Train potty

10 pictures on the 10th day of the month!

 Today was your typical Summer day and it was glorious.

Here is a sneak peak of what we were up to:

Starting my day off with Coffee & Jesus Calling:

Breakfast time! Luke loves helping with things, especially carrying his plate to the table (and putting things away)

Can't believe he will be TWO in a month!

 After swim practice, we headed to the Sprint store because I needed to get a new phone. My old iPhone was almost 2 years old and the battery would only last an hour. I had to constanstly keep it plugged in & charging. So annoying! We were eligible for new phones, so we both got the 5s. My kids were troopers & were at the store for almost 2 hours with me!

 Got home & it was time for Luke's nap, so that meant it was pool time for the girls & reading time for me!

 Dinner Prep. Chopping up Squash & Zucchini that I picked this morning. 

  Tri Tip, Roasted Veggies, Cantelope & Blueberries and of course wine. Always wine.

Tomorrow is the first day of Lent, which mean starting tomorrow, I will be doing a 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge, like have done the past 2 years.

 The idea of 40 Bags in 40 Days is that during Lent (40 days) rid your house of 40 bags of "stuff".
This "stuff" can be things you don't use... junk, clothes you don't need/wear, clutter, old toys, garbage, etc.

To me, Lent is a time of prayer, self-reflection, sacrifice, self-control and renewal.
To me, a good home de-cluttering can go hand in hand with the Lenten season, just like our houses/blogs may look put together on the outside, on the inside we are a mess and need an intervention & de-cluttering ourselves.

In 2012 when I did 40 Bags in 40 Days for Lent,I gave AWAY 24 bags of stuff to Goodwill.
I threw AWAY 28 bags of stuff.
That is 52 bags of stuff we didn't use, need or wasted.

Last year, In 2013 when I did 40 Bags in 40 days, 

I gave away 18 Bags of stuff to Goodwill.

I threw AWAY 26 bags of stuff.

That is 44 bags of stuff we didn't use, need or wasted.

EWWWW.

I learned a lot the past 2 years doing this project.

I always keep my house pretty clutter free, but doing this project makes me realize we still have a lot of stuff we just don't need.
 I realized how much CRAP we have.
I realized how MUCH we have.
It has made me think about what I buy & what I bring into our house.
I ask myself, "Do we need this?" or
"Is there room for this?"
It has drastically changed my thinking, and for that I am thankful.
But, I am still a work in progress.

And, YES....I am doing this project again this year.

Because there is STILL more stuff I know I can clean out & get rid of.

Here is my 2014 List:

This printable was created for me last year by Jenny.

You can download it HERE on her blog!

I've got my list ready, I've my bags ready.

I will some more tips in the next few days to help you with this project.

Take a Deep Breath.

You can do this.

LESS is MORE.

Let's get rid of STUFF.

 Are you in?

Halloween snuck up on me this year.

October was a busy month...it didn't even feel like October the first 2 weeks of the month because of our 90 degree heat wave that lasted over 10 days. Then, we escaped to Lake Tahoe for a weekend away.....then it was Grammy's 103rd Birthday. 

Scattered in there was Conference Week and of course going to the World Series!

October was a blur because our lives were scheduled around the Giants games.

I am not even kidding....we had the Divisional Series, National League Championships & World Series that the Giants played in and we watched every single game live...sometimes with friends, neighbors or just the 5 of us...we adjusted our schedules so that we could watch the games. 

Pathetic or Dedicated? I'll let you decide :)

We won the World Series on October 29th and then the next thing I knew, it was October 30th and we hadn't even gone to the Pumpkin Patch yet.

Every year since Kate was a baby, we have gone to the same Pumpkin Patch. It is a 30 minute drive from our house (with no traffic) and in the "country". On the afternoon of the 30th, Luke didn't wake up from his nap until almost 4, so there was no way we were going to that Pumpkin Patch.

So, I decided to suck it up & go the "Pumpkin" Patch a few miles from our house.

