Whatever Wednesday- Fall Fun

Right now my family is gearing up for the holidays. I love this time of year... I love when it's cold enough to break out a sweatshirt, cold enough where it feels good cuddling. It's gorgeous outside, still warm enough for us to go out and enjoy the leaves changing and all that jazz. It's the time of year where you get excited for things to come. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas (well, for us it's Christmas, for you guys it may be Kwanzaa or Chanukah {which if I spelled it wrong, I'm sorry!} Or maybe some other holiday celebration.) It's not to the point where you're frazzled from cooking too much, or from spending too much, or just... Too much Holiday in general. I love it.

Sunday we took Cayden to a pumpkin patch for the first time, along with my best friend and cousin, Stephanie (she's an honorary Auntie) and it was a GORGEOUS day.


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His hippo got super dirty, so he rode home in the trunk with the pumpkins so Cayden wouldn't chew on him

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Cayden was passed out by the end of the day!

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We then came home and made a REALLY yummy apple pie
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We also made applesauce, but I didn't take a picture of that! After that, we started to carve pumpkins. Cayden wasn't super interested in the pumpkin goo, he just wanted to play with the scraper.
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And here are our pumpkins:
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Cayden's pumpkin is supposed to look like him. It has four teeth on the top, and three on the bottom, just like he does!
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We have more fall fun planned. Tomorrow, we're going to the Circleville Pumpkin Show, I've never been, so. That should be fun. Saturday, we're heading to the zoo, they do a neat thing called Boo at the Zoo, where kids can dress up and go to the zoo and go to different treat stations and get treats. Sunday we're heading to my in laws house to visit and help with some yard work. I believe my Father in law is doing OK. I called my in laws yesterday, and they never called me back, but my husband called his Mom last night, and she didn't really say much about it. (Though, he didn't ask, he's such a man.) They're still saying they won't even schedule the groin test thingy until he gets over his bronchitis, so. Again, thank you all for all your good wishes, and I'll keep you updated. Then the last of our fall fun wraps up next week (I think it's next week, it's the 29th, I'm so bad with dates) We're taking Cayden trick or treating for the first time. So, YAY for that!


Now, down to some business. I again, have to talk about swagbucks. I'll do this periodically, especially now that I have more followers (Thank you guys, so much, as well, for your AWESOME comments. I really LOVE them. You guys are amazing!)

I've talked about swagbucks on here before. I use it, I love it. I have a couple readers using it right now (Thanks to Jen, who has gotten me TONS of swagbucks!). Swagbucks is a search engine. It's powered by google and by ask.com, so it is a really good search engine (trust me, I use search engines a LOT, and I am SO picky about them.) You sign up, you search, and you will randomly win swagbucks, which you can trade in for free "swag". I know, I hate the whole "free stuff online" crap too, because it's usually a scam to get you to sign up for a credit card or something, or you get a ton of spam. I've been using swagbucks for a couple of months now, and I've gotten two 5 dollar amazon.com giftcards, a 25 dollar restaurant.com giftcard, and I'm about to get my 3rd amazon giftcard. The "swag" include many different things. You can save for ipods, game systems, games, movies, mags, just... A bunch of stuff. If you go hardcore swagbucks, you can friend them on facebook, twitter, follow their blog, and sometimes they'll hand out codes for swagbucks on those sites. They also send out a newsletter (which you don't have to get, I do. It only comes out once a month) and they send out a code in the newsletter as well.

The downfall to swagbucks? If you don't use search engines often, you won't get a ton of swagbucks fast. I've been on it for maybe 2 months, and I've gotten about 170 total. Some of the prizes DO cost a lot of swagbucks. But, you can save. You need to READ the prize information carefully. Sometimes giftcards can't be combined, (amazon giftcards can be though!) and sometimes they have stipulations that come with (the rules, however, are there, they aren't hidden, you don't have to search through tiny text, so that IS an upside, just make sure you READ before you BUY!) The giftcards CAN take awhile to get there. I waited a little less than 2 weeks for my restaurant.com giftcard, and now the amazon giftcards are being sent out twice a month, so don't think it's instant! Still, I think it's worth it, and a couple people have emailed asking me how they can help me out. This is a perfect way. If you use my referal link, every swagbuck you win, I also win, up to 100 swagbucks. So please, sign up, and use it. You can get free stuff, and I can too! If you click this link, the referral should automatically go to me.

