The Wizard of Oz

Halloween is coming! On Friday the kids are having a party at school, Saturday is our Ward Halloween party and trunk-or-treat, then Sunday we're going to take the kids to the Prime Minister's house to trick-or-treat. This is our goal for our costumes, we'll see what we end up accomplishing!

Len as the Scarecrow

Jen as the Wicked Witch

Kaleb as the Tin Man

Noe as Dorothy with Toto

Gavin as the Lion

And Teague as our Flying Monkey

Simplify

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" - Leonardo da Vinci.

Just some words that I'm pondering and thought I'd share!

Buttercream

I am not a "from scratch" girl. If I can get it from a box or a can, then I'll save myself some extra work. However, I have become infatuated with real buttercream frosting that I have given up the canned version. I still make the cupcakes from a box, but they taste extra special with homemade frosting on top!

Beat together:
4 cups Powdered Sugar
1/2 cup Butter (or Crisco, but I'd recommend butter-flavor Crisco for the real "buttercream" flavor)
5 tablespoons Milk

Now here's the fun part:
Add 1 teaspoon Vanilla
OR
2 teaspoons Almond Extract
OR
1/2 teaspoon Peppermint Extract
OR
1/2 cup melted milk chocolate chips
Plus add food coloring!

Above, the "pink" cupcakes are vanilla with almond frosting and the "blue" ones are chocolate with peppermint. Yummy!