Today I am thankful

I am thankful that I was born and I am thankful for the family that raised me.  You see, 28 years ago tomorrow I was born to a 15 year old child, and given to a family who desperately wanted to raise a little girl.  There may have been many times that were trying, but in the end, we became a family.
I mention all of this because I was sent a new book on adoption.  It was touching, illuminating.  I would certainly recommend it to anyone who has been touched by adoption.
The book is Adopted Ed by Darren Warren.  I'll admit to you, some of the rhymes were a bit forced, but the illustrations are adorable.  The book was written with heart and it shows.  

7 Days to be Thankful - Day 5

I am thankful for cheap toys.
Yep, that's right.  I said I wasn't gonna, but Toys'R'Us called and I ran to answer.  Well, actually waited in line for 2 hours in the very cold rain, but same difference right?
In good news, I got $400 worth of toys for only $200.  And I learned some excellent tips for next year.  As much as I was dreading it, I will definitely be right there in line again next year!
In bad news, I got home at 2am.  When I left at 8:45, Steve asked why I was leaving so early.  Next year, I am heading out 30 minutes earlier!  The line wrapped around the building AND the parking lot.  Could have been worse: people were in tents for Best Buy!  
It was a MADHOUSE inside.  I will say, they had a ton of stock though.  Except those dang Polly Pockets.  I totally missed that one.  And the 'puppy love' baby doll.  Oh well, live and learn.  I got everything else on my list.  I REALLY wanted the Powerwheels Quad rider, I was worried I wouldn't get it, but of course they had about 200 of them in the middle of the main aisle.  Yay.  Christmas shopping is pretty much done for the kids.  I have to make a couple of things for my nieces, but that will happen when it happens.  So far as spending, they are done.
There is something really nice about for once feeling like I am on top of something.
Overall I am pretty thrilled.  I gotta say: I am thankful for Black Friday. (And come Christmas Day, Kira will be too!  I am thankful for that as well.)

Today I am Thankful.

Week of Thanksgiving - Day 3

Ok, I'll admit it: I am a procrastinator.  But, but, but, I AM improving.  At least in certain areas.  Unfortunately, Thanksgiving was not one of them.  It got lost somewhere between making Halloween costumes and planning for Black Friday.  We had talked about it a bit, then my dad called and wanted us to go out to have the feast with them, then he didn't, it was a big mess.  nevertheless, Thanksgiving finalization was done this afternoon.  Which brought me to 2 separate grocery stores this evening.  The day before Thanksgiving.  Lord have mercy.  The people in Kroger were just farting around.  I swear some of them were planning their holiday menu right there in the store.  The people of Walmart, however, were on... a... mission! (note the determination there)  I am pretty sure I saw several people who were more than willing to take off an arm if you got in their way.  And this leads me to my point for today.  Today, I am (super, wonderfully, amazingly) thankful for online shopping.  I am already gonna have nightmares about my shopping experience today, the day before thanksgiving, I don't even want to imagine the day AFTER Thanksgiving.  Madness!  Lucky for me, I will be sitting pretty, in my jams, with a cup of coffee, ordering all of my Christmas gifts (hopefully for very, very cheap) from my computer.  I did, gratefully, make it out of both stores with all of my limbs intact, most of my wits, and (surprisingly) only $101 out of my pocket for our "gourmet Thanksgiving feast" plus staples for the week.  I was pretty proud of myself, and super stoked about this meal.  Thanksgiving is such a heavy meal, so we tried to lighten it up by adding lots of fruit and cheeses.  In fact, the whole meal centers around citrus flavors.  Delicious!  Right now, the turkey is marinating in the fridge, the small things are finished, and I smell my citrus pound cake, about to be pulled out of the oven.  Life is good.  And I am thankful.      

Week of Thanksgiving - Day 2

Today I am thankful for the quiet.  Steve is downstairs, the kids are in bed, the tv is off.  Silence.  Wonderful silence.  Except the exceedingly annoying buzz of the monitor.  That is what I get for using the $12 monitor I bought at Walmart.  But while we are at it, I am thankful for Walmart.  I am thankful for this crappy monitor that I almost never use, but always truly appreciate when I do.

I am thankful for my kids.  I am thankful that they are growing bigger and stronger everyday.  You know, when I work in the nursery at church on Sunday morning, there are a couple of babies who just have the sweetest, tiniest cry.  Not me, my baby wails like a banshee.  So, I am thankful for my baby's strong little lungs, even when I feel like she is gonna bust out my eardrums.  At least I know she is healthy.

