Made for Halloween!

This post is long but it is mostly pictures.

I wanted to post what we made for Halloween.

First, I baked cupcakes on Monday. We decorated them for FHE. 

Here is Kurt decorating his.

Here are the ones he did. 

Top row: cockroach's (he would), spider, Boo and "Blam!" Blam is a word we use when Kurt and I are playing a game of chess and the other one takes out a piece. We scream "Blam!" aka in your face. One time we were playing scrabble and he yelled it and put it down as a word and then said, "Just kidding." and fixed it to the word "lamb." He cracks me up!

Bottom row: Ace ( Ace is a character he made up with his works logo. He makes animations for his work with Ace), a guy who got the pee scared out of him, a man who was stabbed a bunch of times and is  bleeding to death and a nose with snot, Yuck. I don't even know how he ate that one.

These were the ones I decorated, one ghost, a cat, a spider, 4 pumpkins and 4 mummies. I got the mummy idea from my friend, Cherie's blog. There are a lot of cute other ideas from her post. You can see the post here.

Here is Ayla after she ate the cockroach one. Yuck! She doesn't look too happy. I don't think I would be either after eating a cockroach cupcake! LOL!

The next day, she did enjoy one of the mummy ones I decorated. She actually enjoyed both cupcakes.

I think I prefer cupcakes to cookies because they don't take as long to decorate. This is one of the traditions we do, decorate something sweet for Halloween.  We did cookies last year. You can see them here.

I did make some cookies this week. They were:

Pumpkin Chocolate chip cookies.

They were so easy 

Here is the recipe:

1 box spice cake mix

1 (15 oz.) can solid-pack pumpkin (the small can)

1 cup of chocolate chips

preheat oven at 350

Spray cookie sheets lightly with vegetable spray (Pam)

Mix together cake mix and pumpkin. You don't need eggs or anything else. Then put in the chocolate chips. 

Drop by large rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheet; they don't flatten out much so however you place them on the sheet is pretty much how they'll look after baking.

Bake for 8 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies.

Pretty easy huh?

Speaking of pumpkin....

I carved a pumpkin on Thursday and baked the pumpkin seeds.

Here it is on the table for us to enjoy. When we go to bed, he goes outside to stay fresh. Don't you love Ayla's little pumpkin?

Ayla enjoys our pumpkin. That is why I carved it. 

This is what he looks like in the dark.

3 years ago, my nephew, Lane wanted to be a ghostbuster for Halloween. So I made him a costume.

This is what a ghostbuster looks like. I am sure most people know. The one in the middle is Peter Venkman. So that is who Lane wanted to be.

Here is his costume 3 years ago.
Look at how little he was! So cute!

See Venkman?

Here is the logo I made. I printed these patches on the computer, then ironed them onto a shirt, then cut them out and then sewed them on. It was a lot of work.

This is the pack that we made him. My dad and my sister, Marion helped me with this one.

Well, Lane wanted to be a ghostbuster this year again. My bother, Robert called me to ask me if I knew where the costume I made him 3 years ago was. I was like, WHAT? YOU GUYS KEPT IT! Apparently it was lost. I was mad because I had made that costume big enough so that he could where the shirt part over his coat and so he could wear it again if he wanted to.

Well, Lane asked me to make him another one. I couldn't say know to my Lane. So that has been the project I have been working on the past 3 weeks.

My dad had some vacation and he helped me make Lanes pack again.

Here are the materials we used:

Styrofoam, piping, tape, drink holder, news paper, tubing, ice cream bucket lid and black paint.

We ended up cutting the bottom of the ice cream bucket instead of using the lid.

Dad putting the tubing in.

We used a lot of duct tape. We used it for the straps. 

We decided to use newspaper to cover it, to save on tape. Last time we used a ton of tape because we found out that, when you painted it, the paint ate the styrofoam.

After we built it, my dad painted it.

Next, I printed the patches out on different transfer paper. This time I didn't need to sew them on. 

I just had to iron them on.

.

Here is the whole costume. 

And here is Lane in it.

I think the patches turned out better this time. I wish I would have known about that transfer paper the last time I did it. It would have been easier.

Here is the "Venkman" patch.

And here is the pack. I put stickers on it this time. 

I think the costume turned out awesome and I told them to give it back to me when they were done. Then I can keep it and if he wants to wear it again, I have it. You never know. Maybe we will have a boy some time and he will want to wear it.

The night I took the pictures of Lane at my parent's house, my dad and I decided to put my dad's skeleton out for Halloween.

We put it in the rose bush. It looked the best there.

I tried to take a picture of my dad with my dog, Chico in his jacket with the skeleton. And this is what happened. I thought it was cool. His reflectors on his jacket glowed. Just like a ghost. OOOOOOH!

Last but not least, on my way home from my parents that night, I drove past this awsome Halloween house. I discovered it a couple of weeks ago. It is really creative.  I love the windows. 

If you click on the picture you can see what is in the windows. One has a groom holding a bride's head with a strobe light. Another has a witch in it with a strobe light. The living room window has a massacre scene. There are also graves in the yard. I think the man made up his house very well.

