The Nuffer Nest

I got this idea from Pinterest.  Shocking, I know.  And the boys LOVED it!  I just colored some shaving cream with food coloring and put the "paint" in a disposable muffin tin and gave the boys some paint brushes.  SO so fun! *I have several friends who are neat freaks like me and often ask me (when I use food coloring in crafts/activities) if the food coloring stains... Well, the food coloring stained our skin very temporarily (it washed right off when we scrubbed them up after painting time was over) and I got it on some of my white clothing, but it came out in the wash without any special treatments.  I was shocked that it didn't stain my whites permanently because I thought it would, but nope!  I looked for the stains and there was nothing there.  Woohoo for my homemade detergent for getting out the food coloring because that's all I used. ;) Jackson used Austin as his canvas. Playing in the paint! Daddy thought the boys needed some war paint

IT'S TIME FOR HALLOWEEN!!!  I LOVE Halloween because it's so fun for the kids and because it kicks off the holiday season!  Here are the decorations we put up this year.  Again, this is just for my benefit so I have a template for next year's decorations.  I always struggle with Halloween decorations because I don't want it to be too scary for the boys (especially Jackson, he's afraid of almost everything), but I don't want it to be too silly.  Anyway... At night At night: Also, for anyone who cares, I found some candlesticks and painted them to fix the issues I was having with my fall decorations.  The whole candlestick project was less than $8.  And I made a cute fall wreath, but I haven't taken pictures of it yet and it's packed away till after Halloween, but I will post pictures later.

Every year we go to the Apple Butter Festival.  Well this year we were all kind of drained from the week before and didn't go until Sunday.  We even skipped church to attend the festival.  I think we may have jinxed ourselves for skipping church to go to the festival because it was not much fun at all.  There weren't very many animals and the ones that were there were laying in a heap of hay far away from the gate and there were swarms and swarms of flies buzzing around them.  Sadly, it looked like they were on their last leg.  I'm sure this wasn't the case, and they were just enjoying the nice Sunday morning, but it was kind of sad. We didn't really get any good pictures because Big Poppa was kind of in a mood, so this is what we got... On the bright side, Jackson got his face painted like his favorite super hero and he didn't bust out in a huge face rash because of it. It was kind of a flop this year, but I think it was just a reminder

I have been such a blog slacker and George Albert Smith slacker. August's challenge was: "I would not knowingly wound the feelings of any, not even one who may have wronged me, but would seek to do him good and make him my friend" Ok, well...  I really like people, all kinds of people, but when I read this challenge I thought of someone that I'm not very fond of and who I don't get along with very well.  I am ashamed to admit it, but I did not really make an effort to change our relationship in August.  I did think of a Christmas gift for this person though, so it's a tiny step in the right direction. September's challenge: "I would overcome the tendency for selfishness and jealousy and rejoice in the successes of all the children of my Heavenly Father" Ok, this challenge I did a little better.  I have said before that Jim and I have some fertility issues and trying to conceive Austin was very difficult for us emotionally and