I am even thankful for my girl's flair for the dramatic.  Steve and I decided today that one of them is definitely going to be a soap opera actress!  It is amazing how fast both of them can go from totally happy to totally melting down.  But I am thankful because I am the one they run to at the end of their breaking point.  I get to hug them and hold them and tell them everything will be alright.  And that makes me feel like everything will be alright.  Mostly, I am just thankful that they are a part of my life, when they are good, and when they are not.

7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 1

Today I thankful for my children and I am thankful for laughter.  I am most grateful that the two often go together.

At preschool this morning, Kira got to glue magazine clippings of things she is thankful for to construction paper.

Apparently she is thankful for ketchup and chocolate chip muffins.  Probably at the same time.  Yep, that sounds about right.  

This totally made me laugh, and it was one of those days that I needed a moment to let loose and belly laugh.  So, for that, I am very thankful!  What are you thankful for this week?    

PS: Don't forget to sign up for the Tom's Fun Band giveaway!!!

Become.com

I have to admit, until I was asked to review it, I knew nothing about become.com.  At first glance, it is just another online mall, however, it does have some cool features.  The site is set up to allow you to compare various products and reviews for similar items you are shopping for.  The idea is to give you the best deal for your money (and who doesn't want that, right?).  The site was pretty basic, the template could use a little sprucing up, but the product selection was vast.
I took a look at the pages for baby screw back earrings.  I have to say, I was impressed with the selection.  There were several brand name sellers listed, such as Helzberg diamonds, as well as many others that I didn't know.  The prices were reasonable, as was the selection.  You can check them out here: http://www.become.com/baby-screw-back-earrings or through the link above.
I was also viewed the monkey baby clothes.  I was quite impressed by the selection of items.  There were onsies, toys, and all sorts of monkey outfits.  As a girl who loves animals, I was pretty impressed!  There were a variety of reputable sellers with a "trusted merchant" symbol next to them.  I appreciated that they had been checked out, and would feel more comfortable ordering from them.  You can view these items at: http://www.become.com/monkey-baby-clothes or through the link above.
I liked that there were so many ways to narrow down your search.  This is very helpful if you are looking for something more specific, such as a certain color palate, or a price range.  Looking at the bassinet strollers I can see how this would be especially helpful.  I have two girls, and plenty of plans for more.  I generally want something to look a little neutral, so I was able to check a specific color (I chose red) and narrow my search from 371 items to 15. Very helpful.  You, too, can look up strollers at http://baby.become.com/bassinet-stroller, or just use the link above!
Overall, I thought this site could be more aesthetically pleasing, but overall, seemed pretty helpful.  I would use it again and suggest it to others as well!
     

Tom's Fun Band Review and Giveaway!

"I love you, I love you, I don't think I could love you anymore than I do..."  I love this little song, so much so that I have been humming it for days.  It is one of 16 cute, catchy tunes on "Happy Street", a great kid's album by Tom's Fun Band.  I had the pleasure this weekend of meeting Tom Wilbeck at the Woodlands' Children's Festival.  He headed up the parade and played the side show on Saturday and Sunday.  His band, as well as thier music, are sweet, energetic, and a lot of fun!  The cd has a song for every occasion: bathtime, bedtime, rainy days, new friends, and sweet little love songs to coo to your babies.  I love the fact that these guys have actual musical talent.  I have been listening to this cd for 5 days now and I haven't wanted to pull my eardrums out once.  That is quite the feat for music designed for 2 to 5 year olds!  I really enjoyed it and highly recommend you check out and support these guys!  You can visit their website at http://www.tomsfunband.com/, where you can preview his songs and buy the album, Happy Street, for $12.97.  They also have t-shirts and stickers!  I am thinking about buying some myself to support this amazing group of daddies!

And now, on to the good part: I have 2 copies of Happy Street to give away to two lucky families!  Here's what you do to win:

Mandatory Entry:

Go to www.tomsfunband.com and preview the songs.  Leave me a comment telling me which one is your favorite and why.










To get extra entries:


1. Publicly follow my blog with Google Friend Connect.


2. Follow me (MissMontez147) on Twitter.


2. Tweet about this giveaway and post the permalink in your post.  You can do this 2 times per day, at least 1 hour apart.


3. Follow The Mama Life  through Networked Blogs.


4.  "Like" The Mama Life on Facebook.


