pumpkin decorating, jack-o-jars

After school yesterday I took the kids to the store to get some pumpkins to decorate, as promised. We spent about an hour drilling, decorating and cleaning up. The kids said they missed the pumpkin goop and seeds from pumpkin carving, which we didn't do this year, but like the looks of the decorated pumpkin and that we took a few minutes to clean it up.

Collin did the Frankenstein (but without the hair - he didn't like the hair) and Jack pumpkins.



Allie did the Clown (below) and the Alien pumpkins.

Maddie was just curious about all the parts that went into the pumpkins. Like the big monster eyes of the Alien pumpkin.


I think they turned out pretty cute! After pumpkin decorating, the kids helped me clean and get ready for Mutual at 7 p.m. We rushed out the door at 5 p.m. to get Collin to soccer practice then back home in time for Mutual. The girls did these fun Jack-o-Jars that I found online, and so totally want to make a family of them for next year! Easy craft for the girls. They loved it!



So that's Wednesday for ya. We didn't get Collin's room cleaned up, but we got to decorate pumpkins. :)

23 months

miss maddie is 23 months old today. I can't believe she'll be two in just a month! She loves being outside so much. She will run outside every chance she can get. Today, when Collin asked if he could ride his scooter out front, she hurried off to find her "sheeyoos" and followed her brother to the garage. Then I heard her giggle and laugh. I love her little voice! This little girl has a very cute pout, and a little face we can't ever get mad at. Even if she is on our countertops a million and one times.

There are so many little things I forget to write down, so here are a few that I remember:

-- She folds her arms and closes her eyes when we pray,
-- She loves to talk (too many words to list!) but some of my favorites are: "thank you", "please", "cheese" (you can see why this made the list), "brush teeth", "love you dad/mom".
-- One day I sneezed, and out of the blue, she blurts out "Bless you, Mom!"
-- She loves to sing songs (sometimes about shoes, most the time it's ABCs)
-- After she drinks water, she dumps what's left on the floor. But she will find a rag, and says "clean floor mom" or "mop mom". Yeah, they're never too young to learn. :)
-- She'll come bring you a diaper when she wants changed (the kid is ready to potty-train! i seriously need to get on board the potty-training ship). She calls her diapers "poppers".
-- She can find correct pairs of shoes in a big pile, but her thing for "sheeyos" means our shoes never stay organized for very long.
-- I say "let's do your hair" and she runs in my bathroom and will sit still for me while I do her hair.
-- Right now she just brought me a cup and wants "water". I ask her "more water?" she says "mm.hmm." She sounds so grown up.
-- True to Maddie fashion, she just came back and told me "spill". She dumped water on the floor again!
--She's sitting in a push toy and says to me "push this". I ask her "did you clean the water up?" she says "okay". Cuteness.

We are so lucky to have been given her. I love being her mom.

it was just one of those days

Yesterday was one of those days when things were hectic and I was about to lose my brain! :)
It was:

the kids' picture day at school, but one certain girl didn't set her uniform out the night before, had to dig for the uniform in a big pile of clothes hidden in her closet. then she FORGOT where her backpack was a few minutes before she was supposed to leave.

the last day to stock up cheap at Fry's. took me all but an hour, and I was happy with my loot. things are finally back in order, or so I thought.

preschool day went without a hitch. Maddie even went to nap with 10 minutes to spare before the kids arrived at my house.

piano and music lessons after school. piano ran over time, and collin was late to music class.

I find the two kids' rooms torn upside down, asked them to clean it up. allie got the big pile out of the closet and suddenly it is too much to clean herself. she decides to "help collin clean" his room first, and they both decided making little paper dolls and little paper houses was a lot funner.

the school gets messy (because of the little paper art activity), and I didn't realize they hadn't done a thing until I knocked on their door and asked if they were done. they said "pretty close" only to reveal an even messier room than I had seen before. Because now they did some REORGANIZATION and decided to take Collin's black shelf with toys IN baskets to Allie's room for her use. Hah!

