Kids Behind the Blog: October Interview

1.  What do you want to be for Halloween?

A glow in the dark skeleton!!

2.  Do you like handing out candy or collecting it?

I like going up to the neighbors houses and taking my bag and saying, "Trick or Treat! Yay! Thank you!" 

3.  What should Mommy & Daddy be for Halloween?

Halloween skeletons!

4.  Do you like to make a scary or happy faced Jack-o-latern?

Scary faces!!  Aaararrrg!

5.  What is the best part of Halloween?

Eating all the candy!!

From the first time I asked Winston what he wanted to be for Halloween, he was set on a skeleton!  We ordered glow in the dark skeleton jammies for everyone in the family and he was in heaven!  On Halloween, he wasn't really keen on going trick or treating - he was much more interested in handing out the candy and seeing all of the costumes that came to the front door.  He would say, "Oh, I love your costume!" or "I see you Batman!"  He is such a sweet soul to engage in conversation and make people feel special.  Truman was content to sit in a lap and coo at people as they walked by.  These are the days, these are the days!

Pumpkin Decorating: Timmy the Turtle

Come every September, we receive a crafting pumpkin to decorate as part of our office's Annual Staff Pumpkin Decorating Contest.  Each staff member, doctors included, must decorate a pumpkin.  All of the pumpkins then get displayed at the offices for our patients to vote on during the months of October and November.  My favorite part is seeing the creativity of our staff and then trying to guess which pumpkin will be the favorite for that year!

Our first year we did the Cheeseburger {and won!}.  Two years ago we did Metal Mouth.  Last year we decided to keep it simple.  Since Benjamin loves turtles, we thought that might be something unique that no one else would create.  After slicing the pumpkin in two, we enlisted Winston's help in turning our orange pumpkin green!  We made sure he had on the proper hand protection and away he went!

Winston was properly supervised {with an empty spray can!} at all times.  Did you really think we'd let a two year old really handle a loaded can of spray paint?!  

Once satisfied with his work, we left the two halves to dry.  The next steps involved Crayola air dry modeling clay.  And quite a bit of it too!

I molded a head, fins and legs out of the modeling clay and attached it to the pumpkin.  Timmy was starting to shape up nicely, but his shell was looking a little blandish.  I busted out the paints and tried to make his shell have a little more depth. 

The last and final step for our little friend was to give him eyes!  What kind of eyes do I hear you ask?  Why, googly eyes of course!!  The only kind that exist in our house!

Timmy turned out perfectly!  Although he didn't place in the finals, he is one of my favorite pumpkins that we've made so far.  

Here are a few of my favorites from last year's contest:

Our blank pumpkin is staring at me as I type this and our ideas are swirling.  I'm excited to get started on preparing our creation for competition!  What are some of your favorite pumpkin decorating ideas?

Five Things for Friday: 11.06

If it seems like it has been months since you've seen a Five on Friday post from me, you'd be spot on. I took a blogging break over the summer and am now feeling like I'm ready to jump back in here and there.  With Truman's arrival in the coming months, I feel like I want to do more to document our normal everyday as a family of three as we get ready to be a family of four!

one || This stomp rocket.  If you have a little that is 3 years or older, this needs to be on your Christmas list for them this year!  Winston received this as a birthday gift this year.  I normally bring out one or two new toys every week or two in order to keep the excitement alive.  This week, we opened the Stomp Rocket Jr. and have been all about it!  The first night we managed to get one stuck on our roof and shoot the other three into our neighbor's yard!  After a secret mission to retrieve them, the fun kept on!  

I have to say, Benjamin and I even get a kick out of seeing how high we can make the rocket fly!  There is also a size for bigger kids.  

two || Winston had his very first dental check up this week!  Benjamin came along which was super sweet.  There must be something, as a dental professional, about being there for your kiddo's first appointment!  We went to Wheeler Pediatric Dentistry and I was impressed with how sweet and personable each of the staff that interacted with Winston was.  They made him feel comfortable and did an excellent job walking him through each step of the process.  Winston did a fantastic job when they took the x-rays and I was amazed that he was still as they brushed and flossed his little teeth!  His favorite parts were getting checked by Dr. Wheeler and getting his stickers!  

three || It's time to get excited about Christmas!  And all of the adorable Christmas jammies!  I love a kid in a cute set of jammies!  Here are a few of my favorite Christmas jammies:

Christmas Construction || Gingerbread Belly || Santa Suit || Pete the Cat Saves Christmas

And to not be overlooked, Thanksgiving jammies too!  Thanksgiving Turkeys

four || This week I also had an appointment to check in on Truman.  Heartbeat is great and we are measuring a week or so ahead which equates to nothing really other than he is a healthy size!  I am to the point where I can feel when Truman is active with his twists, turns and kicks.  Winston gets a thrill out of putting his little hand on my belly and his eyes light up when he feels Truman move.  It's not uncommon for my midsection to get two or three hugs a day followed by his sweet voice saying, "Oh baby, I love you!"  All the melting with love hearts you can find for his mama!

five || I'll leave you with these two adorable littles in their Halloween costumes!  We watched my niece on Halloween night and had a fun time taking these two around the neighborhood trick or treating!  

