Halloween Party ~ Tiring But FUN!!!!!

Today has been a day full of Halloween fun and laughter!!

First thing this morning we finished the rest of the pumpkins ~ making that 12 in total ~ Dan and Lauren did theirs ~ here they are!!

Then we decorated the house ready for the party ~ here is a little friend who was hanging about outside ~ ready to welcome everyone!!!

A line of pumpkins ~ standing guard!

We decorated inside too ~ the kids helped and made a good job

My little stars ~ all dressed and ready to P~A~R~T~Y!!!!!

I even got dressed up ~ here I am with my horns (tee hee) ~ I had a tail too ~ but unfotunately (or maybe fortunately) ~ there are no photos of that!!!

All ready ~ let the party commence!!

Searching in the gooey spaghetti trying to find bugs and spiders!!

Apple bobbing ~Lauren with a wet face

Well, that is the Halloween get together over for yet another year!!

We all had such a great time ~ but it has been a really long and tiring day too ~ I am exhausted and am off to bed now ~ no need to set the alarm ~ I AM HAVING A LIE IN TOMORROW MORNING ~ YIPPPPPPEEEEEEEE!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

(Now Halloween is over...........I now have to start getting ready for Laurens birthday and Christmas ~ oh my goodness.......Christmas.......panic panic ~ I had better start that shopping for real now..........how many days does that counter say......surely that can't be right??????)XXXX

Getting ready for Halloween 2008!!!

Today has been yet another busy day. My friend June (also a childminder) and I had 12 children between us ~ so things were a bit hectic at times!!!!

We decided to make a start on the halloween preparations ~ as we will not have time to do all 12 pumpkins tomorrow ~ so we did 5 today ~ here are the completed pumpkins!!!

The children helped to scoop out the middle and all the seeds and then chose what style face they would like ~ so each pumpkin is slightly different ~ I think they all look brilliant!!

Here are some pictures of the children preparing the pumpkins ~ they all had so much fun!

We have been doing the pumpkins with the children and having the halloween party for about the last 8 years ~ so June and I are old hands at it now!!

The party (and todays pumpkin carving) is being held at Junes house ~ so tomorrow will be busy busy busy!! We have to get the food for the party in the morning ~ then get the house all decorated and ready ~ get all the children dressed in their outfits ~ paint faces ~ cook the food and then entertain 12 children for 2 hours!!! I love it (and YES ~ I am very slightly insane ha ha !!). I have my outfit all ready ~ my 2 have seen a preview and they just laughed ~ they are used to their mother being slightly mad ~ so nothing new there!!

Hope you all have a happy Halloween ~ with lots of treats and fun!! XXXXX

Wednesday ~ witches hats and weigh ins!!!

It is Wednesday again ~ that dreaded day of the week when I head off for the weekly weigh in.
I am glad to report that after my stand still last week ~ where I lost a huge big ZERO!! This week I lost another 2 pounds ~ which I was pleased with! This brings the total so far to 4 stone and 5 pounds lost (61 pounds) ~ so I am getting there! I still hope to reach my goal by Christmas ~ although things have slowed down alot ~ so I may start 2009 dieting too !!!

It has been even colder here today ~ the wind wasn't as bad ~ but it tried to snow a bit ~ which was a bit of a shock ~ some places in the UK have had snow already ~ but we usually escape it (apart from April of this year!!!).

We are almost ready for the Halloween party on Friday. The children all have their outfits ~ I have the face paints all ready (I am quite handy with face paints ha ha !!) ~ we have lots of fun things planned ~ apple bobbing ~ lots of fun games ~ tricks and treats and yummy food ~ so it should be alot of fun for the children......and maybe the adults too (tee hee!!).

I thought that I would share the instructions for the Witches Hats that we made the other day ~ they were a great hit with the kids and so easy to make too

WITCHES HATS ~ Makes 10 hats

25g butter
200g mini marshmallows
100g rice crispies (breakfast cereal)
10 ice cream cones
10 chocolate coated biscuits
100g chocolate (for melting)
Hundreds and Thousands

Melt the butter in a pan and then add the marshmallows ~ stir over a low heat until melted. Remove from the heat and add the rice crispies ~ stir gently until they are coated in the melted marshmallows.

Spoon a small amount of the marshmallow mixture into each of the icecream cones. Place the biscuit ~ with the chocolate side touching the marshmallow mixture ~and then turn upside down. The heat from the mixture will make the biscuit stick. Put the hats on a tray.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl standing over hot water. Dip the ends of the cones into the melted chocolate and then sprinkle with the hundreds and thousands ~ leave the witches hats to cool and set.

Then let the children enjoy!!!!!!

I have decided that I will dress as a devil this year for the party ~ I have been a witch every other year (ha ha ) ~ so time for a change!! I will make sure that we take lots of photos ~ and do a halloween post later in the week.

I have done a little bit more Christmas shopping today ~ so I am feeling a bit better ~ I still have so much to do and the counter is ticking away too quickly ~ only 56 days ~ that just isn't enough ha ha !! I had better hurry up and get my bum in gear!!! XXXXX