Craft Group!

This month's craft group met this past weekend and we made this Christmas countdown!! It is made out of a 4x4 wood post (which is REALLY a 3.5x3.5). The letters and numbers are vinyl and I cut them on my cricut! The paper is holiday scrapbook paper this is cut to size. I think these are so cute...and the kids love to change the numbers! It's also a great way to help little ones learn their numbers!


Here's my super duper husband cutting the wood for me! He's got lots more wood to cut for me...so this was just a warm up!! Thanks, hubby, for doing this for me! And thanks, Colburns, for letting us use your saw!

Here's our workspace. We had about 10 ladies come, so this is 1/2 the table. Everything is set up for them...paint, mod podge, wipes, paper, brushes, etc!!!


Decisions, decisions...

...ladies hard at work painting and mod podging!

TaDA!!! Here are all of the finished products! I just love that even though we all have the same materials, each countdown looks a little different! So fun!

Halloween 2010

Some pics from our halloween adventure! :)

We had some friends over for a chili dinner and trick or treating! We had a great time and lots of laughs! =)

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We were attempting to be the Incredible family...it was fun.

Caramel Apples!

I've been really excited the past few nights about making caramel apples! I've never made them...and because my mind is "special" I kept thinking about what toppings I'd put on them and how they would look. Then Saturday came and I made them!! Although it felt a tad time consuming (I think I made 24!) I had a TON of fun...and am pretty happy with the results!!!

I decided to just use the prepackaged caramel squares. Maybe next year I'll make my own...maybe. =) I filled up the glass bowl (about 4 cups) with caramel and poured in about 3-4 tablespoons of milk. Tossed it in the microwave for 3 minutes and wa-la! It was ready...I just had to mix it up!

Here are some of my little helpers...Elijah helped me unwrap the caramels on the first batch of apples...and the rest of the family jumped on the bandwagon for the second batch (or...maybe I asked them to help me...my memory is faded) ;)






Some of my toppings! I had butterscotch chips, crushed oreos, all kinds of sprinkles, nuts, candy melts, candy corn and reeses pieces. oh! and my favorite...crushed heath bar.

Here are the sticked apples...waiting patiently in line for their turn in the caramel dunk tank!

And now they are cooling in the fridge after being dunked. I put them in the fridge right after I dipped them so the caramel would harden a bit before I added the extra yumminess to them.





This is a Mickey Mouse caramel apple. I didn't finish it...but he was SUPER yummy!

All wrapped up and ready to be given away!!

For some reason I think this one might be my favorite. It isn't fancy or anything, but I think this little ghost is super cute. :)

YUMMY!!!! There were so many varieties!!!

Ethan's 2 Year pictures!

Have you seen anything cuter???

Pumpkin Carving

When we lived in Chicago (which is where Alia was born) we gathered all our friends and hosted annual Pumpkin Carving Parties. Since we were there three years, we hosted 3 of them and they were SO fun! But once we moved...and the boys came, it just seemed like too much. But a few weeks ago I decided that I was ready to give it a try again!!! And I am SOO glad I did!!!! We had a blast tonight! And I will definitely continue hosting this party!

We provided pizza and salad for dinner for everyone. I also made some cupcakes and a friend brought some yummy trifle!

These were the party favors!!! My friend Kristy helped me with this idea!

This is what is inside the cellophane bags!! It's called "Blessing Mix". It's a mixture of Bugles, pretzels, candy corn, raisins, and peanuts. I attached a tag that gives the symbolism to each item. See HERE for the tag. I didn't use this exact tag...but you get the idea. This would be a great idea for teacher gifts, neighbor gifts...a great Thanksgiving gift for co-workers, etc!

Here is our table, before the carving. Each person wrote their name on the orange plastic tablecloth where their pumpkin was...just to make sure everyone carved the pumpkin they came with =) Rain was in the forecast for today so I was VERY nervous that it would rain on us...but it didn't! It was perfect! Not hot, not cold, not super sunny...perfect for fall pumpkin carving.

We haven't had time to get to a pumpkin patch yet so our friends brought us some pumpkins! Thanks, Colburns!!!

The carving has begun!!! Notice how it's mostly parents doing the carving. :) hahaha

Jason's gettin' in there!

Alia first picked this super crazy hard princess template...but I quickly pooh poohed that idea! =) And then I suggested a princess crown! She agreed! Whew!

Here's Elijah with his pumpkin that daddy helped him with!

Here we all are...minus myself and Jason (who went to get the pizza)! WOW! Check out that group of friends!! I love them all dearly!!

After the pumpkins were done we all sat around and ate dinner, laughed and ate dessert (yum!)

Here is our final product! Elijah's pumpkin is on the far left, Alia's is in the middle, and Ethan's is on the right.

Pumpkin carving has come a long way from when I was little...check out all the tools and gadgets for carving a pumpkin!!