Halloween Recap...

Well another Halloween is over, and I think I have recovered from the sugar rush. I intentionally did not keep all the extra candy bars that the boys don't eat this year (my hips are already thanking me), and I have managed to hide most of the candy they do eat so that I can bring it out a little at a time.

It was another typical Halloween in that we had school parties, trunk or treat, and then trick or treated, but it was not typical in that Walker actually dressed up this year. He is not a fan of costumes, and he has refused to wear one since he was 2. He has always worn a Halloween t-shirt, this year though he decided he wanted to be Billy the Exterminator. If you are not familiar with "Billy" and have an hour or so to spare, you should check him out on A&E Tuesday nights. He's an exterminator that dresses like a rock star. Walker loves him, and I have to admit he is rather entertaining. Here's Walker rocking his Billy outfit.

My friend said I needed to inquire about Walker wearing the shades to school because he was a different man walking around in them. HA! Here's the real "Billy".

Connor decided to be a pirate, again. He actually "decided" on several different costumes, but the pirate was what we went with. He insisted I put a parrot on his shoulder. The only parrot I could find was a cat toy (filled with catnip). I cut the bell off, stuck it on with velcro, and prayed we didn't run into any cats while trick or treating.

I didn't make a lot of treats this year since I am now working full time, but I did manage to make some Candy Corn Bark for the boys' teachers. It was extremely simple and they all liked it. If you're interested in making your own I just melted white chocolate, and then added candy corn, oreos, and peanuts. Spread it on wax paper and then after it cools break it into pieces and bag it up.

I hope you had a great Halloween. I am still struggling with the fact that Christmas is only 48 days away and I haven't even thought about my shopping or crafting!

Christmas Re-Cap...

I realize that we are well on our way into 2010, but since I was so far behind on my blogging and missed out on all the Christmas fun, I thought I would do a bit of a Christmas Re-Cap.  Atleast this way when next Christmas rolls around I'll be able to remember what I did this past Christmas.  Right now I can barely remember yesterday.  My memory is like swiss cheese, full of holes!  Anyway, here are some of my favorite things from this Christmas.

I scaled back this year in all areas.  We bought less.  We did more hand made.  I even decorated less.  I had a hard time getting into the decorating and it felt a little forced, so I spent less time decking the halls and a lot more time enjoying the season with my boys.  Looking back, those changes were all for the best.  With that said, I didn't put up all of my trees.  We did the boys' tree in the family room:

This tree has all of the ornaments they have made or picked out in their short little lives. They are all about the colored lights, so I just go with it.
This is the mantle in the family room.  Walker helped me put it up and he was so proud.  It is in the same room as the boys' tree so it also has colored lights.

Walker got a new tree for his room this year.  It was a tacky little tree, but he LOVED it, and that is what matters.

Connor's tree is white and he enjoys having one in his room so much.

I put the 30 year old tree from Lon's childhood in my kitchen window. It holds ornaments the boys have made in church and school.  Those are the most special ornaments to me.

I hung this wreath that I "beefed up" on the front door.

I put this tall wooden snowman on the front porch.

I put all of our Christmas cards on a simple ribbon.

We made a lot of people birdhouses:

We made the boys teachers ornaments and some baked goods.  This is one of Walker's ornaments.

And here is Connor's ornament for his teacher.

But more than anything else, we spent time together.  We crafted, baked, watched Christmas movies, and drank more hot calorie laden drinks than it should be legal to consume in a month's time.  Guess that explains why I will be starting Weight Watchers Wednesday back up on Wednesday!  I hope your Christmas was a great one, full of special times with family and friends too!

HELLOOOO OUT THERE!!

Hey friends! I am so sorry for the unexpected blogging hiatus. My taking 3 weeks off was completely unintentional, but my "real life" has been so upside down and busy that my blog had to go to the back burner.

I had so much more Christmas stuff I wanted to post, and I didn't even get to join in on the Nester's Christmas party. Who knows, maybe I'll backtrack and put some of that stuff up anyway.

So what have we been up to? Well, both boys had their school Christmas programs...

And then Lonnie was "Santa" for both schools.
Can you believe the boys have no idea this is their dad?

As usual, I took on too many handmade Christmas projects and was scrambling to get them all done. I'll try post about some of those soon.

The boys have been sicker than they have ever been. So sick that Conman was actually hospitalized for a short spell. Here is my little guy about to be discharged chowing down on some Pringles.
Thankfully, things are starting to look up. The boys are finally feeling more like themselves. We had a fantastic Christmas and I plan to find my blogging mojo again soon. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas season, and I am gonna try to catch up with all of you soon.

Because I'm a Dork...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I had to share this. I am a complete dork, but this never gets old to me! The boys really act like this is them dancing. They want me to show it to people like old home videos or something. And by the way, I am decorating for Christmas this weekend. Connor got his adnoids out and tubes in his ears on Thursday, so not a whole lot of time for crafting. I hope to be back to a normal posting schedule next week. Have a great day!

Weekend in Pictures...

We have had a super busy weekend and I thought I would post some of the pictures to show you what a Saturday is like around here.

We spent some time on the family farm. Walker LOVES his chickens at Nana's house. He takes his chicken raising duties very seriously. This is Yoda. (Where he comes up with these names I will never know. He's never seen Star Wars, but I guess he heard it somewhere.)

