A Turkey-lurkey Craft

Last year we made these turkeys with apples as the body. But this year I came up with an option that the kids will actually eat!


Using a pumpkin-chocolate chip muffin as the body we decorate using toothpicks, and whatever candy you can find! I bought a bag of "peach rings" from Target and that seemed to make a good face. Used frosting to "glue" on chocolate chip eyes. I've never found anything that works as well as candy corn for the gobbler. Little marshmallows would work well for the feathers too.

Pumpkin Muffins
1 2/3 c flour (I do 1 c white +2/3c whole wheat flour)
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c pumpkin
½ c melted butter (I do 1/4 c butter + 1/4 c applesauce)
½ tsp almond extract (add last) (I usually just use vanilla extract)
1 Tbl. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 c chocolate chips(last)

Mix wet and dry separately then add together.
Put in muffin tins.
Bake at 350° for 20-25 mins.

Enjoy!!! I always double or triple it...it goes fast!

I'm heading into Hayley's first grade class next week to make these the day before they take off a couple days for Thanksgiving. Yum! Yum!

Good timing for gratitude

Maybe it's fitting that I have a lesson in gratitude the week before Thanksgiving. Tonight I find myself exceedingly grateful for the loads of laundry that I washed, folded and put away today.


Our washing machine up and quit several days ago and I had thought I'd be at the laundr-o-mat today doing loads of laundry. But no, I got to leisurely put them through cycles then fold them on my bed while I watched the news.

Thanks must go to my fabulous husband who managed to diagnose the problem and fix it for $30 instead of the $100's we were dreading having to spend on a new machine!

I just don't hear myself saying it often, so listen up...hurray for laundry!

Now, I find myself walking around my house feeling grateful for every appliance that makes my life easier (and hoping nothing else brakes!)

Welcome to the Emergency Room Club!

Well...it finally happened: our official welcome to the parents of the emergency room. After 6 1/2 years in the child-rearing business we made our first trip to the emergency room for a broken bone yesterday. And not completely surprisingly, Alice that was the little one that thought it was time for our induction!

Thankfully, it wasn't one of those moments of panic that sent us speeding down the road to the ER. No, we decided to think about it for a night first. Just to warm up to the idea.

Alice fell down the stairs on Thursday evening. I was somewhat surprised that it was such an innocent event. Just an accident--a trip. Not a daring leap from the counter or some other ridiculous stunt. Alice still doesn't talk, so with lots of shaking her head "yes" and "no" we decided she had pulled a muscle in her neck. She laid flat and completely still and didn't want anyone to touch her all evening (very strange...and somewhat nice...this kid never holds still!) By Friday morning she was still in a lot of pain so we thought we'd better get some x-rays just to be sure. So, we leisurely farmed Maya out to play with friends (thanks Alicia!), found someone to pick up Hayley from school later (thanks Becky!) and waited for Ryan to come home from work before we began our adventure at the ER.

After some painful examinations and x-rays the determination was a broken collar bone. The doctor assured us that this was a good bone to break--it heals quickly and cleanly. No casts. Just pain for a week or so. We have a cute little sling but of course that is a little too confining so she mostly just holds her arm by her side. We're happy that she's at least off the couch and moving around and hoping we don't have to grace the halls of the ER anytime soon again!

1st Grader '09-'10

Here's the official school picture. She is 6 1/2 years old.

We're so happy to be Hayley's parents! It's so fun to watch her grow and learn and mature. She is loving school for both education and social reasons. She's a natural little social butterfly that is just friends with everyone and is still our little sponge that wants to learn and understand all that she can. What a fun age!

Halloween-ing 2009

I tried to fully appreciate how stress-free Halloween costumes were around here this year! I know that one day that is going to change but for now--kids look at costumes at the store but they don't even think to buy them let alone beg for them. They don't even ask me to make elaborate costumes the night before. They simply go to their dress up closet an hour before trick or treating begins and choose something to wear.

These are our two Dorothy's from the Wizard of Oz--with their favorite stuffed dogs dressed up as Toto.

Maya had thought she was going to be a princess (no lack of options in the closet for that) but then Hayley chose to wear the little school uniform dress that G&G T sent her (she actually wears it to school all the time and people always tell her she looks like Dorothy). She managed to convince Maya to dress up as Dorothy also. Only Maya decided she didn't want to wear the school uniform dress that actually looks like a Dorothy dress. She wore a different blue and white dress because it had little flowers on it--so she really wasn't "dressed up" at all. But the important thing is they both thought they were Dorothy!

And with matching pink sparkly shoes that dressed up as ruby red slippers we and our imaginations went trick-or-treating!


This little bug just happened to fit into a pumpkin fairy outfit that I had bought in post Halloween clearance sales several years ago. It just hasn't fit anyone at the right time of year yet. She was a cutie and learned the rules of trick or treating really fast!

This is the double-sucker suck! Inhale that sugar!!!

The loot...this picture doesn't do it justice. We did one drop part way through trick-or-treating to empty buckets at home. Then by the time we were done I had to help Maya carry her bucket it was so heavy. She just about stumbled every time she took it to go up to another door. Time to go home!