On another note....

I have found my new favorite thing!  I know it may not excite most people, but it was enough to warrant a picture and a post.
I have been trying for years (5 to be exact) to get my porcelain kitchen sink clean.  Not just "clean", but metal scratch marks gone, stains gone,....really sparkly CLEAN.
I FINALLY DID IT!!!  I heard about a cleanser called "Bar Keepers Friend".  I got mine at Target, but you can get it anywhere in the cleaning aisle.

You wet your sink, sprinkle it on and then wipe it with a sponge or a cloth, and VOILA!!!

It looks BRAND NEW!!!!

Happy Halloween!

Technically it is the day before Halloween, but it is Saturday and we decided to go out tonight instead of Sunday for trick-or-treating. (As did most of the neighborhood.)  It was cold and rainy and the perfect night for football.  Greg took the kids out in the pouring rain and let me stay home and watch the U of U / Air Force football game.  Yes he is that wonderful!!!

Because it was so cold and rainy we convinced them to wear warm clothes, coats and the capes I had made a few years ago.  I will post pictures soon.

We carved pumpkins today and the boys had a good time.  They come up with their own ideas and Noah is not afraid to dive in and scoop some guts.

I decided to keep mine for a fall decoration, but I got to help Nicholas with his spider.

We made homemade pizza for dinner and then bundled everyone up to head out for trick-or-treating.

Yesterday for their school parties, Nicholas and Nathan went as lacrosse players that got beat up.  Nicholas had makeup that looked like a big black eye and a broken nose, with stitches.  Nathan had a broken nose and stitches and various bruises.  We were running late so I didn't get pictures of them.  They did look pretty good.  Unfortunately it wasn't that much of a stretch.  They come home with all kinds of bruises after every game and most practices.

I did however get a picture of Noah.  After an hour of changing his mind and trying on all the costumes we own (and there are a lot!).  He decided he wanted to be a Zombie.  So we made up his face and he was happy.  He did inform me that he just wasn't scary enough and needed more blood and a brain to eat.  I told him he would scare the other kindergartners - to which he replied, "Yah mom, that's the point!"  He is really only 6????

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pumpkins!

 Noahs prized pumpkin.  He wanted a BIG one, but he wanted to be able to carry it himself.










Nicholas had to pick up every pumpkin to see if it felt right.

It's only 3 days till Halloween and we finally went and got pumpkins!  Yeah for us!

We had planned on going to a pumpkin patch, last week.  And it rained and snowed.  So tonight we decided to go after Greg got off work, but it was getting dark and the "patches" were closing.  So we ended up going to Smith's "pumpkin patch".  Things were pretty picked over, but we found some "original" looking pumpkins that will make some great looking jack-o-lanterns.


I "missed" while taking a picture of Nathan and got his feet as he was walking instead of his pumpkin. Nice flip flops dude!

 

And now for the next project......

It's book report time again for Nathan.  They have come up with some pretty creative "reports" for the kids to do,which is great - but it also means some pretty creative and time consuming tasks for mom and dad.  We have a very good system at my house.  I do the "day to day" homework - spelling, vocab, math, reading, piano, etc. ad Greg does the "projects". It is a beautiful thing!!!  I still help out on the projects if there is a "crafty" element to them.
So this time, Nathan had to read a mystery for his report.  Then find a container that represented something significant to the story.  He then has to fill this container with 5 items that tell the story.
He decide a "book" would be his container and he would fill it with relevant items.  The truly sad thing about it is that I don't even know the name of the book - but I know what it is about.
So the "book" falls in the crafty department.  We found a box that looks like a book and even opens like a book.  I should have taken a "before" picture, the "after" picture turned out pretty well.

Originally it was a big black book with white pictures of Rome on it.  Greg spray painted it brown and Nathan and I made the "cover".

He needed it to look like a very old worn book. I think we did a good job!

Now I get to let him and Greg worry about what to fill it with.

I get to work on the Kindergarten Halloween party I am in charge of Friday.

A Day in the Life of........ME!

So today - the only thing on my "to do" list, my  "really really need to do" list was to "help" Nicholas and Noah clean out from under their beds.  Which means I drag everything out and "pre-clean" the garbage and then let them organize what's left.
Easy enough - well, "simple" enough ............ in theory.  It is 7:00 pm and it is still not done.  But, here IS what got done, and how it came about.

First - I got up and walked on the treadmill while Greg did the elliptical.  Good quality time with my hubby.  Then we got the boys up, read scriptures, got breakfast done and lunches made.  Sent Greg off to work and Nick and Nate off to school.  Things are going pretty well .......... so far.
And then, A.D.D. happened.....