5. Post about this giveaway on Facebook.


6.  "Like" Tom's Fun Band on Facebook. 


6.  Make a blog entry about this giveaway.  Post the link with your comment.


8. Enter this giveaway into a linky and lave me the link of where to find it!


Leave me a comment telling me which entries you completed.  I will be choosing a winner on December 2.   Good luck everyone!!!
  
Disclosure Statement


I was given no compensation from Tom's Fun Band except the album Happy Street to write this post, nor was I instructed to post anything specific.  The views and opinions expressed in the post are solely my own.  
One winner will be randomly selected from all valid entries using random.org.  The winner will be notified via e-mail and given 48 hours to respond and claim their prize.  Please make sure your e-mail is on your profile and not private so that I can contact you if you win!  If it isn't, please post it in the comments.  If the winner fails to respond within that time period, a new winner will be selected.  Contest ends December 1, 2010 at 11:59 pm CT.  Open to US residents, age 18+.

Wordless Wednesday

I thought I would use this opportunity to catch up on some pictures. 

While I was feeding Ariana, Kira was being quiet.  Too quiet.  I came into the kitchen to this:

Apparently, I did not put the oranges high enough in the pantry.  Not only did she find the oranges, she figured out how to peel one!  At least she put some of the pieces in a bowl.  I love that she only has one shoe on.  She can never seem to keep them both on!  

These picture were taken on our trip to the Children's Museum on Friday!  I love that place, and all the colors make for many great photo opportunities!

 One of my goals is to get pictures into every post.  This week, however, most of my blog goals have been pretty much left behind.  Next week...  I'll be back on top of things!  But of course then it will be a holiday and my world will be topsy-turvy again.  Is it strange that I am starting to actually enjoy the chaos?  Haha.   

Ah, The Good Life

It is amazing how much better I feel about my life when my kitchen is clean.  

 This is my kitchen yesterday after Steve and I worked together for literally 2 hour getting everything straightened up and put away.  I know there is still some stuff around, but hey, I'll take it!

And what is better than a clean kitchen?  A kitchen someone else cleaned!

Our kitchen today, after Steve (wonderful as he is) held up our agreement of who takes care of what chores.  We each do the dishes every other day.  There are still a couple of pans in there, but I load the dishwasher, he unloaded it.  I didn't even have to nag, after dinner he was like "guess I have to unload the dishwasher, then' and went and did it.  What a good mama life it is!  (You'll note the pile of laundry just moved from one side of the kitchen to the other.  Laundry is my chore, guess I have no one to blame but myself.  Haha)

Thanks to my great girlfriends for all the words of wisdom over the past few days.  Y'all are total lifesavers, the absolute best.  Look for fun stuff on my blog in the coming days!!!

Follow Up from yesterday

I felt like I needed to follow up on my post from yesterday.  It sounded a little more negative than I meant.  I think I may have PMS, everything seems more dramatic than usual!  But today, I have a (relatively) clean kitchen.  I have an agreement with my husband of who is responsible for which chores.  Even better, his day for dishes is tomorrow!  I have hope that one day I will learn how to effectively put one foot in front of the other instead of hopping frantically from place to place.  My life is fabulous.  I certainly don't want to give the impression that it is anything else.  There are just so many things on my plate.  Lordy, having 2 little ones or being in school are full time jobs on their own.  I feel like my plate is so full, yet I keep adding stuff to it without ever taking anything out.  I am pretty much the next winner of the biggest loser at the Golden Corral.  I have got to slow my life down, do what I can, and toss the rest.  So, that is my goal.  Anyone have any advice on how to do that?  