Search & Win



Another website I use, which is a lot like swagbucks, except you don't search, is ExpoTV.com It's a website where people go to share their opinions about stuff. You take surveys, upload videos reviewing products, and get points that you can redeem in the shop. Now, I haven't redeemed any points yet, so I dunno how fast it takes to get stuff, but I do like this site. You can also get a chance to try certain products for free (that's why you fill out the surveys, they pick certain people, send them the product, then you review it. You do HAVE to post a video though, if you are chosen to review a product!) You do get more emails than you do with swagbucks, but still not a ton, and they're all from the site and not spam (they email you to notify when you've been asked to complete a survey. I've gotten probably four or five emails. They also were ending up in my spam folder, so if you sign up for this, make sure you watch for it!) My referral link is: http://www.expotv.com/raf/Lerwin1324


The last two sites I'm going to talk about don't really get me anything, I just like them (if you couldn't tell, I think free stuff is awesome. And, if your on facebook, check out the page Freebiesformom and fan them. They've gotten me SO many free samples, awesome coupons, ect.)


One of them is vocalpoint.com. You try products, review them, share your opinion. Occasionally you can sign up to try to be choosen to try a free product (they send it to you, you try it, review it, keep the product. Sometimes it's big stuff, like a TV, sometimes it's smaller, like I recently tried a deodorant, which I LOVED, Secret Clinical Stregth, smells AMAZING!)


The last one is, a couple people and I are starting a new blog. It's not a fictional blog, it's the blog review that I've mentioned before. It's kinda up and running right now, but we need people to tell us what blogs they would like us to review first, so if you could head on over there (http://blogcentralreviewstation.blogspot.com/) and let us know what to review, I would REALLY appreciate it.


And again, I hope I don't sound like a used car salesmen trying to pawn sites off on you guys. For one, I really do think they're amazing. I mean yeah, on two of them if you sign up, it helps me out, but I can get swagbucks on my own. I just think it's a really cool site and would like to spread the word. You guys are ALWAYS free to let me know about awesome deals/sites you guys know of!

And what are y'alls fall plans? Doing anything fun? What are you doing for Halloween?

25 comments:

My fall fun involves Cheerleading and more Cheerleading lol. I did take my daughter and 2 of her friends to a haunted hayride. They had a blast. This weekend we will probably go to a pumpkin patch or something. I guess that'll be Sunday. 2 weeks ago was the "Hoe Down" Which is a community free event for kids and families. There are Hayrides, barrel rides, crafts, pony rides, and you can build a scarecrow. and a band and entertainment. My daughters Cheerleading team is a part of the entertainment, so we didn't really get to do anything else. They put on 2 performances while the parents run a food stand. I worked the whole time at the food stand. And the girls did 2 great performances. So anyway, the city I live in has a big Halloween parade at the end of the month and once again our Cheer team marches in it, well dances. So between Parade Practice and regular cheer practice (they are still working on Choreography) we have been busy. The other thing I want to do is take my daughter to a haunted house, she's never been to one and now that she's 12 I think she's old enough. So that's about it.

 

I love the fall too. It is my favortie time of year with the slight chill in the air and leaves changing. The pumpkins are adorable. I craved last weekend with the family. Strange happenings, my pumpkin looks just like the ghost with the BOO! in the center!! Great minds think a like :) Happy Fall Everyone!

 

I love this time of year also. I get a little down though because every year my kids are getting older time just seems to be going by so quickly. I miss having babies. We go to the pumpkin patch every year and we have two halloween parties. one for the adults, jello shots and drinking games fun times, and one for the kids, with arts and crafts and pizza baking and trick or treating. This time of year is always busy but I love the memories I get from it.

