Halloween Dinner Success

Here are the pictures from the dinner I said I wanted to do for Halloween. For just my husband and me I'd say it was pretty cute!

Brains and Bones

Blood

Dirt and Worms

For those that have never made dirt and worms before it's SO easy. Here's what you need:

 Oreos, some sort of rectangular shaped cookie (optional), gummy worms, pudding (I recommend instant), and an icing tube (optional).

 I broke the Oreos into fourths before chopping them so it would go a little faster.

 Then I crushed them to make the dirt.

 While the pudding was setting up in the fridge I made the headstones.

The finished product. I did a layer of Oreos on bottom, filled the cup with pudding, a layer of Oreos on top, a gummy worm chillin' in the dirt, and a headstone. Super easy and SO yummy. Some friends got together for a Halloween party for our little ones so this was the treat I took. I think they turned out cute!

You can also stir the Oreos into the pudding instead of layering it like I did.

PS. If you don't use the headstone then these are cute any time of year. Earth Day would be a good one! Or use the headstone and have them on Memorial Day. Okay... maybe that'd be weird.

How did you celebrate Halloween? Did you do something fun for dinner?

Haunted Halloween Dinner

I'm excited for Halloween and thought I would share my dinner idea with you in case you want to do it too. I don't have any pictures since I haven't done the dinner yet, but I'll share them next week after Halloween.

We're going to have brains (to feed our inner zombie), bones (to feed our inner warewolf) and blood (to feed our inner vampire) for dinner.

Brains: Spaghetti
Bones: Breadsticks
Blood: Red punch

Then for dessert we're going to have dirt and worms from the grave site where the body was dug up!

Dessert: Chocolate Pudding with Oreo cookie crumbs and gummy worms

I wanted to surprise my husband, but I was too excited to keep it a secret so I told him and he thinks it's pretty clever. I think it'll make for a fun little dinner date!

Are you planning a fun meal for Halloween? Please tell us so we can do it too!

When Cooking Loses it's Appeal

I'm in a cooking funk. I feel like I make the same things on repeat every week. Part of the problem is because I hate following recipes. I'd just rather already know how to do it! My go-to meals seem to be:

• Chicken Enchiladas
• Beef Enchiladas
• Chick Chimies (Recipe to come!)
• Beef Stew
• Chicken and Rice
• Pot Roast
• Tacos (chicken or beef)
• and I'm sure a few others that aren't coming to mind

Help me out of my funk. What are some meals you make often because they're easy and you don't need to follow a recipe? If you have a recipe you want to share we'd love to feature it as a post!

Kids Bake 'Em Cookies

I love this recipe because it only has 7 ingredients and not one of them is an egg which means it's safe to eat uncooked!!! Plus, according to the title, they're easy for kids to make. It's a win-win!

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup honey
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 cup)

Yield about 2 dozen

• Preheat oven to 300*F.
• In a small bowl combine flour, soda, and salt. Mix well with a wire whisk and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, blend butter, sugar, and honey with an electric mixer at a medium speed. Beat until light and soft, then scrape sides of bowl.
• Add the flour mixture and chocolate chips, and blend at low speed just until combined. Do not over mix.
• Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet, 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately transfer cookies with a spatula to a cool, flat surface.



After it's all blended together I like to stir in the chocolate chips with a spoon so they don't get mixed up in the beaters.



I set a bunch on wax paper and stuck them in the freezer. Don't mind my crooked lines!



Once they were frozen I put a dozen in each bag so they're easy to bake later.




Tada!

 The recipe doesn't make a ton so I always double it. I like to make extra to keep in the freezer.

Baking Tip: If my butter is too soft when I mix them up I stick the dough in the fridge to let it set back up before baking them. I've learned the softer the butter, the flatter the cookies. This is just from my experience. I don't know if there's any truth behind it. Maybe some of you Bakers out there might know more about it.

Give Praise or Compliments

I'm studying Human Development in school and I thought this little reading was worth sharing. I especially found the bit about potty training interesting. I love what I'm studying because it's helping me become a better mom so I thought I'd pass along these helpful tips. Don't be surprised if you see more blurbs like this from time to time. Unless of course you don't like them. Let me know if you find them helpful or worth while!

