Halloween

I spent way too much on candy this year. I'm not sure what happened?

So here I sit, in my Halloween socks, with my bat headband. Waiting for the party that never started...

Maybe there are too many other parties? My kids have already worn their costumes twice, received candy, and said trick-or-treat five million times. All before Halloween even came. We've had a few trick-or-treaters, maybe 20 or so, but I thought there'd be so many more.

Kids these days.

It's Murphy's Law, if I hadn't bought any candy - there would've been a line up the sidewalk of angry children demanding candy!! Speaking of that, do you watch Happy Endings? If not, you should start. I suggest the Halloween episode. It's HILARIOUS!

Happy Halloween!!!

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Pumpkins

We spent yesterday at a huge pumpkin patch outside of Omaha and what a perfect day!

I had to work really hard not to let the fact that I had left my camera at my sister-in-law's ruin the perfect day. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm. The kids were happy and so excited. Hubs gave us a whole day, when he could have filled it with work to do's.

I wanted to take pictures of all of the beauty, but only had the Hubs phone. So we have a photo of the day, to remember the fun and excitement and warm fall weather.

Because really, the memories of that day are more important than the photos. We can make do with the phone pictures because we will hold that memory in our hearts - of how great a day spent together as a family can be!


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Frugal? In some instances, yes.

In the interest of full blog honesty. Yes, I am the girl who holds her (cheap) eye shadow together with duct tape after it breaks because I like the color and there's a lot of it left.

I also have been known to use a sharpie to fill in the end of a particularly loved shoe to make it last to at least the end of the season. Who may also convince herself the next year that the particularly loved shoe can make it just ONE.MORE.SEASON.

Yes, that's me.

That is all.
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Science in Action

Yes, my kids take tests at school. They are measured against normed group samples and then tested again to show progress. Yup, that happens.

What we all need to remember is that there are also some really great things going on in schools and that teachers work really hard to make that happen.

The assignment was for science. Bring three ideas of what you would like to bring for a plant buffet. My Bee looked at the fruit and vegetable sections of my two best cookbooks and wrote down 1. Cinnamon Apples 2. Cheesy Broccoli 3. Potato Salad. Hey mom! Did you know that broccoli is a FLOWER?!?!!

The third graders are studying plants in science and today they are having a grand feast of roots, stems, leaves, and flowers.

And we are bringing the flowers.
I say THANK YOU to every grade school teacher, you make such a difference in this world in ways that are amazing and special. There are special halos reserved just for you, I'm sure of it!

Happy soup

The chili that I made this weekend was a little odd, made from random ingredients I already had. V8 instead of tomato juice, navy beans instead of chili beans, corn (?) for no reason other than I thought it sounded good.

What made the chili special were the tomatoes. The last from my garden. Beautiful red tomatoes, my last harvest. Diced and sauteed with onions and garlic.

There are some delicious left overs are in the fridge and waiting for my lunch today. Now that is a reason to be happy.

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Things that are always in short supply at my house: scotch tape, markers, printer paper, glue sticks.

But hey - we are all decked out for Halloween!

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Because they won't be little forever...

A pile of found things can be a very exciting thing around here

Today I choose pure joy over the complete mess of toys in our basement. My kids are still young enough to spend the day pretending all sorts of wacky things and I am choosing contentment in this time rather than frustration.

Joy. Contentment. Fun. What a perfect Saturday.

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