Happy Halloween

Puppy Smurf and Regular Smurf.

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I don't mind the holiday so much as all the prep work leading up to it. That's why Hudson is "Puppy Smurf." In my defense, however, Hudson wasn't easy to work with.

He refused all of our cute costumes that we pulled out of the closet. He wanted to be a puppy. This is the same costume his whole class used last Friday at the end of Red Ribbon Week. However, he also wanted a blue face to match his brother. Puppy Smurf was born.

Evan won 2nd place in his class and gets to enjoy a pizza party at school.

I was a bee part of the day. The wings started to hurt my arm pits.

Eric got sick and spent most of the day in bed with a fever. He missed trick or treating, and I know he hates that. The kids and I hit the neighborhood and brought in a huge haul.

Maybe I should start planning costumes for next year right now.

Little Bit of Random

Here's our life for the past two days.

I teach the cooking class elective every Tuesday and Thursday. A few years ago, this fact would have been hilarious. However, now that I am a decent and sometimes even good cook, I feel marginally qualified to teach junior high kids basic kitchen skills!

Yesterday we made octopus hot dogs. Tomorrow we'll be making English Muffin pizzas. As long as the kids bring their ingredients each day, cooking is usually a success. I can't wait until the end of the trimester when I take the kids to Japanese Kitchen to let them cook lunch for us. Best part of teaching cooking class.


Who knew hot dogs will curl when boiled if they are cut into strips? I did!


Pretty full moon at the end of soccer practice yesterday.


I got all this for 40 cents!

-10 lb. bag of rice
-Softsoap - used a 35 cent off coupon
-cucumber
-Campbell's soup
-Airheads

The main reason I got my total down so low was because I had a $10 off coupon that I received in last week's shopping trip. I needed rice and a cucumber, so I made sure to buy a few more items to get my total to just over $10.

I paid with two quarters! I soooooo love my coupons!

Blast to the Past

The boys and I went to visit my mom today. I was having fun going through my mom's closet and found these beauties:



I love them! Actually, I got two pairs of gold shoes! And a gorgeous gold clutch purse. I can't wait to have an occasion to use the purse.

Mom has two more clutch purses that she wouldn't give to me today. One is silver, and one is white. So pretty.

I wonder what other treasures Mom is hiding!

CVS 10/9

Today's CVS trip was just okay. I was seriously unimpressed with the CVS sale ad, and I was also disappointed in the coupon selections in the paper. Oh well.

That being said, I wanted to use a $5 off of $25 coupon for CVS. I figured I'd somehow be able to buy enough merchandise to add up to $25!

Here's the haul:


I bought:
-3 greeting cards
-2 Sensodyne toothpastes - used two $1 coupons
-2 Purex laundry soap - BOGO free
-2 Right Guard body wash - used $1 coupon

Shelf price would have cost $40.51. Besides the manufacturer coupons, I also used the $5 off $25 coupon and $8 in Extra Care Bucks.

Subtotal was $11. That gave me a 73% savings. I also earned $10 in Extra Care Bucks for next week, and the sales look much better.

Like I said, not my best work. However, I'll take a 73% savings over no savings any day!

And here's a little tidbit I just looked up...CVS is a drug store and the acronym, at one point stood for "Consumer Value Store". Now the acronym is said to stand for "Convenience, Value and Service" according to the CVS corporation.

Oh Hudson

Eric went to work today preparing for a new phone system install next week at work. It was the boys and me for the day.

After 9 a.m, I banned the kids from the family room and told them they either had to play outside or in their bedroom.

Hudson was pretty wiped out from playing all day.


Monkey could barely hold his head off the table.


The kid spends most of his time with his blanket on his head. I don't know why.

That's it for today.

Hitch a Ride

Busy day already, and we still have two more events to go.

We were up early to run to Target to buy soccer snacks. No...I didn't take care of this ahead of time. Yes...I should have.


Apparently, Hudson was wiped out from the seven minutes we spent in Target. He decided to hitch a ride under the cart. Super parenting at work here.

Then it was off to a soccer game. We won. Evan scored three goals. Then we headed to soccer pictures.

We still have a second soccer game and a special Mass to go.

I also got a phone call from my brother-in-law saying that my sister might be in labor. Not good. She's only 30 weeks pregnant. I'm saying prayers that it is just dehydration from migraines and throwing up.

Fresno Fair Kids' Day

Today was our annual school trip to the Fresno Fair. We had gorgeous weather and no worries!


I was originally supposed to drive four 7th grade girls along with Evan. At the last minute, another mom offered to drive the girls, and Evan and I were able to tag along with Stacey and five 7th grade boys. Stacey is our school secretary, but she's also my super great friend. Evan had fun sitting in the middle of the big boys in the back of the car.


Evan and the boys saying hi to Smokey the Bear.


Evan and Blake play a giant game of chess. We need a large chess set like this at school!


Making big bubbles in the Kid Zone.


Evan the Turtle.


Preschoolers didn't get to go to the fair, so we had to buy something for Hudson. I love buying the rocks in a bag. For $1 you get all sorts of pretty stones.


I let Evan get a mold of his hand. He wasn't crying in this picture, I swear. He was shielding his eyes from the sun. Sadly, Hudson got hold of the hand and pieces of the bottom have crumbled off. Ugh. We can't let Hudson touch anything.

I spent too much money, ate yummy fair food, and had a good day. I love getting the super creamy gyros each year. Once I get that, I'm good. I also bought the super sticky and sweet cinnamon rolls that we'll enjoy for breakfast tomorrow. So good. The food is half (or all) the fun at the fair.

Live With You

Hudson just informed me that he is not going to get married because he has to stay and live with me!

Then he said, "After I go to college, I still have to live here to protect you!"

Awwwwww! It's moments like these that make me fall in love with this kid over and over! I sure do love my LoveBug.

Last Day of Six

Today is the day before Evan's seventh birthday. It's his last day of being six. I say the same thing every year, but every year I mean it.

I can't believe that my baby is about to be 7. I can't believe I've been a mom for seven years. I can't believe how fast time has flown by.

I know there are days when I CANNOT wait for the boys to be older and more independent. However, I realize that this precious time is slipping through my fingers. My babies are growing up so quickly.

We had a fairly easy and relaxing day.

I promised Evan I would do some science with him. He got a few science kits for Christmas and wanted to work on one. He made water turn fizzy, and he made a crystal ball in a test tube.


Future scientist. That is what he tells us he wants to be when he grows up.

After the kids went to bed, I had to drive over to my friend's house to retrieve Evan's birthday present.


Eric was in the middle of switching the seat when I took this picture.

And while Eric was getting the bike ready, I was doing this...

...frosting birthday cupcakes to take to school.

And not to leave Hudson out, I caught him singing his ABC's.



We also had a super busy Saturday with two soccer games and a soccer match. Evan scored goals in both games and he came in fourth at cross country.

Good days.