Happy Halloween!

Last night was Sofia's preschool program. They sang lots of Halloween/fall songs, many of them ending in "BOO!". She had her line that she said "In the fall comes lots of leaves, wind and cold to shake the trees". It was memorized, but due to stage fright, she just repeated what her teacher told her to say. She did a great job, and I was very proud of her for standing up, participating, and not being scared. This is her and her friend Samantha.
We had such a fun & busy day. Thanks to Grandma Susan and Aunt Jane for watching Reed today, we were able to spend the day together at Bella's school. We spent all day (until school gets out at 1:00) helping the classes do games, treats and crafts. Sofie loved being able to walk the halls with her sister during the school parade. She also loved being able to do projects with the kindergartners.
Bella had fun making pasta skeletons, lollipop ghosts, and decorating cookies.
I have to say - I loved, loved, loved this Halloween! The weather was absolutely perfect. 70 degrees, and the trick or treating evening was terrific as well. My little Tinkerbella didn't freeze her little wings off, as I had imagined she would.Reed absolutely loved trick-or treating. Always went for the M&M's, and always had candy in his little paws.
I am just glad I no longer have to spray Sofie's hair black again. We sprayed it 6 different times, requiring 6 baths since Monday, 4 of those baths were on yesterday and today. We sprayed it in the morning, and then would have to come home and wash it out (it rubs off on EVERYTHING), then spray it again for the evening. Not to mention the dress and hair bats had to be washed each time as well, because they would end up black after each use.

That girl needs some lotion now!

Hope you had a great festive Halloween as well!

The countdown is on!

Let the festivities begin!

The mad rush began to finish the halloween costumes. Reed's arrived in the mail on Saturday, thanks to Dayna for mailing it my way! By Sunday night I finished the girl's costumes, (and Sofie's bat dolly)

My little Tinkerbella

When the costume process began for me this year, I was debating on what to do for Sofie and Reed (Bella had her mind made up). I found this costume in a catalog, and thought it was funny. I loved the dolly, and the description, "If you've got a bat attitude, this is definitely the disguise for you." The description fit Sofie too perfectly, but unfortunately, the costume did not come in her size.

So this is my take on the costume.I thought it turned out pretty funny. (if you don't know me, when I say "funny" or "hilarious", I think it's cute or sassy)
My baby bear
Last night we went to Grandma Susan's for her annual Halloween party. We enjoyed a delicious dinner, and the kids got to decorate cookies afterwards.

They did a craft of decorating a Halloween pail with cute faces.
They were then each given either a light wand (girls) or a light sword (boys). They are like a giant glow stick, with either a star on one end, or a handle on one end. The kids used their glow sticks to search in the dark for the treasure. Grandma had presents for each of them hidden.

We had so much fun with our Basinger cousins! Thanks Jane for all the cute photos!

Sofie and Reed got dressed up again today for a Halloween party at our house. We had about 25-30 little ones here enjoying a potluck lunch, a little craft, and a fishing pond. We have Sofie's preschool program, and a trick or treating field trip for her on Thursday. Then we do it all again on Halloween.

I love it!

Boo at the Zoo

Saturday we decided to go to "BOO at the Zoo", along with the rest of the city of Salt Lake! It was a gorgeous day, almost a too warm for their costumes. (Jeff stayed home to get some yard work done)
We went with the Nuvan's, to celebrate Samantha's 3rd birthday.
It was so, so crowded. Insanely crowded. So crowded that I didn't really care for the zoo, even though it was my first time to visit. There were just tons of people . . . and kids . . . while I was trying to keep an eye on my own little animals.
I hadn't finished the girls costumes yet, so we decided to go as animals to the zoo (+ 1 monster). We borrowed some costumes from Challene, and the girls had a ball trying to find the animal like their costumes.

Sofie found the elephantsAnd the frog we found was so little, we decided to take a photo next to something that talked about frogs.

The fall colors have been absoutely gorgeous this year. And the fact that you can go outside and enjoy them, because it's not snowing, is a huge perk.

