Free photo book from Oprah!

My sister just emailed me and gave me a link to her friends blog, which had the following info on it! I have gone in and signed up for snapfish, and it looks like I have credit for a fee book....you need to act by tonight to get the coupon, and use it by Sunday.....just thought I would pass the info along!

So you know all those cute photo books that everyone makes? Now you can have one too.... FOR FREE!!! That's right. For free. The Oprah Winfrey Show is offering viewers a free 8" x 11" custom-cover photo book! I've already started creating mine. It's not the cutest program, but hey it's free right? The offer expires the 16th so you better jump on it if you want one. All you pay is shipping and handling.

Here's the link:http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081029_tows_messyhouse/7

Deprived Kids!

My poor kids are pretty deprived....due to having a mother who seems to costantly be trying to lose weight, they very rarely get fresh, home made cookies....on the count that their mother has NO SELF CONTROL!!!! Well, I decided it was time they get some fresh out of the oven cookies today for snack.....so, Kayleigh and I had fun making the cookies....the kids are enjoying eating them right now, and the cookies that wont be eaten are being given to neighbors....because their mom still has no self control!!!!

Blog facelift!

Thanks to my friend, Kristen, who had a few of us local bloggers over to teach us some BLOG techniques, I have been adding a few extra gadgets to my blog. (make sure you scroll down to the bottom to see one of my favorites....the family sticker!.....notice, Kayleigh has her own look! That is what I get for letting her "help" me.....I will have to go in and changes it in a few days when she doesn't care!) It has been fun to play a little....you never know when something new may appear, so make sure you check often! Thanks again, Kristen!!--And yes, the Christmas countdown has begun....Jared asked me yesterday how many more days until Christmas....so, I decided to have a Christmas (eve) countdown, so now when he asks, I can tell him!!!

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day. The kids have the day off. Yesterday, at the school they had a wonderful tribute to the Veterans of the community. All of the students have been learning several patriotic songs.....they invited any of the veterans in the community who wanted to attend, to come....and basically it was a patriotic sing along.....they also gave a rose to each veteran, plus some of the 4th graders had speaking parts. Anyway, it was a nice event. I am glad I went....and it made me realize how much I appreciate the freedoms that we have here in The United States of America....freedom of religion, speech, free to make our own choices....not always worried about what the government is going to say/do to us. It was quite an amazing thing to see a room full of k-4th graders singing all of theses songs....really choked me up! I appreaciate all the men and women who have served, and continue to serve our country to allow us to keep the freedoms we enjoy.

Listening to the Spirit

Jared has been really cute the past few weeks, asking questions like, "How will I know if I am hearing the spirit" or "what does the spirit sound like?" We have tried to tell him that usually it is more of a feeling, and tried to remind him of times he may have felt the spirit. You can tell he is getting close to that baptism age, I guess.

Anyway, the other night we were eating dinner....not Jared's favorite time of the day, as he doesn't like much food.....we were having potatos for part of our dinner....not a favorite of Jared's----anyway, I am use to hearing him complain about potatos, so I was ready for the complaints....and ready for the same answer "You can try it if you want....just leave it on your plate and don't complain about it" type of conversation. But, instead, it went like this:

"Mom, I think the spirit is telling me not to eat my potatos!!!"

Oh my, Matthew, Jessica and I just started laughing! We explained to him that it wasn't the spirit....b/c potatos are good for you, and the spirit tells you things to do that are good for you....something like that....he thought about it, then said:

"So, maybe it is just my mind telling me not to eat my potatos?"

Just thought I would share that with you....we thought it was funny!

Happy Halloween.....the costumes!

Jared (above) and Kayleigh (below) both went as Spider Man!

That is our Kayleigh...all the pretty girl costumes, but wants to be like her brother.

They have been dressing up all month playing spider man.....throwing webs (blankets) on the bad guys, etc.

Jessica did not get an official costume this year, but last minute decided to dig through the costume box, and see what she could come up with for the evening!!

How Many ways do you TRICK-OR-TREAT????

1) Trick-or-Treat GRANDMA AND GRANDPA style

Grandma and Grandpa sent money for the kids' Halloween....telling them that if they were living in the neighborhood, they would have a fun treat for them when they went trick-or-treating....but, given we are 12 hours away from them, they sent money and a card telling them to use it for a special halloween treat....like maybe donuts and hot choc. for breakfast or snack that day or???? Anyway, the kids decided they wanted to combine the money with the money they already had to buy something special that they hadn't had quite enough money to get before. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!! Jessica got the High School Musical 3 CD
Jared got a DOC OC spiderman toy

Kayleigh got a new baby....b/c this mommy can't have too many babies to care for!!!

2) Trick-or-Treat MAIN STREET style

Apparantly, our town does trick-or-treating down on main street....anyone and everyone in the town can go trick-or-treat down on main street to all the businesses.....I had heard about it last year, but we didn't go.....I had no idea what an ordeal this was....but, I loved it! It was a lot of fun....I this we will join in this tradition every year!!

3) Trick-or-Treat NEIGHBORHOOD style (sorry, no pics....but, Matthew brought Jared and Kayleigh trick-or-treating through the right after dinner---which was right after main street trick-or-treating.

4) Trick-or-Treat Trunk-or-Treat style at the church (sorry, no pics for this either....but, you get the point....the kids had fun trick-or-treating many ways this year!!!)

And of course.....no trick-or-treat post would be complete without the candy stash!!!! Jessica opted out of trick-or-treating this year....she did a little bit on main street, but helped me pass out candy at home, and from the car last night. (ok, so we had sort of told her she is too old for trick-or-treating....but, she was a great sport, and had a lot of fun with passing out the candy and seeing all the cute costumes come around!)