Happy Halloween!

It's been a crazy couple of months around here. (It seems I start more and more posts like that lately!). But all of the chaos has not kept us from enjoying the season (to whatever extent we can given all the sickness we seem to have passed around).

Tonight is our big October 31st Party at church, but the kids have already had opportunity to dress up and get a lot of candy (whatever will we do with it all!). Here are some pics from trick-or-treating at Hubby's work last week.

Little Miss Cowgirl 

 

"Bumblebee" (from Transformers)

Easter 2012

Although we missed being with family this year for Easter, we took full advantage of the nearly-perfect weather and had a fantastic weekend. Here are just a few highlights:

It was a beautiful Easter weekend in the Ozarks!

Saturday our church held a community-wide indoor Easter Egg Hunt.

Besides hunting eggs, there was a petting zoo, crafts, and of course face

painting where both kids were transformed into adorable little bunnies.

Little Man got to play firefighter and hang out inside a real-life fire truck
(and an ambulance, school bus, semi-truck, and police car. The boy was in heaven!) 

Little Miss was happy with the photo op :)

 Of course there was the customary dying of eggs

We finished the weekend with a backyard egg hunt (the fourth

egg hunt of the weekend!). Unfortunately, it was interrupted
by a wasp sting. :( We managed to find all the eggs, then
soothed the pain with a trip to Andy's Frozen Custard. Yum!
The perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

Happy (belated) Easter!

How did you celebrate Easter this year?

Last-minute Valentine's Day Cards and Giveaways!

As someone who recently had a panic attack at the realization that Valentine's Day is only a week away, I'm so thankful for someone like my friend Kelly over at live.laugh.rowe. With amazing creativity and mad Photo Shop skills, she has come up with some adorable and oh-so-easy Valentine's Day card fun for the artistically-challenged rest of us.

Honestly, what says "Love" more than 1 Corinthians 13:4-8? That's what makes this printable perfect for a last-minute Valentine's Day card (just in case there's anyone besides me who hasn't thought about them before now!)...Simply print it (here) on card stock, how cute!

And don't forget to spread the love with your own family this Valentine's Day! This quote from Anthony Brandt would make great card, or framed as a gift, for a family member. Print it here. So easy!

I've known Kelly for more than 10 years, and she is as fun as she is creative. She never ceases to amaze me with her talent for the crafty, like these fun and funky Valentine card ideas! PLUS, she's got a full week of giveaways this week. Who doesn't LOVE a great giveaway!

So, head on over to live.laugh.rowe and take a look around. Tell her Nancy sent you! :)

Fun in the Sun

We are smack in the middle of summer heat around here with heat indexes of 100+. You would think that would make us stay in and take it easy, but for some reason it hasn't. We have been shopping, gardening, having playdates, reading (see previous post), picking berries (OK, we did that before it got too hot), and of course swimming, swimming, swimming! Thus, the reason for the bloggy silence lately. We've just been too busy to sit down at the computer.

We have a relatively quiet morning today, and while the kids are playing nicely together (for the moment at least), I thought I'd jump on here and share some pics of our summertime adventures. Here's what we've been up to...

Earlier in the summer, before the mercury jumped too high,
we went blueberry picking. This was our first time to pick fresh berries, and we loved it!

We went with friends which made it even more fun!

Of course, the best part was the yummy blueberries we are still enjoying!

We spent 4th of July weekend at Grandma & Grandpa's.
Despite the heat, the kids had so much fun climbing trees....

Driving the "tractor"...

And just being in the country.

What's summer without a trip to the county fair?
Little Miss and Little Man loved it all...the petting zoo,

The rides

And the food!
It's not the fair without sno cones and cotton candy, right?

Now that the heat has settled in, we've spent a lot of time in the water.

There is an awesome park nearby with a huge fountain for the kids to play in.
As you can see, it's a favorite water spot for us!

So, what have you been up to this summer?

You're One Smart Cookie, Valentine!

At our house, Valentine's Day is second only to Christmas when it comes to cookie-making holidays. This year I decided to do something a little different than the traditional cut-out heart cookies.

Because of Little Man's food allergies, it's hard to find a good, cut-out cookie recipe he can eat. And since he loves to help me in the kitchen, I don't feel right about making something he can't enjoy right along with us (even though I always keep alternative snacks on hand for him).

