Spooky Cupcakes!

So my kid surfs the net to find the Perfect Halloween Cupcake and wants me to make 24 for his Halloween party on Friday...

Technology... WOW and he's only 10 years old!

This cupcake idea was on the Better Home & Garden website here... included is a pic of my cupcakes creations for the party - argh! I cheated and used PAPER for the eyes - my son wanted me to just mold up some fondant... "fondant" - How does my kid know about fondant? LOL!   Okay - (I give myself a B+... such the teacher, huh!) We're ready to party today and tomorrow.  Have a great time celebrating Halloween and be safe!  Thanks for stopping by!

All my chicks in the nest...

Yes!  I am a "Mother Hen" and it feels SO GOOD to have all my chicks at home!  If you've ever had one of yours "out of the nest"  - ya know what I mean.  Andy Hayes is HOME!

Andy had pick-up trouble about 45 minutes from Hamilton, Alabama (on the other side of Tupelo, MS) - so his dad had to come and retrieve him and his pick up and haul them both back.  So after putting on tires on his dad's pick-up - leaving at 7 PM and traveling ALL NIGHT - he's finally in Texas!  We were leaving at 7:30 AM for school and Andy came in and crashed after lots and lots of hugging!  Praise the Lord - he made it safely - thanks for the prayers!  We're off to a GREAT weekend!

Here's Alex on SPIRIT DAY - dressed up in his Bobcat (oops!) Bobkitten Blue and White!  These 7th graders will be playing the Friona bunch tonight!  Our JV Bobcats headed up that way at lunch and we've got reports of Friona having snow already - argh!  I'm sure that they will return with great stories of the game!  LOL!

Aric has returned back "to the living" so to speak after his illness and missing 2 1/2 days of school!  Here is his Indian Adobe dwelling structure for Texas History!  Hope he has a good day back at school.  There are so many out with sickness!

Hope you are having a great Thursday!  Thanks for stopping by! 

Need a quick Halloween treat...

Here's an awesome website to find "oodles" of Halloween treats, crafts, food, gifts, tags, ideas, ... all kinds of things - especially if you are in need for a quick treat for a Halloween party for this weekend!

http://www.skiptomylou.org 

Check it out! I used the bat "candy bar" holder - too cute!  She

 includes the template and colored label.  Just right for a quick gift or when you need 20 of them - LOL!  We used "Snickers" for Aric's class and "Hershey" bars for the 2 & 3 year olds Bible class.  They are so "batty-cute"!  Hope you like the website - if you're like me... you always need a quick idea for something - hee hee!  Love, love, love the "candy corn" section - WOW!

The little boys will have a FIT when they see that I posted this picture of them... just a very funny pic of a "crazy" minute in the Vannoy household  this week- goofy boys! LOL!  Hope you are having a great week!

BEWARE... We're contagious!

Watch out!  We've been bit by the flu bug - argh!  Aric (my youngest) began not feeling well on Saturday - by Sunday, we were fighting down a fever giving him 400 mg ibroprofen every 6 hours... by that night - his fever was spiking up to 104... Monday, we learned after visiting our family doctor and Aric's football coach (LOVE a small town!) that Aric not only has the FLU, but also STREP - argh~  

After a big shot in the rump, we're alternating Motrin and Ibrophrine every 4 hours and added Amoxicillin and Tamiflu.  TAMIFLU must be liquid gold... I paid $68 for a 1/3 of a bottle! Aric gets 2 ML twice a day for 5 days of this medicine!  Thank goodness that Aric takes his meds without complaining (much)!  

The clinic did NOT clarify if its the standard, classic flu or the new H1N1 flu... it takes 72 hours and $400 to type the flu... and they've stopped doing that, but heard on the radio that 90% of the flu out there now is the H1N1... great.  Aric is not feeling bad, until his fever comes up and he does complain of a sore throat.  At least, Aric is still young enough to cuddle up and love on!  Yes, I'm exposed... but I have special "MOM" genes, right?  I've taken off Monday and Tuesday - Wednesday will be KV's duty!  Aric can return back to school when his fever is gone for a good 24 hours without the use of meds.  We'll see!

