One Autumn Day...

Here's a lil peek into our day...crafts & cookies!!! And when my hubby got home from work, he made a yummy fire in the fireplace! (Oh yes, fires are YUMMY! mmmmmm...)

This craft idea was from a really cute blog called, "A Beautiful Mess," which could easily describe my life as well!! Here is the link to her instructions. I decided upon her older version, except we used a sewing machine. We don't have time for that much hand-sewing and the yarn version, while SUPER cute, was a pain in the patootie! Click here to see the original instructions: A Beautiful Mess: Fall Garland.

Here are the pics of ours. I made a leaf template on a piece of cardstock, then just held it on the felt and cut away! I knew Caitlin would love to sew it together, so it might it a bit of a family project. She did a simple straight stitch on the longest stitch we could get on our machine and voilà! It was finished. It's now hanging above the fireplace, ready for the Thanksgiving festivities!!

Of course, I realized after the photos, that we need to clean the soot off of the front of our fireplace. **sigh**

Cute! :)

Here is a close-up of the garland. We just overlapped the tips a bit and sewed a straight stitch.

While Caitlin was sewing the leaves together, I thought Sophia & Emma might want to do something "autumn-y" too. So we decided to bake one of our favorite types of cookies: peanut butter blossoms. Here they are...

Peanut Butter Blossoms! YUMMYYYYYY! 

Does anyone have a fly swatter??

Feesha-my-Meesha!

Big {cookie} mouth.

I don't know what looks more de-lish...the cookie or Maya-Moo. ;)

Handsome boy.

What is YOUR favorite fall-time craft or activity??? And what treats do YOU like to bake during the fall at your house?

Home Invasion: Part V

Sooo, it's been a few months since I've blogged. What can I say? I'm a busy girl. I'm actually in the process of combining all my activities into one blog, so you'll have one place to find all my cooking, homeschooling, photography, Bows-n-Berries and more! I cannot WAIT to have it done and hope to become more regular about posting.

Here are the rest of the photos (there might be alot! lol) from the Summer Training. Gotta get these posted before the winter training rolls around! I've already got one family with a "Molina Valley Reservation!" ;)

My honey gettin' the fixin's ready for carne asada tacos. He made the tacos, the salsa, everything! WOW!

Rice with tangy meatballs, 7-layer salad (DE-LISH!) and creamed squash! Delightful meal!
I'll try to post some recipes sometime! 

The kids watching the adults during study time...they were so cute looking down the stairwell. :)

Peach Cream Pie....mmmmm...

Some wonderful veggie soup that my mama made one evening. The green beans were from the garden! 

A very large pan of brownies. :)

This pic should be up at the top of this post with the other one...but here is my hubby
chopping cilantro & some of his homemade salsa! It was a hit!

My aunt & uncle...my 2nd mama & papa. I heart them. 

Two of my cousins!

Red, white & blue...with a lil chocolate too! lol

Olivette Dip...an old family recipe. Doesn't look NEARLY as good as it tastes!

I think this was for the first batch of eggs that morning. hahaha...

One of my faves, scrambled eggs...Greek style. With Feta cheese, black olives and fresh basil. YUM!

Another day's breakfast.

Emma being Emma. 

And tormenting Daniel. :)

Matthew...wearing girl shoes with a gun in his hand. lol

Hanging out...playing games.

Craft with Susanna! 

Sewing time with Susanna. She is the one who taught my daughter how to make those cute purses. :)

Cutie Pie. :)

Frito Pie. Another good snack. :)

See? I WAS there. I just had to go to the mirror to take a picture! lol

Matthew eating the coolest jello ever!

Art helping me use up the extra cilantro & carne asada...making machaca. 

And here it is. Breakfast of champs! :)

My hubby came to get me in time to catch my cousin chopping onions with goggles on. HAD to include that pic! :)

Some extra visitors who popped in one day! ;)

This looks gross...it's really a delightful chocolate/marshmallow confection called, "Heavenly Hash."

The layered jello that Matt was eating in a prior photo. Made this with Aunt Joan.

Cousins... :)

Your Very Own Pizza Parlor!

When we went to the Children's Museum of the Desert, one of the things my kids loved was their pizza parlor.

Here is a pic from that day...

Emma's pizza at the museum.

Well, we've been working on getting our store ready, but today when my older girls got to go somewhere special, Emma and I decided to get started on our very own pizza parlor. Here's how we did it.

First, cut two circles of a beige/tan fabric in whatever size you like (we made individual size pizzas). Put some batting on the bottom side and stack the fabrics wrong sides out. (see photo) Sew them almost all the way around, then turn right side out and sew the remaining portion. Mine aren't very neat, but they do the job! (Hey, I'm new at this sewing thing. Other than this, I haven't really sewed anything...besides hand-sewing--since Mrs. Buch's Home Ec. class in 9th grade!) If you don't have a sewing machine, they DO have fabric glue that you can use. I'm sure it would work fine.

2 pieces of fabric, wrong sides out, on top of a piece of batting.

Sew almost all the way around.

Leave a small opening so you'll be able to turn it right side out.

In the process of turning right side out.

Gather the edge neatly & sew on the outside.

Yeah, yeah, I know my sewing is sort-of messy. Get over it! lol...

One slightly odd-shaped finished crust! :)

Then you cut out slightly smaller red felt circles for the sauce.


Next, take some shelf liner (I got mine at Walmart) and cut it a bit smaller than the red felt circles. This will be your cheese. You can then cut it into sixths for a more fun time (the more pieces to put on, the better!).

Crust, sauce & cheese.

After that, you can make whatever toppings you like. We used some black cylindrical foam (we found this in the plumbing section of Lowe's. You just slice it or cut it with scissors for some great black olives! While we were at Lowe's, we grabbed some yellow sponge and cut it into triangles for pineapple. I forgot to make the pepperoni in my pics, but you can just use the red felt for that. As you can see in the museum picture above, they used some white foam (available at Joann Fabrics) and traced some black on the edges for mushrooms. They also used some sort of green sponge for green bell peppers. We haven't made our parlor yet, but I imagine we will use a box of some sort & paint it or decorate it! We may do the same thing for our pizza pans. :)

Our 5 mini crusts, sauce, cheese, black olives & pineapple. 

Happy pizza-making!!! :)