School Costume Parade

I almost forgot about the costume parade this year. I definitely forgot about there being any kind of parties in the class rooms. Not one letter was sent home or anything. Luckily I had a few things I could send with the boys. Mrs. Harmon doesn't really like messy food in her class anyway, so I sent pencils for the kids. She dressed up as Rainbow Bright. Non of the kids knew who she was (sad). The little girl who is next to him is his cute little friend Isabella. She has a bug collection and that is RIGHT up Spencer's alley.

Nathan was the "COOL" one is his room. He came up with his spy costume all on his own this year. I had to direct him a little because he wanted to wear camo shorts. It turned out well, I think.

Jared walked around with Spencer. He was so happy to be a part of it.

Nathan's friends in his class...and did you see who else was there. Yeah, scary wolf man costume that scared Jared out of his witts last week. Luckily he wanted to find this kid the whole time and wasn't very scared.

Levi wanted to climb up the slide the wrong way the whole morning and screamed when it was time to leave.

Ward Halloween Party

It was a chilly night for the Halloween party this year. Spencer's hands were like little ice cubes and Jared wanted Grandpa's jacket all night. We ran out of hot dogs at around 7:30 because we had so many people visiting. This year it was out on the ball field and it made it SO much safer and less worried from a mom point of view. Levi had the cutest personality all night. He was running and running and falling on purpose (the grass made it nice for that). Margret and Gloria are down from Canada so they were able to be there. It was a great night.

There was a flash mob.

Face Painting

Fishing

Candy eating.

There was so much candy Brandon just started throwing it up in the air like a continuous pinata for about 10 minutes. It was amazing and the kids were THRILLED.

The dragon slaying knight and the dragon (who got away).

The old couple

Pumpkin Carving

The boys were very excited to carve the pumpkins that we actually grew this year. One pumpkin would not cooperate and had to be carved on its side to stand up. We let the boys design them and Oscar did all the carving. Charlie thought the guts were a little treat...he thought Levi was a treat too for that matter. Spencer did a great job taking out the guts, but Nathan....he threw up, right on his jacket. It was disgusting. He got in big trouble.

Reese's Birthday Party

My boys look forward to Reese's Halloween Birthday Party every year. They have such a great time playing with friends and getting dressed up a little before Halloween. Oscar was bummed that he had to be out of town for the weekend at a conference. Amber made something that I like to call little bites of heaven. They were little smokies wrapped in bacon smothered in a brown sugary glaze...oh my. No pictures of Jared because he was on my lap pretty much the whole night trying to stay away from this kid... When ever he would come into view Jared would SCREAM "take your mask off, take your mask off". The kid loved that he was scaring him, I didn't love it all that much. There is a costume contest for the adults to encourage them to dress up and I went as an old lady this year. Alexis and I tied for 1st prize (she was a nerd). I can't wait for next year!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Family picnic #2 at the boys school. Nathan begged my to bring chicken noodle soup in their new thermos containers. They worked a little TOO well and were smokin' hot, so I had to blow and blow on them before they could eat.
Levi found a friend. She was really cute. He chased her around our blanket the whole time and wouldn't eat.

Best Sight in the WORLD

All of my boys helping grandma make PUMPKIN PIE!

Re-fashioned Skirt to Dress

I love re-fashioning clothes. Karrie gave me some skirts and I never will fit into the cute "little" things so I decided to make Jessie a dress with one. I used a pattern I had and just cut the pieces out of the skirt. Jessie sure liked it. She wouldn't take it off after she tried it on. I'm slowly getting into sewing again. I'm working on Halloween now that this project is done.

Hot day in LA

This past year we have had some great trips to LA. We've loved being able to go to the temple more often and we love being with the kids and having a great time. Well, this month we forgot to call ahead for an apartment and decided at the last minute just to drive down Saturday morning for me to make it to a session and then we went to the LA zoo. Well the last time we were down there I forgot to take sweaters and the boys were cold, so THIS time we all wore jeans and tee shirts and it was 90 degrees and HOT, HOT, HOT. The boys were miserable, tired, and complained pretty much the entire visit. I learned to check the forecast for ALL the specific Los Angeles areas we will be visiting, because they can differ GREATLY. Spencer had been talking the whole ride up about how the flamingo's stuck so bad and he smelled them as soon as we got into the zoo. Levi was not liking the photo op with the Giraffe in the background. I think he thought I was gonna drop him in or something. We found the same plant that was in our backyard when we moved in. I've never seen it since we ripped ours out and we still don't know what it is exactly.