Friday's Sweet Treats life lesson

So, I decided I wanted to do a weekly blog entry about a yummy treat you can make at home for your kids.  Each week I would make one and showcase my Martha Stewart Perfect creation.  Unfortunately, this week I was reminded of a very important point: I am not a stellar chef.  :(  I fancy myself this wonderful domestic goddess, but it is all hype.  I am a pretty awful cook, my house seems to be a constant disaster.  It would be generous to say I am a beginning seamstress.  I want to be organized, but never seem to stay that way for long.  Ah life.  The Mama life that is.
I guess when I was young, like most girls my age, we thought by 30 everything would be all figured out.  I don't really know what I expected.  I am reminded everyday that I am not who I expected to be.  Well, I kind of am, just a most frazzled, less glamourous version of her I guess.  Maybe that isn't a bad thing.  Thing is, I have all the things I wanted.  I have a (mostly, sometimes, depends on when you ask me) wonderful husband.  Despite all of his faults, I know he loves me.  I know he loves our children as fiercely as I do.  And to me, that is enough.  I don't need Prince Charming, I just need a good man, and I got one.  I have a ridiculous house.  It may not be the nicest house you've seen, but it is rather large.  And perfectly suited for our ever-growing family.  (No worries, Dad, I am not pregnant again.  Yet.)  I have 2 car seats in the back of my car that belong to 2 beautiful little girls.  OK, I don't have a career yet, but I am on my way.  I have total faith in myself that I will get there.  I think I have a pretty decent relationship with God.  It, too, could use a little work, but who's couldn't?  Basically I have everything I wanted.          
So, why do I feel so confused.  Still somewhat lost.  I have been thinking so much about what I really want to do with my life, where I want to be in another 10 years, and to be honest, I have no idea.  Of course I know the big things: I want a healthy happy family (preferably with 2 more babies somewhere in the mix), I want to be a nurse, a mommy.  I don't know.  Lately I have felt sort of bogged down with everything I guess.  How do I get where I am going if I don't know the way?  The destination?  I don't know...  Just needed to ramble I guess.  Somedays I feel like I want to be a different person.  I still want everything I have in my life, I just want to be a better version of myself.  One that doesn't break everything.  One that doesn't spill Kool-Aid all over my one year old carpet.  (That doesn't come out by the way)  One that can put a nice dinner on the table, not burnt, not out of a can, hell, while we're at it one that was cheap and not filled with hormones and antibiotics.  I want to be the girl that knows the answers.  But I don't.
I am just me.  I do burn everything I put in the oven.  It takes me 3 hours to sew a straight line.  I leave the dishes in the sink until I absolutely have to use them.  I am creative, but I have a hard time turning my ideas into reality.  Are these horrible characteristics?  No.  I am not a pervert or a serial killer.  I just can't seem to get this supermom image out of my head.  I always wanted to give my kids a perfect mother.  June Cleaver basically.  Now that I have kids, I am realizing that not only is that not possible, it is not necessary.  My kids know I love them, they know I would do anything for them, to make them smile, to make them laugh, even if only for a second.  So what if I buy frosting out of a can, pre-made pie crust.  So what if our craft isn't totally mind-blowing, it's just some stickers I bought for $1.  So what if my house isn't perfectly clean and decorated, if I feel like I am losing my mind and running in circles.  I managed al the big stuff, now to learn how not to sweat the small stuff.

Can't Help but Wonder...

Some days I think, perhaps we should have just stayed inside.  Indoors, no one can see what an eccentric and sometimes even outright crazy mama I am.  I am SUCH a good parent behind closed doors.  What, you don't believe me?  It's totally true...  haha, wink wink.
So, we enrolled our 1 year old in preschool this year.  We had a new baby and knew she wouldn't be getting out to get the stimulation she needs/wants, so we thought it would be a good experience for her.  And it is.  For HER.  Which I guess is all that matters, but at least every other week I feel like the worst parent ever.  And today was one of those days.  I had a test today, so it was extra important that I not be late for school. However, due to staying up late studying and Ariana being up most of the night, I pushed the snooze maybe a time too much.  I thought it was 8 when I woke up Kira, only to come downstairs and find out it was 8:30.  I had to make sure she ate a good breakfast because we already got a note home saying that we didn't feed her enough.  (She refused to eat breakfast until it was time to leave.  She ended up eating half her lunch in the car on the way there!  By the time we got there and realized she had dug into her lunchbox, it was too late to go get her something else.  Sigh...)  We are suppose to leave at 8:45 if we want to play, if we don't play, we can leave around 9.  Today we left at 9:10.  Steve was very helpful, and got Kira dressed.  In his favorite little yellow polo and jeans.  The probelm is that her little yellow polo is 12 months and she is currently wearing 2T (yes, 2T she is beastly, it is ridiculous.).  When I mentioned this he said he was taking fashion advise from Dora (this made me laugh!).  I didn't have time to change her so we sent her to school in a CHURCH wearing a belly shirt.  This is the sound of my hand hitting my head in exasperation.  I had too much Pharmacology on my mind to really register this until I came to pick her up and she was wearing her backup outfit, a little dress, which I haven't taken out in months and is ALSO too little for her, so she was wearing it over her jean (which was actually kind of cute!).  I was like "Kira, did you make a mess of your clothes?" when the teacher informed me that not only was her shirt too short, but they had to change it because she now had access to stick her hands down her pants which she continually does.  Repeat hand on forehead.  Worst parent ever.  Some days I swear our teacher are gonna call social services on us.  On the positive side though, I suppose if sending our kid to school in clothes that are too small is the worst thing we do to our kids, we are in pretty good shape.
In good news, I made it to my class in time to take a deep breath and review a bit.  I ended up getting a 100 on the Math part and 94 on the Pharmacology part of my test!  By far the best part of my day.  Ah, the Mama Life..    

