...Party in the Back



Clark Kent, 2009

For years now, we’ve looked forward to October 31^st.  Halloween has been so much frightening fun since having children – coordinating costumes, making fun, creepy food, decorating the house, all of it. 





Mario & Luigi, 2011

Living these events through my little ones’ eyes has been such an incredible joy and privilege.  Scripture tells me that my children are rewards from God {Ps127:3}.  I feel I’ve won the ultimate prize of becoming a mother. 


They’re my little blessings.  And on Halloween this year, they’ll be my little super heroes!!

Batman, Robin & American Dream Girl, 2013

I set out to decorate the front of the house, but it dawned on me that we never really use the front door.  I thought of how rare the kids will be able to enjoy the decorations.  It seemed kind of silly to me considering the fact that I’m doing this all for them.  So, why not decorate the back door?  After all, that’s our main portal in and out of the house.  It actually worked out great for this spooky celebration as that entry is pretty hideous to begin with.

And those adorable apparitions are super simple to make {no witchcraft necessary}. Here’s how…

Start with a crepe paper wedding bell, some black paper, cheese cloth, any kind of adhesive {I used regular ol’ tape.}, and a pair of scissors {yes, those are the children’s safety scissors.  Don’t judge.}

Fan out the crepe paper wedding bell.  Drape the cheese cloth over it to measure out how much you want to cut.  I repeated this twice, so that the bell was covered with two layers of cheese cloth.

Pull the bell’s string through the layers of cheese cloth.  Just jhush your fingers through the two layers to create a big enough hole to fish the string through.  {“Jshush” is a very technical crafting term.}

 

Cut out facial features, scary or sweet, and affix them to the cheese cloth covered bell.

 

There you have it!  You can include a couple in your terrifying table scape or even set a group of them on the floor to haunt a room.  I chose to hang them from the ceiling to help cover up that ghastly hot water heater.  No matter how you make them, nightmarish or nice, or where you choose to put them, these ghouls are sure to be a hair-raising Halloween hit!!

Happy Campers

Every year when I was younger, my family would go camping, escaping the daily hustle and bustle by taking us into the peaceful serenity of nature.  Or as I saw it…my parents would rip us from the comfort of air conditioning and our beloved digital media into wooded seclusion where we were held in a plastic prison.  I was born and bred in the D.C. metro area, so I can admit that I’m not exactly an outdoorsy kind of gal.  Naturally, our good Lord gave me children whose sole happiness seems to come only from exploring the woods in our backyard.  I prefer to explore the inside of a shopping mall, but more than anything I long to keep my children happy.  So, when they asked if we could “camp-out”, I had to come up with a compromise.

I built them their own living room camp.  Ok, so it’s not exactly roughin’ it.  {Baby steps, guys.  Baby steps.}  They wanted to start a fire most, so I had them collect fire wood and stones. 

 

 

Baby boy had the very important task of guarding the wood pile

 

Showing me his muscles

I came up with this little cutie for their “campfire”.  They were super excited about it, and it also served as their night light so they wouldn’t be scared in the darkness of the living room.

The best part of the day was spending quality time with my loves, especially in one of my favorites places – the kitchen.  Inspired by another recipe – Rolo Pecan Caramels – my little ones and I will show you how to make Trail Mix Bites.

To start, preheat your oven to 250°.  Then line a lightly greased sheet pan with mini pretzels.  Top each mini pretzel with an unwrapped Rolo.

Place them in the oven for 3-5 minutes, depending on how temperamental your oven is.  I suggest you watch these little guys, as they go from melted to burned very quickly.  Once they turn glossy, it’s time to take them out of the oven.

Working quickly, top each Rolo with about a teaspoon of your favorite trail mix, roughly chopped.  I made my own with chopped pecans, almonds, cashews, and dried cranberries.  Gently “smoosh” the trail mix down on top of the melted Rolo.

Let these cool completely before devouring.  To speed things up, I put my sheet pan into the refrigerator for about 15-20 minutes.

Voila!!  There you have it. Just a little spin on your every day, hum-drum trail mix. 

What’s camping without s’mores?  And for those, I used a batch of homemade marshmallows.  There’s really nothing on earth that beats the ooey gooey goodness of a marshmallow made from scratch.  I think my daughter agrees ;)

 

I like to think bringing the great outdoors inside was a success.  Who knows...maybe our next camp-out will actually be outside?  {Probably not.}

Picking a Peck of Tradition

 I love family traditions.  For me, partaking in these annual events – sometimes silly, other times somber – invoke my senses, filling my spirit with all that is good and wholesome of a childhood.  My family traditions are little gems of sweet, fond memories, and for a while they were mine, all mine.  But now, the best part of these traditions is being able to share them with my own family…making new memories for my children to pass down to their little ones and to their little ones and so forth.  {Sniff, sniff.  All you mommas know what I’m talking about.  Tissues, please.}

For as long as I can remember, growing up we’d take annual fall trips to the apple orchard.  Since my first was born we’ve been several times, and each time coming away with new images instilled in my heart.  For our most recent trip, we journeyed to the closest orchard to us – two hours away.  Trying to be perfect little diligent parents, we prepared for the long car rides, packed a plentiful picnic lunch, and dressed the children in layers. {Y’all see where this is going, right?}

