Halloween Cookies

The week of Halloween, I decided to do some roll out cookies with the kiddos. I have been trying hard to do a "preschool time" with them at least once a day - 5 times a week. Sometimes it happens....sometimes it doesn't, but I feel it is a step in the right direction nonetheless. So....we did Halloween cookies. I always LOVE the concept of roll out cookies but get so overwhelmed by the thought of them that they NEVER get done. NOT THIS YEAR! I am trying harder to remember that it doesn't have to be perfect to be fun or memorable.
I love the top picture of their little hands using the cookie cutters all covered with flour. So sweet!
Here are Kate (in her cute lil Halloween outfit with pumpkin bow I made!), Dallin, and Bracken helping to get everything all ready for our cookies. I tried to let them be a part of the whole thing. I used a packaged mix to make things easier. They put on little aprons and got busy licking spoons and mixers.....mmmmm. Then they got to choose the Halloween cookie cutter of their choosing and put it on the rolled out dough where they liked (with a little guidance). Dallin seemed to prefer the witch and Bracken preferred the pumpkin. Kate preferred whatever someone else had. LOL
Then we would remove the dough from the edges and get them on the tray. Dallin was especially good at this. He could remove the dough carefully AND scoop the cookie onto the tray without damaging it. I was very impressed since I did not mater this skill until my late 2os. He was super proud that he had a big boy job that the little kids couldn't do.
So.....Dallin got a little crazy with the flour and cutters. Then he kept wiping at his nose with his fingers. It got pretty comical. Here is the front view before we cleaned him off and prevented further nose tickles. Here is the side of his face where he stamped the flour covered witch cookie cutter. You can see the hat going up his cheek toward his temple. The bottom of the face going towards his chin. Here is the other side of his face with the jack o lantern cookie print. Yep...wild and crazy with the flour. You can see this pretty clearly. It is correctly oriented and the jack o lanter has a BIG smile and eyes. Then I tried something new and super rad (which I think earns me TONS of awesome mom points). My mother in law kept telling me about edible paint for cookies that would dry like poster paint and even gave me the recipe. She has used it when her children were young. Of course, as previously mentioned, I had been completely intimidated to even attempt it "in case" it didn't turn out, but I really wanted my kids to try this out while they were still little...AND......IT WORKED! It was soooo fun! I made the "paint" frosting into 4 colors (pink, purple, orange, and green...they were the ones I had on hand), then I got four really clean paintbrushes and let the kids go to town. They had a ball painting all the cookies. Kate spent almost the WHOLE time painting this one cookie PINK. No...she did not use ANY other color. Yes, she managed to paint one other cookie at the very end......pink. LOL Here is Bracken painting his cookies. He really liked painting the pumpkins orange and occasionally purple. He was very proud to bring a plate of his cookie home to his family and told me all about it the next day.
Dallin was my fastest cookie painter, but in all fairness, he did a pretty good job getting them fairly covered in paint. He was VERY into this activity.
And here are my sweet chefs with their finished cookies on a tray. They DID dry looking like poster paint AND they tasted great! I will definitely be doing these again. It was a super fun way to get into the Halloween spirit! BOO!

A POST A DAY TILL 2010

Ok....well I have gotten behind this fall with my posting and I would really like to start the new year caught up in the blogging world :) So my faithful readers (if there are any left) can look forward to a new blog post EVERY DAY until the new year. :)