Noah and I were on our way upstairs to start on his room ..........when I noticed their bathroom was pretty dirty.  So we stopped in to "tidy" up.  I started cleaning the counter and realized there was "drips"  (of what - I don't even want to fathom a guess) on the wall and down the front of the counter doors.  So I started wiping that down and realized the floor had toothpaste on it - so I scrubbed the floor.  Noah cleaned the toilet and "spilled" on the mat.

So I went downstairs to throw them in the laundry and figured since I was doing that I might as well throw in the towels from my bathroom.  As I was getting the towels from my bathroom I noticed the bathtub had a ring.  So I started cleaning the tub and ended up cleaning the whole bathroom.  Then finally took the towels to the laundry room and noticed the garbage in the laundry room needed to be taken out.  So Noah and I took out the garbages and then I realized the kitchen garbage needed to be taken out - so as I opened the pantry to get the garbage bags, I noticed the sugar bucket was getting low.  So I went downstairs to get some more sugar and found the oatmeal, and decided I would make No Bake cookies for Gregs scouts tonight. So we came upstairs and filled the sugar and started making the cookies when i realized I needed a measuring cup from the dishwasher - that needed to be unloaded.  So we unloaded the dishwasher and found the medicine syringes on the top rack, and as I was putting them away I thought I would check the expiration date on one of the bottles of medicine.  It had expired - so I figured I better check the rest.

 And ended up cleaning out the medicine cupboard ............and then made cookies.  Then did the dishes and then FINALLY took out the garbage.
Then Noah and I spent a good 20 minutes taking apart his Zhu Zhu pet he got for his birthday.  It had a run in with a massive dust bunny - well more like a dust rhino- under the computer cabinet.  It got "gunk" tangled in the wheels that we had to clean out.

Finally, I decided to take a shower before it was time to take Noah to school.
On my way to the shower, I noticed my room needed to be "tidied" up a little. So 15 minutes later, I finally get in the shower.
Now there is only 20 minutes till we have to take Noah to school.  So we fix a quick lunch and finally get out the door for school.
Needless to say - when I got home from taking him to school - I crashed and took some "personal" time.
Then I "prepared" myself for the kids getting home - homework, book reports, and reading.
Then I fixed dinner and got things cleaned up for scouts.  Put away laundry, wiped down the counter tops.

And now...................... I blog.
And tomorrow I will try to clean out from under their bed............again.

The "Graveyard" Cake

Today is Noah's 6th birthday.  When did my "baby" get to be so big????  That just doesn't seem possible.  One thing I love about Noah is that he always wants to make his own cake.  So today he helped me with his cake.   He informed me it wasn't scary enough.  I have a feeling his birthday cakes are going to evolve into horror scenes over the next several years.  It will be interesting!  As long as we can always do it together!
                                                                                                                                                                                                
So here we are getting ready to decorate.

The first layer of "mud".

    Crushing up "the dirt"

The final Graveyard!

                                                            What a cutie!

Trying to be crafty again.....

So I have been browsing the Internet and have found some amazing blogs by stay-at-home moms who are incredibly talented.  At first it just made me wallow in self pity that I am not very creative - ok, more like - original.  I can copy pretty well, but just can't look at something (like hand sanitizer) and think -"Oh, this would make a cute functional decoration!"  So, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I have decided there isn't anything wrong with letting others share their creativity and me following along.  The originals are usually better, but mine aren't too bad.
So here is what I found the other day - way cute vinyl decorated bottles!!  So for teacher Halloween gifts, this is what I did. The other three are actually cuter, but I can't get the picture to download.  So I will post it later.
Pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.
I was brave and finally used my Cricut for cutting vinyl - and it was EASY!!  I have had my vinyl for months and have been afraid to try it.  Now, I am afraid- vinyl lettering will be abundant once again at the Sill house!!

Hey!  Greg just found my other picture of the bottles.  He's so great!
They did turn out pretty cute.  So I will be doing more of these - soap, hand sanitizer, anything that comes in plastic bottles.






So Friday is Noah's birthday - he is turning 6!!!  My "baby" - well, my little guy - who is actually 5 going on 17.  He keeps me entertained - that's for sure!  So last year we made a monstrosity (?) of a cake, named fittingly -"The Monster Cake", 5 layers of chocolate with fudge frosting and crushed pistachios. I have a picture somewhere - the story of my life... hahahaha. So this year he has decided he wants a "graveyard" cake.  We went to the craft stores today to find skeletons and bones to have clawing their way out of the graveyard.  Noah's words, not mine.  He wants to bury lego guys in the cake too with lego body parts all over.  Not so much.  Lego's melt in the oven.  As do little green army men.  But that's a story for another day.  So we will be posting pictures of the graveyard cake soon.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!