Halloween is just about over...

and now it's time to start the Thanksgiving projects! Does anyone else feel like the world of retail skipped Halloween and Thanksgiving? I am making a point of teaching my kids EVERY YEAR what Thanksgiving is supposed to be about, and how much we have to be thankful for. It was frustrating to see all the Halloween merchandise on 50% off clearance the first week of October... to make room for Christmas ornaments?! I had a $10 off anything coupon for Kohl's yesterday, and half of the store was on clearance (which I liked thank you), but the other half was Christmas decorations, huge toys on display, and Christmas themed clothing! What happened to giving thanks? Maybe a shirt with a turkey on it at least? A roasting pan?! I know, I must be weird! We have a bunch of projects planned for the twins, because we can learn a lesson each time we sit together and make something. I have pilgrim hats to make with them, while I explain (in three yr old speak) what pilgrims are. I have turkeys to make then I'll show them how we're eating a turkey for dinner! Wait, will they still want to eat the turkey? Hmmmmm...

Best Haunted House ever!!!

You have GOT to check this out - I don't personally live near it, but the photos on the flickr pages had me DYING laughing! The place is called Nightmares Fear Factory, it's in Niagara Falls. I have been to tons of haunted houses, I love them all! If you want to see some awesome pics of people while the are going through the house, google the Nightmares Fear Factory flickr site!!! A few girls do look genuinely scared, I feel bad for people like that who get talked into a haunted house. I wonder if I look like these people when I go through a haunted house - mouth all open, screaming, body all tense! Why do I like to be scared so much?! HA!

How to make Mario and Luigi hats

I am going to send you to an amazingly easy how to on someone else's blog, because it's so perfect! Took my mom minutes to do using scrap fleece she already had at home and my twins think she's superwoman for making them. Just awesome!!! Anyone wanting to make Mario Bros hats needs to see this!!!

*we used actual iron on letters from the craft store for the M and L on the hats. We just put a few stitches in them (no ironing!) and they have hung on through four months of play so far! The hats are surprisingly durable :)

I love County Fairs

Our local county fair has arrived, and we all had a blast. I love how colorful county fairs are! I couldn't stop taking pictures of all the colorful lit up rides, and all the flags on the food tents. Big Kid had a blast riding everything, and got on the Cyclops at least four times :) A good time was had by all!

Princess Peach Crown DIY!

Yep, I have decided what I want to dress up as for our Halloween party this year. I'm going to be Princess Peach from Mario Bros! The twins helped me decide, and find my costume. They want to be Mario and Luigi from Mario Kart, and thought I would make a great princess. How fun is that?! I hit up the local Goodwill stores and a few thrift shops before finally finding a perfect pink dress, and a crinelin (that's what it's called right? that puffy slip thing that goes under long skirts to make them poofy), total cost so far is $11.76 for the dress and $5.35 for the slip thingy. The dress is sleeveless, but I'm not a cosplayer so who cares if it's not exactly the dress Peach wears. I sure don't! The fact that the twins think it's the perfect Peach dress is enough for me :) I made the chest jewel using half of a Christmas ornament kit from Michael's, spraypainted the inside blue and hot glued it to an oval cut out of sparkly fun foam. I hung it with clear craft line as a necklace. I spray painted two ping pong balls the same blue, and put silver wire in them with a loop to hook to earrings. My mom offered to make the boys hats instead of buying baseball hats, yay! My mom ROCKS!

My Princess Peach crown, made out of fun foam!!! I just grabbed a few sheets of gold glittery fun foam, and cut out the shape of the crown. It was sticky on one side, so I stuck the top half of the foam sheet to the bottom half after I cut it out - making the crown sparkly on the inside and outside, and in the process it became very sturdy! A few hot glued jewels (bought everything at Michael's for under $6) and voila! Thing One and Two have crowns too, they were so impressed with mine they needed "prince hats". I love it!!! Super easy!!!

MC Hammer??!!

I let Big Kid listen to music while he does his math homework. My attitude is this: as long as his grades are fine he can have the music, but only for math homework. So he usually gets his ipod and listens to pandora. Sometimes we fight because he loves Ludacris, and most of what pandora finds is uncensored... you get the idea. Well today he was jammin out first to "Can't Touch This" (hammertime!), then he was listening to "I Like to Move It, Move It". Remember those songs? Is this my "I'm officially old" moment?! I heard my son listening to those songs and just died laughing. I can't believe he likes MC Hammer and Reel2Real! All I can think to say is wow. I knew he liked the move it song from the Madagascar movie, but where the heck did can't touch this come from?!

I'm already seeing all the skinny jeans I hated as a young teen coming back into style, and the flourescent colors coming with it. Yes, I used to tightroll my jeans, and no, I did not have the legs for it even then. I swear if Tiffany comes back I'm moving to sirius radio! Now I could get into some good ol' Max Headroom! I love Matt Frewer ;)

Chicken and salsa and beans, oh my!

No clue what to call this recipe, but it's all over the internet and a friend served it once to me too! We made it stovetop last night, crockpot lid broke last week :( Thought I would share the recipe since it's so darn yummy!!

*as always, if you are making this as a gluten free recipe check your ingredients to ensure gluten free status! I have brands I am very loyal to, but I still check every time I buy a new container to ensure nothing has changed on the ingredient list.

1 - 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
can black beans
small can corn
jar of your fave salsa

*if you want soup, don't drain the beans and add a little water. I personally don't make it this way because I looooove to eat this with tortilla chips and melted cheese!

Crockpot: pour in salsa, then chicken, beans and corn. Cook either on low for around 4 hours, or on high for 2-3 hours. Shred the chicken in the crockpot, it should fall apart really easily, and serve!
Stovetop: Boil chicken for 30 minutes, and shred. Pour shredded chicken along with rest of ingredients into large pot and simmer on low for half hour. Yum!!!