Halloweeeeeeeeennn

Ben and Ella ready for the annual Prosper Sock Hop

Mrs. Pocahontas ready for her preschool party

at the sock hop with Ben

then at Maiya's preschool party (mrs. Janette, or sis. Church, or teacher lady - all of which Maiya calls her) made the cutest halloween snacks.

back to the school for Ella's sock hop... at which Cora walked the WHOLE TIME!!

doing the hullahoop

For Halloween Ella wanted a broken leg. She loved people trying to figure out whether she really had a broken leg or not. ($2 crutches from the thrift store and plaster gauze from the craft store: super easy wish come true for her!)

broken leg, good, broken leg and two arms, even better.

Clone trooper (I hate store bought costumes but it was alas another dream come true - for Benjamin, not me)

not in the mood for a photo shoot

actual conversation:

neighbor "hey little indian girl"

Maiya: "I am NOT an indian girl"

"I am POCAHONTAS"

what its all about

Aunt Meg came to trick or treat with us!!!

hope you all had a happy Halloween!!!

Lady with the Giant Purse UPDATED

As I looked at all the cute tiny purses I sighed, resigned to the fact that I am one of those giant purse ladies. Well maybe not as bad as Lindsay Lohan:

Yeah my purse may be that big after all.

it's got to be big enough to hold:

• diapers, wipes, and changing pad - (a big purse is still cooler than a purse + a diaper bag)
• toys to entertain the kids and me
• lotion
• gum
• Keys
• wallet
• cell phone
• advil
• calculator (one of my best money saving tools)
• and my absolute best money saving tool: THE PRICE BOOK

What is the price book you ask??

I will tell you since I am in the process of recreating mine. Maiya decorated it and then Cora tore it up. I was devastated I tell you. I haven't jumped at putting one back together. But I am getting back on the wagon. Without my trusty price book I am seeing my grocery budget swell up and that is just not cool.

salvaged page from my previous price book - are you humming taps?? I am.

A price book is what you use to keep track of prices on ALL of your regular purchases.

You will soon realize with this one little tool that you are being tricked. Coupons are not always worth it. Sale fliers are bold faced liars. And what you used to think was a fabulous deal doesn't seem so fabulous anymore. And prices that didn't knock your socks off will now have you stopped dead in your tracks.

The second half of this little chunk of frugal heaven is that when you have a good price book, a good price book takes a while to come to fruition - but keep with it ( just keep your kids' grubby little fingers off of it) you start stockpiling. You stockpile because 1. You are building food storage. ( you are right? tell me you are - lie to me if you have to) and 2. When you realize you can get something for 50%-75% less than usual you buy enough to last a long, long time. At least until it goes on sale again.

No matter where you shop, no matter what your diet is, whether you clip coupons or don't, the Price book will change the way you shop and leave more money in that Grocery envelope of yours. If I didn't explain the virtues of the Price Book very well:

Read this (Price book 101)

or this

or this

or this, if you are a military mom

UPDATE --

Food Storage price (a price so low you can stock up!)

World Market has Extra Virgin Olive Oil 7.99 for 2 liters --cheaper than sams club

No one cares what you had for lunch.

I have kind of been in a blog funk. Well actually I have just plain been in. a. funk. That is so not supposed to happen on your birthday, but it did for me. Its my party and I can cry if I want to.

Kyle rescued the blog for a moment to talk about his cool weekend away. His weekend that I was jealous of because it looked like a lot of fun. Minus the guns, well truth be told I would have liked to fire one or two. Might have got me out of the looming funk.

Anyway to beat the blues, but more importantly beat the boring blog -

ahhhhhh the boring blogs - there are so many out there. And no matter what I do I am drawn to them like a moth to a flame. Everyone I know has that one blog that irritates them more than entertains them. Come on I know you do - My blog may even be it. I have gotten my fair share of hate comments.