I've "Lysol'ed"everything... stripped and washed sheets - hot washed all of our towels... everything that I know of, so this won't spread to the rest of us.  What do you think... is it "karma" or will all of us get the flu and/or strep ANYWAYS??  And Andy Hayes is planning a trip to Texas this week - ARGH!

Oh well, life is an adventure!  

Found a faster & yummier way for baking "Turtle Brownies" - Hey!  When home, I love to bake - so we're baking as we get well!  Yesterday it was a Dr. Pepper Cake and today its brownies!  

  

Back in the day, I made these type of brownies (chocolate brownies with caramel in-between) and they weren't easy to assemble, but wonderful to eat!  - today I used 2 brownie mixes and 1 caramel apple wrap package and made them - "easy-peasy" and they are SO GOOD!  Just

 mixed up one box of brownies, put the caramel wraps on top, added the 2nd box of brownies and cooked for 55 minutes at 325 degrees!  And for about $4.00 + eggs and oil!  Good stuff !

Hope you all are staying HEALTHY and away from the FLU or STREP bug!  Thanks for stopping by - say a prayer that we recover quickly!  Hug the ones you love!

Halloween is coming and so is ANDY!

Andy Hayes has plans to visit this weekend! 

We are SO EXCITED! Andy is my 1st born son and a college student in Alabama - and he hasn't been in Childress, TX since March '09... we all miss him very much and can't wait for his visit! Please say a prayer that he will reach Childress safely! He'll be bringing an empty trailer because he will be loading up and traveling back with a bunch of items for his new home in Tuscaloosa, AL. "Roll Tide!"  Hopefully his hair will be blonde and short... but we don't care!  Hope you have a great weekend!

5 Flavor Pound Cake Recipe

Hello!  Hope your week is going smoothly!  This weekend, our local 4-H club will be serving their famous "Taco Stack Up"!  It's an annual fund raiser for us.  The boys always love to go and serve at this event!  The community always supports this dinner so well!  So!  I've got to make 2 pound cakes tonight for the dinner and thought I would share this recipe for the "5 Flavor Pound Cake" for this week's recipe swap!

5 Flavor Pound Cake

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sour cream

3 cups white sugar

6 eggs, beaten

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon rum flavored extract

1 teaspoon butter flavored extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10" tube pan. In a small bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. Set aside. In a measuring cup, combine the milk and 1 teaspoon each coconut, lemon, rum, butter and vanilla extracts; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, sour cream and 3 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat until smooth. Beat in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Spoon mixture into prepared pan.
Bake for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours, or until cake tests done. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes.
Turn cake out of pan onto wire rack. Cool completely.  ENJOY!

Things have been so hectic that I haven't even made ONE "Halloween" treat or card- argh!  I love HALLOWEEN - the closest that I've accomplished is having a "Halloween Confetti" manicure and pedicure!  Hopefully, this weekend I will have some time to "Spook Out" with my crafts!

Have a great day - thanks for coming by!  Hug the ones you love!

County 4-H Food Show

Sunday was the annual County 4-H Food Show - both of the boys were in competition with their selected dish! You can get both recipes here at this post! Both boys did well and will be traveling to District on Nov. 14th.  Food Show is our BIG project is 4-H and we're out to win DISTRICT! Both boys just like their brother Andy - can and do cook often!  They enjoy competing and this year - we're hoping - is the year that we bring home a 1st place in District!  We are studying daily - big mind-maps and notecards with lots of info!  

Each one also did a Food Display that coordinates with their dish.  Alex is continuing with the subject "Adding More Color to Your Diet" (years past, Andy did lots of research and presentations on the "Rainbow Diet").  Alex's dish is a Vegetable Oven Pancake.  It's very "colorful"!  LOL!

Aric's Food Display (his very 1st) is over OMEGA 3 - 3 steps in putting more in your diet.  His dish has tuna in it, which is a big "omega 3" supplier for our bodies!  His dish is the "Perfect After School Snack" - it's a tuna salad on a bagel!

Look at the ASTERS! (That's the purple flower, Fitz!)  Love, love, LOVE OCTOBER because of the fall season - but also it's the month that the ASTERS' bloom - also it usually brings Andy HOME for a visit... (hint, hint!).  

Andy Hayes, we MISS YOU SO MUCH!

