T & T Part Dieux

To continue with my previous post I promised to show where I took that scary head...made from chocolate pound cake no less.  It was here at the Ashland County Conservation Farm. (sorry for the blurry pic). We had our Church Halloween social here. The weather was cold and rainy so I was again reminded why we chose not to host it at Whispering Pines this year.

The park-like setting was lovely.  There are a few ponds around and I wondered how that would go over with parents of little kiddos.  There were signs giving directions to what was and what was not allowed to happen with the Ponds.  For Example:

If you're a frog I suggest this would be a great place to live. If you're a frog hoping to be kissed by a princess and turned into a prince I would remind you that you must be a TOAD...not a frog for that to happen. However this is allowed:

I guess you can only fish for members of the conservation farm...just do it before the pond closes.
However, we weren't fishing for frogs or members.  We gathered in the big barn structure for food, socializing, costuming and some Halloween fun.

Everyone gathered at the tables.

This table was empty except for this pumpkin....Jack surmised it was the "Head Table"...He's so funny.

The ponds were an issue for parents. They seemed to think it might be a hazard to do "Trunk or Treat" after dark so near a few large ponds. Trunk or Treat is when you have all the cars lined up with their trunks open and pass out candy to the kidlets.  We had it indoors instead and all the adults stood behind a table and passed out candy to these kinds of trick or treaters

Chicken Little...or a little chicken...whatever!

Non fire breathing dragons....These are twins who belong to Vicki from the blog, The Selvage Edge . No matter if you dressed up or not, or just came to let your kids have a safe, fun place to go, we had a nice time last night. The food was good and so was the company.  Plus, I'm always pleased to learn something new each day. Yesterday I learned you can make roses out of tootsie rolls....Hey, if pound cake can turn into scary skeleton heads with worms coming out, then I guess roses out of candy can't be all bad! I think this is really the last Halloween post for 2012...Can't believe October is almost over. It's going to go out like a mad ghoul with no candy for Trick or Treat if Mother Nature has any say in it.  Good luck and prayers to all who are in the path of Hurricane Sandy...us included.  

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No Tricks..Just Treats

The treat this week would have been to get my blogging done....The trick was time was not in my favor! But here's a peek at what we've been up too. First, we went over to my Son Jack's house and had a nice dinner on Thursday.  The Thursday before Halloween is always when our community does it's Trick or Treating.  That will prove to be a great move because we are expecting some of that "Frankenstorm" to hit our area on Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing in showers and probably a little snow.  But Thursday was the nicest day I can remember for Trick or Treat. In the 70's and super sunny and nice. The kids donned their scary costumes:   Ninja Cameron:

 Scary something Anthony:

I think this will be Anthony's last year for this so I was glad we stopped by.  After we were done there I had to get home to finish up my baking for our Relay For Life bake sale. I made a nice batch of breads, cupcakes and some bat cookies.

I love those batty cookies! I usually make these as icecream sandwiches..but I just put frosting on the inside for the bake sale.  I think we did pretty good.  I was looking forward to Saturday...sleeping in, making my contributions for the annual Church Halloween party and going to one of my favorite haunts (a little Halloweenie humor!).. The Parsley Pot.

It was the Christmas open house. I know it's only October, but they always have their open house the last weekend in October.  I found almost everything on sale.  They have warm cider, fun dips to try and a great atmosphere.  The owners know me pretty well since I live practically next door and they let me take some indoor pics for my blog.  Many shops won't let you take pics. Here's just a sneak peek at the inside: Click on the pic for a better view!

 The bottom pic is actually taken from the upper loft. There is another upper loft across the way. The Parsley Pot is celebrating 38yrs of business in this old barn. I've been going there since we've lived in Ashland (35yrs) and it's been alot of fun to see them expand their merchandise and move along with the times.

This house across the road from the barn is where the owners live...I just think it is so pretty!
Well, I'll stop blogging here for today. Tomorrow I'll tell you about where I took this little creation of mine:

Scary??????

Souper Weekend

Yes, I know how to spell SUPER...But we had more of a SOUPER weekend.  I called up a few sweet friends who said they'd love to come over for lunch today and I decided that a variety of soups would be the menu.  I started this on Saturday with a quick ride to the apple orchard.  Let's back this up....Saturday morning I came bounding (hahaha..if you believe I "bound" anywhere!) down to the kitchen to find a lovely arrangement waiting for me.  It was "Sweetest Day" and my Sweetie gave me these. Thanks Babe! Love them!  Then we headed out down the long and winding road:

And down the straight and narrow path:

A path lined with apple trees.