maddie is in time out five times (at least) for climbing up the bar stools and walking on the countertops. If not the barstools, she pushed a chair up to the countertops and got up there too. I find her on the countertops with cups and spoons, a tea set and some other things she wasn't supposed to get out.

i'm about to lose my wits and I haven't made dinner. I have this certain thing that happens to my brain - if I haven't figured it out by 5 I probably can't think of anything to make!

so thankfully Kevin came to my rescue and HELPS me out by running to the grocery store to get the halloween treats and paper goods for my preschool halloween party today, and picks up Someburros on the way home. I'll miss him for 2 days while he's in SLC for a lawyer thing.

in between some of these things above, and yes, while I am on the phone, Collin tells me he hits his head and "heart" on the wall and makes two big ice packs to make it all better. Then later the said ice packs burst open and there is a big puddle in my long hallway. maddie and collin decide it was a cool slip-n-slide. So water is everywhere, they are both soaking wet, and they all try to help clean it up. at least now the whole floor has been mopped!

then there's allie's big pile still that I help her put away. we finally get it done at 9:00. I find they had also gotten in a bathroom and moved all our supply of toiletries around and left a WET something on the bottom shelf, and the shelf is damaged (water has seeped in and caused it to warp/bubble, whatever you call it).

it is also time for me to tie up all the loose ends downstairs, i.e., the kitchen *leaving the guest room and laundry for another day* and realized that today was the last day we could have all gone to get our pumpkins and decorate/carve them. oops.

I climb into bed at 10:30 and thought "What a day!" I also ask a half-asleep Kevin if I had been mean. because I wasn't ideally calm and collected like him. Just as fast as it got hectic today, the house was finally quiet and I went to check on the littles - who were sound asleep. I love those stinkers.

so, there you go. one of those days in my house. it happens. thankfully not all the time.

today will be a good day. our agenda is to get mr. collin's room cleaned up, and then pick up some pumpkins to decorate!

great grocery trip!

I went to Fry's today and got such a great deal, I thought I'd post something about it (for my notes really). I spent just under $75 and saved $125, which represented 63% savings. I used a total of $45 in clipped coupons, and the rest of the savings were VIP card savings.

I got 60 items for $75 or $1.25 per item, which included:

12 pkg Kroger Shredded Cheese (WP $2.12 each)
11 boxes Chex Mix Bars, Nature Valley and Fiber One Bars (WP $2.50 each)
10 jars/cans spaghetti sauce (WP $2 each)
8 rolls Bounty Paper Towels (WP $9)
6 lbs 93% lean ground beef (Costco Price - $2 - Walmart is more, but let's just say $2)
6 Yoplait yogurt (WP 50 cents)
5 packages Nature's Valley granola nut clusters (WP $2.50 each)
4 12-pack cans Sprite and Sprite Zero (WP $3+ each)
2 4-pack Dole fruit cups (WP $1.80 each)
2 boxes Cheeze-It (WP ($2.50 each)
2 6-pack Pediasure (WP $10 each)
2 gals milk (4%) (WP $2.40 each)
1 pkg Dixie Plates (45 pc) (WP $2.50)
1 Herbal Essences Hairspray (this one I could have skipped but I had a coupon expiring on Sat, and it cost less than the Walmart price with the coupon - WP $2.94)

Compare that to the Walmart price of $160 pretax. I seriously can't do it without clipping the coupons!

where's fall?

Fall is our favorite season of all, and we are missing


the reds,
oranges,
yellows,
dressing in layers,
fresh-picked buckets of apples,
big piles of leaves in our yard,
and crisp fall air

in Utah.

Fall in AZ doesn't feel like fall, it feels more like cool summer. You wouldn't be able to tell it's fall here, except maybe that grass gets overseeded with winter grass. Then you know the fall has come. The halloween decorations are out, and fall colors are out in the window shops. Last year around January/February we saw leaves actually turn colors here, and decided we have fall here, only it's 4 months behind. Then we skip winter and spring altogether, and go right into summer again (hey it might be cool to have some trees that turn colors and shed in our backyard).

