Happy Halloween From Our Family Characters!

Happy Halloween from me and all the characters in our family!  And let me tell you, our family is full of little costumed characters excited to go trick-or-treating this evening!  

 

I'm down at Doc Holiday cottage this week to spend time with two little princesses.  Yesterday we had a class party and the children trick-or-treated at a nearby nursing home.

 

Ella dressed as her current crush, Rapunzel aka Tangled.

 

 

 Little sister Charlotte was dressed as Belle from Beauty and the Beast.   She is just beginning to learn about princess power and it was fun to watch her transform into princess mode---she felt so beautiful dressed in her gown and crown!  Her GG decided to go royal too!

If the crown fits, wear it!  Right?

 

Their mom (my daughter) Kristen is the room mother so she organized the party.

 

 

All the kids loved the goodies provided by the parents and the plastic creepy crawlies decorating the party tables!

Now that we are all warmed up, we are ready for the Big Event tonight--candy here we come!  It's good to be a princess :)

 

 

What are you and yours doing tonight?  Are any characters you know dressing up?

Be safe out there and Happy Halloween!

Something For My Favorite Peeps!

Hop on over for a fun, quick Easter treat!  I thought it was time to "practice what I pin"--on Pinterest, that is.  I'm short on time but I wanted to have something fun for the kiddos this weekend so I went searching through my Easter Pinterest board for something E-A-S-Y.

 This was perfect:  Peeps Pops!

To make them you need:

Bunny Peeps, lollipop sticks, chocolate and/or vanilla coating,  candy sprinkles

 I wanted to display them in an Easter basket so I am using one I already had and I bought a piece of styrofoam and some Easter grass.  I also bought some plastic bags to wrap each one individually (bottom right) but I decided to save them for another project.

Here's what I did:

Cut the styrofoam to fit snugly in the bottom of the basket.  I cut the corners of the rectangle and pressed it down to the bottom of the basket--it should be tight.  Then I covered the inside of the basket with grass and set it aside for later.

 

Separate the marshmellow bunny Peeps and then spear each one with a lollipop stick from the bottom to the top.  I pushed the stick in as far as it could go without coming through at the top.

 

Melt the candy coating following the directions on the packaging.  I used the microwave option.

 Dip each bunny peep into the melted candy coating and swirl it to completely cover.  I then tapped the stick gently on the edge of the bowl so the excess coating would drip off.  

 Then quickly sprinkle your choice of candy sprinkles on the wet coating and 

place it on wax paper to dry. 

Once the bunnies were dry I arranged them in the Easter basket by sticking them in the styrofoam.  Nice and easy!  All I am saying is give Peeps a chance (tee hee)!  See you next week with more of the beach cottage for a buck renovation project!

Happy Easter everyone!  He is risen!

A Special Day--Are You Curious?

Hi there and Happy St. Patrick's Day!   If you were checking by to see the beach cottage we bought for a dollar, here's the link for later, but why don't you stay for a moment and meet my family?

In my never-to-be humble opinion, I have the best grandchildren ever.  Seriously.  Recently we celebrated Ella's 3rd birthday--Curious George, her favorite.  Everyone went crazy over the cupcakes my daughter Kristen made for her pre-school party.  They were fairly quick and simple to make (my favorite kind) so I thought I'd share a picture or two with you just in case you know any Curious George fans.

Just make a cupcake with chocolate icing and use vanilla wafers to make the ears and face parts.  Red icing for the mouth and black icing for the nostrils and eyes.  Done! 

 (Kristen's planned trip to the grocery store the night before the party was derailed when she learned her husband had to work late at the hospital.  So she used a cake mix and made chocolate ganache icing from things she already had in the pantry--resourceful girl!)

Just before writing this post I came across another Curious George party on Amy Atlas' party blog.  It was very elaborate and fancy.

 

Now I love a fancy party but they can be expensive and time-consuming and small children will have no more fun at them than at a simple party.  It's more for the adults to enjoy.  

This has been an incredibly busy year for Kristen with moving, having a baby, her husband starting his residency, and her beginning to telecommute to work at her job.  There will be other years when it is fun to be fancy but I think she made the wise decision to keep it simple this time 'cause...

 

Fancy isn't Fun when Mama is all Fretful and Fussed!

This is a totally thrilled 3 year old blowing out her own candles!

Daddy surprised her by getting permission from his residency director to come to the party for a while--it was a highlight for Ella who is quite a Daddy's girl!

The birthday girl felt celebrated, special, and loved!  Now that's how birthdays should be!