Big Pumpkin Time!

Last night we got big pumpkin out again. The boys LOVE this pumpkin. They talk about it all year! They say that he says, "Happy Halloween, OOOOO" They are also excited about the scarecrows from Mawmaw and Papaw. Coming up next is the pumpakin patch down the street, they have been talking about that a lot lately, and the state fair! I have grown to love fall.

Hugging their scarecrows.

Yard Sale!

We had a yard sale this morning with our Bible Study to raise money with our church's MINA Project, which you can read about here http://www.gethope.net/Mina2008.htm. So to multiple our money by 8, which is the goal but anything is good, we decided to do a yard sale. We asked for donations and had a good amount of stuff donated. To those of you that donated, thank you, thank you, thank you! Surprisingly, STARBUCKS donated a HUGE thing of coffee and lots of goodies, cake, brownies, etc. Which we sold and they were very popular items. The bear claws were yummy! We also had Krispy Kreme, because we had no idea Starbucks would throw in all the food. That was of course popular. Well our sale was a success!! We ended up making over $400 for the cause!!! Andy and I were totally shocked at how many people came and how much we sold. We still are selling Krispy Kreme Partnership Cards, which are awesome! With these cards you get 10 buy one get one free dozens! The card only cost $12, so you essentially are getting 8 free dozens of Krispy Kreme doughnuts with that price. These are great for work, school, MOPS, church or holiday parties. There is NO expiration date and you can use them at any KK store where the doughnuts are made. So if anyone wants one let me know or if you just want to make a donation to our MINA project then that would be great too! We have until October 25th to make money, so we will have the cards until then.

Below are some pictures are our event!

This is me and our totally packed with stuff living room at about 6:00 this morning. Notice how terrible I look, because our alarm did not go off and we just happened to be awakened by a child that wet the bed at 6, just when everyone was to arrive! I barely remember this pic being taken because I had not yet had my coffee.



Here are our items! The weather was great. A little muggy, but at least it didn't rain.

Ryan, who did a great job of collecting money and selling food!

And baby C, who had several big offers!

Easy, Yummy and Messy!

Easy Italian Pasta Bake

1 lb. extra lean ground beef
3 cups whole wheat penne pasta, cooked, drained
1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1/3 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1-1/2 cups KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese
Make It
HEAT oven to 375°F. Brown meat in large skillet; drain. Add pasta, sauce and 1/2 the Parmesan; mix well.
SPOON into 13x9-inch dish; top with remaining cheeses.
BAKE 20 min. or until heated through.

I made this last week and as you can tell it was a hit! I didn't put the parmesan cheese in, because I didn't have it. I also used meatballs instead of ground beef because I was lazy. I just cooked and cut the meatballs up really small. The boys love meatballs, so they loved it!

Interesting Recipe

Over on the side I have a link for A Year of Crockpotting blog and today I just read this recipe called Applesauce Chicken on her blog. The boys, well mainly Cale, and Andy love applesauce and we all love bok bok (chicken), so I think that I am going to make this. It sounds super easy and uses frozen chicken, how much easier can cooking be. Like I have said before I really do not like cooking, but I know it is cheaper, we can definitely stand to save a few dollars, and it is healthier than eating out. This recipe sounds pretty healthy I think. I will post this week after I make with the review.

I have been doing the Special K diet for the past week. You are suppose too lose 2 pant sizes in 2 weeks or something like that. I feel like I can somewhat stick with this diet plan, since I really hate the word diet because I love food and I love to eat. Also, since school has started back and we walk about a mile twice a week at school and the weather is nice I will be walking more. I did runthe other day with the kids! I have been failing miserably at the eating breakfast because I am just not hungry. Andy says that by skipping meals it makes me gain weight. I don't understand that concept no matter how many times he explains it to me. I do have a cup of coffee though and it has calories empty ones but calories none the less. I have been eating Special K with Red Berries for lunch and then only eating a Special K bar or granola bar for a snack. Yesterday and today I did splurge on lunch though and had Mimi's with the girls from Bible study yesterday. Then today we picked up Cook Out on the way home from church, because Andy had to hurry and finish dethatching(?) the back yard. We are trying to get grass to finally grow in the backyard instead of weeds. Andy said this time if it looks nice in the spring we are just going to pay someone to keep it fertilized nicely because we spend so much time and money trying to get the grass to look good every year only to have it look like crap by June.

