Happy Halloween! Muffin Tin Monday ~ Halloween Mini Edition

Left to Right.
Top to Bottom.
Like a typewriter.

"Witch Hats"/Bugles-Hot Buffalo Flavor
"Zombie Eyeballs"/Chocolate Candy Eyeballs
"Straw Mound"/Shredded Colby Jack Cheese
"Witch Pinkies"/Baby Carrots

"Jack-o'-lanterns"/Pumpkin Face Gum Balls
"Ectoplasmic Goo"/Nacho Cheese Sauce
"Bandages"/Cheddar Cheese Crackers
"Graveyard Mud"/Creamy Peanut Butter

"Corpse Ribs"/Orange Bell Peppers (even though they do look red in this photo)
"Crow Beaks"/Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
"Coffin Cushion"/Pumpkin Cake
"Edgar Allen Poe Teeth"/Candy Corn (& Pumpkin Candy in the middle)

It was a fun challenge this week.
I tried to do a black and orange food theme.
Word Geek helped with the fun Halloween food names.

I ask that the kids keep an open mind.
Trying everything once.
Then I will tell them what the foods are, if they don't know afterwards.

Lizard Man was not happy about some of the things.
He wanted to know what the foods were before he would try them.
He said, and I quote, "This is like a horror movie."
What-the-what!?
Not sure where he came up with that one.
I don't make the kids eat anything.
But once I told him what a couple of things were, he was willing to try them.
I think in the future I will tell him.
It seemed to work better for him.

Love Bug was very excited to try everything.
She first went for the eyeballs and was going to take a bite.
I informed her that there was a wrapper on the candy.
But that just shows you how open minded she is to trying new foods.
She was willing to try out an eyeball!!??!!
I think maybe Lizard Man may have mentioned that they were candy.





I did make a muffin tin for myself this week too. :)
Anyone that knows me well, knows I do NOT like peanut butter.
I'm not allergic.
It all leads back to a time when I went to grade school.
My mom would make us lunch to take to school.
In our "old school" metal lunchboxes.
She accidentally put my brothers Shawn's peanut butter sandwich in mine.
Shawn got my cold cut sandwich.
The teacher either made me eat it or I was very hungry.
I don't remember which.
I just remember after that, plain peanut butter was NOT my friend.
If it was baked into something, I was fine.
But no peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for this girl.
Well anyhow.
To prove my point to Lizard Man today, I ate some peanut butter.
Dipped in my carrots=not too bad.
Then I dipped my candy corn into the peanut butter.
Um yes, pure bliss.
New favorite dessert for me.
Kind of like Reese's Pieces, but much better!



So happy that we've decided to jump onto this new food adventure.

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Linking up here!

First Muffin Tin Monday Meal! Mini!

I've been wanting to try this out for awhile,
for the kiddos.





Left to Right.
Top to Bottom.

Southwestern Bean Salad.
Flour Tortillas.
Ramon Noodles (unseasoned).
Cubed Pineapples.

Salsa.
Shredded Colby Jack Cheese.
Pear Tomatoes.
Sliced Bananas.

Tortilla Chips.
Turkey Bologna.
Bite Size Carrots.
Popcorn.

This was a huge hit with the kiddos.
Lizard Man, age 8.
Love Bug, age 4.
I used two Wilton Mini Muffin Pans, that I bought at Goodwill.
Filled with the same things=no fighting.

They have both eaten everything before,
except the Southwestern Bean Salad.
Both did not like it.

Lizard Man finished everything except that.
He asked for more of a few things.
Growing boy!!

Love Bug ate almost all of hers.
She tried a bite of a tomato and that was it.
She is not a fan of raw tomatoes.
But I can't complain, she is not a very picky eater.
I think she just got full with the other foods.

We will be doing this more, yah!

I just wish I would have made one for me.
Next time!

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Linking up here!

Impromptu Mother/Daughter Day

Love Bug and I had a pretty amazing day together.
We went to a few garage sales.
And she got some beautiful clothing.

We got out the finger nail polish.




Love Bug's nails.





My nails.





We had candy.





Love Bug dressed up.





And we created Barbie rubbings.





I'm hoping we can do a day like this again soon.
I love one-on-one time with each of the kiddos.

Word Geek and Lizard Man played a roleplaying game with friends.
They had a wonderful time.
So it was a win-win kind of Saturday.

Fascinated with Matty B. on YouTube

Word Geek found a new rap artist that the kids are fascinated with through YouTube.
He goes by "Matty B."
He is 8 years old.
He has a pretty cool older cousin that goes by Mars,
who does a lot of the work behind the videos.

This video has someone you guys might recognize, Vanilla Ice

Here is my favorite.
Gotta love a pet rock named Chuck Norris.
And how they change the words of the original songs.



It kind of surprises me that he's not homeschooled.

Punctuation Mark Loves Raw Carrots

Punctuation Mark tried out raw carrots today for the first time.

He likes cooked baby carrots, as baby food.
But he seemed to love the raw version more.
Probably felt good on his gums.

Wordless Wednesday

Our Park Visit to Ledges State Park

Punctuation Mark and daddy.

Grilled hamburgers.





Explained things to the kiddos.
Ever-learning.





Played.





Played and drank chocolate milk.





Did some bonding.





Put make-up on.





Relaxed.





Used our chompers.





Played some more.





Smiled of course!





And took lots of photos.
Lizard Man took this one.