To a local apple orchard to pick out some delish eating and baking apples...you may be wondering what apples have to do with soup. Well, dessert is needed isn't it? I'll show you the finished product directly.

My diningroom filled up with some good people who filed in right after Church was over to talk, laugh and enjoy a quick lunch of 3 different soups: Spicy Tortellini soup (made by Jack..and it was yummy!), Vegetable Beef soup, and Broccoli Cheese soup:

Soup on it's own just doesn't cut it. Atleast not in my home! I make a braided cheese bread that went along with all the soups.

Can you smell the fresh baked goodness yet?

I threw in a tossed salad...get it? THREW A TOSSED SALAD? Never mind. I really just wanted to show you my fun Halloween salad tongs!

Then we topped off the meal with some old fashioned Apple Slices (Here's where the trip to the Orchard makes sense!)

You just have to have some homemade vanilla icecream to go with those Apple Slices right? Yep! Sweet ending to a fun meal.

Later in the day I took the dog and headed up to the Creepy Woods for a little walk. With the leaves falling quickly, it's not so "Creepy" this time of year.

It's more open and the leaves line the paths and crunch under foot and smell so "fallish".  Not a scent I think you'll find in any glade can!

It was a quiet time to sit and look up and realize how blessed we are.  And give thanks to the Heavens above for a most lovely and SUPER weekend.

Carving Out Some Time For Fun

Last night my Grandkiddos and their parents came over to do a little pumpkin carving and enjoy a meal together.  I had the house decorated in a few of my favorite things:

My new "Spooky" sign in the kitchen.

 The kitchen fireplace mantel.

 A few cute trick or treaters.

Perhaps a spot of herb tea?

One of the new Halloween plates my daughter-in-law Amy gave me for babysitting. Love them!
I made some stew and biscuits, cinnamon applesauce and a variety of other things to fill us all up before the carving was to start. I didn't take any pics of the food...rare for me...but  I did catch one of the plates!

Perfect for a Chiropractor don't you think?

Then it was outside to clean out the pumpkins...a real "goo" fest!

The dark settled in so we moved indoors to complete the carving.

With the parents helping....here's my daughter-in-law Amanda with our little Lexi deciding on a bat for her pumpkin.

The results were pretty good!
After all the pumpkins were done the funny glasses YaYa provided...and a few vampire teeth....rounded out the evening.  The little ones also played outside in the dark with some glow sticks.

 Lovely....

 Summer, you need your teeth realigned and I hate to mention it, but you're also out of focus!

Addy, even with crazy eyes, you are a diva! It was a fun evening.  Here's just a small example of the goo fest:

Soccer Or Football?

Saturday morning we braved a 28de temp to watch our Grandson Cameron play soccer. He's five, has asthma and many allergies. But he's no slouch when running up and down the field. With all the mold and dead leaves in our area this time of year it was hard on him.  His inhaler is his best friend.  It was great to see he never lost a big smile, played great, and made us laugh as we watched these little guys learn the rules.  I wish all teams had their sportsmanship. The best part? We were a few minutes late and when he saw us walking to the field he stopped playing and ran off the field to greet us! So sweet and also very cute. Here's some of his "moves"...

The "I'm ready guys" move..

The "I've got this one" move..

The "Wooohooo, hop in the air" move...my fav by the way!

A pose with Paw Paw move.

A smile for Mom move. Good job Cam-Man!

Then it was on to breakfast for Jack and I....

Hot cocoa for me to ward off the chill of the morning.

A southern breakfast extravaganza for Jack...he only ate half of that...it was huge!

All I can say about mine was...I ate the whole thing....burp..

Sunday afternoon we went to Anthony's 5th grade football game. I thought it was strange to have a school game on a Sunday, but it was fun to watch him play in their last game of the season. He's the one facing the camera....I wonder if he knew I was taking it???

His big sis Summer (with little bro Cameron) sat and enjoyed the food as well as the game!

Action!

He's # 52

I couldn't resist a pic of the trees behind the school....very fall looking!

Good job Anthony! They won and were undefeated for the season! Last year he broke his arm after the first game so he was a happy camper to be able to finish this year without any trouble!