Everything is set! Feel free to join us tonight! There will be Meatball Sandwiches, Sloppy Joes, spiced cider, Halloweenish Cheese Balls, and too many other treats to name! Not to mention a bon-fire, hay ride, and tons of fun and fellowship!
I have to show you this giant pumpkin I snagged at Kroger for $3.34. “Jack” weighed in at 54 pounds!!! He’ll be watching us tonight…
Happy Halloween! Be safe, and have fun with your families tonight! :)
When we first moved in here six years ago, I was worried that my oldest would have to start kindergarten all by himself. I’ll never forget how glad and happy I was when my neighbor (and now dear friend) meandered through our moving boxes to introduce herself and her son.
From that day on, our families have shared a common bond. That of raising boys who will grow up having each other to stand by them through their school years.
And that of camping together with our families.
This is my son and his friend. Really, the friend is like a fourth son to us, and his mom the sister I never had. Isn’t it wonderful how God has his provision mapped out before we even think of it?
I’m feeling really blessed today. Here are some more pictures from our camping trip this past weekend.
There is something about walking along a beach that is so very refreshing, all the way to your soul. I love that this beach is only about three hours away.
For more Photo Stories, visit My Chaos My Bliss!
On Saturday afternoon, the sun finally peaked out at Indiana Dunes State Park. After so much rain and hanging out under canopies at the campsite , it felt wonderful to be able to hike to the beach. 
We SO enjoyed the sunshine!
There were large portions of the beach that were eroded away. My son is actually tucked into a nook along the two-foot-tall ledge just above the water’s edge.
After two nights of wind and rain, spying the moon over the dunes was like meeting up with a long lost friend. I can’t tell you how happy we were to be able to enjoy the last night of our camping adventure sitting around the fire ring.
While camping at the dunes, we helped the boys make Martha Stewart’s Glow Stick Spiders to decorate our camp site. WHAT A HIT!! They were pretty easy to make, and the boys just loved them dancing in the wind under our canopy. I know I talked about our plans to make them last week, but I needed to show you how they came out!
For economy’s sake, we used smaller Styrofoam balls and bracelet size glow sticks for the legs. But other than that, we pretty much followed Martha’s directions.
We picked up a low temp hot glue gun to secure the eye hooks in the top and we’re glad we did. They wouldn’t have stayed in the Styrofoam very well without the hot glue.
I have to say, this is probably the only type of spider I don’t mind hanging around!
Don’t forget to check out DIY Day at Kimba’s A Soft Place To Land!
AND, did you know that Mayhem and Moxie is hosting a FLIP give away? I just read that if you share your Halloween craft in her meme, you can get extra entries! I love it when something I’m posting anyway fits a new purpose!! And I would LOVE to win a FLIP. :)
Wind and rain kept us hunkered down for a large part of our weekend camping trip. But we still had a great time!
With five boys, there was plenty of football.
The wind made for some wild kite flying down on the beach! This was so much fun! We just don’t have a good place to fly kites at home.
And of course, they spent gobs of time racing the waves! The cold water didn’t bother them a bit!
We leave tomorrow morning to go camping along Lake Michigan, and we’ll not be returning till Sunday late. Although there is rain in the forecast, I’m hopeful that it won’t be a total wash out.
The year after we moved in, our neighbors invited us to go on their fall break camping trip, and we have been joining them for the event ever since. This will be our third trip heading north to Indiana Dunes. The scenery is usually beautiful, and around here, the colorful trees are pretty much at their peek. We’ll enjoy the drive up, I’m sure.
The Autumn Blaze Maple in the picture above is one of the babies we planted the year we moved in. It is now upwards of 25-30 feet tall and stunningly beautiful in the sunshine. I’ll hate to see her leaves fall!
The pumpkins on the picnic table are all scooped out and ready to take along. We’ll carve them around the campfire and decorate our site in the evenings.
Now that the packing is done (well, almost done), I’m really starting to get excited. The group we are going with is so much fun! I really thank God for their friendship.
My bag of, of course is the only one left to pack.
