Don't wait until next October to stock up on Halloween decorations and costumes. You can score some great items at scary bargain prices if you shop this week at your favorite retail store!

You may need to take a guess as to how big your child will be next year, but many costumes secure with simple buttons or Velcro making it easy to fit into regardless of their growth spurt. The early bird gets the worm, so don't wait until the end of the week to find items that will add some tricks to the trick-or-treating event.

Motion sensor ghosts, tombstones, pumpkin lights and other accessories to spunk up the holiday season may be hard to store for a year, but the wait will be worth it when you check your receipt and have everything ready to go for the 2011 Halloween season!

I'm not one to try new recipes, heck, I'm not really one to cook at all. In fact the joke amongst people that know me is that if a recipe has more than five ingredients, I can't do it.

However I recently proved those naysayers wrong now because......I did it! I made the Halloween Meal-in-a-Pumpkin that was featured in MOM Magazine's recipe section of the Oct/Nov 2010 issue and there's like 17 ingredients in it!

It was very easy to make. In fact, my son Riley helped spoon the meat mixture into the pumpkin:

Even though it had peppers, onion, mushrooms, and pimentos in it, my boys still ate it and asked for second helpings! They loved it. I encourage MOM readers to try this fabulous recipe, shared by MOM Publisher (Raeann)'s mother-in-law.

MMMM.....doesn't it look yummy??

So, if you read my editorial in the Mid-Valley MOM Magazine you know that I have 3 kids.  And once again I had one that wanted a store bought costume (Mimi is going as an adorable pink and black spoted kitty) one that wanted a home made costume (McKenna now has a black and pink poodle skirt) and one that waited until yesterday at 3pm  and then decided he wanted to be Picachu from Pokemon'. 

I figured finding a gold/yellow sweatsuit shouldn't be to hard.  (We are OSU Beavers at heart but there is quite a bit of Duck stuff around).  But, wouldn't you know it......(insert explitive here)  The Ducks went the green and black route this year and not a gold color sweatshirt to be found...

Last ditch effort I ran to good old Target. I found a half zip gold color fleece jacket but no pants.  So around the corner to JoAnn's Fabrics I went.  I grabbed a pajama pattern to make the matching pants and then found fleece that pretty well matched the jacket.  Of course according to the pattern I didn't have enough material left on the bolt to get the pants and a hood made for the jacket (picachu's head).  So I took what they had and then they literally locked the dorrs behind me.  Although I didn't feel to bad because they were really busy between 8pm and 9pm last night...guess I am not the only one with a last minute kid!

By the time I got home, got the kids to bed, saw my husband for 15 minutes, etc, etc.  It was now 11:30pm and I still had to make the darn thing.  I cut with lightning speed with the mini size dull scissors I found in the drawer (remember we just moved and my sewing stuff is buried in the garage).  I sewed the pants...made the hood, added the ears...crafted the tail and cut out the face....then I went to bed at 2:00am but was so wired after the Coke I drank I couldn't sleep until 3:00am.

My son awoke to me hollering..."get out here and get this thing on so I can get the elastic in your pants...and your tail in the right spot"!  In the mean time I was helping both daughters with spelling words and a math assignment about how many pockets our family has on.....AAAhhhhhhhhhh!!!

I finished with 3 minutes to spare..just enough time to pull on some jeans and run a brush through my hair and one over my teeth.  And off to school we went!

But, my story doesn't end there....I offered to do the crafts for the girls classes today during their Halloween parties.  Mimi's is finished and individually bagged so the kids can get right to work...McKenna's were another story. 

I had good intentions of making these adorable "Witch Hands" with clear plastic gloves, candy corn finger nails, filled with popcorn and then topped off with plastic spider rings.  I borrowed an air popper from a girlfriend after an SOS was sent out on Facebook.  Candy corn..check,  ring....check,  rubber band...check....gloves...OH NO...I forgot the gloves. 

How hard could they be to find....hahahahahahaha!  (Never ask yourself that question the morning of the event).  All I could find were the latex type gloves...so I finally called my local Fred Meyer and they said no...I "needed a restaurant supply that has gloves like in our deli section...."   ding ding ding...we have an idea... "Can I buy gloves from your deli section?"  and we were off and running.  Thomas the Asst, Grocery Mgr was very helpful and said to come on down and they would help me out!  (Thank goodness for Thomas!)  So, away I drove and now I am a happy camper with gloves in hand! 

I just have to finish popping the popcorn, get a shower, find my costumes,  write this blog, get a few other work related things done...get to the parties...(I think I will stop there and just hope I get that far).  Thanks for listening to me...I really just had to tell someone...anyone??? 

I totally forgot!  the Freddy's in Albany has all sorts of Halloween stuff going on Saturday:

Cake & Cupcake Decorating 11am-4pm  (you buy the cakes and they provide the decorations)

Cake Walk  Noon-130pm

Costume Contest  2pm  for a chance to win at $25 gift card to Fred Meyer  (open to kids 10 and under)

I am sure the Fred Meyer in your neck of the woods has stuff going on too!  Just give them a call.........gotta go...the popcorn popper is blowing and I need to put more popcorn in it!  Happy Halloween Everyone!  I will get picture of the costumes up soon! 

Did you know that MOM Magazine has a Flickr Group? We'd love for you to share your photos with us, and also use it as a place for inspiration.

Let's start out by sharing pictures of your carved pumpkins. New to Flickr?

Here is what you need to do:

• If you have a Yahoo account, you can sign in with that. If you do not, you'll need to create an account by following the prompts.
• Once you have an account, you can upload pictures.
• Click 'Upload' from the menu items in blue at the top.
• Click 'Choose photos and videos'. A box will pop up where you can browse for your pictures on your computer to upload.

