Happy Candy-Gathering...uh, I mean Halloween!

Halloween has been thoroughly celebrated at the Coe house.

Kenzie & Abbie went to plenty of parties & dances.

Guess how last-minute this costume was . . .?

Porter, who is a FINE salesman, did some extra trick-or-treating with one of our favorite neighbors to collect candy to be donated to the military (a $2000 prize has been offered by a dental group to the school who's students donate the most candy!)

Porter said most people gave him one piece, until he gave them his spiel about where the candy was going, and then many gave him extra handfuls (some even dumped the rest of their bowl into his bag.) He & Kailee came home with 15 lbs EACH, so they will be dropping off 30 lbs of candy tomorrow . . . hope the soldiers don't get a tummy ache!

Here's Porter with some of his cache!

Thrifty Sue

I have learned a new skill to aid me in my role as

"Head of Procurement of All Things Household"

I never have been one to pass up a bargain -- and I've always felt it was one of my responsibilities as a stay-at-home mom to make an extra effort to stretch the hard earned $$ of my husband. Recently I have learned how to combine sale prices with coupons in order to obtain things we need for minimal money out-of-pocket.

Some shopping trips are more fruitful than others, and it does take some pre-planning time (which I don't always have), but sometimes I walk out of the store feeling like the lady on the Ikea commercial coming out the the store with her bags, shouting to her husband in their VW van, "Start the car! Start the car!"

Here's a recent haul from Walgreens. All of these items would have cost $48, but with coupons & sale prices, I paid $7.40, and received a Walgreens voucher for $5. So essentially, I spent $2.40 & got all the halloween candy we needed, plus a few other items. Pretty thrifty!

I call myself frugal, btw, not cheap :-)

Saturday Night at the Coe's

Sad to see Carrie & Taylor head back to Australia, we squeezed in one last dinner together (thanks to our matriarch - grammy) on Saturday evening.

Nobody can get enough of Taylor - we will all miss him!!

After dinner it was time to help each other get ready for our evening commitments! Pete & Heather & the kids were headed for a 'trunk or treat' at church...

So, Jed, the army-guy, needed his face paint, masterfully done by his make-up artist papa!

Henry, the Joker, needed HIS face paint done by his talented mama! (And he LOVED the outcome! Stared at himself in the mirror quietly smiling for quite a while!)

Harriet, the colorful girl, who made her OWN costume, appropriately, took care of herself! (what, no pic? sorry, harriet)

And here's chain-gang Jack, making some extra noise (do you think we needed any of that?!) on the recorder!!

After saying our sad goodbyes to Carrie & Taylor

(& his "bob-bob" balloon),

g'ma & g'pa headed off to the airport with them . . .

. . . . and the toothless hockey player with a black eye

& his ref headed off to their halloween party.

(See mom, we went!!)

In case you are wondering where Abbie & Kenzie were . . . Kenzie spent the day taking the ACT, and working at the Mission Viejo 'Fall Festival' and Abbie won a couple lacrosse games & then had a few friends over to help her "brother-sit."

Again? . . . Already?

Happy Birthday No. 15 to Abbie!

For a bit more on Abbie's family birthday celebration,

see my sis-in-law's blog here!