Princess & the Pea

I want to do everything.  I realize I have a problem.  I love learning and think I can do anything (even though a lot of times my wonderful projects/ideas fail miserably).  Two of my New Year resolutions will be to learn to sew and to work on my photography skills.  Why wait until January you may ask?  Why I have just too much going on to try and learn a skill!  Work has been crazy and Lindsay's birthday party has developed a life of its own.  Lindsay's cheese stroller costume was supposed to be sewn but was hot glued instead.  Sewing is alot more difficult than it looks.  I really thought you just put a roll of thread (didn't even realize they were called a spool or a bobbin!) into the machine, put some fabric under the needle and magically you would be able to sew.  Ummmm....yeah.   

Photography definitely comes more naturally for me. I have always loved taking pictures.  My father always had a camera with him, even before it was cheap and cool.  I can't imagine taking pictures without the help of digital edit or the crispness of my multiple pixel Canon.  Granted I'm not that young and I do remember impatiently waiting for rolls of film to be developed at Wal-Mart and then only getting one or two good shots in the whole bunch.  That was way before I had kids though and I think my picture taking has quadrupled since then!  I want to really learn how to frame a picture though and how to use Photoshop.  First I need to purchase Photoshop (Christmas HINT honey!).  One random Saturday though I got a wild hair up my derriere and decided to conduct a photo shoot in my backyard.  Imagine my husbands surprise when he came home to this in the backyard :).  He was a trooper though and helped with holding my subjects since I quickly learned that placing a 10-month-old on top of a bunch of wobbly mattresses and blankets is not exactly something you should do.  Hello mother-of-the-year award!  Oh well, the last shot is my favorite.  My little princess!      

Halloween - Part 2

I love Halloween.  I get so excited about decorating.  I guess that's because we go the whole summer and most of spring without a decorating holiday.  Sure, I could decorate for 4th of the July but I'm not big on a house full of the red, white color scheme.  I also love the fact that you can be anything you want to be for Halloween.  Don't we all sometimes want to be someone we aren't?  I sometimes wish when I'm covered in baby food and doing dishes to be a famous actress walking the red carpet, getting tons of free stuff and who has someone to clean up after them.  Or sometimes I just want to be that neighbor down the street who totally seems to have it together and her kids are always well behaved and groomed while I'm lucky to get a brush through Emily's hair. I might get some weird looks if I dressed up like my neighbor to go trick-or-treating!

We had a great Halloween even though it was an icky Monday night and it poured rain for the actual event.  Emily went trunk or treating at church on Saturday night so she had already met her candy quota for the holiday.  She is so my child and she is so going to be a hoarder one day.  She's not bad about sneaking candy.  She just wants it near her.  She will take her candy out of her bucket just to look at it and count it.  I used to do the same thing as a kid.  Is hoarding genetic?!  Emily was a cat (I made her tutu but every other part of the costume was store bought) and Lindsay was a mouse in a block of cheese.  And what a cute mouse she was!!!  I was pretty proud of the way the block of cheese turned out.  I also learned that a hot glue gun is alot easier than trying to learn how to sew at the same time you are trying to make a Halloween costume.

The trick-or-treating crew

We made ghost pizza on the Sunday before Halloween.  It looked really cool before it was baked, but when it came out of the oven, it just looked like regular pizza.  Maybe next year I will add the ghosts on top after it has baked.

Of course I had to do Halloween gifts for all of Emily's classmates.  I can't remember where I saw this idea.  Probably Pinterest.com :).  Her classmates got the sucker with a note from Emily and the teachers got the same but with an extra bag of candy. When I picked her up from school that day, Ms. Debra said she was destined to be a hostess (again, she is definitely my child!).  Emily would jump up from whatever she was doing and run to the closet that held her treats and present one to each child as they were leaving.  She was very concerned that Ms. Debra would take over her duties with the three children that were still there!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

 

Halloween Decorations - Part 1

Little late but better than never!  Here are some of my Halloween decorations from this year.  Wonder when I will find time to take these down and put up Thanksgiving?!? 

