We are Thankful...or not?

Tonight for FHE,
we had our lesson on being Thankful for our many blessings!
I put up our Thankful Tree and I told the kids that they could list their blessings on a sheet of paper and than
we would put them on leaves to place on the tree.
I was really happy with what they listed.

Gotta love that Parker wrote he is thankful for Slurpees - he has been going to 7/11 a lot lately!


After the lesson was over, the kids were looking through a bunch of ads and magazines that I got in the mail. Maddie found an electric scooter and she told me that they would like it for Christmas! I said, "Well, for $200 - I don't know about that!" Bailey than chimed in, "Maddie don't ask Mom - Just go straight to Santa!" So much for being thankful for what we already have!

Young women in Excellence!

How is it possible that I am attending these activities with my own daughter? How did she grow up so fast? This night was so special and I love when people put in attention to detail and sacrifice so much time to make something memorable and special for the young women in our ward. We have such a small group of girls, and so it would be easy to throw something together and not really care - but the YW leaders really try to go the extra mile and I for one am so grateful!

Princess cake!

Caitlin had to set up a table, which she did by herself, of some of her favorite things to do.
Some things she brought were a tennis racket, piano books, children's book to represent babysitting, a bag that she sewed with her Grandma's help, a boogie board, and a soccer cleat!

The girls each got a tiara and a banner that said Daughter of a King which was their theme for the night!

The whole group - moms, daughters and YW leaders!

Pumpkin cookies and a tear jerker!

I wanted to make something pumpkin-ish! The kids, however, just wanted to make sugar cookies so we compromised and made pumpkin sugar cookies! Not on my diet of healthy things to be consuming - in fact as I reflect back on my day today, I don't think at any point I had a square meal - it was straight sugar cookies! I'm a regular Kirstie Alley!

These little acorn place cards are the cutest on my Turkey table -
thanks to the wonderful Paper Source! Love that place!

This little boy sat next to the kitchenaid the entire time.
He kept asking in a whisper voice (so the girls wouldn't hear)
if he could lick the spoons and spatulas!

Anywho.....
In other news, I got a text from my friend Jen and I literally thought she meant to text someone else with the initials M.J. as she wrote "MJ This Is It tonight at 5:25 mira mesa"... What??? It looked like she was meeting someone for a fight! I finally figured she meant MJ as in the King of Pop Micheal Jackson and seeing the movie This Is It! (Sorry Jen - I am a little slow!)

So, I told her that we would go only if she promised not to cry (we didn't want to feel uncomfortable around an MJ fan) and she had wear whatever I brought! I made some pretty funny banner necklaces for us to wear during the movie!

It was actually really good...
and I may or may not have dropped a tear at the end!
MJ Rocks!!!

I am thankful for THANKSGIVING!!!

I really love
THANKSGIVING!!!
{Don't you?}

Whooo Whooo...

This little owl snack is super easy to assemble and yummy for the kids!

We just toasted English muffins and slathered on peanut butter.
Add bananas for the eyes with chocolate chips.
We also used the choc. chips for the eyebrows.
Take a small apple chunk for the beak and it is ready to eat!

They love them and once they're gone they usually "Hoot" for more!

Candy.... Be gone!!

I gave the kids a couple of days to enjoy their candy! I am not at all blind to the fact that when they enjoy their candy, I join in as well. So, last night I told them that whoever left their candy on the couch that night would find a present from the Great pumpkin in the morning! A couple of older children (I won't mention names) were a little skeptical of the Great Pumpkin so they were quick to give present suggestions! Very funny - to which I always say - "Those who don't believe - don't receive!" That gets them every time!
I am happy to report that they all took the bait and now
I am only hoping that the Great Pumpkin has the willpower to truly be rid of the candy - except for maybe the Twix, Snickers, and Butterfingers.
Can you blame her?

Bailey left the funniest note to the Pumpkin - she wasn't quite sure how to spell pumpkin so it came out Puking! We got quite a laugh!

Trick or treat!

How does this night creep up so fast?

This was a year of changing outfits for the older two - Maddie finally settled on being a witch and Caitlin tried being a Goth girl!
Bailey and Parker were easier to keep in costume!

We always have the best time trick-or-treating at the Quinn's house.
The yummy food and Gigi's bread pudding is the best!

Bart and Joe - AKA - Napoleon Dynamite working at In-N-Out!

Me and Cara - Check out that costume she put together - A-MA-ZING!!!

