First, I’d like to say if anyone would like ideas from books, the best place to look would be your local library. As long as you have a library card (which are free to obtain), you can check out books of all sorts for free!

I love free stuff, and honestly I believe free things are something hard to come by. Usually if something is free, there is a catch to it….

Anyway, this is the book my son wanted to get at the library around Halloween time. He insisted on us making Halloween crafts, so we did 🙂

It is called Make Yourself a Monster! A Book of Creepy Crafts by Kathy Ross.

One of the many crafts his little brain wanted to do consisted of bats. My son loves bats and vampires, or vampire bats especially lol. I know I’m going to miss this stage in his life! I wished I could just win the lottery so I was able to stay home with him and his sister and not have to work to pay my bills, but it is what it is…..

We made our bats and ghosts the same, because it was easy and more convenient for us. The pictures below are of the bats and ghosts we had made. My son loved them and had to show them to everyone!

These are the instructions to make the bat(s) on a twig using a piece of yarn or string.

This is the pattern for the ghost on a popsicle stick!

There are many different kinds of easy, cheap crafts to do in this book! It also has the patterns in it to make the bat, ghost, Dracula necklace, etc. If your hunting for a crafty Halloween book I would suggest this one.

I’ve been catching myself here lately wondering if mothers become immune to messes? I’m not just talking about the dirty diapers or they had an accident on themselves. I’m also talking about my house being a mess…I try to keep my house clean, but with a total of seven people in our family some days that is nearly impossible to do.

Our living room is hardly ever without toys. The laundry takes me a couple of days to do, and then when I finally finish I’ve got to do it over again. When I sweep and mop, give it a few hours you could hardly even tell I cleaned.

Many people think that a stay-at- home parent is an easy task with our feet up watching television all day. If that’s what anyone thinks, they have been watching waaayyy too much reality TV.

I understand my husband works hard for our family. I know he does, but there have been days where I would trade a day with him to get a break. Don’t get me wrong, some if the things he does at his job I know couldn’t do. It’s just the break I would like to get…

I know one day, hopefully soon because my bills won’t pay themselves, I’ll have a job and miss all the times that all I done was pick up messes. I think every start-at- home parent needs a break. We get breaks from our jobs, and being a stay-at- home parent is no different. It’s a job we do out of love without pay.

I know this sounds like I’m just complaining, but being a mother sometimes feels like I’m on a merry-go-round doing the same thing. I love my family and children and wouldn’t trade them for any of the riches of this world. I love what God has given me and each day I try to be grateful for what He has given me.

I need to do as 1 Chronicles 16 states to seek the Lord first. I know if I put the Lord first my worries and frustrations wouldn’t be that troublesome.