Mockolate

Yesterday on the Today show there was this story about how Hersheys has taken cocoa butter out of their chocolate and replaced it with vegtable oil resulting in, “I call it mockolate, which is basically a fake chocolate product.” I was wondering why it didn't taste the same. Also, I thought it was strange that last weekend at Target the Almond Joys were completely sold out! Turns out they did the same thing, but because of complaints went back to milk chocolate. Here is the whole news story if you want to read it, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26788143/. It is just like on Friends when Monica had to come up with recipes using mockolate. They all tasted bad. I just hope that Hersheys comes to their senses and decides to go back to the real deal. Now I know why I love Godiva chocolate and as much as it cost they better not be skimping on the ingredients!

TRIPLE COUPONS!!

Harris Teeter is doing triple coupons from now through Sunday! I just went this morning for for my first shop and got $77 worth of groceries for $15! That included, 2 boxes Mini wheats, 3 boxes of Quaker oatmeal, 3 can Quaker oats, 2 big jugs of Tropicana oj, 3 boxes of Success rice, 2 boxes of Quaker granola bars, 2 bags Knorrs rice sides, 3 cans of Frenchs onions, 3 jars of Dukes mayo (this was free) and 1 box of Quaker oatmeal to go. I will be returning to the grocery store for several more trips and hopefully will do the same or better! Make sure you look at your Sunday's paper because a lot of times there are coupons for stuff on sale for the current week in the paper.

Happy Savings!!

This Past Weekend

This past weekend we had lots going on. I had my booth at the Designers Downtown Market in Raleigh. It went super!! I even had two people walk up and say they had seen my shop before on Etsy! How awesome is that?! I had so many sales that Andy didn't even get to read his boring new Steel book that he brought---he is my accountant because I stink at math. Andy and I always joke about what we are going to do when I make my first million. I totally believe that is only a joke, but really how cool would that be! Some things we would definitely be doing if this joke became reality would be hiring yard people, totally remoldeling our house--which I love but needs some updating, Andy a new car--he still drives the car I had in high school.

I also celebrated my birthday and my parents were in town to watch the boys on Saturday for my market and to be here for my birthday. Andy and I were able to go out to dinner one night and then Sunday after church we all went out to eat at yummy El Rodeo, it is a family favorite. The boys love Mexican food and I think it is because I craved nothing but that when I was pregnant with them. Nothing can be too hot for them. They love the quesadillas and queso dip.

Daddy and Cale




Carter is sitting away from us because he wanted to sit all by himself.

Good EASY Cooking

I don't really like to cook, but when I do it must be really easy and not many steps or ingredients. Well if you are like me then Kraft Food and Family magazine is perfect for you! You can subscribe to it at www.kraftfoods.com --it is free. You get them every couple of months and they are great! I have been getting them for several years. I just got my new one in the mail and there are several good recipes.

One is for a very easy and yummy looking coleslaw. It calls for the prepared bags and then you just add two more ingredients. I am going to make the one that calls for bacon and ranch tomorrow. I also want to try the Asian one too--it calls for Asian dressing and peanuts.

Another great recipe is for slow cooker chili. It sounds super easy, ground beef, kidney beans, chili powder, tomato sauce, onion, corn, and the best sounding ingredient--Salsa! We love salsa! I can't wait until it gets cold to try this out. I love using the crockpot, but I hate pre-cooking the hamburger, but oh well. You can find this recipe in its' entirety on the website if you don't yet have the magazine it is slow-cooker hearty beef chili.

Last night I improvised dinner using one of the recipes. I had some kraft mac and cheese that I cooked in a skillet and then after I drained it I put a can of Veg-all in it and put it on low to warm up the veggies. The boys surprisingly at it or most of it. Carter had two helpings and picked out most of the veggies. The boys won't eat carrots because they say bunnies eat carrots. Cale actually picked them all out and said he would give them to the bunnies in a minute.

