Annual Halloween Pumpkin Carving Party

My sister hosted this year's annual family pumpkin carving party 

and really went all out for it.

Our family really loves a fun theme party!

My sister finished an amazing back deck this past summer

and wanted so badly to carve them out there....

but it got very cold and rainy, so indoors it was held!

The upper right one is Ariel the Little Mermaid-

made by my niece Delaney, who looks exactly like Ariel.

The spear one in the middle was carved by my sister whose

son Tony is a Junior at Arizona State - (The Sun Devils.) The cat is by my eldest over-carver Evelyn who is an art school graduate.

The paw print was made by my brother-in-law - it is the logo of

his a.m. Ohio University. The top left many-toothed one was carved by my younger daughter Katie.

The Minion one-eyed one was carved by my older brother Danny,

the one with a football looking mouth at bottom right

was carved by my son-in-law Dan, the Jack Skellington one

middle left is from Nightmare Before Christmas and was done by my eldest niece Darien, and the sweet happy one on lower bottom was done by my youngest niece Reagan.

My husband didn't carve one this year because he had Grandpa Duty!

Here he is "holding" that very heavy pumpkin up that wee

Vivian thought she could lift herself.

I think you all now have established for yourselves that

this tiny 15-month old girl is a very headstrong girl.

♥

Grandpa said she was genius because she kept going up to a long large Trick or Treat sign on the wall pointing to her orange shirt, then to the orange part of the sign....then would point to her black pants, and then back to the black part of the sign.

Oh, that face, that precious sweet face!

Now unfortunately you won't find a Jack O' Lantern carved by me

this year, because I had to stay home due to being sick.

As much as I wanted to be there, getting anyone else sick

as I have been with a nasty deep cough, well, that's just bad.

So our camera was passed around

 and I don't know who took pics-

 it was a family affair!

All the decorations put up by my niece Darien.

(She is their family go-to Holiday Girl Extraordinaire!)

It took the baby some getting used to the scary stuff- 

but once she discovered how delicious Halloween can be,

 she lost all interest in being scared and chose being fed.

Check out these fun festive foods:

Pepper Popper Eyeballs

With cute mummified hot dogs...

Spider-webbed condiments...

I sent sloppy joes, and there was baked

 mac and cheese but no pics of them, 'cuz they're boring.

In my sister's house there is always a nod to some nutrition:

And my sister made some fun Halloween whimsical desserts

such as vampire mouth cookies

and German chocolate cake "brains!"...

And rice krispie treat pumpkins...

My eldest brought a perfect Autumn dessert with apples....

Caramel Apple Bars, which I hear were really delicious, too.

She found her yummy recipe here. 

But after a fun, full and busy night and past bedtime, 

nothing is more satisfying for a tired baby than a calming bottle....

So another year's pumpkin carving party is now behind us.....

so let the Trick or Treating Begin!

Tonight is the night when dead leaves fly...

the witches on switches across the sky.....

HAPPY ALL-HALLOW'S EVE!

Be safe and watch out for those wee goblins and ghouls!

Hugs and haunts,

~Michele

Tea for Two Easy as 1 -2 -3!

It's getting close to tea time.

You have a few sweets on hand.

How easy it would be to just call

 a friend/neighbor/co-worker/relative

 to enjoy tea time with you.

Yes, I know......the house isn't perfectly clean......

the laundry needs to be done.... the bills need to be paid.....

you need to think about fixing dinner.....

There are infinite really good excuses in our heads.

But that's all they really are: excuses. 

In the meantime, you still want some tea.

And you still have a few sweets on hand

that you may have baked recently.

And you still plan on heating up your kettle....

WHY NOT SIMPLY CALL UP A FRIEND TO ENJOY IT WITH YOU?

It needn't require getting out fancy linens, fine china,

 or even loose-leaf tea. (gasp!)

 Save all that for another time, maybe a special afternoon tea.

But for now a simple hot cuppa in a mug, a nosh or two

 and a friend is all that is required for tea-for-two! 

[google image]

TEA FOR TWO - AS EASY AS  1 - 2 - 3

1.) Call up a friend and invite

2.) Brew some tea

3.) Grab some sweets

You cannot know what joy that simple gesture of friendship

 may bring to someone who may be feeling lonely or blue.

Or perhaps it is YOU who may be feeling those things.

Trust me, I understand!

