Pinterest Strikes Again

Not much has been going on around here during September except school.  I should have been blogging more, but I’m not going to lie… I spend an exorbitant amount of time on Pinterest.  This week I did two fun projects that I found on Pinterest.  The first was an orange burlap wreath.  Hobby Lobby was conveniently OUT of orange burlap when we went to buy it, so this is where we improvised. 

   

This is Karen.  I truly believe we were twins in the Pre-Existence.  We met in January when we were both called to be YCL leaders at Girls Camp.   Over the last few months, we’ve discovered that we have the same birthday, we are both native California girls, we both get our hair cut from the same hairdresser, we both love Mexican food, snowmen, chocolate/mint desserts, Diet Coke from McD’s, wreaths, and Pinterest.   We are both sarcastic and say “Dude” and “Totally” and “Awesome” a lot.  And in the craziest twist of fate ever, our families both moved from California to Arizona in the same week of March 2005!   See?  Twins, I tell you.  She is the sister I never thought I had!  We had so much fun making these wreaths together!  And for those of you who’ve been on Pinterest, FYI… the plumbing tubes from Home Depot don’t make the greatest wreath forms.  That’s what we used and they were indeed cheap, but they are already sagging.  I just saw that a better alternative would be using pool noodles.  Next time, that’s what we are going to use.  Because, yes, there will be another wreath making day.  You can never have enough wreaths, right?Here’s the other project I did.  It’s nothing but canning jars, tissue paper, mod podge and construction paper.  I was finally able to put some use to the 300 canning jars my mother brought to me a couple visits ago.  The kids got involved with this project… that’s how easy it was.  I used real tea lights for this photo, but I think I’m going to buy some battery operated ones so I don’t have to worry about the jars overheating.  I LOVE how cute these turned out!   I have two more kid friendly projects lined up for next week.    If I can get my act together, you might see another Halloween craft here on the blog before the month is over!

Halloween

Okay, I am getting faster.  Check out all these photos I edited today.  I still have to load the dishwasher, but I got groceries, made some unpleasant phone calls, and did 3 loads of towels, too!

I wanted to test out the Black and White options, so I did the photos of my kids in B&W.  Their costumes weren't good candidates for color editing anyway.

Our ward had a Trunk-or-Treat/Chili Cook-off for Halloween.  There were some really fun costumes that I had a blast taking pictures of.  (My kids costumes were lame, and I'm not ashamed to admit that.) 

How adorable are these sisters... Cinderella and Ariel?

Are you wondering if Dean Cain dropped in to our humble little gathering?  Nope.  He's ours.  And his wife's costume was awesome too!

How cute are these two?  I seriously didn't know who they really were under the costumes until I asked someone.  They were so cute about giving me their best grumpy face for the picture.  Love it!

And here are two more adorable costumes... too bad Hill's tights weren't in the photo.. there was a funny story behind them.

And meet my new Photo Buddy,Lindsey.  Not only does she know how to use all these cool actions in photoshop, she also knows how to navigate the complicated menus in my camera and fix the settings in manual mode.  Awesome, huh?  And don't you love her baby boy's costume?  The tender mercy for the day was cool weather, so costumes were actually enjoyable to wear for once!

More awesome girls... I love it when ladies don't shy away from the camera.  And they didn't! 

After the chili feast, we retreated to the cars for trunk-or-treating.  This is what the back of my car looked like.  I brought the strobe light and the fog machine, but due to technical trouble, I couldn't get them going.  But our neighbors two cars over brought enough fog for all of us, so it all worked out!

Eric ran off with the camera while I passed out candy, so I only got a couple photos of trick-or-treaters, but I loved these two:

Extra "brownie points" if you can guess who this one is.  I LOVED her hair... it was so darling!

Autumn is in the Air

You know it's fall in Phoenix when it falls below 80 degrees before midnight and the tap water is cool once again.  Oh, and I can walk into my garage any time, day or night, without melting.  Huzzah!



A few weeks ago I got out the fall decor.  Probably my earliest decorating year ever.  I've been craving fall this year more than usual.  Summer is so over-rated. 

