We did something fun!

At least according to my kiddos!  We finally took our cotton candy machine back out and I added the frosting creation pack to a small container of sugar and flavored the sugar.  We did bubble gum and orange cream!  The kids LOVED it!  I finished it off with plain old sugar.  Yum!  Nothing like a straight sugar treat!  It's only once in awhile though!
This has been a great week!  Kira got Student of the Month, which we're all very excited about!  Emma got it last month!  Ben's IEP was this week, so Scott and I got off work to go!  It turned out well, and they're going to do an intelligence test, just to have the info for his IEP.  We're all pretty sure that he'll have a pretty good score, but we're curious!  The kiddos are all doing well, and are pretty healthy, except for the whole constantly runny noses that Cecilia and Leah have had for weeks now!  Poor kiddos!
Kira, Emma and I went out with Sister Hunter yesterday to do an hour of service.  We walked around on a Service Scavenger Hunt and only got to help two people.  Everyone else said no!  It was crazy!  My girls were super excited to try though!  Scott went out later with the Elders.  We're working hard to teach our children to be service-oriented!
Now we're just counting down the days until we head home for a few days!  I can't wait to see family and friends!  The next two school days are going to be fun!

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

Gratitude

Today our family had the opportunity to talk about gratitude at church.  It was lots of fun being the only speakers!  Kira spoke first giving her (HUGE) list of things she's grateful for.  Then Ben told his three.  After that Emma did a fantastic job going through hers (and she practically read the whole thing, I was super impressed)!  Leah went up and said what she had Kira write down for her.  She likes pets, butterflies, and something else...  Then I got to speak and I pretty much stuck to the two latest Prophets from their books.  I added in a personal story or two (I had to include the Gammon family, since they're the most grateful people I've ever met)!  Then after the song, Scott spoke.  I thought he did an awesome job!  He's a great speaker!  Poor Ben fell asleep and just didn't seem to feel well all of church.  He was kinda pasty too, so I had Scott give him a blessing, and he had some help, since there was TONS of worthy Priesthood around!  Then Ben was able to go back to class and made it through okay!  Emma whispered out her talk in Primary about being grateful for Spiritual things.  But she did it!  I'm so proud of my family!
It's been a crazy busy week and I've been exhausted all week, but still biking everyday!  I hope to make it all the way to Thanksgiving, before it gets so cold that my asthma kicks in!  Then I'll have to wake up early in the morning to Zumba!  I love Zumba, but I really love sleep!  Oh well!
This week I'm grateful for:  health, life, late hours at the Doctor's office, great friends, children who go to bed on time without complaints (Hey!  I can dream!), nice temperature days when I don't have to wear a coat, and that our babysitter lives close to my school so I can eat lunch before biking to pick Emma up!

Thankful week 2

I wasn't feeling well at the start of this week, but I'm healthy now and none of my kids have gotten sick-so Thankful thing #1!  I have a couple snotty kiddos, but no throwing up!
Leah lost the crown on her tooth today, but is doing well (and hopefully we'll be able to get her in to the Dentist quickly)-Thankful thing #2!
While Scott and I were napping (and I thought Josh was napping too)-Cecilia and Josh together dumped out a whole container of milk, but it was only half full-so they only wasted half a gallon of milk-Thankful thing #3!
Ben isn't complaining as much about school and is sleeping a lot better-Thankful thing #4!
We got to watch the Croods as a family (except for Scott, he was out with missionaries) and Josh ran off, but one of the teachers recognized him and grabbed him for me (and let me know that they had him, since I was frantically looking for him)!  I'm glad we made it through okay!  And it only cost $7 for popcorns and drinks for everyone!  Thankful Thing #5!
Scott is doing very well this week!  Thankful Thing #6!
I got awesome sales from Dillon's and spent under $80 and got a lot of groceries!  I saved $40!  The cashier was pretty impressed and the only coupon I used was a $5 off coupon from the week before!  Thankful Thing #7!
I was so excited yesterday to get the boys' room clean and put up the Cars Wall Stickers!  Josh was super thrilled about it!  He really loves cars!
I decided to reward myself by cutting out the material for the girls' matching skirts.  I was a little sad that they really liked the fabric that I had only gotten one yard out of.  But, they're dealing with it!  I was a little frustrated with myself, since I cut it out sideways, so we'll have fallen Christmas trees, instead of standing up trees.  Oh well!  I'm sure it will still be cute!  The hardest part is deciding what kind of applique I want to make to match the skirts!  I'm thinking a Christmas tree with their initial in it.
Then I discovered I could make pajama pants, which led to the idea of doing matching pjs with appliques and since there's 8 of us and 8 letters in our last name-that's totally what I'm doing!  I'm super excited that Joann's has their flannel on sale tomorrow too, with 11 cents for shipping!  So, I'll pay about $35 for all the fabric I need and then I'll just have to buy some white shirts to applique on and I'm set!

