Friday Favorites!

HI!! Happy Friday!!

What a fun weekend ahead! Do you have any exciting plans for Halloween? Can you believe starting next week it will be November?!?

My in-laws flew in from Austin, TX last night and we have a fun, jam-packed weekend planned!  We are so excited to have them here for Halloween- I think it will be so neat for them to see the kids all dressed up!! 

Okay...time to share my Favorites from this past week!!

We were shopping at Sam's Club a couple weekends ago and I picked up a 6-pack of Glade Plug-Ins in the scent "Spirit." They had all sorts of lovely holiday scents- but the girls and I like spirit the best.  Well...I put a few of the plug-ins around our house a few days ago while I was cleaning and I AM OBSESSED!! This scent is amazing. I told my husband we are going back to Sam's Club and getting 3 more packs of 6 because I want to have them even when the holidays are over!! Hands down- it is my FAVORITE scent I have ever found for my home!! **After searching around on the internet- it seems like very few places are carrying the "spirit" scent- but one of them is Home Depot!  If you happen to be in there- look for them and give them a smell :)** 

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Last weekend we visited my grandpa in Southern Illinois.  It just so happened that it was Homecoming weekend at Southern Illinois University- where I went to school!  My mom and 6 of her 7 sisters also went to school at SIU AND both of my brothers and sister went there.  We are defniitely a Saluki family :)  

So on Saturday afternoon, my mom, dad, sister, her husband, her 2 kids, our 4 kids, Aaron and I all loaded up to go walk around campus and check out the Homecoming festivities. 

IT WAS SO FUN!!!  I LOVED being back on campus! We went to the Alumni tent and got to see the marching band play a few songs and the energy was just awesome.

I just kept thinking about when my kids go off to college and how I hope they have as great of an experience as I did.  I also told Aaron we are DEFINITELY going to hang out with our kids when they are in college :)  He responded with, "Oh- for SURE." HA!

And a totally random thing happened! While we were in the food line getting a sandwich at the Alumni tent- I saw a girl who works at our local YMCA! We saw her almost every day at the pool this past summer!  I said hi to her and found out she goes to SIU.  Then she asked when I graduated....  I told her 13 years ago- and she responded with "NO WAY.  You look so young! You can't be that old!" Hahahaha!!

THREE

I mentioned earlier in the week that Cora Maye and James have both been sick.  James especially has needed A LOT of extra attention...and while I totally love snuggling with him- it does make it quite difficult to accomplish anything around the house :)  Well...a couple days ago- all the stars aligned and after I got the girls home from school, they all went down for a nap- including James!  (He has been so feverish- he wasn't really sleeping well and if he was- it was on Aaron or me).  I piled up all the laundry that needed to be folded and put on an episode of one of my favorite shows- Diners, Drive-In's and Dives.  This is going to show how dorky I am- but it was pure bliss for me!! I was getting some house work done while enjoying a show I hardly ever watch.  Definitely a favorite moment of the week for me!

FOUR

I volunteered to be the "treat maker" for all of Charlotte's class parties this year.  I LOVE to bake AND it is a way I can be involved in her class.  Well...the room moms asked me if I could make Frankenstein treats for the "Fall" Party and when I looked at the picture of them- I totally thought, "What have I gotten myself into?!?" HA!

They ended up being really easy to make- just very time consuming.  Because I have limited chunks of "free" time during the day- I made them over the course of 3 days.

I finished them up yesterday and I think they turned out SO cute! They are definitely not "Pinterest Perfect" by any means...but I am figuring a bunch of 1st graders who are handed a chocolate dipped rice crispie treat on a stick aren't going to care about some imperfectly placed eyeballs- HA!

When Charlotte saw them yesterday, she was SO excited. And that made all the time it took to make them worth it. Making her smile is totally a FAVORITE for me!

FIVE

The girls are SO excited about Halloween!! James is going to be a lion, Celine is going to be Tinkerbell, Cora Maye is still undecided :) and Charlotte is going to be Elsa.  

We don't at all focus on the spooky or scary aspect of Halloween...it is just all about having tons of fun getting dressed up and going trick or treating.  The girls are so excited that their Poppy will be going with them this year.  Aaron's mom and I will hang back at the house with James the Lion and hand out candy :)  As a kid, Halloween was one of my FAVORITE holidays!  I have such wonderful memories of going into my brothers' room after we got back from trick or treating and organizing all of our candy.  Then, we would totally have a candy "swap" and trade snickers for milky ways :)  I can only imagine in a few more years, my girls will be doing the same thing with each other!!

YAY for a fun, no pressure "holiday" that falls on a weekend this year- that is the BEST!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend....and whatever your plans are...they are spent with people you LOVE! :)

I am linking up with Andrea and Erika for their Friday Favorites Link Up!

 I am also linking up with April for Five on Friday!

 Joining Karli for her, Oh Hey Friday Link Up! too!