Simple Ways to add a bit of "Boo!" to Halloween Meals

It's been our family tradition for years to make meals spooky during the month of October. We call it our Haunted Menu and our kids LOVE it.  Let me just clarify that spooky does not mean gore-y for me. I've seen several meals featuring bloody limbs, brains and guts as we've gone along. I always ignore them. I can barely stomach the green eggs and ham we make for Dr. Suess' birthday...if I struggle with that I don't want to try food specifically created to be hideous ya know?

 Several of the recipes I make during October are time-consuming but today I want to share a few simple and family friendly ways to add a bit of  Boo to dinner with very little extra effort. These are so easy that you can literally whip something up today. Surprised kiddos and a happy Mom. Win Win!

Sadly, I don't have pictures of every meal idea for you.  I apologize but I'm not one of the fabulous bloggers that invest tons of time into making food look just right and photographing it perfectly. Real life usually doesn't allow for that and mealtime is one of those manic areas of our life with 3 kids and the "Daddy's home!!!" rush - trying to make everything picture perfect in that time isn't realistic for us. :)  Please remember that I'm just a normal Mom with a messy house and busy family. I'll do my best to share fun things as we go along but most of our real life moments don't look like the bright and precise images you may find elsewhere out in bloggityblogland. That said, I did manage to snag a few pictures amid the mealtime chaos. 4 out of 40 isn't bad right? Yay me! :)

Simple Meals:
-Tarantula Tacos
use stand alone taco shells for your taco fixings and finish it off with a dollop of sour cream and a spooky spider made out of black olives- 1 for the body and slices cut in half for the legs.

-"Eye See You" Taco Salad
Mix up a simple taco salad. Cut tomato slices in half and use a dollop of sour cream and an olive to make eyes for your salad. My kids LOVE this one. *tip- spoon a bit of sour cream into a ziploc bag and cut the corner off one tip to pipe the sour cream onto your salad to make things easier. :)

- Mummy Personal Pizza
spread pizza sauce on english muffins and top with your choice of pizza toppings. Use 2 olive slices for eyes and cut up strips of sliced Mozzarella cheese to create a Mummy face. Once they are ready to go place them on a greased baking sheet and bake at 350° for 10 minutes. This is a great one to let kids help with, they can build their own mummy with the toppings that they like best.

-Boo-tiful Spaghetti
write "boo" in noodle for a spooky treat on top of spaghetti. You can form the word on parchment paper and bake at 350° for about 7 minutes to make it crisp and firm if you'd like but I cheated and just used a regular cooked noodle.

-Jack-O-Lantern Cheeseburgers
Cut faces into slices of cheese, place on top of hamburgers immediately after cooking and allow to melt slightly before topping with your favorite condiments.


Quick Snacks:
-Frankenstein Pudding
Mix up a few boxes of instant vanilla pudding, I recommend using 1 more box than what you'd think you need for your family. We needed two boxes for our family of five and didn't have any to spare. Tint it green with a few drops of food coloring and put pudding into clear plastic cups. Add some crushed Oreos for hair and draw fun monster faces on the outside of the cup for a yummy dessert.

-Banana Ghosts
Cut bananas in half. Stick a craft stick inside. (you can freeze them at this point to make dipping easier, I skipped this step this year and did have a few that didn't want to stay on the stick it worked for the most part though) Melt white chocolate( I like to use the Wiltons Candy Melts) and dip the banana, covering it completely. Quickly add 3 miniature chocolate chips to form eyes and a mouth on each banana. You have to be fast, the chocolate doesn't take long to harden, add the chips right after you dip each banana.

-Candy Corn Fruit Cups
Make a candy corn fruit cup by using pineapple on bottom, mandarin oranges in the middle and topping the whole thing with whipped cream. Using Reddi-Whip from a can is easier than a tub and looks fancier (speaking from experience) but both taste just great! I'm not generally a huge fan of mandarin oranges but the whipped topping compliments it well and mellows out the flavor burst a bit. You can put a candy corn on top of the whipped cream if you feel extra awesome!

Well, there you have it. Some of the easiest ways to spook up snacks and dinners. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does!

Happy Halloween!

Photolicious Halloween Mantle

I love Halloween. Not so much the super scary aspect where people try to scare you so badly that you pee your pants or all things gore-y and gross. That's not really my thing.

