Crazy Busy Day!

So I've been dragging my feet on posting anything lately because I've been really frustrated about my Halloween costumes! I didn't get the pictures I wanted because my camera was broken and I worked so hard on those costumes. Now I have a camera again but now its a matter of getting them redressed in the costumes and getting some awesome pictures... It will come, eventually.

But in the meantime, yesterday was a very productive day! I really should plan not to load too much into one day but I pulled it off, so that's exciting!

We did our school work as per usual and I decided today would be a good day to do a "Thanksgiving Day craft". So we watched the Charlie Brown Mayflower special and made Pilgrim hats and Indian Headdresses...  I probably should have made the feathers on the headdress a little smaller because they flopped around but the boys love playing with glue so they didn't mind!

So next on my list, I had an "order" for some cupcakes. My friend's daughter's birthday party was last night. She loves chocolate, owls and the color blue. So using this chocolate cupcake recipe (because it is an amazing recipe!), a vanilla buttercream recipe, my trusty pink KitchenAid Mixer,

and a great idea from Pinterest for Owl Cupcakes using Oreos and M&Ms, I made these!

Next time I make these I will find a better way to remove the top of the Oreo from the cream. I felt they were a little sloppy... but then again I am a little bit of a perfectionist!

After those were made and decorated, I had little boys begging for cupcakes. But it was almost dinner time so I had to make that first. Again if I had planned my day better, dinner last night wouldn't have been so time consuming. But I've been wanting this particular dish for quite a while so I had to make it.

We had a Chicken Rice and Bacon Casserole for dinner. (This recipe via The Nest calls for mushrooms.... I sometimes do the mushrooms, or sometimes I leave them out depending on whether I have some on hand. Either way it tastes amazing!)

I got the boys showered, I read them a story, put them to bed, cleaned the kitchen for the 4th time today and then crashed on the couch!

After I walk away from the computer today, I will need to go finish the laundry and then its off to the movies with the girls (NO KIDS!! WOO HOO!)  because while I have issues with the casting of Hunger Games because I loved the books and I feel like they missed the mark with Peeta, I am definitely needing to go see some Catching Fire today!

October Birthday

My baby, Andrew, has an October birthday and for the past 2 years his birthday request has been to decorate the house for Halloween and make cupcakes to go with the theme.

Last year we made a cupcake cake in the shape of a ghost, using the idea from Family Fun Magazine.

 

 

And we made cute bats from the same magazine out of toliet paper rolls, poster board, and paint.

We this year, of course Andrew wanted to decorate again... and fortunately for us the bats survived the move so we were able to hang them again. But I needed to do something new this year. So we decorated his bedroom door. I found some giant googly eyes at Target in the $1 section, used painters tape, construction paper, and streamers and made a face!

His cupcakes this year were kind of a strange mix.  I really wanted to make this apple cinnamon cupcakes recipe I found. And my plan was to make vanilla frosting and color it to make it look like candy corns on top. Well because I bake in the middle of the night, when I run out of vanilla extract I'm pretty much out of luck (I needed these done by the morning). So I improvised, went to google and found a Candy Corn Frosting recipe. (It was so loud to make as I ran a cup of candy corns through my blender! I know my neighbors hated me.)  The cupcake was amazing, the frosting was amazing... I maybe won't combine them again though. Too many different flavors in one cupcake!

 

By the way.... Great pinterest find.... if you wrap your icing in plastic wrap after making it, you can store it easily or have an easier time putting it into the bag (because I for one always make a mess when I load the bag full of icing!)

I would have made pumpkin spice cupcakes, but I made those the week before for my friend's daughter's birthday party! So we needed a change.... plus it worked out because I'm not sure candy corn frosting and pumpkin spice cupcakes would work out so great. (Pictured below is a Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Vanilla cream cheese frosting topped with a candy acorn)

 

Needless to say.. He had a VERY happy birthday!

Jumping Back In

Between settling into a new area unlike anywhere I've ever lived and moving into my second year of homeschooling, I had to take a blogging break while I got myself together. I felt very overwhelmed by everything that was going on and really wanted to focus my attentions on getting my family moved and settled. And now that we are I have begun making new things, trying new recipes, and enjoying creating again. You don't realize how much you miss something until you start doing it again!

So just a quick rundown of what we've been up to...

We moved to Baltimore this past January

Got to play in the snow

Got to see the Cherry Blossoms bloom

We get to ride on the light rail into downtown to play

Started First Grade

Next post will be some of the things I've been working on recently... I've had a lot of fun with some recent projects and am excited to share!