Canning Lid Pumpkin

This is probably one of my favorite Pinterest finds so far!  I was happily pinning a few days ago when I came across this and knew I had a fun craft to do.  I have a ton of canning jars and lids from my Grandma Omi that I haven't done much with.  She had all these old lids tied together and I've always thought about throwing them away but never did, thank goodness!!

This is how mine turned out, and I LOVE it!  How simple and cute is this???!  All you do is tie the lids together and spread them out as needed, add some twigs and ribbon, and that's it!  Took all of 5 minutes.  I love crafts like these that can remind me of my Grandma:)

Linking To:

Get Your Craft On

Wow Me Wednesday

Semi Homemade Mom

Rachel's Culinary Skills

This kid cracks me up!  We were watching Food Network yesterday and she saw Giada make this yummy apple dessert which piqued her interest and away she went....Instead of the pie crust, she used crescent rolls rolled out and baked.  Then she tossed the apples in a cinnamon/sugar mixture and baked them until the were a bit soft.  We didn't have anything for making whipped cream, so she decided to make vanilla pudding instead, it was a perfect combination!  And of course no dessert is complete without a garnish of chocolate!  She melted white and dark chocolate, spread it out on wax paper and put it in the freezer to harden up.

It was really a delicious dessert that I will have her make again!  I love seeing her create things in the kitchen, I didn't do this until I was married... I think she will make some boy a very lucky man!

Fun Filled Saturday

Today started the ever so long season of duck hunting...and then when that's over it's deer hunting...then pheasant hunting....and then it's like summer again.  Just kidding.  I am very used to being the single mom on the weekends, and it's always fun to find fun free fall festivals (holy tongue twister.....say that 10 times).  This morning our local greenhouse had their fall festival with pumpkin painting, snacks, mini train rides and face painting.  The girls had fun painting their pumpkins and enjoying the snacks.  Funny how I came there with 4 girls and left with 5....darn stragglers....

When we got home it was lunch time, so I decided to let the girls make their own mac-n-cheese cupcakes from Giada at Home on Food Network.  I let the girls add whichever toppings they wanted (I had chicken, cheese, carrots and broccoli) and then we baked them.  They were ok, not sure if I'd make them again.  The girls liked them however!

Since little Miss A was feeling left out (the other two sisters had friends over and Alayna was not "allowed" in the hot tub with them.), I let her do the chocolate chip cookies that I had in the freezer.  She was pretty stoked.  Oh, and she was singing Dobie Gray's "Drift Away".  That kid cracks me up, when she doesn't make me want to drink...

It was such a beautiful day, one of those days that puts me in the baking mood....I made Pumpkin Donuts for breakfast and have the dough for Sno Whites Apple Cinnamon bread rising right now.  Yum!!!

First Day of School

Well, we are now finishing the third week of school and I am happy to say that the girls are loving it!  There is one however (who shall remain nameless) who's listening skills in school have been less than steller already.  Yes, I got that dreaded teacher phone call.  Thankfully this teacher taught my other two and I know her very well, so I think we have nipped this in the bud....

We have a tradition on the first day of school that I make their pancakes into their first letter.  Funny how those little things they remember every year!  

The poor things have to get up at 5:45 to catch the bus at 6:45.  It's not easy getting them up when sometimes they slept until 10!!

Now that Rachel is in Middle School, she requested that I not put her morning picture on the computer...so I obliged....but I have it saved, it's a doosy!

Can you tell which one is the fashion diva??!!

Girls Day Out!

Typically the night before school we have a "spa night" at home.  I let them take a bath in our big whirlpool tub and we do facials, pedicures and manicures.  I usually make mini sandwiches and they get to drink kiddy cocktails.  This year I thought it would be fun to go out to the lake and have a girls day/night.  We went to the beach and played for awhile, then went back to the camper for manis and pedis.

And no, I didn't have one child missing during these beach scenes.  *sigh*  I have now been instructed to not post any swimsuit pics of Rachel.  Oh the joys of having a 6th grader!

After we were done with our fun drinks and chocolate covered strawberries, dad surprised us by coming out and grilling steaks with twice stuffed potatoes and corn on the cob!  We ended the night with a campfire.  It was a gorgeous night!

Summer Recap

I can't believe I post ONCE this whole summer...I mean with not working and all, I should have been able to crank out at least one a week, right??!!  Oy....

Summer was fan-freaken-tastic!  My last day of daycare was June 5, very bittersweet and exciting all at the same time.  I will admit that I was taken aback by my feelings of being "just" an at home mom.  Even though I was home for 11 years, I was still working.  That gave me a purpose.  I just felt that my purpose was severely lacking.  I really did not expect to feel this way.  It took about a month for me to get over that, thankfully.  Besides that, the summer rocked.  It was so awesome to be able to pick up and head to the beach on a Monday, or meet a friend for lunch, LUNCH!!  It was pretty cool.  Of course I had all these visions of fun crafts we would do, and of course how completely organized my house would be, but...the beach was waaaay more fun!

Here is what we were up to this summer...

Brad and I (along with another couple) mastered the Warrior Dash the end of June.  And by mastered I mean we didn't die.  And by die I mean I wasn't hauled off on a stretcher, thankfully.  I only fell off of one of the obstacles and left with a whole slew of bruises....but I'm good now!

We spent lots of time at the ball field watching Rachel's team learn (aka lose) about fast pitch softball.  It was painful to watch, but I loved seeing how much fun that kid had no matter if they won or not!

Lots of ice cream treats were had by all, in fact we had a sweet little ice cream shop that opened in town, yum!

Of course lake time was featured quite often.  So nice to drive 30 minutes and enjoy boat rides and campfires!  "I'm going camping and I'm bringing...." game was a staple at our campfires

The end of August Emma had the honor of being selected as an Academic Achiever from her school.  The program was held at the Mall of America, we are SO proud of her!  Lots of fun afterwards doing the rides at Nickelodeon Universe.

August also brought a family wedding, my cousin Matt got married in Iowa.  We had a blast dancing and the girls had a blast taking care of the "little" cousins!

And last but not least, many a mornings were spent sipping coffee on the porch with this hunk.  I am blessed beyond measure to have been able to take the summer off.  And with the start of school was also the start of my new job that I love!  I am an office assistant and work Monday-Wednesday from 7:30-4:00.  I couldn't have asked for better hours, or a better company to work for!  God is good!