tuesday eats....for the love of orange

i am obsessed with pumpkins and squash once the cool weather starts to settle in. we have lots of frost advisories and chilly winds to keep me dreaming about cozy nights with a soft blanket and warm toasty fire and a little something sweet to munch on.

i love this recipe because i do not have to worry about having a pie crust in the freezer....still have not mastered rolling one of those out! i usually end up just patting it into the plate. this sweet also has a little bit of crunch on the top with the added pecans.

go ahead and try it. i would love to know what else you like to use pumpkin for.

pumpkin pie squares

crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter

filling:
2 cups of pumpkin puree
11 oz. evaporated milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves

topping:
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 T. butter

1. mix ingredients for the crust until crumbly. press into a 13x9 ungreased pan and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

2. combine filling ingredients and mix well. pour unto hot crust and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

3. combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over pumpkin filling. return to the oven and bake 15-20 minutes or until filling is set (may be a little jiggly).

miti thursday....make it, try it.....diy pencil pouch

our daughter is officially a kindergartener! so hard to believe. before i was actually ready to have kids, i used to think 'now is not the time, i am not ready to be the mom of a kindergartener.' i knew the years would go by so quickly and guess what..... i am still not ready.

 

 

a worked so hard on her little 'a'. she has so much to be proud of....as do i.

2 days into kindergarten and this girl has mastered the monkey bars and mentioned that her pencil pouch no longer zips. that stinks. so, i thought that i could do a better job creating one with fabric i already had and well.....it only took 2 tries!!! the first one turned out perfect. she would have been set except for the fact that it was small...too small for the many things she needs to tote with her between classrooms. so, brother gets a little one and i went back to sewing and a got this one.

i love it!! especially the inside. the fabric is so right for a little school girl.

if you want to try making your own, i loosely followed the pictures on this site. come on! you can do it.

tuesday eats..chocolate chip lava cookies

it is a whirlwind around here but there is always time to try a new treat. these cookies are so good and so rich. i dare you to try them!

 

the photo and recipe are from kevin and amanda. she walks you through the entire process. i think i actually loved them a little more the next day just eaten from the counter. i also think that the next time i will try baking them in a mini muffin tin. i may just be able to control myself a little more then. but, then again, i am also thinking maybe chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter..ummm!

early june

everything about june seems like a complete blur. we started the summer by picking strawberries or what few there were after the warm spring followed by cold.

we then booked it on up to the farm for the dairy breakfast. it was a long line and a hot day but well worth it.

i am totally jealous of how close these kids are.

lots and lots of hot boiling days has meant lots of time spent at the beach. h loves to go out until just his tippy toes barely keep him above the water while he bounces. and, a loves to swim more than the fishes.

we then travelled home for a family fun night with the coolest face and arm painters! and, a few karate moves! watch out.

and, that was not even half of june!! can you tell why it is taking me so long to post?

too hard to believe

welcome to summer!

a long time ago, my daughter stepped off the bus for the last time as a 4ker. she is now an official kindergartner!!

we all worked hard (to not eat the m&ms and dough:)) and made all the kids monster cookies and topped them with a's favortie characters.



then h and i sent a off on the bus in the morning and continued all our hard work to make up a few of these water balloons!!

he totally looks like he doesn't have anything up his sleeves. ha! just come a little closer.

it was a great way to welcome in summer and surprise the girl as she got off the bus.

dino hoodie diy

this is so easy peasy but creates such smiles. h loves to wear his spikey jacket.





my mom had gotten h a thrifted hoodie and a has a friend whose gramma knit him a dinosaur hoodie sweater with spikes. i am definitely not that talented with hooks and needles and yarn and i wanted to use something we are already had.

