Bib = Cape?

Just took off his bib in the middle of dinner.

He's hated bibs since he first started on solids at 5 months. He's now going on 10 months. Now I know why....his bib is a cape! His superpowers include yelling at the top of his lungs and then magically getting his way. :-)

Have a great weekend! What's your Friday Funny from the week?

8 Lines...

I'm linking up with Mama Kat's writer's workshop today thanks to Mrs. H.  

My favorite things right now are lack luster tv programs, like reality tv, wine and coffee.  It used to be reading, but I prefer to read a book in a week and not a month, but I'm gonna try it anyway.

I need to add exercising in my favorite things somewhere. We all know its important to look great for the holidays and I'm still not where I want to be yet.

My current dislikes are know-it-alls. One person cannot possibly have all the answers, not to mention everything or every theory does not apply to everyone. Oh, throw copy cats in there too.

I really hope that this year's Texas winter will be nice to us. Prove to us that the 'south' really is better! :-) Really, I know anything this we have will be better than what we'd get in the midwest.

This was at our exit to our house. Texas gets some STRONG winds.

I take my almost 2-yr old to preschool now. I love dropping him off and watching him say 'bye'  to me, especially when the whole month of September involved crying at drop-off time.

He is like a completely different person, since going to his part-time preschool.  My heart flutters every time I watch his exuberance with people and playmates. I have this feeling whenever I look at old newborn/baby photos and I know this feeling just gets better as he and his brother get older.

I used to be really excited about growing my hair really long, but I'm taking a break. Maybe the break from my excitement will be what the hair doctor ordered.

I really need to make a Christmas list and start my Christmas shopping! Its November already! Can you believe it?!?

Trick or Treat!

We had another busy weekend....having fun and spending time with family. We also took family pictures at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens and the photos are going to be soooo fabulous. (we took a few on some rocks in the middle of a stream --- my kinda shots!)

I was excited about Halloween, then changed my mind after having such an exhausting weekend, but we still managed some trick or treating.

This was just one house! Our neighborhood's decor really goes hard!

Headed out....

Wasn't too sure about it, but he was a good sport.

They enjoyed the noise the candy wrappers make, lol.

We didn't dress up this year because...well we were just too tired. We had a long weekend and unexpectedly ended up hanging out with friends all night on Saturday and with a different set of friends on Sunday. There's always next year I guess.
Right now, house parties are our thing having just moved to a new area with babies and all. :-) Hope you all had a great and busy Halloween weekend as well!

PROJECT PINK: Breast Cancer Awareness Month

In honor of Marilyn's Project Pink, I'm honoring a breast cancer survivor close to me.
My grandmother, who is currently 97 years old, has had issues with lumps for 20 years, but it was just 3-4 years ago when she had to undergo a mastectomy.
Yep, at 93 she had one of her breasts removed. The surgery was of course scary to all of our family and church members, but my faith was stronger than my fear! Truely.
My grandmother was scared though...and she has rarely shown fear and sadness in all my 29 years of living. :-)
We knew the odds of a patient at her age undergoing such a surgery and surviving with any recurring problems was slim.......but that is exactly what happened. All of her follow up visits as well as her recovery have been smooth sailing.
 Of course she still has some pain but that's nothing compared to cancer. Faith and prayer without worrying does wonders.
I still remember telling her after her surgery, while she was still in her hospital bed, that the next time we'd be going to a hospital will be because of me giving birth. That was my way of calming her nerves (though she got teary-eyed with worry, since her sister died of cancer 20+ years ago) and speaking into existence her being alive to see her great-grand children.
I'm VERY close to my grandma and so proud and lucky to have her!
Whenever I get the chance, I donate....but I'd like to find a "Run for Breast Cancer" in my area.


Do you know anyone effected by breast cancer? Share your story on Marilyn's page.

Pin-Inspirational Thursday...Mini Pumpkin Bundt Cakes

Today, I'm linking up with Marilyn, over at The ArtsyGirl Connection. She gave my Mini Strawberry Pizza Cookies lots of love. Yay, thanks Marilyn!!!  They truly ARE delicious. :-) Right now, my crafts are food....because I'm preparing for holiday feasts and [holiday] friends parties. Not to mention, food is fun to me. My pin-inspirational item are chocolate mini bundt cakes, with 2 put together to make a pumpkin.

