A month in pictures

Holy Hannah! October has come and gone.

Another year is flying by. It's just crazy to me how quickly the time gets away.

Thought I'd recap our month in photos just for the fun of it.

Gotta' do something with this here blog once in a while.

 

We have had some glorious weather this month!

October brought nice cool temperatures and a bit of rain. So nice for a change!

Some pretty sunrises....

I had to buy a can of pumpkin puree and make something yummy out of it.

This was a pumpkin bundt cake with pumpkin frosting.

It was pretty yummy!

I also made bread from scratch for the first time ever.

Ages ago, I had a bread maker and made bread that way, but I've never actually made it the old fashioned way. It was delicious--a huge hit. These two loaves were gone before nightfall. There were requests for more. Definitely needs to become a monthly treat.



More fabulous cloud coverage.

Jason and Justin both got rewards at school for the first quarter. They only passed out two of each reward per class, so I was extra proud of these two boys. Justin got  an academic excellence award and Jason got the "coolest kid" award---only one of those passed out to each class. It was for excellence in both his grade and his classroom behavior. He's supposed to get to attend a pizza party with the principal in addition to the award.
Haley also got an award that week, unfortunately I didn't get a pic with her. Poor middle kid syndrome. Her reward was for citizenship. I have awesome kids. Teacher conferences were the following week, and they're all doing fantastic at school. :)

We had a birthday girl in da house this month.....Miss Ashley turned fourteen years old!!! I canNOT believe that! We celebrated twice. This is her cake from her acutal birthday. The next evening she had cupcakes and ice cream and a sleepover. Thank goodness for me, that only one friend slept over. It's amazing how much noise a couple of girls can make!

 Posing at her party. Two of her friends came over. They had a good time I think.

Ok, this is a Pinterest plug....I saw the idea for this cute garland on pinterest and had to give it a shot. It's just tissue paper. I love how it turned out.

Getting dirty carving the jack-o-lanterns. It's so nice that I don't have to be actively involved in this little tradition anymore. One of the few perks of the kids getting bigger.

The finished products....

(the one on the right is eating one of those cute little tiny pumpkins).

Whle they were carving pumpkins I was working frantically on Ashley's costume. It was a royal pain in the kiester. She's been wanting a traditional kimono for a long time now. Ashley loves all things Japanese. I got her the pattern for her birthday, and wouldn't you know it, she decided she'd like it made for Halloween. The instructions were so confusing, I ended up winging it halfway through.
It turned out ok, althouhg I didn't get the obi belt done yet. I'll have to work on it later, I think it might be just as difficult as the kimono.

 

Here they are all decked out for the ward trunk or treat party.



My little mutant ninja turtles.....

She's turning Japanese.....

The force is strong with this one.....

Not supposed to wear masks to the church trunk or treat, so she painted her face black.

I need to upload the pictures from tonight, she's wearing the mask in those.

Maybe tomorrow....

 

 

Catching up--fall 2012

Just popping in to update my header. I made a bunch of cute headers way back when the picnik site was getting ready to close down but I've forgotten to post most of them throughout this year. Yeah, I've also neglected to blog much.

I'm so happy the temperatures are finally starting to drop here in the desert. I'll be SO happy when the high is 65, it's still in the 90's most days. Hopefully by Halloween it'll be nice and cool.

So, in case you missed it-my big announcement for this year is that I've been called to be Primary President. I have to tell you, I was totally shocked to receive this calling. No way am I anywhere close to being qualified for this job. Stepping into the refiners fire I guess. I need some serious refining! I just feel so grateful that the Lord would bless me this way. I really haven't been doing the things I need to be doing and I honestly think this is His way of giving me the little boot I need to get it together. I'm so grateful for His encouragement.

In the meantime, I'm totally lost. Thank goodness for two awesome counselors and one amazing secretary.  Our program was the Sunday before Conference. It came together really well. My second counselor did a great job of stepping in and picking up the reigns from the previous amazing 2ncounselor, who had been doing an amazing job of putting the whole thing together. I really respect and admire these women. I have much to learn from them.

The boys are doing great in school, they're loving their kindergarten teachers. Ashley and Haley are doing well too. Haley's gearing up for a sweet field trip in November and Ashley is focusing on her courses. She wants to get into a really good magnet school for high school so she's working on keeping her grades up and doing what she needs to do to get there. Such good kids. I'm so lucky.

Jon fractured the carpal bone in his left wrist several weeks ago. He's been going crazy trying to deal with the cast. It's a pain for him in more ways than one. Hopefully it'll come off this week.

My niece got engaged Sunday morning. I'm so excited for her. Of course, I can't believe she's old enough to be engaged. Seems like just yesterday I was babysittiing her. Crazy.