All the boys wanted to see was the rhino this trip. It's funny how they get something stuck in their mind (and it HAS to be an animal that is the furthest away) and that is ALL they want to see. They could care less about everything else there.
It was fun to have Andres with us and he was a life saver trading off with Levi, because we don't have a stroller. The best part of the trip was the Frosty's at Wendy's on the way home. We will never do this again. We know now the importance of planning ahead.

Coupon Craze

For about a year I've been reading about ladies around the country getting smokin' hot deals on groceries and other goodies using coupons. I've got friends and family who have been successful at it (Holly, Emily, Jill and Becky), but every time I looked into trying something, I'd get frustrated/nervous. Well this is my story from the beginning...

We got a new CVS near our house and they sent out a flier with some good coupons for coming in a checking out the new store. I happened to need to get some prescriptions for the boys (last week they had bronchitis) so I was excited to see if I could get the $25 gift card they offered for new prescriptions. It was a NIGHTMARE. I had 4 coupons to use. I was wondering the store in a eye's glazed over sort of a state. After standing in line for the meds and listening to all the crazy people and the lady yelling at the pharmacist "JUST GIVE ME ONE PILL". I got in and out of line 3 times before I started having an anxiety attack. Then I went in search for the $20 of products I needed to get $10 off. It was hopeless. I didn't want to buy something I didn't need, just because I had a coupon. So in the end I was in the van....hyperventilating, crying and I had a box of q-tips and a bottle of De-caf Diet Coke after spending $0.11. I called Oscar and he told me I wasn't allowed to coupon any more!

(before the CVS crisis I had mentioned to Jill that if she ever came across a great deal on cereal if she would share it with me because we go through SO MUCH cereal.)

Jill calls and lets me know of this weeks Albertsons sale. It's a general mills promotion for cancer research and when you buy $25 worth of GM food....you get a $10 off you next purchase printed out at the register. PLUS these items were on sale. So, I got back on my google reader and found where the blog I read Fabulously Frugal had talked about the Alberson's sale and had matched all these items that were on sale with coupons at a few locations on the web. (coupons.com, boxtopsforeducation.com, etc) So I proceeded to print them all out. I only bought stuff that we use. I made sure everything I bought had a coupon and THIS is what happened. I SCORED. I'm writing about this because if I can do it (ME - little miss has a panic attack at the thought of having a problem at the register) you can do it.

1st transaction: I had $9.20 worth of coupons and I spent $21.78. They printed out my $10 coupon.

2nd transaction: Used my $10 off coupon and spent 1.04 out of pocket.

TOTAL SPENT: $22.82 for 20 items thats 1.14 for each product

8 boxes of cereal

18 cups of yogurt

2 pillsbary Cinnamon rolls 8ct.

1 bag chocolate turtle chex mix

2 pound of butter

8 pounds of sugar

12 double rolls of TP

So....that was a couple of weeks ago, but today I made a killing at Target. They have a few promotions where if you buy a certain number of an item they give you a $5 gift card. (Glade holiday candles/air fresh. and huggies diapers were the ones I used) Pair those deals up with coupons for every item (sometimes 2 coupons per item if you have a target coupon and a manufactures coupon) and you can get some great deals. I got 6 packs of keebler cookies for $0.50 a package...all the links for the coupons and everything are on the blog fabulessly frugal.

This is the last you're gonna hear from me about this because I know it is discouraging to see others get great deals when you feel like you can't. I HIGHLY recommend subscribing to Fabulously frugal and just watch their Albertson's and Target deals. Some will be different because they are in Idaho, but if you just look at our ad and compare, lots cross over.

Levi is 18 months old!

Oh the glorious age of 18 months. I have been so looking forward to him being able to go into nursery. He didn't even make a peep for the whole 2 hours. It was so great to be able to listen to the lesson and not have to be in the hallway. Here are a few little fun facts about Levi:

He just got his first two molars in the last couple of weeks. He says a few words including, "No, Nose, eye, Uh Oh, Agua (water), bike, Bapa (for grandpa and grandma), ball, balloon, mama, Da (dad), uva (Spanish for grape), Dog, baby, cracker, cheese, (lye) light, Hi, bye, up, cock-a-doodle-do (chicken or rooster), door, and I'm sure there are more.

