Wonderful Christmas Gift

I have a dear friend that I like to barter with... I sew some clothing for her darling little girls, and she paints for me! This morning at church, she told me my Thanksgiving wreath was ready! This is our 4th wreath from her and I love this one so much!! I was ready to put up our Christmas one, but it will have to wait 2 more weeks!!



Be sure to check out her website HERE! She has so many cute Christmas gifts for friends, family and teachers!

FULL

I saw this on another blog a while back and thought it is so true... I think my husband needs to read it at least once a month when he thinks I have it so easy at home.

Stocking Stuffer Idea #1

I'm hoping to get my Christmas shopping done early this year so I can enjoy myself a little more than in years past. It seems like I'm always out shopping and wrapping at the very last minute!! The kids have already made their lists and I'm ready to tackle them!!

I found this adorable website from a blogging friend of mine, Mandy.



This is what I ordered for the kiddos, as I'm getting tired of wiping sticky finger prints off of my new counters every morning!



You can find all of these goodies by clicking HERE. Plus, if you put FRIEND10 in the coupon code, you'll save 10% off of your complete order! They have tons of different things and color combinations to choose from! Go check them out!!

Child Labor

Last Monday I was picking Jack up from school at noon and Nate called. He wanted to meet us for lunch (aka, Mommy hadn't gone to the grocery store over the weekend and there wasn't anything to eat at the house). When we were sitting there, I told Nate that we got Jack's tuition statement that day and how much it was.

Nate: Wow, Jack. I think it's time for you to get a job to start helping with your preschool tuition.
Jack: I already have a job, Daddy.
Nate: You do???
Jack: Yes, I was the door holder today. That's my job.
Nate: How much does being a door holder pay?
Jack: "Nofing"

Halloween Festivities

We have had so much fun these past few weeks with the weather getting nicer (except for Hurricane Ida looming around this week!!) I have lots to share, but thought that I would share some Halloween pictures.

First, is the party in Jack's class. Everyone dressed up in their costumes, had a special snack, and then went upstairs for some fun games. Parent volunteers were stationed in each room with Halloween themed games. I was in charge of the pumpkin water table :-)









That same afternoon, we headed over to a friend's house and decorated cookies!



On Friday, Mallory's class went on their first field trip!! They got to bring their costumes to school and put them on right before we headed out on the bus to the retirement home to trick or treat. Here is the class with their teacher right before we left!



Later that afternoon, the kindergarten classes put on their nursery rhyme hats that they created and paraded throughout the entire school. All of the other classes came out to cheer them on. It was so much fun!!



Saturday was fun filled for us!! Mallory had her final soccer game of the season, then we headed over to my dad's business to celebrate with the team. We all played putt-putt golf and had ice cream! We took a little rest and then got the kids dressed for a birthday/halloween party! I couldn't convince Mallory to be a Gator Cheerleader this year...













Everyone pooped out after the parade down our street!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!!!

We have been a busy bunch of pumpkin collectors these past few weeks!!

First, it was our annual Pumpkin Playdate with our best friends. We all meet at the pumpkin patch, take a million pictures of the kids running around (this year they actually stopped and POSED for pictures!) They must be growing up!







Then we all head over to my friend, Kim's house where the real fun begins! The kids paint and decorate their pumpkin's to their heart's desire. Our pumpkins turned out pretty well. The last few years we have come home with black pumpkins from all the paint colors mixing! It was rainy and wet outside, so we didn't get a whole lot of pictures sadly!





Then, the next day, we took the kids and a dear friend down to Bradenton to Hunsader's Farm Pumpkin Festival. It was a great time!





Nate and the kids getting ready for the Hayride through the farm. It was really neat for the kids to see an actual farm with strawberries, blueberries, corn and tomatoes!



This thing was really cool. It was a Pumpkin Cannon. Every hour on the hour they would shoot a pumpkin out of it. We thought the pumpkin would fly about 100 feet or so, but this pumpkin that we saw flew probably 500 feet or more!



Next on the list was Jack's Pumpkin Walk at the Preschool.
We get the kids loaded up in the wagons and head down to the docks by the bay to listen to a few Halloween stories told by the Preschool Director.



Jack listening intently to the story...



Then the kids run like crazy to pick out a pumpkin that we've placed in the grass area.