The Thursday Review - the 'bucket list'

OK, another facet of my blog makeover: it's the Thursday Review, where I tell you about fabulous products and places that have made their way into my life!
So, I thought it only appropriate that my first review was on something near and dear to my heart, the center of my universe: little ole me!  At church we have doing a study on revival, the culmination of which is saying "yes" to God, making God the true leader of your life.  I want to do that, I want to give myself up so that I can walk with Him.  I want to be the best version of myself.  I want to give my all each and everyday to make my life everything that I know it can be.
So, after much deliberation, here is the ever-changing rough draft of my own private "bucket list".

1. I want to walk with God.
             I need to figure out how to completely give up control and give Him what He wants from me. I            am struggling with that, but I feel I am incorporating Him into my life more everyday.

2.  I want to earn my Master's degree in Nursing.

          Hopefully I'll be finishing my Associates of Science in the summer. One step closer....  It's been a  long process, but I have to just put one foot in front of the other, one class behind me at a time. 

3. I want to give more consistently. 

      We have be super blessed in our lives and I wish we could pass that on more than we do.  I think realistically I would be happy if we gave at least 5% of our total income to others.  My goal, however, is to give 10% of all income for at least a year.  Hopefully then we will just be used to giving that much and can continue to do so less painfully.   As of now it seems like something always comes up that digs into our charity money.

4. I want to be a foster mom.

       I want to help teen moms who have no place else to go.  There was a time in my life where I felt like I had no place to go.  I can't imagine a worse feeling.  I hope I can provide some semblance of security to these girls, even if only for a short period.  I have a special passion for young mothers.   There has to be a break somewhere in the cycle.  If I can just help one girl get out of the pattern of neglect and abuse most foster children suffer, I feel I will be successful.  This is a long term goal.  It isn't fair to my children or foster kids to bring them into my home until I can give them my full attention, probably when my kids are out of the house.  However, in the interim, I am volunteering down in Port Arthur at the boys and girls house.  I am actually really excited about helping them out over the holidays.  They have a program to 'adopt' a kid for 2 weekends a month.  That is something we may ease into.

5. I want to write a children's story for my kids. 

     I have always loved to write.  I want to incorporate that into my love of my children.  I have been working on the first one for Kira, but it hasn't quite come together yet.

6. I want to be a Homeroom Mother.

    This is one of those things that has stuck in my head since I had a homeroom mother.  I always felt like those mamas must truly love their children to be able to spend the WHOLE day doing something fun for them!  Now that I am older, I understand that that may or may not be the truth, but I still can't get over wanting to do it for my girls.  

7. I want to start an Etsy shop

    I have so much creative juice flowing through my veins.  Lately, it has all gone into creating things for my girls.  I wish I could share that passion with others.  And I think the things I creat are super cute!  I am working on the shop.  I have a couple of tutu ideas that I plan on posting in the coming months!  Keep a look out for me to achieve this one soon!

Alright, so that is what I have come up so far, after MUCH thought and prayer.  I am sure I could come up with endless more, but let's be realistic, I only have 24 hours in a day and those days are numbered.  But it was a cathartic expirience and taught me quite a bit about what is important to me.  Let me encourage you to sit down this week and really think about where your life is going.  My dad always says the best way to achieve a goal is to write it down, so now they are hanging in my craft room!  I am excited to see where this mama life takes me.   

Other news in my blogosphere: keep an eye out for an actual product review and possibly a giveaway soon!  I am chatting with a business that helps rescue dogs in New Orleans!  I am pretty stoked!  I'll keep you updated!

Wordless Wednesday

Kira blowing me kisses.

Perfect, beautiful.

(*Sorry about the sideways picture.  Steve is on the regular computer, I have my netbook.  It's great for most of my purposes, but not so good for photo editing*)

It's Crafty Tuesday again!

