Praises of a Wife and Mommy

Time for that ooey gooey messy fun!   Any other parent hate the mess of pumpkins?  Don't worry I got over it really fast since my home was already a big mess.   This year we again recruited dad's help with power tools to make the job get done faster.  Dad used a jigsaw to open the pumpkins fast than a knife as well as cutting out the pictures they kids drew on them.  

Happy Halloween... Hallows Eve! We were a bit behind with the pumpkin carving but my almost parent fail turned into a blessing.  It was Halloween night and I needed to still purchase some pumpkins to carve.  The town I work in was all sold out so when I got home we went to another town and pulled up and the sign read, "pumpkins are now FREE!!"'   WHAT!!   We got 4 free pumpkins!   How awesome was that!   When I almost thought we weren't going to find any to carve we got free ones!   YAY! 

Sadly this is the only picture I got on this busy fun filled day!   Last year was my first year helping organize the event and then this year I had to find a team to help me plan it.   It was a lot of work but thankfully there were people that helped me!   I was not expecting the 450+ kids we saw this year!   Some of the costumes were absolutely amazing!!!   I know some parents must have spent a lot of time and money creating some one of a kind costumes!    I had fun making my bag of jelly beans costume...however I had no idea the temperature was going to be close to 80 at the end of October!   So I ended up sweating profusely and having to take off my costume to breath a bit!  I learned a lot and I hope to enjoy it again next year! 

The Annual Witches Walk in LeClaire is soon approaching and thanks to Oriental Trading we have some fun new items for the event!  I'm sure everyone is getting their costumes ready for the big day as my team gets ready for prizes and games!  The new game this year that we will fill up with some water so it doesn't blow away is the Limbo...or I mean the Limb boo!   We also got a few things that will go inside these bags to give the kids from pieces of candy to other items that share the love of Christ!    As I get ready for the event I am already putting more items in a shopping cart on Oriental Trading!   They have the best bulk items to order on the internet!  I am really excited to have this nice banner for the Witches Walk as well!  The colors are perfect and the pumpkins are cute!      

We started our evening with the jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphey's.  Cute and yummy!  It had a ton of cheese on it too...I am a Wisconsin girl so lots of cheese is AWESOME!  In our town we had trick or treating tonight so here is my adorable bear and lovely unicorn.  First we went to a church where they do "trunk or treating."   It was a bit rainy/misty here tonight so we did not go to many houses after we went to the church.  My daughter was having so much fun she could have kept going.  

The first thing I did was add a few drops of dye to some glue to make really pretty glue.  :)  Very simple and inexpensive.     The first thing we made were some colorful spider webs.                                                                 Good Job, Selah! This was my example.    After the web's we did some more fun ones.   My hubby found  HELLO KITTY... Do you see her?  HOW COOL!  :)

HAVE A SAFE HALLOWEEN Swords, knives, and similar costume accessories should be short, soft, and flexible. Avoid trick-or-treating alone. Walk in groups or with a trusted adult. Fasten reflective tape to costumes and bags to help drivers see you. Examine all treats for choking hazards and tampering before eating them. Limit the amount of treats you eat.     Hold a flashlight while trick-or-treating to help you see and others see you. Always WALK and don't run from house to house. Always test make-up in a small area first. Remove it before bedtime to prevent possible skin and eye irritation. Look both ways before crossing the street. Use established crosswalks wherever possible. Lower your risk for serious eye injury by not wearing decorative contact lenses. Only walk on sidewalks whenever possible, or on the far edge of the road facing traffic to stay safe. Wear well-fitting masks, costumes, and shoes to avoid blocked vision, trips, and falls. Eat only factory-wr...

So I got a letter from one of the local dentists in town and I want to share the neat program they have.  They have a buy back on kids Halloween candy.  When a child 12 or under comes in on  November 1st they will pay your child $1 for every 1 pound of candy and they will get a new firefly flashing toothbrush! So what will the Dentist do with all of the candy they buy??  The candy will be shipped overseas with the help of a local post office to our courageous troops while serving our country.     Not only do they send the candy to our troops but they are also teaming up with a local food pantry and will match $1 per pound received!  AWESOME!     "Global sugar consumption for kids increases by about 2 % annually and currently sits at 50 million tons per year.  This means parents need to be more diligent right now more than ever before.  Too much candy can lead to weight gain, as well as caviti...