We got the H1N1. Tested positive, bought Tamiflu and endured it. It was like a bad cold. The problem was that *I* was laid low and Pete had to run things for a couple of days. After 1 round 
Pete was such a trooper. he kept the kids busy and let me sleep for almost 2 days straight. Stay at home mommies need sick days, too!
We are all better. And it really was not as bad as hyped. We have had strep or colds worse than this for sure.
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October 1st is when I told the kids we’d get all the Halloween decorations out of the attic.
Trust me – it is a PLETHORA!
I’ll post photos but I have quite a collection. So I was thinking about fall and going through my files to see what ideas I had saved.
We made these last year. Messy and not sure they were worth it. Might be good to distract the kids but I give it a 4 on a one to ten scale.
These were fun to make and easy cheesy.
I just loved 
I am hoping to make these this year. They use those funky pipecleaners.
Now if only we could get below 90 degrees everyday, it might actually start to feel like fall. We organized the kids’ coat armoire yesterday- sorted out the too small Elmo hoodie and set aside the orange LLBean jacket that was still grubby from last year and needs a wash. Tried on too big big winter coats and too small winter coats. I have a stash of coats I bought at the thriftstore and I am just waiting for the prices on ebay to start going up before I list them.
C’mon Fall!
As for Food- this is from Linda (http://www.sundrymourning.com/) and they are my go-to for fall. Teachers, coworkers, bus drivers, principals- everyone just loves these. My sister in law prefers them without the chocolate chips (scandalous!) . I use canned pumpkin and gherideli choc chips (because I buy them by the truck size bags at Sam’s). I have made the giant size, the muffin tops, the minis and all sizes in between with this recipe.
Insanely Good Pumpkin-Chocolate Muffins
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/4 cups sugar 1 tbls baking powder
1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp ground allspice 1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 can pumpkin [ ‘regular’ size can, not the large — original recipe calls for 1 CUP]
1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 tbls molasses
Some amount of chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 400˚ and lightly grease a 12 muffin tin (I use paper holders). Sift (I don’t) flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices together in large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, milk, oil, and molasses. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and mix (I just do it all in 1 bowl- because I roll like that). Stir in your desired amount of chocolate chips (to taste). Fill the muffin cups 2/3s full. Bake 18-20 minutes, until tests done.
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So, I have been buying some Christmas stuff on ebay. I present to you – my latest finds!
These are *so* cute and I now have more than 2 sets because i have been keeping an eye out on ebay!
This kitten mini ornament is the exact one that was the first ornament I bought with my own money for my fist tree- also bought with my own money when I decided to start to buy 1 ornament a year – in 1982.
This records speech and you can lock it so it is not accidentally erased. It is from 1993 and I think they make neat holiday gifts. I love buying them on ebay (I never go over 10$ including shipping) and passing them on to teachers and friends.
This Tiger is from Avon 1993. There is a matching elephant and something else but the tiger is the one I have oodles of. He has the cutest face. Benefit: he is non breakable plastic!
This has been my Christmas mindset lately. I keep a running list on my computer every year and update it as I wrap gifts. So, I can see by my list who I still need to get some things for and who has enough. I am trying to stick to “Something they want, something they need, something to play with and something to read” for each kiddo.
This edition: places I try to visit each and every day
I also check these daily even though they are not updated daily. Wouldn’t want to miss anything.
These are like train wrecks 0 I cannot look away!
Of course I check ebay throughout the day as well. Right now I am bidding on shoes for Nicolas, an air filter for the a/c, gold earrings for Mantha and am watching some Hello Kitty Earrings and a guitar t shirt (xmas gift for Nicolas).
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For Mantha’s birthday I wanted to make these cute Hello Kitty cupcakes. I’d ganked the picture off the web and was determined to recreate it. I think we did a pretty good job. The boys *loved* making them.
Here is what I found: 
Here’s what we made.
The generic pink wafer cookies were cheaper so we ran with those. I had tic tacs and m&ms. 
The other neat thing we made were Nicolas’ birthday cupcakes. He and his ‘Uelita made them and I set out the frosting and a baggie of plastic decorations. I walked off to do something and the next thing we knew Nicolas had “iced” all the cupcakes.
*sigh* I had taken out these plastic flies to make “amber necklaces” (like Trey made in science summer school) but Nicolas took a liking to them. He smeared a dab of frosting and plastic fly on each cupcake.
Trey refused to eat any of the cupcakes. We wondered if that was Nicolas’ strategy all along. Smart little buggar!!
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