Happy Halloween!

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Happy spooky 4th birthday!

My 4 year old had a birthday party this weekend. It was so, so fun. We played ring toss with pumpkins and hula hoops, and "A gift for Mummy" (which is a game where you hide little prizes in toilet paper and "mummify" your guests until a prize falls out of the roll). We also had a cute little monster pinata filled with goodies and jumped on our brand new trampoline! For story time we spread out a big pinic blanket and munched on gooey chex mix. The book we read was Halloween Sky Ride by Elizabeth Spurr.

Drew got a pumpkin cake this year which was uber easy to decorate. I used Wilton's decorator's frosting in a tube to draw my Jack 'o Lantern face and filled it in with black sugar. Breezy!



Here's a few pictures that I remembered to take. But for the second time in a row I forgot to get one of my darling cauldron of bug juice! :( Ah well, you'll just have to picture it (and of course try it when you get a chance). All you do is mix Sprite and lime sherbet and drape gummy worms over the side of your punch bowl (cauldron). Be sure to garnish each cup with a yummy worm!









Don't you just love the last one?

The party favors were snatched up at the dollar spot in Target. Love that place. Each felt bucket contianed either socks or gloves, the prize from the mummy game, and their goodies from the pinata. Also pictured here is a really easy table decoration. All I did was take a brown grocery bag, dissect it flat, cut strips all around the edges, and twist away. The base is weighted down with marbles. The idea came from Family Fun - my favorite place for party ideas.

For Tamlynn and Nettie

I even put on an apron for ya. ;)

cute felt clips

I made these for my niece's birthday. What makes them so fun is a combination of unlikely textures - ribbon, felt, and metal. They were super easy to assemble. All you need is felt, ribbon, single prong clips and buttons or other embellishments. Cover the clip in your ribbon of choice. Cut the felt in the design that you wish. I cut a flower and layered it with a pinked circular center. Then finish it off with some ric rac and a button or maybe a scrapbooking embellishment (the "b" is for Bella, but I think numbers, i.e. for their age, would also be fun). No sewing involved, I just used my beloved hot glue gun.

Voila.

Feel my pain...

3 days ago I would have said that I'd do anything to have my healthy little girl back. She's got a viral bug and her fever has been up around 102-103 since Saturday. I hate looking into those sad, sunken little eyes and feeling like there's nothing I can do.

Today, although still a tad feverish, she's getting her mojo back. Oh yes. I discovered that she'd painted my ottoman with nacho cheese this morning and thought... now why didn't I appreciate the quietude yesterday?

Thank goodness for blogging because I don't think I could say that out loud and not be committed. Lol.

Fun with pumpkins

I used to come up with something fun and different to do with my basic orange pumpkins every year. It burned me out and so for the last few years I've just had fun picking out the most unusual ones I could find at local markets - blue hubbard, ghost white, and fairy tale varieties - love the varieties of gourds as well!

This year I got my second wind. The kids and I dressed up our porch yesterday with decor reminiscent of old haunted houses... and these painted ghost pumpkins are the perfect addition! First I drew a design with marker and then I went over it with black paint. One of them has our last name initial, one of them is polka-dotted, one's got a fun swirly top and the other has sort of a medallion in the center. So fun!

I vacuum my table (and other confessions)

Yes, sometimes it is the fastest and easiest way to clear the surface of crumbs!

I think all purses shaped like bustieres should be burned.

I bribe my kids with dum dums to get them to keep playing the piano.

I also think sweatpants with writing on the rear should be burned.
I've taught my 2 year old to say, "I'm so cute. And I'm so smart."
I hate going to the park, but I do it because my children love it.

I'm probably the worst potty trainer ever.
I don't make my kids brush their teeth every morning.
I love Big Macs.
I like to run to heavy metal. And hip hop.

My blog is loved!

My good friend smart mama recently highlighted me as a blog she loves. I must say, that no matter how much time passes between my blogging spurts, I have a few blogs that I too cannot stay away from. Smart mama of course is one of them. She is bursting at the seams with creative genius. We talk of getting together and having a mass 'o fun. I daydream of all the projects we could come up with by putting our 2 heads together. It really, really needs to happen, don't you think?

Morning Glory and I are long time blogging buddies. She co-hosted Woman to Woman with me. I've tied myself to various mother figures over the years due to the loss of my own a few years back. I look up to MG in many ways. She is kind and selfless and an abosultely beautiful person. How can you not love someone like her? I know many of you feel the same way about her as I do. She's such an inspiration.

Shelah at Hitting the Ground Running always has something engaging to read. She's a very talented writer and a smart and strong woman who motivates me always! She's the ultimate "doer". Check her out at fMh and Segullah as soon as you can! And you'll see what I mean about her! I'll be so, so sad when she leaves TX. Because I haven't taken advantage of her living here!

Zoe from Fresh Preserves and I go back, back , back to the college days. We were roommates and have remained close friends since then. Zoe is another creative soul sister of mine. We could spend hours going over ideas, or doing anything for that matter! Because she is fun and funny and I adore her thoroughly. :)

Michelle, aka Scribbit is someone I would really like to meet some day. She has always been so personable with me, regardless of how busy she is with her zillions of blog fans. ;) She's another woman who "makes it happen". Her blog is very innovative; she's become a strong leader in the world of mom blogs! But the bottom line is that she's down-to-earth and kind and a wonderful mother... I especially love it when she shares her kid-friendly activities with her readers!

Allysha at Bells on Their Toes is another old friend. We both attended BYU and danced with Dancensemble. But we didn't really get to know each other until happening upon each others' blogs in the last few years. Funny how that works, isn't it? Allysha has such a way with words (you just have to check out Just an Orange sometime), it is clear that dancing is not her only talent! I will probably never, ever stop reading her blog. Ever. She's easy to love. :)

My sister-in-law Sarah at Slightly Crunchy Mama is such a blessing in my life. I'm tearing up! Ack! I just love her (and selfsihly want her to move to Austin, not Houston, in April)! They are job hunting right now and I have everything crossed that we will soon be neighbors!