New Dress and Late Night Marshmallows

Here is the other dress I finally finished for Little Bit. I love the wooden buttons in the back...though I should have made sure she had it on straight before I snapped the photo...really, it's straight! She just wiggles around a LOT. LOL Now, save a few pairs of play pants, she's pretty much done for Fall, so that's good. Now I can get on to making those Christmas presents. But she likes the dress. I asked her which one she liked best, this one or the green one, to which she replied, "I like both of them. I like all the dresses you make for me, mama." To which, I beamed, appropriately. Ah, nothing like the praise of your children to give you an instant self-esteem boost. :)



Yes, this is me (pardon the poor photography)...roasting marshmallows over my stove. Sigh. I think I need camping therapy. LOL Of course, it was my HUSBAND who got the idea to do this for a snack last night, who also got the idea to use our bamboo kabob skewers to roast them on (forks get hot...) It took every ounce I had not to bring out the chocolate and graham crackers, too... Mmmmmm....smores.... And so then I start in on this tirade about how we really need to go camping, this fall/winter. In a cabin, of course. I don't really trust tents with very small children...afraid they'll just up and leave in the middle of the night...not to mention there's nowhere to "put" them to keep them from running off. They're too young to "obey" when you say "stop!" "come back!" but they're too old (and too big) to be content in a play yard or something. Of course, it wouldn't be half as hard if they're weren't TWO. That makes a HUGE difference, esp. when they almost always run off in OPPOSITE directions. And you can only run one way at once... You know, I bet that's what they're talking about at night in their beds...plotting how best to escape. LOL Funny thing is, I could see that...

Chocolate Owls

I love Halloween. I mean, REALLY love Halloween. There's just something about it that really gets me happy. Part of it is the weather. I am totally a FALL girl, so I love bright plump pumpkins and brilliantly colored leaves everywhere. I love the crunch it makes when you walk on them, the cool breeze blowing. Blue jean weather, I call it. And I love it!!! Add to that my love of dressing up I've had since a kid and an unsatiable addiction to all things chocolate, and you can see how this is an amazingly fun holiday for me. :) I generally decorate the whole house, though I've had to scale back now that I have small children...hard to put out breakables when you have a little boy who thinks he's supposed to throw everything. But still, it's just so much FUN!!! And one more thing I enjoy...making treats. :) There's just something about fall weather that sets me in baking mode, and I want to make EVERYTHING. Not a great thing when you're on a diet, but very hard to fight this baking urge I get...which is why we had cupcakes at 10:00 at night two nights ago...

And though it isn't baking, I have found a new fun pasttime in making chocolate lollipops for the kids. Little Bit LOVES them. I have to limit her, else she eat the whole batch in one sitting!!! (That's my girl! She gets it honest!!!) But I was quite happy with how they turned out, esp. since I forgot to buy a paint brush to do the little details... oops. Still, they turned out rather nice, and very tasty! And super easy to do, really! I'm going to have to get some turkey molds or something for next month, though I suppose owls can be a whole fall thing, hmm?

New Dress

I had ordered this material a while back, (It's from the Chocolate Lollipop line from Anna Maria Horner--Love her!) and Little Bit fell madly in love with it and wanted a dress made out of it, so here it is, her very own creation, though I picked the pattern. I did have to add a strip to the bottom, however, to make up for the fact that she grew a lot since I cut it out...my own fault...I think it was March or April when I cut the thing out. I shouldn't have waited so long to get it sewn up! But she loves it. And it suits her. It really does.