Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween

It is the one day a year that kids dressed up as characters go door to door begging for treats from strangers.  So of course we went.

G was Harry Potter.  It was the costume that K wore in the 3rd grade.  I made the scarf and sweater and my sister sewed the cloak.




K dug through the costume box and found a cloak and jester mask.  At 14 they don't want to be something cute I guess.


Z was my baby dragon.  


I wore a superman shirt but I work my coat over it all night because here in MN it was freakin cold out.


Before we left to go trick-or-treating the kids and I put string lights in our pumpkins because they recommend not using candles in them due to it being a fire hazard.


The 3 on the right have the string lights in them and the one on the left has a battery operated flickering candle in it.  I am digging the string light ones more than the candle one.

The kids and D had a blast running from house to house collecting treats.  We met up with his niece E so she could come with us (she was a giant M&M).


Ok it just looks like D is running from house to house but he is carrying Z in a front carrier because a stroller is too big of a pain to bring up and down steps at every house.

We had a fun halloween and hope to have even more fun next year when Z will be walking.

What did your kids dress up as this year?

Thursday, October 30, 2014

G's Ally Nathaniel Book Reviews

G and I have read 4 new books in the last few days.  They are all by the same author who has asked us to do some reviews for her.  He was very excited to do so.  They are all by Allt Nathaniel so...I guess we will start with the first one.



Book #1 Dancing With The Sun This book is free for your Kindle here.

G gives this book 3 stars because it is a "girls book."  I told him that there is no such thing as a girls book or a boys book he seems to believe me for now.  This book tells how a little girl feels when she dances.  Like when she dances she feels like she is flying.  I told G its like when he rides his bike fast he feels like he is flying.  He figured it out after that.

I give this book 4 stars for cuteness



Book #2 Who's Under The Bed This book is $1.00 for the Kindle here.

G and I both give this book 5 stars.  The story is about a monster afraid that a child is under his bed.  We thought it was cute and funny the things the monster was scared that the child might do to him.  It all works out in the end so don't worry about the monster.  This book is so worth the $1 it costs.



Book #3 My Snow Day this book is $0.99 for Kindle here.

G and I are now anxious of the snow to start falling here in MN because he wants to make a snow person with his brother and sister.  He figures that K and him will do most of the work and Z can help decorate it.  This book is about siblings actually working together and helping each other to make a snow woman.  I wish my kids would learn to work together instead of fighting.  G and I give this book 4 stars.



Book #4 Sparkly Me this book is also $0.99 for your kindle here.

G and I gave this book 4 stars as well.  He thought that this was girly at first too but I told him to keep reading and see what he thinks at the end.  He changed his mind after he finished.  This book is wonderful it teaches kids that your "sparkle" is in you not something that you put on or carry with you.  It has some bad reviews on amazon but don't let that make you turn away from this wonderful book.

All 4 books that we read he has now read 3 times because he enjoyed them so much.  If you are looking for books to read to your children G and I recommend and of these especially the second one (Who's Under The Bed) for a dollar how can you go wrong?

If you read any of these books please let us know what you thought of them.

Cindy & G I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Wednesday

Finally made arrangements at church for Z's baptism today.  It will be Saturday November 15th at 11am.  I am so anxious to get this done finally.  Other than that I got nothing.  So here are some pics of waterfalls...














Ok and a pic of D

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Crabby

D is out of town for work tonight so it is just the kids and I at home.  The boys don't care so much but Z is super crabby.

We had meat and cheese with crackers for dinner and I let them read some books on their tablets after dinner so they are very content.


K is reading his book for a review that is due soon so keep an eye out for it.


G is also reading for a review.  Ok, he read for a little while then just started playing games.


Z well z just wants to be held or cry I don't think she even knows what she wants to do.


As for me well I have tons of chores that D usually helps with that I now need to do by myself. 

Monday, October 27, 2014

100 Posts

This is my 100th blog post.  It is a huge milestone for me.  I was going to use today's post to review a book that I just read for a review but I am going to do something else instead.



I wish to thank everyone who reads my little blog here as well as all of my social media friends that I have met because of this blog.  I love you all.