He was trying to teach Connor how to hold Yoda properly. Yoda is a full grown Bantam chicken, and surprisingly tame. Walker says they are gonna go on "Pet Star" and bring home the big prize once he teaches her some tricks.

This is Walker's new chicken pen. Inside is his Rhode Island Red. He named it Connor. Oh wait, that's his brother! HA!

Here is another reason they love the farm, all the dirt. I call these "Farm Feet". It takes soaking in the tub a long time to get all the dirt out from under those toenails!
We always end our farm visit with Con's favorite part, a long ride on the 4-wheelers and Gator. There is a dirt road right behind the farm.
And Walker gives you this face when he thinks you aren't going fast enough because you aren't in the front. Connor is only 2, but he thinks he is big enough to ride the big gas powered 4-wheelers. Here he is showing me a trick he's gonna do when he gets big. Oh how I dread those days!

And of course, we all need a long soak in the tub after a day on the farm! Here's proof that Con comes out squeaky clean!

On another note, have you ever heard of "Buzzard's Nose" or Stinkhorn mushrooms? Last week I noticed an odor in the front yard. It got progressively worse. By Saturday, I was just sure something had died in my flower bed. Then I discovered these:

They are the worst smelling thing I have ever encountered. Imagine wrotting meat times 20, ugh! They are evidently a mushroom, and after googling "stinky red mushroom" I found out they are called Stinkhorns. I had to dig a bunch of them out of the front yard, and while I did that, the boys made their own hayride of sorts.

It's amazing how fast this little tractor will go with a wagon behind it. Anyway, back to the stinkhorns, have you ever encountered them and what is the best way to treat them? I read online I could use Round-Up, but I really don't want to kill off all the grass. They are in a large area in the front yard. Any other suggestions?

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I am working on a few projects that I hope to have done tomorrow. The paint is drying as I type this! Be back soon!

Seeking Disney Veterans and Bedtime Routines...

For years now, 4 to be exact, my in-laws have said they wanted to take Walker to Disney World for his 5th birthday. That will be July of 2010. Somehow planning the trip falls to me, but that is sure better than paying for it! Anywho, they really want to do it right and make a week of it (stay at one of the resorts, etc. ). I know nothing about Disney World. With a little research I have come to find that the sky is the limit as far as options are concerned. You can spend a lot or a little and there is SO MUCH TO DO. It is a little overwhelming for a Disney virgin like myself, so I am hoping for help from some of you seasoned Disney veterans.

For those of you who have been there, any advice about where to stay and what is not to be missed? The boys will be 5 and 3 when we go. Like I said, we are gonna make a week of it so we should have plenty of time. Walker LOVES animals and I know Sea World will be on the agenda, but other than that we are wide open. Any advice would be much appreciated so we can make this trip as wonderful as Walker expects it to be.

On another note, I just put Connor to bed, and I have decided that at 2 years old he has mastered the stalling technique. Every night his list of "must haves" before bed gets longer and longer. Typicallye he takes a flashlight, books, and a teddy bear. Tonight's list included: a flashlight, hard hat, books, pliers, screwdriver, monster trucks, safety goggles, and his Bob the Builder blanket.

I used to fight him on taking all this stuff to bed but decided all the tears right before bed were not worth it. I now let him take all the stuff, but tell him I will be back to check on him and if he is not asleep in a few minutes I will take it all away. He is typically asleep within the first 10 mins. so I don't have to follow through. Tonight when I checked on him this is what I found.

He has his flashlight propped up on his lap and he is hard at work on his monster truck.

I asked him what he was doing and he said, "fixing my truck Mom."

At least he is safe and wears goggles while working on machines.

Oh the joys of motherhood.

Halloween Goodies...

I did not realize how busy the holidays become when you have kids in school. My boys are only in pre-school, but they each have field trips, parties, and 2 Trunk or Treats to attend. I have been working on some Halloween goodies in an effort to get ahead of the game.

As always, I am trying to be very economical (a.k.a. CHEAP), expecially since we also get hundreds of trick or treaters through our neighborhood. Here are some of the things I am making this week, or have already made in preparation that are cost effective, but still have the cute factor.

For the kids in my Sunday School class, I made these super simple ghosts. I'm sure you have seen these before, but if not they are a Super BlowPop covered in white tissue paper and I added googley eyes and a mouth. This project for cost me $3 for 12 ghosts. I got all my supplies at the Dollar Tree. Love THEM!

For Connor's class I am making these Bat covered Hershey's bars. I got this idea from my friend Amy who saw it online. I found a tutorial for them at Skip To My Lou, and if you follow this link you can find the tutorial as well as the printable pdf.

(picture courtesy of Skip to My Lou)

For Walker's class I am making popcorn hands because he wanted to do something he could help with. This is a simple and really cute craft. You have to make sure you get food prep gloves though because some gloves contain latex and lots of people are allergic to that. All you do is pop your popcorn and let it cool. Place one piece of candycorn in each finger for fingernails. Fill the bag with popcorn and then tie them off with a rubberband and some ribbon. I am gonna add a spider ring to mine, but that is optional. If you don't want to make them yourself, you can buy them on ETSY from this seller.
So now you know a little bit of what I have been up to. I had a hot date with Lonnie last night that included 4 haunted houses. I HATE haunted houses. He LOVES haunted houses. Oh the things we do for love. Anyway, that finally got me motivated to get ready for Halloween. What are you making for Halloween Parties? I'd love to know what has worked well for you, especially for young children. Any suggestions?