Total Mom Fail

There is nothing worse than waking up to the horror that your alarm clock didn't go off. You jump out of the bed all in a panic and figure out it's 9:00 a.m. and your little one was suppose to be at preschool at 8:30. Aidan was already up watching cartoons in the living room but for some crazy reason never bothered to wake me up. He was quite upset with me because he loves preschool! I felt horrible and vowed to make it up to him!

To make up for it, I spent the whole next day in the kitchen baking goodies for Aidan's Halloween party at preschool and Jaxson's snack day for his class. It took me four long hours to bake, decorate, and clean up the kitchen. I felt so much better when the boys were all excited to take their pumpkin cookies and spider cupcakes to school. I even attempted to hem up Aidan's Buzz Lightyear costume so he wouldn't trip over it during the Halloween parade (I said "attempted" because the good Lord knows I can't sew!). To end the night, I made up 35 goodie bags for all their friends at school.

So hopefully all my hard work puts me back in "good" mom status. Well that is until the next time I pull a total mom fail! Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween weekend!



Spider Cupcakes




Pumpkin Cookies




Goodie bags for Aidan's preschool class



My sweet Aidan at the Halloween Parade

A New Week

Well I did it. The yard sale went well even though I missed the deadline to place an ad in the paper. I made just enough to get me started on some dreaded Christmas shopping which I will start that glorious day we all know as Black Friday. I just can't wait to fight the lines, play buggy war, and stay up all night with the other crazies! But its definitely all worth it to see my boys' faces light up Christmas morning!

Of course I think wow it's over so I can go back to my normal routine but nope this week is just as crazy as always. I really let the housework and laundry go as I was getting everything ready for the yard sale so for me this is mission #1. Then comes getting ready for the upcoming Halloween parties, two family birthdays this week, working the school fundraiser, both boys have snack days this week, and grocery shopping. I come to expect this craziness because as we all know a mother's job never ends!

Deals of the Week:

 If you are need of Halloween candy this week, be sure to check out CVS. They have 4 bags of select candies for $10 and you receive $3 Extra Care Bucks back to use next week. If you use (2) $1.00 coupons when you buy 2 bags of Starburst, Skittles, etc this will make the final cost 4 bags for $5.00 or $1.25 each. Also check out Kroger's this week for some great 10 for $10 deals. I am definitely going to be stocking up on some canned goods with all my Campbells Soup coupons! Happy Shopping!

What A Day!

So my morning starts out a little like this...my plan was to be in the shower by 6 a.m. this morning only to find my husband stays in the shower until 6:10. My oldest son, who always rides to school with his dad, changes his mind at the last minute and decides to ride with me and his little brother since we were all going on the field trip with his class today. So calculate this...I had one hour to shower, pack up the car, get the boys ready, and drive the 35 min to school to have my son there by 7:45. Do you think I made it on time? Heck no! We rolled up at 7:51 thanks to a million red lights and those slow driving people you always seem to get behind when you are already running late. So imagine my total embarrassment when I have to sign my son in as late when this is only the second time Mom has ever dropped him off at school!



Jaxson's Kindergarten Class
2011



But all that anxiety and embarrassment quickly went away because we had an amazing day at Lucky Ladd Farm! It was the first time I spent the day with my son's class and I was really interested in how he acted around the other kids. To my surprise, he has turned into quite the social butterfly bouncing around from one kid to another. He just seemed so happy that it really warmed my heart. My little one also enjoyed himself and tried his best to keep up with his big brother but in the end he had a great day playing with his mom and dad. So the valuable lesson I learned today is do not give up on the day when you have "one of those mornings" because it can always turn into one of those days you will never forget!



Jaxson Found His Pumpkin :)



My Silly Boys! :)























Enjoying the Hay Ride :)



Aidan Found the Sand Box :)



















Pumpkin Patch Time

As we were driving down our road, we noticed that the leaves on the trees were changing into some amazing colors reminding us that summer is over and fall is officially here. Even though this makes me incredibly sad (I Love Summer!!!), I actually got excited thinking its time to take our little ones to the pumpkin patch! Last year, we visited Grandaddy's Farm in Estill Springs and had a great time but this year we will be going with my oldest son's class to Lucky Ladd Farms in Eagleville. If you are interested in taking your little ones to a pumpkin patch, I typed up a list of pumpkin patches in the surrounding counties. Please visit their links for more information and possible coupons on their website!

