*Painted Pumpkin Ideas*

So I have decided that this year instead of carving pumpkins I will paint them! Here are some really cute pumpkin ideas!  Feel free to share them with me if you have any!

As you can tell I really love black and white, but I think these are really cute.  Plus when you carve pumpkins they rot and get ruined really quickly. 

These are really cute because they are different colors, they would be really neat for kids! You can add sparkles and jewels as well to spice them up!

These next one are so cute! Simple yet sophisticated.  These would be cute to put on display on the middle of a harvest table!

What a neat idea!  Its a pumpkin used as a vase!

How cute for a Halloween party!

These would be so neat on a fireplace or on bales or straw!

Black & White

These are so cute!

Variety of Sizes.



***TGIF***

Happy Friday!!!  I am so excited for tonight, this day is going to slow.  We are officially in the Halloween spirit!!!!! Tonight we are going to the pumpkin patch and we will be doing the corn maze, its a 10 acre corn maze and it was designed to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the World Wide Web.  Here is a picture of the corn maze, so cool!

We are going to be getting pumpkins, gourds, corn stalks and we already have the straw-bales! Then it is home to decorate, decorate, decorate!!! I will post pictures when we are done!

*** Fall Recipes ***

Fall Recipes

Mom's Famous Caramel Apple Dip

Ingredients:

1-pkg (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, Softened
1/2 Cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Beat cream cheese in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy.  Add brown sugar and vanilla; beat until well blended.  Spoon into serving bowl.  Serve with apple wedges for dipping & Enjoy!

Mother-in-law Thanksgiving Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

1 cup Karo Light OR Dark Corn Syrup
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter/melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups pecans
1 (9-inch) unbaked or frozen deep-dish pie crust
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Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 1. Mix corn syrup, eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla using a spoon. Stir in pecans. Pour filling into pie crust. 2.Bake on center rack of oven for 60 to 70 minutes (see tips for doneness, below). Cool for 2 hours on wire rack before serving. 3. **To use prepared frozen pie crust: Place cookie sheet in oven and preheat oven as directed. Pour filling into frozen crust and bake on preheated cookie sheet. 4. RECIPE TIPS: Pie is done when center reaches 200°F. Tap center surface of pie lightly - it should spring back when done. For easy clean up, spray pie pan with cooking spray before placing pie crust in pan. If pie crust is overbrowning, cover edges with foil. Hot Baked Cinnamon Apples

Ingredients:

10 apple, cored, peeled and sliced thin
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp lemon juice (optional)
1 dash salt
1 dash nutmeg
Fresh whipped cream (optional) or ice cream (optional)

Directions:

1. Place cut and peeled apples in a mixing bowl and gently mix all the ingredients together.
2. Put apples in a non-stick pan, and cook covered for 45 minutes at 375°F.
3. Stir at least once every 15 minutes. 
4. Once they are soft, cook for another few minutes to thicken the cinnamon sauce.

 

Pumpkin Patch!

HAPPY FALL!  I am so excited, so right now I am at work and for the rest of this week and next I am on the early shift from 7:15-3:45.  Cody goes on his new shift on October 18th which will be so great because we will basically be on the same shift and have Wednesday's and Sunday's off together which will be great, I am so excited.  There is a permanent shift bid that went out again at work to go to this earlier shift permanently which I had been trying to do, but now that Cody and I will  be on the same shift I decided not too. 

So tonight when we get off we are going to walk the dogs around Gray's Lake which I'm really excited for because it is absolutely beautiful outside.  I have been not feeling well the last two days catching a cold so I haven't worked out, but I am feeling better and ready to go again! 

Tomorrow night is going to be so much fun, we are going to a Pumpkin Patch to get pumpkins, gourds, hay and cornstalks!!!!! YAY! We are also going to go on a Hay Ride and roast marshmellows which will be so much fun, we LOVE fall it is our favorite time of year! 

I spent some time last night decorating the outside of the house with our halloween lights, there is a house up the street that has started and I shall NOT be outdone for halloween so I am having to step it up a notch!