We have also been to Mallory's school for a pumpkin patch AND to our town's trick or treat night at the park, both of which I didn't bring my camera to. I did take pictures of the kids in their costumes before we left, but I might save those for later, just in case I forget to bring my camera Halloween night! :-)

Mallory has a Halloween field trip on Friday that I'm helping with, so I will be sure to take lots of pictures then!

Stealing

Last night we were sitting on the couch watching the Lassie movie with the kids before bed, and Mallory (with her brain never shutting down) and I have this conversation:

Mallory: Why do people like to steal from us?
Me: I don't know anyone who steals from us, who are you talking about?
Mallory: You know, like the people at the grocery store, at the restaurants and Target?
Me: You mean the cashiers and the waitresses?
Mallory: Yes, they always take your money (credit card) and don't give you anything back.
Me: Sweetheart, we have to PAY for those things...
Mallory: Oh...

We like to give the kids money at the checkout line for them to pay for things and she is used to getting change back, so when she sees that I don't get any change back from using my credit card, she thinks they are stealing my money! We got a good chuckle out of that!

New Ebay Listing and fun adventure

First of all, sorry it's been SO long since I've posted anything. We've been so busy around here, not doing anything special, just getting through the days... It's been EXTREMELY HOT for October for us, breaking heat records almost everyday. We normally don't get in the 90's in October. Thankfully, there is a cold front coming tomorrow and it's supposed to be 55 Sunday morning!! Break out the winter coats!!

We have been decorating the front of the house with fun Halloween things. I'll try to get some pictures of them tomorrow and post what it looks like!!

I hosted a baby shower last weekend with a bunch of friends for a girlfriend that is having her third little girl in a few weeks. I was in charge of making a quiche (which I'll post the delicious recipe soon) and the favors. Her colors for the nursery are pink and brown. I got the idea for the favors from BAKERELLA, and boy were they a hit!! I think I made mine WAY too big, but they were delicious! I just took some terracotta pots that I had and spray painted them pink and then painted the brown dots on them with craft paint. Christine took the pots home with her to decorate the nursery with!



So now on to the fun adventure... A few weeks ago Nate went out spear fishing with some guys from work, so my mom and I took the kids bowling. We thought bowling would be so much fun a) because we went to a birthday party at the same place and the kids loved it and b) they love bowling on the Wii. Boy, were we wrong!!

"THIS BALL IS TOO HEAVY!!"


Mallory is a pro at Wii bowling, beating all of us 90% of the time, so this was really hard for her.



She didn't want help, but finally gave in and let us.



All Jack cared about was eating. He thought the menu was the neatest thing.






Here is our newest listing on eBay. Snow Bunny, it's OOAK, best fit 3/4/5. So cute for winter!!

You can find the listing HERE.

Soccer Season is a BLAST!!!

Mallory is LOVING soccer this year. Maybe it's because she knows what she's doing now (with the exception of trying to sometimes control the ball with her hands), or maybe it's the fact that her favorite person of all time is her coach, or maybe it's all the friends on the same team, or maybe it's the uniform...they named themselves the Orange Pumpkins!! Who knows, maybe it's everything all mixed in to one.

She is smiling and dancing and even getting mad when she is taken out of the game to allow other kids a chance. Mallory scored 4 goals the first game and 4 goals in the second game!!

First, here are the Orange Pumpkin Cheerleaders!! (**side note** Please don't attempt to take a tattoo off of your son's arm for picture day with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It will burn his skin off and leave a bad scar!! Bad Mommy!!)



Let's see some enthusiasm!!??











How many have you scored??







Mallory, we are so proud of you for giving soccer another try this year!! Way to go!!

The Kitchen Reveal & Game/Giveway!

***UPDATE*** WE HAVE A WINNER!!! ANNETTE, PLEASE EMAIL ME!!!

So we aren't 100% done, and who really knows when that will ever happen! LOL I'm going to share some before and after pictures so you can see how far we have come!

We still have some painting and grouting to do, but the structure is complete and I have the fabric for window seat cushions...still searching for the coordinating prints for the pillows and my chair that needs to be recovered. I'm thinking of using lime green and a coral color for the pillows and accent colors. I'm going to paint the bar stools black (hopefully before our big Thanksgiving dinner!).

****Preschool style game/giveaway!! The first person to leave a comment with the correct answer to "What is wrong with this photo?" in the 4th photo down, wins a prize to be determined!!****

Before:



After:



Before:



After:



These are just some random before and after, they don't necessarily show the exact sport where things were.











And here is my inspirational kitchen photo. I think my kitchen looks pretty similar to this! Yay! Mission Completed!!