I don’t know why we do this to ourselves. We pack everyone else’s stuff, and then end up rushing around at the last minute to pack our own. And I ALWAYS forget something. One year it was underwear, another, it was socks, and once I even forgot my deodorant and toothbrush. Just little things! Lol! I wonder what new things I’ll be getting at Wal-Mart this year??
Enjoy the fall foliage show, friends! I’ll be back Monday. :)
If it wiggles, bites, or causes rashes, your kids will likely find it. And if you’re lucky ( he-hem) sometimes they’ll even bring it in to ask you what it is.
This handsome fellow was rescued from the path of a lawn mower. He wound up (literally) in a five-gallon bucket for identification before being sent on his merry way.
In our attempt to I.D him, we came across this helpful (and fun) guide designed to help you identify the plants and animals in your own back yard. It’s called ZipGuides and it allows you to search by Zip code or map region for any of the following categories:
Let’s face it. If you have kids, and they play outside, you’ll be introduced to a whole host of things you never knew existed! Or at least never cared to identify before. Lol! This site Works For Me! Especially since my boys are old enough to do the searches on their own!
I caution you though. If you don’t want them carting their finds through your front door to look them up, have a camera handy. You can help them capture different sides or poses which they can use later in their identification process. That is, AFTER they have seen the “find” safely to a better home.
I’m not altogether sure what this snake was. He had some characteristics of both the Eastern Garter snake and the Texas Brown Snake. I’m thinking he was in the Brown snake family.
Can anyone help me out?
Hop on over to We Are That Family for other great WFMW posts!
Sometimes when you are shopping on Craig’s List, the saying holds true…if you snooze, you lose.
Then again, sometimes if you snooze, you get a better deal!
I’ve always wanted a big picnic table. So I began to look on Craig’s List.
For three weeks, I hemmed and hawed about calling an ad I had found. It was a full size picnic table listed for $80. It was a nice picnic table, with fresh paint. And cheaper than new. But still more than I wanted to pay. By the time I decided to call, the table was gone.
So I began to look again. And found this. 
The table was identical. Minus the fresh paint. And in kind of rough shape. But only $40. Hmm, I thought, I can work with that!
So we picked it up.
I say picked it up like it was as easy as pie. In reality, my husband and the owner had to bust their humps tumbling the thing over a four-foot high chain link fence to get it out of the their back yard.
Then they had to haul it all the way around the house to our waiting trailer. This table is HEAVY! I didn’t take a picture of the moving process for fear my husband would have left it there. Lol! But trust me, it would have made a great picture/movie! (I’m so glad my husband loves me!)
Once we got it home, I flipped it over and tightening the loose screws. Then I took a steel brush to the metal legs to remove flaking paint and some of the rust. It was pretty bad.
After wiping it down, I used one of my favorite products, a $4.99 can of Rust Reformer, by Rustoleum. Then, I top-coated the legs with a Rustoleum glossy black, flipped it back over, and sanded the rough edges of the boards.
I keep saying flipped like I am some kind of super hero capable of lifting massive objects. Really, when I say I flipped it, I mean me and all my boys plus their friend and his mom heaved with all our might to roll it over! Yes, did I say it’s HEAVY?!
All that was left to do was to pick a color to paint the table top and benches.
I was thinking barn red. My husband was thinking forest green. My friend voted stain.
Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.
Which would you choose??
In the end, my friend convinced me that paint would only flake eventually, and that stain was best. So stain it was.
And here is my new picnic table! I lOVE that it is a full size table, and that the legs don’t get in the way of sliding in from the end.
Now, we’ll be able to have company for a picnic without scrounging around for mismatched tables and chairs to seat everyone.
And the fact that it was only $40 makes me even happier!
To see other do-it-yourself projects, visit A Soft Place To Land. Kimba is having a whole meme of DIY ideas!
Martha Stewart has a really totally cool and awesome Halloween craft that even your BOYS will love…a giant dangling glowing spider!
It involves glow sticks, Styrofoam balls, an eye hook, and some elastic string to hang it from. She has pictures, a supply list, and directions on her site here. (The dollar store is a great place to find the glow sticks, btw.)
