Pumpkin Stuff

Last night we celebrated my Daddy's birthday with a chili dinner and pumpkin carving. Once again we start off with a picture of Mark wearing Matthew's sunglasses. The only kids who carved pumpkins were Emily, Michael and Maya. Of course, Maya had lots of help from Pop. You'll notice There are no pictures of Douglas whatsoever, but he was there. Matt, Douglas and Marky spent the entire pumpkin carving time playing on the trampoline. Then we had cake and Dad opened presents. I just adore this one: Look, you can see Bill in the mirror: And Matt is in the mirror in this one:Then it was dark enough to see the pumpkins glowing. From left to right is Maya and Pop's kitty pumpkin, Emily's happy face pumpkin, and Michael's LG pumpkin.

Look at what happened to Marky from all that jumping on the trampoline: Thanks everyone for hanging out with us. We had a great time!

Apricot Bars

This is a submission to our home-school newspaper by little Mark:Apricot Bars
Submitted by Mark Blanchfield
Recipe and completed photo, below, by Pioneer Woman

This is an easy recipe. I like to help my mom bake these. They taste sweet and yummy. You need to have your mom or dad help you because you bake it in a hot oven. They are tasty.

Apricot Bars

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 3/4 sticks (regular, salted) butter, cut into pieces
1 10-12 ounce jar Apricot Preserves

Mix all ingredients except Apricot Preserves. Press one half of the mixture into a buttered 8″ square (or small rectangular) pan. Spread with a 10-12 ounce jar of apricot preserves. Sprinkle second half of mixture over the top and pat lightly. Bake at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes or until light brown. Let cool completely, then cut into squares.

Recycling Toys

My kids are very creative when it comes to finding new uses for outgrown toys. Here's a few videos to demonstrate:

Another House Party!

I got another House Party, this time it is the Arm & Hammer Essentials party. This huge 22 lb. box showed up on my porch today.



The host goodies include a canvas tote, multi-surface cleaner, glass cleaner, heavy duty cleanser spray, coupons for free full sized cat litter and laundry detergent, a fridge-fresh, cleaning cloth, 18 coupon books and party instructional sheet.



The guest bags are reusable canvas shopping bags and each have a full sized bottle of multi-surface spray, a fridge-fresh, a cleaning cloth and a $5 coupon book.