***Photo sharing tip*** I use Picasa (not the web version, the one you download) on my computer to organize my photos. From Picasa, I go through my photos and "star" the ones I'm going to share/upload to the web (for Facebook, blog, Flickr, etc.). I then select only my "starred" photos and export them in a smaller, web-friendly size to a separate folder I have just for the purpose of web-sharing. So when I go to upload photos to Flickr, I just need to search for my folder I just exported to, select all the photos, and click upload. It's easier for me because I can get just the photos I want, and they are already resized to the size they need to be.

• Once you've selected your photos, click the pink "Upload photos and videos" button.
• Next, click on "add a description" and you'll have the chance to write a caption and tags. Tags are really important, especially if you are going to submit your photos to the MOM Magazine group. If you are sharing pumpkin carving photos, tag them with: MOM Magazine, Halloween, pumpkin, and pumpkin carving.
• After you've filled out title, description, and tags for your photos, click "Save"
• Next, Click on "Groups" at the top. Search for MOM Magazine. Once you click into MOM Magazine, there should be a place where you can 'join this group.' I've already joined so I am not seeing exactly what that looks like. Once you've joined, you can add something to the group.
• Click on "Add something?" and it will bring up your photos you just uploaded. You can select which ones you want to add to the MOM Magazine stream. Select your photos and Voila!

Here are 5 great cupcakes that you can make and some that are easy enough for the kids to make....I know you all have school parties coming up!!!  Check out these recipes that I found on myrecipes.com

http://www.myrecipes.com/how-to/5-to-try/halloween-cupcake-recipes-10000001931220/

We grabbed a bunch of gords and squashes when we went to the pumpkin patch yesterday. I love using them as fall decorations that can double as a sidedish between Halloween and Thanksgiving. These cute butternut squashes looked like a little family of ghosts, so I gave them fun google eyes with a black sharpie pen.

I've actually become quite attached to the little guys as they look down on us from the fireplace mantle. I just don't know that I'll be able to throw them in the oven.

Fall into fun this season with a trip to a real pumpkin patch to hand select that perfect jack-o-lantern! There's still time to visit pumpkin patches such as the one offered at the Country Mercantile store as you head south on highway 395.

Along with pumpkin fun, you and your family can enjoy a corn maze, straw-bale maze for little kids, petting zoo and more. Pony rides, hay rides and other venues make a trip a great family outing to kick start your fall season. The Country Mercantile is open 7 days a week but the fun ends October 31^st. The store and fun is open from 9 am to 6 pm.

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This past weekend, my boys and I went to one of our favorite local Pumpkin Patch's to search out the one, the only, PERFECT pumpkin for each of us this Halloween.

The day was beautiful! Not a rain cloud in sight. The boys eyed a big red wheelbarrow for us to use on the hunt for our perfect pumpkins. The boys took turns pushing the empy wheelbarrow and we went in search of the perfect pumpkins for each of us. Mommy's only rule? The boys had to be able to lift their pumpkin into the wheelbarrow.

Riley found his perfect pumpkin right off the bat:

Colby must have anguished over a half dozen "perfect" ones before he found his:

I was searching for a perfectly round pumpkin to make the Pumpkin Casserole (from the Oct/Nov MOM issue). Guess what?! I found it! It's going to be dinner on Tuesday night.

Another successful trip to the Pumpkin Patch to find the perfect pumpkin! Still need to find your perfect pumpkin? Here are some great local Pumpkin Patchs' in Lane County:

Detering Orchards
30946 Wyatt Drive in Harrisburg
www.deteringorchards.com

Lone Pine Farms
91909 River Road in Junction City
www.lonepinefarms.com

Colonial Harvest Days at Northern Lights Farm
3677 Wheeler Road in Pleasant Hill
www.northernlightschristmastreefarm.com

You've got their costumes ready, but what about their treat bags? Don't be so quick to rush out and purchase a trendy Halloween bucket. With a little help from Crayola and your youngsters, you can create a Halloween bag that carries the theme of their costume while being kind to Mother Nature.

Simply use a white, recyclable paper bag with or without handles (they're easy to add with strips of paper and a dab of glue) and let your child tap into his or her inner Picasso. You can also use kid-made, earth friendly bags for birthday parties for a personal touch.

Have your little ones draw a picture of a birthday cake or write the age of the child on the bag for the party you're attending. Add stickers, glitter glue, feathers or any other art supplies you can think of and you'll have a unique bag that has you going green without spending a lot of green. Want to go ever greener? Reuse the brown paper bags from your local grocer. For more craft projects and creative Halloween ideas check us out as Mom Magazine was recently featured on KEPR TV at http://www.keprtv.com/news/adventures/105553638.html.

We're fortunate to have a variety of sports teams in the Tri-Cities with Fever Football, Tri-Cities Dust Devils and American's Hockey. It costs a great deal less to attend a local sports team than to pay for travel and accommodations for a Seahawks game (not to mention ticket prices) but there are also other ways you can expose your kids to community events. Even if you don't have teenagers in high school sports, Friday Night Football games can be a fun family outing to teach sportsmanship while enjoying all the fanfare of a major team.

Nachos and hotdogs are affordable and fun to enjoy while your kids learn the game with great seats and easy access to the exit signs if they get fussy. Try taking your child to a sports team of a family friend with a high school student playing on the field, or even to the school they will eventually attend.

It's a wonderful opportunity to build their interest and gauge whether they're ready for a long trip to a major city. If high school sports keep them engaged, move them to the next level with minor league sports to ensure the entire family gets the most bang for their hard-earned buck!