Themed Gift Idea ... Craft Birthday Gift Bag

We attended a birthday party a few weeks back and I wanted to do something fun for the little one.  I thought what better then a craft bag of fun things to make and do with mom and dad.  The party was at a pumpkin patch, so I went with a Halloween themed bag but this can  be done with any theme or just a fun bunch of different crafts.

What you Need:

Bag - I used Frank 'n Stein

Any Crafts 

(I used)

- a mini pumpkin

- pumpkin design kit

- build a cat

- build a spider

 - glow stick

It turned out so cute!  And little kids love to build things and be crafty.  My boys were trying to take over the bag before it left the house :).

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Re-Make for Business Trip

I'm going to Boston again at the end of the month, yup I leave on Black Friday.  Those who know me are shocked.  BUT since I can do most my shopping Thursday night and early Friday AM and then hop on a plane for Boston.  I'll arrive late night Friday and then I will be there for the event early Saturday am. 

SOOOO that leaves me with roots ... yup you read that correct!  I was scheduled for a hair appointment last month.  BUT I knew I would be leaving at the end of this month and wanted fresh hair.  SOOO ... I went around looking like a hot mess for a month so I could get my hair done closer to me leaving.

It's amazing how I was a toe head for birth until my twenties.  Then the older I get the darker my hair has gotten ... man does aging suck or what.  We are all sick here at the house so a quick post about a refreshed me.  Hope you all have a great weekend.

I'm growing my hair out.

It's getting cold and my ears need to stay warm ... lol

Got my Fall Colors on

We all need something sweet .... Peek-a-boo Pumpkin Shaped Sugar Cookies

I saw on a blog or Pinterest a while back these really cool cookies that had a heart with in a heart (a big hear with a smaller heart a different color).  It got me thinking why not make these for Halloween   WELL that was my plan to do a pumpkin with a black bat in the middle.  WELL Halloween came and went so I had to go to a back up plan.  I still wanted to try it and make some cookies for the tutor.  So why not a pumpkin with in a pumpkin?  So I hit up my box of 101 cookie cutters and found a large pumpkin and then I have a Martha Stewart small cookie cutter set and found a small pumpkin cutter.

I found Michelle's Soft Sugar Cookies on AllRecipes.com, they were very soft and fluffy. And tasted pretty darn good, not too sweet!

I had extra white left over so I made a few snowflakes.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup margarine 1 1/2 cups white sugar 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Cream the margarine and add the sugar gradually. Beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition.
2.	Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt gradually to the creamed mixture, stirring in by hand. Cover and chill dough overnight.
3.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
4.	Roll dough out on a floured surface to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and cut into your favorite shapes. Place cookies onto the prepared baking sheets.
5.	Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 6 to 8 minutes or until cookie has a golden appearance.

Now onto the Pumpkins:

First I started with the sugar cookie recipe.  I took about 1/3 of the dough and set it aside since I was going to keep it white.  Then I took the 2/3 left and kneaded in some Orange Wilton Icing Color.  I find this is the best way to color anything from fondant to dough.  Once I got the orange I wanted I rolled out the dough.  I took my large pumpkin and cut out the cookies.  I then took my smaller pumpkin and cut out the middle of my cookie.  I set these aside and then took the white dough (now if I was doing the black bats I would be dying the dough black).  I rolled the white dough out and took the small pumpkin to cut out small pumpkins to go inside the big pumpkin (see picture below).  I then put the small pumpkin in the big pumpkin (almost like a puzzle piece) and lightly made the two edges stick together.  Bake like normal and rest on a cooling rack or eat right away :).

 Here's a Step by Step to help show my rambling above:

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

We all need something sweet ... OreoFrog's

A while back I saw these super cute Oreo Frogs on Made to Be Momma.  I thought why not I had to make them!  They went perfect with a frog themed bento I made (that will be coming soon).  Plus I had extra to take over to my friend house.  Her's were a little cuter but I think over all mine were pretty darn cute! Thank you Katie for this super fun and cute recipe!