When you poke the glow sticks into the Styrofoam-ball-bodies and heads, they make them glow, too!
We bought enough supplies for each of the 5 boys going camping with us to make a smaller spider this weekend. In the past when we tried to do crafts, the boys never showed much interest.
However, this, they are excited about! They are dying to make their own and hang them around our campsite.
…Making Creepy Bouncy hanging Spiders with Glow Sticks? What’s not for a boy (of any age) to like?!
Now, GO! Check them out! They really are cool!!!
Do you have boys on your shopping list? How about a year’s worth of this cool magazine for free?
I’m not sure how much longer the offer from freebizmag will be valid, but as of tonight, you can still sign up! The offer is for one free year.
My boys are going to love it!
Go here to subscribe.
We rarely catch the news these days. But we caught the highlights on the Fox News Channel Thursday night and they captivated my five-year-old. He watched the dramatic footage of the big balloon sailing through the sky and listened to them talking about the six-year-old boy everyone thought was inside.
My son was playing with his toys the whole time, and I really didn’t think about the effect it would have on him.
Then, the newsman recounted the story of the other little six-year-old boy who was suspended from school for bringing a spork. [For those of you (like me) who had never heard of a spork before, it’s a knife-fork-spoon combination.]
I didn’t realize how fully engaged my little guy was in the stories until I was bombarded with questions just before bed.
“Why did that little boy fly away in the balloon?” he asked.
“He didn’t. They just thought he did. He was actually hiding in the attic.”
“Because he had a knife?”
“No, that was another six-year-old little boy.”
“Another little boy had a knife? But why did that little boy have a knife? Was he going to cut people at school?”
“No, I think he just wanted to show his friends and teachers. But the rules say you may not bring knives to school, and so he got in trouble.”
“And the police arrested him and put him in jail?”
“No, police don’t arrest little six-year-old boys and girls.”
“Then why was he hiding?”
“Remember, that was the other little six-year-old boy who was hiding. And I think he was just hiding for fun.”
“And then he got in the balloon and flied away?”
“Flew away, and no, everyone only thought he flew away. He was really hiding in the attic.”
“But why did he hide? Doesn’t he know that little boys need a Mommy and a Daddy to take care of them? To cook for them and keep them safe?”
(Bless his little heart!)
“Yes, I think he knew that. Like I said, he was just playing a game, and didn’t know how worried it would make his mom and dad.”
“And so they called the police on him?”
“Yes, they called the police. But not on him to get him in trouble. They called them to come help them look for him. Neighbors and helicopters came to look for him too.”
“But he wasn’t in that balloon?”
“No.”
“Were the police angry with him for hiding and tricking them?”
“No, they were just happy he was safe.”
“And they didn’t arrest him and take him to jail?”
“No, honey, police don’t arrest little six-year-old boys.”
At this point, he looked at me very seriously and said, “But, yes they do!”
“No, honey, they don’t.”
“Can I tell you a secret?”
“Yes.” I leaned down.
Whispering in my ear, he said, “First the policeman helps you, then he puts you in jail. That’s what they do!”
Eye-yie-yie! That’s what I get for watching news in front of him! We’re skipping that for a while, at least until we can get all this ironed out in his head.
However, I did learn several things.
…I wonder if we could just skip “year six” and move straight to number seven instead? LOL!
After giving the sleeping arrangements for our family camping outing a little more thought, I decided to scrap the big sac idea (pinning a single bag onto a double double bag).
Having my little one sleeping with us in our bag seemed like a sure recipe for sleep deprivation. Not to mention countless bruises from his bony knees and elbows! And anyone who has ever taken kids camping KNOWS that a Mamma needs every minute of sleep and peace she can get.
So, I decided that my husband and I will take just the double bag and sleep on the smaller side of the camper.
And the three boys will each get there own warm sleeping bag to spread out on the king size bed.
Way over on the other side of the camper. :)
After dark, we did another dry run last night to see how we would all fit in this new arrangement and, apart from the bickering over who got which spot on the bed, it went well. The boys had plenty of room, and will even have room left over to put their duffle bags.
