Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the "Iron Chef". I am so happy with my super easy costume!

Big Bird and Elmo Pumpkins

I am so excited about our Pumpkins. They turned out excellent. All I did was buy the Sesame Street pumpkin carving kit at Target for $5. It came with the stencil and all the tools. I just followed the stencil and carved. My only complaint would bet arm and wrist got pretty cramped up from all the carving. We still have one more pumpkin ..... So I may make one more....

Clean out the fridge Stromboli

If your house is anything like ours, you might find in your fridge various half used packets of shredded cheese, deli meat packages with 2 slices left, and jars of sauce with not enough sauce to justify making pasta.  Well, let me introduce you to "clean out the Fridge Stromboli".  The only thing you really NEED for this recipe is a french bread dough loaf.  Then, just well, clean out the fridge.

Set the oven for 400 degrees.

Next roll out the dough onto a greased (I used Pam) tin foil lined cookie sheet.  Next pull and stretch the dough to meet the ends of a small cookie sheet.  

Now, the fun part. Put the meat, cheese, sauce (go easy on the sauce), extra veggies, sure, why not.  Really anything goes.

Next, you want to start at one end and roll it jelly roll style.  

Now, seal the edges and pick it up and turn it to center it on the cookie sheet.  Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with some Italian spices and parmigiana cheese.

Bake at 400 for about 25 to 30 minutes.

Slice and enjoy.

Apple sandwiches

So, I had mentioned to the triplets Great Grandmother that peeling all the apples for our apple sauces making was super slow going.  So, she went ahead and bought me this super fun gadget.

I had so much fun playing with this, that I actually used up all the Apples we had in the house.  After peeling and coring the apple in one easy step you end up with this.....

So, next I cut my fun spirals into perfect little circles.  I spread some peanut butter, a few oats, oh and maybe a just a few chocolate chips.

These little sandwiches were a huge hit at Breakfast this morning.  Pretty healthy as well.  I think using apple slices instead of bread would be a good idea for families that are a eating a gluten free diet- or just for those wanting to jazz up breakfast.

Family Drive-in and decorating caramel apples.

Being stuck inside with three snotty nose toddlers lead to some creative thinking on Mommy's part this weekend.  I had to work with things I had in the house, so here is what I came up with.

First, we had our very own drive-in Movie theater.  I happened to have a few large boxes that I had been saving for a time like this.  All, I had to do is fold the front flap of the box down into a triangle, and glue and paper plate to the inside to make a wheel.  And, I have no idea why we had these, but I glued 2 plastic coffee cup lids to the front as headlights.  I let the boys color there cars with crayons before getting in.  For, some reason Lila had no interest in having her own car, so she watched the movie from the couch.

Since they were sick, I let them take there blankets and stuffed animals in there cars.

In fact, Baby "B' liked this "car, so much that he curled up in his and wanted to nap in it. 

After leaving our Drive-in we decorated Caramel Apples.  I used the Caramel apple sheet that you can find the grocery store now.  These were so easy to use.  The directions for these say to microwave them for 15 to 20 seconds.  My microwave must have been set to nuclear, because 5 seconds was all we needed.  I wrapped the apples in that caramel and they were nice and sticky, perfect for decorating.  I filled muffin tins with stuff I had around the house and let each triplet decorate and apple. For some reason, no one really used the walnuts :)

Baby "C" the bean is hard at work

Here is Baby B "the Biscuits" creation.  

Glad we were able to have some fun while sick, but I am REALLY ready for everyone to be 100% healthy.

Ghosts made from Footprints - crafts for $10 or less

I saw this idea for this floating around the internet and thought - I have to try this! Great project for anyone who has lots of little feet running around their house.
In an effort to keep things thrifty, this is going to be the first installment of crafts for $10 or less series.
My inspiration piece for this was done on canvas. In order, to keep this under budget I went with foam board. The nice thing about foam board is you don't have to paint it. The draw back is that it can be difficult to cut. I used a serrated knife and then used some ribbon to "cover" some small imperfections.
You will need:
1 piece of black foam-board 5.99 with 50%off (Michael's coupon) =$ 3.00
Googlie eyes - $.99
White paint pen = $1.99
White WASHABLE paint = $1.99
Ribbon = 1.99 marked down $.99
Letter stickers =$.99
Grand Total =$9.95

 The triplets have been sick the last few days and super cranky.  But, they loved this project.  In fact, they were all smiles for the first time today as mommy painted there little feet and pressed it to the foam board.  Since, I cut the foam board in half, we made 2 of these.  Pictured below is the 1st one.  I find it funny that the first foot on there, the one I thought I messed up because Baby B keep sliding his foot around, looks most ghost like.

Final Note: I was totally impressed by the Crayola Washable Paint, it came off their skin very easily and I was even able to wipe a drop off the foam-board with out it leaving a mark!

Happy Halloween.