we took some felt and folded it and drew triangles on the fold and cut out. if you unfolded it, it would look like a diamond. once you get enough of these line them up down the center of the hood and jacket and stitch them on with a straight line down the middle of the diamonds stopping halfway to make a little stitch crosswise. just lift your presser foot and turn. do a 2-3 stitches forwards and backwards (this will help it stand up like a spike). once they are all stitched on go back and stitch the triangles together. the beauty of felt is that the edges will not fray and you do not have to worry about finishing them.

mr. h-a-saurus or huds-o-rex is ready to roll and stomp through the neighborhood. ...... bringing terror wherever he goes.

try giving your dino an official name. in the words of amelia bedilia "if your last name is Saurus, you must be a dinosaur."

now, i am off to figure out how to stitch a unicorn hoodie. i am thinking more felt and some yarn....

1 thing i {{heart}} sunday

it's teacher appreciation week!! woot woot! there are some pretty fine teachers in my little girl's life and we baked up some homemade goodies for them and packaged with a sweet little note which you can easily create yourself or download here.

we made our cookie sleeves out of patterned paper but, i think this would be so cute in a cellophane bag with the labels printed on sticker paper and used to seal the sleeve.

wishing

image from http://blog.zerodean.com/2012/motivational-images/dont-wish-away-your-days/

we have been in full throttle mode. there never seems to be time to slow down as there is nothing i want to miss out on. i almost think that this feeling is 10x worse for a kid. we have been busy visiting the farm, riding bikes, having playdates, visiting the other gramma and grampa, getting used to daddy's new schedule, playing tractors, riding in tractors...... there is so much that i wish for. most importantly happiness and contentedness. i need to know that my kids are happy, paul and i are happy, and that what we do and are doing will only add to that.

all are now sporting new superhero capes. i found a tutorial from Lara here. i tweaked it a little to make them wider at the top and bottom. their superpowers have not totally gone to their heads! not totally!

there are plenty of big wheels to ride in and to spy from.

that sneaky bunny seemed to pop up lots of places and was able to find us even though we were not home. he even left us surprises at the nursing home with great gramma. a won the second prize and now has a new pink bunny.

just wishing and playing and loving. need i say more.

diy color my headphones

my girl will be rocking 4k with her new headphones. this project totally took me back to my tween era. and, even though the school is well over halfway done, it is nice to have a small surprise to brighten the long stretch to the end.

elizabeth at contemporary farm girl walks you through the whole process. the only differences i made were to use crochet thread and to skip taping the one inch thread to the wire before adding another strand of thread. just think of all the color combos.....rainbows, stripes, school colors, seasonal... let me know if you try this. i would love to see the finished product.

you're so fine

spring!! you're so fine. you blow my mind!!! hey, spring!

can you believe this weather and all the gorgeous days we have had. technically, the calendar says that it is still winter but the thermometer is reading in the 80s.  i kind of have the feeling that wisconsin likes to skip spring and fall and go right to the hots and colds of the next season.

h has been doing his fair share of digging and i am sure that i will see lots of these wiggly creatures coming my way all summer long. he has also found a frog already and we can hear the peepers in the fields. h is big on the where?? so, i need to explain that i hear them. i do not see them. he definitely likes visuals. he also likes to make plans. 'that's my plan!'

after our trip, we headed to gramma and grampa's for the weekend. i will definitely be playing catch-up for longer than anticipated. the kids got all the costumes out and we found squirt bottles for all....because when one has something, they all need one. they hid them really well for a moment and then bursted out with joy that uncle was coming closer but still way out of range and started squirting away.

the cousins enjoyed having all the attention.

of course, there was some work involved in the visit. grampa wanted help pulling line fence out on the new farm. we did get "some" work done but we also took the time to fly kites in the warm sun and wind.

i am thinking that this might just be in the lamb of march. ummmm.

sneaky little one

a and h had an awesome day searching out all the tricks and treats that sneaky little leprechan left for them. for some reason even the milk was green and there was fruity cereal on their chairs. after they followed all the clues they also found jelly beans outside.

we need more little surprise days.