Trunk or Treat

I decided to do the series of Halloween posts before continuing to backtrack. So....here it is! Our first Halloween event of the season was going to Trunk or Treat with Aunt Tammy, Uncle Willie, Nana and Maddie. It was Will and Tammy's ward on October 23. Since we were currently wardless (that is a WHOLE different post) we attended with them so the kids wouldn't miss out. It was a blast! Her ward went ALL OUT!! They had TONS of "Bible themed" carnival games for the kids and even a popcorn machine to keep everyone happy and busy in the gym while the folks set up their cars. I think almost everyone was wearing a costume and some of them were pretty cool.
This year my kids decided to be black Spiderman and a Princess. It was no big mystery. At our house, we dress up all year round and these costumes from Grandpa and Grandma my children have practically LIVED in. It took some convincing, but Dallin eventually understood that he could not wear his mask at the church party. He was consoled with visions of candy! LOL
The first thing he headed for inside was Adam and Eve apple bob. Yes, he bobbed for apples. Yes, I was concerned about the germ factor. Fortunately, my children were like the 3rd and 4th kids to do it. Hopefully that makes a difference. Anyways, it took a couple of dunks, but Dallin actually GOT ONE! His costume was all wet down the front, but he was sooo proud of himself and IMMEDIATELY started chomping away on his "prize". "Adam" tried to give him the real prize he had one, but Dallin just wanted the apple. LOL That's my boy! About halfway through he got bored of eating it and wanted to put it in his basket. I threw it away when we got home, but 3 days later he asked for his apple...lol. I had to explain it was yucky. Kate tried the apple bobbing too, but she simply walked up to the bucket and took an apple out. No messy water and nasty germs for her! Then when "Adam" held out his prize bucket, she was confused and put the apple inside it and walked off. The concept of getting a prize for playing the game was completely lost on her. It was very cute!
They also had a David slaying Goliath game. The kids got to throw little bean bags and try to hit Goliath in the forehead. Dallin did pretty good. Mostly he hit Goliath in the crotch (which I think would do MORE damage than the forehead..lol) . I think he got the chest once. He would really wind up and chuck it though. So funny. Kate wanted to try, but the lady running the booth must have thought she looked too little because she just held out the prize bucket to her instead of giving her a beanbag.....soooo....Kate took the little prize, threw it at Goliath, and walked away very pleased with herself. I couldn't help but laugh a little.
They also quite enjoyed the "tithing toss" game where you tossed a little coin into a cup. Dallin did pretty well with the concept. He didn't actually make it in the cup, but he came close. Kate threw it once and when she didn't make it, she scooted closer to the cup and tried again. Upon missing a second time, she got her nose down by the cup and dropped the coin in. She jumped up and said "I did it, Mommy!" Oh, my princess! Yes, you did! The lady handed her the chocolate coin to keep as a prize.....and Kate threw it back in the cup. She looked completely bewildered when the lady gave it back to her and said she could keep it. LOL Where is the fun in that?
The kids ate popcorn and did the cakewalk and had an all around awesome time. Finally, it was time to trunk or treat at all of the car trunks. This ward went ALL OUT. They had some AMAZING trunks there. One was Indiana Jones themed. They had an Elmo one (complete with video). I almost couldn't pry Kate away from watching the movie there! All of the people had coordinating costumes with their cars too. The best one though was about 3 cars that went for a 50's theme. They all had sweet 50's costumes and had it set up like a party. They were handing out theatre box candy, light up/sound making swords (which the children prompty hit each other with and got them confiscated), and even glass bottle coke. I think I would have been even more in awe and into it if I hadn't been so worried about losing one of my children (one of whom was in a BLACK spiderman costume) in the VERY dark parking lot.
The kids had quite a haul and pigged out on candy while Christopher and I were ill over the next few days....lol...yep, they totally took advantage and we were too sick to care. I can't wait to go back and crash their trunk or treat again next year! Sweet!

Dallin's 4th Birthday- Where a Kid Can Be a Kid

On Monday, September 28, we took Dallin to Chuck E. Cheese for a friend party. We had put off going there for an ENTIRE YEAR so that it would be extra special....and it was! After all, nothing says "happy birthday" like eating pizza with a singing rat! When we pulled into the parking lot, I thought Dallin's head was going to explode. He was so excited. His voice kept getting higher and higher and faster and faster "it's chuck e. cheese! there it is! there it is! i can't wait!". We had his party early in the day on a weekday (if you can swing it...this is HIGHLY recommended since we were basically the ONLY people there and had the whole place to ourselves.) Dallin invited Maddie (of course) and Kate and also his three buddies EZ Brown, Aidan Chambers, and Ethan Fuller from playgroup last year. The boys get along well and it was fun seeing them play together again. They all seem so much older since last year!
His friends arrived and the kids went CRAZY! They had so much fun playing games, riding rides, and earning tickets. We had bought a BUNCH of tokens on sale a month before so the tokens FLOWED...and so did the fun. I think all the parents had a great time too. It was one of those days I wanted to never end. Dallin enjoyed riding the giant horse. I think you were supposed to be able to ride it through a virtual race course....but that was WAY beyond the kiddos. Mostly, he thought it was great to be so high up and make the horse "buck" (jump) . Even Maddie laughed about it and made the horse jump over and over. I wanted to ride it, but I chickened out....maybe next time. Dallin also LOVED playing the water shooting game with Aidan. They played this OVER and OVER again. It was really sweet watching them have such a good time together. They didn't seem to get that they were "competing" against each other (which was probably a good thing) they just knew they got to do it at the same time and they both got tickets! YAY! Aidan also played a game of air hockey with Kate. He was sooo sweet and patient with her. I felt bad because she wandered off in the middle of the game, but she eventually returned and finished up. Ethan Fuller really enjoyed shooting hoops (with a little help). EZ Brown, his dad, and sis found a sweet roller coaster simulator. I wanted to try this as well...and didn't. LOL Yes...I AM planning a return trip! Kate, Maddie, and Netta (EZ's lil sis) really enjoyed gettin' jiggy with the big rat himself and everytime the "show" came on where he would sing they would all dance by the stage like little groupies....it was very funny. They also really liked that the carousel could do all 3 of them at one time! It was about their speed. The kids all seemed to really enjoy skeeball too (which was fun for the adults as well). They would roll the ball up.....and it would roooollll back...and they would roll the ball up....and it would come rooolling back. One game took a long time, but they sure enjoyed it. They were totally stoked every time they got a gutter ball too!At the Chuck E Cheese they had this really rad photo booth that would do pencil sketches for a token...so of course we all got one (Kate did too, but she wouldn't look at the camera....grrr)