We will be spending Saturday morning at the JDRF walk in The Woodlands and doing a pre-hanging of all the decorations for our church's Hanging of the Green ceremony in a few weeks.  It's supposed to be a dreary and wet weekend so I am positive we will have time for snuggles and movie watching too!  Happy weekend to you!

Other Posts This Week:

Popped Corn on the Cob Craft

Linking up today with 5 on Friday:April | Oh Hey, Friday: September Farm + The Farmer's Wife | Friday Favorites: Momfessionals

Pumpkin Decorating: Metal Mouth

Last year was our first year to participate in the Annual Staff Pumpkin Decorating Competition at Todd Hughes Orthodontics.  Benjamin created this fabulous Cheeseburger and came in first place!  This year we had quite a few ideas floating around in our heads but decided to create something a little more simple this year.  Basing this off of our Domo Arigato pumpkin we made years ago we created this!!  I give you, Metal Mouth!

We liked the idea of Metal Mouth as a play of the nickname that kids give other kids with braces.  We started with an orange pumpkin and Benjamin sprayed him with a coat of silver spray paint to give him the metallic appearance.

For embellishments, we used items that can be found in the aisles of all hardware stores!  We picked items that would work best for the look we were trying to accomplish.

Grab a few L-brackets, a hinge, some lag bolts, corner braces and anything else that looks cool!  Get your screw gun and go to town!

We hot glued Googlie eyes and screwed in everything else.

 Three hands may be necessary to position, stabilize, and screw the appropriate pieces into place.

And then, TADA!  Your very own Metal Mouth or Robot pumpkin!  

The cost of this project is the foam pumpkin (that you can purchase at local hobby stores for $10+) plus about $10 worth of hardware.  It is an easy project for kids to make with parent supervision...or two grown adults to make with child supervision!

Can you believe October is days away?!?!

Our Little Bug

We have called Winston our little Love Bug since day one.  Not sure why, we just have.  Most days we shorten it to just calling him Bug.  And, for better or worse, it is a name that has stuck between Benjamin and I.  We refer to him as Bug when speaking about his morning on the phone, or if he's napping or just telling exciting stories about his day.  He is our sweet little bug!  

At the beginning of the month when all of the Halloween costumes start popping up, I had expressed interest in getting Winston some sort of bug costume.  We looked at a few of the magazines that came our way but never put any real effort into buying anything... mainly because he wouldn't quite yet be old enough to grasp the magic of the phrase "Trick or Treat!"   

We quite happily went through the rest of the month thinking he'd wear one of his cute festive shirts and have no need for a costume.  Until that fated day when the School declared that they were having a costume parade and party!  "No worries," I thought, "I have that monkey costume that I bought before there was even a thought of a Winston...surely that will fit."  Later that night I pulled the costume out of the closet and alas, it was too small.  About 5" too small.  So...no go on the monkey.  

As it would turn out, the next day I was out and about running errands with Mom when we wandered into Pottery Barn Kids and saw the cutest spider outfit I ever did see... and for $8!!  I snatched it up and was so excited to get home to see how Winston would like it.  

The next day we tried it on and I declared he was THE cutest spider ever to be created!  He wore his costume like a champ in the parade and again tonight while we sat outside with the neighbors and handed out candy.

You don't have to take my word for it - see for yourself!

 He just slays me!

 I'd like to smother this spider with cuddles!

Benjamin dressed up in his trusty mullet and Van Halen t-shirt today.  At first Winston wasn't quite sure about the wig...and then he realized it indeed was his Daddy!

Happy All Hallows' Eve from our family to yours!

Pumpkin Decorating: Cheeseburger!

Benjamin came home from work one afternoon early in September declaring that we needed to start thinking of a pumpkin decorating idea because the office has a contest each year and it is highly competitive!  Amidst everything else we had going on we added this to our list started brainstorming.  Benjamin had a few ideas that, if done well, would have been super cool, but they were quite time intensive.  Since this was happening in the middle of closing, packing and moving, the design needed to be something fairly simple.

We have a running joke with Luke and Kala that the only thing Benjamin eats when we are on trips with them is hamburger and fries!  ...And it really is true.  He eats a hamburger in every city we visit.  On top of that - his first job was at Micky D's and the man cannot pass up a good cheeseburger and extra crispy fries!  

Enter the pumpkin idea for 2013: Cheeseburger!

We took one of those foam pumpkins that you can find at any hobby store and sliced it in two.  This made our two buns.  To make the top piece look more like a burger bun, I hot glued pumpkin seeds all over.  To create cheese, we purchased yellow Fimo clay, rolled it out and cut it into cheese squares.  Funnily enough I had placemats that look like very large pieces of lettuce, so one was donated to the cause.

Fries were also created out of Fimo clay with the thoughts of getting a McDonald's fry container to put them in.

It took two buckets of the Crayola air dry clay to create the hamburger patty!  After a full day it was still damp, so we put it in the oven on low heat to dry it out a little bit.  Then Benjamin spray painted it brown.