We lost a bunch of asters during the Father's Day tornado last year - but 

these on the side of the drive way have

 came out strong.  Enjoy the pictures!  Hug the ones you love!  Hope you had a great weekend!  Have a great Monday!

4th Grade Fiesta!

Aric and his 4th grade classmates put on a fun-watching Mexican Fiesta program on Thursday!  Afterwards, we all indulged some delicious Mexican Cuisine! 

(Poor Alex and the Bobkittens traveled to Floydada and missed it all,

 but 7th grade did win their football game! Yahoo!) Here's Alex in a pic from his pep rally Thursday! 

We survived Thursday - ready for the weekend!  Hope you are having a great week!  Hug the ones you love!

2 Recipes for this Week's Swap!

Here's our family recipe swap for the week - both boys will be entering the 4-H Food Show this week and they wanted to share each of their recipes!

Alex will compete in the Side Dish division with his recipe for a "Vegetable Oven Pancake".  

This is a very colorful dish with lots of veggies!  If you have a garden - you could use this recipe often!

VEGETABLE OVEN PANCAKE

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 2 cups fresh broccoli florets
• 1 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 cup chopped tomato
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

• Place butter in a 9-in. pie plate; heat in a 450° oven until melted. Carefully tilt pan to coat bottom and sides. In a bowl, beat the flour, eggs, milk and 1/4 teaspoon salt until smooth. Pour into pie plate. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until puffed around the edges and golden brown.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the broccoli, green pepper, tomato and onion in water for 8-10 minutes or until crisp-tender; drain well. Add pepper and remaining salt.
• Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese over pancake; top with vegetables and remaining cheese. Bake 3-4 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Cut into four wedges; serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings.

Aric's recipe is in the Nutritious Snack division with the "Perfect After School Snack - a thick tuna salad on a mini bagel!

PERFECT AFTER SCHOOL SNACK

 (Tuna Salad on a Bagel)

Ingredients

• 1 can (12 ounces) tuna, drained
• 1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup creamy Italian salad dressing
• 2 to 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons dill pickle relish
• 6 plain bagels
• Lettuce leaves

Directions

• In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Cut the bagels in half horizontally. Place lettuce on bottom halves; top with tuna mixture. Replace top halves. Yield: 6 servings.

Enjoy!  If you see the boys - wish the luck for Sunday!  They've still got to make their Food Display and study... Have a great week!  Thanks for stopping by!  Hug the ones you love!

We are ALIVE... and blogging!

Hey there!  SO SORRY that we've taken a brief absence from blogging - merely because of being SO BUSY!  This last week was exhausting... but we got a lot accomplished!  

Missed sharing with you - please forgive me!  I'm trying...  

So here's some a brief summary of our activities from last week!

 Aric's 4th grade class visited the local Fire Station and the Bobkittens played here against Dimmitt on Thursday.  Then we had our Homecoming parade, pep rally and tail gate and the weather was COLD.

We had our second concession stand "Homecoming" night on the 9th.  The CHS Bobcats defeated Dimmitt; and we had no major catastrophe!  

Saturday was COLD, but we held our ONE DAY 4-H anyways in our Fair Park pavillion - and it was a great success!  Here's some pics from that!

  

  

  

  

Saturday night, the 4th Annual Talent Show was held and this was Aric's 1st year to enter!  

 Alex has participated and earned three different trophies - now it was Aric's time!  He did an excellent job playing the piano - "Pac Man Fever" and the theme song to "Batman"!  He was thrilled to win a trophy!

Sunday was a true day of REST - after church - the whole family napped and rested!

Simple Cobbler Recipe

Here's a very simple COBBLER recipe! It's great warm with ice cream on top -

Simple Fruit Cobbler

1 stick margarine

1/4 cup Sugar

1 cup Self-rising flour

1 cup Milk

1 Lrg can of FRUIT

(peaches, apples, blackberries...)

In a large baking dish, melt the butter/margarine. Mix flour and sugar with melted butter. Add milk and mix. Add fruit and stir a little so crust will form on top of fruit. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Enjoy!

This is an old recipe that I got in Alabama (note the self-rising flour - they use that stuff like crazy!) It's a keeper and wanted to share. Hope you are having a great week! Take care and thanks for stopping by! Hug the ones you love!