Carving Party

This last weekend we got together with our friends Travis and Stephanie and their little girls to carve pumpkins!

Now, Cooper plays with slime frequently- it's one of his more favorite things.

But check that face!

He did not want to touch the guts of the pumpkin!

Stephen eventually got him to grab a handful, but he seriously gagged as he did! I told him not to do it again so we didn't end up dealing with a mess of more than seeds and stringy-ness! And Ryder actually really doesn't like slime and squishy things, so we knew he was a no go for sure!

Coop told him what he wanted his jack-o-lantern face to look like and I steered him toward something I could handle cutting ;)! He was so thrilled with the results! All the kids loved seeing it glow out on the porch in the dark! Fun time... happy to have made the time for this Halloween tradition!

Happy Halloween all!!

Done Moved!

Been long enough?? :)

I've missed my little blog here I confess.

We are LOVING our new house here in the Idaho Fall area.

Our move couldn't have gone much smoother

thanks to the help of my amazing family!

And yes, Dad, I noticed it looks like you're doing all the work in this picture too ;)

And there's probably never a good time to move, but trying to get Halloween costumes and treats finished, along with helping to host my sister's bridal shower, made for a busy week! Nothing like some good reasons to be crafty rather than unpack boxes! :)

Thursday was the last time for Cooper to go to his preschool in Blackfoot and was also Halloween Party day! We made an orange batch of slime and put it (with difficulty, I might add) into these fun test tubes for him to share with his little class. He told me what he wanted the slime to be called and I made some little stickers for him to label- we were both excited about how they turned out! His classmates and teachers all loved them :)

He even got to wear his ghost costume to the party! This gave me a good chance to troubleshoot it actually... everyone says a ghost is easy, but I've found it to be pretty tough! For trick or treating, he'll be ditching the hood and getting his face and hair painted white instead!

He was sad to leave his class, but I've already found him a new preschool here that he'll start on Tuesday! Good to be back... more Halloween goodness going on around here that I'll share this week!

Harvest Time

This late in the Fall, I realize that harvest is mostly over already. But I wanted to share some of the recent harvest time goodness we're enjoying around here- thanks hugely to my awesome Mom! Pears are Stephen's favorite! I serve them with broiled cheese bread for dinner just like my Mom did to us!

Sadly, I am the only one in this household that likes tomatoes... I'm still working on the little boys, though. :) Whenever I have fresh tomatoes around, I love eating tomato sandwiches- toasted homemade wheat bread with nothing but this juicy red fruit in between! Yum!

When I visited my parent's recently, my Mom had several large things of strawberries that we made into freezer jam! We haven't had jam in the freezer or a long time and I was so thrilled to have some again! I just want to hoard it and enjoy it to the last bit! We tried two different kinds- one just mashed up lightly by hand and the other pulsed a bit in the blender to be less chunky- I love this kind and will remember to do it that way next year again!

Thanks, Mom, for sharing all this yummy goodness with us and being my favorite person to create in the kitchen with!

And I sadly don't have a picture of it, but if you need an awesome way to use your zuchinni still, I love this recipe! Try it with cream cheese frosting- yum!

"Seduced by the Coolness"

Awhile back my sister told me I should check out Phineas and Ferb on Netflix... and man, were we missing out before! I love cuddling around the computer and watching it with the boys now! Super cool for kids and adults!

Anyhow.... in one episode, Candace (the sister) is sick and her friend Stacey,  is supposed to be hanging out with her while Mom is gone. Candace tries to convince her to bust her brothers while she can't, but Stacey keeps getting "seduced by the coolness" of  the sweet mini golf course they've built for the day!

Don't you love that phrase, "seduced by the coolness"?!?

Such is my life oftentimes!

Anyhow...

My point in using the phrase in this post is to mention that the Buffat family is moving!

Yes, already....

We've been "seduced by the coolness" you might say of a better place.

Or maybe the un-coolness of where we are now!

Really, we're just wanting to get closer to Stephen's job, so we're off to Idaho Falls!
So, if I'm a bit infrequent on here for the next little while, that's why...
I'm off being "seduced by the coolness"...
which I'm sure I won't think that way while I'm packing and unpacking! So it goes...


PS. Wouldn't this Phineas costume be the funniest thing for Halloween!

Duck Season!

 No, rabbit season! Duck season! No, Rabbit Season!

Well, around here, it's duck season...

