Halloween 2011

 Ella kicked off Halloween with a costume party at Preschool.

 That's the cutest little witch I've ever seen... too bad I couldn't find a hat.

Everyone had fun trick or treating and got way too much candy.  It was also really nice that we didn't have rain, snow or freezing temps this year.

Pumpkin Carving

 Cameron really enjoyed driving through all the pumpkin mess.

Pumpkin Picking

I know, I know... this is a little late, but here is a little recap of October.  The week before Halloween we headed out to our usual pumpkin patch.  The munchkins were very particular about what pumpkins they picked out this year.  Of course Ella was more than willing to "help" everyone else pick out their pumpkins, but don't try to help her.  Funny girl.

 This looks like a great pumpkin for Ashlynn

 Fortunately, this little one still doesn't mind her sisters help.

 It's getting harder and harder to take pictures of them all together.

 We were so lucky to have gorgeous weather through October.

The munchkins had so much fun picking out pumpkins this year.  They literally had been looking forward to it since last Halloween.

Pinterest Challenge

Today I'm joining in on the Pinterest Challenge over at Young House Love.  The rules are simple... Create something using inspiration from Pinterest.  Easy peasy.  I've actually got two things that I've made recently.  Here's the first:

Inspiration via Dear Lillie

 I love the idea of a giant ruler to mark your children's height as they grow.  And if we move we can take it with us.

 I'm so happy with how it turned out and it was so easy to make. If you go to her blog you can follow her easy tutorial.

My second inspiration photo was this awesome costume:

via

Super cute!  But, I just can't bring myself to pay $150 for a costume.

 So I studied the pictures for a while and thought about it for a couple of months and decided to just go for it and attempt the costume myself.  Now, hands down the inspiration is better constructed than mine and a little cuter, but I'm absolutely thrilled with how mine came out, especially considering I only spent $15.

Such a cute Wild Thing!

How'd I Do... October Goals

Another month has come and gone.  Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is quickly approaching.  Only 54 days until Christmas and I've barely even begun to do my Christmas shopping.  My goodness this year is going way too quickly.  Lets see how I did for the month of October...

Homemaking -

Clean up the garden for fall 

Weed the flower beds for fall - I guess this will be a spring project.

Start wintering the house - We started getting stuff done, but we've still got a few things on that list.

Cooking -

Try three new recipes

Try making french bread

Continue organizing recipes

Can some applesauce and apple butter - I just couldn't get myself to do this.

Mothering -

Continue with the patience thing

Squeeze in a few last play dates while we still have nice weather

Visit the farm... fall pics - Sadly, this just didn't happen.

Creating -

Finish the Halloween costumes - They turned out so cute.  

Financing -

Stay in budget - Technically no, but it was only by $7... so I'm gonna count it.

Enriching -

Personal scripture study

Read a book

November's Goals:

Homemaking - 

Finish winterizing the house

Pull out annuals 

Plant tulips for spring

Cooking -

Try a new recipe each week

Organize recipes

Gather favorite recipes

Mothering -

Patience

Take Ella on a date

Take fall pics if we get another nice day

Plan Ashlynn's first birthday
Have Cameron completely potty trained by Thanksgiving

Creating -

Make a tie for Cameron

Craft night with the girls
Make the hair clippies for Ella's birthday party

Financing -

Figure out a budget for the month

Enriching -

Read a book

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

Today is my birthday.  I'm not that big into my birthday.  It's really just another day, except that I realized I'm only two years away from the BIG 3-0.  I'm so not ready for that.  Good thing I have two years to prep myself mentally.  This last year has been a busy one.  Maybe the busiest that I can remember.  Most of the time I kinda feel like life is spinning out of control and I'm just trying to hold on.  I suppose that is how life goes though, especially as you get older.  This last year was actually the first time I felt my age and at times even older.  I actually had to change my skin care regime this year because my skin decided to go all adult on me and suck every ounce of moisture right out.

Anywho, thanks honey for a good birthday.  I loved my present and dinner.  I'm looking forward to this weekend when we have a little more time to spend together as a family and maybe do a little shopping.

An Afternoon Walk

We're trying to enjoy the little bit of fall we have around here.  So we took a little walk this afternoon.  It already snowed once last week, but fortunately fall came back and will hopefully stick around for a few more weeks so that we can continue to enjoy more afternoons like this. 

 We've had a lot of rain the last week, which means lots of puddles...

 Probably should have had the munchkins wear their rain boots.

 They were just having way too much fun.

 They enjoyed every minute of this.