I made Spidey cupcakes (chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and a spidey candy stuck on top...I even spelled SPIDERMAN with my extra letters from the other cake..heehee) and brought them in and since we were the only ones there...we had PLENTY of tables to choose from. I ordered some pizza and drinks (with more coupons...of course) and we had a P-A-R-T-Y complete with Spidey goody bags. After pizza, we sang Happy Birthday to Dallin and he got to eat a cupcake and open presents. He got some sweet gifts- a spiderman action figure from Ethan, a Spiderman jumbo activity set from EZ and some battery operated RVs from Aidan. He was totally stoked. The kids ran and ran and ran. Then we cashed in our tickets for prizes and headed home for a nap. It was so much fun!! Dallin had a great time and was a super sweet little host. I hope he remembers it for a long time. I know I will! Happy Birthday, Dallin!

Dallin's 4th Birthday- Family Style

I will have to re-date this post eventually for it to be correct....again
On Sunday, September 27, we celebrated Dallin's 4th birthday with all of the family that could be there. Nana ended up sick sick sick in her bedroom and Uncle Willie was out of town with business(this was the first birthday of either kid he has missed. :( and it still feels strange to talk about my younger brother traveling for "business" lol) Since we eat Sunday dinner together with the entire Sharp family every week, we usually pick the Sunday closest to each family member's birthday to celebrate. They get their favorite meal and they open all of the family presents. This helps with the kids too if they are having a friend party so that they don't have a million gifts to open from all their relatives and mommy/daddy. What can I say? My kids are VERY VERY loved. :)

We went to church and they sang the birthday song to Dallin. It was so cute because when they said "we only have one birthday this week....does anyone know..?" Dallin was already jumping out of his chair yelling "It's me!! It's Dallin!" He has been looking forward to this for so long. He got a small gift from the primary and a card and small gift from his teachers....he was sooo PROUD of it!Then we went to Nana and Papa's house. Nana and Papa decorated the house with a Spidey birthday banner that Dallin was soooo very excited about. We had tacos for dinner. This and pizza are Dallin's absolute favorites. He can easily eat 5 large tacos if you let him (same goes with large slices of pizza!) Normally, I curb this tendency so he doesn't get too fluffy, but it was his birthday....and I think he ate at least 5 ginormous tacos!! LOL He was so very excited to open his presents this year and got lots of way cool stuff. Aunt Tammy and Uncle Willie gave him some cool Spidey stuff and a book with little cardboard tools that fit in it like a puzzle. He LOVES it and I am finding little hammers and saws all over the house...every day.....still. Nana and Papa gave him some nice shirts, a GIANT bucket of moonsand, AND Spidey underwear (yep...still cool to get underwear for your birthday in public when you are 4....I think it is only cool as an adult if it is from your significant other....in private....lol), and Spidey pjs. Uncle Michael gave him the Tumble game (or Ker-plunk for us older folks).....so far this just means marbles....all over the house....but I am sure it will be a fun game soon. Grandma and Grandpa Kellogg sent him a new yellow hippity hop that was his size! Yellow is his favorite color and he was soooo happy to have a hippity hop that he could bounce on again. His old one was now Kate-sized and it was just pathetic watching his upper thighs drag the ground when he tried to bounce on it. This one is rated up to 300 pounds....I haven't tried it yet....but I WILL :) Grandma and Grandpa also sent Kate a tea set for Dallin's birthday. Since the kids are so little, they like to give them each a gift on the birthdays. This definitely helps stop the water works and screaming by child no. 2 while child no. 1 opens ALL the presents. LOL Kate ADORES her tea set and carries it everywhere. It is a rare priviledge if she will serve you tea and lets you TOUCH it. She mostly carries the entire set everywhere and shrieks at the top of her lungs if anyone looks at it. It is getting better now that she has had it for a month and she is finding it is more fun to have tea parties WITH guests. I even caught her serving tea to Spiderman one day. LOL They crack me up. Grandma Faye sent Dallin an awesome Scooby Doo movie....Aloha Scooby Doo (with the Wiki-Tikis!) . It is one of Dallin's very favorites. She also sent Kate and Maddie videos as well! Yay for presents for the other kiddos to open! Kate got Wiggles videos and we sing and dance to those quite regularly! Thanks Grandma! Finally....we got Dallin a pretend electric guitar and his very own Woody doll. Woody is 16 inches tall and has a pull string so he can "talk". Dallin had been asking for one for months. At first I thought it was a passing "gimme", but he asked over and over....for weeks....and months....and stalked other children who had one. It only intesified when we happened upon a 99 cent Buzz Lightyear doll at Salvation Army and bought it for him a month or so before his birthday. Dallin was soooo excited when he got it and I don't think he let Woody out of his sight for several weeks. I loved seeing his face light up and hearing him gasp when he opened it. I knew we made the right choice for a birthday gift (plus we had to put an end to him asking people for a "woody"....we couldn't get him to add "doll" to save our lives) He is so precious when he gets so excited! The newness has worn off a bit, but Woody still has a place of honor in Dallin's room even if Dallin is not playing with him.

