What's a Party without Food?

How could I resist showing off a little more? This year I made DH's and my costumes, Simon's Cat in the Hat Costume and made the accessories for Sarah and Sean (Braids for Sarah and a flower for Sean). I try to use some bits that we have every year for reducing costs and waste.

For the first time ever, I made the food actually match my theme...so I went and bought myself the Green Eggs and Ham cookbook and went to town! The cake was one of my own adventures...this is a 5 layer cake. I didn't feel that it was tall enough to actually do all the stripes so I limited it to 3. I sculpted it to look kind of slopey like that Cat's Hat. It was an adventure...each one of these is a little easier as I do them...practice makes perfect I guess!

Since Sarah was Cindy Loo Who I thought I would make these...Cindy Loo Who Wreaths. They were super yummy and sticky!


I have to admit I cheated when it came to the Chili. In order to save time I did not follow the recipe in the book. Instead I used some chili we had in the freezer. It was a big hit anyway!

Again, the inspiration came from the cookbook but I used my own concoction for the punch...it was such a big hit last year that I again made Fruit Punch with Ginger Beer (a tangy Ginger Ale). Put in a Power Aide ice ring and we were good to go!
These noodles were a big hit with my daughter...she ate 3 bowls of them after the party!
This idea came from another one of my books...yellow jello with gummy fish (all we could find were sharks) in it. The kids loved it! It did not get dug into at the party but our kids inhaled it once I dished it out for them!
It wouldn't be a Dr. Seuss Party without Green Eggs & Ham!!!
Here is the table all set and ready to go!As always we had a fabulous time at the party. This year we played Pin the Nose on Frankenstein, made a pumpkin lantern craft and everyone took home an activity book.

Enjoy!
Heather

And so it begins...

Well, for those of you who don't know...Halloween is a very important time at our house! It is a family holiday here...each year we choose a theme and we all dress accordingly. This year's theme was Dr. Seuss...unfortunately Horton was not interested in participating in this shot (if you look just above Thing 1's head you can see a snippet of our little elephant!Here he is a few days before our Hallowe'en Party all dressed up and ready to go...listening to those Whos!
Now we understand that that Whos are smaller than Horton but Cindy Loo Who has been eating her Wheaties lately 'cause she is bigger than Horton now!

This one is my favourite picture...I am still in awe that we managed to convince 12 children to all sit on our steps and not one of them complained about it! We are missing the youngest attendee in this photo but at 5lbs11oz she needs her rest!

So, all of these kiddies have tried out their costumes in advance and are ready to go out for some Frightful Delights on Friday!

Happy Hallowe'en Everyone!

Enjoy!
Heather

TWD Pumpkin Muffins

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection was made by Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp. She chose Pumpkin Muffins on page 13.

This was a lovely recipe and at just the right time of year too. Sarah and Sean just loved putting the Pumpkin Seeds on the Muffins (I couldn't find raw sunflower seeds so we went with raw pumpkin seeds instead!)

Muuuum! Do you have to take my picture AGAIN??? My kids have been helping me out with quite a few of Dorie's recipes. Since they have gone back to school I miss my time with them and this is one of the things we do when we are together...this and crafts of course!

A little happier now...
And Sarah enjoying her muffin...
The kids made sure that I didn't give these ones away as I have been working on losing the baby fat, a lot of our Dorie treats have been shipped of to DH's work. I am hoping to get him a promotion with all the treats! He always saves some for the boss... ;)

Don't forget to join us next week when we make Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes* on pages 215-217 as chosen by Clara of I Heart Food4Thought! Yummy!

Enjoy!
Heather

Pencil Lines Sketch #99

I can't believe that Pencil Lines is already on Sketch #109 and here I am posting for Sketch #99...I have been working on this layout for Sarah for 8 weeks now! For some reason I was having a block with this one but it finally cleared yesterday and not only did I finish Sarah's page but I also managed to crank one out for Sean!

Sarah's Page uses all retired SU! papers, the Pretties Kit and my Cricut (I don't know what I would do without it!) The text is Jasmin and the scallop green is from Accent Essentials (love that cartridge!) The ribbon and rub-ons are also retired (what can I say I am trying to clear out some of my stash so I can buy some new papers!


Sean's page was also done with retired SU! Papers and ribbon I used the Cuttin' Up Cartridge for his title and did the rest of the cutting free-hand. I can't wait to get these pages up on my wall but I have Hallowe'en Layouts up for now...

Of course I should do Simon as well but I didn't start Scrapbooking Sarah & Sean until they were older so why shouldn't Simon be behind too!