Finishing the basement

Our Basement-

Um, so when we bought this house almost 6 years ago, we clearly had no idea that we would welcome triplets into this home a few years later.  Although, I love our house, it was feeling a bit, um, crowded after the triplets became mobile.  We toyed with the idea of moving, but finishing our basement just seemed a whole lot easier.  I am so glad we went ahead and finished the basement, now the triplets have a dedicated play space and I just wanted  to share a few pictures.  

When we first decided to finish the basement we asked around and for recommendation on contractors. The guy we chose came highly recommended and has finished 14 basements in our neighborhood.  Becuase he had already done so many basements in the area, he was very familiar with the footprint of our house.  He gave us a good price, but of course being the trifty person I am, I simply asked him  "is this the best you can do?" and he actually took %10 off the price, score!

  

Before he started we went and looked at a few basement he had done in our neighborhood and I really liked his work.  But, one thing I noticed is that all the basement were painted beige???  Was there a fire sale on beige paint or something?  This area is for my kids and I wanted it to be bright and inspiring.  A place were imagination and learning could come together.  As you can see I pretty much choose the brightest colors I could find!  Also, I wanted the decor to be unisex and fun, so I went with a Dr. Suess theme.

In the picture below we used chalk board paint, and had it framed in with crown molding.  Above it we put one of my favorite quotes (the wall decals were ordered off ETSY)

This next photo, is what the triplets see when they walk down the stair.  I thought this quote was a great way of reminding the triplets of there individuality

Here is a general view, we have since put a book shelf under the big circle quote on the far wall.  As for the furniture we got that couch for less than $300 new.  One of the big furniture store in our area has an outlet store where they send product with small flaws or that were floor samples.  The only thing I could find wrong with this couch was that it is BRIGHT green.  I guess not alot of people are in the market for this color couch.  Oh well, finders keepers.

This photo is the area under our stairs.  I noticed that in a lot of basements this becomes wasted space.  So, I had our contractor frame it in with a dutch door and a small pass through window.  I am hoping at some point to paint this to look like a store front, so the kids can play "store".

But, in the mean time Baby C "The Muffin" just likes to run his cars on it.

We also added a bathroom to our basement.  We figured running up and down the stairs with 3 potty training toddlers would not be fun or any one.  

On a final note, we recently had our house appraised in order to re-finance and lower our interest rate and the values our newly finished basement for more than we paid to finish it.  So, basically, it has already paid for itself!

What is something your kids help with at home?

The triplets just started going to pre-school 2 mornings a week. So far it had been a very positive experience and I love to see all the fun projects they come home with. But, I think this might be my favorite so far. Their teacher simply asked them "what is something you can help out with at home?" and let them finger paint.

Here is what they came up with.

Baby C says- she can help play.  Okay, well it is important that we play.  

Baby A says- I like food.  I really like this answer, especially since he totally ignored they question at hand and just made a general statement.  My only guess is that they asked him before lunch time?

And

Baby B-  This answer makes my day.  He can (and does) help with The Cookies.  Not just cookies, but THE cookies.  It makes it sound like we have a cookie infestation problem at our house, ha.  

I am so honored and excited to be the featured blogger on Multiples and More today, to read my interview please click here.  Thanks.

Halloween in a jar

So, when I bought the dozen ball mason jars I really had the best intentions.  I was going to make apple sauce and/or strawberry jam and can it.  But, August turned to September, and September to October and my jars sat sad and unused.  Finally, I came to the realization I just was not going to have the time to do either of those projects.  So, Mott's applesauce and Smucker's Jam will be served in my house until further notice. But, I did still want to use the jars.  So, I googled what to do with mason jars and found out you can bake in them, how cool is that?

I went with a Halloween theme on these.  

Pictured below is what you will need.  Minus, the man in the yellow shirt fiddling with the T.V.  Although, he does occasionally come in handy..

I used 2 box cake mixes.  One Chocolate and one white

Wilton Orange gel food color 

canned frosting with sprinkles

8 ounce mason jars.

Now, go ahead and make the cakes according to their packages and add the food coloring to the white cake.  I used quite a bit of food coloring because I wanted to make sure the orange was vibrant.

Now, layer the cake mix into the jars.  Fill the jars about 2/3 of the way.  Next, place them in a baking dish with about an inch of water.  I only made 6 of these because I was a bit nervous on how they would turn out...... I should have been brave and made all 12.  Anyhow, bake at 350.  I baked mine for about 35 minutes and they came out PERFECT.  

 Expect that when you take them out of the oven that they will have kind of a round muffin top on them.  Just go ahead and slice this part off and eat it.  Once they cool and you can scoop out a little cake and put on the frosting and sprinkles.

You could serve these right away or put the tops on and add a bow and some Halloween stickers in order to make an awesome gift.  I am guessing you use some bubble wrap you could even mail these goodies. 

Baby B (the Biscuit) would tell you how much he enjoyed this, but his mouth is full.