As we settled in, my middle boy sat up against the far window and said, “Mom, why does it seem like you are SO far away?” Lol! I was warmed by his comment. I took it as evidence that he still prefers to be near us. (It couldn’t possibly be an assessment of how much they could tactically get away with.)
Seeing their little silhouettes against the canvas really did make them look small and distant. To my way of thinking, in any case, that’s not exactly a bad thing when Mom and Dad are trying to get some sleep!
Will they touch each other? Probably. Will it be traumatic ? No doubt! Will there be poking, tickling, tattling, giggling, sock throwing, playing, and rude noises over there?
I’ve got three boys.
Enough said.
But with any luck, their Mom and Dad will get some sleep.
Six more days till we leave!
This year’s fall break camping trip to Indiana Dunes will no doubt leave us spoiled and dissatisfied with our usual Coleman tent. Friends have offered to let us borrow their pop up! Isn’t that cool?? We have such wonderful friends!
The boys are really excited, and I have to admit, so am I! We have it set up in our yard so I can get a feel for what we’ll need to pack. We don’t actually leave until next Thursday.
We did a dry sleep (as opposed to a dry run) last night where we all went out in our PJ’s carrying our sleeping bags to see who was going to sleep where. We spent about an hour out there.
Oh my word! That little camper was rocking away with the energy of our boys. No kidding! It’s funny how you feel every little wiggle, jiggle, and giggle. I have to wonder if any of us will get any sleep at all, or just lie there wondering who is still wiggling…
As far as I can see into the weather forecast, it looks like it is going to be a cold trip. But then, we always freeze on our fall break camping trips. That’s part of the fun! We huddle around the campfire clutching our cups or hot chocolate.
Or in my case, my coffee and pumpkin spice creamer. BTW, I caught the boys sniffing the bottle of creamer tonight and contemplating what beverage they could pour some into. Thankfully, I was able to persuade them that they wouldn’t like it!
We decided that the two older boys will take the far bed, and the little guy will sleep with us on the king size bed. Only I don’t have king size sheets or blankets.
So I took our double sleeping bag, unzipped one side, and safety-pinned another sleeping bag to the edges. The effect is one gigantic sleeping sac, which the little guy tunneled under like a mole on steroids. Or a cat in the sac.
I’m thinking I might just want my own sleeping bag after that experience.
You probably didn’t notice, but my postings have been kind of slim the past few weeks. Before I get too deeply involved in any projects today, I’d like to show you just one of the things we have cooking.
In the very back room of our house, which we use as a playroom, there are two doors to the outside. This steel door, like the other one we replaced a few weeks ago, was in poor shape. The screen door was even worse. Since we really haven’t needed to use it, so I’ve been taping it closed to keep out drafts and critters.
Well, we’re finally getting around to replacing it with this JELD-WEN sliding patio door to let in more winter sunshine and warmth. It is a work in progress (literally). But what do you think so far?
The door is simple in style but slides beautifully. It also fit our budget and qualified for the tax rebate program. We’ll get a big chunk of its cost back at tax time! I also couldn’t resist the big palm trees that were on sale for 8.99 at Home Depot. I can’t wait to have my sunny oasis done!
In our demolition of the old door and surrounding wall, we ran in to some water damage to the sill, flooring, and outside wall. Rot is more like it. What a headache! So it is much more involved than we had anticipated. There is still much to be done. But we’re picking away at it as my husband has time.
This project would be enough to bite off. But we’re gluttons for craziness.
So we’re doing some other things too.
Can you say crazy???
And to make things just a little more exciting, my husband has a business trip to Minnesota next week.
Really, I need three more “me”s and a ten-burner stove for all the pots I’ve got cooking!
So why am I sitting here at my keyboard instead of digging in? I’ve missed you! I’m hoping to hop around the blogosphere later this afternoon and catch up. Maybe with a great big mug of coffee and some pumpkin spice creamer. I need to take some “me” time for the only “me” there is at the moment.
