Happy Halloween 2010

It's about time to head out and go trick or treating with the kids. We're just going to visit the neighborhoods with Destiny's family. A fun evening making new friends and fellowshiping with our neighbors. Logan had a low grade fever earlier this morning but he appears to be feel'n better. Tomorrow, is a school day. So, we wouldn't be out to long.

Also, Happy Birthday...Mom!

Scary Run

Running, it's my life. It's the best way to keep my weight down, it's great therapy, it's fun, I love the way my legs look, and the best part is setting the example for my kids.

I wasn't planning on having Landon run with me this morning. This is one of the fastest 5k courses in the area. I really wanted to bet my time from this spring. Landon begged and begged to come with me. I caved.

Landon hasn't even been training plus the little guy is only eight! I decided to bring him and I'm glad I did. I thought it was going to cost me $25 to enter the race but they didn't charge me because of his age. Yippee!

The only bad part was the weather. BRRRRR, it was super cold not as cold as last year but cold. My toes were frozen and my muscles were stiff. I wasn't sure how things would work out in the end.

The race was hard at first. My legs felt like lead plus I couldn't feel my toes. I wouldn't lie...it sucked big time.

Once, we made it to the one mile marker...I was happy with our pace 9:20. I was really hoping to have a nice strong finish. We must of slowed down a little bit during the second mile because our time was 19:00 at that point. I told Landon the third mile we were going to kick it up a third gear.

As we approached the playground, I looked down at my watch. I started to panic. Oh, no...I'm not going to bet my fastest time. Darrn't...Landon and I took off fast. Landon said he didn't know what happened but his legs went flying to the finish line.

Yes, I crossed the finish line before him by a few seconds. I figured it wouldn't be long and I wouldn't be able keep up with him. The kids a natural.

I finished at 28:20 and Landon finished shortly after me.

The end of it...I learned that running isn't always about me. I'm so glad that I was able to share this experience with Landon.

The only bad part was Landon really wanted to win a door prize. I managed to win $40 dollars in free car washes and Landon didn't get anything. He was so MAD. He told me he didn't want to run in another race with me because I always win a prize. Little kids can be really funny.

Also, I'm so proud of all of my church friends that came out to run. Everyone should be so proud of themselves. Running with friends and son makes me HAPPY.

5th Annual T or T

Don't let the Princess costume fool you...she's 100% tomboy.

I'm sucker when it comes to celebrating Halloween. The boys school isn't having their fall party which is really Halloween party this weekend. I decided to go ahead pull the boys out of school and have them attend Leah's preschool Halloween party.

This year, I made the costumes. Yippee...last year, I decided to buy them and it just wasn't as fun. My sewing buddy help me whip up this princess dress and we made the boys musketters outfits. The costumes turned out cute.

The Scheele's made their fifth appearance at Trick or Treating with the preschool. Yes, Five straight years at the Bella Vista Preschool. All three of my kids have attended back to back years starting in 2006...So, were working on our fifth year at the school.

All three kids love the preschool. I know some people don't care for the school becuase it's play based but let me tell you one thing. My kids love it and they always felt loved by their teacher and volunteers. When we started down the stairs to get to the classroom. Logan was so cute. He told me that going down the stairs made him HAPPY.

Every year, the preschool takes the kids trick or treating around the towncenter. They started off at Arvest bank and worked themselves around the Towncenter. The kids managed to come home with three full bags of goodies. I currently have the goodies stashed away. The kids are not happy but too bad.

Ten on Tuesday

1. All of my children seem to have inherited my bad teeth. Leah as well the boys all have weak enameling. Over the summer, I knew her teeth were getting bad. Two big holes on the sides of two of her back molars. I really was worried about taking her to the dentist but she did great. It turns out the two big holes only needed fillings not caps like I had feared. Well, today Leah had her first dental procedure done. She did an awesome job. Everyone in the office, was raving about how has the prefect patient. She did exactly as she was told and didn't move out of place one time. The dentist told me that "she's one tough little girl!" Yup, that's right my daughter is TOUGH. Tough as Nails! The dental assistant told me that Leah was the best patient they had all morning long. I thought maybe she would be upset when they were done but she just got right up and walked right out the door by herself.

2. I'm almost done with Leah's bookcase. The only thing left is to paint it. I can't take full credit. I couldn't of done it without my dad and Leroy's help. I will post picture when it's done. It's going to be PINK.

3. I decided to make it easy on the kids this year and crave their pumpkins. I had them draw their picture they wanted cut out and I did the rest. No, crying this year. Also, Leah remember craving pumpkins with Grandpa from last year. It's amazing the things kids can remember. She was only 2 years old at the time.

