October Recap!

November is here already and I can't help but wonder, where did October go ? Last month was a lot of fun, and I'm REALLY looking forward to this month. I can't wait to share what I've been doing!

So last month, we had our annual Halloween Roast at my parents house. Every year my parents put together a fabulous get together. My Dad sets the fire ablaze and everyone huddles around the warm fire.

For the adults this time means relaxation, good conversation, and catching up on recent events in everyone's every daily lives. The world can get away from us so it is nice to just sit down and catch up. The kids on the other hand, well party time means much more. It's always play time for them, but they love to roast their own hot dogs and of course the best part are the marshmallows! I don't know one person who does not like a melty, gooey, warm sticky marshmallow. 

For Halloween, I dolled the girls up for Trick or Treating as Dr. Seuss, Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3. For a last minute costume idea, I really think it all turned out well, and everyone adored them.

That blue hair spray was really not fun to wash out. That, along with the super super duper hold of the hairspray. I washed their hair 3x before the water ran clean. They ended up making a super haul on candy.

I am probably the ONLY mom who wishes their kids would have received tooth brushes, pencils or stickers, maybe a bag of chips or even a water bottle with a fun halloween label on it ha ha. Ya, I'm a horrible MOM. ALWAYS thinking clean! healthy teeth and gums! 

I'll be the first to admit, I can be a worry mom! but that can be good because that means I care. I want them to have great teeth and good health! It's my job to look out and to protect them until they are old enough to care for themselves.

But, I did let them enjoy their candy for a couple hours. That was just enough time for them to start feeling the sugar effects and also wishing they had not had so much! That's usually the time I combine all the candy and then hide the rest to distribute periodically.

October was also the first Halloween for my littlest addition, Addison. We were blessed with her on June 30th, 2011. She had a lot of costumes to wear this year. We had a hot dog, a flower, a lamb, candy corn. I was graciously gifted most of these items for her, so I felt I needed to put her in them at least once. Minus the blue hair she is in fact our Thing 4! lol

  

Party in my Tummy!!

Need I say more ? ;)

Dulce De Leche Frosting

Dulce De Leche! It's such a fun word to say. It reminds me of my daughter's favorite book "Fancy Nancy". She's so fun and always has something marvelous and fancy to say. Being a mom of all girls is like being a little girl and getting to play dress up with her little dolls everyday!

Ok, I'm getting way off topic. I could talk to you about how adorable my kids are all day long, but I think you really want to know all about this delicious sweet treat.

So here's a funny story..just a couple days ago I learned how to make dulce de leche. I have never made this before and I have to say I was quite excited about it! I love to google and surf all over the internet for delicious goodies. On this particular night I was up late and exhausted from a long day. I had just come across this recipe for a one step, one ingredient recipe for dulce de leche! I was so excited! So the trick is to get a can of  "condensed milk" and put inside of your crock pot for 6/8 hours and let it come to room temp. and inside will be this delicious caramelized can of goodness. Well, silly tired me put in a can of "evaporated milk" instead! haha. Needless to say when I opened the can, it wasn't what I had been dreaming of all night long! To my dismay, all I had was caramelized milk? lol It was brown and did not smell pleasant. The following day I retried this recipe the correct way and the outcome was so much better and tastier!

So you will need:
1-2 cans of Condensed Milk
1 crock pot
Remove the label off the can and place the can in your crock pot and fill it up with water.
Leave it in the crock pot for 6/8 hours and apply water as needed.
Remove the can from the water and let it come to room temperature.
Open the can and enjoy the delicious goodness you've created! I used mine to make frosting.

Frosting
Milk
2 cups Powdered Sugar
Dulce De Leche

 scoop 1/2 cup of the dulce de leche mix from the can into a bowl. With your mixer mix the dulce de leche and slowly add in a little powdered sugar at a time. The mix will become really thick so you will need to apply a little milk as you go until you get the consistency that you want.

This will be so lovely on any treat, but today I put mine on butter pecan cupcakes. Once a month I try to make cupcakes to celebrate a new milestone for my newest addition. This month we are celebrating 4 months!

Preserving Jack

Fall is amongst us and it is one of my favorite seasons. It is the one time of the year when Mother Nature elegantly paints her leaves with a gorgeous array of colors, and lays a bed of leaves on the ground so that memories can be made as we dive into natures beauty.

 It is also the one time of year that families gather together and make long lasting memories at the local pumpkin farms. Fact: did you know that 90 percent of the pumpkins grown in the United States alone are raised within a 90-mile radius of Peoria, Illinois?

Every year families gather to pumpkin farms all around the country to (Top pumpkin production states are Illinois, California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.) enjoy the essence of finding the perfect pumpkin in the patch. It's a wonderful tradition to start with your family. 

