Last Minute Halloween Costume

For E-man's first three halloween's, I went to the costume store and bought him the cutest costume I could find. But this year he has opinions. He wants to be Wow Wow Wubzy. We went to several stores in search of this costume, but none of them fit him. So I get to make it myself.


The first idea was to find a yellow pillow case and cut a whole in the top, then paste on eyes, nose, mouth and a tail. But believe it or not, a yellow pillow case is hard to find. I did find one full sheet set for $50 at target but didn't think it was worth the money just so I could tear apart the pillow case.

I was almost ready to give up when I came across a bright yellow towel on sale for $4. Sewed up the side, sewed on a velcro opening in on the top, painted on some eyes, nose and mouth and my son's eyes lit up as he declaired it, "Wow Wow Wubzy."

Now I just have to go to the .99 cent store and see if I can find one of these Slinky Pop Toob for a tail and he'll be all set for the parade on Monday. If I'm feeling really creative between now and Monday, I'll also find some yellow gloves, socks, and a yellow hat with ears.

Lollipop Ghost

Every year at my daughter’s daycare/preschool they have a Halloween party.  I usually spend about $50.00 buying candy and baggies to put the candy in for her to pass out.  This year I decided to save a ton of money and do something my daughter would think was fun.  

So we are making Lollipop Ghost for her to pass out to her friends instead.  Not only did she think this was fun but as we were making them she started telling me who they were all for.  She is so excited to give these too her friends.  I just love how proud she gets when she makes something herself.  And to be able to show all her friends what she made is just icing on the cake. 

So if you have a little one that needs to pass out candy for a Halloween party you might want to try doing these.  They are cute, cheap, and easy to make what more do you need?

Supplies

Lollipop’s (I used blowpops)

Tissue Paper

Ribbon

Black marker

Directions

 Put your lollipop in the center of your tissue paper

Pull the ends of the tissue paper up around the lollipop and then tie ribbon around the top for neck.

 Using the black marker make a face on it to make your Ghost.

We still have a lot more to make but she is super excited and proud already.  I wish I could be there when she passes them out, I know she will have a huge smile on her face.

Sweet Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I personally have never even tried a pumpkin seed.  My husband on the other hand use to have them every year.  So this year I decided to give roasting them a try.  When I looked up how to roast pumpkin seeds I found some pretty good recipes, but I wanted to try and make them sweet.  I guess I had a bit of a sweet tooth that day.  So I decided to use cinnamon and sugar as my spices instead of salt.

Supplies

1 cup Pumpkin Seeds

4 tbs sugar

4 tsp cinnamon

1 tbs butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

My daughters getting our seeds

 First you need to get your seeds and clean them.   

  Make sure they are dry (I used a paper towel to dry them off).

I also hate messes so I put tinfoil on my baking sheet and sprayed with cooking spray.

 Now melt your butter in the microwave for about 30sec.  Once melted pour seeds in bowl and stir to coat them with the butter.

  Mix cinnamon and sugar together.  Spread seeds onto baking sheet then sprinkle with your cinnamon sugar mixture.

 Bake seeds for 5min then stir and sprinkle seeds with more cinnamon sugar mixture.  Bake another 5min then sprinkle again.  Bake for 10min and let cool.

The finished seeds, not only do they look yummy but they smell AWESOME!

 I must say I am not a fan of Pumpkin seeds.  I thought the flavor was good, but I just did not like the texture of the seeds.  My hubs thought they were great.  He thinks the reason I did not like them is because I am also not a fan of sunflower seeds.  So I guess I am just not a seed person.  I will however continue to make these for the hubs since he liked them so much.  My daughter thought they were pretty good too, it was her first time ever having sweet roasted pumpkin seeds too.

Acorn Jack O Lantern

I think I have created a monster.  Every afternoon when my daughter gets home from preschool she is now asking what project we are going to do.  The other night I was tired and well not really in the mood to do a project.  But to the pleading of my 4yr old… “Please mommy, please!!”  I finally gave in.

So I sent her out to pick some Acorns (there were a few left that the squirrels had not taken). I saw a picture a while back (and I can’t remember where I saw it) of some Acorn Jack O Lantern’s and I thought that might be a cute project for us.

Supplies:

Acorns

Orange paint

Paint brushes

Black sharpie

Directions:

After getting all your Acorns, start by paining them orange.  We ended up doing about 3 coats of paint.

 Once your paint dries, use your sharpie to draw faces on your Jack O Lanterns.

Well this was a quick and easy project.  If you have younger children they would probably get a kick out of this one, but it is also fun for the older children too. 

