{FREE} Halloween Lunchbox Notes

Happy Mini Friday everyone (that's what Brian calls Thursdays). Any-who...

Just popping in quickly today to share a couple of links with you in case you want to print out some Halloween lunchbox notes for your kiddos.

It only takes a few minutes to print them off and cut them out, but I promise you, your kids will LOVE getting these in their lunchboxes! They will pass them around the table and invevitably be the most popular child in class. Um...well, maybe not, but at least they will have a big ol smile on their face when they open their lunchbox to see a fun note or joke.

Here are some links to my favs:

From the adorable Kiki & Company you can download these cuties here:

 

There is also a creative blog run out of the UK called Activity Village that posted some fun joke notes. You can download them here.


There's a great blog called Polka Dot Pixies that shared these beautifully designed notes. You can grab em here.



And one more from the cute blog Sweet Nothings, from Sweet Greet Studios. They're available here.

I hope you and your kids will enjoy these in the coming weeks. Before we know it, we'll be ushering in Thanksgiving! Happy Halloween Y'all. :)

Lately...

Time for a photo dump!

Let's pretend like you haven't seen most of these on Instagram and just play along in my virtual scrapbook, shall we?

We've been busy around here doing all sorts of fun fall activities. And since the weather has been a touch cooler, the kids have been spending a lot more time outside (which makes this mama very happy!). The evidence of which is very apparent on our driveway:

 

 (The gory zombie was drawn by Payton)

We visited another farm this week, but as a family this time. It is owned & operated by our former children's pastor and his wife. The kids had a ball feeding all of the animals, riding the tractor "hay ride" and playing farm games.

The Donkey's name is Troy. How proper!

 

 

Yes, I did coordinate the boys' outfits...No, I did not coordinate mine with Brian's. I'm wearing Halloween orange, he's wearing Gator orange. Trust me, he would want you to know that. :)

Target did not let me down this year when it came to our annual Halloween Cookie Village. I had 4 kids over to decorate and they provided 5 houses in their village kit. Perfect!

 

Smartest decision I made was to have Avery over to help out with Parker. She's such an amazing Mommy's Helper.

The Village is proudly displayed on the counter right now, but suspiciously keeps losing candy on a daily basis. Hmmm...

And just to round out our Halloween activities, we also "Boo-ed" our neighbors and "carved" a pumpkin. Well, we didn't really carve it, but we decorated it enough that it has some character, but won't rot in 36 hours.

Even Mocha was able to enjoy the cooler temps. We brought her outside for the first time to play in the grass. Come to find out, Miss Prissy Pants doesn't like the grass. She stayed on the towel the entire time.

Our school district was closed yesterday, so since it was such a gorgeous day out, me and the boys headed to the beach. We spent all morning and most of the afternoon there with no agenda or schedule to keep. It was lovely.

The boys found the nicest group of sisters to play with. They hunted for hermit crabs and found tons!

We stopped for ice cream at the beach pavilion on our way out. It was the perfect way to end the day.

The only thing left to mark off my "Halloween Bucket List" is to take the kids to a pumpkin patch and get some good pictures. A cold front rolls through our area tomorrow, so I think that will provide the perfect weather for pumpkin picking!

Have a great week everyone.

Recipe: Double Cheeseburger Pizza Rounds

Yes, you read that correctly. Cheeseburgers AND pizza in one recipe. It's a no-fail-everyone-will-love-this kinda recipe.

And while the ingredient list may seem a little lengthy for one of my recipes, it's really easy to assemble.

Easy Craft: Spider Candles

Good Eeeeeeeevning (said in my best Dracula voice).

Thought I would share a quick, easy, and inexpensive Halloween decorating idea with you today.

Last night I noticed that my mantel was still looking very "fall-ish" and not very "Halloween-ish" and I was determined to rectify that situation today...without spending a lot money that is.

First, I got out some glitter spiders that I had recently purchased at Walmart and decided they would be perfect for "spooking up" the mantel. Then I remembered the clear votive holder that I made from this post and thought the spiders would look great stuck on to the sides of some clear candle holders.

Here's what I had on hand:

If you do not have these adhesive craft dots, a dab of hot glue would probably work just fine too (hot glue pops right off of glass should you want to remove the spiders after Halloween).
However, I would highly recommend purchasing a packet of these just to have on hand. They are very useful  and can be found at JoAnn's or Michael's Crafts.

You just simply "pop" out the dots and remove the paper from both sides making it a double-sided adhesive.

..

Then I stuck it to the spider...

...and then stuck it on a glass candle holder.

And then happily placed them on my newly spookified mantel. :)

 I can't wait to light them tonight and see what kind of spider shadows it casts on the walls.

Ooooooooooooooo (said in my best ghost voice)!

It's Fall!

It's official.
Fall has finally arrived in Florida.
It is only about 5 degrees cooler, but man does it make a difference!

Our mornings look like this...

French doors wide open.

My afternoons look like this...

Making The Most of Your Candles

Let's face it, good candles are expensive.