Lastly, it was time for Dallin to blow out the candles. He could hardly contain himself to be sung to. Unfotunately, I did not have enough video left for the whole song, but still...it is very cute and we have it on the video camera edition :) He is old enough and has been to enough family birthdays that he totally knew the drill. So funny! He was stoked about his Spidey cake and made a wish. He blew out all his candles and gobbled it all up!

It was a great time and a fun family night. We love our Dallin!

Our Stick Figure Family

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

I just thought this was funny! I think Christopher totally looks like that!

Dallin's Spectacular Spider-Man Birthday Cake

I will have to redate this post later. I did this on September 26. LOL
I was so very proud of myself for even attempting this cake....and then when it turned out pretty cute...well, it deserved its own post! This was a lot more complicated that the all red with eyeballs Elmo cake I did for his 2nd birthday....that was my first time :)...so basically, this was only my second time. I was glad to be able to borrow the cakepan from my friend, Rushell, since I was really trying to make Dallin's Spidey cake dream a reality in the cheapest way possible.

Here is what the cake looked like right out the oven. When I saw this, I flipped a twig. I am sure you can see some of the lines in the picture. These type of cake are like paint by number. You trace the lines and fill them in with stars....even I can do it...BUT when I caked this cake, at least half of the lines DISAPPEARED! Spidey has a lot of "webbing" all over the place and I was really doubting my ability to be able to fake my way through this. However since I did not have time to start again and didn't have fundage to just buy a cake...I took the picture of what it should look like in hand and winged it.
I outlined around Spidey with thinned yellow frosting. If you have ever seen the directions for this cake, then you know that it was supposed to be light blue and then dark blue trim and dark blue Spidey. I tried to make light blue AND dark blue....it did not work. I ended up with dark blue and well...more dark blue. I decided I needed to use something else and since yellow is Dallin's favorite color (and I actually HAD some of that...it was that or lime green or pink) that is what we used.
After about an hour....here are my lines on Spidey. I was really sweatin bullets, and I was definitely glad the kids were asleep. To make it smooth around his eyes, I dipped my fingers in cornstarch and smoothed it out. It definitely looks better in this picture than I thought it looked at the time.
Ta-da. Spidey with his blue costume. I realize the "dark" blue is not all that dark, but no matter how much of that goop you use....if it says "royal blue"...it will still be "royal blue" or at least I couldn't figure it out.
Spidey with the red filled in. At this point, I started getting excited because it really started looking like Spiderman.
The kids woke up about the time I was half through with the red. They enjoyed watching...pointing...and ALMOST touching the cake. I let them eat plenty of icing and nasty candy letters. Kate looked like an angry smurf. Not surprisingly, they had some VERY neon poos over the next few days.
I edged the cake in blue. I think it added a lot to the overall look of the cake.


Dallin wanted his cake to say "Happy Birthday Dallin", but alas...there was no room on Spidey so I stuck Happy on one side, Birthday on the other, and Dallin on the bottom edge. He was thrilled. Yes...I used those little candy letters that taste terrible. I know my limits....me and writing with frosting....fugeddah bout it! I tried once when Dallin was 1....it was barely legible. In fact, it looked like he had written it himself. LOL
As a final touch, I added a 4 on the top. Spidey was not very cooperative since he kept holding up 5 fingers.
Finally, I added the white eyes. The reason this came so much later was that in my quest to make the right color of blue....and then yellow....I accidentally forgot to leave myself ANY white frosting for the eyeballs. My arms were still aching from all the powdered sugar sifting and icing the cake in the first place so I was not about to make another giant batch for two blobs of white. So...yes, I went to HEB and bought the white icing in a decorating tube....ahhhh...sweet relief.
I thought the cake looked pretty good...even better when it dried and kind of looked 3D. Dallin was just beside himself and watching his eyes light up over his cake made the hours of work and 3 days of sore arms...COMPLETELY worth it. I love that kid!