The nights are much cooler. Kevin leaves our windows open at night to let the nice cool breeze in the house, and I wake up not wanting to leave our bed.

So what to do in the fall here? Yesterday we went to the farm. Of course I lugged my camera to capture the memories, the smiles on the faces of the kids.

We explored a corn maze, which the kids loved! Here is Collin and Maddie walking out of the corn maze.

We ate kettle corn (it was so good! I should have gotten a big bag to take home!), Allie and Collin enjoyed a bubble gum and vanilla snowie (who knew the combo was actually good?) - they couldn't decide on one flavor;

Kevin and the kids took a ride in a barrel train,
They had fun milking this fake cow.

No pumpkin patch but so much fun nonetheless. Worth our time with the kids there, I think. I know Maddie had fun. She just wanted to explore the corn maze by herself.

Maddie's face is priceless as Kev tossed her up in the air while we were in the corn maze.

I can't forget that.
She's learned to ham it up for the camera and says "Cheese" with a big toothy smile. Here she is saying Cheese!


I love this one of her!

I also want to remember Collin's smirky smiles - yup, he's in that stage where he has to ask me how to smile, if he's smiling alright.
Right before we left, Collin asked if he could ride the pedal cars. Of course! We couldn't leave without doing that, I said. You should have seen the excitement on his face as he pedaled the big pedal car around the little dirt track. His legs were just a tad short but he pedaled away and didn't bump into any other cars. Then he carefully "parked" the car on the side when he was done. He told me today that these work better than our KettCar - he said "it works in the dirt".
Allie's easy, she smiles and poses for the camera, thankfully over the awkward "am I smiling right" stage. She found this really colorful spider-looking bug on a corn leaf, and wanted me to take a picture of it.
After the farm Kevin and Chad went home to watch the BYU-TCU game while us girls went to pick up InNOut for dinner. It was lots of fun to spend time with Megan, Chad, Parker and Grandma Lorraine. Thanks for coming! Oh the benefits of living close to family.
I couldn't leave without taking a family photo or two. Evidence I was there.


Other fall happenings:

Flu shots on Friday. The kids got to pick treats after. No one cried.

Bake halloween sugar cookies.

Not sure how I got the flour off everything. All 3 of them, especially Maddie was covered in flour. We still have cookies left over, I think they had more fun rolling and cutting, and eating the dough!

Shop for halloween things. Maddie is in love with a certain light-up LED ghost. She lugs it around and wants it in her bed with her at night. I should go back and get another.

Another soccer game for Collin on Saturday morning. No pictures this time, but I wish I had taken a picture of him actually getting to kick the ball harder than he's ever kicked before, without anybody taking it away from him before he could kick it.

I can't wait for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas to come. Even though we don't get the fall here, this time of year is full of tradition for our family - starting with this weekend's Halloween festivities, Thanksgiving countdown, Maddie's birthday, shopping for Christmas presents, our 24 days of Christmas activities, the return of Timmy Doodle the elf, Christmas movies, getting the tree up after Thanksgiving dinner, wrapping presents, etc.

I love this time of year. Even without the fall colors.

a new thanksgiving tradition

So I've been wanting to buy one of these thankful calendars for a while now! Last year my sister-in-law Kristie expressed the same, and wanted to do one of these. So last week I remembered and Kristie and Megan got on board to do it with me. On Monday we went shopping for the materials and then Tuesday met at my house to start this cool project. The one on Pottery Barn costs $69 + shipping (let's say $75), and we are able to make 3 of these for under $15 each. So we were pretty happy about that part!

The only thing about this is that it requires a lot of time and sweat (and blood :)). The kids better be THANKFUL for this new tradition. And our husbands too. I am making sure they are thankful for something EVERY DAY of November. Just kidding. But that seriously is the point of the calendar. Every day starting November 1st, we get to think about what we are grateful for and write that on a card (currently designing one!) to slip in the day's pocket. Megan had a good idea to include treats too. So you could really do whatever suits your fancy.