How'd I Do... September Goals

I realize this is a few days late, but life happened and there has just been no time to blog.  September ended up being a pretty awful month at our home.  Three weeks ago, I picked up a puking Cameron from nursery at church, only to have it make the rounds that week.  Then just as we all got over that, I ended up with a virus that made me want to die and lasted for two weeks.  I'm actually still coughing from it and occasionally my throat and ears will start hurting again.  I personally think the strep test was wrong and that I did have strep, but whatever... all I can say is it was the worst throat and ear pain I've ever experienced.  So yeah, nothing got done in September.  So let's take a peek...

Homemaking -

Paint toy room - Fail

Hang shelves in master bathroom - Fail

Cooking -

Try three new recipes - Sweet and Sour Meatballs - yummy... I'll have post this recipe, Steak Salad - this was so good, Dripping Beef Sandwiches, Cinnamon Sugar French Toast Bites

Organize online recipes - I started while I was on the couch dying, but didn't get far.

Organize/purge recipe box/binders - Fail

Mothering -

Patience... especially with a certain two year old - This is really hard to do when you're sick.

Take the munchkins camping - We had a great time.

Take the munchkins to the aquarium - Nope.  We've hardly left the house for the last three weeks.

Do an art project with Cameron - He's done lots of coloring and sidewalk chalk.

Creating -

Start working on Ella and Cameron's Halloween costumes - I got the materials and I've started on Ella's costume.

Financing -

Plan my budget for the month... I have lots to fit in this month - Let's not talk about it.

Enriching -

Personal scripture study - Fail

Find some alone time each week - Fail

Go get pedi's with the girls - Fail.  I've gotta do this soon, my Groupon is going to expire pretty quickly.

Here's October's goals:

Homemaking -

Clean up the garden for fall

Weed the flower beds for fall

Start wintering the house

Cooking -

Try three new recipes

Try making french bread

Continue organizing recipes

Can some applesauce and apple butter

Mothering -

Continue with the patience thing

Squeeze in a few last play dates while we still have nice weather

Visit the farm... fall pics

Creating -

Finish the Halloween costumes

Financing -

Stay in budget

Enriching -

Personal scripture study

Read a book

We've Got A Winner!

Congratulations Ricki!!!  You've won the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software.  I've already sent you an email.  Enjoy making lots of fun new things!

My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software Giveaway!

I recently had the chance to try out a really cool digital scrapbooking software from My Memories.  I was really excited to try it since I used to love to scrapbook, but haven't found the time for it in years.  I've wanted to try digital scrapbooking for a while now, but the chance just never really came up.  So when My Memories contacted me about trying their digital scrapbooking software I jumped at the chance.

One of the things that I don't like about regular scrapbooking is the time it takes to drag everything out.  It seems like you have to carve out a huge chunk of time to devote to scrapbooking once the mess is out.  And if you're like me, you just don't have the time to do that, not if you want sleep anyways.  And if I were to attempt to scrapbook with my children awake, that would just be another disaster all in itself.  Plus I just can't be creative under that kind of pressure.

With My Memories digital scrapbooking software though, it was so easy to work on projects when I just had a few minutes to spare here and there.  The software was really easy to learn and it was a lot of fun to see the different creative possibilities.  I also really like that you can create things other than just scrapbook pages.  I made some really fun printables for the munchkins rooms, some tags for the Christmas goodie plates we make each year and Ella's birthday invitations (which, by the way, turned out so cute!!!).

So I promise I'm not telling you all of this just to rub it in.  They want to give one of my lucky readers a free copy of their software as well.  Yay!!!  I promise you will love it.  There are so many free paper and embellishment options that come with the scrapbooking software, plus they have a whole online store with really cute paper packs and layouts that you can purchase for really reasonable prices.

Now don't worry if you aren't the lucky winner, because they are also giving you a coupon code for a $10 discount off the purchase of My Memories Suite Scrapbook software, plus a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store.  So to purchase your own digital scrapbooking software use my coupon code upon checkout: STMMMS17573

So, here's what you've got to do to be entered in this giveaway.

1. Go to the MyMemories.com website, find a favorite paper pack or layout and then come back here and leave a comment telling me which one your favorite is.
2. Follow my blog.
3. Spread the word about this giveaway via Facebook.
4. Spread the word about this giveaway with a blog post of your own linking back to my blog.

Don't forget to leave a separate comment for each entry.  Entries will be accepted through Sunday, October 2nd.  I will draw a winner on Monday morning and let you know if you've won.  Please leave your email address in your comment so that I can get a hold of the lucky winner.