I found a recipe for "angel wing" cookies last Christmas (recipe to follow). It's similar to a butter cookie or Mexican wedding cookie with plenty of butter and powdered sugar, but no eggs or nuts...yeah! They were a big hit last Christmas so I decided to adapt them for Valentine's Day this year.

It's such an easy recipe that I figured the adaptation would be a cinch. It was, with one minor exception: Shaping them into hearts without a cookie cutter proved to be more challenging than I expected (especially with a couple little helpers on hand). Regardless, I think they turned out pretty well...

And once they are covered in powdered sugar, you can't see all the little blemishes and finger-indentions. (I would recommend adding more powdered sugar. I did a "quick" dusting with these for photograph purposes.)

Since we are giving these to teachers and friends, I packaged them up in red and white and attached a cut-out heart card that read...


All in all, I think they turned out pretty nice (and yummy, too!)

Angel Wing Cookies (a.k.a. Powdered Heart Cookies)

(originally from BGH.com)

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

4 tsp vanilla

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl, beat butter on medium to high for 30
seconds. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; beat until
well-combined. Beat in as much flour as you can. Stir in remaining flour. Chill
dough for 30 minutes or until easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with
parchment paper. Shape dough into 1-inch balls then pinch and shape into
crescents (for wings) or hearts. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheets.

Bake 12-13 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Cool 1
minute on baking sheets. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Roll or
lightly dust cooled cookies with powdered sugar.

Makes 3 1/2 to 4 dozen cookies.

I hope you get the chance to enjoy some sweets with your "Sweet" today...

Happy Valentine's Day!

From Our Home To Yours...

Wishing you a very

Merry Christmas

and a

New Year filled with

love, laughter, and joy!

Extreme Thanksgiving

Many of you may remember the story of Baby Zoe, my nephew who was born a couple years ago with a very rare and severe condition. My sister and brother-in-law were told he would not live and if, by chance, he did he would not have a normal life. Well, they were right about one thing, Zoe's life (and that of his family) is anything but normal!

Zoe (or "ZoBug" as Little Man calls him) is a now thriving 2-year-old. This year, he and his family will spend the first of many Thanksgivings in their new home....compliments of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I was able to fly down to Savannah, GA last week for the big reveal. The show will air sometime after the New Year. You'll have to check back for an exact date; I'll let you know as soon as I hear. In the meantime, here are some highlights from my trip.

Extreme Makeover's Paul DiMeo and Tracy Hutson (background) warm up the crowd
before the big reveal. Both were instrumental in the design of the new house.

The man himself...Ty Pennington


The true hero in my book...Tripp Turner of J.T. Turner Construction.
He and his team were phenomenal!

Two-time Olympic gold-medalist Shaun White helped design
8-year-old Isaac's room.
Isaac was floored that Shaun was there in person!

The bus is in place and volunteers gather to MOVE THAT BUS!

Welcome Home, Simpson family. Welcome Home.

Paula Deen was also a huge part of the entire process, including the design for my sister's new kitchen! You'll have to wait until the show airs to see shots of the inside as well as many other amazing things they did for my sister, her family, and their community. Trust me when I say, it will take your breath away!

To watch the local coverage of the build, click here.

And as they say in Savannah...Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Happy Halloween

Halloween festivities have been in full swing here. We are headed out soon for a fantastic party at our church. There will be great games and an abundance of sugar! Another highlight every year is going to Hubby's office the week of Halloween to trick-or-treat among his co-workers.

Our little fairy and train engineer

Fun at Daddy's office

Inspecting the loot

So much candy!

*************************************

If you have a child with food allergies, as we do, you know how difficult Halloween (and other holidays) can be. That's why I was so excited to find this web site. Alison at Sure Foods Living posts a comprehensive list of common candies and their ingredients (including allergen information). Her list has come to my rescue many times. She has recently posted the newest list for 2010. I hope it helps you as much as it has us!

Have a Happy and safe Halloween!

Easter at Our House

First order of business...Easter baskets

The bunny ears are a hit

With everyone.

Then ready for church

And posing for a few pics

It's a beautiful morning...

...for a bit of playing before church.

My little Easter bunnies...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter...we sure did!!!