Soon children will be knocking on your door and looking for a handout. Of course they will be hoping to get a sweat treat this Halloween. You know some chocolate or sweet tarts or candy corn make all fine treat choices. Candy is dandy indeed but there are some alternatives that even the biggest sweet tooth wouldn’t mind receiving.

A quick look through the Halloween aisle that was probably stocked sometime at the end of August has some choices for treats. Pencils, cups, straws, even vampire teeth can be bought in bulk to give out this Halloween. The prices aren’t that bad especially if you shop at a super center.

Take a quick trip through toys to find some other ideas for Halloween goodies. There is a section at our Wal-Mart that has toys for 88 cents and up. I found a bag of 25 dinosaurs for $2. I added some bangle bracelets for 88 cents to give some choices for the kids. All together, I spent less than two bags of candy and got some neat Halloween treats. I already had some pencils that I had picked up last year after Halloween and tucked away for this year. After Halloween is a great time to pick up decorations since they will be really cheap.

I would rather buy cheap trinkets to pass out than candy because we don’t get that many trick or treaters, so I’d rather have stuff than candy as I’m less tempted to eat toys than chocolate.

When the Parent Bloggers Network sent out a call for wacky warning labels, I knew it would be easy to find some crazy warnings. I remember once signing a lease with at least 5 pages of statements like “I will not hook up a washer to the kitchen sink.” The landlord had informed us that each statement was a situation that had come up where a tenant was trying to do what common sense should tell you is a bad idea.

I didn’t have to look too far to find some crazy warning labels. Here is my favorite. It is from Rae’s step stool she uses when she brushes her teeth.

It’s a great little stool, but I was surprised to read the warning label that stated it is not to be used as a car seat. I wonder the story behind that warning.

The kitchen bag warning was also an interesting read, reminding me not to use bags in a baby crib.

And finally also from the kitchen is the warning from the Ziploc storage containers that I highly recommend since they are so cheap and work well. Who would have guessed that after warming something up in a container in the microwave that it would be hot? Inconceivable!

There are some crazy warning labels on products no doubt. Sadly most have been placed by either someone doing the exact thing in the warning - like with my lease agreement - or someone sued the company over the product not warning them of the “danger.” Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse sponsored this week’s fun blog blast to show the most off-the-wall warning label we could find. You can visit the Parent Bloggers Network to join in the fun. I just had to travel no further than my own kitchen and bathroom to find some crazy warning labels. It’s really not that hard once you actually start looking around.

There are several products that have come out over the years that I just didn’t get why anyone would want one until now. Now that I have a child, I see the purpose in a lot of those products. From time to time, I will write about each of these products my original thought and then my amended thought now that I am a parent.

The first product is one that I think would be ideal for anyone with a toddler. At some point each night, Rae will wake up asking for her milk. I remember seeing these mini refrigerators advertised and thinking who would want a small fridge that would only hold about one 12 ounce can of soda. A mini fridge would be great to have right beside her bed to keep her milk. It’s really annoying to stumble around in the middle of the night and fill a sippy cup with milk.

What I use to think was a product that held no actual purpose could be quite handy indeed.

My child loves to wear stickers. I blame the Wal-Mart greeter who gives her two, one for each hand, when we go there. Now she thinks that she must wear stickers on her. I guess if I catch her looking at a tattoo design gallery then I will begin to worry about her fascination with putting stickers on her body.

Right now a pack of stickers is a cheap way to pacify her when we are at the store. I know as the gets older, it will be harder to impress her. It’s kind of cool that even the littlest things just amaze her. Oh, if it would only last.

I’m not sure we ever grow out of a love for stickers. My husband still loves them and likes to buy those in the vending machines for 50 cents. Who knows, this might just be the beginning to her hobby of collecting stickers.

I woke up in labor, which was totally unexpected since my baby wasn’t due until October 25th and we had a c-section scheduled for October 19th. I guess Raegan had her own plans. We rushed to the hospital where I learned I was already 7 centimeters dilated! So, the frenzy began to do the c-section. We had arrived at the hospital about 8:30am.  At 9:31am Raegan was born.

Today my baby is two years old! What a wonderful two years it has been being her Mom. Today we are going to bake some cookies since we are going to have her birthday a few weeks from now and just have a small celebration today.

Here she is sharing her juice with Pooh Bear. Happy Birthday Rae Rae!

One of Rae’s favorite snacks is popcorn, or just “corn” as she calls it. It’s amazing how much popcorn this little girl can eat. She might eat a few fries at a meal, but she will eat a lot of popcorn. Popcorn is a great choice when you have the munchies since it takes a while to eat and is one of the better for you snack foods. When we stayed at a Tampa hotel, they had a couple of popcorn machines in the lobby and always had hot popcorn each night. Hot popcorn is the best to me. I’m not wild about popcorn once it’s been sitting out for a few hours.

I love the small single serving size of microwave popcorn as they are perfect for Rae. Right now they have special packs that are orange and have a Halloween theme. I might pick up some more to give out to trick or treaters instead of candy. We seldom have trick or treaters, so this way we have a better snack for us than leftover candy. I always buy way too much candy and wind up eating most of what is left after Halloween. The popcorn is definitely a better idea.

At one of our playgroups, we built an ice castle. Well, I say we meaning more the Moms since the kids weren’t that interested in it. It was fun, though and easy. We filled up plastic containers with water and placed them in the freezer overnight. We had different sizes that you then stacked on top of each other to make the castle. One Mom even put food coloring in her ice to make colored ice structures.

It was fun and for a hot day in the South was a nice cool treat.

I am getting ready for Rae’s two year birthday party and thinking about making the birthday inviations myself. I feel confident doing them myself and most other invitations except for wedding invitations that I would rather just buy than try to make.

Rae is really into Alice in Wonderland, and it’s very hard to find anything movie related in the local stores. Making the inviations would be simple enough and really give it a personal touch. Most, if not all of the invitaions, I will be able to just email. That will certainly be easier than trying to mail them and cheaper.

I love when I can do some things myself and save money. It also creates a personal touch to the party by having a one-of-a-kind invitation. It will be at least something unique for the scrapbook if nothing else.

We will have very limited space in Rae’s room for bed and furniture. So, every square inch of space saved will help to make the room as comfortable as possible. While Raegan may not need bunk beds, there are some bunk bed set ups that would be nice to give her more space plus has an extra bed for guests.

Some bunk beds have a top bed and underneath have a desk and drawers. This will help to make the most of a small space. It’s an idea for the future. Right now she is a little young for a top bunk but in a few years a bunk bed/desk might be the perfect space saving solution for her room.

Guess what Raegan’s favorite new word is? Oh it’s something she has heard from Mommy on occasion. It’s just one of those that slip out in traffic or when things aren’t going my way. I’m talking about the word that is a substitute for poop. This has to be the easiest cuss word to say for little ones since it seems practically every toddler I’ve known has picked it up pretty fast and early in life.

So, we’ve taken to saying “Snap” when we she says the word to try to get her to say Snap instead of it. Now she has picked up the word Snap but usually says the word for poop followed by Snap now.

So far it hasn’t landed us in trouble, ie her dropping the S bomb in front of Mamaw, but I’m sure that day is coming.