Trick Or Treat

We had a fun, unusually light, Halloween.  The "trick or treaters" usually begin when it is not quite dark.  This year they didn't start until total darkness,.. and then some.  Even the dogs were beginning to wonder when we would have someone show up.

Do you think they'll ever get here?

Yes, they like wearing their Halloween costumes!

When the "trick or treaters" finally did begin to show up they were very scattered and we had long minutes in between each group.

Then the girls came over with their parents just a little after dark and they were all ready to head out and get their treats.  Of course first I had to take the annual Halloween pictures.

All ready to head out "trick or treating."

Normally I have to stay home and pass out the candy but this time I got to go with the girls. We just walked around our neighborhood.  There were lots of houses that didn't have anything, however, there were enough stops for the girls to enjoy the fun of it.  They had also been to the church "trunk or treat" the night before, so they had plenty of treats between the two nights!

They really liked this decorated house

Don't know why there were so few "trick or treaters" this year however, as you see, we all had a fun night.

Halloween Bags

After spending Wednesday morning at my volunteer receptionist job at the church, I came home and got busy working on some projects to send to grandkids in Utah.  I wanted to make some "trick or treat" bags that the kids could use every year.  I had an idea of what, and how, I wanted to make them.  I wasn't sure about what sizes to cut the material pieces though, as I didn't want the bags to be too big.  They don't need that much candy!

Anyway, I got out my material and sewing equipment and just made an educated guess on size.  I got busy working, and I had the first bag put together within a couple of hours.

I thought it turned out pretty well.  I hope it looks fairly Halloween-e.  When I went into JoAnns to pick out material they didn't have much left in Halloween patterns.  That's what I get for procrastinating!  I have had this idea in mind since the beginning of October!

After finishing the first bag I recalculated some of the material sizes that I thought needed to change, and began to work on the second bag.

After cutting the material pieces I thought it would have too much orange but when It was finished I decided I liked the colors.

By the time I was ready to make the third, and final, bag I had the cutting and sewing down to a science. I don't think it took me much more than an hour and I was finished with the last one.

Here is a picture of what the inside of the bags look like.  They have plenty of room for lots of candy!

So this morning I put a starter bag of candies in each one and sent them off to the grandkids. Here is a picture of the three of them waiting to be packed up and sent.

As I was packing them up to send I did notice that I had made a mistake when putting one of the bags together. So I have a puzzle question for today. After looking at the above picture of all three bags together can you pick out the mistake?

Should I make it a contest and the winner gets one of my homemade bags?

Marion's Birthday

On Sunday we had a birthday get together for Marion. It was a nice day so we decided to barbeque. Jason and his girls came over, along with Jennifer and her girls.

Marion and family got here at about 3 O'clock.  While finishing up dinner preparations, everyone spent time visiting.  Of course the girls were busy visiting and playing, inside and outside.  Finally, it was time to sit down and eat.

After our dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad and baked beans, the girls kept wanting the most important part of the meal. So we brought out the cake and ice cream!

They were all waiting for a chance at that yummy cake, so I left to go get the candles.

I should never have left all those girls alone with Marion!  Such silly faces!

Hmm, I wonder whose idea this was??

I finally got the candles on the cake and lit them. First though, we had to get all those faces and fingers cleaned up! After we sang "happy birthday" Marion was all ready to blow the candles out.  I didn't want her to have to work very hard, so I only put two of them on the cake.

Marion tried hard, however she was too exhausted from all that silliness with the girls. Her "real son" sitting on her lap didn't help any either!

So Derek had to help blow them out, which didn't make her very happy!

She wanted to blow them out herself!!  Doesn't look like Derek minded helping out, though!
He tried to console her with a kiss, however that just grossed out the girls who all hollered EEEEWWWW!

Finally, Lester had to come in and console Marion.  That seemed to help.

Such a silly, fun day.

How Laundry Can Turn Out To Be Fun

It was a busy day today.  Jason, Tara, and Katie came over to visit in the early afternoon (also to do laundry!).  The girls went outside to play for awhile and that was the quiet time.

After about an hour, Jennifer brought over Kayla and Marissa so they could visit - and spend the night.  When all four of the girls get together, it isn't quiet anymore!  So while the girls were busy trying to decide what, and how, they were going to play, Jason and I decided to start getting dinner going.

We decided to make my version of chicken and rice.  It has lots of vegetables in it, so I started cooking while Jason cleaned and chopped the vegetables.  After we had that on the stove cooking Jason decided to use the rest of my apples from Oak Glen to make some "hand pies."

When Jason was little, he began learning how to bake.  He had an ulterior motive for this. He doesn't just bake anything, he likes the sweets! So of course, he was ready to make apple pies. Though to be fair, he does like to bake bread also.

These ones are ready to go into the oven.

In between our cooking and baking, Jason was still working on his laundry and I was refereeing the girls, who sometimes act too much like sisters!

