Our pumpkins....

Addison's pumpkin.

Chad's pumpkin. It looked really cool with a red light inside it.

My pumpkin, of course.

Eli's pumpkin.

Samuel's pumpkin.

Creepy Crawly Bugs

This recipe is from the 2008 Taste of Home Halloween Party Favorites magazine. I'm going to make these for the meeting i'm hosting Wednesday night.

You will need:

1 tube refrigerated breadsticks
8 smoked sausage links or hot dogs
1/2 to 3/4 cup potato sticks
Ketchup and/or prepared mustard

1. Separate dough into strips. Unroll and cut eight strips in half widthwise; set remaining strips aside. Cut sausages in half widthwise. Wrap one piece of dough around each sausage, leaving the rounded end showing. Place seam side down on an ungreased baking sheet. Place reserved breadsticks on baking sheet.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. Remove bugs to a serving plate and cool 2 minutes.

3. Insert potato sticks into baked dough to resemble legs and antennae. Decorate with ketchup and/or mustard. Serve warm.

Yield: 8 servings

I'll share pictures after I make them Wednesday.

8 days until Halloween......

WOW, can you believe it? We are so close to Halloween. Is everything ready? Are the costumes done and tried on?

We have made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch and got lots of big pumpkins and lots of pie pumpkins as well. We rode the hayride, fought our way through the corn maze and emerged in a pie pumpkin field where we picked our own pumpkin. We were able to pet a calf and a goat in the petting zoo and the kids bounced in the bounce house. Then we climbed to the top of a hay bale pile and took pictures.

The costumes have been purchased but not yet tried on. I must get that done this weekend so I have time to make adjustments if need be. Samuel is going to be a vampire, complete with face paint and spray painted black hair. Addison is going to be a cute little witch and Eli is going to be a green dinosaur. I'm going to be a witch, as usual.

I had many crafts that I wanted to complete BEFORE Halloween but I haven't had a chance to start anything. Maybe this weekend I can take some time just for this and then i'll have some pictures to show you.

More later!

Welcome Fall!

Yesterday late afternoon was the official beginning of fall. The weather was gorgeous with temps in the 50's most of the day and edging up to the 60's by late afternoon/evening. By bedtime it was back in the 50's with another very crisp morning today. I so totally love this weather. I could live in sweatshirts and jeans year round and be happy.

Leaves are starting to fall, which is sad because it is just getting cool enough for them to begin changing color. I want pretty leaves! Halloween will be here before we know it.

I plan to start decorating this weekend, on top of the birthday party hoopla and such. Pictures soon!

Fall decorations....

Here are a few pics of the fall decor around my house. I'm beginning my Halloween decorating so those will be up in the next week or so.

Craft Idea: Coffee Filter Vampire Bats

I can't wait to have these cuties hanging from my ceiling. Find complete instructions here.

Craft Idea: Egg Cup Treat Holders

What a great idea! These seem so simple and fun, i'm going to start saving my egg cartons. You can find complete instructions here.

Craft Idea: Fall Fingerprint Tree

I was browsing for cute fall craft ideas and came upon this on Kaboose.com. This is the cutest tree i've seen! You can find complete instructions here.

September already!!

I can't believe it's September already but i'm relieved that it is. Fall is my absolute favorite time of year, someday I hope to celebrate it in the Northeast United States so I can really see some true colored leaves. Our leaves do change here in the Midwest but it seems that in recent years they haven't been nearly as nice as they used to.

A week or so ago I dug out the fall decor and stored it in the laundry room. Today I managed to get some of it put up. I put faux fall leaves on my outside rail and along the stairway. I still need to put out my scarecrows in the flower bed and hang up my fall wreaths, but I have to find my hangers first. I think they are packed away with the Christmas stuff.

I'm wearing my pumpkin pajama pants that I got at Old Navy many years ago. They are THE most comfy PJ pants i've ever had.

Happy Fall!!!

Lollipop Ghosts

Lollipop ghosts are a very easy, kid-friendly craft and great for those school parties. Pick up a bag of tootsie pops, a box of facial tissue (or you could use tissue paper), and some Halloween ribbon. Make sure to have a black marker handy. Put one tissue over the top of the tootsie pop and tie at the bottom with the ribbon. Use the marker to dot on some eyes. Simple, yet fun!

You could also adapt this idea to hang outside in a tree or from your roof. Use crumpled newspaper and white trash bags with ribbon to make a floating ghost. Secure with fishing line so it appears that they are floating.

