Halloween Trunk-or-Treat

It was our ward trunk-or-treat this past week and the girls' Halloween debut!

Here we have an impatient Princess Tiana! (she has a soup pot and a frog that helped people figure out who she was!)

I got brave and laid out a t-shirt of M's and made my own pattern! I knew I could make an easy skirt and used an old pattern for the sleeves. I used the cheap broadcloth for the green and paid $4 for the pretty crinkly "lily pad petals" for the sleeves and trim.

And here she is with my cute kitty cat!!! She got such a kick out of using her ears and tail!!
These are some friends of ours who borrowed some stuff from my mom's costume stash and they were so cute, they deserved to "make the blog"!
Enjoying gathering their loot!

Their cousins were the Fantastic Mr. Fox family. I haven't seen the movie, but they have really cool ears! :)

My Dad is Awesome!

He may kill me for doing this, but I think he's awesome.

Can you get it for me?

I looked at my little one in awe today.

She asked me a simple question.

Six words.

Perfect question formation.

Three pronouns.

A question way ahead of the 26 month language curve.

But she's always followed her own curve.

She didn't walk until 20 months.

She didn't really talk until then either.

It was like a light turned on inside of her!

And that's why she's my miracle today.

Next Question

Here you go, Leah: (and anyone else with an opinion)

I get to choose the book club book for December.

I have too many ideas. It stresses me out a bit to recommend a book to a bunch of people, worrying that they won't like it.

What would you have them read?

Halloween Sunday Best??

So, here's my question:

if you made your daughters some cute Halloween skirts and Halloween is on a Sunday this year, can they wear said skirts to church??? Is that kosher?

for the sake of any sacrilegious arguments, the fabric prints are bats, spiders, candy and owls. No witches or skeletons or ghosts to be found.

So, appropriate or tacky???

What I learned in PreK this week...

M is the owl of the week in her class!

This means:

she is the line leader

she gets to sit in the special chair and wear a crown during circle time

she gets to bring a bag of special things that she loves-I chose a dress up dress, one of her dolls and book. All things she loves!

she gets to share pictures of her and her family

she gets to bring a "healthy snack" to share that starts with the letter M

any snack ideas????

Rookie Thanksgiving: Playing catch-up

October has been crazy! I fully intended to participate with my cousin's Rookie Thanksgiving and tackle a new food each week. And then October happened! And it's been crazy!

Did I say that already?

Sooooo...when it was my turn to cook at the Tobler's, I chose one of the assignments to tackle!

Let me preface this with, I cannot make rolls.

I have tried.

They scare me.

I make tough rocks or biscuits instead.

I have yeast issues. I cannot activate yeast for cooking. At all!

But we had a church activity where we talked about baking bread and I went home inspired to try a new method with a classic family recipe.

This morning, I decided to tackle Grandma's Potato Rolls.

It is a tricky dough but oh, so delightful, when done properly!

It rose!!! It worked! (after only throwing away one batch)

In the meantime, we also make twice-baked potatoes. Maria Mae requested them for her birthday.
Then we set the rolls to rise.

I had the assistance of two lovely helpers!!

And then we baked them and they were delightfully yummy!!! I did it!!!!!

Ghosts and Witches all say BOO!!!

That's the last line of one of my favorite Halloween songs as a kid. I sang it to the girls the other day and they didn't remember from last year but thought it was hilarious. thank you, mom!

Halloween! Halloween!

Lots of fun on Halloween!

Black cats and ghosts

Skeletons too

Ghosts and witches all say

BOO!

Speaking of Mom, she has assorted table cloths and runners for each holiday. Seriously.

Me?

I make skirts.

I have wanted Halloween skirts for a few years and finally did it this year!

I adore them! Almost as much as the girls wearing them!

I had M's ready for school on Thursday but hadn't done Lulu's yet but she was not going to miss the photo op!
Everyone at school loved it-especially the owl print!
So, during naptime, I made Lulu's.

She was too drowsy to be excited in the picture, but believe me, she did not want to take it off for bed!!

Po-kin Patch Field Trip!

I got to go with M's class to Motley's Pumpkin Patch on Thursday!

It was a gorgeous day, the kids had a blast, I got my workout, and I enjoyed meeting more moms! (I may get used to this school-mom thing after all!)

there were pig races!
a petting zoo! (where my normally timid girl showed no fear in feeding goats!)
Get a lod of the feathery tops on these hens!
Lu was the timid one with the animals.


there was a hayride (this is M's cute classmate who was our "partner" for the day)
there was a cow ride with the cutest caboose ever!

a hay playground and pumpkins galore!
everyone got to pick a small po-kin to take home (and now she desperately wants to turn it into a princess pumpkin!)


This is M's great class and wonderful teachers!

We are soooo blessed to be at this school and with these great people!!!

Our State Fair...

isn't quite as good as Minnesota's Great-Get-Together.

but it's still a great state fair!

And on Friday morning, it was free to get in and ride the kid rides!!!

With all seven of us, we saved over $200 with free admission and free rides!!!! AWESOME!

Sam and I loaded up my two girls, Jake's three boys, and headed out!

We met up with Joe and Teriney and their gang and saw school and church friends there as well.

They did such a good job when I told them to look at me for a picture! ;)
Lulu was TOTALLY into the rides and had so much fun!
and yes, I rode two rides with her. I liked the wiggly worm much better than the helicopter ride!
Can you spot Ru?
And Joe and Hazy?

Sam got to ride a big-kid ride with the boys and they chose the swings. They said it was awesome!!! Can you spot all three?


We ate yummy fried food, rode free rides, and even saw a zebra and a camel! Totally worth it!

Getting my rusty crafty wheels going again...

I had an idea to make myself a Messenger Purse.

I gathered a few of my favorite fabrics, pieced them together and quilted away!

Discovering my machine's darning foot was the greatest discovery of the year, I think!

I loooooooove how it turned out! I love the colors, the quilting, the long strap that fits comfortably across.

And here the is the birthday bag for Teriney! She requested a princess purse for miss Ruby so that she won't always want Hazel's anymore! :)