Need your help!

I had so much success with asking people to help me get tickets to the Osmond's concert, I need your help again!

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert is coming up, and tickets are hard to find. If you aren't in town, or interested in going, please register for me! I would love to go!

Click here to go to the website.

In the upper right hand corner of thepage, click on "register for tickets".

Thanks for your help!

Blast from the past

Recently we had playgroup at "The Gale Center". It is in South Jordan, at Redwood road and 104th South. We had so much fun!

They have a great mining exhibit that the kids loved, and exhibit on the heart (was a little old for them, but they loved pushing the button to hear the loud heartbeat), and some antiques set up to look like a little house.Their favorite part was in the play area. There is a schoolhouse (Bella nominated herself to be the teacher), complete with sacks for potato sack races.
A house with a front porch, kitchen, dining table, living room, and dress up clothes.Out in back of the house is a dog house, chicken coop (you can collect the eggs), clothesline (to hang clothes), cow (to practice milking), and a stream (complete with a footbridge) to fish in.Then there's the country store where you can buy groceries. The kids loved weighing their vegetables, and loading up wheelbarrows and baskets full of goods.
There was an old telephone booth, and a gas station with a couple of cars you could sit in.
The kids did not want to leave (we stayed for almost 2 hours) and were immediately asking when we could return. The best part is - it's FREE!

Put on a pumpkin face!

We were in the Orem area last night having our Christmas photos taken, and I took advantage by stopping at Krispy Kreme. It is our closest store, and it's been almost a year and a half since I've had one.

So, as I always say, I dream about yummy food. This morning I was so excited to get up (never happens) and eat one of these cuties.The funny thing is that this morning they are featured on Cake Wrecks - I guess not everyone is fortunate enough to have ones that look as good as mine. The cake wrecks version is still in the Halloween spirit, just on the scary side.

Giveaway winner!

Congratulations Diana! You won the "YES" chart!

I'll get it in the mail this week!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

3

Timestamp: 2008-10-19 06:52:18 UTC

(I love that it picked "3" that's my favorite number)

The fall of Fall

Fall fell flat on it's face Saturday. The snow bowled it over and I'm not very happy about that. In case you're new to my blog, I am not a fan of winter. Why do I live in Utah then? Because my husband has a great job and Jeff has some family here (end of story).

While we thought we were adequately prepared for Bella's soccer game, we quickly discovered we were not. The last 15 minutes of the game the temperature dropped even more, and within 5 minutes we had snow falling on us. With 7 minutes of the game to go, the little players are running into the snow, crying and trying to see the ball through the snow and tears. We (unfortunately) played every last second of the game, were soaked and frozen by the time we arrived to our car.

It has snowed Saturday, Sunday, and today, and Bella has a "make-up" game tomorrow that I think will be a repeat of Saturday.

It was pretty funny to wake up yesterday morning and find Bella head to toe in snow bibs, coat, hat, gloves, scarf, and rain boots (we don't own snow boots, yet). She was on the trampoline getting frustrated because the 1" of snow, that hadn't melted yet, wasn't making the best snowman.

Meanwhile Sofie was dressed the same as Bella, but sitting on the couch, and Jeff was reading her a book.

And yes, my snow prediction was 12 days late, so sorry.

Project: Organization

I had to take a break from the halloween costumes to "organize my life" as my sister Debbie would call it. I just couldn't hack it any longer.

It started with the onset of winter. That would be happening today (Friday) and tomorrow. We are supposed to be getting snow (where are my antidepressants when I need them?) tomorrow. So I needed to bring out the fall jackets (seems like we just started wearing them a week ago) and the winter coats. My coat closet has been such a mess, and every time I open it, it's like a "stuff it in the closet and kick it shut" kinda moment.

