The comeback....

                                  

 

I don't like candy corn...and actually I don't know many people that do.  I think that in the past 20 years or so this once popular candy has been pushed to the side by things like Snickers, M&M's and Laffy Taffy.  But I was thinking maybe I am being a bit too hard on this little Halloween treat and that maybe I would give it another try.  So I did some searching. 

What I found are endless ways to use this sugary treat.  I even plan to try a few this week...candy corn may be making a comeback and may just win over this family.  Take a look at the following ways in which candy corn is used and see if you can bring this lost little candy back into your life.

Candy Corn Cookie Bark @ The Girl Who Ate Everything

Number 2 Pencil's Candy Corn Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fall Snack Mix at Stick a Fork in it

Candy Corn Cocktail Shooters at The Slow Roasted Italian

Homemade Butter Finger Bark!

Candy Corn Cookie Bites at Camille Styles

Candy Corn Rice Krispy Treats

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/10/07/candy-corn-pretzel-hugs/

Enough Sugar?  My head hurts just from looking at the pictures!  Enjoy your Tuesday and enjoy these recipes.

Working Mom Meals: Cream of Mushroom Soup

I love soup.  I could eat it every single day.  In fact I think I do.  My mother in law makes the most amazing Polish mushroom soup and I have been meaning to get the recipe from her.   So when I found this recipe from The Smitten Kitchen, I was hoping my husband would not be able to tell the difference from his mother's and this.

And...he gave it 4 stars saying it was "just like my moms!".  This soup is perfect for all of you soup lovers, especially now that the weather is getting colder.   It was pretty easy to make and I doubled the recipe in order to have enough for two days.   You can check out the recipe HERE and enjoy!

3 years old

Jack had a great 3rd birthday.  We went to the pumpkin farm, and rode ponies, went through corn mazes, saw all kinds of animals, and even saw a pumpkin eating dinosaur.  Jack also learned how to show 3 with his fingers.  

I can't believe I have a 3 year old.  I know it's said all the time, but I swear he was born just yesterday.  Now I totally believe it when people say "enjoy it, it goes by fast".  They weren't kidding. 

I finally got to my video of his past year and thought I would share it with you.  It's 5 minutes so feel free to watch only a bit, but I love looking back at the past year and all the fun times we had.   He is the smartest, cutest, funniest little guy I've ever met, and I can't wait for many more years of fun.

I hope you are all having a great week.

3

Wow where have I been?  I keep meaning to post but time if flying by!  So we had Jack's 3rd birthday party at a farm!  We had all his friends and family there to celebrate with us and everyone had a blast!  They especially loved the Cars theme.  Doesn't my little mechanic look so cute?!

 

 

 

I made cars cupcake toppers, cars water bottles and cars candy wrappers.  A lot of work, but so cute!

 

 

 

The best part?  On the way home Jack said "mama? Thank you for the birthday party".  That made all the work and stress so worth it.  I just can't believe my little guy is going to be 3 on Sunday. 

I'm on GroopDealz!

I hope you all are having a great weekend!  I wanted you all to know, my shop is on Groopdealz.com!

This site features handmade items at discount prices, there are so many cute things on there daily!

Well right now, my shop is selling the Superhero and Princess prints! 

It's a great deal, and only lasting a few more days!  You can check it out here.

be pink!

 

In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October I am supporting Sleep Pink  — to raise funds for The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer to support finding a cure for breast cancer and advancing access to care for all.

 

Did you know?

*  Every three minutes a woman is diagnosed with Breast Cancer in this country, with menopause-age women at significantly greater risk.†
*  For many women, menopause and breast cancer loom large as health concerns, and quite often they experience both concurrently: menopause-aged women are at much greater risk for breast cancer than many of their pre-menopausal peers and a women’s risk of breast cancer triples from her thirties to her forties, and quintuples from her thirties to fifties.
*  One out of three women in the U.S. suffer from peri-menopause and menopause symptoms
*  In 2011 alone, more than 100,000 women between the ages of 45 and 64 were diagnosed with breast cancer.


Estroven will make a $100 donation to benefit the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer for every photo of a Sleep Pink party submitted during the month of October. Get your gals together in your finest pink and have a ball while supporting breast cancer research. Host a party!

During the month of October, Estroven is providing women with the necessary tools to host a Sleep Pink-themed party on SleepPink.com. The site will allow party hosts to upload photographs of their events, and for every photo, the company will pledge $100 to benefit the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. It will also provide information to help organize the Sleep Pink parties including downloadable invitations, menopause-friendly
drink and food recipe suggestions, as well as décor and entertainment ideas.

 To find out how to host an Estroven Sleep Pink-themed party and raise funds for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, visit www.SleepPink.com.

