Some Artwork and Writing

Jamie's First Kindergarten Project

Jamie doesn't get homework so I was surprised and delighted when he came home with a project for us to do together. He had to take a picture of a Turkey and glue it to orange construction paper and disguise it so that it would not be eatedn for Thanksgiving. I believe that nobody in their right minds would eat this monster turkey!

Trick-or-Treat

Trick-or-Treating was so much fun. It was drizzling and quite cold. By the time we were finished we were soaking wet. Even so we all had a blast and probably could have gone on longer.

Trunk or Treat

We went to a Trunk or Treat at a church with some friends a fe days before Halloween. I brought Dynisha with us. They ate, played lots of games. There was face paining but Jamie wouldn't have his face painted on so he asked her to paint his hand. It got ruined only seconds later when I held his hand without thinking. Dynisha chose to have her hair painted instead.

Jamie is getting older and much more adventurous. Even six months ago he was terrified of bounce houses and the like. He would watch the other children and you knew that he longed to participate in the fun, but just couldn't get past his fear. Tonight he actually played in a bounce house and a blow up obstacle course and had a wonderful time. I didn't think I would manage to pull him out to go home. I am so glad that he conquered that fear. Perhaps he will be bolder the next time he is afraid to do something that he really does want to do.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup of self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375

Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until it is creamy. Add the egg and continue beating. Gradually add flour and continue beating. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop the cookies in rounded spoonfuls on a baking sheet.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown.

This made us 18 cookies, but will probably make you about 20. I think we ate a few in the dough stage!

Pine Cones & Leaves

I really had a good time with Jamie today. Today was the first day of him fall break from school. We slept in late. He slept in the bed with me last night. He started out in his own bed, but ended up in with Matthew and I. I don't mind. I love having him close to me. I went to bed after Matthew and when I got in there he was snuggled up to his Daddy and the two of them were taking up less than half the bed. Moments like that melt my heart.

We relaxed the first part of the day. I heated up some Chicken Tetrazinni that I had made last week and frozen. I got the recipe from www.moneysavingmom.com. It was really good. Jamie loved the cheesy noodles. I did some laundry and late in the afternoon we headed out to Jamie's school and hunted for pretty leaves and pine cones. At first we didn't have much luck with the pine cones. I started on the paths in the woods around the school and didn't find any at all. When we walked around the back of the school we found plenty, though. When we got home I dumped everything out on the table and let Jamie fill a clear glass vase. Then we pressed leaves between two pieces of wax paper. I don't think my iron gets hot enough without the steam setting for them to press well, but Jamie was happy with it. Now I have a lovely centerpiece on my kitchen table.

Now we're sitting on the couch watching Cake boss together. Jamie just loves that show. He's so facinated by the whole thing. He loves cooking shows, too, but nothing beats Cake Boss.

Pumpkin Carving Weekend

Yesterday we went to spent the night with my friend and her kids. She roasted pumpkin seeds and I carved the pumpkins. I thought I would never get finished. The cat one was the hardest, but the pirate ship and the skull were a bit tedious, too. The kids picked out what they wanted on their pumpkins. Jamie's are the bat, the cat, and the "fire mouth".

The large pumpkin with three bats on it is actually a pie pumpkin so I scraped it out as much as I could to use for goodies. I'll have to post about that later.

Today we made caramel apples. Jamie loved eating the caramel.

Pumpkin Day in Jamie's Class

Jamie's class had a Pumpkin Day today at school. There were four tables set up. One table was decorating pumpkin cookies, one was making necklaces, one was making a Popsicle stick pumpkin face craft, and my table was making pumpkin bags. I had so much fun volunteering in class despite being sleepy from last night. I am so glad that I could participate.

We were asking the kids which table they liked best and they all were saying they liked the cookie table. Jamie said, "I liked your table, Mommy, because you were there." Awww. He knows how to melt his Mommy's heart.