Signs of Motherhood

Signs of Motherhood: waiting in carpool lane while jamming to Kings of Leon with a bottle of hand wipes for your child nestled in the drink holder.


Sealed with a Kiss, Kirsten

S.W.A.K.

Picasso vs. 8 Year Old

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"Mom, What kind of world would you rather live in?---A world painted by Picasso or a world painted by an 8 year old like me?"

"A world painted by an eight year old, definitely!"

"Yeah, me too. That way there would be pretty things everywhere like unicorns."

Sealed with a Kiss, Kirsten

S.W.A.K.

Costume Party for Lil' Ghouls

In a moment of mental absence, I told my daughter she could have a couple of friends from the neighborhood over for a little Halloween costume party. She was, of course, delighted with the idea. They had such a great time. The look of happiness on my daughter's face and unsuppressed giggles all evening made it well worth the effort.

The table is set and ready for guests!

Witch Broom Goodie Bags for the little guests

My mom would make a lime sherbert and Sprite drink for all my parties when I was little. I made it for this party and in the spirit of Halloween, I named it "Zombie Puss". All the girls loved it and it was a big hit!

Sealed with a Kiss, Kirsten

S.W.A.K.

Crushing on Mary

While watching the Sound Of Music Reunion episode on Oprah this evening, my husband revealed that he had a crush on his 1st grade teacher who looked very much like Julie Andrews in her role as Mary Poppins (insert sound of my giggles here). And apparently this teacher of his affection also had a thick German accent to boot!----(insert more giggles). I thought it was odd when he bought me a large tapestry carpet bag and umbrella one Valentine's Day. Juuuuust Kidding.

Sealed with a Kiss, Kirsten

S.W.A.K.



16

16 Autumn-ish Things That Make Me Smile

1. Pumpkin Patches

2. Pumpkin Spice Soy Lattes

3. Scarecrows

4. Hay for Sale

5. Buying a new sweater..or two

6. Wearing a favorite old sweater

7. Candles in Autumn scents like Apple Cinnamon and Pumpkin Pie

8. Turning off the air conditioner and opening the doors

9. Shopping for Halloween costumes

10. Stepping on crunchy crispy fallen leaves on purpose.

11. Stews

12. Acorns and the busy squirrels collecting them

13. Spotting the first flock of geese in the sky flying South.

14. Lighting the fireplace

15. An excuse to act like the Addams Family

16. My Dad's Birthday

Sealed with a Kiss, Kirsten

S.W.A.K.



Sock Skeleton

Meet Blanch McSkully! I whipped up this cute lanky skeleton in one night using, you guessed it, socks! 1 pair to be exact...except, don't tell Blanch--She would think it quite ghastly if she knew she was made out of socks. I got this idea from none other than the extraordinaire herself, Martha Stewart . This adorable Halloween craft was easy peezy lemon squeezy. Click here for the How-To guide. I am thinking that next year I will make more and embroider pretty art flowers on the face to celebrate Dia de los Muertos aka Day of the Dead . OR, I may just hand over Blanch McSkully to my cat. The entire time I was sewing her arms and legs on, he thought I was creating a wonderful toy just for him. I had to place Blanch on my fireplace mantle to keep her safe from Custard Kitty. His sharp kitty claws and teeth scared her to death, so to speak. Haha!

Sealed with a Kiss, Kirsten

S.W.A.K.

Willie Nelson VS. U2

I have the neatest song playing on my Virtual Victrola and would like to share it with you. It is my song for you. I've had my home state of Texas and my Texas loved-ones on my mind a lot lately for various reasons. Have I mentioned that I am a 6th generation Texan on my Mom's side? ----Only 100 billion times it might seem to anyone who knows me. And so in attempting to close the miles between my home here on the east coast of Florida and my heart on the gulf coast of Texas, I was listening to some Willie Nelson tunes on my playlist while putting away leftovers, packing my daughter's school lunch, and chatting about my day with my husband this evening when I came across this song which is an awesome mix between Willie Nelson and U2. Willie Nelson's You were Always On My Mind and U2's With Or Without You are blended into a slightly upbeat song, yet still remain very melancholy and melodic. Normally, I am not a huge fan of mixes. But, I totally loved this one and had to play it on my Virtual Victrola for you.

Houston, Texas

source

Sealed with a Kiss, Kirsten

S.W.A.K.

Pumpkin Walnut Cupcakes

I made a batch of perfectly pumpkiny autumn-inspired cupcakes today---Pumpkin Walnut Cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting topped with a fondant circle and finished with orange sprinkles. My daughter has been asking me a gazzilion times in the last few days to make these and I have also been wanting to try out my new Halloween Cupcake Stencils fromWilliams-Sonoma . So here is what I think...The cupcakes were howlerificly yummo. But, the stencils were a small disappointment. I think they might work better on a chocolate cupcake with powdered sugar instead of sprinkles. The cupcake was delicious and the cream cheese frosting went perfectly with the pumpkin walnut cupcake.

