Thursday, October 25, 2007

HAPPY HALLOWEEN


Halloween is my favorite holiday, can you guess witch holiday is my kids' favortite? My daughter has been wearing her witch costume almost every weekend and after school for the last several weeks.

We threw a Halloween party this past weekend (early because of all the Fall Festivals and other parties going on the weekend prior to Halloween). I started decorating bit by bit the first weekend of October to enjoy all the decorations and to make sure I wasn't killing myself to get everything done last minute. My kids helped me decorate and besides the assistance, it made them realize the scary part of Halloween is only that way if they want it to be. By helping me put out all the creepy decor, they saw that the stuff wasn't real. They've really enjoyed being such a big part of the festivities and they aren't having nightmares.

Have you seen those fun candy serving bowls with the hands sticking out of them? Well, unless you wait until after Halloween when they go on clearance-they are not cheap. I had previously purchased a $2.00 mask, filled it with plastic grocery sacks, placed it in a large serving dish and added candy around it. Cheap, clever and creepy!


I tried BLOGHUNGRY'S spooktacular Bloody Finger Cookie recipe-they were easy and were a huge hit at the party!

I didn't want to spend all my budget on fake tombstones. I had some extra cement stepping stones and spray-painted them.
Scarecrows and dummies are another cheap and simple scare. I had a dollar store pumpkin for the scarecrow, dollar-store Friday the 13th-Jason mask, and raided my husband's closet. Both dummies were stuffed with plastic grocery sacks and cardboard.










The rest of the decor has been collected over the past 12 years or recently purchased on sale/clearance.










(My neice checks out the eyeballs)





Sunday, October 07, 2007

Right Kid, Wrong Day Care???

Imagine-
It's 11am, you're in the middle of a project at work, you receive a phone call. It's your child's day care: "Please, come pick up your son."
You assume your child must be sick, but the day care assistant informs you that their main water line is broken and that the day care will be without water for the rest of the day and must close early.
You pack up your things, leave a message for your boss, and head out to pick up your child.

That's what I did.
And when I arrived at my son's day care, I was surprised to find the kids in nap time. Then, I noticed I was the only parent there.
What was going on?
The director approached me and asked, "You're picking up your son early?" Confused, I replied, "Uh, yes, you're water line is broken, right?"
My statement startled the director. "It is?"
She asked one of the teachers to turn on the water.
It poured right out of the tap.
The director turned back to me. We just stared at each other trying to make sense of it all. It was like an episode of the Twilight Zone. Who would have called me and said such a thing?

My son's OLD day care.

My son's name was still on "the list."
I left in the middle of work and looked like a complete lunatic at my son's current day care facility-all because our information wasn't taken off a list.
Oh, you bet that old day care isn't calling me again!

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Need a kid birthday gift idea?

Lately we've been invited to quite a few birthday parties-I'm guessing it's because my daughter started Kindergarten. Unfortunately, I don't know most of these kids or their parents. So I don't have a clue what to buy as a gift? Sure you can go to Amazon.com or Toysrus.com and search gift ideas by age group, but still it's difficult to know another kid's likes and dislikes. Well, I think I've found a fool-proof and affordable gift.

The last several gifts I've purchased have been basically the same (depending if I'm buying for a girl or a boy):

ColorWonder colors and books and a kid flashlight or lantern.


You don't have to worry about duplicating gifts, because I can't think of a kid who has too many colors or coloring books. Plus, ColorWonder is MESS FREE-the markers only write on special paper. They are great to use in the home or travelling in the car. ColorWonder sets start at $8.
As for the flaslight, it's an uncommon gift-usually found in the camping section of stores not the toy section.. The kid-friendly flashlights and lanterns come in bright colors or with fun characters. The flashlight shown above even comes with batteries and cost less than $5!!