Ghostly Gronola

Landon was star student of the week last week and every day we had an "assignment" Friday's was to bring a snack to share. So in honor of halloween, I decided to make Ghostly Gronola aka puppy chow aka muddy munchies. It was super easy, pretty cute and very yummy. First, you'll need a few things.

To make the "gronola". Take 1 cup of chocolate chips, 1/2 cup peanut butter, and 1/4 cup butter and microwave until melted (about 1 minute)




Add 1 tsp of vanilla and stir until well blended. Next take 9 cups of chex mix cereal and pour into a large bowl. Pour the chocolate mixture over cereal and toss until evenly covered.




Finally, take 1 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and put in a large ziplock bag, add the cereal mixure and shake until covered. YUM!!!! ( FYI, I am pretty sure this recipe is also on the back of the chex mix box)

(Landon shaking)

Now your ready to make your ghosts. You will need this:




Take you googly eyes and hot glue the eyes directly on the bottom of your cellaphane bag.




Add 1 cup of your "gronola" Tie with a ribbon and your done!







...quick and easy Ghostly Gronola! Click here and check out my sister's blog for another cute ghostly idea!!

A Bit Batty

We are in full force halloween mode now. I have bought all the costumes, bought or made halloween clothes, and have the house decorated as much as I can. I am still just trying to get our home put together and decorated for the every day so I can't say I have gone all out inside. But I did put some thought and effort into the outdoor decorations. A couple of weeks ago, I saw this in Country Living.




I decided I wanted my door to look similiar. So, I bought some orange mums for $12.00 at Lowes and stuck them in a pot that I discovered while moving. And, I bought an orange "Spooky" pick at Hobby Lobby for half off.





I bought a "Boo" door hanger at Hobby Lobby for half off of $8.00!

I made the bats out of black felt from this template here.

We grabbed some duck tape and started hanging while Lucy watched from the inside.

And voila...



Our house is now batty!!!! (yes, pun intended)

Spider Tee

So, I have been scouring every childrens boutique and consignment store for a halloween outfit for Lucy. No, I don't like all black on my baby. No, I don't like orange either! No, I don't care for rhinestones! I cannot find anything really cute for her that is halloweenish. So, I decided I would make something myself. Did you know that I design children's clothing? If not, you do now. And thats exactly how it got started, except at the time, I wanted cute clothes for my little man, Landon (now 6). Anyhow, back on point. My very first season I designed a spider tee and it was my top seller by far. I recently just sold the last of the spider design through my liquidating companies. And, am now kicking myself for not keeping one for Lucy. But then again, I did come up with the design. So, I made a spider tee for Lucy this weekend. Its easy, inexpensive and the cutest Halloween design out there...trust me I have looked! :)

First you will need these items.

A tee, fabric stiffener, ribbon, wooden dowel, and fabric of your choice.

Next, you will make the corker ribbon. I know they sell corker ribbon already made, but I have yet to find it so heres how you make it yourself. Cut the dowel down to about 10 inches. And next, and this is VERY important, soak the dowel in water for about 30 minutes. This will prevent the dowel from burning and your ribbon from cooking to the dowel.

Next, dip your ribbon in the fabric stiffener...

wipe off any excess, and wrap around the dowel.

Bake in your oven for about 20 minutes on 200 degrees.

While your ribbon is cooking, cut your fabric into the shape of a spider like this. (I also used stablizer on the back of the fabric... its not required, but it does help while sewing.)





Once the ribbbon is done unwind from the dowel and cut into (8) 4 inch peices (for your spider legs) Take 4 legs each and sew them together like this.




Next, arrange your fabric body on your tee and put one set of legs underneath and start sewing around the edge. I used a zig zag stitch on my machines slowest and tightest stitch setting. When you get half way around, slip the other set of legs underneath the fabric and continue sewing until you have gone all the way around your spider.

Cut any excess fabric from the edges and cut your legs down to your preference.


