Halloween (part 4)... Trunk-or-Treat.

 Here are all of our pumpkins on display. The two that didn't get carved have stickers on them...a quick easy way to make a jack-o-lantern(kinda).

 This is what Daniel wore to work today, along with his hockey gear, skates included. At least that is what he told me he was wearing. I wasn't even aware that he left this morning. I woke up suddenly and looked at the clock, it said 8:15am. I rolled over to tell Daniel he had slept in, but he was already gone.

 Here are my spooky kids all dressed up and ready for Trunk-or-Treating. For any one that doesn't know what that is, it goes like this...
all of the particpants park their vehicles in the parking lot of the church with the trunks facing out.
You can decorate your trunk, it is encoraged.
The kids then go from trunk to trunk for treats.
I had a bean bag toss game that I made the kids play before I would give them a treat.

Tansley as a friendly witch.

Kymberly the spooky witch. This kid just can't sit still, I took three pictures before this one, and she wasn't looking at me in any of them.

Kathryn, the Evil queen. She won a prize for Favorite costume.

This is the only picture of my costume. The fully body view which included James in his Tigger costume didn't turn out, but it doesn't matter, this is the most important part. If you can't see what they are, those are smarty boxes taped to my legs...thus making me a "smarty pants". hahahaha!



All in all the evening was a success. We had a handful of non members come from the community. A great time was had by all playing a few games, drinking hot chocolate, laughing, chatting and just being kids(adults included).I think the kids might have ended up with at least double the candy that they would have going door to door....not to mention all the candy that I have left over. Everyone seemed to have a great time, however, I am glad it is over.

Halloween (part 3)...Roller skating and a haunted house.

Every Friday evening from October through until March we can head on over to the Milk River Civic Centre for some serious FUN! That's right, roller skating is alive and well in Milk River. Admission is a back breaking buck per person. You can bring your own roller skates or roller blades or they once rented out the roller skates for an additional buck, but this year they just gave them away to anyone that wanted some. Now we are fully equipped with roller skates.

Tonight was the Halloween party, complete with a haunted house. Kathryn asked if we could go in the haunted house. I told her that Haunted houses were meant to be scary and that there were people dressed up in scary costumes who tried to make kids cry. I was really trying to discourage her from going because I knew that it would not be good. She said to me "mom, that doesn't make sense. Why would somebody try to make kids cry? that isn't very nice." I tried to explain that that was the point of a haunted house...to get scared. But she was curious and really wanted to go, so I told her that if I could find someone to watch the other kids I would take her into the Haunted House. I knew that it wasn't going to be too scary because it was being put on by the Kinnettes club(a ladies club) and it was geared towards kids, but even so I knew what the out come was going to be, and I hoped that she might learn a little lesson...trust your mom, she knows what isn't good for you. She started out OK, then gripped my hand a little tighter. She was done in when someone grabber her foot and another person jumped out and screamed in her face. Then she hid behind me crying and didn't want anything to do with the gross looking guts and brains on display. The ladies at the end were great and didn't try to scare her anymore but just said things like "Happy Halloween". Is it OK to tell your daughter "I told you so!"? Because that is basically what I said...after I reassured her that she was OK and that it was all just pretend.

I wonder now if I should have just insisted that she couldn't go. I could have protected her. I could have prevented the possible nightmares tonight. She didn't want to go to bed tonight, because she was worried she might have nightmares. I told her to pray, to read her scriptures and to go to sleep listening to some primary songs because these were the best ways I knew how to get rid of bad thoughts. She said she wished she didn't go into the haunted house, but she did because she was curious. Sitting here now, I realize that this has a potential to be a really great teaching experience, beyond that "trust mom, she knows what isn't good for you."

Kathryn is 8yrs old now, and has been baptized and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. She will not always listen to mom's advice. She will not always listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, both of whom are trying to protect her. She will at times make choices based on curiosity. And some of these choices she may wish she had never made, or maybe made differently. But she can always pray, she can always read the scriptures. She can seek forgiveness and repent and decide to never make those wrong choices again. Maybe it wasn't the best thing to say "I told you so!". In years to come, when she makes mistakes...I suppose that isn't the kind of thing she is going to want to hear from her mom.

Halloween (part 2)....School

Today was the girls Halloween party at the school and we were all invited to come. What fun!

Kathryn wanted to be an Evil Queen. She made a list of all the things that she would need, and then she used her birthday money to buy everything! I think she did an awesome job putting her costume together! I showed up at the school to help her put her makeup on, and all her friends wanted me to put makeup on them too...I hope I didn't make any moms mad.

Yes, Tansley is in this picture, the boy in the front just appeared at the last minute. Kymberly also has a way of appearing in pictures at the last minute.

I thought Tansley was going to dress up as a witch, but this morning she had a different costume on that she had got out of our tickle trunk, we call this get up "Little Miss Muffet". 