Anyway, there you have it. I know this post was pretty long. I hope you enjoyed it.

Happy Halloween!

My sister's birthday party!

My sister, Marion's birthday was last Thursday but we celebrated it last Wednesday.

I love to make Marion's cakes because I like to do Halloween cakes. I know that her birthday is not on Halloween but it is in the month of October and that is good enough for me. This year I did a mummy cake for her. I wanted to do a grave yard scene but she wanted a spice cake with cream cheese frosting not chocolate, so I went with the mummy cake. One year I did a pumpkin cake for her. You can see it here.

We celebrated her birthday at my parent's house.

Marion's boyfriend, Monty came too this time. 

Gotta love Lane brain!
We had Marion's favorite, hamburger soup.

Ayla loves her Aunt Marion.

My brother, Robert with the cake.

We all sang "Happy Birthday!"

And Dad cut the cake.
He killed the mummy. Is it possible to kill a mummy?

When we were teenagers, we always went to a haunted house for Marion's birthday. It became a tradition.

I am so glad she lives here again. She lived in Washington state for 10 years. She has been home for 3 and a half years and we have started the tradition again.

We went to "Nightmare on 13th" a week before her birthday.
Don't you just love my Photoshop job? Hee, hee!
It totally looks fake but I love it!

I had Kurt take a picture of us at our house the night we went to the haunted house. I didn't want to take my camera to the haunted house but I got my picture with us and the haunted house now, didn't I?

I took this on Monday when I went grocery shopping at Walmart a cross the street from "Nightmare on 13th."

I think the picture turned out okay. I could have done better if I had more time. I could have messed with lighting and everything but I don't have the time for that now. It took me long enough to cut us out. I am starting to get better at Photoshop.

As for the haunted house, we had a good time. It freaked me out a couple of times. My favorite was the insane asylum part. It had a hall that looked so real. It really looked like a run-down insane asylum.

I didn't care for the extra rooms that you pay extra for. It was really closed in and sometimes it felt like you couldn't breath and I am not even claustrophobic. It did freak me out thinking I could get the swine flu from all the faces that touched some of the sheets that hit your face. Yuck! I had to shower when I got home. I felt so dirty. Next time I think I will just stick to the main haunted house and not do the extra rooms.

I know I enjoyed Marion's birthday. I hope she enjoyed it as well.
Happy Birthday Marion! I love you!

Watch Ayla Grow! #5

Ayla turned 20 months yesterday. It has been another 4 months since the last time I did a, "Watch Ayla grow post." So it is time for another one.

Here she is at 16 months, playing in the water at aunt Marion's.

Here she is at our table at 17 months.

This is still 17 months.
We were at my friend, Ann's house for her daughter, Mary's birthday party. Ann took this picture and I borrowed it from her blog. Thanks Ann.

Here she is at 18 months.
This was one of the many times we went to the zoo.

Here she is at 19 months.
This picture cracks me up. She wanted to put on Daddy's church socks. I think they look like boots. LOL!! She is so funny!

Here she is again at 19 months.
She had fallen asleep in her high-chair, with a piece of garlic bread in her mouth. Precious!

19 months still.
My beautiful little girl. This pretty dress was a hand-me-down from my friend, Ann. Who got it from our friend, Katie.

And here she is at 20 months.
This was taken before we went to church, yesterday. She is wearing another cute hand-me-down dress. Thanks again Katie and Ann.

Ayla now weighs 21 lbs and is 32 inches tall. So she has gained a pound and has grown a 1/4 of an inch.

During her 19th month, she has learned how to say a couple of things.

"No, way!" is her favorite

"I (pointing to her eye)... love... WEEE!(pointing at you)" Apparently, "weee" is her word for "you." She will get it.

She is such a hoot! She gets more and more fun. She started to act like she is singing when she hears music. She actually doesn't make any sounds. She just moves her mouth. So she is lip syncing. It is so cute. I got a clip of it tonight with the camera and I will post it on another post.

Some of the fun things she got and got to do this past month were:

Go to the zoo with just her mommy.
We had gone to the zoo 5 times together this year but this was the first time we went by ourselves. It was fun and we were there from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. It was so fun just having it be the two of us. Mother and daughter time.

She received a table and chair from Grandma and Grandpa Perry where she got to sit down and eat a bowl of cereal with her soy milk for her first time. She loves to be independent and this made her feel like a big girl. She is getting really good at using utensils.

Speaking of independence, she now tries to dress herself and can strap herself in her high-chair on her own. She is growing up.

Another thing she got this past month was a kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa Perry. It was a hand-me-down from our niece, Brooke. It is so cute. It makes sounds and every thing. Ayla plays with it every day. When I brought it home, Ayla had a hard time getting to bed. It was like Christmas. I love hand-me-downs!

Ayla also got to have her first Tea Party with her friend, The Mummy and her pet tiger. See the fake spaghetti on the plate? She pretends she is eating that all the time and acts like she is drinking out of her baby doll's bottle. It is so cute. She is starting to exercise her imagination. I love it!

Ayla mommy is so proud of you! I love you! Slow down! You are growing up too fast!