How I love fall.  It's my favorite season.  We don't get much of it here in the desert.  Fall comes, but it has very subtle nuances, which have taken me years to recognize and appreciate. But I still miss a more traditional fall. 

I think that General Conference weekend is my official fall kick-off.  Two days of sitting around the house, listening to wise men and women bear testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and eating, eating, eating.  Food is a big part of Conference for me.  Over the summer when I was at my sickest with the lactose intolerance issue, I lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks.  (It wasn't a pleasant way to lose 5 pounds, and I wouldn't choose to do it that way again, but once it was gone and I felt good again, I was happy about it!)  I think I gained back that 5 pounds over Conference weekend. 

October is a big baking month for me.  I crave baked goods in October more than any other month I think!  I've already baked some of my favorites in the last few weeks - Chocolate Caramel Nut Bars, Berry Cobbler, Snickerdoodles, Halloween shaped sugar cookies, Cocoa Rice Krispy Treats... and the candy I've already consumed is ghastly.

Eric and I were at Sam's together the other day and he asked me if we needed to pick up our Halloween Candy.  Oh no... I've learned the hard way, if it's in the house, I will eat it.  I have no will power once it's inside the house.  I can resist buying it, but once I've bought it, I can't resist eating it.  So, I will go out at the very last second to purchase Halloween candy, in the hopes that I will be able to resist opening the bag until that night and can send it all home with other people's kids!

And if I show up at your door step with baked goods in the next few weeks, hopefully you'll forgive me for having  more than one motive for bringing you my excess treats!  ;-)

Halloween

Brayden dressed up as Spiderman (sans mask) for his preschool carnival. This is such a fun activity. Too bad we were really late and I was in such a bad mood that day. He still had fun though!Halloween morning, we ran to target and picked out some $2 pumpkins. Eric got started on the carving with the kids. I came downstairs to find they were already drawing their cutouts on the pumpkins, but none of the pumpkins had been hollowed out properly.So, of course, I get to do the grunt work. (This is why I hate carving pumpkins.... cleaning them out!) I continued to hollow out the guts out of the pumpkin while Eric helped them draw and carve.Ian drew his own cut out of an owl... he looked at another example and copied it. Megan did the same thing with a haunted house. They both have lots of artistic genes that skipped me. Halloween dinner - Haystacks in the dining room with lots of Halloween candles lit.The finished pumpkins: (left to right) Megan, Ian and Brayden. (Brayden's was done by Eric.)

The trick-or-treaters: Megan, Ian and Brayden. Taylor stayed home to pass out candy and Eric and I walked around with the kids. Halloween is my favorite night in our neighborhood.... everyone comes out... everyone is friendly... and the evening weather is usually perfect!

Yes, we had the "green" (aka cheap) Halloween this year - making up costumes from stuff we had on hand. Megan dressed herself up as a witch, and the boys were ninjas. They just wore the darkest clothes they had and then tied black shirts around their heads to complete the ensemble. (The neck hole is the opening on the face.) Oh, and they wore their nerf swords on their backs, lest anyone be confused and think they were dressing up as bank robbers. Talk about my "white trash" trick-or-treaters! Oh well, I didn't care one bit!

Halloween Part Three

Halloween pictures... Taylor took off to hang out with friends... apparantly he's too cool to hang out with us...

I managed to get out of carving pumpkins this year and we used some cool paint markers to decorated them instead... so much easier for me! Yeah! I took the kids out for the first half of the neighborhood and then I came home and traded places with Eric and he took them out for the rest... we have candy coming out of our ears!!! They definately scored!
Pounding the pavement... I was suprised at how many houses were not decorated or even had any lights on at all (compared with past years on Halloween)... Maybe there are more empty homes in my neighborhood than I had previously thought....

I've already bagged up 2 gallon size ziploc bags of candy and put it in the freezer... one more bag went to a candy drive/fundraiser at Taylor's school and we still have enough to fill 2 more gallon size bags... hope we don't get too many cavities at our next visit to the dentist!