P.S this is so off topic and I am not trying to rile things up but the other blog I read diary of J. Well some poster went all truthful in the comment section. I like the blog but I had absolutly no argument when it came to what she said. That girl had guts. LOL

 

I don't think it's gutsy to bash on someone you have never met who is writing a blog for your enjoyment just because the writer is a little immature.

 

I didn't think she was bashing. I don't know. I always post positive you are great post to all the writers of the blogs I read. I mean I read them, means I like them. I just thought wow to go on a blog when you know you are going to get all the you suck you have no life you are a bad person comments and state your honest opinion is gutsy. That's just me though. I avoid conflict as much as possible. ha. I just thought is was entertaining left me a little speechless.

Didn't mean to offend you. my bad.

 

Ha, I just looked at the blog, and it seems the pictures got cut off. I may go and resize them, I thought they were cute.

Laura B- I've only been to one haunted house. I'm a chicken. But, it was still loads of fun, I think you should def. take your daughter.

Anon 1- The boo was my pumpkin! :-) Great minds DO think alike! Although, the only pumpkin I carved free-hand was my sons. I used a pattern thingy for mine.

Anon 2- My friend just had a baby, and every time I see a baby-baby, I'm reminded of just how big my baby is. I went and looked through his baby book the other night, and I just have NO idea where the time went. It's totally nuts.

As for the Diary of J thing, I can see it from both Anonymous' sides. I've stated my opinion on J before, I don't really have to do it again. I don't read her blog anymore, so I don't know how the person bashed her. I do think there is a point where you cross stating your opinion, and you become just mean. Again, I haven't read the comment, I don't know if that happened. But, I do think when you decide to put yourself out there like that, you gotta know that there are going to be some people that disagree, and when you open up a comment section, some people ARE going to voice their opinion. I don't think you can act all shocked and butt hurt when that happens, ya know?

But, like I said, there IS such a thing as crossing a line, as well.

 

Laura isn't it amazing. You blink and there first birthday passes. Before you know it they are in school and saying don't hug me mom. Makes me want another one than I snap back in reality and think no not really.

I love the pumpkin and pictures. tooo cute.

The diary thing I looked, curiosity got the better when I seen these comments, it seems the person who commented was more addressing the other commenter's (is that a word if not man I used it an awful lot!). Looks like she got upset that people jumped all over a negative comment. She said some harsh things but nothing I think that crossed a line too much. She was just kinda like well this is my opinion and it is negative about the blog and deal with it attitude. But I am a very outspoken person. I have no problem with conflict or saying what I think so maybe that's why I am like eh. Plus I don't read that blog so I have no emotional investment in it. Now someone steps up and says stuff about this one. I will point out in detail why it is awesome.

Anon: love the jello shots and drinking games are we invited???

 

Sure. you are all invited!! ;)

My comment about the J thing was pure shock that someone would post such a open honest opinion and she left her name (which doesn't do much cause it's the internet but hey she could have gone anonymous, like me!). That stems from my sheltered existence. I am 31 years old and I still am the person that points out and yells "fight, fight" if I see one in a public bar or something. And I am so laid back no negative comments really offend me so I had no idea people would think she is crossing a line or get so passionate about it. Like I said. MY BAD. I wouldn't have pointed it out had I known people like the other anon would get upset by it.

Let's all be friends come on I am supplying the jello shots!

 

Gabby- I want another baby so badly, lol. When he was little all I wanted was for him to be bigger... It's hard, because as I said before, part of me WANTS him to be bigger, to walk and talk and all that. But it's like, for each milestone you get, you have to give one up. My son can say Mama, but he won't take a nap with me anymore. He's starting to give kisses, but he doesn't really want to be held. The best advice I can give to any new parent, especially a first time parent, is to enjoy each moment while you have it. Sure a newborn means sleepless nights and stress, but it also means holding your baby, and dozing off together in a chair... You can't get any moment back, so you might as well live it up while you have it.