Last night I stayed up til almost 3 a.m. finishing up the numbers and all the other tiny details. After I saw the mess I had made from cutting, I didn't want to deal with it again today. You know, get the stuff out and cut small stuff while Miss Maddie rummages thru them and take them all over the house. Yah, I know, that picture is 100 times messy. So I couldn't stop until I finished the last of it.

And I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. So cheers to a new tradition that starts in two
weeks.

Left: the original PBK calendar; Right: my version.

car wash

A few days ago, I was cleaning my kitchen when I realized it was much quieter than usual. I called out every one's names and every one answered except for little Madsterpie. I heard swishing water, and I found this in the guest bath (it's way wetter and messier than it looks):

Miss Maddie had taken the new roll of toilet paper, unrolled half of it in the trash can and half of it all wadded up. I asked her what happened? And her toilet-water soaked self said, "wash". And boy was it all over. She had wet TP on her toes, the shower doors, the toilet, the car, the floor. Seriously? a car wash. I almost cleaned it up right away, but I had the sense to grab my camera, and document this car wash experience. and laugh about it. I did however forget to take a picture of the toilet-water soaked little girl.

This little angel (who looks like this when sleeping) can come up with some fun, elaborate, and messy activities when awake and when her mom isn't watching.

random stuff

On the way home from Megan's (where we had dinner tonight), Kevin and I asked Allie if Maddie was sleeping in her bed again tonight. Note: Two days ago, I found all three of them in Allie's twin-sized bed, soundly asleep. Think of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory scene with the two sets of grandparents sharing one bed. So, hence, the question. These kids are known to "sleep over" in each other's rooms or ours often.

allie: nope. she's sleeping in her crib. if I had a bed as big as Collin's maybe so, or if she and I both had our own pillows, yes, but when she's on my bed, I fall off on the other side, coz she sleeps diagonal like this.
collin: well maddie can sleep in my bed. allie you can sleep in my bed, too.
allie: nah. that would mean I have to carry all my pillows to your room.
collin: i'll do it for you so you don't have to.
allie: ummm, well i have my blanket and stuffed animals to bring over.
collin: i'll do that for you too. (but allie's not listening, so he says it louder). allie, I said I could do that for you.

I guess that wasn't too tempting for Miss Allie since she hurried on upstairs and quietly went to bed without telling her brother. Collin ended up reading three books on his own, and sneaked back into our room with The Lorax in his hand for me to read to him. It's his favorite story!

** tomorrow I am canning more peaches (we have used 6 quarts of it already!), setting up some more landscape bids, and shopping for materials for a Thanksgiving calendar, like the one seen here.

time out for me

This week has been nice and I got a lot of things done with the kids and in the house. On Monday we celebrated Collin's bday, on Tuesday my mother-in-law and I hosted a Norwex Cleaning Party, on Wednesday I worked on getting bids on our backyard (finally! yea!).

On Thursday Mindy and I canned pears - 40 pints! That went really well and was alot cleaner and faster than the peaches. The kids were great, thanks to the movie Monsters vs. Aliens. They all probably watched it 2 times while we were canning.

So it really has been a nice week for me. I have enjoyed the kids being home from school and actually have the time to sit down and enjoy some time without wondering what I was supposed to be doing next. I love not having a schedule to stick to - sort of, since I still pretty much had one, not just a tight one. Whew!

To top off my nice week, a few of us friends went up to Time Out for Women on Friday night and all day today. I didn't have a camera handy to document that I was indeed there, but hey, at least I can write a few thoughts down so I can remember. What an uplifting weekend - I really left refreshed, recharged, and want to be a better wife, mother and friend. There are so many things I could be doing better, and I truly want to do better. I already knew that I was grateful to have the kind of family that I have, but after being there, I realized (even more so!) that I have a good husband and incredible kids. We all hope to go again next year. It really was a great time out for me.

I got a sweet note...

from my dear boy. It says:

To: moM
frum: COLLIN

the other side says:

I LOVe
YOU
SO mMUCH
Thas wy
I gav
you THiS

It's a drawing of a really big semi truck with red and pink tulips.

I love being a mom.

Happy Birthday Collin!

