Halloween Dance Party

To kick off the weekend last Friday I told my cranky little boys that we were having a Halloween dance party. They kind of looked at me for a sec then dashed downstairs to grab two drums, a mic, keyboard and guitar. It changed their moods instantly.
When they came back upstairs I had all of the lights off except for our orange Halloween ones and of course turned on all of our jack-o-lanterns. I thought they would be a little scared but they were ready to rock.

Here was the music lineup that they picked out: Blur "Song 2" (three times in a row because they all took turns singing it), MGMT "Kids", Gotye "Somebody I used to know" and Peter Bjorn and John "Young Folks."
Since then we have had two more dance parties. They are fun and I love when my kids are taken by a song - watching their dance moves, their expressions...it's great.

Superman Socks

My sister, my brother-in-law and I are running a 5K together on the 27th and I'm wearing these socks.
I can't wait!!! I just love the little capes.
I saw the socks online and then heard that people dress up for this run/walk...it was a sure sign that I needed to register and do the Jack O'Lantern Jog!
The boys were so excited when the socks arrived and of course everyone had to wear them around the house. Then we did races up and down the drive way. It was quite eventful.
Here is where I got them: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/ec37/?srp=2

We made a cheesecloth ghost

I saw this in Martha Stewart's (yes Ms. Stewart again) magazine and decided to tackle it with the boys.

First we need to shape the ghost. So take a paper towel cardboard roll and cut slits along the bottom.

 Fan out the bottom to make the roll stand.

Tape down the strips.

Pierce holes on both sides of the roll near the top and fish a wire through it. You are shaping the arms with the wire so make the length to your liking.

I took my scissors and rolled up the wire - on both sides.

See how the ends are rolled? This holds up the cheesecloth to make arms.

Roll up a ball of foil and place it on top of the cardboard. This is shaping the head.

In the magazine it says to soak your cheesecloth in liquid starch and drape over your mold. I couldn't find liquid starch so I used a spray adhesive. I recommend the liquid. It takes way longer with the spray because you have to do so many coats. But I have to say spraying the cheesecloth was the boys' favorite part.

Mason wanted to put these felt eyeball stickers on the ghost.

I hung the ghost by a plastic hook/suction cup thingy.

Mum solution

My mom and I wanted to decorate this one corner in our front yard with mums. We bought four mums and surrounded this really cool perennial (can't remember the name) with them. But they fell over every five minutes. We had just pulled everything out of our garden and saw the flower stakes...

So I shoved a stake through one of the holes on the bottom of the flower pot and hammered it into the ground. Now they stand beautifully.

Halloween Fence

I have one wall in my kitchen that is basically a blank canvas - so I get to be all festive with each holiday. I saw this silhouette theme in a Martha Stewart magazine years ago and always wanted to try it. I went to Michael's and bought some black poster board. I also found Martha Stewart's craft line there and she had these black crows. Perfect!

I just used a ruler and cut the fence. I bought three poster boards but only needed one for the fence. After I cut the poster board into strips, Mason would cut the corners on one end to make a pointy tip. Brant cut out some grass and Mason made a little bird. All of us stuck the crows in various places and then I went digging in my Halloween bin to find more black stuff. I found a witch, a cat and a bat. The kids and I love it. We may make a rat or two down the road. 

Mason's bird.

Green Rice

This is a great side dish to the many taco varieties I make for the fam. It's full of flavor and easy to make.

I buy a big bag of medium grain rice - the one I buy is in our ethnic section at the grocery store.

Get out your blender and fill it up with 2 c of chicken broth (preferably homemade and warm but not necessary), 1c fresh cilantro, 1-2 poblano chile peppers depending on size and 1 teasp salt. Blend it up for about a minute or so. 

Chop up a large yellow onion and mince about 2-3 cloves of garlic. 

Take a saucepan and heat up about 2-3 TBSP of corn oil or grapeseed oil. Get your onions in there and soften them. Add your garlic and 1c of rice and stir for about a minute or two. 

Pour the the chicken broth mixture into the rice pan. Bring the mixture to a boil and then cover and simmer for about 15 min.

Here is the original recipe:

 http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/simply-delicioso-with-ingrid-hoffmann/green-rice-recipe/index.html

Mummy Treat Pot

Brant wanted to paint today and I thought "Nooooooooooooooo!" 

I just didn't have the energy to do deal with it. Then he said I want to make a mummy. And I'm thinking how are we going to do this? 

I went downstairs to do some laundry and have a think. 

I was getting soap and I saw three of these little flower pots stacked on top of the laundry cabinet. They must have been there for years...I don't even remember buying them. 

So we made mummy pots with paint, cheesecloth, googlie-eyes and glue.

Problem solved!

Pumpkin Candle centerpiece

I know this has been done a 100 times but I wanted to try it and I LOVE the way it looks!

Breakfast Popovers

This is my new favorite breakfast to make.
It's easy, tastes amazing and reheats well the next day.

Here is the original recipe from Foodnetwork.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/breakfast-popovers-with-italian-sausage-recipe/index.html

Ingreds:
1/2lb of breakfast sausage
1 clove of garlic
1 c of your favorite cheese (I recommend a strong cheese - something smoked, a Fontina, etc. Something that will give flavor to so much of the milk and eggs in this dish)
4 Large eggs
2c milk
1.5c flour
2 green onions
3 TBSP fresh herb (I didn't have basil so I used a little thyme and the rest Italian parsley)
1 1/2 teasp salt
1/2 teasp black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Grease up whatever your are using - a popover pan, a muffin tin or jumbo muffin tin.
Heat skillet and brown the breakfast sausage. Add minced garlic about a minute before the sausage is done cooking. Spoon the sausage into muffin tin - about a tablespoon. Sprinkle cheese on top of sausage. In a blender add your eggs. Blend on low for just a few seconds to make them frothy. Add milk, flour, green onions, fresh herbs, salt and pepper. Blend on low until incorporated. Pour mixture over sausage/cheese. Fill each tin up to the rim so they indeed "pop-over". Bake 30-35 min. 

Halloween Count Down Calendar

"Is it Halloween yet?"
I can't even tell you how many times a day someone in my house asks me that question.
Over the summer I heard a soft knock at my bedroom door. I opened it to find the two older boys dressed up in infant animal costumes (see below) holding out Easter buckets. "Trick or Treat!!" They yelled. "Mom we are practicing for Halloween."
I tried to say "No, go eat an apple" but I physically couldn't do it. It was just too damn cute - I had to play along and put treats in their buckets.

LUCKILY when I was digging out the Halloween decorations I found a countdown calendar that I had bought at Target on clearance last year. It's just foam and stickers. Easy-peasy. While the other two boys were at school/Pre-K Jaxon and I put it together. He LOVED it.
Now when I'm asked that wonderful question I can just point them to the calendar.

Here is my 5 and 4 year old dressed up in infant costumes which now look like shirts with animal heads on them.