He loves daddy's motorcycle and blows raspberries when ever we talk about it. He loves to eat cereal for breakfast and doesn't hardly spill at all. He still loves meat over anything on his plate. He use to love otter pops, but now he won't even finish one. He loves ice cream and yogurt. His favorite thing to do is get toothbrushes out of the bathroom drawer and brush his teeth. He pulls everything out of all the cabinets and loves to pull all the wipes out of the containers. He learned how to climb up onto the dining room table to get my scissors. He likes to unwind all my thread from the bobbins and spools, and His sweet smile is so cute I wanna eat him up!

He loves beating up his brothers and jumping right in on all the fun. He is 31.5 inches tall and weights 24.2 pounds

Sixty? How can that be?

This month my daddy turned 60! I'm going to start draggin' him to Kohls with me on their senior discount days. Jared Levi and I made him a lemon meringue pie and Jared helped me stitch up a little bank for his egg money. Jared pulled almost every needle through the fabric for me! The pie turned out extra tasty and we were lucky that dad shared with us. I asked Nathan if he knew how old grandpa was and he said he didn't know. When I told him he turned 60 he said...."oh that's not old, I think 80 is old" We have been so spoiled to have him home everyday to play with the boys when they come over. Levi loves Bapa. We were in Costco the other day and Oscar jokingly said ,"well...we dont need any egg's" And Levi said "Bapa" When he sees white trucks....its Bapa, Bapa, Bapa. At church in the hallway its Bapa Bapa. He LOVES his Bapa. We all love him!

Kitchen update

Last week I was able to get a little painting done in the kitchen. I pulled down the fruit border and was planning on continuing the yellow color from the dining room all the way around. Many problems arose. 1. the paint match WASN'T a match (too orange) 2. I managed to spill paint completely down the whole front of myself and I wasn't even on a ladder. 3. I realized that I HATE painting. 4. I realized that every time I paint the house I'm 8-9 months pregnant and have extra energy. Needless to say.......I ended up painting it white. Its clean and fresh and blank. I also changed the ugly lamp for something a little more updated and replaced our lens cover that has been broken for a couple of years. Next up:

1. Paint under the cabinets a rusty/red color.
2. Finish the cabinet in the garage.
3, Install new counter tops.

Richard...are you back in town??

And working at Costco?? We were getting gas a while ago and I see this guy out of the corner of my eye and I thought for a second....that's Richard! What do you think Nathalie? Totally doesn't look like him up close....but a fairly good match at 10 yards.

Also I saw Sonnet the other day driving and tried to get her attention with no luck.....well as it turns out it wasn't her. Good thing the lady didn't notice me or she would have thought I was crazy or something

And I had a lady sitting behind me in the temple ask me if I was from Oregon. Apparently I have a twin there. I'd like to meet her.

Summer garden comes to an end

I know I already put up a picture of our beautiful pumpkins, but I never really talked much about our other crops. We didn't get more than those for 4 sweet 100 cherry tomatoes. The plants bloomed and bloomed, but alas no fruit.
Our basil was prolific and was very beautiful and yummy. We had a few carrots and yellow beans. The cantaloupe grew to the size of tennis balls and then went Ka -Ploot. We never saw any cucumbers or corn. I think the ants ate the seeds. We had major ant problems, but I didn't do anything about them. Our best crop was the loofah. They grow like a squash and then you peel them, wash them, and dry them out to make loofah sponges (for the bath). We ended up with 10 or 12 good ones I think. I'm gonna rip out all the garden left overs this week and think about what I want to plant for the winter.

Kern County Fair 2009

We were excited to get to go to the fair this year. We haven't missed a year since Nathan was born. We like to go as soon as Oscar gets home...to miss the night life. It was fun, but not AS fun when you know someone who has an animal, or you have an animal of your own there. It made me want to put Nathan in 4-H next year. We spent more time in the poultry barn this year. Grandpa's Roosters look WAY better than the grand champion's at the fair. I don't think I want the boys to SHOW chickens, but I think the egg laying competition is cool.

Oscar took the boys around the collections, but Jared stayed and watched the Lego train set for about 20 minutes. The lady who made it was....well very interesting. Did you know there was a lego club of southern California? I didn't. Not that it makes any difference, but it is amazing what people devote so much time to.

