Halloween Fun!

So, I have a confession ... Kason wasn't Yoda.
I know - how horrible am I?!

But, let me explain ...

We went to the store to look at Yoda costumes and while we were rummaging through the racks of them all, I cam across a Thomas the Train costume. Kason LOVES Thomas so, I pulled it out and said, "Look Kason! It's Choo-Choo!" ... That was my mistake right there. He grabbed it with his death grip and walked around the store smiling and saying, "choo-choo!". He looked so happy with his Thomas the Train that I decided ... he needs to be Thomas. Besides, I couldn't find a Yoda costume.

So, instead of paying $20 for a Thomas the train costume that really wasn't that cute, I spent maybe $10 and made him one! We bought him overalls and a little train engineer hat. It all turned out really cute. Too bad he hated it and only wore it for MAYBE 10 minutes the whole night.

We had a fun halloween though. We went with Stephanie, Laela and Mason, and the rest of her family, to the school carnival here. We got maybe 5 pieces of candy from the Trunk or Treat. We ate 50 cent hot dogs and popcorn and Kason got to pet some goats.

Then we went to our wards Trunk or Treat. There weren't as many people there as I remember there being in past years but, it was still fun to see everyone's costumes. After that we went to a few houses of people in the ward. By this time Kason was so exhausted and starving that we decided to call it quits and head home!

It was a good day but, I've decided it's all over-rated. It's so much work for us mom's!!!

Anyways - here's some pictures of our day!

Kason with our scarecrow guy ... like his smile?

Our little train conductor

Honestly, the ONLY picture I got of him wearing his full costume:


Kason checking out the little goats! They were pretty cute.

Kameron and Kason's costumes:

At the Trunk or Treat

Check out this pumpkin Kameron carved for Kason - it's Thomas! Pretty impressive huh?

Kason's Pumpkin!


I made this bag for Kason this year - hopefully it will last for lots of years to come!

All the loot!

Hope you all had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

These pictures are overdue but, we got a little Beagle puppy a few weeks ago.
We named her Ginger, and she is such a sweet puppy.
We got lucky with her because she was already house-trained and she never cries at night.

Here she is when we first got her:

And this is this morning:





Kason absolutlely loves Ginger. He is always asking to play with her.
I think they would play together all day if we let them!


They were having a blast playing this morning! It is so funny to watch them together.








We went to the Harvest Festival in Safford this morning. Ronald McDonald was there and Kason thought he was pretty cool. He wanted to go say hi, so we went over there and when Ronald said hi to Kason, Kason just stood there. We had fun looking at all the booths and eating some yummy food!


Then, this afternoon we went and got some pumpkins. A family in our ward (Gordon & Lisa Thatcher & Family) told anyone they could come and pick pumpkins from their pumpkin patch. It was nice! We didn't have to worry about it being busy, there were plenty to choose from and best of all they were free!! Kason had fun walking through the patch picking out his pumpkin.

Then we came home and Kameron carved his.

(With Kason's help of course!)








The finished product!





I will have to post pictures of the rest of the pumpkins once they all get carved!


Finally - this weekend Kameron's dad has been up here hunting with Matt. And today they got a deer! Kason thought it was pretty cool and he kept trying to pet it.





It was a busy day but we had lots of fun! Needless to say, I think we'll all sleep good tonight!

I have been thinking alot lately about ways to be more frugal.
With the economy the way it is and not very much of
this





to go around.

I'm realizing how important it is for me to stretch our dollar even further.

Here are some ideas I've come up with to save us some money...

* I am planning on making my own laundry detergent ("recipe" found here)
and, using homemade cleaning supplies.

* I need to start getting coupons again (and actually using them!!!)

* I definately need to make more home-cooked meals and less "from the box" meals.

* I am amazed at some of the deals people find at consignment or thrift stores ... I want to start making regular visits!!

What are some of the things YOU do to live frugally and save a little extra money?

C.L.R.

Have you ever heard of CLR kitchen & bath cleaner?

I had always seen the commercials for it on tv and they claimed that CLR removed lime, soap scum, and dirt without a lot of hassle but, I'm always skeptical about those commercials because who knows how honest it all is.

WELL ... 5 minutes for mom handed out the opportunity to be a personal critic for CLR!! I was sent a brand new bottle of the CLR Kitchen & Bath cleaner to use in my house.

Let me tell you - it was AMAZING. It worked like a charm.
It is definately going to be a "must-have" among my cleaners!


Now, I am super embarrassed to show you some of the following pictures BUT - I want to justify that I let the dirt build up a little before I took these pictures - just so I could really put CLR to the test.

So, here was my CLR experiment:

I used it in my kitchen and bathroom.

Kitchen sink:


BEFORE:





{see all that hard water build up?}

AFTER:



{so super shiny!!!!}

my bathroom:

Tub BEFORE:



{can you see that ring of dirt?! I have the HARDEST time keeping this tub clean!!!!}

Tub AFTER CLR:

This is HONESTLY one wipe with the sponge - I didn't even have to scrub!!!!! Usually I'm sweating bullets before my tub is clean!