Bailey with Ellie and lauren

Caitlin and Ashlynn
How sad that it's over!
My kids got sooooo much candy that I am for sure asking the Great Pumpkin to come to our house again this year and leave a present for any child that will willingly give away their candy!
I'll let you know how it goes!

Week in review!

Fireman Witch??!!

This boy is too much at times! He doesn't have preschool on Wednesdays so these are the days that he gets pretty inventive if I am busy doing other things. I love this kid!

We celebrated Jen's birthday and once again closed down the joint and we were asked to leave!

We love this little boy and my kids were so excited that he came over for a little bit. Parker even asked if I wished we had a baby!
He would love a little brother!
I could do 5, right?
As long as I didn't have to carry and birth them
and they came over for visits!

Parker's class had a Halloween party and I can not believe all that Mr. Joe does for these kids!

We took the kids last night to sleep over at a time share in Del Mar.
It was short and quick but the kids loved swimming and hanging out together!

I just got done frosting these Spider cookies for the party tonight!
check out these spiders that my mother-in-law found for me!

Just when I thought these cookies couldn't get any cuter!

Maddie helped me make Nutter Butter ghosts. We just melted white chocolate, dipped the cookie into the chocolate and added mini chocolate chip eyes. These cookies will be for the kids tonight!

Caitlin and her cute friend Hannah are in Drama together and they had to do a walk-a-thon today to raise money for their drama department. I thought they both looked pretty cute!

Now we are off to get Haloweened Out!

LOL for sure!

Sometimes I just get such a kick out of going to this website!
Where do they find these cuties?

Happy Halloween!
We are leaving to get away for a night with the kiddies before the tricks and treats start tomorrow!

Growing Growing gone!

I think that part of the reason why I love to create and bake and make special memories for my kids is because all too soon they are out of the very phase of life you want to keep them in.
Case in point:
The night of my big Halloween dinner - we finished eating and I literally told Bart I was not to be woken until the kids were asleep in their beds and I went to take an hour long "Nap!" (Don't judge - I had been working on three hours of sleep the day before)
So, I woke up at about 9:30 that night and had to start making a couple dozen sugar cookies for Bailey's first grade class! I knew she would be so excited to see the cookies in the morning and decorate them with her friends... and she was!
My older two saw the cookies as well and they started talking about the parties they had in class when they were her age. how sad - I thought that these cookies would not be allowed nor would any of their teachers even do anything like this.
My girls thankfully still love to see a bunch of sugar cookies on the counter that they can decorate and eat but how quickly it changes from making them for class parties when they are little to enjoying some at home just because!

Witches Brew!

Shoot... I found this really cute little Witches Brew label online and I would share it with you but I don't remember what blog I was on! Help - has anyone come across this? Well, I think it would be easy enough to make on the computer! I bought the mini water bottles for my kids lunches and I took the drinking label off and applied my own. Than, I got some colored drinking drops (they don't change the taste of the water) and I added it to the water bottles. I popped those in their lunch and waited for the reaction. Again - some good some not so good - Parker was really bugged because he thought it was Gatorade!
Can't win them all!

y

Sadleir Halloween Dinner!

When we went on our girls trip to Utah,

I was really inspired by all that I saw so I bought a lot of it
with the idea in mind to have a special Halloween dinner with my family! I will never forget their faces (I wish that I could have filmed it) when they first saw the place set up - they kept asking who was coming to dinner.
I told them that other than Grandpa Bob they would be the guests!
We will definitely be doing this again... and again... I will just have to switch up the Halloween menu!

My fave candlesticks from Evan's Frontier in Utah!

These were my placecards - Take the googly eyes and the mist from my cauldron ( it made watermarks on the photos) they made some spooky faces.

This was the menu I left on each plate!

Ready to Spook!

My spooky eyeball tacos!

Crispy cinnamon sugar bat wings for dessert!

Before we dig in!
Maddie is pretending she's scared to eat!
Don't be fooled -she ate two tacos!

Happy Halloween!

I love Fall days!

Fall is upon us and I am psyched to pull out the jackets and sweaters. I actually made hot chocolate for one of my girls soccer games...
it was that chilly!
Today I made homemade stew - the house smelled incredible!
My Maddie girl loves this stuff and as soon as she got home, started asking when we would be eating. It was really hard to hold her off for a few hours! Here are some other randoms that I took pictures of to remember. Not all days are this fun!
Besides it is fun to look back and see what your kids can add to your day!

Can't you just smell that?