Nathan wanted to play so bad, but the boys playing took too long

.

{Hose Draggers}

There was some wild and crazy wind that kicked up as we were leaving. It was blowing everything over and it was crazy to see everyone crying from allergy's and all the particles in the air. We had a funnel cake and went home to bed.

Pumpkin.......where are you??

Saturday I had a little scare while shopping at Costco. We were strolling down the aisles buying too much stuff like usual, when Oscar related to me that there is a national canned pumpkin shortage (because of a small crop and a mold problem). I started to panic and rushed to see if they had any in stock. Alas...they did not. I begged my mom to look for some at foodmaxx that night....alas, none to be found. My earlier visions of pumpkin pies dancing in my head were being shattered before my very eyes. Crisis averted when I was at Walmart today. They had some...it was a little pricey, but TOTALLY worth my piece of mind. So, now you know where to go tonight if you had the same anxiety that I had. And in case you are wondering Libby's said they should have the supply up to normal by the end of December....helpful huh?

Here are my BEAUTIFUL pumpkins I grew this year. We lucked out and ended up with 4...one for each of the boys, PERFECT!

Not Nice Votes - addemdum to the contest

I was sitting here wondering why my star rating was going down from this morning. Then I realized that I'm too nieve and everyone who voted for someone also gave everyone else a 1 star rating to make there rating go DOWN! Silly me...I voted honestly. Its up to you if you wanna go back to the page and give everyone else a 1 star who you didn't vote for. I'm not thrilled with the voting method.

Help Me Win!!

I entered a contest over at totallystichin' and the voting starts TODAY! If you get a chance hop on over and help me get the most stars!! The winner gets a super cool sewing machine. For the contest you had to create something from t-shirts and give it a little POP flare. You also had to use lots of sewing techniques to make it all that more special. I did a little reverse applique and free motion embroidery.

TAKE THIS CRAFT AND SEW IT! RATE ME HERE!!!

The entries will come up in a random order so look for my

"HEARTS ON FIRE: SLING BAG"

PS - Jill has some entries too, so don't forget to check her's out too!

PPS - If I win it, I'll post a giveaway with something I've made!!!!

Just a little incentive for your time!!!

Almost Broke My Neck

Today our school had a family picnic day. It's almost fun. Well...the actually BEING there is fun. Its the preparation of food, parking far, loading/unloading the kids, walking with babies and arms full of food and blankets that can be a little annoying. Today a few things went wrong.

First: I got everything loaded and realized I forgot the blanket so I ran back inside and my foot found a crayon piece and whoosh, before I knew it I had both feet out from under me and I hit the ground like a ton of bricks. I can't remember when the last time was a fell so bad. I'm sore mostly my wrist, but I KNOW it will be worse tomorrow. Here is the culprit and the action lines drawn by the fall.

Second: I made the kids lunch minus the main dish because I thought it would be fun to just pick up some burgers from McD. I thought there would be no problem because lunch for the 1st grade is at 10:55a. No one would be there. WRONG. Apparently every parent at the school had the same idea in addition to all the truck drivers and parole officers. I saw the drive thru (NO WAY), unloaded the kids and went inside (EVEN WORSE). Loaded back up and drove across to Jack in the Box. Drive thru was NOT moving so I backed up and finally made it (no one in line) to Burger King. We made it JUST in time. Now I know apparently we are the last people on the planet who eat lunch at noon. Nathan's friends mom came about 10 minutes late. She was in the JBX drive thru ahead of me and saw me leave. I knew I made the right choice. Next time, I'm bringing it all from home!!

Skirt Project #5

Yesterday while cleaning up my sewing material I found a skirt that Karrie had given me a while back. I was saving it for when it would fit me. Well, that never happened and it was also a little short. I really really wanted to wear it so I unpicked all of the pleats and cut a bit off the sides to make a new yoke (the length needed). I re- gathered the skirt and sewed it onto the yoke. Put the zipper back in and hand stitched the facing. I LOVE IT!
PS - re-fashioning is so much fun. If you ever have some clothes that get a stain, or a little rip or don't fit anymore give it a try........or you could donate it to me! :)

PPS - I have a free one year subscription to Seventeen magazine that I don't want if there is anyone out there who would like it, or give as a Christmas gift. I need to send it in probably tomorrow or the next day with the address of the person who will be receiving it?? ANY TAKERS??? email me.