Awesome New Spy Book!

We're celebrating the launch of Spy for a Spy, sequel to I, Spy! Read on to get a cool spy tip for your daily life, free & discounted reads, and enter to win some great prizes! You can also find Spy for a Spy at the special $3.99 launch discount on Amazon, Kobo, and JordanMcCollum.com!

About the Book

Canada is probably the last place you’d expect to find an American spy. And it was the last place CIA operative Talia Reynolds expected to run into fellow operative Brand Copley. AKA her new boss. AKA her ex-boyfriend.

Just the guy every woman wants to face in the middle of planning her wedding. Once again, Talia’s lying to the man she loves, but this time, to protect his heart. After Brand takes over Talia’s latest case and steals her newest agent, he assigns her to spy on her old boss—who’s suddenly giving her every reason not to trust him. With only weeks until the big day, planning falls by the wayside as she goes into damage control mode. But when Talia discovers Brand’s real motives, fighting him is the only option, no matter what the personal and professional cost. More about Spy for a Spy | Add Spy for a Spy to your Goodreads to-read list!

Hone your spy skills

Spy skills can come in handy in the most unusual situations, like this one . . .
 Further hone your spy skills by reading Spy for a Spy!

About the author

An award-winning author, Jordan McCollum can’t resist a story where good defeats evil and true love conquers all. In her day job, she coerces people to do things they don’t want to, elicits information and generally manipulates the people she loves most—she’s a mom. Jordan holds a degree in American Studies and Linguistics from Brigham Young University. When she catches a spare minute, her hobbies include reading, knitting and music. She lives with her husband and four children in Utah.

Join the party & enter to win!

As part of the debut of Spy for a Spy, Jordan is co-hosting a launch party with Julie Coulter Bellon, author of Pocket Full of Posies. Join us November 12 on Facebook (Jordan's and Julie's pages) and Twitter (follow Julie and Jordan) for drawings throughout the day, and enter to win more fabulous prizes here!!

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Special deals!

Spy for a Spy is a sequel to the novel I, Spy, available for 99¢ at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Jordan's site this week only! To save her country and her secrets, CIA operative Talia Reynolds will have to sacrifice the man she loves. More about I, Spy. Also, as a free gift this week, Jordan is giving out free e-copies of a prequel novella, Mr. Nice Spy, on Amazon and her site!

You can win an awesome Kindle Fire HDX 7"!

This is a joint AUTHOR & BLOGGER GIVEAWAY EVENT! Bloggers & Authors have joined together and each chipped in a little money towards a Kindle Fire HDX 7".

All New Kindle Fire HDX 7" Giveaway

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  Sign up to Sponsor the December Giveaway (starting around December 2nd) http://www.iamareader.com/2013/10/december-kindle-fire.html   Giveaway Details 1 winner will receive their choice of an all new Kindle Fire 7" HDX (US Only - $229 value), $229 Amazon Gift Card or $229 in Paypal Cash (International). There is a second separate giveaway for bloggers who post this giveaway on their blog. See details in the rafflecopter on how to enter to win the 2nd Kindle Fire HDX 7". Ends 11/30/13 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the participating authors & bloggers. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.   a Rafflecopter giveaway

Woohoo! Grateful Month has started!