Once the paint dried, we put assembled the burger and ....TA DA!  A cheeseburger!

A really, really BIG burger!

Benjamin loaded the burger and fries into his car and toted it to the office.  On his way, he was able to secure a McDonald's tray, large drink cup, and a fry container.  I was eagerly waiting to see the final product when I got this text...

Amazing right?!  

I can tell you that... "ba da ba da daaa, I'm lovin' it!"

Halloween Subway Art Printable

I thought I would try my hand at creating a subway art piece for the frame in my kitchen this year.  It's something I've been wanting to try to make for a while just never gave it much time.  Once I sat myself down and started creating, I enjoyed it and am quite pleased with the outcome!

If you'd like to download and print it for your own use, please feel free to do so!  To make it easy, I have posted the full file at this link: Halloween Subway Art Printable.  Click the link, then select File on the left hand side, then select Download.  Please let me know if something glitches and I'll be happy to do some troubleshooting since it's my first attempt!

Halloween Candy Review: Caramel Apple Milky Ways!

A month or so before Halloween candy even started coming out - I clipped a coupon for Milky Ways.  They were advertising their new flavor for the fall: Caramel Apple!  I love caramel apples and thought I'd store the coupon away for when the Halloween candy hit the shelves.

When Target first started stocking their shelves, I stalked up and down the aisle and came across the Caramel Apple Milk Ways, bought two bags, used my happy coupon and headed home.  

I wasn't quite sure what to expect for the taste - some things can taste really fakey and then there things that taste like those lollypops...I LOVE those lollypops that come out each fall, ya know the ones.  The Candy Apple ones that are the green apple lolly covered in caramel with the green wrappers.  The ones that most everyone who has tastebuds loves and hoards because they are delicious.  

That is what these tasted like!  Little bite sized morsels of caramel apple goodness wrapped in a chocolate blanket!  I like that they are small enough to satisfy the craving when it hits you and that you don't feel guilty when you eat 2...or 3 5 at a time!  

I figured that there were some cooking savvy people out there who had already whipped up something delicious with these little guys and my searching produced the following things - I think I need to head back to the store to pick up a few more bags because all of the recipes look AMAZING and perfect for fall!

Caramel Apple Milky Way Cupcakes by Java Cupcake
Caramel Apple Spice Milky Way Cookies by The Domestic Rebel
Caramel Apple & Chocolate Muffins by Lil' Luna
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars by BrewCru Life

Now, put these on your list and let me know if you try one of the recipes above!  I'd love to know how they turn out!

Halloween Candy Review: Cadbury Screme Eggs!

Welcome to a new segment on Crazy Cozads where I will unveil the awesomeness of the new Halloween candy for this season!  Here's the first one:

Friends!  I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was when I saw a post on our friend, Tally's facebook about the possibility of Cadbury Screme Eggs coming to the US for this Halloween season!  I love Cadbury Creme eggs!  Like love them!!  Also imagine my excitement when I rounded the corner at Target to see THIS:

I am fairly certain that a squeal escaped from my lips while I did a little jig in the middle of the aisle!  I of course followed that up with texts to both my Mom and Benjamin!  Then came the dilemma.  How many do I buy?  It wouldn't be right of me to buy the whole display, nope ...I needed to leave some for the other folks who would also be elated about this fall time candy debut!  So, I grabbed a handful and headed away from the display eager to get home to enjoy my first screme egg!

 Don't they look absolutely glorious in their fabulous purple and green wrapping?!  

So I unwrapped one and it looked the same as the original Cadbury Creme egg. 

Then the inside!  Instead of the normal yellow yoke filling, there was a bright green filling that oozed from the middle of the white center!  The creme had definitely gone GREEN!!  If you are a Cadbury Creme egg fan, then this treat is perfect for you!  So head to Target, grab yourself a handful... or two and celebrate the beginning of fall and the Halloween candy season!  If you need a good dentist after eating all of this year's candy...let me know, we can recommend a few good ones!

And just for kicks, if you have a Screme Egg sighting in your area, post a comment!  I'd love to see where they pop up at.

Confirmed sighting: Pearland, TX: Target

Halloween Party

Benjamin and I have never been a couple to go over the top for Halloween, however this year with our commitment to host events for the ortho department and my excitement of the costume I had found for us we threw ourselves into hosting a Halloween shindig!

A few weeks before Halloween, I turned our dining room table into a painting studio as I crafted our costumes.  After hours, I was proud of the way they turned out!

 We were Nerds!!

My side was the exact verbiage on the back of a box and Benjamin's back was the nutritional facts.  And yes, Benjamin is wearing tights and his hair is purple.  No, I did not have to coerce him into this either.  I can't take complete credit for the idea.  We did see it on pinterest.  Just love that site.

Here are the cast of characters that graced our home:

Part of the party was a pumpkin carving competition.  We covered our back yard in drop cloths and set up the work lights.  One couple even came armed with a dremel and canned air!

Thanks to everyone who came out and contributed to the fun times!!