Want to join me?? Seriously, I wish I could scoop the whole bunch of you up in an airplane and bring you all over for a colossal girls’ night. I could send all my boys (and the two males who follow my blog) out for a manly movie, lol! And then we could do chocolate, and brownies, and cookies and chick flicks! I could even buy a case of pumpkin spice creamer!
Since that isn’t likely, and we’d be sitting on boxes, let’s do it this way. Pick something to bring, tell your friends, and come have a virtual party with me! At least we can have fun thinking about the perfect girls’ night out! LOL! And I promise to turn all the burners off for the party.
Unless you need to heat something up, of course!
I think I told you that the last two weeks have been crazy busy with doctor’s appointments, school projects, soccer stuff and appliance shopping. To be honest, I felt too spent to blog.
But before we dive into the weekend, I thought I would show you one of the more fun projects my son did for school. He made a giant chocolate chip cookie for his cell model project. Of course it earned him an A from his teacher.
I was kind of surprised it made it home. I thought the kids would have it devoured before the end of the day. :)
But it did make it home. And it became a fun soccer snack for the family on the long drive to the away game last weekend. I wish all projects could do double duty like this.
* * *
On our docket for this weekend will be splitting firewood and picking up a patio door that we ordered several weeks ago. The break from soccer games will hopefully give us a chance to make some headway on projects that we’ve put on hold.
We’ll also be watching the cartoon network’s Star Wars The Clone Wars. Of COURSE! My boys are already getting in the mood with light saber wars.
Me, personally? I probably won’t catch much of the Star Wars thing. But I’m thinking of laying out the construction paper, glue, scissors and tape and having a fall decoration party in the midst. My youngest has been begging to make pumpkins, skeletons, chains and such. We’re long overdue for some family fun.
How bout you? What does your weekend hold? I hope you’ll find some time to rest and reflect!
Blessings!
Tah-Dah! Meet our new Dynamic Blue Laundry Duo! We settled on the LG 4.5 Cubic Foot Steam Washer (model number WM2801HLA) and the LG 7.4 Cubic Foot Steam Dryer (model number DLEX2801L). Aren’t they big and pretty?!
Because our washer and dryer are in the garage, we really didn’t care what color they were. White would have been just fine.
But Best Buy employees mistakenly put this pretty blue set on display and were then told to get rid of it. Apparently, LG pays for a limited amount of display space and this was not supposed to be displayed.
So the price of the set (which did have a few dings and scratches) was cut substantially to move it out. We got an additional 10% off for a sale they were running. So that put the price of this (beautiful) larger LG set (with steam!) right around the price of the smaller white machines we had been looking at.
I didn’t find the size difference between the 4 cubic foot and the 4.5 cubic foot drums all that noticeable in the store. But the extra space CAN’T hurt, right? Especially when you are trying to wash a queen or king size comforter. (I am anxious to try that!)
I’ve done three loads of laundry so far today, mostly to try it out. But also to get caught up.
The first load was a load of towels. I did it on the Sanitize Cycle and put the soil level on Heavy. It took nearly TWO HOURS! I’m not used to a wash taking that long.
I’m also not used to not being able to add a forgotten sock or something to a wash load once the washer has started. But it makes sense that the door would lock once it has water in it. :)
I did the next two loads on the “normal” cycle, and they took just under an hour.
I was pleased with all the loads as far as how the clothes came out. Each load came out clean, fresh and feeling only damp. The drying time, in turn, was only about 30-40 minutes.
As far as the dryer goes, it has a Steam Sanitary Cycle designed for sanitizing non-washable items such as decorative pillows.
I tried it out on my boys’ smelly soccer cleats. First I gave them their normal dose of Doctor Scholl’s foot powder, and then I laid them on the tray insert in the dryer.
Would you believe they came out smelling something akin to fresh!? Oh my!! That foul smell that used to fill the room within minutes of them being kicked off?? That will NOT be missed! And it was such an easy thing to do!!!
I think I’m really going to like this LG Dynamic Blue Duo!!
My early 90s Kenmore has (finally) reached the limit of what we’re willing to spend on repairs. It has served us very well.