My sweet boy turns 6 today! Wow, how time flies. Kevin and I both kept telling him how much he's gotten older. He disagreed. We're both (again!) a little sad to see him get older and not be little anymore. Ahh! Here is a brief walk down memory lane.

Born at 6:05 a.m. MDT, 7 lbs. 13 oz and 21 inches long. I loved Collin's birth - it was short, sweet, and I loved that I was able to take the moment in.

Here he is at 1 year. In love with his blanket and pacifier.
I love that he has dimples just like Kevin.

At 2, Collin loved playing with trains and duplos. The duplos got lots of use. He followed Kevin around the yard with his toy mower.

On his 3rd birthday. This was the year Collin started home preschool with me. I love teaching this kid!

Here he is at 4. He was so excited to see this Spongebob cake done.

Just after breakfast on his 5th birthday. He is wearing his signature smirky smile. Did more preschool with me.

Now he's 6. Here he is with his "Patrick" cake. So excited to blow out his candles. Just before dinner he asked that I do his hair so it can look good for his candle-blowing. Too funny.

All About Collin:

He is always so sweet and does nice things for his sisters. He loves Maddie and Allie so very much. He always asks to get Maddie out, either first thing in the a.m. or after a nap.
He gives lots of compliments. "You look pretty Mom/Allie" can usually be heard, just because.
He builds very detailed Lego models. He has an amazing talent for this kind of stuff.
He draws very detailed models as well.
He still comes to preschool after he gets home from kindergarten. He loves being in our schoolroom.
He likes to talk with me and Allie about random things.
He doesn't like eating alone.
He can burp his ABC's. What can I say? He likes burping.
He is quick to forgive.
He is obedient.
He has a big heart.
He likes to help out at home -
vacuuming, mopping, dusting, and any other "go get Mom the..." requests from me.
He loves soccer.
He loves helping his Dad mow. That is, with a toy mower. Pretty soon he'll be big enough for a real one.
He loves going on football trips with his Dad. Always brings extra undies, just in case. Another Collin classic.

Happy Birthday, Collin! We love you!

* Update: On Monday (his official bday), Collin chose to eat at Pei Wei's for lunch. Grandma Lorraine came and ate lunch with us. Kevin came home early so we could all go to dinner together. We went to watch Collin at soccer practice. It was entertaining as usual! And then on our way home we stopped at Someburros (Collin's choice) to eat dinner. Collin wanted to ride his new bike so badly so when we got home, we sat out front for a while and watched Collin try his new bike out. He was so excited! He's been out on his bike every morning and night since.

Collin's Pre-birthday

Blowing out his candles!

Admiring his cake.

This is a funny shot of Collin and Jace blowing out Collin's candles.

Tomorrow is Collin's 6th birthday. Since tomorrow is a busy day for us with soccer practice and dance for Allie, and because Collin wanted his cousins there when he blew out his candles (tomorrow is a school day for them), we decided to do the birthday cake routine tonight.

I was thinking cupcakes (I wanted to use the cool cupcake tray I got recently), but late yesterday afternoon, Collin told me he wanted a birthday cake shaped like Patrick (from SpongeBob! Two years ago, he picked Spongebob.). Funny thing is that he doesn't hardly watch the show! Allie did ask him why Patrick? and he said he thinks it's funny that he burps when he drinks soda. Patrick I guess just makes him laugh.

So today Allie baked the cake and I frosted. I'm glad Patrick wasn't too complicated. It wasn't the best decorating job but Collin loved it, so I guess that's all that matters. :) So everyone came tonight and Pops made the best ribs. We sang happy birthday to Jace and Collin and then they opened some presents. Then we visited til it was time to go home. Thanks for the wonderful dinner and company, everybody!

Conference Day 2

I love getting good counsel and great ideas from conference. Today, there were two ideas that stuck out and we want to try it in our family. These two ideas really go hand-in-hand and is service-centered. Pres. Monson's talk this morning was so inspiring. I personally liked that he shared ideas on how to foster that love of service in our family. What a great example of service that he is!

