Pumpkin Patch

 This past Saturday we went to Craven Farm for our annual pumpkin patch trip.  The weather was quite nice though the farm itself was extremely muddy from all the rain.  As always, we had a fabulous time!  We went on the hayride, played with the pumpkin sling shots, toured the farm, and then took a trip out to the patch.  I have a confession... we bought 2 small pumpkins from the farm along with a few gords, but the large pumpkin in the picture were just props.  Though it's extremely cool to pick out your own unique pumpkin from the patch, we have a hard time paying $15-$25 per pumpkin when you can get a large pumpkin at the store for $4.

They had a really cool pirate ship on the farm.  All the kids loved it, including Michael.

 Lily and I on the hayride

Arya was so entertaining at the Farm.  She really is a character. 

 It's not a complete trip without a picture with the kids and pumpkins in a wheelbarrow.

My Budding Artist: Lily

 It appears that Lily really enjoys drawing! I think she did a fabulous job, don't you?  

I have to give her props for this picture on the left. It's mixed media and I think it's AMAZING.  The princesses were done with stamps, but their stamp pad dried out, so instead, Lily decided to use water color on the stamp. The result is quite beautiful. I love how each princesses' colors are all what they should be Belle - brown hair, yellow dress, Tiana - green, etc. Then she decided to draw a castle for the princesses to live in, color it in with crayon, then paint over it. Let me tell you, she did this ALL by herself, including the bird!! I had no idea what she was doing until I saw it the next morning. I think we have another artist in the family!!!

Baby Shower

This past Saturday I hosted a baby shower for our friend at my house.  It's technically the second party we've thrown at our house, but since the first was for Marren's friends, I don't really count that as "my party."  So, this past Saturday I threw my first party at my house! :o) It's always fun to get together with a bunch of women, eat yummy treats/snacks and chat away.  The above picture shows a candy/snack/dessert that I made following my friend's recipe from http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/12/easy-pretzel-turtles/.  It was a HUGE hit so thank you Sara!  Seriously people, SUPER easy, tasty and fancy; GREAT for any party or gift!

For my friend's present I made her a diaper cake.  It was so fun!  I first saw the idea from www.ourbestbites.com, and LOVED it.  You can google diaper cake and there are lots of different ones out there to get inspiration from. I decorated it with flower hair clips and some crochet hairbands.  Talk about the perfect way to present it all!

I decided to give her 3 different types of hair clips.  Girls have to accessorize for all different types of functions and seasons, right?  I made some crochet flowers, some fabric flowers and then some silk flowers.  I hope you enjoy them baby girl!


On a side note, I told Lily that she would be the oldest child at the party and that she needs to be a good big sister and a good example.  We had 5 other kids here between the ages of 1-4.  Half way through the party Michael finally left my side and decided to join the children.  I looked in on them and Lily exclaimed: MOM!  I'm taking care of all these babies!  And she really did!  She made sure they all got treats, water, toys, dress-up clothes, etc. and she took care of all of them!  Way to go Lily!

Plum Creations #1 -- Plum Tatin

When I work out at the gym, I normally watch the food network channel.  It always seems somewhat counter-productive to me, but what can I say, I LOVE food!  I'm normally there while "The Barefoot Contessa" is showing.  Ina always seems to have recipes that are delicious and not too incredibly difficult to make. 
A couple weeks ago, Ina demonstrated how to make a "Plum Tatin," which is basically a fancy plum upside-down cake.  I had all the ingredients at home, including home-grown plums, so I just had to try it!  It was a GREAT success!  I was quite proud of myself and everyone enjoyed it :o).

Here's the link for the recipe if anyone is interested: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/plum-cake-tatin-recipe/index.html.
I did make a few changes after reading the reviews; Instead of 1 cup sugar in the sugar/water mix I only used 2/3 cup sugar in a little less than 1/3 cup water; in the cake itself I only used about 2/3 cup of sugar; I used roughly 1 tsp of lemon zest instead of 1/2 tsp... sorry, I don't measure exactly a lot of the times when I cook... just something I picked up when I first learned how to cook from my dad back when I was 11.