Everyone responds to genuine praise. "When others reassure us that we are appreciated, worthwhile, liked, capable, and accomplished, our self-esteem increases. When we make mistakes however, we may feel guilty about not having lived up to our own or others' expectations. Dwelling on our mistakes can make us feel like failures; the resulting lowered self-image can foster tension and confusion and such behaviors are clumsiness, aggression, and withdrawal. Dwelling on children's accomplishments, no matter how small, and giving them recognition and approval affirms their worthiness and potential. It helps them develop serenity in their attitude toward living up to parents' expectations for them. Children who are constantly criticized begin feeling that they may as well give up trying, that they have no hope of achieving success and praise". Empty praise should be avoided, as it is not helpful. Cherry suggests the following considerations when giving praise:

• Praise should be sincere. Don't say how beautiful something is if you hate it. Rather pick our a part that you can comment on sincerely like, "those colors go well together."
• Don't be gushy with your praise. Keep it simple like, "I am proud of how well you performed your piano piece
• Keep praise meaningful by not overusing it. If praise is repeated too often it may lose its value. "Concentrate on new behavior that shows steps in growth, development, or learning".
• "Praise should not be confused with flattery. Praise should be something you give to someone; flattery is something you use to trick or coax something out of someone".
• Praising effort not necessarily innate abilities gives children encouragement for future attempts. For example, rather than saying how smarty your child is tell them how well they did sticking to a task and figuring it out.
• "Praise should be given for what children do. 'It was very helpful to me that you behaved so nicely in the market' is preferable to 'you've been my best boy today'". We often make these "best boy" comments without thinking about them. I had a friend who would tell her child, "good girl" whenever she used her potty when she was potty training. What message do you think this could send when she had accidents? Also, attributing her entire self-worth (whether she is "good" or not) to potty training cannot be helpful to her overall development of self.

Some children are hard to praise. Often parents and teachers interactions with these children are focused on the child's negative behavior and much of their time is spent in conflict. You should not resort to empty praise in these situations rather, praise and attend to positive bits of behavior. "Be sure you give praise when they do even the slightest things in a positive manner so that you can accustom them to the idea that your expectations are positive and within their reach".

Show Your Appreciation - Revised

It's important to me to tell my husband I appreciate the things he does for me. I want him to know I notice the little things he does because there's a part of me that likes to think he'll keep doing it! And there are certain things that I expect my husband to do, like open the door for me or put the babe in the car when we're going somewhere and it's easy to overlook those things and not say thank you.

In order to make sure he knows I appreciate him I try to say thank you in different ways and not always just verbally which can sometimes seem meaningless. Recently I sent him an email telling him how much I appreciated something that he did for me and that what he did really made me feel like he cared about me. I mean, obviously he cares about me, but it's nice to be reminded sometimes. The reason I emailed him was because he had a conversation with me that I really appreciated and I wanted him to know that I was grateful he brought the topic up. I didn't want it to go unnoticed that what he did meant a lot to me and I felt an email would have been more heartfelt than a simple thank you.

Not everyone is on the texting bandwagon, but it's a great form of communication for the two of us. It allows us to talk while he's at work or school and carry conversation we wouldn't otherwise have if our only option was to talk on the phone or wait until we're in the same room. I tend to say thank you in texts often!

Occasionally I've given him a card, but it's not something I think he truly appreciates, so I don't do it often.

The biggest one and probably the easiest one for me is to thank him through prayer. When we pray together he can know I'm truly appreciative of him through the things that I say. I want him to know that I'm thankful he's a student and provides for our family, that he holds the priesthood and has a testimony, and that I think he's an amazing dad and I love watching him play with our child. Prayer is an easy way for me to let my husband know I appreciate the things he does for me and my family.

Revision:
It's been brought to my attention that I should clarify what I mean by this post. My husband and I say thank you plenty and for most everything. These are just things I do to go above and beyond verbally thanking him so that he knows it means more to me than just in the moment that it happens. For example when he takes the initiative to clean the kitchen because he sees that I'm having a hard time catching back up, I thank him right then, but I also try to bring it up again later by saying something like, "It's such a relief that the kitchen is clean so I can focus on something else, thank you so much for doing that" so that he knows it really did mean a lot to me. And I can thank him for things other than acts of service, like being a worthy priesthood holder. I hope that clears things up and nobody thinks that we use these other options as our only way of saying thank you! :)

What are ways you show your appreciation to your husband?