st patty's day fun

i just found the crafting chicks and have been all over the site. so many great ideas. for st. patty's day, jamie posted a treause hunt with these adorable for personal use printable clues. check out their site here. 

jessekate designs also has a fun treasure hunt with a twist. check out her site here.

the crafting shicks also featured these cool printables for an awesome teacher. they also have a notecard that you can fill in 'Lucky to have you because...' i think this would be a totally unexpected surprise for a neighbor left on their doorstep with a treat.

can't wait to surprise my two littles with the sneaky little guy that has been turning things green all over town. he got the donuts at the supermarket already and the neighbors front door with a st. patty's day sign. i wonder where he will strike again!

it is totally a first

we did it!! 1 husband, 2 kiddos, 1500 miles (one way), and lots of excitement!!! could you do it? i must say roadtripping with kids was not high on my list but, it went really smoothly and we really enjoyed eachother and all there was to see in the daylight hours.



these kids had all the comforts of home right in the car. i totally think that we overpacked! but, to be fair, we only had a 4 days notice that we were going on vacation!!! so, super excited me packed really hastily in hopes that i was not forgetting anything. and low and behold, things were forgotten but, not important.

we passed through 7 states. seeing our name in big bold letters was ever sooo cool for mr. h.

we ended up stopping for the night twice on the way down. the second day we stopped at high falls for lunch just south of atlanta. it was the perfect weather for a picnic lunch and stroll to stretch our legs. h also helped the rangers by gathering sticks into a pile.

when i see this photo, i immediatley think how fast she is growing and how independent she will be shortly.

i wish we would have taken more on the road photos and/or had more time to explore some of the other parks along the way. tennessee was full of them and the mountains made for a gorgeous background with added waterfalls from thawing water running along the highway.

h is checking out our first florida morning as we made it halfway down the second day.

see...still smiles after 1500 miles! we made it to a wonderful home away for the week.

such an awesome house and such a great way to relax.

ava and hudson got right down to business and donned their swimsuits and caught a fish in like 5 minutes!

3 hours later we got to watch our first florida sunset over the bay.

the next day, we visited john pennekamp park. we did some beachcombing and water scouting and then headed out for a glass bottom boat road. never again. well, maybe if i take the drugs. they warned us about getting seasick and planes, carrides, lakes, etc. do not bother me so, i thought nothing of 3 foot waves.....until we got out there and then i wanted nothing but to return to land. a and i spent most of the time on the top deck. h and daddy viewed the bottom of the ocean from inside. i swear nothing phases that boy. sorry no cool fish and coral photos from me that day.

the next day we plopped our wisconsin butts down at harry harris beach. a totally free beach during the week. right away when we got there we spotted a crab in the water and when he had not moved after we came back from exploring we thought he might have been dead. surprise on us. 20 minutes after allowing h to carry from up and down the shore i heard "yikes! he, tried to pinch me." what a stinker and lesson.

the next day we headed almost all the way down the keys to bahia honda park. absolutely my favorite. perfect sand for building a castle, a little warmer water, and lots of paths and wildlife to explore. we walked all the way out on the bridge over the water. amazing how far up you are and that it was constructed in the early 1900s. across the gap you can see the other part of the bridge that is deteriorating from the elements.

the altantic side of the park was completely different. the waves were much rougher but, it would be the ideal spot to read a book. i just needed an adirondak chair to sit in.

 along with the jellfish that swam with us all day. we saw these 2 splashing about in the bay. 2 mantees! i wish i would have gotten a better picture but, h was travelling the other day. they are big!

 all i can say is ahhhh. we so enjoyed ourselves and our getaway. it was truly a blessing to spend this time together.

ps. on the way, almost anything goes including giant sugar icy slushies from a gas station. i cannot believe how quickly they sucked those things down. we came back to a lot of snow but, thankfully our neighbor had taken care of our driveway and this week the snow is all gone and the temperatures are hitting the 60s. spring here we come?