For months, I had been babying the machine along, putting up with it’s off and on issues.
But, Friday, I noticed that it wasn’t agitating. And it wasn’t spinning things out right, either.
Having it finally fail to this extent was one of those things where you would do a dance of joy if you didn’t fear how much a new washer was going to cost you.
Not having the time to sit at the laundry mat, I’ve been stirring up my laundry with the handle of a rake for the last two days. Usually around midnight when I finally get around to it. I feel like an old-time mom in more ways than one! Either that, or a witch at her cauldron, Lol!
So, Friday, we kicked our half-hearted research into full gear. My husband was up till the wee hours of Saturday morning reading reviews on all kinds and makes of washing machines. Amazon.com is great place to find consumer reviews, btw.
We started our shopping late Saturday afternoon. Late, I say, because we spent the morning traveling. And then we spent most of the early afternoon shivering our batookas off in the windy-and-cold-as-sleet rain watching the boys get hammered in their soccer game. Poor guys! But that’s another story.
It worked out well, though, because the McDonald’s Mocha I bought to warm me up, and the tea my husband bought to warm him up, and the milkshakes we bought to cheer the boys up, pretty much pumped-us-all-up for our shopping mission.
I have to ask. Have you shopped for a washing machine recently?? It’s almost as bad as shopping for a car! Holy Cow! Almost as expensive, too!
There are some humongous uprights with, like, a 5 Cubic foot capacity that I had been drooling over for a few weeks. But a few bad reviews which my husband read shifted our focus back to the front-loaders.
At the top of his final list were a 4 cubic foot capacity front-loading Maytag, and several similarly sized front-loading LG washers.
I was simultaneously impressed and intimidated by their buttons, bells, lights and whistles.
Seriously, are these machines supposed to wash my clothes or fly to the moon??
We went to Menards, then Home Depot, then Lowes, and finally, Best Buy. At each stop, I collected printouts of specs and prices from our favorite machines, and we eventually came up with a winner.
This was what I wanted in a machine:
What we chose is definitely big. And it is supposed to be efficient. But the bells and whistles make me skeptical about whether I’ll be able to figure it out without a PhD.
I told my engineer husband that he may have to do the first thirty or so loads of laundry till I get the hang of it, Lol!
Want to know what we got??? Well, I’ll have to tell you tomorrow because the evening rush is upon me and the boys have soccer practice to boot. (Aren’t I bad?) I’m not even going to proof this post--cause I gotta run. Forgive any glaring mistakes, will you??
On the bright side, tomorrow I’ll have pictures to show you because it is being delivered between 9 and 11! :)
Happy Monday, friends!
I snuck this picture out the front door one day a few weeks ago. Doesn’t he look peaceful enough to doze off? I thought he might. But he didn’t. I ended up going out to join him and snuggling under his blanket.
Moments like this are few and far between these days.
This past week was especially hectic. Soccer, homework, major tests, big projects, several doctor’s appointments, and all late nights combined to add a whopping dose of rush and stress.
Around here, that’s a recipe for arguments, scuffles and a whole bunch of refereeing. I am SO glad it’s Friday.
This weekend, I’d like nothing more than to find that swing and recapture the peace. But with two soccer games on opposite sides of the state, I’ll have to make do in the car.
Peace. We moms find so little of it. Yet it is so critical to our hearts and homes.
James said:
Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. James 3:18
He didn’t say peacekeepers. He said peacemakers. When I make one child give into another for the sake of peace, that peace is fragile at best.
Peacemaking is firmly but gently planting the seed of truth in another’s heart. It’s quieting the storm, so right decisions can be made. It’s capturing the attention of strangers and pointing them towards Christ. It’s weaving a fabric that won’t easily be torn.
Peacemaking goes deeper than peacekeeping. It’s a mission made for mothers, and desperately needed in our homes. It’s not that much harder. But it has to start with us.
Nourish a spirit of peace in my heart today, Lord. And help me to plant seeds of peace, so that You can bring a harvest of righteousness.
Have a peaceful weekend, friends!
