October Recap!

October came and went like a blur!  It was crazy!  

As a gentle recap, over the past 365 days I have taken on three new positions, I am now sitting on 2 boards of directors, and still homeschooling away.  It's crazy busy and most days I feel like I have lost my darn mind, but in a good fulfilling way.  And when I remember to lean into God's power and might (which I need to remember to do constantly...) I am reminded how much I can do when I do not rely on my strength but His.  

Anyway, October is my favorite month for the crispness of everything.  Do you know what I mean?  It's so great!  I was thinking of this the other day...it's crazy, weird that NOVEMBER isn't my favorite month since that one holds gratitude, my birthday, Christmas decorating, and shopping, but no, October still holds to be my favorite month.  

It started with this crazy brood!  We went to the pumpkin farm, picked the perfect guy, and came home to carve away!  It was so much fun.  I love our little family so much!  

And then blur, blur, blur, blur, blur and before I could fully blink we were to Halloween!  

This year Calvin was ninja (in New Balance Tennis shoes because that's how I roll) and Emma was Nancy Drew.  

Seriously how stinking cute are these two kids of ours?  Oh, and since we fast forwarded to Halloween from the Pumpkin Farm you can see that the majority of my pumpkins are now rotten.  Gross!  Guys, I need legit ways to keep these suckers alive.  Help!  Every year pumpkins fall victim to my pumpkin killing and the massacre just has to end.  Do I need to bleach them?  Talk to them?  Stop singing to them?  (Just asking that last one for a friend...promise!)

Anyway, now's where we talk about the no spend challenge and you wonder what happened to the girl who started out so gung-ho at the beginning of the year and now you haven't heard from about it in a million years.  So, we are still TRYING to do the no spend challenge.  Y'all it is so hard!  So, so hard.  So we'll use the kids' costumes as an example.  Emma totally went with the no spend idea and came up with something brilliant.  We didn't spend a dime on her costume and she kept getting so many compliments.  Calvin on the other hand had one specific thing in his mind...the kid wanted to be a ninja...again.  We tried making one at home for him, talking him through it, but alas, he was insisting on the costume.  So we compromised and we purchased him a less expensive costume than what he wanted.  No kid wants to have a costume that they hate and we didn't know what to do other than compromise.  We spend $20ish dollars on this versus the $75 costumes in previous years.  See?  We're making some progress!  

The pumpkins were another issue with our no-spend year.  I had to decorate my porch. Sorry, not sorry, that's just the case.  So I took a fence panel from my neighbors free pile at their garage sale, dragged out other things I already had but had to have some pumpkins.  Last year I spent over $60 on pumpkins.  You all!  That is crazy!  So this year we found a new place to get pumpkins and for all of them they were $20.  So I spent some but not nearly as much as I was in previous years!  

But back to Halloween...

We don't really "celebrate" Halloween but we trick or treat.  

For those of you just joining us, we live in a National Historic District and we just love it!  

From the street lights to the brick paved streets, we love our neighborhood.  Trick or Treating always helps me to take time to pause and reflect on how beautiful our neighborhood is.  The kids trick or treating is like going through a 1950's neighborhood.  All of the historic homes and picket fences make it so cheerful and nice.  

And I have to show you this because it was hilarious...

When there's a construction project why not be silly? 

So there's our recap of October!  I hope you all are enjoying your November! I've missed having time to write...gah!  Hopefully I'll be writing more! 

Halloween Recap

Happy Monday!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed trick or treating with your little ones.  

We saw many so cute little outfits while we were out in the rain (yuck) going door to door for candy.  We live in a National Historic District Neighborhood and it is always so picturesque and wonderful meandering through our streets. 

Last year even before Halloween was over Emma was begging us to have Frozen costumes.  So for a year our fate has been sealed as to what we were going to be.  Nick and I have never dressed up before with the kids so this was a first for us. 

I will say that we had a lot of fun as a family.  This year already Calvin has already chosen what we will be for next year and while I am going to keep it a secret I will say I think that it will be a lot of fun and super cute!

