halloween party from a food obsessed view

Our friends host an awesome halloween party annually and this year was no exception!

I mostly took "detail" pictures so you have to check out Annie's blog in the next couple of days for more people/active shots!

Katie cut out all these bats from an online template - they looked so cool flying in their living room!!!

There was lots of yummy food... I mostly took pictures of the desserts, but there was other food too!

I made the cake pops... details on that later this week

I also made the spiderweb cookies. Details later.

There was a carmel apple fondu station set up and it was soo yummy!

Hey look, a non-dessert food pic! Go me!

The spiked rasberry punch was danger x 2 because it had spiders in it and tasted super delish!

Kevin helped me make these jello worms. They were cool looking, but a little hard to make.

See here for the tutorial.

Yes, there were actually people at this party to eat all the yummy food :)

I was a mountain man/woman and Kevin was an old man

(his hat says "I'm retired, would someone please tell my wife" haha!)

While we were playing games, Brian's mask was reflected in the window and it was ubber creepy looking to see a bodyless face watching us!

I don't want to be all Debbie Downer, but come on. Is it seriously November already???

Thanksing, Christmas, New Years brainstorming-planning-pinteresting in progress.

Doesn't mean my plans with become anything substantial, but I'll try my hardest!

Happy Halloween!

babysitting owen

Owen is almost 3 months old and Sarah finally let me to babysit!!! :)

He is such a cutie!

Look at all his hair!

You wouldn't know if from these cute pics, but he was actually a little cranky with me :/

I think it's b/c Kevin was making him watch a Cardinals game and he knew his daddy wouldn't like it.

Kevin even wanted to hold Owen (usually he just likes to watch me hold babies ;)

cute ribbon pumpkin

I went to a brunch meeting on Saturday and they had these cute pumpkins as centerpieces

You just use stick pins to secure the ribbon in place

easy and cute!!!

"my kind" of date

Sooo Kevin & I went on a paint-your-own-pottery date. Guess whose idea that was?!?

Of course it was mine, but probably only because Kevin didn't think of it first! Haha!

I had lots of fun and he's still alive so everything's good :)

And no, he didn't lose a bet, he just loves me!!!

I picked a bowl to paint

and Kevin picked a vase

I had to take little breaks from all the circles I was painting

Kevin decided to add some embelishments to his vase

Kevin is admiring his pottery painting skilz :)

All painted!

Now we just had to wait a week for our pieces to be glazed.

Here's my bowl before being glazed.

and here's after!

Kevin's vase looks great after (glazing) too!

KRA

I love the 3D flowers and initials!

peanut butter blondies

I got this recipe from the October 2009 Family Circle magazine.

These pretty much taste like soft iced peanut butter cookies... did someone say YUM?!

Peanut Butter Blondies

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup shortening

1 cup peanut butter

1 lb brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped peanuts (I omitted)

Heat oven to 350. Coat two 9x13 pans with cooking spray. In a large bowl, beat shortening, peanut butter and brown sugar on medium-high for 3 minutes. Add eggs; beat 3 minutes more. Add vanilla. On low spead add flower, baking powder and salt. Beat until mixed. Stir in the peanuts (if desired). Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool slightly.

Frosting

1 lb confectioners sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup shortening

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup hot water (I used a little more)

Beat sugar, peanut butter, shortening, salt and vanilla. Add hot water a little at a time. Beat until smooth. Spread over blondies while still warm.

Two pans is a big batch, but I brought one to work so that took care of half pretty quick!!

I just love how these are a "soft" cookie!

toy love

Mia and Callie love playing with destroying stuffed animals.

I find ones w/o any beads at garage sales and stock up to last all year.

They go crazy when I pull out a new one!!!

Mia holds hers in her mouth for a while before she starts chewing. She often falls asleep with the new toy just sitting in her mouth... so cute!

Callie loves playing fetch with her toys and will run back and forth as long as you are paying attention!

bathroom commitment

I finally bought a mirror for the downstairs bathroom!!!

I've been very particular about what I wanted and I think  hope know this is it!!!

This is one of my bigger online purchases and the first for any sort of home decorating item so I'm really hoping it looks as good in the bathroom as I want it to!

Here's a reminder of what the bathroom currently looks like (mirrorless)



candice and beardy

My friend from ISU, Candice got married this past weekend to her "Beardy" (aka Nick).

It was such a fun, sweet wedding and we loved getting to hang out with some of our old ISU peeps.

There were so many kinds of cupcakes it was hard to pick just one... so I didn't... I ate two!!

I wish I had a pic of the boquets, they were make of felt and embelishments in a similar style to the centerpieces. I loved them!!

Kevin and I

Drew & Emily all the way from Minnesota

Candice and Pat breaking it down on the dance floor.

Kevin was never told that white boys can't dance and now when I try to hint at it, he doesn't believe me. :)

Mikey & Jackie enjoying a dance

It was a pretty special night and Pat was having so much fun he took some very unique photos... check out fb in the next couple of days for more :)

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And here's what Candice, Me, Drew, & Pat looked like waaaay back in our ISU days

haha! I love it!