Next take a fabric marker and make your eyes and a mouth.

Pair your new tee with some leggings and...


...Ta Da! The cutest halloween outfit!

That's even cuter on!

Quick Update

I have had 4 people ask why I am not posting and to be perfectly honest I didn't know 4 people read this blog! :) Anyhow, I have been without my camera since this weekend, but now I have it back and will get to work tomorrow taking pictures and uploading. I have had a lot of fun with the house this week and can't wait to show some of it off!! It is finally starting to come together. I am hosting a trunk show on Monday so maybe I will pull a "Holley" and it will all get done by then. By the way, Holley is my sister who throws parties so that her house will get decorated and will go from contruction(literally) to done, decorated, accessorized and ready for guests in 24 hours. And, I am being dead serious! Anyhow, stay posted for more! But, in the meantime, I will share a recipe that is super easy and delicous and sorry - no pics.

Chicken Spaghetti Bake
1 can cream of muchroom
1 can cream of chicken
1 can canned chicken (all white)
1 tub sour creme
1 box spaghetti - cooked
1 bag chredded cheddar cheese
1 jar chopped peppers

Cook spaghetti noodles, mix with other ingredients, and bake 350 for 30 minutes. I loved it, Ash loved and both kids (even Lucy) loved it. I doubled the recipe and froze the other half. Awesome easy weeknight dinner!

Busy Making Other Plans

My anniversary is on Monday which makes for a long weekend with Monday being Labor Day. So, about a month ago, I started making plans for Ashley and I to take a weekend trip to Charleston. Neither of us has been before and its on both of our lists. So, I arranged for my parents to take the kids for the weekend, I had Ashleys secretary block the day for appointments and I started making reservations. I had planned on surprising Ashley today and off we would go. Well, this was all before the TV drama. Our living room/great room has no walls and the only solution is to put a flat screen tv above the fireplace. (Ashley loves that this is the only solution) Well, we found an awesome deal on the TV. Little did I know that the wall mount would be nearly the amount of the television and the installation was more than the price of both. So, when the TV price more than trippled, it was either the trip or the TV. And, I picked the flat screen. I have to say though, I am very excited to not only be getting the tv/surround sound hooked up, but I am really excited to have a long weekend to tackle a bunch of projects. So, heres my list. It probably won't make a lot of sense right now, but I am hoping it will hold me accountable to get them done this weekend with lots of pictures to prove it.

1. Paint mirror silver
2. Spray paint patio furniture black
3. Hang drapery rods in great room & master
4. Make lined drapes for the great room
5. Install shades in bay window
6. paint basement coffee table
7. find lampshade
8. find plants for mirrored planters (this is going to look SO good)


Thats the list. I will post as I get things crossed off. Perhaps Charleston would be a good New Years trip!!?? Have a great weekend!

Its Been a While

Hey friends! So, I knew I had taken the month of August off, but didn't realize that my last post was the beginning of July...its been longer than I thought. And there is so much to catch up on. I am not sure where to even start, but I think I will start with the house. We moved in the new house the end of July and are settling in slowly but surely.

I have been working very hard on getting the house deocrated and can't wait to show you before and after pics very soon. Here's a sneak peak at one. The fireplace before and after. This was done the day we closed. Immediatly after the closing, I went to Benjamin Moore for the paint and slapped some on before Ash could say "no". :)

Before...

After...

After moving in July, school started right after in early August. Landon started 1st grade at his new school and was a pro about it. He is already adjusted and we are loving his new teacher!

The tooth fairy has had her work cut out at our house. While Landon has been loosing teeth, (hilarious story that I will share later) Lucy has been getting them. She got 5 teeth at once and you would have never known. She never fussed or cried, there was no fever or ear aches, nothing!

And as if there wasn't enough going on, I got my fall shipment in for Mary Michael Children's Apparel. I have been working none stop getting the merchandise sized and priced, photographed, working on the website and selling like crazy. I am finally offering online sales through the website so go check it out at http://www.marymichael.net/ There are some CUTE things at awesome prices. Here's a little peak at what we have to offer...

