31 more days...

Here's another of last year's Halloween projects:
I used glitter stickers on drinking glasses (and some dried kidney beans) to make these eerie votive holders!
When I was done displaying these, I just stuck the glasses in the freezer for a few hours and the stickers popped right off, no mess!

Check out this site for more Halloween inspiration!

We Had a Picnic...

last weekend, in celebration of a very special person, at the park.
It was a perfect day for a picnic--warm and breezy--and everyone enjoyed relaxing outside.
Peter and Sadie had a blast playing in the grass...
..and having snacks

We're so lucky to have so much green space nearby!

I got an iphone...

So of course there has been lots of picture taking:

We went to a wedding last weekend--my parents watched the babies and we had a great time as a threesome with Chloe!
We had to share Chloe with her other grandparents--don't they look all spiffy for the occasion?
Even the babies are happy about the new iphone :)

Only 38 days...

Until my favorite holiday!!

I have been loving all of the halloweeny-crafties abounding in blog-land lately, and it dawned on me I have a few projects from last halloween that I never shared here. So, in the interest of joining in on the spirit of the season, here's a little book I made:
One of my favorite Halloween traditions is throwing Costume Parties--it has been a few years since we've been able to host one, but I love looking back at the photos. At the last party, we had a Polaroid camera handy as people cam in the door. I snapped a pic, then hung the photos up on a clothesline to display I finally put all those pics in a mini, using my Zutter Bind-it-all and Overlays from Hambly.

Some of my favorite pages:




Go see more Halloween Goodness at Craft-Critique's Halloween Blog Carnival!

I made this page for the crop at Scrapgal last weekend--my challenge was to use doodles:
I took these pics of Chloe practicing with scissors--she looks so big!!

And I made another Peter page, of him pulling to stand back in June:

Blog Hop / Sweet Teacher Gift

Welcome to the Scrap Gal Fall Haul Blog Hop (wow, that's quite a mouthful!) If you hopped here from Janet Ball's blog, you're in the right place! But if you didn't even know you were hopping, jump on over to the Gal Blog to get started.

I'm sharing a little project I did for last year's Scrap Gal fall crop--a rerun, I know, but I've never posted it here, so what the heck:
ScrapGal has these cute bags from Shabby Green Door for sale in the store, and I decided to embellish them and fill them with cookies as a "thank you" for Chloe's teachers.

Trim papers to fit the bag (I covered the front and top flap only), then adhere and embellish. Next fill with cookies, fold top of bag over and punch two small holes for the twine. Tie in a bow, and present to your favorite teacher!

Here's my favorite quick cookie recipe--always a hit!

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon brandy (or vanilla)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup dried cranberries

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and brandy. Combine the flour and baking soda; stir into the sugar mixture. Mix in the white chocolate chips and cranberries. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. For best results, take them out while they are still doughy. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Thanks for stopping by! Your next blog on the hop is Kelly's--enjoy!

For more fun, games, challenges and prizes be sure to join us this weekend at the Scrap Gal Fall Haul Crop! I look forward to seeing you there.

Yesterday was a big day here...

Fresh and Fruity turned 10 months...


Yup, Sadie's crawling now :) She also loves finger foods like pancakes, banana, and cheerios. She has perfected her sippy cup technique down to one-handed drinking, and says mamamama very sweetly to anyone and anything. She always has big grins for her twin brother, and an everlasting amount of patience as he grabs her toys, uses her as a step stool, and tugs her hair. She is really moving around and exploring, and is getting braver about moving herself into new positions. This past month she scraped up her nose after falling out of the kiddie pool at my folks--something we were on high-alert for Peter to do, but not her! She continues to adore splashing in the water, though, as well as jumping in the doorway jumparoo. She is fascinated by everything Chloe does, and will be entertained as long as her big sister is within eyesight. Sadie is still squishy and oh-so-sweet!

Peter hates to sit still, except when he needs to nurse and snuggle. He is an intrepid explorer, checking out the far reaches of our house with plucky fortitude. This month I have found him standing on the couch, checking out the toilet bowl, as well as knocking over the fireplace screen (on top of himself--eeek!) and with various leaves and twigs in his mouth. Trouble with a capital T, he is none the less cheerful and happy to see everyone--unless he is hungry or tired, then he greets you with an ear-piercing shriek. It's god-awful, and now he has his sisters imitating it, and I am thinking of investing in some good earplugs! He can cruise around holding onto the furniture, and is very interested in going wherever Chloe goes. Becoming more coordinated, he no longer plows over whatever is in his way, and can now maneuver with a little more finesse and agility.

For Chloe, yesterday was also a big day--the first day of school. She was so very sad to be leaving us, and I had to pry her out the door...

Just kidding! She was actually super excited to be going back to pre-school. So blase about the whole thing that she requested Pop bring her rather than I do it...OK by me, since he'll be in charge of drop off and I got to meet the teachers last week at open house. It will be good for her to be back in the school routine, and to have a little space from baby-central!
Peter wanted to know what the all the excitement was about:
But wasn't about to sit still for too long!
See ya :)

Fall Orchard Trip

We took the kiddos to Smolak Farms on Sunday--it was a perfect day for apple picking and pumpkin pics!






Enjoy your week!

September is here...

..and I have a couple of scrapbook layouts to share:
I love those vinyl letter stickers, but they just wouldn't stay stuck. Now they're not going anywhere, heheh.

I love the way this page came together--the pictures of Chloe's funny face made it so easy!