As for the J thing, again. She is young. I think J and I are around the same age, and not to sound like I'm tooting my own horn, but I've been told by a couple people that they're shocked when they find out how young I am, because I don't act it. I do think a lot of her drama is highschool, and I think she plays into it. It's a pet peeve of mine when people say "I don't like drama" but then they jump into it. But, I also think I forget sometimes how a regular 20-something year old acts. Ya know?

 

Best Jello Shots Ever = Raspberry Jello and Raspberry Sourpuss

you need to put in more Sourpuss then water ie not the standard 50/50 but 75% sourpuss and 25% water.

(not even close to any topic but I did see someone mention Jello shots i'm not crazy......)

 

Yeah that is true. You never get back any of those special cuddles and moments. I have 3 kids though and my youngest are 3. they are twins. So I am set. I feel complete. That is why when I see babies I get a little urge but nothing that makes me want to try again. Though and this may be TMI I did not get my tubes tied after the twins. It was recommended and everyone was all for it saying things like 3 is enough but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So maybe in the future who knows.

I am 27 and people always ask why I look 18 but act 40. It's the kids they always do that to you. especially when you have one at 18 like I did.

Thanks for the jello shots anon! I am definately your friend!

 

Anon- you're not off topic, we were talking Jello shots. I've only had them once, at my husband's co-workers wedding. They worked at a pharmacy (well, kinda, it was an IV company, whatever.) So she got a bunch of empty syringes for cheap and used those for jello shots. It was fun :-)

 

Jello shots are always fun but I forget that there is alcohol in there when I am taking them sometimes. I couldn't tell you the hangovers I get. Plus I am a light weight. I get a little tipsy after one beer.

 

I'm a light weight too. And I can't do hard core alcohol. I don't drink beer, I think it's gross (and everyone tells me I just need to drink it till I get used to it, but why would I want to do that???) So I love the fruity drinks that don't taste like alcohol, but then I often drink WAY too much. And, if I get drunk enough, I can't taste anything. So then I have no problem drinking a beer or whatever. I don't drink a lot though, so I manage :-)

 

Well when you get to be my age (yes I'm sarcastically trying to sound old lol) You know darn well you don't want to be chasing around a toddler, so you start looking forward to grandkids (no rush on my "babies" to have babies now) But I am looking forward to (especially my daughter's kids) spoiling them rotten and sending them home, hyper and crabby and just driving their mom nuts!! Just kidding but that's the way my daughter has always been coming home from grandma's. I'm at the point I love babies and toddlers and miss my kids being that age but also relieved we are passed that, somewhat.

Oh I had to check the comments on Diary of J. Just my opinion, and I stopped reading because it just wasn't my thing (glad alot of people do love it, it takes guts to write a blog like that and I admire anyone who does it) but I personally feel the comments are more fun than the blog.

 

Btw, the apple pie looked delicious!!

 

Love the second picture, where your son is in the blue ride thing. I always love the "WTF, take a picture it will last lonoger!" looks kids give. My daughter has a "bitch please" look that cracks me up. You know not to mess with her when she looks like that.

 

Oh and beer. I could deal. I never used to be a beer drinker but my husband got me by having to share pitchers with him at his sports bars. He was like I am not buying you that fruity s*%&t, you wanna come to the games on sunday you take a mug. LOL. I could drink it now but I need salt and lime. (LOL there is only two girly things I need in life my beer with the salt and lime and my stilettos!)

 

Laura- It was good. We put caramel pieces in it, but I suggest melting them and drizzling it over the pie, or buying the caramel that goes on ice cream, because the chunks didn't fully melt. But, it was super yummy, and pretty quick and easy to make (though we used pre-made crusts)

Gabby- My son is KING of dirty looks. Seriously, I feel SO bad sometimes for the looks he gives people. He mean mugs like a champ. The blue ride was SUPER cute, they call it the barrel train. It was barrels cut into carts and pulled by a tractor. My cousin took him on it.

