31 Days Has October: 2009 Edition

October is coming! We love October around here. I think it might be our favorite month of the year. Remember last year how we did 31 Days of October? Basically we did a Halloween/Fall themed activity every day of the month. It was a lot of fun! Because I had it planned out ahead of time we actually did most of the activities. So I decided it'd be fun to do it again. Here is the 2009 edition of 31 Days of October. I'm posting this a couple of days ahead of time in case you want to do it with us and need to stock up on a few supplies. I tried to plan the activities that I could do with stuff I already have around the house or very inexpensive. Some of the activities are the same as last year because they are tradition around here. But there are also some fun new activities to try! Most of the activities are linked to the website where I found directions. I'd love to hear about it if you do some (or all!) of these.

October 1 - Glitter Pumpkins
October 2 - Gluey Ghosts

October 3 - General Conference activity
October 4 - General Conference activity
October 5 - Caramel Apple Monsters
October 6 - Pumpkin candy necklace

October 7 - Spooky Jello Jigglers
October 8 - Milk Jug Pumpkins
October 9 - Halloween coloring pages for NM Trip
October 10 - Sucker ghosts
October 11 - Witch color sheet
October 12 - Visit the library and check out Halloween/Fall theme books
October 13 - Read Julius Candy Corn by Kevin Henkes and do candy corn activity
October 14 - Jack-o-lantern pizzas
October 15 - Ghost Cookies
October 16 - Mr. Pumpkin Head
October 17 - Halloween cookie decorating
October 18 - Halloween Bingo
October 19 - Pumpkin bowling
October 20 - Yummy Mummy Treat Cups
October 21 - Ghostly Shepherds pie
October 22 - Rice Krispy treat pumpkins
October 23 - Paper Mache pumpkins
October 24 - Jack-o-lantern craft
October 25 - Witch Craft
October 26 - Carving Pumpkins
October 27 - Roasting pumpkin seeds
October 28 - Dinner in a Pumpkin
October 29 - Halloween Hand
October 30 -Halloween shape lunch and costume dress rehearsal
October 31 - Trick-or-Treating!!

Our First Garden

We decided to stop using the excuse that we live in a townhouse to not grow a garden. Kevin and my dad built us a beautiful grow box and we finished planting our seeds today. We planted lettuce, brocolli, carrots, basil, cilantro, garlic, onions and spinach. As I was planting the seeds I talked to them a little, encouraging them to grow. It's something my mom would do. We'll see if they are obedient. I'm so excited! Hopefully we'll have some fresh veggies this fall!

Let Them Stay Little

My sister-in-law Jamie inspired me with her last blog post to reminisce through older pictures of my kids, when they were littler. I put above this post a video I took of Myla when she first started walking, so she was 12 months, and Cade talking. It's kind of fun to watch...for me anyway. It make my heart melt a little. Time goes so fast! Bear with me as I take a little walk down memory lane. Here are some of my favorites:

Cade

Myla




Gavin

It's never too early...

for Christmas. Bake your treats, host your holiday festivities and decorate your home in Christmas style! We are having a special in our The Secret Stitch Shop - FREE SHIPPING until October 15th on any Christmas aprons. Shop early and save. Here is a preview of what is in the shop, with more styles to be added soon.

Santa's Little Sweetheart apron
Santa's Sweetheart apron

** If there is any interest for a Santa's Little Man apron, please leave a comment to let me know. I have the design in my head and would love to make it if anyone is interested in it!

Butterfly Hotdogs

A craft and lunch all in one! What a great idea! I found this idea on Gourmet Mom on the Go. It's a fun food blog for feeding kids. (I can't wait to try all her great Halloween ideas! My dinner swap group should be expecting some Ghostly Shepherd's Pie.) Today we made butterfly hotdogs. To summarize:

You make the "paint" by mixing one egg with one tablespoon water, then add food coloring and mix. One egg and one tablespoon of water was enough to make four colors with. You don't use much. Myla chose the colors for us: pink, purple, green and blue. Then you get some refrigerated biscuits (like Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits in the can), cut them in fourths and arrange around a hotdog like butterfly wings. Then let the kids paint the colored egg mixture on the biscuit butterfly wings. Cade kept it simple--two wings blue, two wings green.Myla painted each wing a different color.

Then arrange on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes.

And this is what you get! The colors distort a little, but it's so much fun.

Throw it on a plate with some fruit and chips and munch away.

Fabulous food fun!

Who's that Kid?

The other day I finally cut Gavin's hair for the first time. I didn't want to. In fact, I put it off and off and off, until I decided that when he starts brushing his hair out of his eyes it's time to chop. I just loved the little curls at his neck. Oh well....

So I broke out the clippers, let him feel it for a minute to get used to it and buzzed away! He did such a great job...didn't cry or try to push my hand away or move his head around a lot. I think he was fascinated with the buzzing.

Who knew that under all that hair there was such a blondie?! When Kevin came home he didn't even recognize him. He thought, at first, that we had our nephew Bradley over.
He looks all grown up...like he aged suddenly.
I love his pointing. He points out all kinds of things: birds, dogs, airplanes, bunny-shaped benches at the school Cade goes to, Daddy, Cade and Myla.
So sweet! I do love it though. His blond hair with those beautiful dark eyes...sweet combination.

Geniuses

Dinosaurs. Trains. PBS. I'm speechless. It's the perfect show! Why didn't anyone think of this before?! PBS has created a daily 30 minute happy place for 2-6 year old boys throughout the world. You should've seen Cade's face when he saw the commercial for it. Whoa. That's all I have to say. :) Check out the promo:

Not a Baby Anymore

Kevin finally moved out of his 20's and into his 30's yesterday! Happy birthday Kev!