Recently even. Remember when I posted the Bride's pics? - I got a "don't take offense, but you suck" comment I didn't approve the comment to be nice to the bride, But oh I wanted to so badly, so that I could retort.....

I digress.

Here is to a more interesting blog post:

Idea #7 : Examine your paperwork

"In 2001 Sarah Brown began sending weekly emails to her friends that contained the most agonizing excerpts from her old diaries, that effort became Cringe, and now http://queserasera.org/"

Here is a peek of my diaries of the past --

doodling in first grade when I should have been doing this:

did you have an off the shoulder flower print bathing suit and short hair and big thighs and giant glasses like me?? you didn't - well you really missed out on some hard core self esteem building experiences in your childhood.

I mean look at that face - a face only a mother could love huh mom?

I like how my signature evolved over time.

My charming good looks made me obessessed with boys for some reason - because you want what you can't have right? So when someone told me diaries were only about writing about boys. I TOTALLY BELIEVED them, then wrote my love sick heart out!

"My only dream is for Micheal J Fox to kiss me" If only he knew.

And to think years later I'd not be a huge fan anymore because of his liberal politics. Who could have guessed?

I always watched TV on the floor. Now Ella does that.

I also rocked the Gap boxer shorts in middle school - Just because it was the only thing I could afford from the Gap on my babysitting money didn't make it any less cool right?

Like the giant glasses still? I did get contacts. It somewhat improved the love life. Still no Micheal J. Fox at my door though, so I went to college:

one of my first papers in the Freshman skills class. My teacher was so impressed she wanted me to read my paper to the class - because that is not embarrassing right? Guess who was in that class? This guy named Kyle. Yes you see where this is going...

awwwwwwwwww.... after that I retired the "diaries are only about boys" concept, because I had found the best boy EVER!!!

Then this past week another cute little boy wrote this in his 4th grade class.

I think its sweeter than ANY of my diary entries thus far.

Kyle's weekend at the ranch

This is Kyle blogging at the request of my beautiful wife.

So my company decided to have a team-building weekend at a ranch. Despite some reservations (I don't drink or hunt), I decided I would go. Well, I am very glad I did - it was a fun weekend with experiences I never would have imagined. Here is a recap:

There were a few guns...

And a few animals...

Let's just say you would need to be blind and hunting with a nerf gun to not be able to take down something if you really wanted to. The ranch is more of a preserve - they bring in good genetic stock, breed them, then set them loose on the land (400 acres) where they are fed at regular intervals. Some animals are then 'hunted' to control the population. I will say that all of those guns were for target shooting rather than hunting. The only attempt at killing anything was done with a bow and the targets were some of the older doe which amazingly did not come close enough for a shot.

The really interesting experience came when the ranch owner came over and said we could go with him to take care of an overly-aggressive elk that was attacking the other animals. The plan was to tranquilize him (the elk not the owner) from a safe distance and then remove his antlers while he slept peacefully. (their antlers are shed naturally each year and grow back in a few months).

This is the bully:

Pretty big guy. The tranquilizer was delivered by rifle - slightly off-target but it seemed to do its job:

I say 'seemed to' do its job as shortly after I snapped this photo, the elk decided it didn't feel like napping and proceeded to try to kill us all. My view of the attempted mass-homicide was through a camera lens where I barely saw everyone scatter and a mass of brown flying toward me. I managed to guess correctly which way to turn and run and avoided being shredded - no one was seriously hurt although one person got stepped on by the raging elk. We gave the tranquilizer a few more minutes to set in and then I went in to get my photo done as I had missed the first chance.