 I have also learned that enjoying an hour visit

 can make the biggest difference.

[google image]

By the way  if you haven't tried this super cheap

French Vanilla Bigelow decaff - it's really good tasting tea!

I seldom use tea bags but this is one I highly recommend

when a simple cuppa needs to be just that:  plain easy.

Disclaimer: first graphic art pic from google images
Disclaimer: Bigelow tea doesn't know me.

BEST banana bread recipe

 I have ever made: here

BEST fluffy sugar cookie recipe

 I ever made: here

The above sweets I made the other day that I had on hand -

along with some yummy chocolate sticks

that I recently received as a gift.

 And yes, you may have noticed that one of those chocolate sticks

is missing in my pics.... because I ATE it

 while waiting for my neighbor friend Dee to come to tea.

As always, thanks for your visit!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Foodie Friday   *   Simple Saturdays  *  Inspire Me 

Autumn Pics with Tea Theme

Many of you adore all things tea related

and I am no exception!

So today I thought I'd put together a post with some

 of my favorite autumn pics with tea themes in them.

For no other reason save sharing some

 pretty eye candy

 on such a lovely fall day.

I have been so blessed to have such

lovely autumn china.

I have been collecting fine tea china for many years.

But I love autumn so much I also tend to buy 

hardy ceramic cups in warm fall colors, too!

They're always my cups to grab-

along with my jacket and wool throw

when enjoying a cuppa on the last

 of the nice cooler weather outdoors.

Our covered patio is the perfect place for a hot cuppa, a good book,

prayer time or just a respite from all things electronic.

It's essential we unplug and unwind sometimes.

Most of my collections or tea things you've already seen

 in one varying form or another.

I do forget what I have shared sometimes, 

so do find it in your hearts to forgive me, please

as I know I do regurgitate duplicate pics.

And wonderful tea things I have been happily gifted,

such as this perfect birdie teacup from last year's

teacup exchange hosted by Stephanie of the blog

The Enchanting Rose.

We will be posting about this autumn's recent swap soon

so be watching for all the hoopla!

I was also gifted this amazing artisan made

 ceramic turkey teapot that I posted about here. 

I haven't hosted a nice afternoon tea luncheon in much too long.

I am long over-due.....but am just a wee bit too tired to do it.

I need to remedy that - and soon!

Even a plain and simple everyday mug

 looks nicer placed in a simple vignette.

As always, thank you so much for your visit!

Hugs and prayers!

♥

~Michele

PS: If you missed my last post about my
sweet little grand daughter visiting a pumpkin farm,
 be sure to go check out her cuteness here!

Linking:

Mosaic Monday   *  Inspire Me Tuesday   *   Tuesday Cuppa Tea

At Our Home   *   WOW Us Wednesday   *   Favorite Things

Baby Visits the Pumpkin Farm

My grand daughter enjoyed a day at a country pumpkin farm recently.

She is now 15 months old.

It was a perfect coolish downcast day

 which made for some wonderful pics that

my eldest daughter took.

Vivian seemed fascinated by all these colorful orbs!

She took a real shine to that little heirloom one -

she picked it out herself and carried it around with her

the entire visit....along with that stick she found.

She didn't set it down often, but did here.

(But not that stick, haha.)

I love this shot

with her wee gourd in the forefront.

♥

Here Vivi's auntie and momma

 are making her laugh in this shot.

That's her momma's arm - she just finished

"hugging" the giant pumpkin to ease Vivi's reservations

about such a huge weird scary thing taller than she!

Funny how hugs make everything alright.

Notice the wee playhouse on the right

and the two black cows in the background.

And Vivi still holding that stick.

Perhaps she will one day be a conductor

since she's comfortable holding a wand.

Because we really don't want a wizard in the family.

We're Muggles.

:-)

She's getting so big so fast; but not quite big enough

 to pick up that huge green heirloom pumpkin by herself!

Can't blame a girl for trying!

I adore her little black chucks shoes-

they're just like the ones her momma wears.

We called those "fish-head sneaks" when I was young.

Our darling grand daughter is growing so fast!

Seems like just a moment ago

 that I blogged about

 her first visit to a pumpkin patch!

Thanks so much for your visit today.

Smiles, hugs and prayers to each one of you!

♥

~Michele

Linked:

Everything Else Friday   *   Share Your Cup