I think these would be really cute to put around the table for a Halloween party.  Or a fun craft for the kids to do at the party, because it is great for all ages.  Hope you all have fun making these, we sure did.

Halloween Witches Finger Cookies

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I have wanted to make these Halloween Witches Finger Cookies for some time now.  I showed my husband a picture and he said he really wanted to bring some into work.  So the other night I recruited my daughter to help and we got to making some cookies.

I will say that making the dough was pretty quick and easy but forming all the fingers did take some time, however they tasted great and looked awesome so I think they were worth it.  And my husband said they were a hit at work so I guess we will have to make these again next Halloween.

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened	1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners’ sugar	1 tsp baking powder
1 egg	1 tsp salt
1 tsp almond extract	Sliced almonds
1 tsp vanilla extract	Strawberry jelly

Directions:

 Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a bow.  Beat together with electric mixer.

In a separate bowl add flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix together.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture while beating with electric mixer. 

Refrigerate 20 to 30 min.

(Don't be worried if the dough looks too dry and crumbly, that is how it should look)

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Lightly grease baking sheets

Remove dough from refrigerator in small amounts.  

 Roll the dough in your hands to make finger shapes. Pinch the “fingers” near the top and bottom to form knuckles.  Then press one end to form nail bed.

 Use a butter knife to make lines in the knuckles.  Press one almond slice in to the nail bed.

Bake in preheated oven 20 to 25 min or until slightly golden in color.

 Remove the almond and squeeze a small amount of strawberry jelly on to the nail bed, then replace almond.

 I served mine with more strawberry jelly to dip the fingers in.  But you don't have to do that.

Here is my taste tester checking to make sure they are edible.  Since she wanted seconds I would say that yes they were.

Preschool Word Game

My daughter started preschool this year and has been working on her letters, numbers, and reading among other things.  I like to try and work with her at home on some of these things to see where she is at and make sure she is learning what she needs to learn.  I know that learning all this stuff can be hard so I have been trying to make it more fun.

One of my daughter’s favorite games is matching.  So I thought I would go buy a matching game with words to help her learn to read.  Well I went to a few stores and checked online and no one had what I wanted so I decided to make my own game for her.  

I wanted a word match that matched the spelled word to a picture of the word.  Like a picture of a cat with the word CAT.  I thought this would be a great way for her to start learning about words.  We played the other night and to my surprise she picked up on the words pretty quick, and had fun playing the game.

I read (in my search for word games) that it is best to ONLY start with four new words at a time, so the first time you play only play with four of the words and matching pictures.  The next time you play if your child know remembers the first set of words add more to the mix, but only so there are no more than four words he/she does not know at a time.

How to play:

First print out the flash cards I made for the game here.  Then cut them out.

 Turn the cards upside down so you can’t see the words or pictures.

 Have your child pick two cards and see if they match.

If the child picks a card with a word, have them sound it out (you may need to help with this).  Till they can

read what it says.  Example: for CAT have them tell you the sound of each letter then try and put the sounds together till they can read CAT.

 If you do not find a match turn the cards over and try again.  Keep going till all matches are found.

We have had so much fun with this game and my daughter now knows many of the words by sight that I will for sure be making many more games to play, so keep a look out for more fun games for preschool children.

Macaroni & Cheese Casserole

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If you are like me then you find it hard to get your kids to eat right.  It seems like my daughter only wants pizza, hot dogs, and mac n cheese.  So I have been trying to find ways to get her to eat better without her knowing it.  Then I came across a recipe for a macaroni pie.  I did a bunch of tweaking and came up with the recipe below that my daughter not only ate but asked for seconds (now that just never happens).  And with my tweaks this recipe gives her whole grains, a protein, a vegetable, and of course dairy.  Not bad for a quick easy recipe and one that my daughter just LOVED!!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni (I used whole wheat)

4 cups shredded cheese (I used 3 cups cheddar and 1 cup jack)

1 cup cooked ham

1 ½ cups chopped broccoli (I chopped it up to pretty small pieces)

2 ½ cups milk

2 eggs

½ cup Bisquick

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon garlic powder

Directions

Heat oven to 400.  Spray a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray.

  In a large bowl, mix 2 cups of cheese, ham, chopped broccoli, and uncooked macaroni.  Spread in pan.

 In same bowl, mix milk, eggs, salt, garlic, and bisquick. Mix until smooth.

 Pour over mixture in pan. Spread remaining cheese on top.

 Back for 50 to 55 min or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.  Let stand 10min before serving.

Note:  Letting the dish sit for 10min will give it a chance to thicken up before serving.  

Here is my daughter making it all gone.  I don't even think she noticed the broccoli at all.