***Here is the recipe***

In a large mixing bowl

4 eggs beaten

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups canned pumpkin

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup milk

1/2 chopped walnuts

Mix everything in bowl, pour into cupcake molds, bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Cool and frost with cream cheese frosting. Makes 24 cupcakes. Enjoy!

NOTE-I used a store bought cream cheese frosting and I also used a ready-made fondant by Wilton. I rolled out the fondant and used a small drinking glass to cut out the round shapes.

Sealed with a Kiss, Kirsten

S.W.A.K.

Brownie Howl at the Moon Night

What is cuter than a bunch of Girl Scout Brownies on an Autumn night? ---A bunch of GS Brownies howling at a full moon, that's what! I loved Girls Scouts as a kid and this is my daughter's first year to be Brownie. Going to the GS Howl at the Moon night was so much fun for both her and I. It brought back so many memories of when I was in Girl Scouts. Seeing her learn some of the same campfire songs that I learned was sorta like a right of passage. My Mom was a Girl Scout and so was my Mother-in-law. So many old familiar songs are still being sung today by Brownies across the globe like Bug Juice, Smile in my Pocket, Make New Friends-But Keep The Old . Of course the only one she seems to have remembered frontwards and backwards is a song titled, God Bless My Underwear . Hmmm, that's odd because I don't remember ever learning that one when I was a kid. By the end of the evening, she and about 150 other Girl Scouts had S'mores coursing through their veins and were shining their flashlights into the tree tops as they walked down the wooded path towards our cars. If I had measured my Brownie's smile that evening it would have been 10 feet wide. As we were getting in the car to head back home, she said, "Thank you soooooo much for putting me in Brownies. Can you tell me the story again about how Mema (my Mom), Tita (my Mother-in-law), and you were all once in Girl Scouts?" Of course that melted my heart like a marshmallow over a campfire flame. We sang the God Bless My Underwear song all the way home and when we pulled into the driveway she kept giggling and said, "Oh My Gosh, I can't take this smile off my face. I had so much fun tonight. My cheeks hurt." and then went into another fit of giggles. It doesn't end here. The next morning, a school morning, I walked into her room and woke her up and the very first thing she started singing was the Bug Juice song and started asking me how the lyrics went again. Needless to say, for the past few days we have been singing Girl Scout songs nonstop and all I can think is how super happy I am that I put my daughter into Girl Scouts. I love my lil' Brownie!

Sealed with a Kiss, Kirsten

S.W.A.K.

Spooky Eyes

Mirror-Mirror on the wall.

Who has the spookiest eyes of all?

Look at what we made! Spooky glowing Halloween eyes! By "we", I mean my daughter and I. I love this Halloween idea by Martha Stewart. You can get the directions for these Mirror Glow Eyes at marthastewart.com. We had fun using Glow-In-The Dark Glitter and well, glitter of any sort is just fun fun fun to an 8 year old girl like mine. This easy peazy lemon squeezy Halloween craft project took about 30 minutes. What would Halloween be like without crafty Martha Stewart? It gives me a Halloween fright to even think about it.

Sealed with a Kiss, Kirsten

S.W.A.K.

Pumpkin Palooza

Saturday was a perfect day to stroll amongst an oasis of pumpkins. I think I would like to have a picnic here with no one else but my husband and daughter. What would we have for dessert? Pumpkin Pie, of course!

I like the pumpkins who have decided not to be orange the best. This one was my favorite-ist favorite because it is PINK! I also like that it looks like nature came along and glued what looks to be peanut shells to it.

Maybe I need to buy one of those crafty color wheels because whodavthunkit that orange and grey go so well together? Not me. I totally love this color combo. I also really like the way the stem of this small pumpkin has the equivalent of bed head morning hair with it's unruly self.



Meet the Pumpkin Patch Diva. How very posh and vogue.


A little sass and some cool sunglasses are perfect for Pumpkin Couture!

We first came to this pumpkin patch when my Pumpkin Diva was in pre-k. She is now a 3rd grader. Every October, I have taken a pic of her on this bench holding a pumpkin. She grows and grows. It is bittersweet.

Sweet as Pumpkin Pie

Eeny Meeny Miney Moe

It use to be that she didn't have to squat down so far whenever we took the "Look at me, I'm a Pilgrim!" pic. This year her knees were almost to the ground.

I like the price scale. Just hold up your pumpkin next to the one that is close to the same size and that is the price you pay.

Sealed with a Kiss, Kirsten

S.W.A.K.