And has anyone noticed that Halloween has become this huge two week long spectacular?  I am pretty sure that everyone could find something Halloweeny to do every day during the two weeks leading up to the big day.  Trunk or treats, Harvest Parties, Halloween Haunts, on and on are going on. 

We went to the Fernwood Halloween event and to a party our realtor's office had.  Both were a lot of fun and the kids had a really good time.  It really makes the cost factor a lot easier to justify to Nick for costumes when we will be in them more than just one time.  

Well anyway, I've got to get back to homeschooling but hope you all had a spooky weekend!  And don't forget today's the last day to sign up for my Usborne Sticker Book contest....I'm giving a book away and would love for you to sign up! 

Happy Monday friends! 

Giveaway: Usborne Egyptian Mummies Sticker Book

Here in homeschool land we are back to learning about the Ancient Times this year.  This week we are covering when Joseph took care of Egypt by preparing for the famine.  

And since we were talking Egypt and it's the week of Halloween I surprised the kids with sticker books.  They were so thrilled!  It's so fun seeing them get excited over books.  

It's the Usborne Egyptian Mummies Sticker Book.  It is so much fun and packed with stickers and things to do so it provides of quiet play and learning for kids.  How amazing does that sound?

As you know I am an Usborne Books  Consultant and so I just think these books are so amazing.  The biggest feature I love about Usborne is my patented saying that they are "sneakily educational".  And that is so true with these books too.  The Usborne website explains how this was written with an Egyptologist. so all of the facts that you are reading are accurate and not just bland facts that every book has.  That is the coolest thing!  

So I started our morning out with a spooky halloween breakfast of warm apple cider, cocoa puffs, and a marshmallow peep (because it's Halloweeny time!). Then while they noshed and worked on their sticker books I read to them the chapter from our history book.  And seriously this would be one of my biggest learning tips, especially if you have boys: when you're reading to them let them do something with their hands  Anything. Stickers, playdough, legos, blocks.  Their brains absorb so much more when their hands or bodies are moving, it's incredible.  

Anyway, because I love this book I've deciced to give one of them away to one lucky reader!  The sheer fact that there are over 650 stickers in this puppy is just mind blowing!  There are lots of ways to enter into the drawing and the drawing will go all through the spooky Mummy filled weekend.  I know we're all super busy this weekend with our littles so this will give you plenty of time to get those entries in.  

Entry-Form

If you would like to purchase this book (or others) in the event of not winning be sure to check out my website here!  I'd love to see you get good books for your kiddos that they will love! Good luck and I hope all of you  mummies and deadies have a wonderful weekend trick-or-treating! 

Apple Picking 2015

These are the moments that I try to shove into the deep recesses of my mind so when I am old I can remember them.  I am so thankful for things like blogs so I can jot down the details of the day along with all of the wonderful photos and try to remember the time when they are this small.  I love these two children so much.  They fill my life with such joy.  

We go apple picking every year.  This year however was the first year that we went during October.  Picking apples in October apparently is very lame as there were hardly any apples.  But we learned our lesson and from now on will make sure that we go in September.  Before apple picking we always travel all the way to Bonneyville Mill for a picnic and some football.  

They have the most gorgeous Dahlia garden.  Seriously, out of a dream or something.  So of course I love taking pictures of our little lady with her little lady.  Can I please just bottle this age up of carrying a doll around in a sweet dress? I am sure I will blink and it will be gone.  This sweet girl and her happy heart captivate me.  I love being her Momma. 

And in a stark contrast from the sweet girl in a flower garden is the rowdy boy having fun climbing all over an old dam.  I love his adventurous spirit although most of the time it makes me feel like my stomach is up in my throat and I am suffocating.  But I am learning to let go and try to watch him have fun exploring.  

If you ever get the chance to go to this mill when it is operating you have to go.  You just have to.  Built in 1832 it's incredible that it is still working.  They have the cutest store that we buy our cornmeal from every year.  The photo above is the chute of the cornmeal coming out from the stone. 

