Projects

This is the ONLY Halloween picture of my little guy. Both Tanner and I had the flu that day (so sad, I know) so we did not get to go out at all. He's still pretty cute, though.







These are the cupcakes I made for his birthday party. It was a HUGE hit and I can't believe he is 7! I can still remember the day when we were so worried if he would make it through the night of his first transfusion.





The un-iced cupcakes (directions in a following post)





How do I stay on top of things??? I have a calendar hanging on my front door on the inside so I can look at it every time I go out the door to see what's up for the week/day etc. It's a second calendar to my kitchen one. It's my life line.





This wreath was so easy and I am in LOVE with it. I'm all about wreaths right now.


I have some really yummy recipes I'm going to share in the next few days...so if you like food, come back.

I took the plunge

I got the H1N1 shot. I really wasn't sure about it but I was volunteering at the clinic they were running here and a lot of people said I should have it. I was really leaning on the side of doing it and so I decided, why not? I wasn't going to have it but then I talked to my sister and I changed my mind. Tanner will be getting it as well. I talked to the kidney specialist (nephroligist) and they strongly recommend him getting it so we will be going tomorrow to have it done. He is NOT good at shots. When he had his vaccinations last year, it took 2 of us to hold him down still. And he's strong so it's not that easy to that. Some people may think that it's ridiculous that he throws a tantrum (so I've been told) at 5 years old to get a needle, but he's just a kid still so I do not attempt to make any excuses or justifications for the way he is. I compare it to when my Dad died. People brought over copious amounts of casseroles and for years and years I could not stand to eat casseroles. It wasn't until I was married that I could willingly eat them. It's a bad memory that's associated with them. I'm totally fine with them now. I don't make them too often but I do like certain ones more than others.

We had a really great Halloween. Matt handed out the candy and sent Tanner and I out and told us not to come back until our pillow case was half full. We did end up being out for about 2 1/2 hours but our pillow case was only about 1/3 full. Tanner was having fun and it was a nice night so we just kept going.

Lots has been going on and we are having a great time as the weather is fairly good still.

What to say, what to say...

I haven't had a super eventful or exciting life the last week and a bit. Tanner was home sick all last week. He had a really high fever and I finally took him to the Doctor and he said it was just something viral. A lot of it is going around right now so I kept him home. I am REALLY busy making Christmas cards for the Christmas craft and bake sale on December 5th. I want to have 150 cards and I'm at 54 right now. I'm duplicating now. That's much quicker than coming up with 150 different cards. So that's time consuming. Then after that I get to assemble my 54 cards for our family and friends. I decided to something super easy that I could cut out and assemble later so it won't take too long to do that.

There's a movie that we rented at the Library that I have to strongly recommend to people. It's called Forever Strong. It's a really good movie. It's rated 14A but there was no swearing or sex. I think it had to do with thematic things. There's a scene in it where the kids are at a party and there's alcohol but to me, that isn't a reason to rate a movie 14A. It was really inspiring and it's based on a Rugby team in Highland, Utah.

Halloween is this week and I'm not really that excited. I don't know why. I should try to get more excited so Tanner gets more excited about it.


(This is him on Halloween night)




(We went as a Pioneer family to our ward family Halloween party)


I'm more excited for Christmas. I can NOT wait to give all my gifts to my family and few friends I buy for.

I bought one of those gifts today. I bought tickets to the "So You Think You Can Dance Canada" tour in Calgary!!! I called up my friend this morning at 7AM and told her the good news! So December 2nd we're off to Calgary to enjoy a fun night. We have reasonably good tickets. It's 7th row in the lower section (not floor). It's going to be so much fun!


(Us on the big night!)

Well, not much else is new. Have a great day!

Do you have time?

So much to tell and so little time...lol.

First, Tanner had this little school project they did. They all got a turn taking a little stuffed owl home for a sleepover and they had to find a fact about the owl and take it back the next day to school. Well, Tanner was the first one and he had it for 4 days because they sent it home with him on Wednesday and he didn't go back to school until the Monday. He loved that little owl, named Percy, like it was his own real pet. It was so cute. The fact that he choose was to say that Percy was a spotted owl and spotted owls are endangered because people keep cutting down their homes.









Second, Halloween. It was fantastic! Tanner was so cute. He had his school party on the Wednesday and he dressed up as a cowboy. He took his bullseye horse to school and that was a big hit. They had asked me to come and help in the class room so I did. Tanner loves when I volunteer. I like it too. Then that night our ward had it's annual pie and chili cook off. It was really good and Tanner loved the fishing game they had. He got a pack of 3 cars. The kids all got treat bags from the Primary so it was more candy for him. Then of Friday my Mom came down for Halloween and to go to the temple the next day. He was SO adorable the night of Halloween. He was a chef for that night and he was so cute...if I do say so myself, but you be the judge of that....








Thirdly, I have really been into old movies. Movies like Casablanca, Funny Face, and Paris in April. I just rented Gone with the Wind and can't wait to watch them. There is something so wonderful about the older movies. I love all the dancing and singing. Such good movies.

Fourthly, my new favorite household item is a bottle brush. It works wonders to clean my cheese grater. It takes the cheese right off. And we are big cheese eaters so we use it a lot.