As for beer, still can't do it. Gross.

 

You should try the site www.bzzagent.com. You sign up and answer mini surveys, and they send you all kinds of products to try. You tell all of your friends/family about the product, then write up a little report and submit it.

It is easy, and I have gotten to try a lot of cool stuff. =-)

 

You guys are making me cry thinking about how far my daughters gone already! Haha. She'll be two soon and she's already running! And she knows a lot of words and pretty soon she'll be talking in full sentences...I'm so excited to hear what she has to say, but I don't want my little Caity to grow up :( We used to take naps together too, it was so awesome (even when my arm started tinling and falling asleep) but now she doesn't even take naps period. I miss those days where we just used to sit around together and hang out, haha...yesterday, she pulled over her floor lamp (I saw pulled because she so did not knock it over, there was no thud) and unscrewed two bulbs and broke off the third one, then she pulled the knob off of one of her closest doors, and then when i stuck her in the tub so i could deal with her room in peace, she pooped in the tub! She is just little miss destruction these days, but i still love her.
I'm kinda of happy to be having another one, even though we didn't plan on it, though I know it won't be the same as our first because I'll be running around after her too, lol.
Although, downside to being pregnant is that I can't go to any of the haunted house type things here because "someone might accidentally bump into my stomache", which I totally understand. I bump into counters with it all the time and its my own belly, I should know its there by now! haha. It sucks though, cause we're finally back home (in KY) and theres this place called The Field Of Screams...its a mile and half long scare-fest and I've always wanted to go but never had a guy to go with so I could be all girly and shriek and have him put his arms around me to protect me, haha.
I really need to look up and see if there are any events around here like hay rides and such (its the south, seriously, theres gotta be SOMETHING), but I have no idea how to find that kind of stuff...any one have ideas? So far our plans our to take Caity trick-or-treating for the first time, but only on our street...she doesn't need that much candy and neither do I, lol. I wanted her to be a Lady Bug on account of her nickname (Caity-bug, totally cute story behind that one) but my mom was at the store one night and bought her a skeleton costume (go mom, lol) so she's gonna be a little glow in the dark skeleton. Heck, I'm not even sure when they're doing trick-or-treating this year, lol. I haven't had anything to do with Holloween for awhile now. Again, really need to find that out.
I'm also at a loss as to what to do for my daughters 2nd birthday. Last year we were living out of state and my mom flew in to visit. We had a cake, but she didn't touch it. I'm kind of REALLY shy in real life and don't know anyone with kids around here. I have a friend from school who has 3 boys and thats about it, lol. Plus, we're broke, so I have no idea what to do! Please help me. I want her to have birthday parties and stuff, since I never had one growing up and I seriously wish I had. I know she won't really remember it, but I can take tons of pictures for her to oogle at later on in life.
Anyway, this was a really long comment, lol. I don't blame anyone who stopped reading half-way through!

 

I had to copy/paste the second half of my comment, lol. I maxed out the character limit! Sorry!

Still loving the blogs Laura, you are an awesome writer! On the whole Michelle thing, I don't hold out much hope about her...I don't know what it is, but every single Michelle I have met/heard of has been a total wench and I've known 8 of them, lol. Really liking Jacob and REALLY wondering where the heck he dissapears too, since he's not in the future posts. And I feel really bad for Ella right now with the whole Jason thing. I mean, I'd like to think I'd never cheat on someone or with someone, but I've never had that situation, so I don't have to face that choice. And he's a total douche for going with the "things are complicated right now" line in regards to telling his wife/divorcing her. I'm a strong believe in that when you cheat, your relationship apparently isn't worth saying, cause thats the biggest betrayal right there. How can you do that and still be in love with the person you cheated on? I mean, how could you do that to someone you trully love? But thats just me, I've been told I'm a bit of a prude for a 23 year old, lol. Speaking of, totally there with those of you who get mistaken for being older. I look young, but online I've been told that the person thought i was anywhere from 28-37...37! I'm not saying 37 is old or anything, but thats a big difference from my actual age, lol.
Oh, and I miss Drew, we need more Drewbie!
And Greg should just go away...yeah they had one night where they snuggled and watched movies, but thats the only connection I felt for them. Otherwise he was kissing her on the forehead (hello, she's not your sister!) or asking for info and then bailing on her (so not a cool move). Granted, people do deserve second chances, but with all that other crap she's going through, she's really gotta ask herself if there's anything to take that second chance on.
And finally, Matt. Am I the only one who thinks that the only reason they aren't all over each other is because he has a girlfriend? He's about to go home and tell her that he's taking a full time job out here and he's already said that there's no way she'll be going with him, so he's gonna move back as a single guy. Ella, living with a single Matt...I smell so much drama brewing there!
Wow...I said it was long and then typed a crap bunch more..I think I need some socialization or something! lol. Stopping now, promise!

