Trick or Treat

So, I missed my evening college class (sorry Mrs. Barham) so I could take the Bub and Livi trick or treating! I dressed Bub as the classic "Chucky" which he couldn't have done if he was any older and Livi was a little girl pirate.

I was a little sad that zombie and michael couldn't be there like last year and the year before...

Making Cake Pops

So, the cake pops turned out pretty darn good. Or at least Noah and Olivia thought so! :)

Here's the directions for the cake pops! Now, this was my first time, so I'm sure there's more tricks to them, but here's the general idea.

Ingredients:
Cake mix of your choice (I used the Pillsbury confetti kind)
Frosting of your choice (I used white cream cheese frosting)
Candy toppings (sprinkles, candy eyes, jelly beans, etc)
Pre-Colored Candy Melts (you can get at hobby lobby) or Almond Bark (if using Almond bark, use gel or powdered food coloring)
Shortening
Sucker Sticks

Bake your cake according to the package and let it cool. If you get antsy and want to hurry the cooling process up, just put your cake in the fridge or freezer. Once it's cooled, break the cake up into crumbs (really get it crumby!!).

Add about 1/4 of frosting. I found this was all I needed to make the cake moist enough and still give it a sweetness. Mix until cake is pliable enough to kneed, but not stick to your hands.

Mold your mix into any shape you want. I really like the cupcake shape, which I used a flower cookie cutter and balled it up on top to create the "cupcake" shape. For more info on shaping a cupcake...click here. For information on halloween pops, click here.

Mold your cake pops and set them on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer.

Melt your almond bark over a double burner (add shortning if needed) and keep double boiler on for other colored chocolate.

Take the pops out of the freezer, dip the stick in the hot almond bark) and insert into the bottom of the cake (go about half way in). Refreeze.

Once frozen, dip cake pop into desired hot almond bark chocolate and place right side up in starifoam or grab an empty pop holder during halloween at walmart. Use M&Ms, jelly beans, candy eyes, sprinkles, etc to decorate with. Just remember to apply them while the almond bark is still wet! Bakerella has some wonderful ideas, so click here to see more!

I used halloween bags and ribbon to finish it all off. It went over great at daycare!

"Yummy, yummy mommy!!!"

Too fast

It's amazing how quickly time is going. It seems like with school, work, the business, and everything else in between, I am starting to feel like I can't keep my head above water. It seems like when I get one thing finished, three more things pop up. This past week while I was off, I was trying to get some samples together for a local school. I signed up for an ETSY account and messed around, but I never really accomplished anything despite all the time I put into it. Here's just one of the few samples I have been working on...

 I didn't do my school work because I was so busy with that, so right now, two days before my stuff is due, I'm still struggling to get it done. Why am I blogging with all this going on you might ask? Well, I've got to get it out somehow!! One day, I'll look back when all this is over with and laugh at everything I wrote. I'm so glad I have my Dusty. I told him yesterday how I was starting to feel really overwhelmed and stressed and he listened to me and made me feel so much better by saying he was there for me and that he understood. I don't know what I'd do without him. I'm sorry to be a Downer Debbie, but it's just that way right now. When I work my long week and have school at the same time, it really gets to me. Plus my long week doesn't allow me to spend time with my family like I'd like to because it's pretty much sleep, work, sleep, day off, school, work, sleep, work....you get the picture.

Last week, I also practiced making "cake pops" for Noah's Halloween Party tomorrow. I hate that I didn't take pictures, but they didn't come out that great. They were cute tho. I'm glad I practiced before the real thing because I figured out a few tricks in the process. I'm planning on taking a nap after work and then getting up to work on them (as well as finish my school work, go to a fall festival, and spend time with the family.

Another thing about working and going to school is that I feel like I'm missing out on my babies growing up. Noah is just getting so big. I was getting ready for work and had put on Toy Story 3 for him at his request might I add, and I laid down on his couch with him and just watched his little eyes light up from amusement. If you have kids and have watched Toy Story, you know that there is a pig character and in this movie, they call him "Pork Chop". It was so funny, he pointed and said, "That pork chop!!!" when the pig came onto the screen. I just got to thinking while I was watching him that he used to be a little jelly bean in my tummy and now, in front of my eyes, he's grown into a big boy. Every day he comes up with some new word or a funny way of dancing and I'm just amazed at what Dustin and I created. Not just Noah, but Olivia too. I'm not meaning to talk more about him, but it's just that he's at that stage where he's figuring things out and is coming up with stuff on his own that is just incredible. Just amazing.

Daycare Pictures

So, the daycare that Olivia and Noah go to takes pictures every fall. Noah took some really great ones, but I can't say that Livi took good ones. Apparently she was a sick that day and had also been crying before the picture. I hope this isn't the beginning of bad picture taking. :( The ones of Livi from last year were not that great either, so it's not looking so good.

 

 

Silly Face

Olivia can make some really silly faces. One of my favorites is the one that her daddy did when his mom took his picture when he was a little boy about Olivia's age. She squints her eyes and scrunches her nose and puts her front teeth over her lips. So CUTE! But for some reason, I can not get a picture of it. Here's one that is close tho. 

Pumpkin Fun

So, after the kids got home from school I brought out the paint and markers so the kids could decorate their pumpkins finally. It seemed like Noah had more fun drawing on his paint plate than on the pumpkin itself. He also had more fun painting on himself!!

 

The pumpkin painting lasted all of ten minutes, but it was fun none the less. :)

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Yesterday was so much fun. We hadn't planned on going to the pumpkin patch, we were just getting out of the house, but our car somehow took us to the Moore Pumpkin Patch in Bullard. It was a lot of fun. We got to go on a hayride, pick our own pumpkins, and have fun on the farm! The whole family had tons of fun! There were just too many pictures, so I made a slideshow.

"Pumpkin Patch Fun"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Here's a few of my favorite pics!!