Ingredients:

Wilton Candy Eye Balls

Wilton Green Candy Melts (I used a darker green then her)

Oreo Cookies

Pretzels

Red Candy for your tongue (I used rips and cut into a tongue)

Green Sprinkles

 

Melt your chocolate following the directions of the bag (I put mine in the microwave for 30 second intervals) .  Cover your pretzels and Oreo's in the chocolate.  Place pretzels together (bottoms side by side) Place Oreo cookie on top of pretzels.  Place you tongue, eyes and sprinkles on the cookie.

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

We all need something sweet ... Fair Scones

As I mentioned in my Welcome Home Basket post I made some yummy treats that are found in this area.  We have a Washington State Fair here in the next town, there you can get these yummy scones.  They are my favorite thing!  So I had to make them for my Seattle themed basket and I doubled the batch so I could have extra's to give to the tutor and to the friend that helps me with the boys to get on or off the bus.

I found this yummy recipe for Puyallup Fair Scones on food.com they were easy to make and tasted like the real thing ... ok well it was very close!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons shortening
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup raisins ( if omitting raisins, add another 2 Tbs of milk)

Directions

1. Sift and measure the flour.
2. Re-sift with other dry ingredients.
3. Work shortening into dry ingredients with the fingers.
4. Add rasinins to flour-fat mixture and mix thoroughly (you may omit raisins).
5. Add milk to mixture. (If you are omitting the raisins, add another 2 Tablespoons of milk).
6. Turn out on to a floured board and divide into two equal pieces.
7. Roll or pat each into a round and to the thickness of biscuits (3/4 inch to a full inch).
8. Cut into wedge shaped pieces like a pie and bake about 15 minutes at 450 degrees on an ungreased baking sheet.
   ALEXIS NOTES:  I used my cornbread silicone mold to make the scone shape :). I didn't use the raisins. I have not mastered jelly or jam making so I used a local farm brand we love to fill them.

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Entering the World of ADHD

As some of you know Cole my oldest had a VERY hard time focusing and just getting his hyperness to a easy level.  We have tried the herbal way, the diet way the just let life be way.  We've been trying and trying and nothing has been a permanent solution.   Now I know this is a controversial topic.  I have had so many comments made to me by parents or people who don't have kids but still have an opinion also.  Let me say you have no idea until you walk a mile in a parents shoes who is dealing with a child that just doesn't fit in.

Cole recently came home in tears because his best friend told him he can no longer hang out with him because his parents say Cole is a bad kid because he gets in trouble in school.  He's not a bad kid he just doesn't always make the right decision or think before he speaks (THIS is a big one).  He tells me mom my head hurt it feels like so many things are going on at once and I don't know what to do.    

Life has been hard I have tried to avoid the whole medication route thinking it would just be drugging my kid.  Finally in a new school and the behavior increasing we went to see a doctor to see what they think.  They had his teacher take a test and Cole scored very high in the ADHD category.  She also said he has a kind heart, does apologize, does not steal or hurt people but he does have a hard time telling the truth and concentrating.

We started medicine on Wednesday.  I got a great report the first night from the teacher she saw night and day in his behavior.  Sadly the medicine wore off early which did give the tutor a run for her money.  She really is a treasure, and she handles him better then I ever can when he get's sassy.  Thursday was a rougher day but the teacher said it is at least better behavior then usual.  So we are moving forward.  

I must say that this has been a long hard decision to come to.  We didn't just say oh our kid is a problem let's drug him up.  This has been a year of asking for help, with the housework, to the tutor to this behavior.  

As a mother I can't stand to see my son hurt or not able to do things like other kids because he can't control himself to be allowed into these places.  We are taking one step at a time and all I can say is we are doing what we think is the best move for him.  I asked him how he feels after a few days.  He said his brain didn't hurt the last two days!

When Cole told me he felt like his brain was moving this

cartoon made me think of what he must feel like.

My heart went out to him.

Please be nice no mean comments, I had to think hard to share this but I hope that maybe I can touch someone else who may be going through this hard decision also.