Indeed, these are not the pictures Stephen would no doubt prefer to see in this post!

What is it about feeding animals that kids seem to enjoy so much?

It's fun to watch how excited they get!

Reminds me... Not long ago in the car, Stephen was talking to Cooper about something relative to animals (shocker, I know!)... must have been about having a certain pet and if Mom would like it or not, because Coop didn't skip a beat in saying,

"Dad, Mom doesn't care about animals!"

We both busted up laughing! It's true, not my thing- But I really do try hard to be excited with him when he is! I might not touch worms, but I am a professional at looking them over and giving compliments! I clarified that I might not care much for animals, but I do care for him and was happy that they make him so happy.

"I know," he said...

Ahh, kids rock :)

Catcha!

WARNING:

Once you take pictures of your kids doing something that they shouldn't be

but it's too darn cute not to...

the battle is on!

Ry drew on his tummy for like four days after this! :)

Adorable Halloween "Happy Mail"

I have a little guy that loves getting mail

and several nieces (oddly, not really any nephews...) that I know are the same.

Even us big kids love getting mail that makes us smile, eh? :)

I think I love sending it even more!

After discovering all the fun "happy mail" ideas at Giver'slog recently,

I've been trying to think of something unique I could send for Halloween

and turned to these fun little pumpkins again-

they are just so stinkin' cute!

I found this adorable jack-o-lantern face svg file below and used SCAL2 to cut several sets of them out of vinyl with my Cricut!

Once they were peeled, I cut each apart and didn't worry about transfer paper- they are now just like stickers! I sized the file down so that each was about 2x2 inches to fit on the cute little pumpkins.

Before anything, I let Cooper have a go with the stickers on a pumpkin of his own :) He put a different face on each side of the pumpkin to use as many of them as possible!

The stickers were packaged in cellophane bags beside a pumpkin and tied! Isn't this a fun little treat to pull out of a package?!

The boys used some little Halloween stamps to personalize the outside of the boxes- now on their way to two little girls who will hopefully enjoy not only getting their own mail, but also creating their own adorable little punkins!

Fun as fun as fun in my opinion!

Is it just me, or are these little bags about the cutest thing ever? :)

What "happy mail" can we send next??? 

Random Little Pumpkin Family

So recently Cooper was cutting a piece of cardstock in random little pieces.

He had picked these cute little pumpkins out at the store and

was frothing at the bit to decorate them in the process too.

I wasn't actually really in the mood

to take on the pumpkin decorating project at the time...

but, I did get looking at the little pieces he was accumulating...

... and decided they could quickly become faces for his precious pumpkins!

He had some ideas that he wanted (like arms and a bowtie and Dad's spiky hair)

that he didn't have the pieces for and I cut them out as he asked.

Ya, I quickly got in the mood seeing him do this pretty much ALL on his own!

I thought his little touches for creating each person in our family were super thoughtful!

So here we are, adorning our dining area windowsill with no rotting involved!

I'd say his most self-directed project yet!

Visit Home

Not too long ago Stephen  was out of town for a week with his new job. Meanwhile, the boys and I crossed the dessert for Grandpa and Grammie's house, otherwise known as "home"....

Headed to the garden very first thing...

 

Trying to use a little shovel just like he saw Grandma use the big one with his foot!

Went to the Arco park on a day Grandma had to go to work and then visited Great Grandpa and Grandma Waddoups on the way back- love these pics of them in the garden with Grandpa Merlin! Hopefully someday they'll get it how lucky they are to have so many grandparents so involved in their lives!

All of these pics make me happy...

I love capturing beautiful little moments like these!

Yummy All-Bran Muffins

Been a fair while since I've posted a recipe and when I made these recently, I thought this one would be good to share! I remember my Mom making these for us before school- she was always up early making us something worthwhile!

So I can't say this cereal here is one I would ever buy for the eating of it, but, trust me it really does make for some yummy, healthy muffins! This box cost me $3 and the batter will last for three weeks in the fridge, making three batches of 24 muffins... pretty affordable breakfast! Both the boys really enjoy these even, so they are kid-approved even!

As always, click on the card below, then right click and save to print!

This does call for buttermilk, but... confession? I've never bought buttermilk in my life! The smaller text on the side is a little tip my Mom passed on to add vinegar or lemon juice to normal milk as a substitute!   

These are really yummy with butter and honey!

And just because... I love these recent sweet pics of the boys... :)