Well, true to Murphy’s Law what could go wrong, most indeed went wrong.  We chose to go the same day as the state’s apple festival, so naturally everyone and their mother was on the road which doubled the time it took to get there.  We were still on the road at lunchtime and the kids were starving, so we had to dig into our packed lunch, forgoing the picnic we had planned.  My husband We forgot to pack baby formula, of all things, and had to make a detour to the closest store.  By God’s grace, we finally made it to our destination in one piece.  Exhausted, we set out to turn around the mood of the day and boarded the tractor-pulled chariot out to the orchard.  My little princess does not do dirt, so we had to convince her that her outfit will survive even if she sits on hay.  Of course, we arrived much later in the day than anticipated so the sun was just beaming down on us.  I felt like a swampy mess afterwards.  On top of all that, all the Granny Smiths were picked through – my favorite cooking apple of choice.   

As I sit here complaining to y’all, the most wonderful, fantastical thing is that none of these mishaps even phased my children.  To watch them go on a treasure hunt for the most attractive apples…to witness their pure, youthful joy…to see them smiling from ear to ear just melted my heart, along with any negative, critical, completely adulterated opinions and jaded observations of the day.  Lamentations 3:22-23 quickly comes to mind, except I change “every morning” to “throughout the entire day”.   

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE DAY. 

And for that, I am forever grateful.   

 

 

 

 

So what did we do with all those apples?  The first thing we made was Crockpot Applesauce.  I love this super simple recipe – only two ingredients.   

 

 

 

 

Start with some apples of any variety and size.  I picked out of our peck all the bruised and/or small ones.  Peel and chop them. 

 

Toss the peeled, cored, and chopped apples into the crockpot.  Put the lid on the crock pot and cook for two hours or until the apples are mushy enough to mash.

 

Mash the apples to the consistency of your liking.  {I prefer a chunkier texture.} I had the kids help me with this part.  They love helping mommy in the kitchen.

 

Add a healthy dash of cinnamon and mix.

 

Voila!  There you have it.  Homemade, all-natural, and delicious.

Got a thumbs-up!!

And what's better is that this applesauce can be used in other scrumptious recipes.  It's like an apple gift that keeps on giving.  My favorite is warming the applesauce and topping banana ice cream with it.  I'm even thinking about using it to make apple pie fries and serving it along side my ice cream with a  drizzle of caramel.  Decadence!!

The Seasons of Life

With a gentle nudge from a very dear friend, I decided that I give this thing another go.  So, here I am…writing to y’all about life, love, laughter and everything in between.  Let’s see…lots of changes over the past two years. Well, my husband has a new job, we’ve relocated to a new state…oh, and we’ve had another baby!  Here’s my sweet boy…

 

In God’s perfect timing, it’s only fitting that I fire up this old blog during inarguably the best season ever – the miracle of autumn.  Change can be a difficult thing to experience, but I love all the breath-takingly beautiful changes in weather, nature, fashion, and food.  The vibrant hues of changing leaves, the sweet, smoky scent of logs on the fire, the warmth of wool, and the bold flavors of everything pumpkin!  Oh, I could go on and on.  Seriously, what’s not to love? 

As I do every quarter, I decorate my front door, adorning it with season-appropriate wreath.  Using this tutorial, my summer wreath was hand-crafted with love by yours truly using white and gray chevron burlap and white burlap hydrangeas.  I finished it off with a silver-painted “B”… for “burlap”.  {I’m kidding.}  Here’s a pic of it in all its bright, new summertime glory. 

But over the months, it changed a bit as it weathered the elements – monsoon-like rainstorms, hurricane-mimicking winds, and sweltering Hades’ heat.  {Eh, I may be exaggerating just a bit, but Southern summers are nothing to take lightly.}  Anyway, my pristine wreath took on an almost decaying yellow tinge.  It was pretty beaten up.  Saddened, I took the dingy wreath off the door and prepared to throw it in the garbage.  On the way to the trash can and grieving my craft project {really, I think I might have shed a tear…maybe}, it dawned on me that this wreath wasn’t garbage after all.  I realized that the yellowish color was actually a pretty, mustardy tint – perfect for fall!!  I rushed to our local Hobby Lobby and picked up a few foam and wicker pumpkins, glittered acorn, and some autumn berry sprays.  With a little nip here and a tiny tuck there, I came up with this…

A close up…

So, what do you think?  Not too shabby.  The wreath has taken on a completely new look.  It’s perfectly suitable for the season.  I even think it’s better than it was before.  Isn’t that so true in us?  {I love a good metaphor}  We weather the storms of life feeling pretty beaten and battered, but God uses those experiences to change us, making us better {more patient, wiser, disciplined, vigilant, etc.} versions of ourselves to mold us into the people He needs us to be to do His work for that specific season in our lives. 

I can’t help but sing my favorite song right now – “Beautiful Things” by Gungor.  {Literally belting it out} 

You make beautiful things.

You make beautiful things out of dust.

You make beautiful things.

You make beautiful things out of us.

 

You make me new,

You are making me new.

 

*Sigh*

 

I find comfort in change and hope you can, too.  And I'm super excited to share the beauty of fall with you!! It’s good to be back ;)