A Meal That Will Haunt You

Today we celebrated my sons birthday, a few days early, but because his birthday is on a Wednesday this year, we opted to celebrate the Saturday before.  He only asked for three things:

1. He wanted 2 families over
2. He wanted me to make his dinner look scary 
3. And he wanted Lego's, lots and lots of Lego's

So, as his mom, what am I to do, his wishes aren't too outlandish, so I set forth on a mission to have the best birthday party yet.  And guess what?  It was fantastic!!

Here are some pics:

The Banner that I made...each of those circles and bats were hand cut.

My Punch was steaming over.

Shrunken Head Punch...Carved Apples in Apple Cider with Cloves for eyes.

Witches Fingers in Cockroach Puree...carrots and hummus

Giant Nail Clippings...Frito Scoops

Frankenstein Brains....aren't they cute?

Used Q-Tips....yummy cake pops

Flesh Eating Worms.....jello

Boo-nanas...bananas with chocolate chips

It was tons of work to do it all by myself, but it was tons of fun to see it all come together so well.  Adults and kids all seemed to have a good time, there was one little one that didn't want to eat anything because it was gross or scary. Sorry buddy.

Halloween/Birthday Madness

So, not only are we getting ready for our first trip to Disneyland, but it was my middle daughter's birthday in September, and Halloween in my son's birthday.  This year we decided to celebrate with just a couple friends and have a "Frightful Feast."  On the menu is:
Frankenstein Brains, Witches' Fingers, Giant Nail Clippings, Cockroach Puree, Flesh Eating Worms, Used Q-Tips, and Shrunken Head Punch.  I'll be sure to post pictures of the gathering when it happens, but for now, I must get everything ready.

I'm Back, and I brought more Disney fun!

Not that I really went anywhere, well, a little crazy perhaps, but I'm back.  Things have been really busy for our family the last couple weeks and I've neglected to take a lot of pictures of things I/we have done, or blog about anything as well, but today to make up for lost time I/we did a ton!

I finished sewing the last couple quillows:

 I also made hair clips for the girls:

 A hat for my son:

And autograph books too:

I also made cake pops for the first time, but that's another post all together.

Quillow questions?

So yesterday marked another 9 days down in our Disneyland countdown, which means we are doing another craft project to get everyone hyped up.  I asked the kids of the things that were left what they would like to do, and they all unanimously agreed that they wanted to make Quillows. 

"What is a quillow?" you may ask.  Well that's easy, quilt + pillow = quillow.  It's a blanket that can be folded up into itself to make a pillow.

To start I got purchased some fleece because you don't have to worry about frayed edges and it's nice and warm, so it makes a perfect product for this.  I got 2 yards of 54" material for each blanket, 4 blankets = 8 yards of fabric, plus a 1/2 a yard of a complimentary color, no need to get extra here 54" is enough for the pockets.

Our blanket color is black, and our pocket color is red to go with the Disney/Mickey Mouse theme.

First cut the red material into 1/4 to make a pillow size rectangle. (the kids helped with all the cutting and the pinning, I did all the sewing.)

Then I found the center fold of the black fleece along the bottom and marked it.  I found the center bottom of the red and laid it on top of the center of the black. 






Next I pinned the materials together. 










Finally I  sewed along the sides and bottom of the pocket. 











All done! 

Now the only question I have is: Should we use the Mickey Mouse head, or should we do his trouser buttons to accessorize?

And the Countdown Begins

That's right ladies and gentlemen, the countdown until Disneyland has officially begun.  There is only 72 more days!  Okay, okay, I know, 72 days is a long ways away,  but I wanted to build the anticipation up for this trip.  It's our first time going to The Happiest Place On Earth, and for all I know, it could be our last, so I'm all in, on this one!  To help build the anticipation, we are doing a craft project every 9ish days, and today was our first craft.  The kids and I put together lanyards to keep our tickets and fast passes, and emergency information in.  Here's what it looks like:

My oldest sporting her lanyard

So you Say that you may want to try your hand at making one of these.  Here is what you need to do the job:

Some 1" Strapping, a "D" ring, a clip for 1" strapping, a lanyard pouch, a clip, and for decoration I made these cute Disney pins.

1. You will need to measure the length that you would like your lanyard to be. We used about 30" per lanyard.  Be sure to finish the edges by burning them or using an anti-fraying product.

2. Next thread your strapping through one end of your clip and sew it in place.

3. Slide the D-ring on and then determine how you want your lanyard to lay.  For us it ended up that there was a 1/2 twist in the making of it, so that it would be flat when it was complete.

4. Now that you know how you want it, thread and sew the other end on.

5. Both ends should now be sewn on.  Clip them together and take the D-ring that is just sliding around and find the center of your lanyard.

