Bewitching Halloween!

I hope everyone is having a fun Halloween!

I made these cute little witch cookies for my son's party at daycare,

along with bewitching black cats!

If you listen closely...

you just might hear them cackling!

Happy Halloween!!

My Knight in Shining Armor

My little knight in shining armor :)

Doesn't he look so grown up and handsome!?

He had so much fun with his costume

(what little boy doesn't love a sword and shield?!)

People got such a kick out of his cape.

Between his parade and party at preschool...

his parade and party at daycare...

and trick-or-treating,

he has a mountain of candy!

and for the 4th consecutive year...

he won the trophy for  

BEST COSTUME!!

(yet sadly he could've cared less! All he was interested in was the candy!)

.....

Some Halloweens past...

Halloween 2009

He was Max 

 from Where the Wild Things Are...

Halloween 2008

He was a not-so-spooky dragon!

Halloween 2007  
He was an adorable little Tom Arma bear

What have your kids dressed up as?

This post is part of SITs Halloweens Past.

Don't eat too much candy!

Be safe 

and have a

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween Baking

The weekends are filled with parties and activities for us this time of year, so I wasn't able to get in the kitchen all that much. We did put together this adorable little gingerbread and candy haunted house.  I set it atop a cake pedestal for a cute little Halloween centerpiece.

I added some marshmallow Peep ghosts, tinted coconut for grass, candy corn accents and sprinkled the entire thing with autumn leaf candies.  There were little pumpkin candies, too - but those mysteriously disappeared every time my 4-year old entered the dining room!  

You can find these little kits everywhere - from Walmart & Target, to Joann's and Michaels.  They're fun little seasonal kits that take about an hour to assemble.  


This week we have three Halloween parties so I better dig out the rolling pin and get busy baking! 

Halloween is coming!

Are you almost ready?!

Halloween 

is nearly here!

There are little signs of it everywhere at our house!

From a little haunted house vignette in the foyer...

To the spooky artwork and eerie banner below..

Bowls of irresistible candy corn beckon...

And the site of pumpkins abound!

My son's popsicle stick pumpkin craft.

Pumpkin plates and ghosts adorn my kitchen shelf.

 

Black cat potholders make holiday cooking a little more fun :)

A ghoulish tea towel haunts my Halloween stove.

A pumpkin cookie jar and leaf light in the kitchen.

Adding adorable little seasonal touches can make even the most mundane tasks a little more enjoyable! Perhaps enough so to lure you into the kitchen to whip up a batch of cute little Halloween owl cookies :)

When you have little ones in the house, the change of seasons and holidays provide a wonderful opportunity for creativity and learning.  Whether we're going on nature walks to collect autumn leaves, baking something together in the kitchen, spending family time together watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," or doing a holiday craft, we always try to find ways to incorporate fun and a little educational value in each blessed season of the year.  

For fall and Halloween, my son has a wide assortment of  

seasonal storybooks 

that we love to read together.  

Reading together is not only a special bonding time with your child, but it helps to build your child's vocabulary and literacy proficiency...

of course all your child will care about is how much fun it is! 

As October breezes bluster outside...

My fall mailbox with the lawn peppered in fallen leaves.

...drawing us all indoors again,

we need to make our homes a cozy haven. 

Plump {pumpkin!} pillows to nestle against...

Warm, downy throws...

and the soft, flickering glow from a seasonal candle

or the lights from a little fall village

can provide a lovely holiday ambiance to your home...

making the time spent indoors all the more pleasurable!

This little set is in my dining room hutch...

along with the ethereal ghosts I made earlier this month.

 

So as the harsh October winds swirl outside your windows,

I hope you and your family are safely tucked inside,

enjoying this amazing fall season
in all its glory

while awaiting the thrills and fun of...

Halloween 

No tricks, just simple treats!

If you're looking for simple holiday treats to pack off with the little ones for Halloween parties, try these adorable but easy {peasy} little sweets!

As a full-time working mommy, it's hard to balance my career with the domestic goddess responsibilities that we moms strive to achieve.  Even an experienced baker {and self-professed perfectionist} such as myself takes the occasional short-cut.  


Three years ago my son's daycare informed me the night before that they were switching the dates of the annual Halloween party...like, hello!  Seriously - you can't do that to a mom!!!  With no time (or energy!) to do any elaborate baking, I whipped together these super simple... 

White Chocolate Ghost Lollipops 

(a la, Martha Stewart) 

and popped them into cellophane bags with homemade gift tags.  

(Their eyes are mini-chocolate chips)

If you can melt chocolate (and I know you can!), you can make these effortless little guys in no time!  All you have to do is melt the chocolate in a double boiler with a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil to make them a little glossy (and spread easier), and using about a tablespoon or two of melted chocolate, spread a ghost-like shape atop a lollipop stick onto a waxed paper lined cookie sheet or tray.  Before the chocolate hardens, add the mini-chocolate chip eyes. 

Simple!

To go with the little ghost pops, 

I assembled 

Chocolate Witches Hat Cookies! 

You can't get any easier than that!  There's absolutely no baking involved!  It's just a Hershey's Kiss set atop a Keebler Fudge-Striped Cookie.  Simply warm the bottom of the kisses a bit to melt the chocolate, or affix them to the upside-down cookie with melted chocolate or royal icing.  Use additional icing to form the little bows on the hats!

Delicious and simple to boot!

 Add a few inexpensive Halloween coloring books,

and you have an easy, amazing Halloween gift that any child would love!

Poltergeist Playhouse

It's that time again..when it grows dark a little earlier each night...when the wind rustles the leaves, swirling them in the air...when nothing is quite as it seems.   

Halloween 

is approaching...

and everything is getting a little eerie around our house!  

Eek!  

Even the playhouse!

Cornstalks flank the patio and deck.

Using dead wood from our lilacs, I manufactured a barren tree that is covered in cobwebs to give the house an abandoned, creepy effect.  I set a Haunted House sign in the branches along with a menacing vulture.

Crows have descended on the rooftop.

Just like last year, there are rats set upon the front porch, and a witches broom leaning against the front door, giving passersby reason to wander just who lives inside?!  

A spooky Halloween flag flaps in the October breeze, while translucent skeletons and ghosts wave in the wind on the dogwood tree nearby. Bats are draped on the porch railings, and plump orange pumpkins are set just outside the doorway, with garlands of autumn leaves. 

A witches cauldron hangs from the front porch while a crow sits atop the eaves.

A Frankenstein monster lurks in the bushes. 

Would you dare to enter within?!