Its good to be back and blogging! I have missed yall!

A Perfect Weekend

Whew...its been a while! I am over two weeks since I last posted and now this post is almost a week late. This one has taken me all week to get done, so excuse any typos, I couldn't take it any more and had to publish it. I promise I will try to do better! :) We have been nonstop the past few weeks with our latest excursion being in Paris for the holiday weekend. And before you get too jealous, I am talking about Paris Tennessee. You can still get a little jealous because it was an awesome weekend. We drove up late Thursday night arriving around midnight to Ashley's dad's house that was ready for the weekend.

The festivities began on Friday with a bang...literally! Morning came early for everyone and when I say early I mean 5am. We woke up to breakfast and play time and made our way to the pool around noon. We swam and snacked the afternoon away. I for once got to lay by the pool as I had plenty of helpers with Lucy. I got to lay around so much, that I didn't take a single picture of the swimmers! After the pool, we went back to Ashley's dad to get ready for the Paris Country Club BBQ and fireworks. When we arrived we made our way straight to the food and enjoyed dinner and then spent the rest of the late afternoon socializing with friends and family.

Ashley, Uncle Jimmy and Ashley's dad, John David

Aunt Nancy and Thea Steph

Me and Ash

Jessica (Ashley's sister) and her boyfriend, Kenny

While we had our time, the kids were having theres. They had a kid carnival set up and Landon and his cousins had a blast!

Jordyn

Landon and his cousin, Jackson

Landon

The fireworks aka "Thunder Over Paris" was supposed to start at dark, so we rounded up the kiddos and waited...

and waited...

The wait was well worth it.

The pictures don't do them justice, but these were the BEST fireworks ever! I don't think the fireworks themselves were all that better, but all the lights were out, it was super dark outside and they were shooting them about 50 yeards away, so they were falling right over us. Do you want to know who enjoyed them more than anyone????

LUCY! She loved them and wasn't afraid one bit. In fact, when I tired to pick her up she would scream for me to put her back down. So funny! She was in this position the whole time.

Saturday came and was just as jampacked as Friday. The morning and early afternoon were spent recovering from the "festivities" the night before. I didn't mention, but after the fireworks, the CC hosted an adult only pool party that lasted well into the night errrr morning. Those pictures will not be posted on. Anyway, I would say around 2 on Saturday afternoon everyone had recovered. So we went to tour John David's (Ashely's dad) lumberyard. He has manufactured hardwood floors and moulding for years and has just added a pellet mill. So we all went for the tour...very interesting. (With the new Energy Bill about to pass in the Senate this may be the "new thing" as its considered to be green. Here's a link to learn more about it if your interested.) Anyhow, after the tour we went to get ready for that nights festivities which started with a birthday party for Jude!

Jude, the birthday boy

PaPau (sp?) and Gigi - proud grandparents

After the birthday party, we made our way to the Neese Family BBQ hosted by our own Billy Bob. Unfortunately it poured right when the BBQ was starting and I made my way inside with Lucy. I didn't get many pictures but I did manage to sneak a few of the kids playing in the rain.

Oh, and right before the rain started, I got this one...my favorite picture of the weekend!

Sunday was spent sleeping in and then packing up. We made a run to the store to get the fixins for burgers and we had a lunchtime cookout before everyone had to make their way home. We also got a few pics in front of the flag.

Ash, John David and Lucy

John David and Sue aka The Grandchildren Worshippers

The Cousins - Jordyn, Jude, Jackson, Landon, and Lucy

I absoluetly LOVE the 4th of July. Its my favorite holiday right after Christmas. There is something about it that makes me giddy. Whether it be the parties, festivities, family, middle of the summer heat and fireworks or perhaps I get to relive my childhood watching my children live theres. Whatever it is, I love the holiday and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect weekend!

Hope you all enjoyed a great 4th of July!!