Planning Ahead

When I was newly married, I often felt like I fell in the category of Horrible Housewife. You know, the kind that can never seem to keep up with the housework, and have dinner on the table by the time the husband comes home. In fact, I'm pretty sure I can count on one hand how many times I made a home cooked meal in that first year, which I find surprising seeing as how I love to cook. Why, you ask did I not cook? Answer: My husband thought It would be cheaper to eat out every night, so we did, except for family dinners with the In-laws on Sunday. It has taken almost 3 years, but I think I have finally proven that it is cheaper to eat at home versus eating fast food every night. (not to mention sooo much better for my waist line!) Being a stay-at-home-mom I feel it's part of my job to have dinner ready at night. Here's how I do it.

I make a weekly list, every day Monday-Sunday I write down what I plan to make for dinner that week. Sometimes I get brave and make a list for two weeks! Here is this week's list: (We can only eat chicken, my husband has a nasty case of gout and most meats (red, and most white, and fish) cause him to have an out break. Therefore I apologize in advance that most of my recipes will be gout friendly.)

Monday- Cream Cheese Chicken and Noodles
Tuesday- Chicken Fajitas
Wednesday- Taco Salad
Thursday- Chicken and Broccoli over Rice
Friday - Date Night (but just in case we can't find a sitter, Hawaiian Haystacks)
Saturday - Roasted Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and a Veggie
Sunday- Baked Chicken Chimis

See, I really wasn't kidding about my whole week being mainly chicken recipes. You learn to love it. But my reason for sharing this is because it helps so much to be organized and have a list when you go grocery shopping. I am famous for shopping when I'm hungry and filling my cart with junk, and not enough items for dinner. Planning ahead also cuts my spending by almost half. By making this list I can check my pantry and know what I have already and what I need. Instead of showing up at the grocery store and realizing I can't remember if I have this or not! It is completely worth it. Dont believe me, try it for a week... I dare you! Happy Planning!

For those that already do this, what are some things that you've found work really well for you or are different from what I've talked about?

Mini Golf Date

This wasn't actually a date, but it's a good date idea. The nice thing about miniature golf is it's fairly inexpensive. Cherry Hill charges $6 a person for 18 holes. Not too shabby!

Even the kidlets got to come! If you don't want to get a babysitter, bring them along. The babe slept the whole time and the pup watched with hopes he would get a turn.

And for good measure...YUM!!!

Club Meeting #2

We will be holding our club meetings the first part of every month; not that it really matters because you don't need to be in attendance! What's the purpose of a club meeting you ask? Our meetings are a chance for you to tell us what you would like to see from this blog. Open up and share your opinions. We hold these meetings so your voices can be heard! It's also a way for us to bring our focus back to the center and talk about what we've learned, what we've tried and applied, and most importantly, how we've strengthened our marriage! After all, we call ourselves the Better Wives Club, therefore we should do things that make us better wives today than we were yesterday!

Leave Your Comments:

~Did you try any of the recipes or crafts?
     -Which ones?
     -How did they turn out?
     -Are they something you'll do again?

~Did you do something this month to strengthen your marriage?
     -Any tips?
     -Did he notice?

~How did the weekly health challenges work for you?

~What's something you and your spouse do together that you really love?

~Any ideas for the rest of us of something we can try to strengthen our own marriages?

Halloween Decor

I stole this fun idea from my older sister. (Hers looked a lot better.)

This project cost me all of $11 and I bought every single piece that you see to make the display. All but one item came from the local dollar store.

1 Black Plastic Table Cloth: $1 (Or you could use a black garbage bag if you have one, just hide the draw strings)
1 Spider webbing: $1 (and I only used half of it to do everything on the lighting fixture and what covers the centerpiece.
1 Large Spider: $1
3 Skull cups: $1 each
3 Red Candles: 3 for $1
2 Bags of Flat Marbles: $1 each (The dollar store didn't have them in black or clear so I just bought what they had and spray painted them black. I checked the local craft store and they were $1.50 a bag so if you don't want to go to the hassle of spray painting it'll cost you an extra dollar. Or if you don't have spray paint it'll save you about $2)
1 Bag Plastic Confetti Spiders: $0.99 at Hobby Lobby

The Plastic Confetti Spiders were my favorite part of putting this together. At first I was strategically placing them, but then I started chucking them like Ninja throwing stars and they would stick right in the web. It was kind of fun!