Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween

Our dog Snoopy Halloween 2014

I can't believe its Halloween again! We have been doing the Trick or Treating thing for 27 consecutive years! YIKES! We have had just about every costume known to man. In our younger days, when we actually had energy, we would do cool stuff outside, nothing gross just fun for the kids in the neighborhood.

 Jessica & Cory 1990

 Jessica 2012

 Mitchell and Kaylee 2012

 Kati, Cory, Jessica and me 1991

Halloween 2013

As a kid, I, like most kids loved Halloween. I would go treat or treating with my two friends Holly and Shane and our moms. Let me give you a little history on those two. Shane's mom was the most creative person I have ever met. She was the mother of 7 and made all of their Halloween costumes. Holly's mom was also very creative, but her dad, well he built robots in the 70's, so you can imagine what her costumes were like.  Me, well I had the latest TV show character that i'm sure was a Kresge's blue light special. So I didn't have a chance of winning 1st place in the local churches Best Halloween costume contest! Oh well we still had fun and some of my fondest memories are from those Halloween's!

Holly, Shane and Me 1974

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!!!

Decorating For Fall

 Decorating for fall is another one of my favorite things to do this time of year. The colors are so eye pleasing and can make any space warm and inviting. I usually pull all my fall decorations out at the end of September and little by little decorate the house inside then do a little outside. This year has been warmer than usual here in Pa so it hasn't really seemed to much like fall. My favorite rooms to decorate are my family room and dining room. Hope you enjoy these pictures I'm sharing of my home decorated for fall!

Fire place on the main floor off the kitchen this will soon be changed a little for Thanksgiving.

This is my kitchen table with braided pumpkin placemats and a handmade by me trough centerpiece.

Dining room tea cart

I know its a bit dark but this is wreath I made on the door in the laundry room/mudroom.

This is the coat rack in the laundry room/mudroom dressed up for fall.

More decorating in the kitchen

The plates that hang between the kitchen and family room

One of my favorite ways to display holiday bowls and plates. Great place to put candy or cookies and appetizers.

Dining room centerpiece with the fall leaf table runner.

Dining room plates

The dining room buffet

Family room side table.

A fall wreath I made two years ago that hangs in the living room.

This is the china closet in the dining room. The burlap harvest sign was made last year by me.

Gotta love fall and all the colors and crisp air. Last year we had a very short fall with snow before Thanksgiving! Hoping to finally have it here to stay and enjoy it before deep freeze of winter!

Have a wonderful fall day!!!

Fall Sweet Fall

I love fall!  Even as a kid I remember making leaf forts, collecting as many different color and kinds of leaves as I could find. I remember smelling the fireplaces going on crisp fall weekends. We would always take a Sunday and go apple picking with the entire family.

Today we try to keep the traditions going of apple picking at a local orchard, and of course pumpkin picking. Even our older kids still love it and now we are making memories for Jaxson too!

One of my other favorite things to do in the fall is to bake lots of apple and pumpkin things. My Grandmom use to always make pumpkin bread. I can still remember  how good it would smell when I was visiting. You know its fall at our house when you smell the freshly baked pumpkin bread.Hope you enjoy this moist pumpkin bread recipe as much as our family has...

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1/2 oil
1 t vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves & salt

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients together then add the rest of ingredients. Add nuts or raisins if desired.
Bake in greased and floured pan on 350 for at least 1 hour.

ENJOY!

The Nuts and Bolts of Me

I was a child of the 70's. Yes, I was born in the late 60's but remember just about all the 70's music, which I still torture my kids with! I had two brothers and one sister who were all at least 8 years older than me.  So YES, you guessed it, I was the spoiled, got just about whatever I wanted, baby of the family, which I will never live down!

I grew up in the  northern suburbs of Baltimore. I met my husband when I was just 17 while life guarding at a local pool. He played it up that he needed help with his freestyle and of course I bit. Eighteen months later we were married and eighteen months after that had our first child. We had 4 kids in five years then one five years later and another almost six years after that.

Our lives have been full of lots of joy, love, and sometimes complete heartache! I'm hoping to be able to tell some of my adventures of being wife and mother of six ...

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Hello, It's Me

So after a long time of wanting to make a blog, I finally took the plunge. First things first, my name is Dawn and I live in Pennsylvania. I have 1 husband, 6 kids (ranging in age from 27 down to 12), 3 dogs, 1 cat, and 1 rabbit. Almost a year ago, I became a grandmother for the first time, and a week ago became a mother-in-law, also for the first time. I love to decorate my beautiful house. I previously worked for 3 years as a color consultant for a major paint store, and now I watch my adorable 11 month old grandson full-time.

If you're wondering what my blog name is about, no, it's not because I hate nutcrackers; I really do like them. It's actually a funny story about my now 17 year old daughter, Taylor. My oldest daughter, Jessica, has a blog, and she wrote the entire story out last year, so click here to read all about it.

If you don't feel like clicking and reading the story, here it is in a nutshell: I took 4 year old Taylor to see the Nutcracker at a local college and she yelled the whole time "This is not nutcrackin'!" She apparently thought the play was going to be about people sitting on stage cracking nuts, and was not pleased to find out it was actually about Clara and the sugar plum fairies. My family and I now use that saying, "this is not nutcrackin'," whenever something is not as we expected it to be, as is my life!

So follow along to hear funny stories about my family, get decorating tips, and occasionally obtain some secret family recipes!!