Anyway, that's us updated for now. What's been happening in  your world?

really random out of the blue post

I don't know what the willy wonka is up with my computer (actually it's the hubs' computer, just for the record).
When I'm logged in under my user id  blogger won't let me post or change anything on my blog. I get some dumb error message. When I log in on my hubby's id though, it lets me do whatever I want.
Must have something to do with cookies right?

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so, hey! Long time no see right? I think I've visited my blog like, three times this year. Pretty sad. Not sure why I'm visiting now, seems  like a pretty desolate place. Guess I just thought I ought to try and update it, since the year is already half over.

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I think the kids are ready for school to start again. Summer's getting kinda' boring. I have mixed feelings. I'm going to miss sleeping in.
Jason and Justin start Kindergarten this year. I can't believe it. All my kids are going to be in school! I'm SERIOUSLY looking forward to a couple of hours of ME time every day. We'll see what my emotional status is like the first day of school. I'm thinking there won't be any tears.
The boys have different teachers. They got to meet them on Friday. I think they both liked their teachers. Jason said he has the best teacher ever! Justin on the other hand didn't have a whole lot to say to his teacher. He's so shy. I think he'll be ok though. One of his friends from church will be in his class. I don't know if Jason will be so lucky, but I think he'll do fine. He's the social butterfly of the two. I am a little concerned about how they're going to react to being away from each other. It'll really be the first time for them to be away from each other for more than a couple minutes.

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I took the girls to get their hair cut today. Ashley's is very funky and choppy. Haley's is shorter than I wanted it to go. We'd made a deal that she either has to wear girl clothes or she has to haved a girly haircut, (short story--she would NOT go into the girls bathroom at Wally world a while back cause she thought people would think she was a boy going into the girls' bathroom--that's when I told her she had to decide----->girl clothes or girl haircut) so she opted for the girl haircut. She picked out a cute hairstyle, and the stylist cut it and well, she still looks like a boy (it doesn't look much like the picture). Oh well, maybe next time.

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 I'm a little scared and a lot dumbfounded. I think the Lord is so smart. Sometimes he knows you need a real kick in the pants to get you off your duff and doing the things you're supposed to be doing.
Let's just say I recently got a kick in the pants. More on that later.