6. Sew the D-ring in place so it stays put.

 You're pretty much finished now.

7. Just add the lanyard clip to the D-ring, and the pouch to the end of that clip, and you are all done!

If you chose to embellish with anything, this is the time that you would do so.  For us, I just pinned the button on, and we were set.

 Don't forget to check back soon for more crafting fun as we get ready for our vacation!

House full of Monkeys

Well, this last week my youngest child started preschool.  We weren't thinking that she would make it into the school, she was on the wait-list, and we were told that our chances were slim.  Then, I got a phone call that there was an opening for her, and she started the next day!!  I don't know if I'm happy about that or really sad about it, she is my last, so I yearn to keep her my baby forever, but alas, they grow up and I must accept it.

Isn't she a cutie!?!

Anyway 3 of my kids are now at parent participation schools, which means that 4 hours each week I am in each of their classes, and even though I'm not required to be in my eldest child's school each week, I am there as well.  So that means that I have 3 schools, and 4 days of volunteer work each week, it's been a whirlwind to say the least, and has left me with little time to do anything outside of kids. 

Today however, I was able to do some crafting fun.  I took one of my husband's old t-shirts, and I cut it up into a vest for my teenager, and a pillow for my rocking chair.  I also was able to make some homemade....well semi-homemade...monkey-bread.  I wasn't able to take pics of the vest because my daughter grabbed it up so fast that I couldn't.  The pillow, well it's a pillow, it's burgundy, it's soft and fluffy.  But the monkey-bread, now that's what this is all about. 

Sooooo Good, and so easy.  Here it is:

• 4 tubes of Pillsbury (or store brand works too) biscuits, but not the grands, they are too big, just the regular size ones
• 1/2 cup of butter or margerine
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon 
• gallon zip top bag

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease or spray a bunt cake pan.
While oven is preheating, prepare your mix by putting the sugar and cinnamon into your zip top bag.  Open your biscuits and cut each into quarters and place into the sugar and cinnamon mixture, only do one tube at a time or you won't get a good coat on all your pieces.  Take out the coated pieces and put them into your greased bunt pan, and repeat the same steps for the next three tubes of biscuits.  Melt the butter and add the brown sugar to it, then pour the mixture over the pieces in the bunt pan.  Put the whole thing into the oven for 40 minutes.  Remove promptly from oven and cool for 10 minutes before removing it onto a serving plate/tray.  Cool for another 5 minutes, then serve warm.

MMMMMMM
And tonight I swapped out the sugar for truvia so that at least there was a little bit less guilt for eating it.  Still turned out amazing.

Travel Treasure Chests

I've been working on making something to help keep kids occupied during long road trips.  I knew what I wanted to include, but needed a cool name to call it.  My son came up with the title "Travel Treasure Chests."  And though there is no actual chest, there is a whole lot of fun packed into a fairly compact area.  Here's what the ingredients I used:

• Baking sheet
• Sandpaper, medium grit works great
• Dry erase markers at least 2 colors
• Dice 5
• Laminated game boards
• Yarn
• Clip magnets 2
• Pencil pouches, NOT boxes

Sounds like a mess of random stuff, but I promise this is going to be fun.

So first I started with baking sheet, the kind that are magnetic.  You can use some old ones that you already have or just get the cheap ones from Wal-mart or Target.  Next I took  the yarn and cut different colors in various lengths.  Make sure that you have several of each color and length, and then put them into a pencil pouch.  Now take the magnetic clips and clip the sandpaper to the baking sheet, and wouldn't you know it, the yarn sticks to the sandpaper, so you now have a travel art set.

The next thing I did was find some games that we could print on paper.  The list we came up with was tic tac toe, Yahtzee, connect 4, and that game that you have to connect lines to make a square...I have no idea what it's really called.  I printed two each, back to back, of tic tac toe, and Yahtzee, and one each of the others, also back to back.  I then laminated the sheets.  Now they are like dry erase boards.  Pack dice and dry erase markers into another pencil pouch and you can now play games with your seat mate.  The cookie sheet keeps the dice contained when you roll.  You use the same magnetic clips that you use for the sandpaper to hold the game boards.  And for the connect 4 you simply use different color markers and draw in the circle that you want.

When you have everything done, you simply put the games on the sheet, clip the pouches with the magnets and stick them on top of it all, then tuck it under the seat of the car, or in the pocket of the front seats for safe keeping and easy storage.

Here are a couple pics of what I've done.  Forgive me for not including the yarn, sandpaper, and dice.  The kids thought that it was time to use it now, and didn't want to let me take it back, even just to take a picture o.O So I promise, that I'll get pictures soon and post them on here.

This is a front and back view, one game on each side.

that box game I was talking about on one side

connect 4 on the other side

Almost everything all put stored.