As we all know, pumpkins come in all shapes and sizes, but when you find yours and I know you will! He will need to be preserved. Now, please do not think you need to preserve your pumpkin, you can also choose leave him Au Naturale. However, if you choose to preserve the life of Jack. I have found some tips to help you so he will live a longer life.

For Starters! When prepping your pumpkin(s) for carving, you should remove as much of the pumpkin pulp as possible, so the inside flesh of the pumpkin would be dry and provide a uniform surface for topical application of the preservative treatments. 

The Treatments are: Bleach, Acrylic Spray, and Vaseline.

Bleach Method: Soak your pumpkin in a  bleach solution (1 tsp. bleach/gallon water) for 8 hours and thereafter keeping the pumpkin hydrated by spraying the pumpkins flesh with a mild bleach solution, while the bleach is an antimicrobial. 

Acrylic Spray: spray the inside flesh with acrylic finish spray. The spray is intended to seal the pumpkin flesh, preventing dehydration and acting as a barrier to mold growth. 

Vaseline: coat the inside and cut surfaces with petroleum jelly. This is intended to keep the pumpkin flesh from dehydrating. 

Your pumpkin could last up to 10 days by preserving it with any of these methods and slowing down the molding process. 

If you try to preserve your pumpkin, please let me know how it worked for you and what method you chose to preserve Jack.  Please remember to use appropriate protection when using any kind of chemicals and as always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water. :) 

 

Letters to Rhys

Little girls usually dream of becoming mothers and marrying an amazing husband. I never dreamed that one day I'd have the opportunity to be both a mother and a wife. Only a mother can express the amazing feeling you get the first time you hold your new born in your arms for the first time. It is truly an amazing feeling to hold the life in your hands that you and your partner have created. I have four amazing children that I thank God for every day, but I will never forget Rhys.

I became pregnant with Rhys in September of 2007. I was extremely excited, after having 2 beautiful little girls, I was now being blessed with a son. A SON! My heart could have burst with excitement. Christmas morning was wonderful. Our children woke us from bed to show us what Santa had brought to them. We exchanged our gifts, played with toys, laughed, and loved.

During breakfast I started to not feel so well. Unsure of what was happening I went to lay down and prayed everything would be ok. I prayed that this would pass and that I'd be able to enjoy the rest of the night with my kids. All I wanted to do is snuggle with them and watch "It's a Wonderful Life", but all I could do is lay in my bed, in pain and fear the worst. The last thing I wanted to do is to spoil Christmas for the children. So my husband and I decided I'd go to the doctor first thing in the morning if I continued to not feel good.

I continued to have pains, which seemed to get stronger and stronger. When I realized that the pains might have been contractions I hurried to get to their things together. Which did not go to fast in reality. Trying to pack two bags for two small children and try not to upset them through all of this was not easy.

I was finally on my way to the hospital and my parents were meeting us to take the kids home with them for a while. As soon as I was placed into a room, my parents showed up. I was so relieved that my kids didn't have to see me in so much pain, but most of all what was to come next.

My family no longer left my room and my water had broke. At 12:45am December 26th the pain stopped, but a new pain had begun. My son entered the world but I was only 18w 1d pregnant with him. The hospital staff told me they was sorry. They told me they couldn't do anything to save him. They told me he was gone.

I laid there in disbelief. This was all a dream, one huge nightmare! How could something I longed for, wanted so badly be gone so quickly! How could this have happened! What did I do wrong! All we could do is stare at him. His perfect tiny self, his skin so transparent you could almost see through him. His tiny long fingers. He had toes like his daddy, and perfect little lips.

My husband was very inquisitive, curious he asked why his chest was moving if he was no longer with us. The nurse checked him out and his tiny heart still beat. We held onto him for two hours before God reached down, cradled my baby in his arms and took him home.

I think about him often. My daughter loves and misses him so much. She thought it would be a great idea to write him a letter and draw pictures for him. I asked her, "honey, how will he get these letters?" she replied "The mailman from heaven will swoop down and take it to him". So she tossed the letters out the door, and up in the air they went. God must have taken it, because it was gone the next day. :)

So when we are feeling sad, and missing our son and brother, we write letters to Rhys.

Support Our STL Cardinals

I love making bows for my kids and I've recently started making and selling them for all to enjoy. I LOVE our St. Louis Cardinals and we're going to the World Series!! What a great way to celebrate their victory and support our team.

The bow below is for sale $6.50 plus shipping. I created Fredbird, and I think he turned out very nice. If you're interested send me a message! Buy two and take $1 off

Balsamic Marinated Slow Cooked Pulled Pork

Tonight's dinner was so good. My husband (he gets all the credit for this) marinated a pork roast in balsamic vinaigrette dressing for 24 hours and then slow cooked for 8 hours until it was falling apart. How fabulous does that look!! I am stuffed!!