Enjoy!
Heather

TWD Lennox Almond Biscotti

It always seems to escape me to take photos before I put my treats in the oven! Honestly...sometimes I feel like there isn't a lot left now that I have 3 kids!!! Ah well, this week's delight is Lenox Almond Biscotti on page 141-143 as chosen by Gretchen of Canela & Comino.My what big loaves you have Mummy! They are a little lumpy and uneven...this has been put on the request for a repeat list so I will have to try to make them a little more even next time!

I sliced my loaves, and lined them up like soldiers for baking and let me tell you...biscotti is a treat for all ages. I have to admit...I have packed it all up save 2 peices for the kids to avoid eating it myself. They will be off to the office with my husband first thing tomorrow morning. What a delightful surprise his colleagues will be having with their coffee tomorrow!

It was Thanksgiving today and the best thing about it (as with most long weekends) we got a bunch of things off of our to do lists but spent some time together as a family as well...here we are at the Ball's Falls Festival. This is the first photo of the 5 of us together! Hooray! I made Martin ask an innocent bystander to take this photo so we could finally have one of all of us...

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving to my all my Canadian readers!
Heather

My Sweet Little One

I can't believe how fast time is slipping by! It certainly doesn't seem like it's been 3 months since we brought little Simon home...now he is a whopping 15lbs and growing ever so fast! Sarah and Sean love him very much and enjoy having him about...it is just the nicest thing to see them go crazy over their baby brother!

Anyway, he is growing ever so fast and the baptism gown is only so big so just after he turns 4 months we will be baptising him. We've got it booked and I have the invitations all set to be sent out. Hooray!I am going for a simple but sweet theme this time around. I used the same paper I used for his birth announcements (figured it was a good use for all that blue paper!) I would hate for Simon to feel short changed so I am trying my best.

Speaking of feeling short-changed...I can't remember the last time I took photos of my little sweetheart so I took a few today while he was sleeping in the playpen (I kinda woke him up doing it...oops!) Isn't he sweet...I think this one might be perfect in sepia...of course I don't really have any photo editing software worth talking about so this will have to do for now...


Enjoy!
Heather

C'est l'Hallowe'en?

As I was sitting here thinking about Hallowe'en and how much work I have to do to get ready for my favourite time a song from my French Immersion days popped into my head. Did any of you have the thrill of singing C'est l'Halloween? I found a U-tube video that plays the song and shows the words so for a blast from the past go check it out!

Anyway, it is my FAVOURITE time of year...I love fall and I LOVE Halloween! So, it is always a pleasure to put things together for my workshops...we are getting ready for our next workshop on Oct 19th where we will be celebrating Hallowe'en! There is still room so sign your kiddies up and they can make these delightful goodies with the Creative Bug! They even get to choose between Frankie and Frankette! Such fun!The Frankie goodie boxes were inspired by the cards I made for our 7th Annual Haunt...here are my Frankies as they go marching! This idea has been inspired by many Stampin' Up! Demos as they get to know their new Big Shot Die Cutters...I did all my cutting on my Cricut with my Accent Essentials cartridge (boy do I ever love that cartridge!)

The last thing I have to share with you wasn't intended for Hallowe'en but I thought you would appreciate it anyway. Some of you may recall my DD needed a treasure box for her Special Helper Day last year well, now my DS is in JK and it was his turn! Well, I like to think that each one of my children is unique and we can have some fun playing on their favourite things...so here is Sean's Treasure box...


What do you think? He loved it! Of course it looks like a real treasure chest to him and he got to decorate it with different bits that I cut out on my Cricut with the Paper Dolls Cartridge (another one well worth buying!!!)

Enjoy!
Heather

TWD Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake

Well, I have to admit...I have been doing all the baking but am having trouble getting on-line to blog it! So, here I am 2 days late with my Brownie Cake that Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy chose from pages 264 and 265.

I am only posting this one photo as I am having trouble with lighting when I take photos and I also want to be quick...but there is a story that I must share. It goes something like this...
We went to visit DH's Granny on the Isle of Mann several years ago and she served us a Cream and Jam cake. It sounded like a lovely treat and as my DH took a bite his Granny asked him what he thought...his answer was "I really like the cream and jam part".

As I was serving this dish to my family and I took a bite of my burnt caramel...all I could think was "I really like the cake part..." Hmmm maybe I need to do a rewind on this one!!!

Please check out my fellow bloggers at Tuesday's with Dorie and check out their fabulous sweets!

Enjoy!
Heather