As you can tell we are OBSESSED with this season! We are having a halloween party on October 23rd at out house which is going to be a blast.  Last night we went to a couple of different Halloween stores and looked around and got ideas which was fun!  I love just spending time with the husband!  I will be posting some good DIY (Do It Yourself) Ideas that I have done that are really cute and fun activities that anyone can do!

I would really like people to start following our blogs and giving me ideas!  Does anyone have any good Fall/Halloween recipes or decorating ideas? We would love to know! Please share with us!

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thursday!

Halloween, our favorite time of year! So much to do and say!

Happy Wednesday too all of our readers! So today is the official 6
months that I have been with Nationwide Insurance and I am absolutely loving my
job (minus the fact that I am not feeling well today and I went home sick :(
good thing I have a great husband who made me dinner! ) I remember my dad used
to tell my mom how worried he was that I would never be able to keep a job
because I would start something and then quick and complain that I had to work.
However, I think I have finally found something that I love to do and am good at
doing. 

I love going to my job each day, the people are great, I have made a
lot of great friends there and my superiors are very friendly and professional.
Nationwide truely is "On Your Side" and they really treat us (employees) very
well. 

This week at work is customer appreciation week and today they bought
us all cookies and Thursday we get to wear jeans for free! (Normally we have to
pay $1 on Friday to wear jeans and it goes to a charity). Right now we also
have the United Way Campaign going on. If 70% of the company completes there
E-Pledge (taking $ out of each of their paychecks) we will get Fazzolis for
lunch! Another good perk to Nationwide, we truely are appreciated. For once I
have a job that they care about you as a person and you aren't just a number to
the company. I have a new supervisor at work who I really enjoy she is very
friendly and strives to talk with me about what my goals are and where I see me
going in the future with the company, which I love the thought off. 

What I would idealy love to do is go into a supervisor position and
from there I would like to do something with marketing/design because as most of
you know I love to design things. Mirror, Mirror on the wall, I am my Mother
after all :) which I am thankful for. 

Tomorrow I will be volunteering at Hawthorn Hill again. I will be
taking one of the kids to the library to help him with his science fair project.
He decided that he wanted to build a volcano and show how vinegar and baking
soda make a chemical reaction. This child is so smart and understands the
concept fully, the only problem is he doesn't have the resources to complete the
science fair project. 

The problem in today's society is that teachers expect children to
have all of the resources of electronics at their fingertips and unfortuntely if
the parents cant afford it they dont have those resources. 

The science fair paper said that he had to have a board and
everything had to be typed out and look professional and have a lot of color.
Unfortuntely, he has no supplies, he has no computer, printer or the materials
to do the project. 

I have volunteered to take him to the library down town tomorrow to
start doing his research and to get his ideas together so that at some point he
can get it all type up to put everything together. So, tomorrow after noon when
he gets out of school we will be going down to enjoy a snack and get studying.

I have posted an add on craigslist and asked anyone who has extra
toys or basketballs, volleyballs, ect to please donate them to the shelter.
After spending time with the kids I have found that they are very bored there
(which is what starts kids into getting into trouble because they do not have
enough to do). They have a basketball hoop, but do not have a basketball, they
do not have board games or anything of that sort. Kids need these things in
order to keep in their own "kid" frame of mind so that they do not have to focus
on the stress of the situation they are in.

If I had a million dollars, oh the things I would do with it! I wish
I could help every family out there!

This year my goal is to be able to sponsor a family less fortunate
and to help them out becaues Christmas should be a time of giving and this year
that is what my goal is!!!

Again, I can not stress enough the importance of helping the needy
and those less fortunate. Because we take our lives for granted each and
everyday and there is always someone out there who has it worse than we do, just
remember that!

Whether its volunteering your time, or donating your clothing.
Whether its giving a neighbor a helping hand or helping the elderly with their
groceries, your help will never go unseen, and if you think YOU cant make a
difference you are wrong! Because, to the world you may be one person, but to
one person you may be the world!

