Quick Halloween Totes for our Tinker Bells

Both our girls opted to be Tinker Bell for Halloween this year.  Upon looking at the costumes at Walmart, we discovered that the children's costume was too small for Alex, and the Adult costume was too large for Sammie.  So, I made them some using this fabric and lots of netting...bows...sparkle ribbon...LOL  Let's just say that they are extremely girly Tinker Bells.  :D

I figured I could make them each a tote from the left over material to collect their candy.  So, in an hour and a half tonight...I put these together for them.  

They loved them and are so excited for Halloween they can't stand it.  :)  

Snow Already!!!

 Thought you all would like to see why we woke up to a 2 hour delay for school this morning.  Our first snow of the winter!  Sammie was my helper.  I cleaned off the cars and she shoveled most of the driveway.  :)  We both came in frozen!  

The Grandma Fairy

The Grandma Conn Fairy stopped by today.  She is known to do this when there is a special occasion coming up.  :D

She dropped off some new books and glowing wands for the girls (for Halloween night).  Alex loves all the pop ups and is reading it out loud to Sammie.  (Who in turns says, "Yeah, I knew that."  Could she be any more like her father??? :p Teehee.)

Thanks again Grandma!  What a nice treat.  

Message for Nanette :D

Nan,

  Hello chickie. :)  I have missed seeing you at Cheerleading practices and games, but I know you check out our blog regularly and I thought this would be a great way to tell you:

MISS YOU LOTS AND LOTS and can't wait to see you at the game Wednesday! :D  

Much love, Shel

Cookie #5 Chocolate Crackles

These are the craziest cookies ever!  LOL :)  They are chocolate with powdered sugar on the outside.  I'm trying to think if I've ever eaten anything like them to help describe the texture.  Ok...you know meringue cookies?  That sweet crumbly texture?  Combine that with just a bit of soft cookie texture and a little crunch from the sugar coating on the outside.  :p  Weird.  Good.  Yummy.  But sooooooo different from anything I've ever tried.  What fun!  (PS Mom & Dad Conn and Meghan get some of these as well. :D)

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies (Cookie #4)

Okay, these were a ton of work and I must admit...worth every minute! :D  I have already set aside a couple for Bonnie and Fred...and Meghan Curry. ;)  

Very thick, moist and yummy.  I love this new cookie cookbook!

Meghan...yours will be on the front desk at church tomorrow morning sometime. (as soon as I can get ready and be out of the house after the kiddies leave) Make your Dad bring them home to you!  LOL :p

Mom and Dad Conn, I will run yours over tomorrow too. ;)  Happy Cookin' Ya'll! 

Sunrise

Sam and I realized, as we stepped out into the cooler morning air, that the sun is coming up later and later.  It greeted us this morning in an amazing way.  I grabbed the camera when I got back from bringing her to school and took a pic to share with everyone else. :)

Have a beautifully blessed day!  Much love.

Sammie Has Been Sewing!

Sam was so proud of herself when she came running up to our mini-van in her new PJ bottoms she made in home economics at school.  She got her pair finished early and so the teacher let her use the time to make a tote out of her extra material. :D   (Since these, she has made three more totes and several outfits for her cabbage patch dolls on my machine at home.)  

Cookie #3 from the Cookie Book

Butter Twists!

Although cute to look at and a very, very easy recipe to mix up...these cookies were very disappointing. :(  I'm not sure if it was all the handling to get them into this shape or what, but they were extremely firm and lacked the sheer brilliance in flavor of the first two cookies. 

The recipe made a very small batch with only 10 cookies left and I will try the next recipe when they are gone.  

(You noticed I wasn't throwing them away! :p  A sweet treat, even it's not as good as another, is still good!) :D

Carving Pumpkins!

We finally got around to carving our pumpkins Monday evening. :)  This was such fun and extremely messy with such large pumpkins.  But with only a few years left to enjoy this tradition...we made the most of it!  Pumpkin Seeds anyone??? :D

Our Trip to the Local Pumpkin Patch

Last night our girls and I headed out for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. :)  This was such fun, but a bit disappointing in the pumpkin department.  We enjoyed the LLamas and then headed back to the farmers market where we found their pumpkins in much better condition and for half the price.  It was a really fun evening.  

