happy halloweening

from us.

Tonight we'll spend another 30 minutes wrapping this guy up so that he can be completely worn out to the borderline of tears by the time we're ready to hit the big party.

And then I'll spend two minutes make-uping this guy so that he can embrace the vampire persona and drive me batty by insisting to speak through oversized fangs all night. The boy may as well be speaking Transylvanian.

Oh the joy of candy and costumes and hyped little humans.  Are you feeling the sarcasm?  I don't think I'd feel this way if Halloween hadn't somehow recently become a week-(or month?!)-long holiday...what's up with that?!

But I did get a welcome bonus this year.  Of the cake kind.  Melissa is letting me bake for her party.  She is my good friend and my Nie Nie cake auction winner.  So my kitchen is some kind of spooky mess right about now. And I'm liking it.

I'll post pictures when I finish.

a mummy's brew

This year Davyn said he wanted to be something "pooky" for Halloween.  And the big brother quickly agreed.  And the mom was well-pleased. 

Until the horrifying experience of looking at price tags. One child-sized mummy costume at the Halloween store: $50. Ya, it was cool. But, $50??! A vampire came with a much lighter $20 tag. But my dander was up after the first, and I decided to make & make do.  

Plus, it was well past time to get over my first homemade Halloween costume fiasco.  Aidan was one, and  I had zero sewing experience (unless you count 8th grade Home Ec, which I don't), complete & unfounded confidence (a dangerous combo), and visions of a turtle shell dancing in my head.

This is what happened:Yes, he had a cute little body.  But the costume screamed "homemade", and not in the good way. 

So I've stuck to the store bought in shame and am finally ready to change my spendy ways (okay, Jim is definitely rolling his eyes right now). 

Vampire costume: $4 for make-up, fake blood & fangs; tuxedo pants and black bow tiefrom Jenna's wedding; white button up shirt from Sunday wardrobe; black cape borrowed from Mandi; bloodsucking stances provided by D.

Mummy costume: $8 long johns (which I can probably claim as free since I've yet to repay Cyn for buying them in Utah...have you ever tried to buy long johns in the valley in the fall?); one king sized tattered white sheet from Kay.

I'm thinking $12 beats $70.  And how.

As I write, the mummy rags are steeping in a tea bath.  Because I have a boy who insists that the wraps "needs to look old".  And I'm wondering about their attaching...pretty positive it won't involve a sewing machine.  My own sewing surety may be shattered, but he has complete confidence in my costuming capacity. 

We'll see how it all wraps up tomorrow.  

halloweening with the littles

some shareable ideas we had fun with today in D's little school:

Candy Corn Cookies

How-To:

1. Make your favorite sugar cookie recipe. 
2. Divide the dough into three equal portions.  One portion stays white, color one portion orange, and melt 1-2 squares of unsweetened chocolate to mix with one portion to make it chocolate. 
3. Line small bread loaf pans with parchment or waxed paper.  Fill with chocolate, then orange, then white dough.  My recipe (which is fairly large) filled 3 mini loaf pans.
4. Place dough in freezer for about 20 minutes.
5. Remove from freezer and from bread pans.  Then slice to desired cookie thickness (it will vary with your sugar cookie recipe, but I found that my cookies spread more than I liked unless I kept them about the thickness of this picture). 
6. Cut dough slab into triangles (I had little vultures gobbling up the excess from the edges). 
7. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes (or according to the directions of your own recipe). 

Ghost Bag

I'm all about keeping control when it comes to the combo of paint & kids (despite Kay's more fun example), so I lifted each child (one at a time) to sit by the kitchen sink, painted white on the bottom of their foot, stamped it onto the bag, then swiveled said foot straight into the sink for washing.  It worked well and they reveled in the tickly nature of the task.  And the eye gluing.  There was much consternation in the choosing of eyes.

I also loved these ideas:

Dip Nutter Butter cookies into white chocolate, then make eyes & spooky mouth with dark chocolate...so simple & cute.  The idea comes from KidCuisine.

Jim thought these owls looked creepy, but I loved them (and I guess creepy is the point!).  Kudos to The Custom Cakery for such originality.

And I couldn't find who to give credit to for this one, but loved these stacked sugar cookie pumpkins.  I'm not sure who would need to eat a six-stack of sweetness, but they are so unique & well-done.

halloween album

 
who are these masked men? 

 

my half of the Justice League. 

As we trick-or-treated the neighborhood, I heard a few candy givers say to these four:  "thank you for keeping us safe."

What Aidan had to say:  "trick or treating is the BEST!"

Davyn?  Well, he was wobbling like a drunk after two streets.
No night vision for my bat. 

Earlier tonight, we enjoyed a visit from Grandma Kay, Papa and Grandma Hulsey:

 
there's one "grandma's boy" and one "papa's boy" among my two.  Any guesses? 

 and today Grandma Cyndee could easily claim both boys...

but, what boy wouldn't completely belong to a grandma witch adorned with all from shrunken head to slithering snake?  

Much earlier today we visited her at school, where she and two other teachers performed as the witches of Macbeth.  Three years ago it was me doing the part in British Lit, but it was fun to be on the viewing side with my littles this time. I loved this back shot of Davyn & London sharing a front seat in the classroom...two tiny heads in a sea of "big kids".  They were rightfully mesmerized.  

 

all in all...a full day.

Two ex-super heroes fell asleep quickly in this house tonight. 

201

I just happened to look down at the post counter tonight.  This is #201.  And it will definitely be a random offering.

First, a preview of what Davyn will not be for Halloween:

The boys have had their costumes for so long now that they've finally given up asking about trick or treating.  When I told them today that Halloween was in only six days, they were stunned.  And thrilled.  Halloween has not ever been my favorite holiday, but I'm loving the glimpses of it through their little eyes. 

Mandi & I did manage to get some Halloween baking done for Visiting Teaching and neighbors.  We've made these broomsticks for the past three years now.  The sweepy part of the broom is a very yummy brown sugar/butter cookie.  And then, of course, there's the chocolate & pretzel combo:

 

We also made these cursed ghost petits fours.  Damn that Martha.  These were far more complicated than they look.  And, yes, we were nearly cursing after an hour (plus!) of ghost glazing.   

 

But, these were my favorite:

 

Pecans on the bottom, topped with homemade caramel (Mandi's..yum!), chow mein noodle legs, melted chocolate & chocolate shavings.   Very delicious little spider turtles. 

My other busy doing of the month was FHE packets for our exchange group.  And I had Jim busy this time around as well.  He is seriously the best when it comes to my random whim-ish projects with no purpose.  This time around he used my scroll saw to make puzzles that went with one of my stories.  The lesson was on accepting others, and starts with a story about a new animal at the zoo who is teased and scorned because he is so different than the other animals.  Well, he cries, and the other animals come to realize one by one that he's not so different than each of them after all.  

I love doing our FHE packets twice a year, because it truly keeps me mindful of teaching my boys gospel principles more frequently.   

Davyn is OBSESSED with puzzles lately, so once these were all cut & painted, he was my tester, making sure each fit together properly.  I bought him a puzzle at Target the other day and he sat doing it over & over for two hours when we got home.  Aidan would have never managed such a feat of stillness at this age (or now!).  But D's concentration skills are crazy for his two years. 

One more D moment I've been meaning to record:

 

We visited my grandparents a few weeks ago.  The other three kids were off running, but Davyn loved on Grandma Jones plenty.  He kept bringing her books and talking to her about animals and shapes.  A sweet bonding to behold.  I clearly remember two of my great grandmas, and cherish those memories.  I'm grateful that my boys have the influence of so many Great's!