This is Kymberly trying NOT to close her eyes for the picture....yeah, that didn't work so great. And of course, James is the most adorable Tigger that has ever existed...he looks impressed doesn't he?

Halloween (part 1)...Carving pumpkins

This is Tansley's favorite part of carving pumpkins.

I love carving pumpkins. Everybody always gets their own pumpkin to carve, or at least help design it. We usually try to do it all together as a family, but this past week has been a busy one and Daddy wasn't able to join us. So I just helped the girls with theirs, and hoped that maybe Daniel and I could carve ours sometime after the kids had gone to bed....no such luck on that one either. Oh well, Daddy went up to the school with Tansley today for her Kindergarten party and helped her carve two more pumpkins, she thought that was pretty cool.

I cut the tops off the pumpkins and then gave each of the girls a spoon and told them to clean out all the guts.

Kymberly was pretty excited about it, until I told her she needed to grab the slimy stuff with her hands to get it out.








 Tansley loved every minute of gutting her pumpkin. If I would have let her she would have just played in the goop all night.

Kathryn put up with the slime, but had issues with the smell. Apparently the smell of raw pumpkin guts does not appeal to her.

This was the first year that I let Tansley just go at it on her own, and she did such a great job.






This was Kathryn's second year doing it all on her own and she really improved over last year. I believe she learned a few things from last year to avoid ending up with a pumpkin with a big hole in the side of it.




Kymberly picked out what kind of eyes, nose, ears and mouth she wanted. She was very specific about how she wanted it to look and at times I had to make changes to what I had done to get it right.

Oh dear, it's SAMM again...

...and I honestly didn't make anything fun this week to share. OK, not totally true. I didn't make any fun meals this week, but Kathryn and I made these fabulous cookies. So that is what I am going to share  today.

I got the recipe from one of my trusty 4H cook books. I LOVE these cook books! The set of two was given to us as a wedding present. They are my go to cook books for almost every thing simple and basic. When I first got married I wanted to make Baking powder biscuits, I knew the general idea of how to make them, but not the amounts. I turned first to the 4H cook books and found a half dozen different recipes for baking powder biscuits. Ever since then we have been best friends.

So when Kathryn came to me last week and wanted to make peanut butter cookies, I told her to get the 4H cook book and I would find her a recipe. And to my wondering surprise I came across one that I hadn't seen before, and it sounded yummy so we decided to give it a try. We weren't disappointed!

Peanut Butter White Chocolate Pecan Cookies

1cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped and toasted pecans(we left these out because Kathryn doesn't like them)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F.
Sift flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl, set aside
Beat peanut butter, butter and sugars in a large bowl with electric mixer for 4 minutes or until very creamy.
Add the egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy.
Stir in flour mixture.
Stir in chocolate chips and peacans.
Spoon heaping tablespoons of dough about 1" apart on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 9 to 10 minutes. DO NOT OVER BAKE
Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack and let cool completely.


These have got to be the best peanut butter cookies ever!(Sorry, no pics...they didn't last long enough for me to remember to get one) They were moist and chewy not dry and crumbly like other peanut butter cookie recipes. I will be making these again and again and again.

Once again I'm linking up with Itz Mitz.

SAMM, oh SAMM, how fun is SAMM?

OK, so this past week I didn't actually make anything exciting...it's hard to make exciting things when it is just before payday and your fridge is nearly empty. BUT, I did make something the week before, and because Mitz didn't do a SAMM last week I am prepared to share it today.

You can go here for the actual recipe, but I made a few changes so I'll tell you what I did.

Italian Chicken Pasta

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 can cream of chicken soup(low fat)
4 oz  low-fat cream cheese(half a package)
About 1 cup 1% milk
Some Italian seasoning(I think about a tablespoon...I didn't measure)
2 cloves garlic, pressed
16 oz cooked pasta (your choice)
I added 1 red pepper, cut in slices, broccoli florets, and spinach, because that is what I had in the fridge. You could add whatever veggies you like.

Directions

Cook chicken in non-stick skillet with a little olive oil and the Italian seasoning until no longer pink.
Add  about a table spoon of oil to the skillet. Add peppers and broccoli  and pressed garlic to the skillet and saute until tender crisp. Add spinach and cook until just wilted. Set aside.

Oh look at all those yummy veggies!

In the skillet soften cream cheese slightly.
Add the soup stirring and heating until blended and smooth.
Add enough milk to thin sauce to your liking.
Toss cooked pasta with chicken and vegetables and sauce.
Serve and enjoy.

Doesn't this just look so yummy? Well it is!

As always I am linking up with Mitz for Share A Meal Monday.

Kathryn's Baptism

 It was a perfect day. I think it has been a really long time since I have enjoyed such a peaceful, perfect Sunday. I'm so proud of my beautiful girl. She is truly a gem! I'm just wondering....where did the past 8 years go?

