Ghost & Mummy Cookies

For Family Home Evening last night, the kids & I made some ghost & mummy cookies! We make these every year in our house. They're a favorite with the kiddos because they are so FUN to make & they're SUPER EASY!

Just make a shaped cookie recipe of your choice (or go buy the refrigerated sugar cookie dough at the grocery store to save time & energy) & get the dough really workable at room temperature. Divide your dough into 1 inch balls & then flatten them out into a long oval about 2 1/4 inches long. Cook as long as your recipe says to.

For the ghosties you are going to want to roll the cookies while they are still warm in sifted powdered sugar. (The sugar sticks better if you do it while they are still warm.)

For the mummies, let the cookies cool completely. Open packages of fruit by the foot & cut each piece into 3rds. Wrap each 3rd around a cookie making an opening for the eyes of your mummy!

Once your ghosties are white & your mummies are wrapped, put 2 dabs of colored frosting where you want your eyes to be. Add chocolate chips or any small candy for the eyes & Voila! You have adorable cookies for Halloween!

Another tradition we have in our house is "BOO"ing neighbors for Halloween. We made up two boo baskets & filled them with some of our cookies & some candy, then left them on the doorstep of 2 of our neighbors with a ghost picture to hang on their front door & a poem. Here's a link to the instructions.

http://www.theborkowskis.com/halloween/halloweenbooing.pdf

It's a great way to bring the neighborhood together. And we enjoy seeing the BOO ghosts start lining all the doors in the neighborhood after a week or two. I love Halloween!

Witch Fingers

Happy October Everybody!!

This really is my favorite time of year. I LOVE Halloween & all the fun things that go along with it, including Halloween themed FOOD! Every year I try to make several "Halloween" dinners & treats with my kids to make the month of October even more exciting. My oldest was actually counting down the days until October 1st this time BEGGING me for some fun Halloween food!

So my first dinner of the month was "Witch Fingers" (also known as homemade chicken nuggets). This is my very favorite recipe for chicken nuggets & I can't remember where I got it from, but we make these all the time. Enjoy!

1 1/2 pounds of chicken breast sliced into long finger-like slices

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

2 1/2 Tablespoons powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 Tablespoon salt

sliced almonds to use as fingernails

ranch or ketchup for dipping

oil for frying (really good in peanut oil)

(I never said it was good FOR you. . . it just tastes GOOD.)

Mix the egg & milk. Put chicken slices in mixture & let sit for 5 minutes. Mix the flour, sugar, pepper, & salt in another bowl. Heat up oil until ready for frying. Dip the wet chicken into the dry ingredients & coat. Dip back into the milk/egg mixture & then again in the powder mixture (double breading makes it extra good). Fry until golden brown & cooked through. Arrange on plate like fingers with almonds as fingernails.

Taya's Family Party

After all the friends left the house, we had our own little family birthday party. We sat down & watched her open presents from family near & far. Poor Taya REALLY wasn't feeling very well at this point, but she was such a trooper & enjoyed unwrapping her gifts. It was SO nice having so many family members there with us. We had Opa, Oma, Auntie Tylee & her roommate Phil, Aunt Diane from Provo, Auntie Marcene, & then us.

Taya got all sorts of fun things from a basketball hoop from Auntie Char in Washington, to a bike, to a dollhouse & tricycle. Such a loved (& spoiled) little girl. We had so much fun!

After opening presents, we took the entire family up to Cannery Row for birthday lunch on the pier. After a FABULOUS lunch (best salad EVER) we found a little kiosk with a lady painting faces. The Aunties all pitched in & bought the girls some fun designs for their cheeks. They loved that.

After a fun shopping excursion, we headed back home (with LOTS of chocolate & goodies) to wind down before everyone had to leave. Taya dressed up in her little fairy dress that Mamoo gave her & sat down & played with her stir fry set (from Auntie Cari & Uncle Justin) & loved on her ballerina music box (from Auntie Tylee). Poor little thing wasn't feeling well, but she LOVED her "Happy Day!"

Taya's 3rd Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to my little fairy girl, Taya. I can't believe she's 3 years old already. It seems like yesterday I was holding her in the hospital in Germany for the first time. Wow, how time flies!

Taya wanted a Tinkerbell party this year so I did my best at giving her a fun TINKERBELL party! The poor little thing was a little sick on her birthday, but she was still smiling & had a blast with all her friends.

If anyone knows "Tinkerbell," there are several "talents" that fairies have. I wanted to do a fun craft from 4 of the nature talent fairies for the party. We all started as light fairies & made cute little sun magnets with our light abilities!

Then we tried our hands at being water talent fairies. Silvermist is my girls' favorite fairy so they were excited to "pretend" to have water magic! We made cute little dolphin & wave clapper instruments. It made for a LOUD but fun craft! The kids loved their clappers.

After mastering water, we became animal fairies & made animal masks for ourselves. The kids LOVED prancing around the house making animal sounds!

And last, but not least, we became garden fairies & made our own flower gardens out of flower sticker scenes. Taya thought it was funner to stick the stickers all over her face & arms, but the rest of the kids LOVED this.

After all the fairy magic, we sat down & ate some yummy tinkerbell cupcakes with chocolate & strawberry ice cream. I think this is always the favorite part of the party for kids. FOOD!!

Uncle Tuhk called while we were eating to sing Happy Birthday to the birthday girl. Taya loved that.

Leave it to my girls to be the last kids eating. I swear my kids eat us out of house & home.

Next came presents. Taya got some fun things from her friends from barbies, to dress up, to games. She loved everything she got & we LOVED having her friends there to celebrate with us.

And to end the party off, we had Tinkerbell's friends "the Disney Princesses" come via pinata. Oh man were those kids excited for that pinata. I got a pull string version which I totally prefer over the hit with the bat kind. There are strings flowing from under the pinata & the kids take turns pulling one string off. One of the strings is attached to the trap door & when it's pulled all the candy falls out. Less mess, less pain, & still LOTS of candy. It was perfect!

The littlest girl actually triggered the trap door (she was only two). It was darling. The kids rushed for the candy. Bladen was laughing at them all, until he realized it was candy that was falling out. He very cautiously slipped into the crowd & got some candy for himself.

After that the kiddos went home, & we sat down together & ate candy & played with Taya's new toys! It doesn't get much funner than that! Happy Birthday Little Taya!

Tinkerbell Cake & Decor

Well, Taya, having a mind of her own, actually told me straight out that she wanted cupcakes for her birthday. "CUPCAKES MOM!" As un-thrilled as I was about doing cupcakes (I prefer decorating big cakes), they turned out pretty cute. I used Tinkerbell cupcake liners (Michaels is my FAVORITE store) then frosted the cupcakes Tinkerbell green. I rolled the edges in several different frostings. . .but my favorite was the little golden stardust I found because it looked like pixie dust. In the center of the cupcakes I put little Tink figurines or frosting purple posies. Then I surrounded the center with edible pearls. They were cute & the kids really liked them. I was happy because Taya was happy.

Taya's Birthday Breakfast

Happy 3rd birthday to my sweet little Taya! We woke up bright & early (before her party) & made her her very favorite breakfast for her special birthday breakfast: scrambled eggs & cheese. . . & Mickey Mouse chocolate chip pancakes.

And you can't forget the classic "Ding Dong" with a candle inside. She was SO excited to have us all sing to her. It took her a while to blow it out, but she finally got it & shouted HOORAY when she did it. Hooray for Taya on her "Happy Day!"

Bladen REALLY enjoyed the ding dong. . .

Happy birthday sweet girl. I hope you had a wonderful day!