halloween - I'm Topsy Turvy

The Lorax Family Costumes – Onsler (greedy, non-greedy), Swami Swan and Humming Fish

October 31, 2012 by Ashlee · 14 Comments

I love Halloween! I love all holiday’s, but my favorites are Christmas and Halloween! Last year we did the grab bag costumes since I had just given birth to Baby Boy, but THIS year I wanted to go back to our Family costume themes! We actually went through a few different costume themes before settling on The Lorax!!!

It was perfect cause we found something for EVERYONE to be that they were all happy with! All the other themes one of the kids wasn’t happy! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a theme that 7 people agree on? in the end Bill and I ended up not doing costumes but I am SO happy with how the kids turned out.
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Filed Under: baby, Crafts, Family, halloween, Holidays, kids, sewing · Tagged With: school

pumpkin crochet hat

October 30, 2011 by Ashlee · 22 Comments

People often ask how I get so much done with 4 (now 5- EEK!) kids. Esp all my cooking and baking from scratch. My first answer? I don’t sleep much… I do my crafting, blogging and computer time from 8pm (when the kids go to bed) and 2 am (or often 4 am) when I finally go to bed. The pregnancy and now newborn/nursing time period kind of puts a kink in that, but still- not much sleep. I kind of hate sleep, it’s such a waste of time!!!

My second answer is my kids love to work/play/cook/craft WITH me. The only thing I don’t let them do WITH me is cakes for clients… This year I taught The Reader how to crochet! She’s made a few small things, but when she saw this pumpkin crochet hat I pinned she asked if she could make it herself!

She did an AMAZING job! It’s her first BIG project and I couldn’t believe how well she did. This is my brave child that tries everything but doesn’t handle correction (she takes correction as criticism- she gets that from me I’m afraid) very well sometimes. She tends to give up, or (even worse) get really REALLY depressed easily. So the first time I noticed a mistake I wasn’t sure what to do- tell her or don’t tell her. I decided not to say anything, but then she noticed her self that her stitches were off and instead of giving up she asked for help!

I was so proud of her! Not only did she not get upset but she un-stitched it and fixed it. In fact she fixed it without getting upset or quitting a few times! I can’t begin to say how totally proud I am of her. More for how she handled it than for the fact that she completed it! I did have to help with the stem, but just a bit! She couldn’t wait until Baby Boy came and could wear it. So in honor of his birth month here is my little pumpkin (who totally hated being in this basket)!

Filed Under: baby, Crafts, crochet, Family, halloween, Holidays, kids, review · Tagged With: pictures, yarn

Pumpkin Pancakes

October 24, 2011 by Ashlee · 10 Comments

I made these last year, and they became a quick fall favorite of ours! We have breakfast for dinner every Friday, and pancakes are our go to favorite. So we’ve come up with a few different flavors and styles of pancakes to switch back and forth from. This is our Fall favorite!

Pumpkin Pancakes
5 C Flour
1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tsp allspice (I prefer 1)
1 1/2 tsp salt
whisk dry ingredients together
3 1/2 C milk
1 1/2 C pumpkin
8 Tbsp butter, melted
4 eggs
whisk wet ingredients together
Pour the wet over the dry, mix just until combined, should be lumpy. Add any extras you like chocolate chips, etc… Cook over med- med/high heat until there are multiple bubbles, then flip and cook for a few more minutes. Makes about 40 pancakes, depending on your size.

I cook a few rounds plain pumpkin, served with my homemade maple syrup for dinner!. For the last half of the batch I add mini chocolate chips to the rest of the batter. Chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes with Whipped cream on top for dessert! Delish! Even better? I love toasting the leftover chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes the next day, they make a great snack!

Filed Under: breakfast, halloween, Recipes · Tagged With: chocolate

Pumpkin Pie milkshake or ice cream

December 8, 2010 by Ashlee · 32 Comments

I know, I know… Pumpkin recipes are SOOOO last month. Honestly I made this 2 weeks ago, Really I did. But I lost my blogging mojo over the last few weeks and now that I’m back in the game I’m finally getting around to posting it. So it’s okay, see, since I MADE it before Thanksgiving it still works.

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake or Ice Cream
2 C heavy cream
2 C milk
1/2 C Sugar
1/4 C Brown Sugar
2/3 C canned Pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
Pour it all into the blender together!

Mix it all in the blender…

And throw it into your ice cream maker! Here is where you decide, if you want a nice thick milkshake you only blend it for 10-15 mins (depending on HOW thick you like it…) OR run your machine for 30-40 mins to turn it into ice cream!

This was my little girls favorite part! Grab some graham crackers (I picked cinnamon ones) and crush em up! I like using a gallon size freezer bag and rolling over it with a rolling pin. Easy peasy for the kiddo’s. For Ice Cream leave the crackers a bit chunky and mix them in when the ice cream cycle is over.

For the milkshake once your satisfied with the thickness pour it into glasses, top with whipped cream and the crushed graham crackers! Serve (with a spoon, mine was on the super thick side of things. I wished I had taken it out just 5 mins earlier! But no one seemed to mind in the least! Both the milkshakes and the ice cream was a huge hit with everyone in the family!