This website and magazine are a real must have for easy cooking and yummy meals!

MOPS

Today was the first MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) meeting of the year. We had 75 (I think) mom's there! What a great turn out! For those of you that don't know what MOPS is, it is not just for moms with preschoolers. It is for any mom with young children, once all you kids are in elementary school then you graduate out. Basically it is moms getting together to help support one another and have fun. We have brunch and a craft and a speaker. If you want to learn more or find a church near you that offers MOPS then check out www.mops.org.

Back to Couponing!

I have been away from couponing from awhile mainly because it is hard to shop with the boys and I just haven't had the time to really concentrate on it, but today there were some awesome coupons in the paper! After I cut them I went straight to the coupon clippers and got a lot more! If you did not get the paper today then go buy one or hit the coupon clippers! They had Quaker oatmeal coupons in there that were awesome. My boys LOVE oatmeal! Lots of other great ones too like Steamfresh veggies and other great products that you can literally get for FREE with these coupons. Couponing is very time consuming, but when it comes to stuff you use a lot and the coupons mean you can get it for FREE then I just don't understand why people don't coupon. I have been slack this summer, but usually I try and take a Sunday afternoon or a weekly show--not Lost or anything important-- to do my couponing. Really once you get it started it is easy to keep up and you don't have to cut out every coupon just the ones you will seriously use or think you would like to try.

I am definitely going to get back into coupons especially since we only have 2 more car payments!!! I feel like we have been paying for the Bye Bye (that is what the boys call it and I don't know why) forever. Next time we buy a car we are definitely going to pay it off in 3 years. Now we are trying really hard to save for an addition to hopefully begin in January, so I want to do the best I can at saving money. It seems to be really hard since I am addicted to shopping--no lie it is a serious problem.

Here is a picture of the boys from yesterday. They are wearing their new Wolfpack shirts--I don't you it was a serious problem.

Kids are Great...

That is what Andy always says when we are having a hard time with the boys. Today has been one of those. I don't know why, but Carter has been unbelieveably difficult. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Andy is giving them a bath and then they will be going straight to bed!


Carter did however say something so cute today. He got up at nap time to go potty and I asked him did he have to go peepee or poopoo. He said that he had to go peepee and that his poopoo was night night right now and his peepee was wake up and then going back night night. I thought it was funny.

We haven't had too much excitment this week other than school. That has gone wonderful by the way! I have had a great class with no criers! Yeah! I have been praying all summer for my kids that was to have and that they would have an easy transition and that I would get along with my co-worker--not that I thought I wouldn't but it is nice to work with someone you click with and I think we do. I really think we are going to have a great year! It really reminds me of my last year teaching 8th grade. I had great kids and great teammates and just a fun year. So I think this year will be a good one. The boys seem to love their class. They just walked right in yesterday and today and didn't even say bye to me! Their teachers are great and they are just growing up way too fast. Well I guess I should go help Andy it sounds a bit out of control in there!

First Day of School! First Day of School!

The boys and I had our first day of school today! It went surprisingly well. The boys did great just walking in their new 3 year old classroom. We have had to work really hard to prepare them, just because they have had the same two teachers the last two years. Their teachers said they had a great day. While on the playground today one of their teachers told me that she found a cigerette butt on the ground and she said she asked a little girl in their class about it and she said it was the boy in the reds--Carter. It was funny. So I guess we have to work on Carter's smoking habit.

Here are some pictures from home.
Cale--ready for school

Carter--running from me because he didn't want his picture made, but too bad for him thanks to a digital SLR camera I am too fast.



Here are the boys hanging their book bags on their hooks at school. I am going back to strict color coding until the teachers learn who is who. So in all school pics Cale=blue or yellow and Carter=red or green.

The boys spent this past weekend with my parents and had a great time! They had such a good time that they have pretty much slept at every oppourtunity. We had to wake them this morning and then today after school they slept from 1:30-5:15!! I don't know what time they will fall asleep tonight, but I think they are going to need quite a few days of good sleeping to catch up from all the fun they had this past weekend!