Bedford County:

• Cedar Rock in Shelbyville, TN - Festival Admission $5 per person. *Coupon Alert* Print this coupon on website: Buy 4 admissions and get 5th free!  http://www.cedarrockfallfest.com/

Cannon County:

• Farm at Hollow Springs in Bradyville, TN - Admission $7 for ages 6 to Adult, $4 for ages 2 to 5, Free for ages under 2  http://www.hollowspringsfarm.com/

Franklin County:

• Grandaddy's Farm in Estill Springs, TN - Admission $10 for ages 10 and up, $6 for ages 2 to 9, Free for ages under 2. *Coupon Alert* Print this coupon on website: $1 off Admission for Weekday Visit! http://www.grandaddysfarm.com/

Lincoln County:

• Lyon Family Farms in Taft, TN - Admission $9 per person plus tax, Special Discounts for groups of 15 or more  http://www.lyonfamilyfarms.com/

Rutherford County:

• Lucky Ladd Farms in Eagleville, TN - Admission is $8 plus tax, Kids under 2 are Free  http://www.luckyladdfarms.com/

Warren County:

• Cedarwood Nursery in McMinnville, TN - Admission is $8 for ages 11 to adult, $7 for ages 2-10, Kids under 2 are Free  http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/TNpmiddle.php

If none are these are close to you visit the following link for a more complete list of pumpkin patches around your city and state: http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/. I will leave you with a few pictures from last year's pumpkin patch trip to Grandaddy's Farm. Happy Fall Everyone!!!

Playing on the Playground!

Picking Out Their Own Pumpkin

My Lil Sunflowers :)

Goodie Bag Mania!!!

Halloween is just around the corner and haunting me is the all the goodie bags I will be making over the next several months. With one son is kindergarten, the other in preschool, and a 4th grade teacher as a husband, I easily make about 60 goodie bags for every major holiday. Here are a few tricks I have picked up along the way on how to stretch your money on a limited budget:

• Tip #1: Of course always shop the clearance aisle after the holiday sale is over to stock up for the next year. For those of you that did not do this, I recommend shopping somewhere like the Dollar Tree where you can find some great deals especially on the bags. You can buy 25 bags for $1 while Walmart sells 20 for $1.88.
• Tip #2: Don't get sucked into buying the Halloween packaged candy. Try to buy the regular packaged candy so if you have any leftover you can save that candy for the next set of goodie bags. Always check the best before date but most candy will last 6 months to a year after the manufacture date.
• Tip #3: Recycle those goodies you get from other parties. For example, I have been saving all those pencils my son got at every birthday party, holiday, etc. By the time he started kindergarten, I had over 30 pencils all ready for him to take to school.
• Tip #4: Do not waste all that trick or treat candy! I try to separate the regular packaged candy and use some of that batch to fill up goodie bags for my son's birthday party which always comes the first week of December.

Most importantly get creative and have fun making the goodie bags! Both my boys love to help and believe me I appreciate any help I can get around here! Hope these tips help you to save some money and lessen the stress of goodie bag mania!!!

Treats for All My Sweets

Since my husband started teaching, I always tried to get creative and give out goodie bags or bake goodies for all the students in his class. Of course when we were both working this was no big deal. Now its a different story I got a very strict budget and have added two more classes full of students with my 3 yr old in preschool and my 5 yr old in Kindergarten. Sheesh do you even know how much stuff I have to buy? Crazy amounts of goodies!

Thankfully at the beginning of this year I got into the coupon craze. (Yes I am turning into one of those crazy coupon ladies with the big notebook but more on that at a later date...) I found some really good deals at CVS on Halloween candy and stocked up on goodie bags & baking accessories at the Dollar Tree. Now I am no professional baker but I have been known to produce some really cute cupcakes in my three short years of staying home! Cakes are another story but they turned out okay ;)

But before I started baking all these cupcakes, I wanted to get a few design ideas and practice before I gave some kind of crazy mess to all these innocent kids. Searched the internet and found so many cute ideas! My boys were so excited to have momma baking cupcakes for no reason. Of course it took me forever because I really was trying to do a good job. But in the end, a few of them turned out cute and the boys enjoyed their sugar rush right before bedtime! (Um what was I thinking?? LOL)



Halloween Cupcakes




Sugar Rush!!!