Family Fun Fall Projects

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than by working on some cute, little Halloween foam kits, that were on sale at Michael's!  Or so Daddy thought!  He and the kids had spied these kits on a family shopping trip and convinced me they would have so much fun and could do them.  

Hmmm...let's see!  First, there was the fight over who was going to get to make theirs first.  We quickly saw this was NOT a project they could do completely on their own.  Then, we had to deal with all 3 of them tearing into their kits to check out all the cool stickers inside and as you can see...there were foam pieces EVERYWHERE!!!  Daddy started with reading the directions and discovered that the little tube of glue that was included, was really not that great at holding anything together.  "Mama, can you get out the glue gun??"

Annie was given directions to get all her stuff together after the cottage building was at least complete.

OOH!  This is fun!!  Can't you see the look of joy on Daddy's face??  He is REALLY glad that he let all 3 kiddos pick a kit out and they ALL want to put theirs together today!  

Now let's see...how many blisters from the hot glue gun did Daddy get?  Our glue gun is ancient and not the best working piece of machinery in the world, but it was getting the job done!

At last, the best part...the decorating!  It did turn out very cute and looks just like her!

Jack chose a haunted pirate ship!  See his tongue??  He uses it all the time when concentrating on a task.  Too cute!

And here's a shot of the spooky tree that Sam picked out and told us where to put things.  I swear I had more pictures of him & Jack working on theirs, but for some reason, they didn't load up on the post.  One thing I haven't figured out...how to move pictures around on blogger once you load them.  If I load them now, they just go on top.  Still learning...I'll try to get one on here of all 3 creations lined up on our mantle next time.

Now on to MY favorite kinda projects...the eating kind!  Annie had her Brownie meeting after school Monday, so the boys said they would help me make one of our Fall dessert favorites...Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake!!!  It is a Paula Deen recipe...need I say more!

Jack REALLY enjoys working with us in the kitchen and has gotten pretty independent at doing things.   I really just had to tell him what to do, measure some things out, and then he was on his own!  

He prides himself on being a really good egg cracker..."No shells mom, see?" is what he always tells me.  Sam pretty much just enjoys being the taste tester & licking the beaters.  Truly a boy after my own heart:) 

Ta-da!!  The finished product!  It's Wednesday morning, and just imagine looking at this picture, with only about 1/3 of it left!  Annie has requested it in her lunch box, and they've been having some after school as a little pre-homework snack, not to mention what Wes & I have been enjoying after the kids are in bed.  It does have pumpkin...you know beta-carotene???  Surely it counts as being a tad healthy...

You MUST try it!  It is SPOOK-tacular!