How I Made Them:

I added 2 oz. of cream cheese to a boxed chocolate cake mix and poured them in my mini bundt cake pan.
For the topping: I melted 2 squares of Maker's Mark Semi-Sweet chocolate and mixed it with a little milk and that was it. Oh...and for the 'pumpkin' look, I used a pecan as the stem garnish. These were definitely tasty and the cream cheese made the cakes extra moist.

I like the mini bundt cake pan because when making 'mini cakes' (like pineapple upside down) you can keep the size contained. And you don't need cupcake liners. At parties, people can literally take them and eat them like a donut. Plus...bundt cakes pans are just cute. But....you cannot successfully use regular icing if you're not a professional <---my original Fall Crawl craft gone bad.


Do you have any pinterest inspired recipes or items? If so, what? Well, then link them up at Marilyn's here!

Later Lovelies!!!

One of Those Weeks.... & Halloween Costume Ideas???

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you are so busy that you have NO time for anything? Yes...no? Well, I have ---- this past week and maybe a couple weeks before this last one, I literally have been busy all day and every day. I don't even know with what because I haven't done any fall cleaning nor early Christmas shopping. Its just been one of those weeks.

Tomorrow, my tot's preschool will have a mini costume parade and I'm going to volunteer for that. I 'm soooo excited! These little tots are sooo cute, even with all the extra work, stress and patience they cause. Right now, I'm in the stage of more unnecessary and ridiculous tantrums and being told "no" a lot. Sigh....is all that I do. I think I may start drinking a glass of wine every night and

Sidenote: in my down time, I catch up on my guilty pleasure shows....so though I'm busy, I still get my laughs in.

Halloween Costume Ideas????

So for Halloween, we're dressing our boys up as little puppy dogs! The costume suits are really cute...but now my husband and I don't know what to be. He wanted to dress like a bag of dog food, but I really don't know what to dress as. I'll come up with something I guess.

What are you guys going to be for Halloween? Are you dressing as a family or having your own separate costumes?

Pinspiration Food - Mini Strawberry Pizza Cookies

My Strawberry Cookies!

 
This is my first time being apart of a group called MOPS - Moms of Preschoolers. So far, its been fun and kind of cool getting to know other 'new' or recently 'new' stay at home or part-time working moms in the area.
We meet every other week for 2.5 hrs and have a big group meeting that includes breakfast, crafts, speakers and childcare.
Both boys love the childcare, so that makes me okay with being apart of it.
Anyway, it was my mini-group's turn to bring breakfast and we all signed up for a dish. I decided to bring 'fruit.'
I didn't want to do traditional fruit, because every time we have a meeting the ladies from other mini-groups bring delicious meals...not so breakfasty. Like one mom brought oreo cheesecake cupcakes. Soooo delicious and so not cool!
It was so good, I wanted to lick my cupcake liner! They looked similar to the below photo, but with the cookie at the bottom.
Having the cookie on the bottom made it just that much better, because the cheesecake filling softened the cookie, just enough to make it perfect! I can't wait to make these during the holidays.

Anyway, I saw mini fruit pizzas on pinterest and decided to do the same instead taking the same ol' boring fruit tray. Here's my version.....

My husband claims this is the best cookie he's ever had! :-)

I made 24 cookies and separated the layers with wax paper. Needless to say...my dish was empty! :-)

Directions:
Bake Pillsbury sugar cookies according to package. Next, make cream cheese filling by combining 1/2 cup of heavy cream with 1/2 block cream cheese  with your hand mixer. Then, add 1/4 or 1/3 cup (to taste) of granulated sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla and mix. Spread a thin layer of the cream cheese mixture on room temperature cookies and add your fruit of choice, sliced. My kid loves blueberries and strawberries so that's the fruit we keep on hand weekly. Voila, enjoy!

Use the leftover filling for more cookies, as fruit dip or bagel spread, which is my favorite!

*My cookies sat in the fridge overnight and I think I may prefer them this way. The cream cheese softened the cookies just enough and all the flavors (cream cheese mixture, strawberries and cookies) softly meshed perfectly. These things are addictive.


These are a MUST TRY! I promise you won't be disappointed. Let me know how yours turn out!

**the portions for the cream cheese mixture was actually enough for 48 cookies, so you may want to make half of what I suggested if just making one 24 package. I had to make some for the hubs and fam.....plus I wanted some more too.  :-)