  I use the term "Pumpkin" Patch loosely.

It was basically an empty lot with a bunch of pumpkins & hay bales.

  There are also bunch of bounce houses surrounding the pumpkins. So random.

 The kids were in heaven even though I felt like a mom fail for taking them to this "Pumpkin" Patch at 5:30 on Halloween Eve. 

I had visions of getting adorable photos of my kids at the pumpkin patch, but yeah...that didn't happen. Luke is on the GO....he won't sit still...ever.  I tried to sit him down on a hay bale, but he kept running away toward the bounce houses yelling "Jump!!!"

At leasat got some pictures of beautiful pumpkins:

 So, there you have it...Pumpkin Patch 2014 at 5:30 on Halloween Eve. No pictures of my kids with pumpkins. FAIL. But, at least there were pretty twinkle lights.

 After the Pumpkin Patch we headed home for our annual Pumpkin Carving Night.

 Kevin is the master pumpkin carver, my role is to make the Pumpkin Seeds.

 We always let the girls design their own pumpkins. 

Here is Claire's design & carving:

 Kate's:

 The Pumpkins lit up {Kevin's is on the left}

 We didn't have school on Halloween...it was Teacher Work Day and I had meetings until noon. The Giants World Series Parade was on TV, so we watched that for a bit.

 And...it RAINED on Halloween!!! We are in a drought and of course the one day it rains is on Halloween....when we don't want it to rain because of Trick or Treating. #ironic

My girls were sooooooo excited about Halloween this year because they have had their costumes picked out since July. Yes, of course they picked a Frozen theme (like half the little girls in America!)

I knew that Anna & Elsa costumes would sell out fast, so when they told me this summer what they wanted to be, I bought their dresses. 

We have done a "theme" for Halloween costumes every single year of their lives, but I really thought last year would be the last year of the theme. But, this idea was ALL Claire's! And, Kate was thrilled with being Anna, since she loves her, so we had another theme Halloween. I am sure this is the last year for that!
And because Luke is only 2, he didn't get a say in his Halloween costume because his older sisters decided for him....he was Olaf, of course!

 As you can tell, Luke was thrilled to be Olaf. Hahaha.

He was not a fan of the Olaf hat. He wanted it off.

And, he wouldn't sit still for the photo....Luke is always on the go.

 For the past 3 years, we have had a few families over before Trick or Treating for dinner & drinks.

It is one of my favorite Halloween traditions! 

Because it had rained all day and was wet in our yard, we had the party inside. 

(I was just happy the rain cleared up so we didn't have to trick or treat in the rain!)

Here is some of the food that we had at the party:

I normally do a "dessert" table....but since it was Halloween and the kids were going to be getting a ton of candy, I decided to scale down the sweets at the party. I know...shocker! 

 I had pumpkin seeds. Recipe {HERE}

Pumpkin Dip with Gingersnaps. Recipe {HERE}

 And some candy corn :)

 Here was the dinner....quick easy & lots of bite sized goodies.

 Kate's favorite...Mummy Dogs

 Bagel Bites:

The best dip ever...Recipe {HERE}

I also give each of the kids who comes a glow stick necklace to use while trick or treating :)

It was such a fun year trick or treating. It was Luke's first real time going since for the past 2 years he has been in a stroller.

 We finished trick or treating and our court was having a bon fire.

 I love our neighbors :)

 Of course we brought out the spotlights and played Corn Hole!

 The girls favorite part of Halloween...sorting their candy :)

It was a fun, fun night. And, at the end of the night, I finally got a picture of all our Frozen Crew...including our dog as Sven :)

 Halloween, 2014...you were a good one! 
You can see our Halloween Parties from the past 4 years {HERE}

And, if you haven't checked out my Crock-tober post, be sure and do that!

The Crock Pot Giveaway ends this Sunday night at Midnight!

Enter {HERE}

Happy Friday!! We have a 4 day weekend....So Happy!!