If you ever get the chance, stop at Ledges State Park.
It is an amazing park.

Literally Running Around in Circles

How was your weekend?

We relaxed.

Grilled out at Ledges State Park.
Which happens to be another one of our favorite parks in Iowa.
Although, under some construction due to more flood damage.
Once again we enjoyed the amazing weather.
We were going to hike, but didn't.
Due to "Archery in Progress" signs at the park.

And we relaxed some more.
Well, Word Geek worked some of course too, at his second job.

It was a nice weekend though overall.

Here is a video from the weekend.
Love Bug literally running around in circles.

Since turning 4 years old, Love Bug rarely takes naps.
She falls asleep totally exhausted.
Especially after park visits like above.


Video taken by Lizard Man.

Camping at Backbone State Park in Iowa - Day 1 of 2

Backbone State Park is the oldest State Park in Iowa.
Dedicated in 1920.

We went camping there last weekend.
It is one of our favorite parks in Iowa.

$6.00 camping fee per night.
I think it is the cheapest camping fee we have EVER paid.
And we've camped A LOT.
October is considered off-season for camping in Iowa.
That is why it was so cheap.





Relaxing.
And clapping.
One of Punctuation Mark's favorite things to do.
Especially with daddy.





Love Bug spent a lot of time in the playground area.
Lots and lots and lots of sand.


Lizard Man did too.
But he tries to avoid the camera at times.
And it worked this particular time.

I wish I would have brought more sand toys.
But the kids did just fine with what we had.



It was the best weather for camping.





One of the best camping experiences for us.
And I know the weather had something to do with it.
No mosquitoes.
Not even one.





This is one of my favorite photos from the trip.
Love Bug in her pink polka dotted pj's.

She's roasting marshmallows for me!!
I am the only one in our family that likes S'mores.
So far.





Simple S'mores.
Using striped chocolate shortbread cookies.
And marshmallows.
My friend, Katie's mom Annette taught me how to make them.
I call them "Simple S'mores".
Easy for little hands.
And oh so yummy too.

Left Photo=My S'more
Right Photo=Love Bug's





And off to bed.



Photos from Day 2, to come sometime this week...

Video #2 @ Backbone State Park

On our camping trip last weekend...

Punctuation Mark babbling and stands up on his own.
Lizard Man putting a tent pole together.
Word Geek says raaaaaarrr!

Unschooled Lizard Man Reading

While camping, I captured this video.
Lizard Man started reading to Punctuation Mark.
Love Bug came over and listened too.

Very happy I thought to grab the camera.
Will treasure this moment forever.

Unschooled Lizard Man wrote me a Letter

Found the following, one morning on our family computer.
I thought Word Geek had told Lizard Man how to spell words from a different room, while Lizard Man was at the computer.
Nope.
I found out Lizard Man did this all on his own.
Sure there are mistakes.
Sure it is about a game.
But super proud that he wrote a letter to me.
All by himself.
And that he wanted to show dad too.

Note-I did switch Word Geek and Lizard Man's real names in the letter.
But I'm sure you get the idea.

Word Geek and I are so proud of his love for learning.
The letter had us both grinning from ear to ear.
He has taught himself so much.
Of course--we are helping him along the way.
But, it is really neat when he accomplishes something totally on his own.

Camping with The Scooters.

Saturday night we went tent camping.
In eastern Iowa at Backbone State Park.

I threw the scooters in the van at the last second.
I'm so happy that I did.

The surprise for the kids was much appreciated by them.



And it was nice for us too.
As they didn't have the "I'm bored's" while we waited,
for a friend of ours to arrive.



They raced them.
Without fighting.

Which was super awesome to see.


I have lots of photos from our trip.
More to come soooooon!

Love Bug Learning to Write

Love Bug is eager to learn.
Wanting to read.
Like her big brother.

She has been learning to write words.
Not only the traditional way.
Many of us were taught.
But,
I call it-- the computer way.



One day, a couple of weeks ago.
She wanted to write on Word Geek's laptop.
Apparently, she sees us write on the computers enough.
I wrote words on note cards for her.



It was hard at first, for her.
Because the keys on a computer are upper case letters.
And this mama wrote lower case letters.
So I wrote both the upper and lower case letters down for each word,
on one note card.
But, still a problem.
They didn't look right on the screen.
They were ALL lower case letters.
Turning the "caps lock" on fixed that problem though.
And made it super easy for her to write many words...



Butterfly.
Rhino.
Scooby Doo.
Family member's names.
And many more that I can't think of at the moment.



Love Bug recently discovered You Tube.
There is a post for another day!!



Anyhow, I wrote YOU TUBE on a note card.
Thinking she would write it in the Google search bar.
Like what she's done in the past.
But, instead she wrote it in the address bar.
You know, where you put a web address...
Although, a little off with too many "W's".
I thought she did quite nice.
For me not teaching her this:


Something I'm thinking she may have picked up from big bro, Lizard Man.

I'm "Busy" aka. Dizzy

Love Bug has a different language all her own.
I have to translate for a lot of people.
Busy=Dizzy.

I sure wish I had the energy she has.

Video recording by Lizard Man.

12 Years

It is hard to believe that I met Word Geek,
12 years ago today.

We enjoyed a nice autumn walk today.

And had a few photos taken of JUST us.

My favorite...




Who was the super rad photographer, you ask?

Our amazing 8 year old, unschooled son, Lizard Man.