I have learned and grown so much as a blogger since day 1.  I now have twitterpinterestinstagramgoogle +bloglovinsvervestumbleuponfacebook



I learned what google analytics were and yes, I check it every day lol.  I average around 5 viewers a day but I hope to double that number by the end of the year.

I have shared with you my daily struggles of raising 3 children who are spaced around 7 years apart.  As in 14, 7, and 10 months.

family pic when Z was a week old

I have done some reviews and tried some new cool things some of which are great and some not so much.  I have let my children make posts and do reviews too.  We have some in the works and hope to do more in the future.

Thanks again for sharing this journey with us,

Cindy

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Pumpkin Carving

Best church idea ever!!!  Today from 4-6 the church had pumpkin carving for the kids.  The supplied the pumpkins, carving tools, juice, and cookies.  They even cleaned up the mess for you.  The kids had a blast.  I wish I could have been there but I had a baby shower for a friend down in Waseca.


Z had some daddy help with hers.  I hear that she ate 2 cookies and a ton of pumpkin during the process.  


Here is our group that went (minus Nana and Super Nana)  From left to right:  K, G, Big D, Z, Aunt S, S's boyfriend R and his 2 kids that I can't remember their names, and the niece E.

They are all very proud of their pumpkins.

What did you do this weekend?

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Craft Day at Church

Today was craft day at Nana's church.  Basically you go and work on whatever craft you want and just hang out and chat.

I brought G's Christmas Socks and actually finished them while I was there.


The pattern is called Show-Off Stranded Socks and it is on Ravelry here.  I used some form of sparkly yarn that I have no clue of brand or color.  Basically it is the same pattern I used for K's because I thought that it would be fun if everyone got the same socks in different colors for Christmas.

Z had fun playing with her cousins and all the toys there lol.


Because I was taking pics of G's socks I finally decided to get off my butt and get a pic of Z's birthday socks.


For hers I just used a plain sock pattern and the yarn was Patons Kroy in Kool Colors.  I ran out on the second sock and just used some scraps I had laying around.

Now I just have to get the last 3 pairs of socks done by Christmas.  I started D's today but he has big feet so it might be a challenge to get them done in time lol.

Yesterday at daycare Z made her very first art project.


I think that it is a super cute idea.  She just might grow up to be crafty like her mom.  I guess I will just have to wait and see...ok and hope too ;)

What kinds of crafts do you enjoy?

Friday, October 24, 2014

Wrestling Try-its

Yesterday and today G had wrestling try-its after school.  Basically you go and try-it after school for 2 days to see if you like it before you actually sign up and commit to it.  G wrestled last year and wanted to do it again this year so I figured why not.  



The cool thing about the try-it is that it is free and they get a t-shirt.  This kid has so many sport t-shirts it is not even funny.  Lets see 3 from football last year, 2 from football this year, 2 from wrestling last year, and now 1 from wrestling so far this year.  He also has a pair of shorts and a singlet from wrestling last year.  His singlet should still fit and he will get another t-shirt and shorts from this year yet too.


This years try-it group was way smaller than last years.  Maybe there will be fewer kids participating in wrestling this year.

Wrestling sign up is on Monday it is $20 and you get the t-shirt and shorts for participating.  The singlet and tournaments are extra.  It is 2 nights a week until December 17th.  I think that it is worth it for him to work off all of this extra energy he seems to have.

Now I just need to find his shoes and headgear.  

Do your kids play sports?  Which ones?

Thursday, October 23, 2014

That Kind of Day

The last 2 days at work have been the worst.  Yesterday I was driving down 494 and hit a rock.


Or should I say baseball sized piece of concrete.  It took out the turn signal on the work truck.


They let the truck shop guy go so I got stuck replacing it myself.  On the up side my old truck (which I blew up the motor in last year) had the same front end so I stole the lens off of that.

After that mess was taken care of I went to my stop to replace a compressor and open the box of the new one and it was damaged.  So I had to use my spare one and send that one back to be warrantied.  I just have to wait until Monday for a new one.

On the up side I managed to get K to his very first ever conformation class.  He said he had fun but if you have ever dealt with a teen boy everything is "good" or "fine" lol.

Today the tires on my work truck had less than the DOT regulation of 2/32 so I couldn't drive it legally.  I got stuck working in the shop for part of the day.  It is not as glorious as it sounds when your boss is also working in said shop.  The other part of the day I was stuck in the flat bed truck that they have.  This thing has 350,000 or so miles on it and drives and runs like crap.  I mean when you try to get on the highway you merge at 45 MPH.  It sucks to try to drive.