The final shot is of the two they settled on.  We will be carving up these bad boys on Monday. :D  LOL

Organic Coffee Thoughts :)

Sipping my organic green mountain coffee with soy milk and stevia...I began to think what a lovely fall day this would be.   The morning started out simply with me crocheting and Alex reading aloud from her Junie B. Jones book.  (She is an excellent reader and I enjoy these moments so much!)

Soon she finished her book and was looking at me with my needle in hand and I knew it was time.  I grabbed some left over yarn and began to teach her.  I've done this before, but she was very young and couldn't remember the process.

I tried skipping the basics so she could get right to the fun stuff and realized, like all things, without a proper foundation...nothing created would be very good.  I found myself saying the words my Nanny shared with me at the age of twelve.  "You hold the needle like this and you start the chain like this and when you can create perfectly even loops...I'll teach you more." :D

I had chained my heart out for hours one end (or so it seemed), with my 13 year old brother beside me.  Alex asked, "Boys can crochet?" and I replied, "Boys can do anything girls can do and vice versa."  I began to secretly wonder if my brother has ever picked up a crochet hook again.  I stifled the laugh. :)  

She looked up at the clock and said, "Mom, I wish I could stay here and crochet with you all day."  My heart melted and I realized what a blessing living each day is.  What a joy it is to see her little hands doing what I watched my Nanny do for years.  Third generation Crocheters!  :D  God is Good.  Life is Good.  No matter what the news reports.  God bless you and yours.  Much love.

Snickerdoodles Anyone??? Cookie #2 from New Book!

Ok, the chocolate cookies are all gone.  (I brought a bag with me to the game last night and all the cheerleading moms seemed to love them as much as we did! :D)

For dessert tomorrow night (and my tea time snack tonight) I tried out Martha Stewart's Snickerdoodle recipe. 

(On a side note here...my Nanny used to call me Snicklefritz...so these cookies seemed like they would suit me just fine!  LOL)

Wow!  Is there any recipe that she just does badly?  I think not.  

These are soft and chewy on the inside while having a slightly crunchy outer layer.  They've been rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking and are very much like a soft short bread cookie.  Out of this world with Orange/Spice tea. :)  Enjoy!

New Homemade Purse!

I finished my new purse this morning.  I really love it more than I thought I would going into the project.  I had no pattern and I let the fabric be my guide.  There are three outside pockets on the one side and two on the other.  With one large pouch in the middle and a zipper at the top.  It's the perfect size and feels very light with everything in it.  I'm very pleased and am sure to make good use of this for a very long time! :)

Grammy's Chocolate Cookies by: Martha Stewart...made by me! :D

I promised my mom and Nanny that I would share pics when I make cookies from the new book and here are my first. :D  Yummy as anything I've ever made from a Martha Stewart recipe!  Divine...I believe were the girls interpretation.  :p  These are from the chewy and soft section.  They start out fat our of the oven and flatten to have firm edges and soft centers.  Wonderful and easy.

More Fall Food Ideas

I read ConnWest's blog post the other day and realized Andrea and I are in the same food frame of mind. :D  I LOVE fall foods more than any other season.  (check out the link on the left under momentsincolor.) I just myself purchased some Bob's Red Mill Muesli for our warm fall cereal.  Great minds (& stomachs) think a like!  :D

As I prepared my lunch today and dinner for us this evening, I took a few pictures.  All the colors are just too pretty not to share. :)

I made a yummy...very healthy wrap for lunch.  I included all food groups!  Whole grain wrap, 1 slice of provolone, turkey, peppers and mushrooms.  



For dinner I get to use my newest gift from Adam. :)  I have had my eye on this crock pot for over a year and our girls mentioned it to him this weekend.  He shocked me with it two days ago and I just love it!  The bowls come right off the heating base for easy cleaning and serving from the bowl at the table.  I can also make a small amount for our family and still have a crock pot large enough for feeding a larger group of people. 

Using the smallest bowl (2 Qt) I'm cooking an applewood turkey loin with carrots, celery, onion and garlic.  I will serve it with broccoli!  Yummmmm.  :D

I'm on my way out to get some organic sugar and I'll be baking a cookie from my new Martha Stewart Cookie book for dessert.  Holy Cow...I just love food...family and great memories shared with both.  Hope you are all enjoying this season to it's fullest!  Much love ya'll!