Trick or Treats?

I've always been a big chicken! I admit it! I can't help it! I hate to be scared and therefore I've always preferred the Mickey Mouse version of Halloween! That not so scary toddler version where Casper is the ghost and the Jack~O~Lanterns are all smiles!

Yep, that's meeeee~ CHICKEN!

This year we are spending our Halloween trick or treating with Jake & Laney and our neighbors! We will gather at our next door neighbors home for appetizers and ghoulish cocktails after we've made our way throughout our neighborhood tricking and well, ok, treating. Here are some of the "treats" I've decided to bring.

Mummy's Pizza
Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Puffs

You can get the recipe {Here}

Grave Yard Nachos
For this you can use a bone shaped cookie cutter!

Simply lay out your corn tortillas and start cutting!

In a frying pan, heat canola oil, once it's at the proper frying temp

gently add your tortilla chips and fry until golden brown!

Sprinkle with salt and gnaw away!

Dinosaurs, Ladybugs & Pumpkins, Oh My!

These beauties were purchased at Target for only $3.99 a piece

Last year we spent about $25.00 on pumpkins at a roadside pumpkin patch!

Halloween is a week away! And I have finally completed my little bug's ladybug costume for Halloween. I must say, I think it turned out pretty darn cute! And I think the converse tennies make the costume! They day after I finished it we decided to take Jake & Laney to a little Halloween event at our local mall. That morning I got them up, fed them breakfast and with all the enthusiasm I could muster up I talked about being a lady bug! And how pretty a ladybug Miss Laney would be. And the girl threw a fit! I have never seen her so hysterical!!!!!!!!!!!! She did NOT want to put that tutu on for anything. Let's just say that her crazy meltdown resulted in a time out in her crib where she continued her hysterics for a solid 5 minutes. Even tho she was alone. When I figured she'd had enough I went in and asked her if she was ready to try on her costume which she did with as much enthusiasm as a wet paper bag. I got it on her but only the leotard and the tutu. No anteni, wings or leggings. See...see how happy she is to be a ladybug?

The poor thing is trying to smile. I don't know what it was but she's a trooper and after a nice little nap she was ready to go! {Of course the discussion of a new barbie from the Disney Store may have helped}.

We loaded our Ladybug and our Dinosaur up in the car and headed for the mall. Upon our arrival Laney decided....once again....she didn't want to be a ladybug. But after a quick reminder about said Barbie she slipped her tutu on and headed into the mall! As we made our way through the crowded mall Miss Laney was met with "Hi cute ladybug" and "look how cute that ladybug is". Let me just tell you that turned it all around for my little ham {ahhhh that's what she should have been....} she was waving hello to any and everyone she could! Oprah's right....we all have our ah-ha moment....Laney's just came early.

After our brief Halloween extravaganza at the mall {which turned out to be LAME} we purchased our new Barbie for our little bug and a new Woody for our dinosaur and started our journey home. Well, Jake decided to throw his fit of the day when we attempted to leave the Disney Store. Thank God Mr. HTB was there to handle it. Sometimes one two year old tantrum a day is all this Mommy can take. So as Mr. HTB and Jake headed to the car, Laney bug and I stopped for an impromptu photo session.

Shopping around the Disney Store....

Jakeasaurus thinking he's getting a 200.00 Buzz Lightyear

Ok...I'm a horrible Mommy...not only did I just buy Jake's costume....I couldn't even be bothered buy a green t~shirt or to remove the tag hanging off his buttasaurous!

Showing off her wings

And here's the ham bone herself!

Striking her pose!

And as you can see.... my camera IS A PIECE! No, it's not the photographer....it's the camera!

Autumn ~ Oh How I Long For You!

It's October 4th and it's 94 FREAKIN' degrees here today!

Everything is green. As green as it can get!

There's no pile of beautiful leaves painted an autumnal pallet.

Nope! Just hot, sticky, humid, heat and sunshine.

MY AIR CONDITIONER IS RUNNING PEOPLE! AIR CONDITIONING!

IN OCTOBER!

And November and December for that matter!

It's just re~donk~ulous!

I own what I guess you'd call a jacket. It's actually a wind~breaker. I wear it, maybe, 2 times a year. If I'm lucky! I haven't worn a pair of socks as a means of keeping my feet warm in ages. Yes, I wear them when I don my sneakers to walk and I rip them off as soon as I'm done because my feet feel like bricks that have been tossed into a fire. But no. No fuzzy socks to keep my tootsies toasty. No uggs. No gloves. No SEASONS! It's perpetually Summer.

This is a photo I took of my house at Christmastime a couple of years ago!

We planted the white inpatients for Christmas decoration!

I know there are many of you reading this, right this very second, who think it would be fantastic to have summer year round. How great, you must think, to wear flip~flops on Thanksgiving or Christmas!? You're thinking about how maddening it is to have to shovel your way out of your house and how your heating bill in the dead of winter is out of control!

I long for that.

I long for autumn evenings when there's a chill in the air reminding me that Halloween is right around the corner. I long to see the leaves change color and slowly drift to earth. I long to smell the telltale aroma of home fires burning and warm bowls of my favorite soups.

I know it sounds like I'm whining. That's because I am! The old adage is

true you always want what you {can't} don't have!

And yes ... the grass is always greener!

At least it is at my house!

Oh, how I long for autumn and all it's golden goodness.

Hello September ~ Where Ya been?

September is here! And that means Halloween is right around the corner! And then, before you know it, Thanksgiving will be here! And then, the Mother of all Holidays....CHIRSTMAS!

I live for this time of year! The decorations are starting to fill the store shelves and my mind is all a flutter with what Jake & Laney should be for Halloween. It's a very hard decision to make. They are at the age still where I can make this decision and I'm taking full advantage of it! Next year they will have opinions of their own {God help me!} and will choose for themselves. And soon after that....they'll start wanting to be stupid stuff. So until that day arrives....I get to choose.

~Delaney as Pebbles~

~Jake as Bamm Bamm~

This year I have no idea what costumes I will make for them. They are already such a "boy" and such a "girl" that I think if it doesn't have wings, wheels or swords, Jake will protest! And if It's not a mermaid, princess or just simply pretty Laney will refuse to wear it!

I guess I should just wait until October is actually here!

I can over think things then!