Wordless Wednesday - Anyone Seen My Cupcake?

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I'm Back....

I'm back...

Life has gotten chaotic-busy in wonderful ways and blogging was taking a backseat. I'm here now...in and out...still busy, but hoping to keep up on my all my blogging. I have so many saved posts and ideas. I haven't even had time to try and post one up. But hopefully in a day or two I'll be moving along.

I do have some great holiday giveaways planned...I owe that to you! I can't wait to give some presents away! ♥

I did finish the pettiskirt...

Go me! It was HARD! I'm not going to lie....tedious! But she was so cute as our little Autumn Fairy.

Homecoming was a blast...we had 20 kids over for a candlelight dinner. My girl is growing up! Makes me happy-sad...

Genealogy has become a big hobby for me lately...I could go on and on about that! What an amazing experience that has been... Found my long lost family that had been forgotten.

So much more has been happening in our little world, but with all the craziness I have managed to be creative and create...which has probably kept me SANE! I'll share some of my fun with you soon....

Sew...Busy! Adorable Pettiskirts!!!

I'm at it again... My dear friend keeps showing me adorable projects to sew. Well, we're working on this right now....

You can veiw a tutorial and at Martha Stewart.

Our girls are going to be "ballerinas". My little one is actually a "ballerina-fairy-princess". I have to get this done by Wednesday night, so hopefully I'll have some pictures to share soon.

And I also made a skirt with NO pattern. EASY EASY EASY! You can make it in less than an hour. So I'll post about that too once I get this project done.

HOW CUTE ARE THOSE!?!?!?!

Tuesday Tradition #46 - Homemade Halloween Fun!

Somewhere a long time ago, a few city and states ago, I was over at a friends house for a little Halloween party. Sometimes entertaining 3 and 4 yr. olds can be quite a task. But she pulled out this adorable homemade Halloween memory game and the kids played it for over an hour!

Take Halloween pictures from the past years, as far back as you want, and print out 2 - 2x2 squares of each picture. Mount them on card stock, Halloween style if you want, and cut those out into squares. You should have 2 of every picture. That's it!

Place the squares picture side down, in nice even rows, and take turns picking 2 cards at a time while trying to make a match. Whoever has the most pairs at the end of the game, WINS! My little ones LOVE this game. I'm putting together my family's Halloween Memory game today and I'm sure we'll get lots of use out of this easy, cheap, homemade game!

Enjoy!

Hello...Anyone There?

I know...I've been MIA...BIG TIME! It's been a wild-wild-wild crazy few weeks. Lots of ups and down and downs and ups. Dealing with my sister-in-law's passing, my husband flying back and forth to California to take care of her 4 kids (they have no family or father...and there's a big possibility that I'll go from a mother of 5 to 9 shortly) , swine flu, homecoming, kids sports, school, church commitments...you know, the drill.

I've realized that I'm in the thick of life! I'm potty training 2 kids, teaching one to tie his shoes and another to drive. So yeah, that's my excuse. I'll be back into the blogging world tomorrow...or Wednesday....okay, at least by Friday.

I'm still the luckiest mom in the world!

Favorite Fall Recipes - Butternut Squash Soup

My newest passion is beginning to cause some serious overload since the arrival of Fall. For the first time in my life I'm spending more and more time in the kitchen than anywhere else in my home...and I'm LOVING IT! Fall offers the excuse to bake and cook wonderful delicious meals every single day!

So in my cooking excitement I'm going to share my newest favorite fall recipe with you...but I'd love love love for you to share one with me too! Leave your favorite in the comments. A girl can never have enough recipes!

With this new passion I've forced myself to try some new foods...foods that I have never ever given a thought to. My newest fav is Butternut Squash. Now, I've only had it as a soup or "bisque", but can I tell you how EXTREMELY incredible it was?!!! Unbelievable! So I have to share it with you. Trust me, you will love it!

A wonderful friend of mine invited myself and a few other friends over for a lunch one day last week and made this for us.

