Shake and Bake, baby...

Can you guess what the lil' man was for Halloween?

The cutest Race Car Driver! (complete with his favorite "Dale Car" in tow)

Our neighborhood had an afternoon costume parade, which was most popular with the baby and toddler set. E was completely amazed at the amount of candy!

We also attended a festival at a park and the bouncy house was the favorite activity for this little driver...

E was all smiles on the hay ride before deciding that it was difficult for mom and dad to find a time out spot on a crowded trailer and became a crazy man... Two is such a fun age!

Granny's Cream Puffs

Mmmmmmm...with all the holiday magazines on the self telling me how to put together the "perfect" meal plan for the upcoming festivities, I have been thinking alot about family traditions and the foods that accompany them. When I was growing up, my dad's parents also prepared the same special meal for special occasions and the menu never changed: beef stroganof, green beans, orange jello (made with orange juice!) and cream puffs for dessert. While my grandfather was the usual cook at the Lloyd house, I remember helping my granny put together these little desserts, which are still among my favorites. There was no special occasion last night but I decided to prepare these just to celebrate that every meal for us together is a treat. And aren't simple, everyday meals exactly what adds up to the best memories as an adult?


Granny's Cream Puffs (makes 6, give or take)

Preheat over to 400 degrees.

To make the puff:
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup all purpose butter
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs

Pour boiling water over butter in sauce pan and bring to a boil. Stir until butter melts. Add flour all at once- stir with wooden spoon until mixture leaves side of pan and forms a ball. remove from heat. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each egg until mixture forms a smooth paste. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet.

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 300 and bake for 30-40 minutes more. Cool puffs, cut off tops (save to put back on after filling!), remove any goey dough from the inside.

To make the filling:
Granny's directions merely state that she mixed cool whip with vanilla pudding...however, she doesn't state a size for either. I prepared the larger box of sugar free/fat free instant vanilla pudding and mixed it with the standard size Cool Whip. It made plenty (see below!) of filling. Using spoon, fill puffs with filling and place tops back on the puffs. I bought store made (the shame!) fudge icing and melted it in the microwave and smeared the chocolate on the top. Since you refridegerate these little guys (if you don't eat them all!), the chocolate gets yummy and hard, which makes the perfect culinary foil for the creamy filling.

The extra filling makes for perfect finger licking yumminess for the camper!

just add water...

I am completely over the warm, humidity here. I hear about people being cozy by the fire with their knitting and a mug of hot chocolate and I am still sweating it up everyday! It has also been raining alot here...this equals fun mud puddles for the camper!

I enjoyed watching the mud romping from a far with a glass of ice water on the new coasters I whipped up last night. I wanted to practice my free-motion quilting skills on a small scale. I used the Moda Bake Shop Charming Coasters tutorial with a charm pack of Mary Engelbreit's Basket of Flowers fabric line. I bought this charm pack on clearance and is a bit "flower-y" for my indoor decor but suit my back porch area just right!


So, what do you think?

what we did at camp today...

learned about pollination

found some fall colors




practiced photography
(apparently, I need alot of practice...)

race car driving

Meet your camp counselor

Welcome, campers! This is your welcome to my blog- my little space on the net to share the comings and goings of life as I know it. I am beginning this blog to have an outlet to share all the good stuff we whip up at craft time (both the toddler ones and the ones I have to work on when my camper is sleeping!), snack time and all the times in between.