New Moon

Yes, I'm one of "those"... one of those people who read the Twilight series and loved it. I'm not, however, as die-hard or obsessed as some of my friends and acquaintances. I've read each book once, saw "Twilight" twice (first time with the girls, second time with Jason) and will be seeing "New Moon" probably only twice also... for the same reason as the first... BUT I did do my part in supporting the outrageous success of "New Moon" on opening weekend.

Last weekend, Candice, Jaime and I went to see Jacob... oh, I mean "New Moon". I set my expectations low and was pleasantly surprised once again. I enjoyed the screen time and focus on Bella and Jacob's relationship. I've always been on "Team Jacob". I don't normally support bare chests, but I have to say that Jacob's bare chest was quite impressive.

Happy New Moon-iversary!!!

Trade Secrets

I recently participated in Tip Junkie's "Trade Secrets Swap". In this swap, you share your "trade secrets"; best recipes, favorite party favor/decoration, cleaning tips, good books, etc.

Here are some of my "Trade Secrets":

-File folders; hours of fun for kids, hours of quiet for mom (hopefully).

-Martha Stewart's balloon flower instructions. One of my favorite party decorations, as you well know.

-Quick and easy chicken dinner recipes and a few of my favorite dessert recipes.

-"Parenting with Love and Logic" by Jim Fay and Foster Cline. I call this the "Parenting Bible". I can't say I do everything consistently, but have gained a lot of insight and believe in their philosophy.

-Disney Cars party supplies for her little boy. You know how I LOVE to throw a party!

-"I'm Bored" jar. I found this on-line. When kids say, "I'm bored", they get to draw a slip of paper out of the jar and have to do what it says. It could be something fun like bake cookies OR it could be something else like organize a closet or clean a dirty window. The kids risk saying "I'm bored". :)

- I also listed some of my favorite cleaning, organizing, relationship books. Books that have changed my life or at least have influenced the way I do things; "Clutter's Last Stand" by Don Aslett, "Organizing from the Inside Out" by Julie Morgenstern and "5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman.

-I also included a cute corner bookmark. I like how quick and easy they are to make and that they are different from a normal bookmark. She'll need one for all the books I suggested to read. :)

Here's the "Funny Faces" file folder. My swap partner is a single mom, to a cute little boy, so I used a mom and little boy for the faces. I printed, colored, cut and contact papered lots of face parts. As I was getting ready to send the package, Abree asked if she could play with it. I agreed to having her "test" it for me. She said it worked great.

---Abree tested, mother approved!---

Here's what I received:
-Holiday Craft magazine

-Better Homes and Gardens magazine

-"Mark" catalog (my swap partner sells and uses these products)

-Lemon sugar scent mist by "Mark"

-Flip-for-It make-up compact by "Mark"

-Juice Gems lip gloss by "Mark"

-Splenda coffee flavors (Since I don't drink coffee, I wonder what else these would be good in? )

-Crystal Light packets

I enjoy swapping. It's always fun to get mail and "meet" new people.

Thanks Hollie!!!

Turkeys!

My turkeys... made these turkeys.
As a part of FHE, we drew an activity out of our Attitude of Gratitude jar.
"We are thankful for turkeys. Make a turkey."
So we got out the craft supplies and went to work. I thought it was funny that Taylee named her turkey Mike. I'm not sure why... but his name was Mike.

The Great Gathering

Last weekend, we went to Odgen for "The Great Gathering".

A festivus of many celebrations and holidays...

1. Early Thanksgiving dinner.

2. Nate and Cathy were baptizing their son, Bob.

3. Nate and Cathy blessing their new baby girl, Sarah Anne.

4. Jeff, Amy and family moving to Texas (for jobs) and wouldn't be able to visit for a while.

5. Early Christmas gift exchange with cousins.

6. Many, many family birthdays in the month of November.

Sweet Sarah Anne

Robert... a.k.a. Bob, the newest member of the church, in his ward.

Gifts were shared, turkey and pie was eaten and ordinances were done.

It was a quick, but nice gathering.

Jackson's Halloween Birthday Party!

It started with an October issue of "Family Fun" magazine...

Taylee was looking through the magazine and discovered a veggie tray/dip decorated like a Haunted Graveyard. She thought it was so cool and couldn't stop talking about it. She pleaded with me to have a Halloween party. I was a little partied out... but was bitten by the cute bug. The veggie Haunted Graveyard was SO cute, I told her I'd think about it.

