Did I mention I have been busy??? LOL Well things have been a bit crazy at the Cooking on the Fly house! October always is though, it is a rush to get everything ready for Halloween! there were pumpkins to carve (6 total) cookies to bake (75 of them!) and bags of Ghost Poop (aka marshmallows) to get ready. Also there was my costume to design and sew and costumes for the kids (bought this year...) And I have had a cold 2x now... really getting sick of being sick! Lets start with the pumpkins! *NOTE* all pumpkins were carved by ME with Little Chef sitting on my lap "helping"...
This is my BOO! which I entered in a carving contest and won 8th place! (Thanks VMInnovations! The pumpkin was a 10lb one, more tall than round, from Goughan's Farm in Caribou Maine. It was carved with Pumpkin Masters tools and a stencil
This is HAPPY! and is Little Chef's choice! She picked a nice 8lb pumpkin, again more tall than round, from Goughan's Farm in Caribou Maine. This was also carved with Pumpkin Masters tools and a stencil.
This is MR. DEATH, Boy Chef's choice. His tall 9lb pumpkin also came from Goughan's Farm in Caribou Maine. It too was carved with Pumpkin Master's tools and a stencil
All three pumpkins made a wonderful showing on the front porch for almost 2 weeks before going all squishy and moldy!
Next came TRICK OR TREATERS. This one wandered home from school with my son, it was a spare, after each class got a pumpkin and the janitor gave it to Boy Chef. It arrived just after the previous 3 went squishy! This was also carved with Pumpkin Masters tools and a stencil. Unfortunately the pumpkin went down quick and was squishy and moldy just 2 days after carving!
Below is what we called our MASTERPIECE PUMPKIN, a 16lb pumpkin from Goughan's Farm in Caribou Maine. It was carved on all sides, 4 carvings in total. This was carved over a week ago and is still going strong! All of them were carved with Pumpkin Masters tools. 1. WICKED was carved freehand but based on a stencil, the stencil was to big for the space on the pumpkin. 2. PUMPKIN STACK was carved with a stencil. 3. CAT & PUMPKIN was carved with a stencil. 4. SCARY FACE was carved freehand but based on a stencil, this was on the lumpy side of the pumpkin so bits of the design were moved around to suit the lumps better. (and yes, this one too was carved with Little Chef on my lap!)
This last pumpkin was a bit spur of the moment. My mother in law is also Boy Chef's 3rd grade teacher at the local school. This pumpkin was in her classroom until 10/30 when it started to go rotten around the stem. She gave it to me to take home and carve, to get a longer life out of it. I cut the top totally off so that there was no rot to spread. Than I sat and stared at it for a good 20 min trying to plan a carving. Than it hit me that our Cub Scouts were having a meeting in 2 hours (Boy Chef is a Bear this year) and that this would be PERFECT for them. And thus SCOUT PUMPKIN was born. I carved the Fleur-de-lis first and it came out in one nice chunk, so rather than toss it, I stuck tooth picks in the sides and back and mounted it to the top of the pumpkin. I also carved Pack 196 to either side of the Fleur-de-lis. Everyone loved it!
So as you can see, we carved just a few pumpkins LOL! I also had Little Chef's Pre-K class (24 kids) and Boy Chef's 3rd grade class(23 kids) and Cub Scout Pack (27) to make cookies and "Ghost Poop" for! Now "Ghost Poop" is a quick easy treat to make, just put a hand full of Mini Marshmallow in a zip-top bag and top with either a hand made label or print one like this one. The kids got a kick out of them!
For cookies I made Broomstick Cookies from the recipe found HERE
Then it was on to costumes. There was much hemming and hawing and changing of minds but eventually everyone settled on what they wanted...than Little Chef changed her mind...
At first Little Chef wanted to be a Pirate Princess, so this costume was found at a local 2nd hand store, it is called Princess of the Sea (perfect!) but then she decided she wanted to be a witch...... so I told her she could call it what ever she wanted but that was the costume she would wear LOL! We used pink hair spray to add a pink streak to her hair and she wore glittery makeup
Boy Chef wanted to be Peter Pan. I was going to MAKE a costume for him, Peter Pan is an easy sew! BUT the fabric would have ended up costing me almost $30! I found this costume online for $10!!! DH and I also made him a wooden sword to go with it
I went as a sorceress, this is my make up shot, you can see the dress in the group shot below!
Here is the our little group at the local library Halloween Party, Now you can see the dress. It is a dress I have had for 15yrs now that has gone thru various costumes and changes, it is floor length and very stretchy. I always make sure to wear something under it because it is very see thru! The sleeves were created from an old night gown that had wonderful fabric, the sleeves are very long and cover my hands, and have the dove-tail effect common in "princess" costumes
Halloween itself was a busy day. It was only a 1/2 day for the kids at school (Teachers workshop day) So I took them to school and helped out in the Pre-K till they were dismissed at 10:45am. Than Little Chef and I helped her teacher clean up from the party. When the classroom was back in order Little Chef and I went to Boy Chef's class and helped out there until noon dismissal for the older kids. Than it was off to town for a Dr. appointment, a quick trip to Walmart, and then back home to grab trick or treat buckets and bags. I got the kids each small easy to carry buckets and kept larger bags for them in the hatch of the car for them to dump into when the buckets got to heavy! We went to the nursing home first to visit the kids great grandfather and get treats and than full on trick or treating. We went trick or treating for 4 hours and hit almost every house in the area!
Woosh, I am tried all over again just typing all that!
Woosh, I am tried all over again just typing all that!