{Trunk or Treat}

Hey Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Halloween! Our church had a "Trunk or Treat" this year, and I tell ya, it was SOOOOO much better than going trick or treating! Everyone that participates gets to dress up their cars, some had some really awesome themes and games, and then hand out candy to everyone. Its a safe and fun environment for the kiddos to have fun at!

I even saw a familiar face! :) My buddy Amelia and her family, who just moved to Austin and now go to the same church as me, were there also! It was so good to see you Amelia! :) Her girls were so cute, you have to head over to her blog to see some pics of them!



I got to hang out with everyone from our Bible study too, so that was great fun! I just love a night with friends and family...especially one that involves candy!

So here is a run down of our families costumes this year! Lagan was Hannah Montana for her school costume. They had to be book characters, and Lagan has a HM book, so I thought, why not!




Then at trunk or treat she was a Hula Girl!
I was a chef, surprise, surprise! lol My sister, Brittany, was an 80's girl!! Her costume had me laughing so hard...ahhh the memories! And her husband, Joey was a tourist! This costume is SOOOOO him! It was great! :)








My mom and her husband, Scott, were there too, but didn't dress up, so I don't have any photos of them! :( But here are some photos from the night! :)








All in all it was a great night had by all, and I really enjoyed the extra rest that we got this weekend!
How was your Halloween?? Get any good candy? Want to share? ;)

{Thats a Deal Thursday, Baking, Baking Baking}

Baking, Baking, Baking!....Baking, Baking, Baking! (I'm singing in my best conga line voice)
So many of you know that I am always on the hunt for a good bargain, and lately that bargain hunting has transferred to the grocery store. I have been trying to find more ways to stretch my hard earned dollars and still feed my family what they like.
This can prove to be some what of a challenge, but most of the time it's really fun!

One of the ways I have learned to save money is by making things in LARGE batches. Like soup, I made 5 gallon sized Ziploc bags of baked potato soup the other day for the freezer. I also made three bags of homemade pasta sauce, and this weekend I will be making chicken stock. But the one meal I always have trouble with is breakfast! I despise having to get up at 6:00am and not only make Lagan's breakfast and lunch, but then make breakfast for everyone else and I haven't even worked out yet! So my breakfast is always cold and gross and I'm the one that made it! (Can you see my frustration here?)
So I read on several blogs about baking, and freezing, muffins.

Brilliant Idea! Cheap and easy muffins that last for months! So Mom and I put on our aprons, rolled up our sleeves, and baked FIVE different kinds of muffins all on one day! And ended up freezing over 30 muffins for future use!!

Here is a glimpse into our "Baking Day"...



We ended up making banana nut, zucchini and nut, pumpkin chocolate chip, apple spice, and blueberry muffins! YUMMMM.....



So what's a girl to do with 1/2 a can of leftover pumpkin? Well, make pumpkin pancakes...duh!


All in all, I had a great time spending the day with mom and baking! We will defiantly be doing this a lot! And since this was a "That's a deal Thursday" I will let you know that the supplies to bake over 7 dozen muffins cost about $10.00!! Now, I defiantly think that's a deal!

{FINALLY....a new project!}

I promised I would post a new project, and I FINALLY got pictures of it! This project is SOOOOO easy, your going to wonder why you never thought of it!

This idea came to me when I was in the middle of the scrap booking supplies isle. I love to embellish my clothing and make it my own. So I saw the supplies to make this project and it was like a light bulb! So follow along and make your clothing one of a kind!

**For prices, I forgot. I bought these a few months back, but it is very low priced to do this! :)

Materials Needed:
1 package fabric flowers with large and small sizes
(I threw away the package so I don't have a photo! sorry!)
1 package fabric covered brads
Safety Pins
Here are the brads so you can see the brand and what the packaging looks like. The flowers are made by the same company! :)


Step 1: Gather all of your materials.


Step 2: Layer a small flower on a large flower.


Step 3: Push flowers through the brad (the flowers have a small hole in the middle)


Step 4: Flip flower over so brad is sticking up


Step 5: Push brad sides down so they are flat against the flower back.


Step 6: Next, take your safety pin and gently push it through the flower so its not visible on the other side


Step 7: Flip the flower over and make sure the pin is not visible


Here are a few that I made up ahead of time. You can make large ones with the small flowers on top, or without them. You can also make just the little ones.




Once you have made all of your flowers, then you can pin them onto your clothing. I love them on a t-shirt or even on a belt or my hand bag for the day. Today I decided to put them on my pea coat since its pretty chilly out today! :)


And speaking of embellishing your clothing, try some other ideas that make your clothing all yours. I LOVE buttons and use them quite often. I have had this cardigan since middle school!!! But it was getting a little dated, so I brought new life to it with a cluster of black and grey buttons of all different sizes! This is about $5.00 worth of buttons, and it makes it look like a whole new top!

{Pumpkin Patching}

Can I just say that class field trips are so much fun? I'm not even joking, I really had a good time. But there is something totally bazaar about me going on field trips. No matter what, I sign up and I feel great, I can't wait to go! Field trip day comes, I am totally sick! Last year, I had the flu. I had had the flu for 4 weeks, then I got better, then I lapsed and got it again for 2 more weeks. Needless to say, I thought I might die! Then this year, I got a really bad cold/sinus infection, but I went anyway because I told Lagan I would be there! (I know tons of moms are out there saying, "OMG! I can't believe you went on field trips with a cold or the flu!" But in my defence, both times I was totally hopped up on meds and when I had the flu I got the green light from my doc to go! hehe)

Anyway, back to what I was actually posting about! So this week, Lagan's class got to go to the Pumpkin patch and pick a pumpkin, plus learn all about different kinds of pumpkins and how to carve them and eat them! VERY cool! I even learned a few things!
It was a great time had by all and an awesome reminder that Fall is here, even if you can't tell in the 90 degree weather! :)
So I thought I would share a few photos from the day! Lagan was so proud to have her mommy there taking pictures, she told her teacher "She's taking them for her Blog"........do you think that's bad? lol
**Oh, and I do have that tutorial coming, Im just a little behind on posting!! hehe











Here is Lagan picking her pumpkin. The kiddo's got to pick a pie pumpkin and bring it home to decorate it for a class project, then we will get to make a pie! YUM!


there were sooooooo many pumpkins!


Lagan had a blast!

{An award for Reading...}

I just wanted to pop in real quick and say that my awesome buddy Anne over at Cupcakes and Sunshine sent me an AWESOME award!

I LOVE to read. I don't get to do it much, but I do really enjoy it. So this award was perfect for me!
The award is a reading award. This award requires I open the nearest book to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence on that page, and also the next two to five sentences...The CLOSEST BOOK, NOT YOUR FAVORITE, OR MOST INTELLECTUAL!!

So the nearest book to me at my desk is The Bible (KJV). Its always near by! :) So I turned to page 56, and it read:

"Judah, thau art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee."
Genesis 50:8

Wow! An award and a little piece of the good Word all in one! You just can't beat that!
So now I get to pass this award along, so I am going to pass it to my buddy Kyley! Love ya Ky! :)