I purchased these cute hooks in February, and finally hung them a couple days ago, with the helpful support of my husband. We relocated our shoe basket from upstairs, to down here by the hooks.
Now when we come in from the garage, all shoes, coats, and school bags stay here, before walking upstairs. It seems to help a lot with locating shoes as well. They never make it upstairs into the mess of a bedroom or amidst the toys in the family room. I haven't had to hollar at anyone lately about why their shoes aren't in the basket (we'll see how long this lasts!).

So while digging coats out of the closet, things falling on my head, stuff creeping out from under the door when shut, I decided I'd had enough. It was time to revamp the closet. I have an "art cart" for the kids in the closet. Bella is a "craft addict" and is constantly drawing, cutting and pasting. (I seriously have NO idea where she got that from) So we have some paper/marker/crayon issues. I replaced her old cart (with the little drawers), and bought this new style of cart. I dug up all the .01 cent pencil boxes I purchased this summer, and my label maker. This style works so much better. We love it!

Now I have put a shelf above, and I love, love, love these boxes. There is one for each child (yes, Reed needs one too), and one for me. Any artwork, scrapbooking items, or anything paper having to do with that particular child goes in the box. When full, it gets cleaned out. Bella gets to eliminate her own papers (which she does very well, sometimes too well) and save just her favorites. Then we will add more until it's time to clean it out again. I have a bin for cameras, chargers, cords, batteries, video tapes. A basket for hats, gloves and scarfs, and a basket for my church visual aids.On the inside of the closet door, I have made a "command center". I have an organizer for Bella's friday folder (homework), and her special reading book. Another slot is for mail, and another for Jeff.

Everything has been hung with "command" adhesive (no pun intended). I have a little clip that I can put the girl's school calendars on, and room to grow.

I am so happy to get this clean. We all love it!

Finished! (and a giveaway!)

I have had a few too many unfinished projects on my plate lately, and decided to clean this one up. I got this idea from Lisa, and love it. This was started when Bella started school, and today I spent a total of about an hour, and finished the whole thing up.
It's a "YES" chart for the kids. It's set up like a game board, and the kids each have a "game piece". When I ask them to do something, and they respond "yes", complete the task without being reminded 500 times, and I don't have to raise my voice, they get to move 1 square. Their game piece starts in the "backyard", moves to the amusement park, the farm, the beach, on a pirate ship, and eventually to a castle. There are prizes along the way. I put 3 different kinds of stickers on squares. When they reach that particular sticker they get a prize. The girls decided what their prizes would be for each thing, and we can change it the next time around the board (I wrote on it with a wet erase marker).They are excited to do it, and I'm excited for it to work. I'm sure I'll be implementing a new motivation plan before too long, because we all know they have to be rotated.

I have decided to have a giveaway and give 1 lucky winner their very own "YES" chart. All you have to do is leave a comment on THIS post, telling me one motivation that works well for your children. Only one entry per person. The contest will end at midnight on Saturday, October 18.

Can't Wait

The eyes have it

Who doesn't love googly eyes?

Yesterday I stopped by Zim's craft store (which is closing after 61 years) and picked up a few treasures.

Among them this bag, which contains 1000 googly eyes, for $2.

1000! you say?

Well, in actuality you see, it's only 500 pairs.

Come sit for a spell

As I've explained, I love Halloween. So when Tip Junkie asked for my decorations (well, not specifically ME by name, but just the same I suppose) for "Talk to me Tuesday", I obliged. Check out many others for some fun ideas on her blog. Click here.

So here are my decorations:

I decorate this area above my stairs for each season. Eggs for Easter, hearts for Valentines, etc. I have an antique entry table that I also decorate for each holiday. Click here for the labels.
I love my big witch as my latest addition to the spooky crew.
Over my window and hooks, are my new halloween garlands.
I also love handmade gifts - Susan made this for me:

And Diana surprised me with this last year - it came with impeccable timing as well:

I fell in love with this polka dot candle at Hobby Lobby (in the girls section), and thought I could dress it up for Halloween. I cut out a piece of scrapbook paper and taped it down to a cake stand. Add a fun bow, and voila!

Happy Halloween! I've got to get back to working on costumes!