The good part about today is that we met my Mom, Grandma, and my cousin Anna for dinner.  Anna has spent the last year in Madagascar and is from Washington so we hardly get to see her.  This was the first time she got to meet G and Z.  It was so much fun learning about her travels.

I hope tomorrow goes better because I can deal with anymore BS at work.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Amazing Facts About the Moon

G and I just read a wonderful book about the moon.  It was called Amazing Facts About the Moon and you can get it from amazon kindle here for $2.99.  It is for ages 4-9 but I learned things too.



G thinks that it had cool pictures in it.  He also had to reread some parts to know what things were in later pages.  He had some trouble with the names but otherwise could read the rest of the words himself.  He learned how old the moon was as well as why the moon changes every night.

I learned that during the day it is 212 degrees F on the moon and at night it drops to -274 degrees F.  Also the moon moves around 1.5 inches farther away from the earth every year.  I thought there was lots of other cool information in this book but I don't want to give it all away in a review.

If you are interested in the moon or just trivia check out this book.

G gives it 4 out of 5 stars. I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Bee Sili Oven Gloves Review

Sorry I wasn't around yesterday I came home from work with a killer headache and went to bed early.

We have these oven gloves to test and K who is learning to cook so we put them together.  




Well...first the adults tested the gloves kind of lol.



Before we would let K try them we boiled a pot of water and D stuck his hand in it to make sure that they would hold the heat out.  He said that it took 25 or so seconds before it started getting warm.  He also said that they are tight for his size 10 glove hands.

So on to K making dinner and trying these out.



We decided to try these Homestyle Bakes from Banquet.  We tried the Country Chicken, Mashed Potatoes & Biscuits flavor.  It was ok incase you were wondering.



K is a little skittish about the oven and burning himself so I told him to use the gloves to put it in the oven.



So far so good.



And they work!!!  He was thrilled that his hands didn't get too warm pulling his dish out of the oven.  Also they grip the pan so it is easier to grip and not feel like you are going to drop it.  The best part is when he got a little food on the gloves we just rinsed them off and them on the counter to dry.

The gloves are made by Bee Sili and available from amazon here for $21.95

Way to go K you are going to be a good college student someday.


I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
We're going on an adventure

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Grandma's 88th Birthday Party

This morning we made our weekly trip to Walmart.  As usual we found something weird on the shelf.  This week was a Fart Piano.  This thing even comes with a song book.  I am still wondering who buys this kind of stuff???


This afternoon Z and I made the trip to my Grandmas to help celebrate her 88th birthday which is actually tomorrow.

She had a half sheet cake and everything.  I got to see most of my cousins and my aunt was even in town from Washington.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I missed taking pics of it all.  


This is one of my favorite pics of her taken on her wedding day.  She is so beautiful.  I love you Grandma.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Day Trip to Mankato

Today we took Z to look at waterfalls in Mankato.  The boys are at their dads so they missed it.  it was kind of a bust anyways.  I guess the summer was too dry or something because they were only a trickle instead of a falls.

Falls #1  MINNEMISHINONA FALLS

Top

Bottom

As you can see in the first pic the creek bed is almost dry.  In the second pic you can't even see the water flowing over.  We plan to check it out again in the spring when the snow is melting.

Falls #2  Minneopa State Park

Top falls were ok to look at.


Big fall was very small.

We had seen this one before and it was beautiful but now not so much.  Once again it is going on out only good in the spring list.  

I did manage to get a decent pic of the bridge over the river.  D has a thing for waterfalls which is fine because I love old and different bridges and where there are waterfalls there is usually a neat bridge.  I like this shot because it has the bridge for me and both waterfalls in it for him.



We did have fun playing in the leaves in the State Park while we were there.  We decided to do a 10 month photo shoot of Z




I like her smile in the first one but I like the last one the best.  Yes, she is wearing a purple striped sleeper under her overalls we had to keep her warm somehow.

We also finally found her Halloween costume at Shopko in Mankato.  I am not going to share what it is so you will just have to check back later to see our pics.

What is your favorite part of fall?