New Traditions

When Pres. Monson mentioned receiving a jar full of warm fuzzies, Allie thought it would be cool to start a "warm fuzzies" jar for our family. We all agreed to that. So I need a whole bunch of fuzzies and a nice glass jar to put our fuzzies in.

The other idea just goes perfectly well -- it is to ask each other and our kids every day about "something nice we/they did for someone" that day. I think at dinnertime will be perfect.

My Canning Days

I've canned quite a few things this year, and haven't blogged about them! I kept waiting to take photos of the jars, but never got to it. Maybe I'll take a photo of the peaches before I put them away. Yeah, it's been a week and it's still sitting on my countertop. And dwindling in numbers (Kevin loves them out of the jar, so much,that we have already opened 6 quarts since I canned them, made peach cobbler out of them, etc).

Again, for my memory's sake: So far this year, my friend and canning buddy Mindy and I have canned over 100 pints of chicken, ground beef, sausage, beans, 56 quarts of apple pie filling, 112 pints of potatoes, and our latest is 90+ pounds of peaches. Last Friday we canned the peaches. It was our FIRST time canning peaches, I was pretty impressed that we only had 2 non-sealing pints altogether, and we had it going pretty smoothly and organized well that we were done in time for dinner and swimming. I did the pitting and taking off the skin, and Mindy manned the syrup and the jars.

Mindy and I are thinking we need to can MORE fruit. So next on our list (MAYBE, depending on, if we feel like it) are pears. We think if we use an apple peeler/corer to do the dirty work, it'll be easier than peaches (the apples were messy, so the peaches were easy, relatively speaking). There you have it. I learned so much about canning this year! Lots of great conversation and fun with a friend. And a growing food storage to boot.

Conference Day 1

It felt good to watch conference with the family today. Last night the kids helped me put together a poster board game to use for conference. I happened to be on a friend's blog (thanks April!) and saw that she had made this awesome board to play during conference. I LOVE to copy good things! It was a little different from the old conference books I put together for the kids every conference. So I gave them some variety this year. They were so excited to have a new game to play. And I was excited that they were looking forward to a tradition that hopefully has stuck with them.

I got small steno books (one each for all of us that could write), a sketch pad for Allie and Collin and made this conference chase board. Allie and Collin stayed up with me to cut out the pictures and glue them on the board. The result: not perfect but perfectly cool. They both liked the visual, and being able to move their little game piece on the board until they got to the Savior's picture. Then they got a prize. Ours were boxes of theater candy. Hey, whatever works!

Here's how to play:
You will need a game piece for each player. Line the game pieces up on the left side of the board and as you listen to conference listen for the words represented by each picture. When you hear that word, advance your piece to that game space--one space at a time. You may not skip over spaces! You can move vertically, horizontally or diagonally. The winner is the person who reaches the largest picture, or "Win Space" at the right side of the board first.

The first session was great they all took copious notes on that one. I like Collin's condensed version: "sperit" "profit" "hoole gowst" "ubedience" and other things that made me smile. He told me he noticed all those talks had at least 4 spirit and Jesus words in them. All of them. Yeah, he was listening. Allie remembered Elder Bednar's talk on expressing love, bearing testimony and being consistent. So did Kevin and I.

So the kids ate their winnings and built a fort in the theater room right before it was over. For the p.m. session Maddie napped, and we watched conference upstairs.

Extra Notes for today (for me mostly):

Maddie gobbled up a bunch of sweet tarts during conference. She likes her bed all cushy and soft. She went right to sleep when I put her down for a nap!

Kevin and Allie do NOT like candy corn kisses. Collin and I do.

Collin missed his soccer game in favor of conference. I missed a shower. Collin told me he was glad I was home to watch conference with him. I love that boy! He also told me his favorite holidays were first, Christmas, then Easter. He also asked me if he was nice this week would he get the "NICE" award to stick on his door?

Family awards given out this last week were: Neat As a Pin - Collin for keeping his room neat the last two weeks. He got so into it that he took his legos to our bedroom because he didn't want to mess his up. Allie snatched the "Sweet Heart" award - for writing us lots of little love notes the last month.