After this shot, I stood up and got ready to help remove the antlers. I stood on the bottom rack and held down the top rack. About this time, the elk decided it was time to try to kill again and lifted its head off the ground. I happened to still be standing on the antlers which happened to still be attached to his head. It lifted me a few inches off the ground while I tried to figure out how to get the heck out of there without being disemboweled. Everyone thought it was quite funny watching me 'ride' the elk. The sheer power of this creature was amazing. After another quick shot of tranquilizer, we got back to business:

And this time managed to have success:

The elk woke up a few hours later with a much lighter head but otherwise unharmed. He did however have a less than friendly welcome by his former picked-upon brethren who saw their chance for revenge on the bully who could no longer bully:

That's him on the left being chased around by the others - including much smaller red stag. They never actually fought but he did have a tough time getting to the food that night.

We also built a fire pit at the cabin:

Now Janie wants me to build one at our house - we'll see...

Mr. Benjamin - ahem, I mean Ben

Benjamin 2005

Over the years Benjamin has turned from just being a character on the BLOG to also being a blog reader. So less meaty content about him makes it on here regularly. Because if it does I hear "MOM why did you put that on here"

Benjamin was in First Place in round one of the Space Derby!

Great job Benjamin!

Today I'd love to share with you a little bit more about Benjamin:

Benjamin is named after three people. How many people can say that?? Three people:

His Great-great-great Grandfather Benjamin Watters. Who my Me-maw (sitting with her Dad on the porch- didn't she have great legs?) always said was a kind, kind man. I think the same can be said for Benjamin - above all else he is very kind.

King Benjamin from the Book of Mormon, a humble but strong Prophet and leader of his people.

And Benjamin Braddock - I actually hope he's not like the character in the movie - but I LOVE this movie and the way Anne Bancroft says Benjamin - makes it sound like the coolest name in the world. And that movie still has the best cinematography I have ever seen.

so now without further ado - an interview with Benjamin:

What would you rather be called Benjamin or Ben?

Ben.

Can your mom still call you Benjamin?

I guess. sigh.

Tell us about yourself.

I really like games. And playing with my friend Kyle (who lives across the street, not Dad)

I also like to help Cora learn things. But really that is your job mom.

What is your favorite color:

Black

What is your favorite game right now?

Bookworm

What do you think about school?

its normal

What do you think about politics?

what is politics?

Its about what is going on with our Government.

Well I think Obama is taking over the seats in the white house

(a little confusion on terms there)

Well he is the president.

I know mom.

What do you think about Republicans and Democrats?

I think Democrats don't like church

I've never said that - where did you get that info from?

I don't know I just think it - they do want us to pay more money

Well what do you want to be when you grow up?

a firefighter

Very cool. I love you Benjamin

I love you too Mom.

there is something wrong with this video

first thing wrong: I'm fat and in workout clothes, bad combo. second thing wrong: Maiya didn't have a shirt on. third thing wrong: Cora's onesie is not buttoned and its a hand me down from her brother so she looks like a boy.

welcome to our house in the morning. Minus all those things........

CORA WALKS

this time with PROOF:

oh and Maiya built a fort in the background - it involved the vacuum and the spoon from her cereal.

Just so you know.

things we got done this weekend:

We fixed the car!!!!!!

We did it for $207 (all used parts from the salvage yard: hood, support beam, and front light enclosure) - How often can you save $1693.00 by doing it yourself? Its not the prettiest and yes the hood is not white - but that is a-ok with us - its street legal. We used the rest we had budgeted to put two new very needed tires on the van.

we also changed the oil while we were working on it.

Maiya spent some time cuddling with mom....

and dad:

Ella gave me and her a pedicure with silly putty.

And Cora spent some time on the phone.

AND,

AND,

this morning with teddy bear in hand she took two steps!!!!!

She has since refused to repeat the feat but I saw it - two whole steps.

how ya gonna eat that food storage?

In a real emergency you probably won't have electricity. Kyle and I realized this as we lost a lot of food after Hurricane Isabel.

so add some charcoal to your food storage. It generally goes on sale this time of year. Kroger has two bags for $5.00 right now.

oh and Sarah says I need to start adding tags to my blog posts, so here goes... can I go back and add them to old posts?