Isn't he handsome?
In honor of turning the big 3-0 I emailed family and friends to get words they thought described Kevin. I got such a great response! I chose 30, made cupcake toppers, and stuck them in 30 cupcakes. It was fun discovering how people thought of Kevin. He is loved.

I'm Outta Here

Me: Wait! I want to get a picture of you on your first day of school.

Him: Well, get your camera and take it 'cause I'm outta here.

(I love playing around with actions in Photoshop. This is the Seventies action from The Pioneer Woman. I chose it because, well, he was born in the 70's and he'll be hitting the big 3-0 here in about two days.)

Winner #2

Cathryn and her family live on a military base and she shops at the commissary which provides excellent shopping deals. She emailed me and graciously asked me to redo the drawing to give the card to another person who can use it. So I drew again and the winner of the gift card is Jessie! How fun, a fellow sewing friend and neighbor. That's what is fun about doing a giveaway on my family blog...I know mostly everyone who entered!

Winner!

The winner of the gift card giveaway is #1 - Cathryn! I'm so surprised! #1 never wins. :)Congrats Cathryn!

Overheard

On the way home from school today, Cade and Myla had this conversation in the back seat:

Myla: You are people and can have ladybugs. Gavin is just a baby.

Cade: (quite forcefully) Gavin is people too, Myla!

I couldn't stop laughing.

Great Deals and a Giveaway!!

I am so excited about this post! Thanks to General Mills, PepsiCo and MyBlogSpark, I received a $30 gift card to spend at a Kroger store to see how much I could save during their Mega Savings Event sale. (In AZ we have Fry's, but elsewhere it might be Fred Meyer, Smith's, Ralphs, etc.). Basically, during the sale you buy 10 participating brands, use your Shopper Card and you instantly save $5. Sounds good, right?
Yesterday I got the gift card in the mail, sat down and made my shopping list. I got online to find some printable coupons from the Valpak website as well to make my savings stretch even more. Wanna know what I got for $27.49? Take a peek:

2 packages of Yoplait yogurt

2 Betty Crocker brownie mixes

2 2 liters of Pepsi brand soda

2 Pillsbury Grand biscuits

2 Pillsbury sweet rolls

2 Progresso soup

2 Green Giant canned peas

2 Green Giant canned corn

1 Betty Crocker scalloped potatoes

1 Green Giant frozen steamed veggies

1 Quaker Life cereal

1 Tostitos corn chips

1 Tostitos cheese dip

2 Gatorade Propel water

2 Sobe Life Water
1 Sobe drink (my fave, fave, favorite Cranberry Grapefruit Elixir)

1 Betty Crocker Transformers fruit snacks

1 Nature Valley Granola bars

1 Fiber One bars

4 lbs peaches (at $0.67/lb!)

1 loaf of Fry's bread

That is 32 total items sold. My total savings, including coupons and VIP card savings is $52.39, or 65%. Here's the proof:

The great thing is that General Mills and PepsiCo, through MyBlogSpark, are providing a $30 gift card to a Kroger grocery store for you to win on this blog! Anyone can enter. This is going to be a pretty fast giveaway because we want you to be able to take advantage of the Mega Savings event, which lasts through September 2nd. So, how can you win? Leave me a comment, any comment! That's all. If you need a little commentarial inspiration (I just made that word up :)) tell me one of your money-saving tips. You have until Tuesday, August 25th at 10:00pm (AZ time) to enter! I will use random.org to choose a winner and will post the winner Tuesday night. I can't wait to see who will win!

Crafty McCraftersons

One of my favorite things about picking the kids up from preschool is watching how excited they get when they show me what they created in class that day. Painting, cutting, glueing, coloring, yarn, etc. etc. They love it! And I love it. Except, what do I do with it all? What do you guys do with it? I need some suggestions. I usually keep it around for a couple of weeks, hanging on the fridge or perched on their dresser. But then, after picking it up for the umpteenth time and taping or glueing it back together (spurred on by the inconsolable tears of the preschooler), I (sshhhh, don't tell) throw it away. I mean, it piles up and piles up. And I have enough of my own piles to shuffle around. :) But then the mom guilt kicks in. Kevin's mom still mails things she finds that Kevin made 25 years ago and I love that she does that. It's so sweet. We just don't have the room to save everything they make. So I need some suggestions. I've scoured blogville trying to discover what other moms out there do, hoping from some inspiration. What do you do with the things your kids make?

My Favorite Moment

The days are hectic now. So fun, but hectic. We no longer have the luxury of staying in our PJs, sleeping in, watching TV, or even just playing. All four of us need to be up, dressed, fed, hair done, book bags gathered and out the door by 8:00am. I run my errands, and then a couple of hours later pick the kids up, get lunch made and eaten, try to pick up the house, get naps (if I'm lucky). By that time it's time to get dinner made and eaten, baths taken, prayers said and go to bed. This is a new thing for us. We are still working on a routine. I think we are getting it down, but I'll admit that sometimes we get a little frazzled. And this is only preschool! I wonder how things will be in a couple of years when they are all in school. It's a new phase in our lives and we do love it. It's fun to watch the kids learn and grow and get so excited about the new things they are doing. Anyway, the busyness of our day makes me appreciate the sweet, quiet moments a little more. This is one of them: getting Gavin up from his nap.

I love how he sleeps with his bum up in the air.
And how he always smiles when he first sees me.

He thinks its great fun to play peek-a-boo between the crib slats.

Love that face!

He always gives me a tight hug and pats my back with his little hands when I get him out of the crib. It's my moment with him, however small it may be. It doesn't last long before he wants to be let down to go see what the big kids are up to. And it's not often that he'll let me snuggle him throughout the day. So I look forward to these special little moments.