 This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Estroven. The opinions and text are all mine.

some 3 year pictures

Yes I know that Jack was born in October of 2009, which means that this October Jack will be 3.  Yes I know that he is so big and smart and silly and such a mama's boy.  But in my mind I still see that little little baby that came into our lives 3 years ago.

I can not believe he is turning 3 in two weeks.  Pretty soon he will be 13 and then leaving me for college. 

But for now, he is an almost 3 year old.  Loves to be silly, loves cars, and loves to stop and smile for the camera.  Which made my attempt at his 3 year old pictures pretty easy.

 

 

 

 
Admit it, he's cute.  ; )

So his big 3rd birthday party is this Sunday...there of course will be pictures to come next week.  I also have a shower for my sister's wedding tomorrow, pictures of that also next week.

I hope you all are well and enjoying fall.  Have a great weekend.

 

Things I love Thursday...pumpkin

Growing up, the thought of eating anything pumpkin sickened me.  Who would want to eat that slimy, gross orange stuff?  

Now all I can say is..."Who wouldn't!?!?"  I could post 1,000 delicious pumpkin recipes in this post to show 
all of you that pumpkin is good for more than a latte from Starbucks.  But I will refrain, and instead post 10 amazing recipes you should try this fall.  

Pumpkin Ale Cheesecake with Beer Pecan Caramel Sauce from the Beeroness

 

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cups

Pumpkin Cinnamon Milkshake from Fab Food

Magazyn's Pumpkin Soup with Apples

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies from Smitten Kitchen



 
 Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes


 
Averie Cook's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

 
Pumpkin Gnocchi with Crispy Sage Butter Sauce




 Paula Deen's Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting




Pumpkin Pie Dip from the Yummy Life


I would love to hear about your pumpkin favs, I hope you are having a great week and enjoy!

Fall, firetrucks and pumpkins



So I am posting less.  I want to post more I really do.  But I think this is better for me right now.  Posting all the time stressed me out before.  I would miss out on time with Jack or miss out on time with my husband, or miss out on time I should be working.   I also have gotten tired of feeling like I am competing for people to like me or to read what I have to say.  If people want to read and comment that's great, but I am tired of all the blogs out there asking for money that I just want to get back to what this is all about....us.

 

And WE went to a fire house party.  Jack got all dressed up in his fire outfit and had a blast a tour of the station.  Sunday we headed on over to one of my favorite places....the pumpkin farm We had some apple donuts, rode some ponys and took too many pictures. 

 

I hope all is well, and that you are enjoying Fall...the weather is beautiful here.

 

He is getting soooo big!!!

I'm a pumpkin head.

Some recipes are so good that I feel like I should post them twice.  This is one of those recipes.  I have expressed with you all my love for chocolate chip cookies before, and I of course I have expressed my love for pumpkin with you.  Put them together, and you have something that I can't even describe in words.  This has the best of both worlds; the cookie-ness of a chocolate chip cookie, yet it has the added spice of pumpkin.  These cookies have a sort of cakey texture to them, which make them irresistible.

I know we have a few more days left of Summer, but I just couldn't wait until Fall to make these.  And what better way to celebrate the end of the teacher strike then to share these with all my co-workers.  I am asked to make this year after year, and I hope you try this recipe out for yourselves.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 cups (12-ounce bag) semisweet chocolate chips

Nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray or line them with parchment paper.

Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the white and brown sugars, a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter in thirds. Stir in the chips. Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes. Take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks.

First days....

 

Yes, my new teaching job is at a Chicago Public School.  And we are on strike, and it's not about the money like the news will make you believe.  It's about so much more that you can't know unless you experience the schools for yourself.  That's all I will say.

In better news, Jack started his first day of "school" today.  Because of his birthday he can't go to preschool yet, but he is going to a Parent's Day Out.  His first time being left alone with someone he doesn't know.  

He did fabulously: 

 

There were lots of hugs, but no crying from either of us, he was a very big boy.  

Have a great Wednesday. 

I'm co-hosting!

Happy Happy Friday!

Welcome to the new That Friday Blog Hop.

With your hosts: Rebecca @ Let Them Eat Cake and Chrissy @ A Lil' Dash Of Diva. and me as the co-host this week!   Hop around, have fun, and find lots of fun blogs to enjoy!

So here is what we ask from all of you lovely people.

1. Follow the two hosts
2. Follow the week's special co-host (that's me!)
3. Grab the button, share it everywhere to spread the word

<a href="http://to-calm-insanity.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Let Them Eat Cake" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/satinxoxo/blog%20buttons/ThatFridayBlogHop21.png"/></a>

Hosts:

I would love it if you would all join this week, and please visit these two wonderful sites!

For everyone that is new visiting my site, Welcome!  I am a mom, a teacher and an Etsy shop owner.  You can check out my shop Smitten Image here! 

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you!