The Great Halloween of 2014

Halloween just isn't as much for me, now that I'm a mother. I don't dress up because, most of the time, I'm too busy with helping the kids pick out their costumes to pick out mine. Plus, what's the point? I'm going to be driving them from place to place, I won't be seen.

This year, we let the kids have a Halloween party. They invited a bunch of people from school. Sadly (or maybe gladly) only 4 came. They had fun thought. We had a bunch of food and I got all bake-y like and made cupcakes. I think I did a pretty good job.

 Here is a close up of the cupcakes.....

This year, only one of the costumes was homemade. That was Boy Child's. He went as Daryl Dixon. He enjoyed getting to get his clothes dirty and have his crossbow...not that I blame him, of course. I'd like it too.

Girl Child went as a zombie prom queen. She couldn't decide what to be, so she went with this one. I think she looked awesome, personally.

Naturally, Lil Bit went as Elsa....who else?! We couldn't find an Elsa wig ANYWHERE, so I bought her an adult wig and braided it. I think she look super cute, but then, I might be a little partial....

On Halloween night, we went trick or treating around our neighborhood. These kids made out like bandits!!! One house was even giving away hula-hoops and action figures! We have 3 HUGE bowls of candy. It was SOOOOO cold out. I think it was only in the 30's and it was raining. A friend of mine went with me. She had her boys and followed behind me in her truck. I had Lil Bit, Girl Child, my friends' daughter and one of her's and Girl Child's mutual friends. After about an hour and a half, they all 4 tapped out to the elements and wanted to call it a night. After the two that wasn't mine got in my friend's truck, I headed to grab a pizza and come home to feed my freezing crew. Boy Child went trick or treating with his buddy, our neighbor who I'll call M. He had a blast with his family.

All in all, Halloween didn't suck this year. I'm glad it is over though, because we can start getting ready for Christmas, which is my favorite time of year. I'm looking forward to what The Hubs has in store for our house for Christmas........he decorated for Halloween.

Who's ready for Thanksgiving?!

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town!

It's hard to believe that Christmas is in 1 week. It almost seems like this year has just absolutely FLOWN by. It's nuts!

With Christmas comes that time old tradition of having your kids' picture taken with Santa. Parents scour the newspaper, internet, and malls in search of the location of a Santa visit. They load their kids up, decked out in their finest and herd them to said location, wait in line, and sit them on some random strangers lap, so they can tell said stranger about their biggest desire for Christmas. The parents snap a picture, thinking..."awww! It's going to be nice!".

They almost always look like THIS ----------->

Cute kids.....not so much for the picture.

I am guilty of doing this as well. However, I have two that no longer believe and one that wants to tell ol Saint Nick where he can stick his sleigh. She's not a fan of the big man, to the point where she saw him at Wal-Mart and called him a big jerk when he tried to talk to her, all while crying like she'd been beaten.

Yea....I have THAT kid.

So imagine my delight when I found out that the place my husband works was having Santa come visit this past Saturday. I made the appropriate plans to take the kids, promoted it on my personal Facebook page, etc, etc. Saturday came and I was recruited to help out, as I usually am in these things (I don't mind....they guys my husband works with are pretty awesome!). The kids ran around and made a ton of new "friends", watched 20 different movies on the various TV's (my husband works for a local rent to own place). I cut sandwiches, took pictures, handed out gifts....it was fun.

The older two decided to go ahead and humor ol Mom by sitting on Santa's lap for a picture.

If he said he was a good boy, it was a lie!

She's in the top 5 of the naughty list!

I'm fairly certain that they did it for the free gift...don't quote me on that though! lol
Cailin.......she wasn't really feeling it, despite me telling her who Santa REALLY was and the Jolly man himself revealing his true identity.....it took her a while, but she eventually warmed up....sorta.

Okay Mom, I humored you, NOW LET ME DOWN!

Jen (my awesome co-writer) brought her kiddos up..if she wants to share those pictures, I'll let her do it. But SHE got in on the action too!

Thumbs up for pretending to be good!

Then I decided to get in on it....and use a little sex appeal to get put on the nice list.

Layin' one on him for bonus points!

I'm pretty sure it worked, 'cause Santa brought me a Kindle Fire HD home last night! But then, considering MY secret identity, ol Claus there knows better than to put me on the naughty list........

Didn't know that I was married to Santa, did ya?

Really, Paypal? REALLY?!

For years, I've been a loyal user of Paypal, even when they underwent some changes I didn't agree with. I use them for eBay, and I use them for my PR payments.
This will change, however, because of something Sadie over at Randomosity brought to the worlds attention.
A group called Regretsy was trying to raise money and gifts for families who couldn't afford Christmas. Being that I've been there before (narrowly avoided it this year), I read this story and was SHOCKED at the audacity of Paypal.
The short and long of it is that basically, they shut down Regretsy because they were saying that they were not a non-profit organization. Um....okay. People use the donate button Paypal provides to raise money for ridiculous things. Paypal is NOW demanding that Regretsy return the money to those who donated and they put a freeze on their account.
BS if you ask me.
For the full story, simply click above where it says Regretsy.
So, I'm going to help spread the word about Paypal and their not so nice practices. Bullies, if you ask me.
I'd like to boycott the Ebenezer Scrooge's, but I'm trying to get my eBay store back up and running. HOWEVER, Sadie did find an alternative, which is Wepay, a company that not only wants your business, they practically PAY you to use them! Sign up and use is free, but they will give YOU $10, just to sign up. You are not under any obligation to use them after sign up and you still get your $10.
Pass this message on and let's not let Paypal get away with this. There are a few ways to be heard.
Contact ANYONE in Corporate by using one of the numbers you can find HERE and sign the PETITION by going HERE. Post of Facebook, Twitter, anywhere. Print off some flyers and pass them out. Let's not sit while Paypal denies these kids and families a Christmas!