Spooktacular Wildtree Tasting Party

Food and nutrition is very important to me.  I tried to be very conscious with Emily of what I was eating when I was pregnant and that it had as little preservatives and additives as possible (I was more lax with Lindsay and maybe that's why I gained 40 pounds!).  Since I work in the chiropractic field, I see the importance and hear lectures on nutrition all the time.  When my neighbor became a rep for Wildtree Herbs, I knew I would be hosting a party!  Usually I avoid parties like the plague.  I always feel obligated to buy something and then feel obligated to go to other peoples parties when they come to mine and its just a vicious cycle.  Wildtree is different though.  I felt good to make them obligated to buy as I hope that maybe instead of stopping in the McDonald's drive-thru, they will head back home and make a Wildtree product.  All items are natural and additives and preservative free.  Since Halloween is right around the corner, I decided to do a Spooktacular Tasting Party! 

Below is one of those party ideas that I had seen on Pinterest and was dying to try.  Gummy worms frozen into ice cubes.  I added these to a picture of water for a little Halloween "flair".  I think these would be a great addition to Koolaid or individual water glasses but the ice cubes melted way too quickly in the pitcher and then we were left with a gummy worms sticking to the bottom and giving the water a weird taste. 

Super easy Halloween wine glasses made with Duck tape. 

Drive-In Movie Night

I have to go away this weekend for a work conference.  I don't really mind the work even though I am exhausted come Monday, but I hate being away from my family.  Don't get me wrong, since Emily has been waking up about three times a night (Why?!?!), I am looking forward to an uninterrupted night's sleep!  I try to do something special whenever I leave so tonight was movie night.  To spice things up I decided to tell Emily about drive-in movies.  Even though she had no clue what I was talking about, she did love the idea of watching a new movie in her "car".  We even had popcorn.  How cute are my babies?!

Think Pink & Save the Ta-Tas

Fall is my favorite time of year.  I love the cooler weather.  I love the colors.  I love the start of holiday season (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas).  I also love my ta-tas and October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Retail chains of restaurants and department stores always have cute pink items where a portion of the sales goes to a breast cancer organization like Susan G. Komen.  I absolutely LOVE Panera Bread's Pink Ribbon Bagel.

Like so many others, breast cancer has touched my life.  My paternal grandmother had breast cancer in the late stages of her life.  My neighbor tested positive for the breast cancer gene and had a double mastectomy.  My mother-in-law is currently battling a very aggressive form of breast cancer.  She was diagnosed in the spring of this year, had the lump removed and has now undergone chemotherapy and radiation.  I am happy to say though she is WINNING the battle!!  In honor of her and so many other women across the country, I wanted to do something for Breast Cancer Awareness month.  I'm not real thrilled with the way the wreath turned out but it gets the point (and color) across.  Cake pops were a big hit!    

No Kids Surprise!

My husband, Matt, turned 30 at the end of last month.  I had always planned to do some big party for him when he turned 30.  We were dating when he turned 21 and I can't remember everything but I vaguely recall getting mad at him for some stupid college nonsense and ruining his birthday.  Therefore I definitely wanted his next big birthday to be special.  Well of course with my luck, his birthday would fall on a Monday and I had a work thing in Canada the weekend before AND we are broke!

It's amazing how my priorities have changed since our college days.  Back then, all you needed for a great birthday was a keg, maybe a band or at least a drunk guy with a guitar and a bunch of people.  Since Matt had the girls all weekend the weekend before, I figured a perfect party for him would be NO kids.  Kids are a package deal with some moms so I decided to just do a guy's night.  I decided to keep it a surprise and conspired with his friend to ask a bunch of his guys friends over for a night of football (ECU vs. UNC), bourbon, beer, and bar food.  Since I was trying to keep everything under wraps I wasn't able to make as much of the cool decorations that I normally do.  Also, we are talking about guys here and I figured if I went too overboard on the cute napkins or straws, they may think I was a little crazy, or worse, not NOTICE!  So I focused my little time on sweets and his beloved UNC.

Everything went off without a hitch and Matt was very surprised.  He had a great night and I am so thankful for those who came out and left their families at home to show him some 30 love.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!