By the next day she had a new angle... what if the Halloween party was a FAMILY party? Could we do a FAMILY Halloween party? I told her I wasn't committing yet... I was still thinking about it.

A few days later, I was talking to Candice on the phone. Some how the subject of parties came up. She mentioned that Jackson had been wanting a Halloween Birthday party. I told her Taylee had been pressing me for a Halloween party. She then had a brilliant idea... "Would Taylee like to be my party planning assistant for Jackson's Halloween Birthday party? Would that satisfy her party planning cravings?" Yes, I believed it would.

For the next several days, I sent Candice every site and blog entry I found, for cute Halloween ideas. I bombarded her with so many, I hoped that she wasn't getting tired of seeing emails from me. I couldn't help myself... there were so many fun ideas out there!

We met and finalized plans. I offered to have Taylee and I do a snack, a game and a craft for the party. It was satisfying Taylee, as well as myself, to be able to do some fun stuff without having to be fully in charge.

The night before the party, Taylee and I went shopping for the Haunted Graveyard ingredients; celery, broccoli, carrots, spinach, olives, pretzels, eggs, a variety of crackers and hummus. Did you know that Winco sells a hummus mix in the bulk food section? I didn't either until I talked to my very own personal hummus expert...my sister Amber. It was less expensive than buying it pre-made and was very simple to make.

The next morning, Taylee and I created the long-awaited Haunted Graveyard. I mixed the hummus, while she washed and cut the veggies. Then we assembled it. Hummus mixed with fresh spinach, for the "earth", green dyed Ranch dip for the "swamp" and then everything else arranged around it. (The Ranch swamp was my original idea. I was also proud of my carrot pumpkins. Another original idea, not pictured in the magazine. So clever.)

It turned out WAY cute! See for yourself...

The artist with her masterpiece.

The white little crackers in the swamp and around the grounds are "Kraft Macaroni and Cheese crackers (white cheddar)" we thought they looked like bones.


After costuming the kids, we were off to Jackson's party.


As we arrived, we could tell there was a par-tay goin' on. Fun decorations adorned the yard, along with Jackson and Micaela greeting us at the curb.


I think this is how Micaela felt about this party.

Jackson, the birthday boy, along with his friend Ross.

Cousin Kyrick the dinosaur.

Cousin Audrey, as Glinda the Good Witch. Cousin Katelyn, as Dorothy, with her little dog Toto too. Soooo cute!!! (I missed getting a picture of Jackson's friend Quinn, little sister Lizzy and baby cousin Maliah.)

Franken pops

Earthworms and eyeballs

Can you guess how these were made?

Jackson's birthday graveyard cake

Rat's blood punch
Candice's idea... no blog needed for this one. :)

The kids played "build a monster" kind of like "pin the tail on the donkey".

Poor Frank, all his parts are detached.

We also played a hot/cold game, by hiding and finding a Frankenstein. As the finder got closer to the Frankenstein, we would make spooky noises louder. The ghost groans, werewolf howls and cackling witches were almost too much for some of the young party goers. A few kids covered their ears and just waited for it to be over with. :)

Jackson was ready to blow out the candles, as soon as it was in front of him. But when given the go ahead, it took several more blows to get them all out.

A little Frankenstein goody bag was sent home with each kiddo. My kids declared it the "best treat bag they had EVER gotten". They loved the rubber poppers and Slinky's inside.

Here's the little craft we did. Isn't he cute?... for a Frankenstein that is.

Gift time

Ross was SO excited to give Jackson his gift... I think he was hoping he had one just like it, as he held it, touched it and pulled at the packaging, while Jackson opened the other ones.

The whole party gang.

As the party was winding down, a game of Witch Broom Limbo broke out (the game Jackson had been insisting on since day one).

Dean couldn't resist and had to get in on the fun.

How low can you go???

Happy (early) Birthday Jackson boy!!!

Great party Candice. Are you ready for the next one??? :)

Treats!

Halloween kicks off the season of lots and lots and lots of treats.

On Monday, we made these peanut butter, candy corn kiss cookies for FHE. I had never had a candy corn kiss. They were good, but even better was the smell. I had taken the bag of unopened kisses into my bedroom. When I walked in, it almost smelled like I had a candle in there. Yummy vanilla-roma.

Rylee volunteered to bring treats to YW and Taylee had volunteered to help with Jackson's Halloween birthday party, so Taylee got to work making "Witch Wands" for both occasions.

Big pretzel + melting candies + sprinkles = a magically delicious treat.

The magical Witch Wands were a party treat hit. Wait until you see the other fun food that was there. It was gruesomely good.