Halloween Part Two

Pictures from Brayden's Halloween Preschool Carnival...

Halloween Part One

Tonight was our Trunk Or Treat Party at the Church. Last night at 10 p.m. I officially finished the three Halloween Costumes for the younger kids.... whew... what a relief! This is the one and probably only Halloween that my kids are dressed up in a matching theme, so I'm going to milk all the photos out of it that I possibly can!

I ended up making Megan's headband from a coat hanger and lots of cute ribbon and flowers. I now know that Eric and I will be able to support ourselves in retirement if our 401k never recovers... we can work the Renaissance Fair Circuit... I will make these... and he knows how make a mean looking wooden sword that little boys will go crazy over.

Check out those Sweet Thomas Light Up Sandals that are clearly too small... but still manage to find their way onto Brayden's feet more often than not....

The problem with Halloween in the desert.... at 3 p.m., it's over 90 degrees... and clearly too hot for any really cool costumes... like our friend in the middle of this photo who started off the party as the "Cowardly Lion", but had to shed some layers to avoid overheating... snow cones definately help to beat the heat, though!Megan and Dorothy.... wait a minute... where did Toto go? Brayden had no problem with the concept of Trick or Treating this year... He had a great time! And now I have a whole extra week of snitching Halloween candy from my kids... just when we get rid of all the good stuff, we'll get some more on Friday night!

Food For Thought

Solitary Confinement

Reality has come crashing down on me this weekend.

I have my triathlon in 2 weeks and I'm not nearly as prepared as I want to be. (I don't want to be the last one in my age group crossing the finish....)

AND....

I've started making 3 Halloween Costumes from scratch... which didn't seem bad until I realized that we have our Ward Halloween Party in SIX days.... so one whole week of sewing time I thought I had to work on these costumes just vanished into thin air!

So, if you try to call me this week and keep getting the machine, it's probably because I'm either at the gym working out, or I'm at the sewing machine working like mad! Leave me a message, and I'll get back to you after next Saturday night!

Wish me Luck! I'm going to need it to pull this off!

The Costume Quest

Why is Halloween such a pain in the butt? I hate figuring out what my kids are going to be for Halloween and they have very strong opinions about the subject that don't always jive with mine... costume buying is always such a power struggle. At first, I told everyone that we were going to make costumes or reuse ones from the supplies we already have... I have LOTS of old costumes and other things that I could furnish a decent costume for every member of my family without spending a dime, but that did NOT go over very well.... so we are compromising, but I hope I don't regret it....

this is what we've come up with so far:

Megan: She is copying her cousin Lyndi and when we went to Joann's to see if they had anything that she would like, she picked out the same pattern as Lyndi. I am not as skilled as Molly in sewing, so I will be making the simplest dress of the four (the lavender one minus the hat). She picked out a baby blue fabric with sparkles, but there wasn't enough, so we switched to red satin, which is her favorite color anyway. I don't think the sewing will be too awful... I'm just dreading the cutting.

Ian: He has waffled back and forth between a Star Wars Clone Trooper, Zorro or Robin (from Teen Titans). None of those costumes were going to be easy or cheap. When Megan described what she was doing, he decided we could do a "renaissance" style for him as well.... this is what he ended up picking out. His tunic will be red and gold and once I look through the instructions, I will decided which pattern to use (based on which one is the easiest to sew!)

Brayden: I found this costume at Costco in CA for $20. He loves Power Rangers and he LOVES the color Red. I love the sewn in muscles!

But now that he has seen what Megan and Ian have chosen, he wants what they are having, so I might be making two boys tunics.... two dragon slayers/knights costumes and then saving the Power Ranger Costume for a Christmas present for Brayden.... he LOVES dressing up, so it would be a really appropriate gift for him. I would really love to have one Halloween where my kids all go together in some kind of theme... so far it's NEVER happened!

Thank heavens Taylor is "too old" for all this costume business.... I hope he doesn't decide on October 29 that he wants to dress up too.... then I will really lose it!