(a note...the sketch to the left is computer generated...I only wish I could draw like that.)

It was such a beautiful fall day. Kathryn was gorgeous, as always, and Daddy was handsome. Does it get any better than this?

Daddy was emotional. I saw him take a moment to get his emotions under control. He wasn't the only one...there was a lot of emotion being expressed by so many people that love our darling daughter so very much. It is so wonderful to have so many family and friends who care for our children nearly as much as we do. We are incredibly blessed. Thank you all for coming to be a part of Kathryn's special day.

How many garbage bags will it take to bag up leaves from 20 large trees?

I don't think I have the words to accurately describe the fun we had raking and bagging leaves this past Monday...so we'll let the pictures do the talking.

 Before

Isn't this little girl to die for? We love her.

Trying to bury cousin Stephanie in the leaves. Even Aunt Manilie got in on the fun.

James, Stephanie and Kymberly helping in their own way.

Clever kids using ingenuity to transport the humongous bags of leaves to the curb

 Oh man I love these kids!

And what great Helpers they were.

This pile of leaves did not make it into bags...not so much because they were so fun to play in, but more because we ran out of bags.

That's right...there are 25 bags(an entire box) of extra large garbage bags waiting for the garbage man to take them away. Notice all the leaves still on the ground that didn't make it into those 25 bags, not to mention all the leaves that are still on the trees.

Thank you Manilie for helping. We would have never got all those bags filled before it started raining with out your help .

It's S.A.M.M again!

As per the rules I am linking up with my sister-in-law's blog for Share A Meal Monday.Once again I found this recipe on one of my favorite recipe sites sparkrecipes.com . I did a few things differently to make it my own. I didn't have the suggested seasoned tomatoes, so I sauteed the chicken with some fresh garlic(3 cloves) and about 1/2 tbsp(maybe even more...I didn't actually measure) each of dried basil and oregano and used a 16oz can of diced tomatoes. I left out the mushrooms, nobody in our house is very fond of mushrooms, except my husband, and he wasn't at home for dinner. We topped it off with some Parmesan cheese, because really, isn't that what you are supposed to do with pasta? I would suggest to add some salsa for anyone who likes a little more kick in their tomato sauce, but it was yummy just the way it was. My kids all loved it and asked if we could have it again the next day.

Chicken, Broccoli and Mushroom with Penne Pasta Skillet

Ingredients

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 Inch cubes 

8 oz. package of sliced fresh mushrooms 

2 cans Hunts Diced Tomatoes w/Basil, Garlic and Oregano 

16 oz. package of whole wheat Penne pasta 

10 oz. package frozen broccoli 

1 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions 

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile in large skillet, heat olive oil and brown chicken pieces. Add broccoli and mushrooms, continue to cook until vegetables are soft and chicken is no longer pink, add the canned tomatoes and heat through.

Drain pasta, add to skillet, mix well.

Number of Servings: 6

The Case of the Missing Kitty.

So, I started cleaning up the garage today. Collecting the recycle that had overflowed and putting away camping gear that was the original cause for the chaos that was in the garage. You see when we got home from our trip to Victoria(way back at the beginning of August) we were to tired to unpack right away. I eventually got around to unpacking the van...into the garage. The plan was to put it away when I had time...apparently I never found the time. And since we couldn't park in the garage because of the camping gear, other stuff just got put in there...and the recycle started to over flow. Today I decided it was time to tackle the job, and in so doing I solved the Case of the Missing Kitty.

OK, so lets back up. On our way to Victoria we stopped at my cousin, Kimber's place in Moses Lake. In the morning when we were packing up we could not find Kymberly's favorite kitty (Oh how she loved that kitty)anywhere. We looked and looked and it was nowhere to be found. I couldn't even recall seeing her with it since we left the Libby Dam the day before. But Kathryn insisted that she had seen Kymberly with it at Kimber's house. After much searching we decided that it must be in the van somewhere and we headed on our way. When we were leaving Victoria, Daniel completely unpacked and repacked the van and the kitty was nowhere to be found. We figured it must have fallen out of the van at a gas station along the way somewhere and Daniel and I vowed to never speak of it and maybe Kymberly wouldn't notice...Thankfully she never did have a break down over the missing kitty, but she has asked me if I have seen it and I've just told her that I didn't know where it was...until today.I was putting away the camp bedding back into their storage bins, which meant folding them all nicely. As I was folding Kymberly's sleeping bag I discovered a lump. I put my hand in, and what to my wondering surprise did I pull out? But Kymberly's favorite kitty! The last time we had used our sleeping bags was at Kimber's house! To think, if we would have just unpacked and put everything away sooner...say like within a week of getting home, this mystery would have been solved along time ago.