Finally dinner was ready and we sat down to eat. Last night I had baked two loaves of sourdough bread and we all had some with the meal.  Everyone really enjoyed the chicken and rice, even Katie.  She told me it was her favorite dinner ever!  Pretty good for all the vegetables that were in it! I had also made some applesauce and we were going to have some of that, however, we decided that the pies and applesauce might be too much dessert.

Some of my homemade applesauce

After dinner, the girls decided to go into the spare bedroom and clean up all of their mess. Wow! All without being asked.  I don't know what brought that on, but I didn't complain! They did a very good job too!

So as a reward for all their efforts, Jason made some hot chocolate to go with the apple pies. They were happy.

The finished pies.

I should have taken a picture of the four of them sitting at the table with their pies and hot chocolate.  They looked so cute!

Apple Picking At Oak Glen

On Saturday we went apple picking.  Well, sort of.  It turned out that the weather had caused the apple crops to be sparse, so there weren't any apples left on the trees.  We weren't very happy about that.  The girls always look forward to finding the best apples to pick.

The day wasn't a loss, though.  We decided to go into the shopping area of the apple farm. They have a store with lots of goodies to buy, a food court, petting zoo, picnic grounds, and of course, the live bluegrass music.  I was hoping to insert an MP3 file of the music I recorded on my iphone.  I am having problems with getting it to work, so will have to forego that for now.  When I get it figured out, I will put the music on.  They were a fairly good group, however, my iphone recording wasn't that great so maybe its just as well that I can't get it to work!

The store did have some apples to buy, so we were able to get some for pies, applesauce, and whatever else we decide to cook up.

Besides spending time in the store we found a picnic table and had a nice lunch.  This wasn't an easy task, as the farm was very busy.  We have gone there for many years and this was the most crowded we have ever seen it.  After lunch, while enjoying the music, the girls spent time playing on the lawn.  Here are a few pictures.

Silly-face Katie!

And playing among the trees. Lots of people, as you can see.

And lastly, a picture of the bluegrass group in the middle of singing a song.

We did have a fun day.

My Table Runner

I went digging through my material boxes and found some fall colors that would work well for a table runner.  While I was busy setting up my sewing area I left the box of material sitting open.  Five minutes later when I returned to get a few more things, I found a stowaway among my material.

I don't know why he thinks that he owns everything!  He wasn't interested in leaving that box either!

I finally got busy sewing.  I made the leaves and the pumpkins from a pattern out of an Eleanor Burns quilt book. They were made as individual blocks.  Here's a picture of the leaf block.

Next I made the pumpkin blocks.  Those stems weren't easy!

Kayla and Marissa said they should be orange because pumpkins aren't red!

After I finished making all of the leaf and pumpkin blocks I had to decide how to put the runner together as I didn't have a pattern for that part.

After adding some background strips to make all of the blocks the same size, I squared them all off and sewed them together in one long strip, added a rust color border and quilted the runner.  I didn't have enough of the rust color border (which was my first choice) to use as binding, so I found some green material that worked.  Actually, after it was finished, I thought the green binding helped to bring out the other colors.

I thought my table runner turned out fairly well.

I brought out all the rest of my fall decorations and set them out to go with the table runner.

Today it was windy, cool and rainy so now it really does feel like fall is here!

Fall Is Here!

It's hard to believe that it is already the beginning of October!  Where does time go?
Though we are still having some warm days here, the feeling of fall is in the air.  Usually it doesn't start to really cool down here until close to halloween. This year is different though, and it is already cooler than normal. I so like it!

I also noticed several days ago that there were a few leaves on our tree that were beginning to turn colors. Though we don't see much color here in the desert, we do have some, and I enjoy it.  I really love the fall colors.  It's time for me to bring out my fall decorations!

It's also time to go apple picking again.  Every year the four girls, their parents and I, all drive out to the local (sorta) apple orchards in Oak Glen, and spend the day picking apples and wandering through the town stores.  The girls really enjoy wandering through the groves and helping to find just the right apples.  The orchard also has small barn animals the girls can visit, a local bluegrass group playing music, and even a place where the girls can make their own apple cider!  The cider making takes a long time and they get really tired out!  It's always a really fun day for all of us.  We'll probably be heading there next weekend. I'll take pictures!

One fall project I have had in mind is to quilt a fall table runner. I have a pattern that I've had for awhile, so I'm going to get busy.  It has maple leaves and pumpkins on it.  I want to get started on it this week so I can enjoy it through the season.  The pattern isn't exactly the way I want it so I am gonna have to change it around a little bit.  We'll see how that goes!

I am also thinking about how quick Thanksgiving and Christmas will arrive now that fall is here.  So, I am going to get busy shopping... and sewing some of those games, purses, clothes, and other projects that I have sitting waiting for me!

Wish me luck!