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I'm saddened by some news about a fellow blogger. Some of you might know of him. He's a teacher who recently passed away. I've been searching for news about his death, and came across it tonight. I was shocked and saddened. Don't even know what to think about it. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. I'm hoping the circumstances prove better than they're currently looking.

~~~~~
Well, that'll be  a wrap for tonight.

Everybody enjoy your Sunday!

Catching up

Wow! Feel like a stranger over here again. Blogger's been making changes!! I'm gonna have to figure out how to do a post all over again. lol Maybe that'll teach me to be away for so long.

Not a lot going on in my neck of the woods lately. I've been working off and on at the job. They don't give me too many hours currently, which sucks paycheck-wise, but I don't mind so much mommy-wise. It's nice to spend time with my family. Speaking of, my mom came to visit this past weekend  along with Jon's mom. It's nice that they get along well and are happy to take a road trip together once in a while. It was lovely having them both here.

Got my boys enrolled in a little kindergarten prep class at the rec center. They love it. It's crazy how lazy I've gotten. They start kindergarten in the fall, and I feel like I haven't prepared them at all. They can say the alpahbet and count to ten, they know their colors and shapes; but it still feels like there's so much more they're supposed to know before they start. Maybe it's just cause they're actually younger than the girls were when they started (Ashley was almost six and Haley was five and a half--the boys will have just turned five when they start).

The girls are doing good in school. They're both ready for summer this year though. Ashley is now a redhead. I'll have to post a picture. I really like it. Haley got her ears pierced, and it ended traumatically. The earring embedded itself in her ear. Poor kid. She decided she didn't want earrings anymore after we got it out. Can't say I blame her, but I felt bad that one of the first "girly" things she tried ended poorly.

I've been getting accustomed to my new sewing machine. I really like it so far. I've made a couple bags, some cute little baby booties for some friends and I'm currently working on a few projects for our Young Women's camp fundraiser on Saturday. Most of my computer time is currently spent on Pinterest. go figure.
I have tried a couple things. I'll have to do some posts about them.

Well, guess that catches ya'all up for now.

Oh! Before I forget. Keep me accountable guys. I've committed to 30 days of exercise for the month of May. Trying to form some healthy habits. Two days down, 28 to go. I've got to get some of this jiggle off!

Cell Phone Saturday #9

Winco opened here a couple weeks ago.

We were so excited.

Here's our table after our recent shopping trip there.

We spent $300!!!!

This is just some of the junk food.

 Hmmm, wonder why I've gained ten pounds in the last month?

This is kinda gross....

Can you see what it says? My daughter blew this up with her nose.

Seriously.

I don't even know how she does it without passing out.

          I love how my boys line all their little toys up in a row.

Looks like a battle is about to commence.

My money's on the Transformers side.

Cell Phone Saturday #8

My newest toy.....

It has 100 different stitch options--seriously high tech for me.
Hope I can figure out how to work it!

Cell Phone Saturday #7

Joining Gigi for her fun Cell phone Saturday.

Really random pics this week. I wasn't doing much anywhere, including here in blogland. I've been SO lazy.

 Sunrise the other day. So pretty

 I snapped this from a library book about cakes. This is so cute! I think it was made from a suare and a round cake pan. Adorable. I'm going to have to try it out this summer.

Valentines cookies I made. I stacked them three high and made little "cookie cakes". Sorry about the blue hue. Bad cell phone lighting.

Have a great weekend!

Courageous

Have you seen this movie yet? It's really good. Love that they're making some decent movies. Something you can watch with your kids and not worry about indecent scenes or foul language; movies that aren't afraid to express a faith and love of God.  Go out and rent it if you haven't. This kind of thing needs to be supported.

Such a great message too. I am inspired to be a better parent.




I also love the title song from the movie by Casting Crowns. I always turn up the car radio when it comes on.

Cell Phone Saturday #6

Oh man, I love these. I get 'em at Target. They're deeeelish!

 Jason's playdoh creation. He said it was a flower. I think it looks like a dinosaur.

Haley in a play this week for activity days. She did great!

My scripture tote is finished for the Releif Society service auction this week. I seriously thought about keeping it for myself.

Yes please!!!!

I'm thinking if the boys get jobs at In n Out, that means free burgers for mommy.

Thrifty Thursday

Wow! I'm becoming so forgetful. I sat down at the computer about four hours ago to do this post, got sidetracked and then forgot to post.
Crazy!

I've been visiting the thrift stores so much lately, that I'm thinking maybe I'll do a weekly post about it.

We hit Savers this week. The cool thing about Savers is that they have a lot of clothing. Their prices are a little high though in my opinion.

I still managed to find a few things though.

 I've been looking for something like this to store my tin foil, saran wrap, and waxed paper on. My grandma had one similar. They just don't make these anymore it seems like. Well, they probably do; but they'd probably cost an arm and a leg. It had two price stickers on it, one for $6.99 and one for $1.99. I wasn't willing to shell out 7 bucks for it, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask for it for the lower price. The clerk said it was supposed to be $6.99, but she'd let me have it for the lower price. Score!  I hope it works well. I need to clean it up a bit and get it mounted on the wall. Trying to decide if I want to paint it red, or just leave it au' natural.

Love these letters. More for my collage wall. I want Jon to put up a couple small shelves, and these will go on one of 'em. $4.99---a little overpriced for a thrift store I think, but I loved them so much I had to have them.

This actually came from the dollar store, not the thrift store. Just a small plaque, but for a buck I thought it was a great deal. So cute!

Weekly goals-Week 4

I'm a day late. Just didn't feel like doing anything yesterday.

So, here are the before's again of Jon's side of the closet.

 And, after....

 work clothes on the right

 other clothes on the left

 I got quite a few boxes cleared out and/or relocated to their appropriate spot. Condensed a few boxes. It was kind of hard sorting his side, just cause I didn't know what he would want to keep or get rid of.

 Jon had the idea to add some sort of shelf unit on his side to store extra food products (our pantry, unfortunately doesn't have as much space as we might like), so you can see the shelving I added in the middle of his side up there ^ (works for his shoe storage too).  Now I just need to decide what food to store in our room.
Overall, I'm satisfied with it. It's not as organized as I'd like it to be, but it looks better than it did before.


My other project was to get the Valentine's decorations out.

I don't have a whole lot for V-day.

 Close-ups.....

 Those two little jars on the left and right WERE full of cute little pink and red foil covered chocolate hearts.

Should have known better.

I was going to work on my little craft spot for this week, but I kind of got ahead of myself and did some straightening and organizing already. I failed to take before pics, and have since had to relocate my desktop for another use. So, at some point I'll post pics of that project. It's in no way complete. I want to find the perfect desk for it. Currently I'm using two very narrow bookshelves as supports and a piece of wood for the surface.

For this week, I think I'm going to focus on my paper piles:

I have boxes and boxes of paper stored that I need to go through. That basket and two of those boxes are pretty much just for the shredder. 

There's another box in the closet full of pictures and mementos that I need to get into memory albums.

Another box is full of stuff I just need to sort and file or shred or toss.

And I'm sure if I look around a little more, there's probably another box or two lurking about.

So, this week I'm going to sort through it all and at least figure out what needs to be done with what.

Cause seriously?

 I think it'll take me a week just to shred what's in those boxes.

Sounds like a great activity for my kids!