Kid Halloween though? That is a different story entirely. Most. Fun. Ever.

I love villains, costumes, pumpkins and treats with our children. There is nothing better. My favorite part of Halloween is decorating the house.  This year I have been beside myself with excitement that I have a mantle to decorate for the first time. SO FUN!!!!

Since moving in the spring the mantle has been a catch all location for every loose item in our home- Netflix fliers, random pieces of jewelry and hair ties, bottles of medicine, recently found pieces to toy sets waiting to be put away...

It has been a mess. Worse, an eyesore.

 At the beginning of the month I declared the mantle a crap-free zone and filled every bit of space  with decor instead. I love it! Hubs didn't at first and he wasn't pleased with the "oh no you didn't!" lecture he received when he tried to tuck a Netflix disc behind one of my pieces but he's adjusted pretty well. I hope so anyway because now that I have experienced the happiness of having a clean and visually pleasing mantle I'm not going back!

 Check it out! I LOVE IT!!!! :)

One of my favorite items is this Snow White print from the fabulous blogger over at Less Cake More Frosting. Check out this post to get the print! It's just spooky enough to be fun but since it's from a well known Disney film it's familiar to our girls and family friendly.

You can get this fun Vampires, Witches and Ghosts print here

and finally,what part of my home would be complete without pictures! This simple garland of our favorite costumes ties everything together so well. Many family "I remember that!" conversations have taken place with our kiddos over this garland. Big Sis says that it is "Photolicious"(she's slightly obsessed with the Pinkalicious books). I couldn't imagine a better way to describe it. :)

These glimpses into our family's past melt my heart. Princesses, Fairies, Witches, even Hannah Montana...every photo holds wonderful memories. That's a fabulous way to decorate for any season!

Andrew at two months

This little guy is cute. CUTE, I tell you.

Don't you agree? :)

At two months old we are just starting to settle into a routine, much to Andrew's dismay. Really I'm forcing routine upon the poor little dude. We've established schedules for the morning and nap times and I let him dictate the evening hours for me as a compromise. He's our giant, already getting snug in his 3 month clothes and still eating every two hours during the day. He is super smiley and craves constant company, preferring to sit with us over his swing or bouncer and rewarding every look in his direction with the biggest smiles and giggles. He has us all wrapped around his fingers. :)

A Family of Five!

I said that I'd actually sit down and write on this thing, if for no other reason than to document Andrew's first year. ...Oops...Andrew is nearly 3 months old already and I haven't written a single post! Forgive me. I've had a million things I've wanted to share about our growing family but getting into the swing of things has taken awhile. :) Time to get started. Better late than never, yes?

We were rather surprised last fall to find out that we were expecting our third little Hollingsworth. I'll be completely honest and share that I wasn't thrilled with the news. I really didn't want another child. We already had two fantastic little girls that were moving beyond the baby years and I felt that our home was ready for the transition into the school-aged stage of life. Because our family had reached that transitional age, I had just started back with my teaching career again and was LOVING being in a classroom after my years of solely staying home with the girls. Our oldest was starting school and it just seemed like the wrong time to add a baby to the chaos of legos, messy art supplies, and teeny tiny squinkie toys.

I fought it. I complained about the "ugh" of pregnancy, fretted about the lack of space, was certain that there wasn't enough time in a 24 hour day to give 3 children the time they deserve and maintain my sanity let alone my home, and often lamented leaving the job I loved to give my son the same stay at home mommy experience that my daughters had.

I was wrong.

Admittedly, I could be heard saying "I REALLY didn't want another baby!!!!" as I struggled to get my shoes on the week before our son arrived, and I certainly don't miss the long months of pre-baby joy known as pregnancy but I was wrong.  Andrew changed our lives, true, but for the better.

I knew it right when I held that little boy in my arms for the first time. There is nothing quite like that first moment that you get to hold your child and feel the WOW sensation of love just overwhelm every part of you. Andrew completely melts my heart and I'm so glad that God knew what we needed more than I did. I thought our family was just right before his arrival but we were truly missing out. We needed this little guy. He is a joy for each and every one of us, and he brings a whole new element of fun to our home.

I've been tracking the way he's grown each month to share. Since I'm behind I'm including his one month photoboard in this post. He's grown so much! :)

Awwww...we love you little man!!!