Whether it's Voluspa, diptyque,Yankee Candle or Bath & Body Works, they can easily run upwards of $20. I don't mind spending money on good candles because they tend to smoke less and burn longer.

What I do mind spending money on is this:

When a candle doesn't burn all the way to the bottom and there is still a 1/4 of the wax left in the jar, it really irritates me. I've tried a lot of things to extend the life of the candle, such as placing a tea candle on top of the existing wax. But it doesn't smell nearly as good as when the actual wick is melting the wax.

Then it occurred to me, that I could actually use the leftover wax in my plug-in wax warmer! If you have a Scentsy or other form of plug-in wax warmer, give this a try next time your favorite candle burns out.

Step 1: Freeze the candle.
There's something scientific that goes on when you freeze wax. I'm sure it has something to do with changing molecules and other smart things, but basically it shrinks the wax just enough that it is easily removed with a sharp paring knife.

My candle fresh out of the freezer

Step 2: Remove the wax
Gently slide a sharp paring knife along the edge of the candle to loosen the wax and it should "pop out".

Step 3: Cut the wax
Gently break up the wax into small chunks. It doesn't matter what shapes they are because they're going to melt.

Step 4: Use your wax!
Place a few chunks into your candle warmer and put the rest into a ziploc baggie for later. Remember to store it in a cool, dry place.

If you want to take it one step further, most Bath & Body Works candles have labels on them that are also very easily removed. If there is any residue left behind, Windex or "Goo Gone" works great to get the glass completely clean!

Just peel back the label...

Voila! A nice, clean votive candle holder!

So next time you spend $9.50 for a votive candle, just remember that you really can get your money's worth if you're willing to put in a little effort.

What's your favorite household tip? I'd love to hear it!

Catching Up

Things have been s-l-o-w-l-y getting back to normal around here. Even though I've been back from my "girls weekend" for almost a week now, life kinda smacked me in the face when I returned, so it's been a long week.

First, our dishwasher broke. Dear God, I never realized how wonderful a dishwasher was until I didn't have one. Washing every single fork and cup by hand sucks is not my forte.

Second, we discovered we have a leak in Parker's bedroom. The wood floor began buckling up so I called the company who installed them and their repair dude used his little moisture meter on the floor and sadly looked up at me and said, "Ma'am... your slab is soaked!" Awesome.

Third, and sort of a result of the second, we started digging up the landscaping near where we believe the leak is occurring and realized that we have two busted sprinklers. Unfortunately, these aren't just "swap out the top nozzle" kind of sprinkler repairs. These are "pipes are buried deep, deep down under bushes and other landscaping, so you better call in a professional" kind of sprinkler break.

Everything happens in thirds, right? So, we're done, right? Please Lord, let us be done.

So basically most of my week was spent talking to plumbers, contractors, roofers, and our homeowner's insurance rep. All really nice people, but house repairs take a LOT of time. Thus, the few and far between blog posts.

Oh, and did I mention our bunny got spayed this week too? Sounds like an easy thing, but apparently it's quite an undertaking when it comes to bunnies. I was sent home with TWO oral medications that she needed every 12 hours. (I love the bunny, I love the bunny, I love the bunny... this is my mantra.)

To add to the chaos, today was our community's bi-annual garage sale. We're only allowed to have garage sales twice a year, on specific dates. Today was the day. So I've spent the last couple days preparing for that.

Fortunately, the kids loved all the whacky garage sale people buying our junk  nice people who came to shop our "wares" and we made over $100, so that helped ease the pain of the week... a little.

But since I've barely posted any family photos recently, I need to do a quick photo dump. If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen  a lot of these, but my Mom hasn't so, I still need to post em.

Here we go...

Payton's first Cub Scout meeting was the annual "Drum Circle" meeting. Imagine over 300 elementary-aged boys each with their own drum all playing together in one cafeteria. Yup...I needed some Advil when I got home. But truly, it is such a fun experience for all the kids.

P.S. Doesn't Payton look adorable in his uniform?!?

Here's the dude that leads the event. I imagine that he might have his own hemp garden... for making clothes of course. :)

Even the little guy got to play a drum!

Here's our little Mocha the night before her surgery. I think she knew something was up because she was super cuddly and sweet. Good thing, because I could have asked the vet to just keep her. I'm only joking...kind of.

 

 This week we also kicked off the month of October with a special "first day of October" breakfast...

...mummy dogs for dinner...

 

...and made the most delicious chocolate chip cookies which we delivered to all of the boys' teachers as a special fall treat. 

Sorry, no pictures of the cute teacher gift buckets... I was probably distracted by a call from the plumber, or having to give medications to the bunny. :) I can tell you that I used these free gift tags from the blog "Hello, Good Gravy" on the buckets (which I got from the Target dollar bin) and they were really, really cute!

Okay peeps, I gotta go take the bunny to the vet for her re-check. Complimentary they assured me. Yeah, it better be after I paid $400 for her surgery! Sorry...I guess I have a little pent up angst.

Hope your October is off to a great start. Promise my posts will get more interesting and more frequent... well, once we fix our house that is. :)