Festive Pumpkin Dip

12 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons taco seasoning mix
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup chopped dried beef
1/3 cup chopped green pepper
1/3 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1 can (2 1/4 ounces) sliced ripe olives, drained
1 round loaf (1 pound) Italian or pumpernickel bread
Fresh vegetables, crackers, or corn chips

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, pumpkin, taco seasoning, and garlic powder until smooth. Stir in beef, peppers and olives.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Just before serving, cut top off bread; scoop out bread from inside, leaving a 1/2 inch shell. Fill shell with cream cheese mixture. Serve with vegetables, crackers, or corn chips.

Makes 3 cups.

Witch Shoes

On the way to Michigan last week, we stopped in Brandon, WI to stay the night at Chad's aunt's house. While there we visited a cute little shop. After browsing around for a bit I happened upon these adorable witch shoes. They are made of cloth that appears to be starched so it's stiff. I didn't get a very good picture but here they are! I'm going to find a permanent place for them in the house.

Festival Find

So we were at the Nautical Festival in Rogers City, MI last weekend and of course I had to visit the vendor tents. I found this cute bowl for $5. It's a pretty thick, heavy bowl so I was suprised to see it was only $5! I just had to get it.

Calling all Halloween bloggers

If you have a Halloween or Fall blog that you would like posted in the sidebar, please just leave your link as a comment to this post and i'll get it added as soon as I can! Thanks!

Seasonal Placemats

These are the placemats I use for fall and Halloween. Although every year I check out what's offered in the stores. Do you have seasonal placemats?

Witch Collection

I have a habit of collecting different types of witches. This particular collection I purchased in bits at the Dollar Tree one year.

Altered Clipboard: Halloween Countdown

Last year I made a Halloween Countdown using a clipboard. I altered it using scrapbook paper and some small wooden pumpkins that I found at Hobby Lobby. I also used foam stickers that I purchased at Walmart around the holiday. To secure the pumpkins I used little round magnets. I wrote the numbers on the pumpkins with a Sharpie. The top half of the clipboard I painted with black craft paint. I tied a Halloween ribbon onto the top and the letters are stickers I also picked up at Walmart.

Fort Riley Ghost Stories

Fort Riley is considered one of the most haunted bases. There are several websites out there with ghost stories of Fort Riley. I will recap some of the stories here with the links to which I found them. Fort Riley really does have a fascinating history, especially due to its central location. The base has been here since before the Civil War and there are 4 original buildings left from the 1850's.

This is the best site i've found so far. It begins by talking about the history of the base and then leads into the ghost stories. You really have to know the history to understand the stories.

It is said that on the Artillery Parade Field a woman is seen walking across the field in chains. It has never been discovered who she was or why she was imprisoned like this.

A group of riders can be seen on the Cavalry Parade Field. One rider dismounts and the rest ride off. They stop at the intersection where General Custers house once was and it is believed that they were his escort. People who have seen these riders often experience them in different ways. Some are able to hear them but not see them and others are able to see them but not hear them.

The Custer House, which is now a museum on base, is one of the 4 original buildings left on base from the 1850's. It was previously Quarters 24. There have been reports of hearing what sounded like someone putting on a boot and stomping their foot down coming from upstairs and a teddy bear in a children's room moves to different locations during the night.

One of the most chilling stories I think is one about a young woman, engaged to be married, who died during the cholera epidemic on the base in the 1800's. She was alone in her house by the trolley station when she died. She was buried in her wedding dress by the bridge that crossed the creek near the trolley station. After her passing her fiance reported that many times she would show up at the front door demanding to be let in her house. On one occassion a maid that was ironing by a window looked up to see the woman staring in at her. She was so frightened that she threw the iron through the window. The Post Commander got so tired of all the disturbance that he paid to have an exorcism done and then had the house torn down completely in hopes of stopping the haunting. However, the woman's ghost is still seen around base, mostly near the old trolley station.

When we first moved here the neighbor told my husband that they had a ghost in their house. They said it was a little boy and their kids played with him. I guess they were scared because they said that they prayed over the house and the little boy went away. Sometimes when everyone is downstairs in our house, I hear what sounds like someone walking upstairs. Not the actual footsteps but the settling sound that an older house makes when someone is moving about. My husband heard it last night actually when he was doing the dishes. I'm not sure that there's anything in our house but it's interesting none the less.

This is just a handful of the ghost stories of Fort Riley. I hope you enjoyed them.

Welcome!!

I already had a Halloween blog but it was under a different email address and I thought it would be easier to have all my blogs in one place so I created a new one. This blog is dedicated to all things Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I love to dress up right along with the kids. There will be recipes, craft and decoration ideas, pictures, etc.

Stay tuned......