 

Awww, Sprickle, I love you, lol.

I wish I was pregnant. How far along are you? I know when I was trying to find pumpkin patches, I just swagbucked it (if you don't do swagbucks, you can google it.) and it gave me a list. A lot of the ones around here did more adult things, like haunted hayrides at night. You could also check your local news' websites, I think ours might list them. If you let me know your area, I can look it up for you (and if you don't feel comfortable saying it here, you can email me, and if you don't feel comfortable telling me at all, you don't have too!)

As for your little girl, I mean you can do something little, with just your family, and do a lady bug theme. I think that would be cute, and you could make lady bug cupcakes, and do like a red/black theme. I mean, I'm with you, I never had parties when I was younger, and I was the youngest of three, so like I didn't have a bunch of pictures, and my baby book was empty and yada yada. So it's REALLY important for me to keep up on stuff like parties and pictures. But, my son's first birthday cost a LOT of money, and it really kinda upsets me how much money we spent, lol. So I think we'll do bigger parties on more milestones ages, like one, five, ect. When he gets older we may take a few friends to Chuck E Cheese or sleepovers or something. I can also look up lady bug themes for you if you want! I'm the queen researcher, I swear!

 

I'd appreciate the help looking up the info...I swear I'm search engine retarded, lol. I live in Louisville, Kentucky technically (according the post office anyway) but I'm actually situated in southern Hillview...other towns near here are Okalona, Radcliff, Vine Grove and Elizabethtown (yep, the one from the movie!)
As for the pregnancy, I am 7 1/2 months along now, due in Dec. with a date for a c-section for the
9th. It's another girl and her name is Madilyn (yep, I have an obsession with the lyn thing, Caitlyn and Madilyn, lol).
As for the birthday, I was talking it over with a friend of mine and i was considering making a reservation and Bernheim National Forest (weather permitting of course) and going to the awesome playground they have there and bring a cake or something, though I simply LOVE that idea you had about the lady bug cupcakes! I'm all about baked goods so that would be so much fun for me!

And lasty, the empty baby book...I actually do have one of those, but I thought that there weren't any pictures of me up until a few days ago when my mom dug some out of a box while looking for her birth certificate. Now I have a total of 3 baby pictures of myself, lol. Its actually kind of funny though, cause my daughter looks EXACTLY like me as a baby. Another idea you can try that I did...instead of the regular baby book that just lists achievements and milestone, I actually wrote out a journal to my daughter during her first year of life. I plan on giving it to her when she's old enough for it to be meaningful to her. I figure that at the very least it'll dissuade her from reproducing too early, lol. And at most, it'll give her a lot of insight I didn't have cause my mom always said "I don't remember" lol. I can understand that though, it was 21 years ago! lol. Not sure how awesome it would be for a boy, but if nothing else his future wife would probably like it!

On a completely personal note and maybe too forward, do you have facebook? You seem like an awesome person as well as a good writer and I really enjoy trading these long comments with you, lol.
I'm just a lonely pregnant lady stuck at home! lol.

 

Oh yeah, if you found out anything interesting about me area, you can email me at stephanie.high@gmail.com
it's probably better than posting all that on here.