There were these darling old bags and promotional items posted up from back in the day.  I thought they were so neat.  

After that we left the park and made our way to the orchards. 

These two are the apples of my eye...ey?  ey?  Ya get that? 

For the past few years I've been able to say "okay, bucket heads" and they've put their buckets on their heads.  But this year it was aparently cooler to shove his sisters bucket on her head than to put the bucket on his head.  

<sigh> it's the end of an era...

This year it was nice that they wanted to use the grabby stick thing because up high was about the only place that we could find apples :(  Boo.  

Success at last!  This seriously felt like it took forever!  Forever, Jerry! And can I please just have her clothes in my size?  So stinking cute! 

And then there's this guy.  He is such a goof.  Which I love.  He thoroughly enjoys going before me and looking for ways to make me laugh.  That or ways to make me freak out.  Either way he's looking out for my entertainment benefit.  I guess I will choose to look at it that way.  

Is there anything more peace inducing than to take the time to look at an apple and it's leaves.  It's such an amazing thing that God created because He loves us.  It just takes my breath away and I love sharing this type of thing with our kids.  The way that the star is formed inside the apple, all of the varieties, the way they grow on the tree, it all is just simply amazing.  

This is all we picked this year.  One reason because all they had were the "delicious" varieties which I tend to not find so delicious.  Another reason was that you could see these were heavily sprayed.  And the third reason being that Meijer has apples on sale for 59 cents this week and these puppies were 85 cents.  We got this amount for the memories, thank you. 

Have y'all gone and done your apple picking?  Were you late this year like we were or did you go earlier?  I'm curious is apples were in short supply this year or if it was because we were a week later than we normally are.  

Happy Fall, Y'all! 

Fernwood is Boo-tiful!

We are so excited to be attending Fernwood's Annual Halloween event!  This year The Halloween Happening is taking place on Saturday, October 24th from 6-8 pm.  You can find our more information here on their site but from their website they said:

“Calling all ghosts, ghouls, and witches! Dress in your best costume and find your way to Fernwood to celbrate Halloween with activities and treats for the entire family. Create Winifred’s magical bubbles along with Cheri Hallwood, local award-winning author of Frogwilla, Winter’s First Snowflake, The Curious Polka-dot Present, and One Wish for Winifred Witch. Her books will be available for purchase and signing. Enjoy trick or treating in the gardens, pumpkin decorating, spooky creatures and stories, and more!
Also, delicious spooky snacks will be available for purchase. ”

— http://www.fernwoodbotanical.org/october-24-fernwood

Last year we took a gorgeous American Girl's Samantha Tarkington and a handsome Luke Skywalker to the Halloween Happening.  It was such a wonderful evening.  

The kids loved trick or treating around the gardens. Who doesn't love to get candy?  And they loved to see all of the volunteers in their costumes.  Everyone was so nice and the whole outfit had such a great atmosphere. 

And as much as my kids love to see the trains (you can read all about the train garden and our deep affection for it here), they love it even more when it is spooky and scary.  Well maybe not scary but a lot of fun! 

One of our favorite times of the evening though was roasting marshmallows over the fire and making s'mores!  Such a fun time sitting around the fire with other families and making a snack.

They had a variety of snacks available and it provided a laid back time for our family. 

After the snack we made our way to the main building.  And as much as the kids loved the event I was just amazed by all of the details that Fernwood did.  All of the lights  in the trees and all of the fun.  You can tell they put a lot of thought and time into the event.  

The last thing we did for the evening was to paint these adorable pumpkins.  

Aren't these little pumpkins just the cutest?  Our kids had so much fun!  

If you are looking for a fun event to celebrate Halloween we'd love to hang with you at Fernwood this year.  I love that there is trick or treating, decorations, fun spookiness, snacks, crafts...a little bit of everything to do! 

These two will tell you you'll have a hauntingly good time!!!