Halloween Food

I have been having a heck of a time making any posts this week! And I'm sure with the amount of Halloween activities, most people aren't really keeping up with their blog-stalking either. Today I'm frantically trying to finish up Joe's costume, or he's going to go as Harry Potter and The Guy In Regular Jeans. If it weren't for Aleah and Missy, I couldn't have gotten this done. Aleah for helping me get the last things pinned together and Missy for loaning Mansfield Park to me so I don't die of utter boredom while I sew.

We have a few parties this week and I try to bring something both delicious and creative to them. Fortunately this month's cooking club theme was perfect for Halloween party food. We all made food that was Black & Orange. So check out this cool page of recipes! I'm making the Creamy Pumpkin Dip for a party tonight. And I'm sure Joe isn't going to say no to another batch of Black & Orange pasta... he loved that stuff!

Allrecipes is another great source for holiday recipes and ideas. This is my go-to site for most occasions.

Do you have a special treat you make every year, or something you're excited about making now? If so, let me know! And now... off for more sewing.

Trick or Treat candy

So I've read a few blogs this week on The Great Candy Dilemma. It seems that most moms seem like giving their kids 22 pounds of chocolate, frosting and pure, unadulterated sugar is a bad idea. Looking around, there seemed to be a variety of solutions - ranging from Good Idea to Kind Of Stupid.

1. Throw it away. Personally I think this is kind of dumb. Unless the candy is something gross, like Dots or those Boston Bean things.

2. Hide it (this was my parent's method - as if we didn't know that the giant yellow duffel bag didn't contain all the good candy that my dad was hiding for himself)

3. Give it away.

4. The Switch Witch. Although you still have to do something with the candy and now you have to buy toys on top of it. I don't know...

5. The best idea for me comes from my friend Jessica (at least I THINK it came from her - it's the kind of thing her clever brain would come up with. If the idea is the intellectual property of some other smarty-Mom, she'd better tell me so that Jessica can quit stealing her thunder). Anyway, she lets her girls pick out their favorite candies - enough for a few days of post-Halloween snacks and rewards - then puts the rest in coffee-can size containers and nestles it in with the rest of her food storage. Genius! When we're living on old rice and re-hydrated beans, she's going to be indulging in a Reeses cup. Or trading it for a week's supply of Cream of Wheat.

What do YOU do with the Halloween candy? And if you're not too scared to admit that you just let your kids eat it, by all means let me know! I withdrew my application for Mom of the Year earlier this spring.

Grocery Bag Ghost

If it seems like I spent the bulk of my time last week taking pictures... it would be true! However, here is a fun craft project that I did with my kids last night. With a few simple materials, you get a Halloween decoration that is kid-friendly to make, water/weather-proof and, best of all, free!

You will need:
- Old newspaper (or the 257 ads that came in your mailbox toady)
- Leftover grocery bags
- String
- Black permanent marker
- Scissors
- Small goblins who can "help" you (read: hinder your every move but love participating in the activity anyway)

Spread out the grocery bag and cut away any store logo . Cut off the handles.

Have your goblins choose a newspaper page and crumple it into a ball along with the logo and handles of the cut-up bag. Wrap another bag around the newspaper ball so that mostly white is showing (this is to keep the face of the ghost white. Alternately you could fill the head with something else, like paper towels, but it's up to you).

Put the newspaper/bag ball into the center of the cut-up plastic bag and wrap it up. Hold the neck of the ghost while your older goblin ties it with string to secure it. This should take several hours.

Leave the ends of the strings long so you can tie the ghosts in your tree. Let your younger goblins dictate the faces of the ghosts (happy, sad, Vampire, spooky, scary, masked-Mexican-wrestler... ) and draw them on with black permanent marker.

Since the heads of the ghost weigh more than the bottoms, it helps to stick them in a small fork in the tree to hold them upright. If you just hang the ghost from the string, you will have upside-down ghosts haunting your tree. Use the long strings to secure their position in the branches.

Happy Haunting!

Fuentes family

Last week I got to do portraits for this awesome family. Anthony and Christel have three of the most beautiful children. Let's just say that I don't envy either parent when these three are teenagers.


This little guy... I just can't get over him! He has this adorable smooth-guy smile and these bright blue eyes. What a charmer.

And let's not forget the totally gorgeous parents.








These guys will totally be appearing on the website slideshow... which is totally way down on my To Do List for right now. ;)

Norwood family pictures

This is my friend Kelsey and her adorable family. We found this fun little park that might be a little too close to the freeway (wow, it was loud!) but has some great architectural elements that made for some fab pictures.