Volunteer in your community

Hello All,


So I am new to blogging but I figured how fun it would be to get all of the information in my head out to everyone who is interested in hearing about our life.  So yesterday Cody and I started to volunteer at a place called Hawthorn Hill.  For those of you who are not familiar with Des Moines you probably will not know about Hawthorn Hill.  Let me tell you some about it so that you readers can understand more about why we volunteer here and why you should volunteer and a place like this in your community.  


 
Mission: To establish and operate housing programs for homeless families with children that help them obtain permanent housing and to provide services to help families achieve economic self-suffieiency. 


Hawthorn Hill has two different types of programs that they offer for those in need.  They have a New Directions shelter, this is the shelter that we volunteered at yesterday.  This shelter provides FREE, temporary, emergency shelter and services for homeless mothers and their children.  The second program that the shelter offers is The Home Connection program.  This program provides transitional housing and supportive services to homeless families with children with emphasis on attaining financial independence and home ownership. 


Most of you that are reading this are already going to know this bit of information, but for those of you who don't here is a little insight on our backgrounds and why we love to help our communities; while we lived in Missouri we were licensed foster parents to three wonderful sibilings ages 8, 11, and 13.  We had two girls and one boy.  Most of you ask, why foster parents?  What made you want to do it?  Well, Cody and I have been together for 5+ years now (Yes, since I was in high school).  We weren't looking at becoming foster parents especially with the age that we were at the time (not that we are that much older now) however, we are so thankful that we had the opportunity to be foster parents to those children who are like our children now.  Not only did we help them for over a year and still continue to help them, but they helped us.  They showed us how blessed we really are at the end of the day and how lucky we are to have what we have compared to them we have the world and we wanted to show them what the world was and the Lord blessed us to be able to do that all in a years time. 


There a several movies out that we all have seen over the years that have kids in them that are as fortunate to have the most supportive parents, or perhaps they do have supportive parents but they do not have the funds or the moral support that they need to succeed, perhaps it's that they dont have a parent that can help them with math or science, however for some this is a huge concern and for others we take it for granted.   For some of us growing up the only thing we worried about on a day to day basis was what movie we were going to see on Friday, or what vacation we were going to go on that summer.  Ask yourself this question, do you ever look in a fridge full of food and say man we dont have anything, nothing looks good, lets go out to eat? How many times a week/month do we do this as a family?  The answer is too many times to count.  We take this for granted.  Put your self in someone elses shoes that arent as blessed, for instance the people at the Hawthorn Hill shelter, or any shelter in your community, they dont have the money to get their child a tutor, they dont know how to be their childs moral support because they never received the moral support from their parents.  When they look in the fridge they can make any good meal out of whatever there is in there, they dont take it for granted.  There thought everyday is what will tomorrow bring? How will I get to the store, will someone call me for a job? How will I feed my kids?


After volunteering last night I said to Cody (and we all know we have thought and/or said these types of things before) "boy, they dont have much money and they are in a shelter but they went out and bought fake nails and soda," and Cody said, "Ya know Megan whats the different they still want a "normal" life, we go out and waste money all the time the difference is we make more so it seems okay." Ya know, this is SO true.  We take it all for granted just because we have it a lot easier off when at the end of the day we complain because we are behind a bill or two or we cant go out to dinner five nights in a row.


I look at our country and see how many "Super-Stars" are getting paid MILLIONS of dollars a year to catch a football or shoot a hoop, sure they are good but imagine what even 1 million would do for thousands and thousands of families out there.  America is great, but really we shouldn't have so many families and children be living in proverty and homeless. 


I urge each and everyone of you who read this to think about everything that has been said.  I urge you to go out in your own community and volunteer. 


The Hawthorn Hill is always  needing volunteers, donations and supplies for the mother and children.  If you would like to donate or volunteer go to Hawthorn Hills Website and there is a DONATE NOW button.  Click on that and you can donate! http://www.hawthorn-hill.org/  




Thanks for reading and remember there is always someone out there who has it worse than you!