And lastly, meals. I have made quite a few new meals and we are loving it. We just had this amazing chicken pot pie tonight. Last night we had this tex mex chicken casserole thing that was soooooo yummy, and last week we tried Lynn's supper in a soup can. SO EASY! I of course being a cheese lover am going to double the cheese. It calls for 4 slices, but I would for sure do more to add a little more cheese flavor.

So that's the latest tidbits on me. One cute thing that Tanner said last week was when he was laying in my bed while I was "asleep". Matt had come in the room to get dressed and he said very forcefully, but while whispering "Daddy, get out of Mommy's room right now. Mommy is sleeping. Shhhh". He is so cute and is growing like a weed.

Well, I think that's it for now. Until next time, have a great week.

Match maker, match maker....

I only have about 30 minutes before I have a lady from Tanner's school coming over for a home visit. I was going to clean my house perfectly but then I thought, NO! I have a 4 year old and if she or anyone for that matter, expects me to have a perfectly cleaned house with a 4 year old, they are crazy! I'm not typically a showy kind of person. If you come to my house in the middle of the day and it's messy, oh well. If I know you are coming over, I will 99% of the time clean it so it looks nice for when you come. I would have made the beds (which I am SO SO SO bad at doing on a daily basis), picked up the toys in the bathroom, done the dishes, wiped off the counters and table. Some days are better than others to do that stuff. If we make a big mess at the table, I wipe it off but if it's just a little bit, I think, "ah, I'll do it tomorrow". I use to be way better at keeping it nearly perfectly clean on a daily basis but now, I have Christmas projects to work on and service to give and bread to bake and school to take Tanner to and other things. Maybe that will be my new year's goal is to be in a better routine to do that stuff on a daily basis. Plus, we are not a very dirty family. With Tanner and I just home, we don't make a big mess. Maybe I'm just lazy. Lately, it's not what's important to me. Plus, I rarely get people showing up at my house to hang out or pop by for a visit. I have a friend that we go over to each other's houses at 10-15 minutes notice, but that gives me 10-15 minutes to improve my house a little bit.
I know of people and have been to people's houses where every time I go over, their house is perfect. Not a thing out of place. This seems a little weird to me. How do people get their house to be perfect all the time? Especially if they have kids? I could understand if you had older kids and they helped to keep it clean by putting their coats away and not leaving their shoes in the doorway, but if you have little kids, how do you motivate or teach them to keep their toys in certain places so they aren't all over the house?
I'm not even sure why I lack the motivation to be a better housekeeper. My house isn't dirty...please don't think that. I just don't mind if there are a few dishes in the sink or on the counter, of it I haven't vacuumed for 5 days, or if my bed is unmade (you can ask my Mother this, I have NEVER been good at making my bed), or if there are toys in the living room. We certainly don't live a pigsty, but some days, I feel like there are more important things. I do get the things done within a day or two, but I'm not an immediate, get it done right now or you'll think about it for the rest of the day kind of person.
So that's my opinion on that for today.

We had a huge sign up last night that said we had no candy (we are watching our budget and candy wasn't in it this month) and we had a group of teenagers come and knock on our door regardless of the sign. We didn't even bother opening the door. I thought it was kind of funny. Only teens would ignore the sign and do it anyways. We took Tanner to a few houses, even though he was sick and we weren't going to take him but he was really upset when I said no and I didn't think that a few (4) houses would kill him. He had fun for the short time and we got a couple of cute pictures.

My Mom sent him a package in the mail last week and she sent one of those garbage bags with the pumpkin face on it. So we filled it up with leaves for FHE and he was pretty happy about that. It's really cute.

Well, I think that's it for now. Until next time....

HALLOWEEN TAG!

I've been tagged! Halloween tagged, that is. So here goes:

P.S. Sorry I don't have cool pictures. I am scannerless...but Christmas is coming...hint hint!!

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE HALLOWEEN COSTUME AS A CHILD?

I've gone as many things. Clowns, dice, a baby, a pioneer, grapes...but I have to say that by far, my favorite was the dice. It was so cool!

WHAT WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE COSTUME AS A CHILD?

I don't really have a least favorite. I think maybe being a pioneer because no one knew what I was.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE HALLOWEEN CANDY AS A KID? IS IT STILL YOUR FAVORITE?

I would have to say that Caramilk is my favorite and is still among my top 5 (my other 4 are reccess pieces, coffee crisp, oh henry and dairy milk)

HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU STOPPED TRICK-OR-TREATING? DO YOU MISS IT?

I believe that after grade 9 we weren't allowed to go. Well, not only that but we didn't get candy because everyone knew how old we were. We did get to dress up for school day on Halloween.

WHAT'S THE SCARIEST MOVIE YOU'VE EVER SEEN?

Ummmm...I was terrified after watching "Watcher in the Woods" when I was 12 at a Y.W. sleep over. But my latest scariest movie would probably be White Noise.

HAVE YOU EVER DRESSED UP IN MATCHING COSTUMES? WHAT WERE THEY?

I was a baby with Malauney and then in high school with Teisha. We were so cute! I can't count the number of times I dressed up as a baby. It's totally easy. Oh! And my sisters all went as clowns when we were younger. It was very cute.

So, now I tag Bobbi-Jo, Juliette, Tara, and Tiffany.