Halloween

My costume supply has built up over the years - they are sooooo cute!

I have everything you need to be a puppy, a cow, Bob the Builder, or a Fireman and plenty of other fun ideas.

My kids really haven't been attracted to the scary, or repulsive.

But,

this year things changed.

It all started with Bubba...

He said, "Mom, I don't want to be Bob the Builder for Halloween."

I said, "Why not? We've got the whole costume it would be great."

He said, "Mom, Bob the Builder is for little kids. If I wear that everyone will laugh at me."

I said, "Okay, what do you want to be?"

He said (with bright eyes and a mischievous smile), "A vampire bat!" "With fangs!" "And with my face painted black."

So, for my first year of scary boys for Halloween this is what I got:

OTG Boy - Skeleton

The Professor - Harry Potter

Bubba - The Vampire Bat

(check out those orange teeth!)

And

Junior - The Jack-O-Lantern

Since he can't talk I got away with cute for him :)

So, candy anyone?

Hopefully, we didn't cause too many nightmares!

Spooky Spiders

Remember last year's October Break project?

I was pregnant and sick and needing to stay off my feet...

but had three busy boys who needed something to do?

I guess we started a new tradition.

I wasn't sick

- but -

you may have heard that the flu is going around, so when OTG Boy had a fever of 102...

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said...

keep those boys at home - don't let that flu bug spread!

I had to find something fun to do?!?

We made spiders!

Even Junior helped - he was a great spider hanging supervisor!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

I forgot - I promised a few people our traditional Halloween Dinner Recipe... so 1 week later here it is...

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Ingredients:
1 Med. Onion Chopped
1 1/2 to 2 Pounds Extra Lean Ground Beef
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Cans Chicken with White & Wild Rice Soup (Undiluted)
2 Cans Creamy Chicken Mushroom Soup (Undiluted) - or I just use Cream of Chicken b/c that's what I have on hand and it still tastes good to us
1 Can Water Chestnuts, Sliced & Drained
2 Cups Cooked Rice
1 Cup Crisp Chinese Noodles
Cashews
1 Small to Medium Pumpkin Cleaned Out


What to do:
1. Paint a face on pumpkin with permanent markers (I copied my face out of a magazine this year - I thought the winking pumpkin was really cute). Cut top off and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp.

2. In large pan, brown ground beef and onion together. Drain any grease from pan.

3. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, chicken with rice soup, creamy chicken mushroom soup, water chestnuts and rice. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

4. To Bake in Pumpkin: Spoon meat-rice mixture into pumpkin and replace top. Place entire pumpkin with filling on a baking sheet. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees or until the inside meat of pumpkin is tender. Remove lid and sprinkle Chinese noodles and cashews over the top.

5. Serve meat-rice casserole, and for vegetable, scoop out cooked pumpkin.

I usually have more casserole than will fit in the pumpkin - so I put the extra in a foil baking pan and freeze it to cook up later (don't put the noodles or cashews on until after you've baked it). To cook, let it thaw during the day - and cook at 350 for about 50 minutes.

Have a Spooky Halloween!

Here they are...

Bob the Builder

The Ninja

and... Vampire Boy

Since we don't live across the street,

I won't be able to share a treat.

So, here's my trick, I'll be the first...

Beware of ghosts on the 31st!

Stir Crazy

This last week we had October Break - translated... no school on Thursday & Friday!

Which, actually, we love - everyone needs a break! However, since I'm still not feeling super great our plans consisted of a nice long weekend at home! Not quite as exciting as the kids had hoped, but riding bikes, roller blading and watching movies can be fun... right?!?
Well, needless to say by Friday afternoon my three bundles of energy needed a diversion or they were all headed for the longest "time out" of their lives.

So, after a few minutes of thinking, grabbing a snack to help my stomach settle, and snagging some quarters out of the change jar - we headed out the door to "Dollar Tree."

We bought a white plastic tablecloth and some black yarn... here's how $2 saved the day!

First, you cut your white tablecloth into 12 pieces.

Then, you wad up a piece of newspaper

(we already have plenty of that on hand).

Next you put your paper in the center of your plastic to form a head.

Now tie your head in place with a piece of black yarn.

Then, draw scary faces on each of your creations & attach a piece of yarn on top.

Most importantly, work together to hang them outside for everyone to see...

And in the end you have 12 spooky ghosts and 3 happy boys!

Happy Halloween!