4. Leroy's going to fix up the house. Hopefully, new carpet and windows for the sunroom. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

5. The kids costumes are done. Leah's going as a princess and the boys are musketeers. I'm still looking for boy turtle necks. I guess their not selling them anymore. Their costumes might be slightly unfinished looking.

6. I'm busy working on getting everything ready for this year's Super Saturday. If you look on my facebook page you can click on the link to see what where making this year.

7. Leah told me that boys and girls are different that boy parts stick out...lol! She's getting too big.

8. Report card time...Landon did really well except for Social Studies. I thought for sure he would have straight A's but his determined to work harder to bring up his grades.

9. Logan's doing great at school. His teacher loves him. She told me that she would take a whole classrooms full of Logan's. We need to work with him on a few things like he doesn't know how to rhyme. Any suggestions?

10. Destiny is still attending YW's. Last week, they had a mutual activity at Lake Ann. The youth went on a spooky hay ride and they roasted hot dogs and played games. She loves going to church and she's already made a ton of friends.

11. Also, both of the boys are attending Karate again. Logan decided to give it another try and loves it. The boys are working hard on earning their first belt.

Mt. Nebo

Pictures coming soon...

Pumpkin-tillas

Seriously, the easiest snack ever and the yummiest! I'm really proud of myself. One bite into these bad boys you wouldn't want to stop eating them. I seriously, can't believe how good these are plus some-what healthily.

Pumpkin-Tilla's

Plain Tortillas

Brown Sugar

White Sugar

Cinnamon

Cool Whip-made with real cream--a plus!

Directions:

Punch out the pumpkins using a metal cookie cutter and put them on a cookie sheet.

Spread butter on top of the pumpkin tortillas.

Mix equals parts of brown and white sugar in a small bowl with some cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.

Sprinkle sugar mixture on top of each pumpkin.

Broil in the oven for a few minutes...don't leave the oven. These pumpkins will burn fast if you're not watching it.

You want the sugar to caramelize.

Serve, it with whipped topping.

One bite, you wouldn't be able to stop.

I also sprinkled some Halloween sprinkles to make it more festive.

Seriously, you have to try these...seriously good.

if you want more ideas check out...

Candy Corn Pudding and more!

A good friend of mine told me once to make sure to make each and every holiday special because it's a great way to build special memories. Last year, I was busy with myself and we didn't do too much. So, this year..I'm kicking it up a notch.

I love candy corn...it's the one thing that screams FALL. I managed to put together a candy corn wreath and some yummy Candy Corn Pudding. Leah helped with both projects...my little girl is such a big helper. I lover her, so much!

Candy Corn Pudding

1 small box of Banana Creme Instant Pudding

1 small box of White Chocolate Instant Pudding

1 small box of Butterscotch Instant Pudding

6 Cups of Milk

Red and Yellow Food Coloring

Clear Plastic Cups-size small!

Candy Corn (optional)

Directions:

Make your Butterscotch pudding as directed on the box, using two cups of milk.

After it's mixed, add 20 drops of red food coloring and 25 drops of yellow food coloring. Mix well and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Now, make your Banana Creme pudding as directed on the box, using two cups of milk.

After it's mixed, add 20 drops of yellow food coloring. Mix well and refrigerate until your ready to use it.

You want to use the small clear plastic cups. I don't recommend using the tall plastic cups that's what I used by accident. I ended up buying the wrong size not realizing it at the store.

First, put the yellow pudding at the bottom of glass.

Next, the orange pudding.

Finally, add the white chocolate pudding or you could use cool whip topping.

Finish the pudding cups by putting a couple of Candy Corns in the center top of white pudding.

Okay, I also made the candy corn wreath. A big pain in the butt. I decided it would be a good idea to seal up the wreath by using Modge Podge...DON'T DO IT. The candy corn ended up all sticky and gross. I ended up having to scrap about half of it off. The wreath still looks good but every time I look at it just makes me want to scream. I hate it, when I screw a craft at the very final stage. Lessons learned the hard way!

if you want instructions on how to make your own wreath, Click here!

check out more here...
Thanks, for checking out my blog!

Pumpkin Pots

Doing what my kids love best of all...CRAFTING especially my little guy Logan. The little guy is always into my craft supplies, drawing his own picture books, and just plain fun to play with. Logan and Leah both made their own pumpkins. Logan decided he wanted to draw a picture of his very own pumpkin. I'm not sure if you can see all the details but the little guy has a very special gift.

If you want to make the craft with your own kids it's super easy.