Butternut Squash Bisque

Approximately how this recipe goes...

1 butternut squash, cut-up

1 medium to large white onion

3-4 cloves of garlic

1 large peeled carrot

4 oz. cream cheese

approx 1-3 cups chicken broth

approx 1 cup half-n-half

salt (guessing 2 teaspoons worth)

fresh ground pepper

Boil first 4 ingredients together until vegetables are soft--about 45 minutes. I peel my butternut squash at this point--after it's cooked. Drain water.

Puree cooked vegetables together in blender with salt, pepper, and 4 oz. softened cream cheese. Slowly add chicken stock (start with 1 cup, you may have to go up to 2 or more cups--I just eyeball it). Add about 1 cup of half-n-half. Return to pot and warm on low.

Enjoy!
And don't forget to share some yummy recipes too!

Wordless Wednesday - Meet My Offspring

Picture by www.ryancapture.com (thank you Ryan!)

This is MY family...this is our ONLY family picture! We are scheduled for pics in a few weeks (FINALLY) but I wanted to share my favorite people on Earth with you all...and of course we're hanging out at sporting event...but hey, at least it's a family picture!

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Family Yearbook Challenge 2009 - Week 24

If you're new to the Family Yearbook Challenge click HERE & then HERE

Well, September was full of "stuff"...life stuff and I neglected to keep up the FYB Challenge. So this month we're doing a full month in one week....Ready?

Homework September 7 - September 30:

1. Labor Day Weekend - How did you observe Labor Day weekend? Did you go on any final summer trips, celebrations or maybe you have some favorite traditions?

2. Sports - You may or may not LOVE football like we do, but for our family, Football gets a spot every year in our FYB. We love all football....our kids flag football, local high school, college and pro! Maybe your family loves Baseball and the excitement that October brings to the sport. Whatever it is, share your "FAN"atic side of what you love!

3. Birthdays - Don't forget birthdays. Any big parties, celebrations with family, weddings, births, deaths? Make sure you keep track of those events and memories.

4. School Events - School is now in full gear....any favorite art work or papers from your kids worth sharing? Did you go to Open House, meet the teacher, have some funny stories of your kids at school?

Now COPY and paste any photos that you have that go with these events and questions into a new folder titled June. If you'd like to rename the photos you can with ept 1, sept 2, sept 3 so on and so on. If you have any memorabilia that is NOT digital, scan and save as a jpg. minimum 300 dpi to your September folder, named and labeled. If you have a "story" you can hand write it or "type" it into a document and save in the same folder.

Autumn Apple Vases

I saw this picture and I just made me smile...

We've had a rough week in our family, yet again, another death has come upon us. I was breaking from all the chaos when I spotted this picture. Made me smile and feel a twinge of excitement that my favorite time of year is fast approaching.

There is something about autumn and the holidays that jolts me back into warming up the home and preparing for lots of celebration. As a wife and mother, it's a pleasure to have the responsibility of nurturing my family and providing a home of warmth where we can all feel happy and comfortable.

To get instructions on how to create this adorable autumn apple arrangement visit Home Made Simple and see all of their seasonal arrangements and this adorable apple vase idea!

picture from Home Made Simple

Did you know today is Constitution Day?

Today is a beautiful day. Many people don't even KNOW that today is Constitution Day. On this day in 1787, all 12 state delegations approved the Constitution. 39 delegates signed it of the 42 that were present, and the Convention formally adjourned.

As a family, we have decided that it's time to REALLY REALLY know our Constitution and the beautiful promises and blessings that will be bestowed upon this country if we uphold and honor this document and the men who made this possible.

We have promised each other the following -

1. We will each read and learn about the Constitution

2. We will educate our family and learn about Good Government

3. Show gratitude for our liberty

4. Teach others about America

I found this quote and it gave me chills...we have a lot of work to do as parents.

"A primary object...should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing...than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?"

-George Washington