I love November!  Everyone posts things they're grateful for on Facebook, and I actually want to read people's statuses!  We had a pretty crazy week at school, since it was a whole week again, and the kids were dying to get some candy on Halloween!  So, that was lots of fun!  I love my Kindergartners!  Even when they're being a "little" crazy!
Scott was sick for a couple of days, so he got to stay home with the kids.  Work is still going well for him, and his boss says he wants to keep him for sure through December, and maybe hire him!  Very exciting!  It seems like a pretty good match, since he gets to do Insurance and speak Spanish!  I'm just hoping for him to get hired and get the cheap meat!  I hear it's 80 cents a pound at the factory!  That may not be true, but I still think it will be super cheap!
The kids had a blast for Halloween!  We got home in time to make a dessert and carve some pumpkins quick (we did it in an hour).  The bad news was that we were out of butter, so I used butter-flavored shortening (YUCK!!!).  I really need to make it to the grocery store more often!  We went to church and ate (2 of my Kindergartners came too, so I know they were safe) yummy food, then we had the Trunk-or-Treat.  It took a long time, so it was late when we headed to my mentor's house to Trick-or-treat.  We walked around some and saw a super scary place.  Poor Cecilia was scared for awhile!  Ben was ready to fight the scary monster!  He informed me that he was going to push his pressure points, hard!  We got the last of my mentor's candy and she got to see all of my kids (so that was super fun)!  We came home and took all the chocolate out.  We had a TON!  I brought it with me to work the next day and it was mostly gone by the end of the day!  Hurray!
Friday was my date with Ben.  We got him a new coat (for $32, he loves it), and a new pair of shoes (he's super picky about his shoes!  He only likes shoes that aren't firm and sturdy.).  He probably tried on over 15 shoes.  It worked out well though, because I bought him some and Kira some for under $25!  Then we went to Wal-mart and got a ton of awesome clearance fabrics.  They had the PUL fabric for making cloth diapers on clearance!  Woohoo!  I also got some fabric to make Leah a blanket.  Then we went to Arby's for dinner.  Ben got the same size meal as me and ate almost all of it!  Wow!  He was wishing he had just got a Kids' meal by the time he was done.  Poor kiddo!
Yesterday we slept in, well, I did!  Every once in awhile Scott spoils me.  He's so sweet!  I got some great deals from Walgreen's!  I got a lot of Christmas presents for only $63!  I also got free shipping, because I hit the back button and so they gave me half off of everything plus free shipping!  Fantastic!  I made a tie for Ben, and I really hope he likes it!  Then I got a lot of cleaning done!  We haven't had the Missionaries over all week, so our house was a mess!  I felt much better about our house once I got it cleaned!
Today I woke up right before my alarm went off and Cecilia and I went to see the beautiful sunrise!  I took a picture, because it was awesome!  I love how clear my view is out my front door!  I felt sick this morning, but it cleared up fast, so I was able to help the kids get ready and take a nice cold shower (I really need to take my shower before everyone's bath)!  Then the kids did pretty well at church.  Kira and Leah buried their testimonies (guess what our FHE will be about?) in Sacrament meeting and I heard Emma bear her testimony in Primary from the Nursery (where I helped out today).  We came home, and ate lunch after our visit with our Home Teachers.  Scott went home teaching and ended up going to the Funeral instead.  I was able to take a nap with Cecilia and Josh!  Hurray!  Kira made dinner, and she did a great job!
Grateful Things for last week and this week:
1- The kids did pretty well with only eating a little candy!
2- The house is cleaner!
3- I got to hang out in Nursery-which Cecilia loved!
4- It's my Mom's birthday and she's Fantastic!
5- I should be getting a huge amount of books (most free from using Scholastic bonus points)
6- I have 6 amazing kids!
7- Achievement Day Girls are so fun and love crafting!
8- I'm able to do most of my planning on Friday after school with Emma playing educational games on the laptop.
9- The weather here is pretty fantastic (although I could do without the constant winds when I'm biking)