Ceramic pots

Paint

Foam Paint Brushes

Green Wooden Blocks

Pipe Cleaner

Glossy Spray

Hot Glue

The first step in the process is to paint the pot orange. Let it dry for a good hour, draw on the face, and paint it in. I did write the name of each child on the back of each pot. You just face the pot upside down and hot glue the green block to be the stem. We add black pipe cleaner to be the vine.

Super easy and inexpensive the whole project cost less than $10...we're planning on making two more pumpkin pots.

Milk Jug Spiders

Cheap, inexpensive, and fun halloween crafing ideas. This idea came from my friend Ashley who found this idea from Family Fun magazine. I'm not really happy how they turned out but the kids love them and that's all that matters.

Isty Bitty Spider

Fall is here...which means it's time to get ready for Halloween. I decided to make this dress for Leah. It's super easy. It's called T Shirt Twirl Dress. The whole thing cost less than $5 to make. My sewing buddy gave me the spider fabric and I just picked up a cheap Halloween T shirt from Walmart. The whole thing took less than two hours to make. From An Igloo: is where I found the online instructions on how to make this dress, click here. So, what do you think?

Sunday Morning

The weather in my necks of the woods:

It's amazing how fast the weather can change. One moment it was blazing hot outside and now it's the prefect fall weather. The morning sky is nice clear, the weather is breezy cool but not freezing cold and the afternoons warm up perfectly. Talk about prefect fall weather.

Words Not Needed:


Things that make me happy:

After months of searching for my favorite apron pattern. I found it. Guess what, it was never missing. It was right inside my pattern box but inside a red bag inside the pattern box. I love wearing my apron but I'm sick and tired of fabric. I'm going to be spending the rest of the day online searching for some cute fabric to make myself a new apron.

Books I'm reading:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith-a brilliant book...I'm going to recommend this book for our next book group to read.

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Knit Two by Kate Jacobs-I haven't started on this book but I loved the first book in the series. I didn't want to risk the book getting check out at the library. So, I picked it up and hopefully I will get a chance to read it next week.

Prelude To Glory by Ron Carter-The first book in this series was really good but the second book is really slow. I have been trying to finish this book since July.

Family Read Aloud book:

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Audio Books:

We listen to these in the van...I can't stand listening to the radio or even music. Listening to the same old songs over and over again bores me to death. I'm not a music lover!

Henry & the Crazed Chicken Pirates by Carolyn Crimi

The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting-this book is read by William Sutherland and it's horrible. The kids can't understand him...I'm really sad but the English accent is very heavy and it's hard to follow along.

Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk

On the Banks of Plum Creek-Laura Ingalls Wilder-My boys love this audio book by Cherry Jones they could listen to this over and over again.

The Cat In The Hat and Other Dr. Seuss Favorites by Dr. Suess

What's on my TV today:

To The Ends Of The Earth
Conference

On the menu for dinner:
Pork Chops, Mash Potatoes, Fried Okra, and Green Beans!

On my to do list:

Clean up Craft Room

New recipe to try:

This is a new recipe that I created..it's super awesome. The meat is so tender and yummy. It's prefect for a nice sunday dinner you can just put everything in the crock pot and it will be ready when you get home from church.

Lara's Crocky Crock Pot Roast

In the craft basket:

Sewing:

I'm working on the boy's costumes-Musketeers. I still need to finish up Leah's costume by adding some trim to her princess costume.

Knitting:

I finished knitting Leah's angel on her stocking but I'm not sure how to finish the stocking. So, I'm starting on Landon's stocking with a Santa on it. As soon as my knitting buddy gets back into town, I will have her show me how to finish up the stockings.

Looking forward to this week:

Girls night out, Running with my new running group on Saturday mornings, and Checking out the craft fairs looking for some craft ideas to recreate at home.

Tips and Tricks:
I have discovered that if I take my pre-workout drink before cleaning that it's a lot easier for me. The amount of focus, I gain from the drink as done wonders. I really was able to focus on the nitty gritty and managed to get the house really clean. Maybe I'm a little bit ADD...ha ha.
Lessons learned this past few days:

Using my time wisely, I really would love to hole myself up in my room and just read or knit. It's really hard sometimes to be in reality. I still have a hubby and kids that need attention. Life just isn't what I want...I have to make sure I'm using my time wisely. It's all about balance.

On my mind:

I'm still trying to figure it all out. How to read a couple of books, work on a dozen projects,and still find time to be spiritual. I'm not a big scripture reader. We just finished reading 30 talks in 30 days. I really enjoyed it. I'm really dreading reading my scriptures again maybe I need to find a really good spiritual book instead. I did managed to read the Book of Mormon, New testament, and Doctrine and Covenants each in 90 days periods. Any good book ideas? Nothing too preachy or cheesy?