Their son Joel was... let's call him "enthusiastic". He cleverly eluded every trick, ploy or game I could come up with. Poor Kelsey and Boyd were so tired after one hour but he never got bored of escaping every picture.

I got some good ones, in spite of his monkey-tricks.

We fooled him into this picture by trying to take ones of just his parents. Haha Joel, we're still too smart for you...


Thanks you guys, I had a great time, even if you did need to go home and take a nap. :)

Our own pictures

I think most photographers don't do a lot of pictures for their own families. I know I struggle with my two kids. Today I took them both out on the 4-wheeler and saw a location that was just perfect. I had to give it a try.

Just a few minutes into this project, I remembered why I don't do their pictures often. They don't listen to me! Threats like "Bart, if you don't smile, you'll get locked into your room until you grow facial hair!" don't really faze him. And Lisa does this thing where she looks anywhere but the camera. Plus, no one can give you fits of the giggles quite like a sibling, especially when you're trying to be serious.

However, in spite of an entire reel of these:

...you do finally get one of these.





Thank heavens for digital photography. Also, click on the collage to view it large - some of our outtakes are real winners.

Christmas shopping

Laurie over at Tip Junkie had a great idea for holiday shopping this season - buy from other moms! She's hosting the Tip Junkie Mom-prenuer Shop-a-thon, with lots of discounts, giveaways and great products created from other mommy-bloggers just like you... and me!



So head on over there and see if there's anything on your wish list. Or, if you're like me, you'll just make your wish list a little longer. Maybe you should send your husband over instead...

Spencer family pictures

As far as fun photo shoots go, this one ranks pretty high. Awesome location, cooperative kids, not too awfully cold (if you can't see your breath, it's not too cold) and basically the coolest family around. Seriously, what could be better?

Plus they're all so stinking good-looking. Check out these two stunners.



Those good looks had to come from somewhere. Mom and Dad are just adorable too!



We got some great pictures that are totally not "same old same old". I'm really happy with all of them (sorry there are so many). Thanks you guys!

Delicious rolls

Out of This World Rolls
This is a family recipe that I got from my mother-in-law and she got from hers. If I find out the recipe is a family secret, I'll have to take it off the blog so copy it down quick! ;) You need a pretty heavy-duty mixer to make these. I use a KitchenAid and my mother-in-law actually makes them in her Cuisinart food processor with the chopping blade. If you have a light-duty mixer it might overload the motor before the dough is mixed enough. Just mix it until the dough starts to form and then add the rest of the flour and knead by hand.

2 pkg yeast (4 1/2 tsp.)
2 cups warm water, divided
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cups butter
2 eggs
1 tbsp salt
4 1/2 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water and 1 tbsp sugar. Set aside.
Cream butter, 1/2 cup sugar
Mix eggs with creamed butter/sugar
Add 1 cup of very hot water, blend
Add yeast mixture (yeast should have bloomed and made the water all foamy and thick)
Add 2 cups of flour. Mix until well combined. The mixture should look smooth and slightly elastic.
Add approximately 2 1/2 cups more flour to make a dough. The dough should just barely not stick to your dry fingers if you poke at it. If you knead it, your hands will have to be dry and well-floured.

Turn dough into a greased bowl, spray the top with cooking spray and cover with a towel. Let rise for 10-20 minutes, until double in size. Divide the dough in half. Turn out onto a floured surface, roll into a 14-16" circle. Spread softened butter across the surface (about 2 tbsp) and cut into 12 sections (like a pizza). Roll from the outside inward to form a crescent roll shape. Arrange onto a large baking sheet. Repeat with the other half of the dough. This recipe should completely fill a large cookie sheet with rolls.

Cover rolls with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for another 20 minutes, they should get big and puffy. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until very brown on top and they sound hollow when you tap them. Immediately take a stick of butter and melt some down each hot roll. Serve warm.

Witch costume help

So Minnie has a witch costume that she wants to wear trick-or-treating. I want to get something warm to wear under it. I have some adult-size pink and black stripe tights that I want to put on over the warm underclothes.

I was thinking of sewing the tight material over the legs and sleeves so she had stripey arms and legs. So does anyone know of a place that sells something like, a warm close-fitting body suit or set of thermals? I think thermals would be the best. And if you can't turn to the blog-o-sphere for help with these kinds of questions, what would you do? So. Where oh where would I buy something like this?

New photo process

I'm working on a new process for some of my pictures - the weathered, beaten look. What do you think?

Here's the before...

And the after...

Amy N. shared some more of her extensive Photoshop skills for this one... what would I do without her!?

I got some great pictures of this gorgeous family and I'll share some more tomorrow. :)