Playdate

Do any of you kindred Pinterest lovers feel the need to make all of the cute things you find? I sure do! Sometimes I stumble across something and feel like I HAVE to have a party, just because something is cute. Like when I was searching for inspiration on making Cayben's mad scientist costume, I found so much fun stuff I now think I need to throw a science party.

Anyhow, the same thing has happened to me with all of the great Halloween ideas floating around. I HAD to have a Halloween playdate.

I made up several Halloween themed snacks and used free printables to label the food.

We had Stuffed Roaches made from cream cheese filled dates. These were my favorite, but aren't they so gross looking?

The Biting Apples made from apple slices, peanut butter and marshmallows were delicious, but not as easy to make as I'd hoped. Everything was sliding all over the place.

The Witches Fingers (cheese pizza) were the hit of the playdate.

The Mummy Juice was made from gauze-wrapped juice boxes and washed all the food down nicely. Ok, not really. Do juice boxes ever seem to have enough juice? Maybe they're not intended for adults. Ha!

 The Veggie tray was not the most beloved food at the party (Are they ever?) but cute anyway.

And finally a pumpkin brownie. In reality the frosting was a vibrant orange, but looks pink in this picture.

I thought this was so good. I adapted the recipe from this recipe. Here goes the simplest recipe ever.

3 Ingredient Pumpkin Brownies

Ingredients: 1 (family size) box brownie mix

                      1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree

                      1/2 Cup chocolate chips

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray your pan with non-stick cooking spray. (I used a pumpkin shaped pan, but you could use a 9x13 inch pan.) In a bowl, mix the brownie mix and pumpkin puree. Fold in the chocolate chips Then pour it into your pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Easy right? And it is so moist and delicious! I used a royal icing recipe found here. 

Now onto the playdate. Friends came over, and in addition to the food, the kids enjoyed decorating sugar cookies and painting/coloring mini pumpkins.

 

Oh… and painting themselves a bit too!

Let the 2013 Halloween Festivities Begin

On Saturday we went to the first two of our Halloween activities for the year.

First the kids got all dressed up. They dressed as a mad scientist, Bat Girl and a liver-eating Zombie.

Next we went to a Halloween Festival in the parking lot of a mall.

It included bounce housing (Can that be a verb?),…

pumpkin picking,…

games,...

and various vendors.

Our zombie slept through this part of the day. (Do zombies sleep?)

Later that evening we headed to our ward's Harvest Dinner and Trunk-or-Treat. The kids got a bucket full of candy, we had dinner and the kids participated in crafts, games and stories.

It was a good day!

Will We Survive the Cold?

My man and I have a great relationship. Just like everyone else, I have many aspects of life that cause me trials and struggles. Marriage isn't one of them. We get along well and can come to an agreement on about anything.

Yesterday it was brought to my attention that Shay and I have something we can't agree upon. I once new this when we lived in Idaho, but had pushed it to the outer reaches of my memory. Living back in a place that has seasons allowed for these memories to come flooding back.

Shay and I CANNOT AGREE on what the temperature should be in the car. I freeze and he roasts. Will we survive this winter?

I think so, but barely.

Teddy Bear Picnic

Embrie turned four, so we built a bear and more! (I'm cheesy, I know!)

We had our first Build A Bear experience a few months back and shortly after decided we would have a teddy bear party for Embrie's fourth birthday.

We started with a cute invitation.

The inside read,

"We're having a party and building a bear. 

Embrie is turning 4 and hopes you are there!

Saturday, October 12th at 10:20 a.m.

Build A Bear Workshop Meadowood Mall

Teddy Bear Picnic to follow at 

Embrie's House…"

followed by address and RSVP info.

(A tutorial for the invitation can be found here.)

The day of the party came and it was all too fun. We started with a drive to Build A Bear. 

Build A Bear is a fun experience for the littles. They each got to pick a bear and then help it come to life. 

I love my little thumb sucker!

Cayben & Poofle

Solee is stuffing her bear.

Embrie was pretty grumpy during this part of the party. She thought she should be able to get every accessory she wanted because "It's MY birthday!" Where do kids learn this? 

Afterwards, each girl with bear in hand headed back to my place for the indoor picnic.

Solee

 Each girl got a picnic basket with their initial painted on the front.

The baskets held a water wrapped in this cute printable,…

these cute candy-filled teddy bears to take home,…

(I made these from hand sanitizer bottles found at Winco and Wilton Treat Pop Toppers I found at Walmart.) crayons to color their Build A Bear houses and lunch in a cute, little bear lunch bag…

The lunch bag held a PB&J sandwich cut in the shape of a bear, a bag of Teddy Grahams, a fruit cup and a mini bag of gummy bears.

Chips, Ants on a Log (a.k.a celery with peanut butter and raisins), rice crispy treat bears, cinnamon bears, bear paws (made from York Peppermint Patties and white chocolate), more Teddy Grahams, and more gummy bears were available as well.

Blurry Teddy Grahams

After the kids and bears finished their lunch, we dressed our bears.

Hair clips crocheted by a friend at Handmade Treasures

Cayben enjoyed dressing his bear in a matching shirt.

Then we colored and played a couple simple games. We played Ring Around the Rosie while holding the bears' paws. Kids at this age still love this game, especially with teddy bears. Next we played a game similar to Duck, Duck Goose, but instead the kids used their own bears to tap the heads of the other kids while saying, "Teddy, teddy, bear." They would run on the word, "Bear."

Next was cake, or cupcakes rather, and ice cream. 

I found the cupcake toppers at Walmart.

The ice cream was individual vanilla ice cream cups with banana slices for ears, chocolate chip eyes and a Hershey Kiss nose added to look like a bear. Somehow I've lost my pictures of them, but I found the idea on Pinterest and you can see them here.

And finally Birthday Girl got to open her presents.

It was a great party for a GREAT GIRL! I love my Embrie so much! Happy birthday my sweet girl!

And here are some additional pictures of the decs.