I made pumpkin sandwiches for the kids lunches. They were made of Nutella and peanut butter. I couldn't wait to be praised and raved by all four of my children.
Parker came home from preschool and said,
"That pumpkin thing was gross!
I don't like chocolate and peanut butter."
Whose child is he?
He can't possibly be mine!

Because I love to snoop - Bailey told me that she wrote me some letters during free time at school!
So, I ran to her backpack and found these little notes in there!
I love that girl!

This is Caitlin's sixth year in soccer and her coach said that he didn't think that the girls needed any treats after the game as they were older.
WHAT???
Well, it was our turn to bring the token orange slices and I couldn't help myself! She HAS to have a treat after - so we made some and besides the daggers from the coach, the girls were all pretty excited - mine included!

As I always say - "Life is in the Details!"

Mummies and Pumpkin Jacks on Pizza... OH MY!!

It is no small secret that I love Halloween
and all the fun things there are to bake and create!
My kids love helping make mummy pizzas and we even made Jackolantern pizzas this year! They are so simple and super yummy!

Bailey and Parker ate more salami than I care to think about!

The best cheese for the mummy pizzas are the mozarella string cheese...don't forget the olive slices for the eyes!

These definitely didn't turn out as cute - but they tasted good going down!

Mummies anyone?

Spiders EEK!!!

Last year for Halloween, we made these little scarecrow cookies and they were a big hit!

These cookies were just as fun to make and my kids loved eating them!

I still needed treats to pass out to our neighbors for Halloween so when I was in Utah I bought this fabulous spider web cookie cutter and I just love how big the web is. It makes it so just passing out one cookie is good enough!

First make your favorite sugar cookie dough recipe:

Than frost the cookie with white frosting

Take black frosting and put in a ziploc bag - snip the tip and
make a spiral design on the top of the cookie.

Take a toothpick and start at the center and work your way out.
Do this all the way around the cookie

Aren't they cute?

I then added fake spiders to the center of each web.

Wrap them up and they are ready to be passed out!
I have to go make some more as little hands got to some of them first!

So long boys!

Bart and Parker went on their annual Father/Son campout!
I love that I have no knowledge, for the most part,
of what goes on when they are camping!
The dirt, the bugs, the falling of large trees, the Parker poo poo problems
Nope - not for me!
But, they always seem to have a lot of fun when they are gone!

The boys pretending to put up the tent!

All the Fathers and sons!
Don't the fathers look like they wish the wives were around?

Bart with Parker and Carson

There are no words!

There is always a stop at the Dudley's bread store on the drive home!

Good friends bring out the BEST!!!

Ok - so to say that this girl has been one of my Besties is quite the understatement! Since college days, we were inseparable. We picked the same major, took all the same classes, went to BYU Hawaii together and than returned and went on missions at the same time - came back picked up where we left off with our classes at school together and than somehow managed to date and get married and have a bundle of kidlets - she beats me by two extra little ones - I personally don't know how she does it!
They came down to San Diego from their home in Arizona and we couldn't be more excited to be with them. Our kids act more like cousins and hit it off every time we are together!

Cheryl with her cute girls!

What a beautiful baby!

The kids had fun making forts in the backyard!

Look at these two little twerps!

Come back soon - you are already missed!

Just because it's Fall!

I don't know about you but pumpkins and apples are where it is at when Fall hits. I wanted to make up a bunch of caramel apples to give to neighbors and friends - I also knew that once I started the kids would want to help make and eat them.

So, I made these for my peeps!

I then made mini caramel apples with a melon scooper and a large apple.

I let the kids decorate and eat the mini apples. They loved them!

Look at how small they are!
To make them, you need a melon scooper to round out apple chunks. I than coated them with caramel and dipped them in chocolate! While the chocolate is still wet, I let the kids add their own candies on top.
I had sprinkles, M&M's, Butterfinger bars, (crushed) coconut, and mini chocolate chips.

For the finishing touch on my big apples,
I added ribbon and bagged them up!

The problem is I think that they're too cute to eat!

I'm getting Excitied!

I am always giddy to pull out the Halloween totes and Bart is just the opposite! He can't quite understand why anyone would need more than a couple of storage totes to hold their Halloween goods!

I have 6 and counting!
Yikes!

The scary thing is that this is only the first three totes - Ridiculous - I could open a Halloween store for pete's sake!

Baby blessings!

It is always fun to get together with family and baby blessings are no exception!
We went to see baby Cody be blessed this weekend!
He is such a Q-tee!!!

The whole group!

The Sadleir boys!

Someone likes camera time!