{A.MA.ZING!}

Before:



{this tub drain had SO much build up - nasty}

After:



Before:



After:



{this was even before I scrubbed at all!! I could seriously see the calcium deposits falling off the showerhead while it was soaking. Not to mention how much better our shower works now!}

This is some amazing stuff. I love it.

I will tell you that I don't love the smell. It's nasty. That is my one and only complaint.

But, there you have it an un-biased opinion of CLR Kitchen & Bath Cleaner. You can find it at most local drugstores and also at Ace Hardware & Do It Best Centers. I am DEFINATELY going to be trying out the other CLR cleaners!!!!

Our weekend!

We had a fun filled weekend. It was fair weekend here in Graham County!
I always get so excited when the fair comes to town.
I love all the junk food; kettle korn, cotton candy, funnel cake.
I love the rides (okay, I used to, now I'm sorta a whimp!)
And I enjoy looking at all the booths & going to the parade.

Kason LOVED it this year!
He got a kick out of all the lights from the rides.
And I'm sure he loved getting to eat Kettle Korn for dinner. (don't judge me - at least I fed him something - besides - we bought him a hot dog and he refused to eat it)
But, his favorite part was all the animals! He would have stayed there all night if we had let him!

Friday morning was the parade. Kason had so much fun. He suprised me by sitting through the whole thing - dancing at the bands, cheering for the floats, and clapping at all the political candidates.


Cheering on the parade!





Dancing at something!





This is towards the end of the parade, he was hungry and tired!





And we got to see a Dodge Viper! They have it here at the Dodge dealership if anyone is interested in purchasing one! (hahaha!)





At the fair:





With Dad & Mom:








With a cow (he wasn't too found of sitting on the hay)





Petting a sheep with Uncle Matt:





And, we took a spin on the carousel!





It was such a fun night!!!


~*~


I seriously have the best husband ever! He had to go into work for a couple hours Saturday morning and he came home with these: (!!!)





Isn't he so sweet?! It made me so happy! He has been working a lot of long days lately and we've missed him a ton, so these made up for all those long hours! {I love ya babe!}


~*~


This morning I made some homemade cinnamon rolls (recipe found here)
They were YUMMY!





And, of course, Kason had to help!!

~*~


I am SO far behind on blogging (like months behind, literally) - hopefully this week I can find the time to get caught up!!


Hope you all had a fun weekend!!

Winner!

Thanks for all your great ideas.
You guys are all very creative!!

This year Kason is going to be YODA!

MEGAN POND

came up with the idea.


*thanks megan!*


I'll send your prize asap!!

Congrats to Megan and thanks to everyone who played along!

Quirky Jami

Susan and Ashley tagged me with the same thing ... 6 quirky things about ME!

1. I can't sleep with my feet covered. They ALWAYS have to be outside of the sheet/blanket.

2. I can't go to bed unless my kitchen is SPOTLESS. Clean sink, dishwasher filled, stove cleaned - I gotta do it all!

3. I seriously think I have Restless Leg Sydrome. Kameron says its not a real syndrome but, I think it is. It's usually when I'm laying down or just relaxing - I just move my leg(s). Sometimes I don't even know I'm doing it, alot of times, when we're in bed Kameron will have to ask me to stop shaking the bed. (whoops!)

4. When I drink water it has to be FREEZING cold or it makes me sick and I can't drink it.

5. I always take a shower the same way (wash hair, condition hair {leave conditioner in}, wash body with soap, rinse hair, wash face, wash body with body wash, shave legs - DONE!) ... if I don't do it in this order I get all discombobulated and my shower takes double the time as usual.

6. I am a craft perfectionist. I LOVE to do crafty stuff but, they have to end up perfect or everytime I look at it I'm kicking myself for not doing it perfectly. It usually takes me hours to do a simple craft for this reason. (this is also to reason I try not to scrapbook to often {despite the fact that i love it!}, it would probably take me years to just finish a whole book!)

Changing Seasons!

It's AUTUMN TIME!

That means ...

leaves changing colors
COOLER WEATHER
spicey scents
&
HALLOWEEN!

I didn't used to enjoy halloween. But, then I had Kason and now I love it!
I love dressing him up in a fun costume, I love watching all the other kids collect their candy, and ... I love all the free candy we get (admit it - you do too!!!)

Last year, Kason was a moose ...



He loved it ... really



Look how precious he was last year! So little!!





Okay, that's not the purpose of this post.

I need your help.

I'm having the HARDEST time thinking of a costume for Kason this year!!!!
I made his costume last year and I'm planning on making it this year but, I have no ideas.

SO ... I decided to do a little giveaway!
And here's the rules of my game ...

1. Leave a comment on this post with an idea for a creative, homemade, cute costume for a 20 month old boy. And, be sure to tell me your favorite Halloween Candy in your comment!

2. I will read through them and pick my favorite idea.

3. Who's ever idea I use I'll send you these:



Homemade craft pumpkins - perfect for you Halloween decor!
(and don't forget a bag of your favorite halloween candy thrown in!)

So, get your creative wheels thinking and start commenting.

I will close commenting on OCTOBER 10th at MIDNIGHT!
And the winner will be announced October 11th!

Good Luck - Have Fun!

I'm excited to hear your ideas!!!!