Ok, for starters, I have been racking my overtaxed brain to come up with a catchy title for 'Crafty Tuesday' So far, I got nothing.  If anyone has any suggestions, please, PLEASE help me out!
And now, on to the juicy stuff!

Today we made an impromptu trip to the dollar store where we found super fun, super cheap loot for Crafty Tuesday.  (Ok, it's kind of starting to grow on me...)  Since apparently the new indicator of the start of Christmas madness is Halloween as opposed to the traitional Thanksgiving, we made Christmas decorations!   

We waited for Dad to get home so that it could be a whole family event.  We pulled out colors and stickers and these cute, foam Christmas tree cutouts!  Cute, fun, simple: my crafty Tuesday motto!

It all begins with stickers, crayons, and a clean slate!

 Kira had a hard time getting the stickers off the backing, but had a blast putting them on the paper.  She wanted to stack them though, so, on her Christmas trees the bottom is covered, while the top is bare.

 No more clean slate...

 The finished products: Mine is on the left, Kira's is in the middle, Steve's is on the left.  Kira helped daddy decorate his!  Mine is the best because there is a Misfit under my tree!  (*Misfit is my greatest ever Pug!*)  Kira was enthralled with the Boxer stickers.  She LOVES her Trixie!  (*Trixie is our greatest ever boxer!*)  She would point to the sticker and then point to Trixie.  She bogarted both of the Boxer stickers and the puppy stickers.  I had to fight for the Pug!  Of course, she ended up covering all the dogs up with Dora the Explorer.  They were by far her favorite.

 Our first Christmas decorations.  Steve usually has a 'no-Christmas-decorations-until-after-Thanksgiving' policy, but these were so cute, he caved. So, now we have our first Christmas decorations up on our mantle!



Happy crafting everybody!

Just Another Manic Monday

Ah, Monday comes and goes again.  I have many things that I want to get going, many places I want to take this blog, but it just didn't happen this week.  Time, time, never enough time.  My big bro Eric came in for a visit this weekend.  We had a blast, ate some good food, drank more beer than I have taken down in a while, spent a relaxing day down at Discovery Green with an old friend of his.  It was a short visit, but excellent quality.  Now that I am an adult, the dynamics of my relationship with my older brothers has definitely changed.  I like having my own domain and the different feeling I have when they are on it.  This is me in my element and I can have a more genuine relationship.  It was for certain a good weekend.  Unfortunately not a very productive weekend.  It seems like every time I take a moment to slow down I have to run to catch back up.  Oh well, thus is life.  At least the mama life.  There is always next week...

Kira's First Haircut

It had to be done.  Her hair was always in her face, she looked like such a little ragamuffin.  Steve would like it to be on the record that he was against it.  He doesn't dig bangs.  But, it turned out cute! I think so at least.

We went to Cool Cuts 4 Kids over off of 45 in Spring.  The lady was pretty nice, seemed like she knew what she was doing.  We only had her bangs cut, so it only cost us $8, which was pretty sweet.  I was very apprehensive, but glad it turned out!

Her before:

She doesn't usually dig people messing with her hair, and cutting it was no different.  She did pretty good though.  The lady was really nice and did a very thorough job, which I definitely appreciated.  

My little model in the making.  Look at her posing all cool....

It's Crafty Tuesday!

It was a rainy day today, but of course Kira was dying to go outside and run off some energy.  Instead we had to settle for a craft, so it had to be a good one!  And it was super messy, which in my experience makes it way more fun for a toddler.  Normally, I would have done this outside, but as I mentioned, it rained.  Luckily, it was also surprisingly easy to clean up, making it way more fun for mommy!  So here you go:

Kira loves to color, so today we made finger paint!  It was easy, cheap, and, most importantly, fun!

Finger paint:
 For finger paint you will need: 1/4 cup of cornstarch (be light with the cornstarch, a little less than 1/4 will be more than enough!  I added a little too much to mine and it was super gooey.  My 1 year old didn't mind though!) and 1 cup of water.  Add both to a saucepan, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until it thickens.  (This happened way faster than I thought it would!  It was liquid one second and solid the next!)

Next, add it to little cups. I used the tupperware I used to make baby food.  Don't need those for a while.

Last, add food coloring, and stir it up to mix it. 

And there you go: fingerpaints!

Kira's masterpieces:

Eventually she got bored coloring the paper:

I looked like a smurf after this, so we took a family bath in mommy's big bathtub.  I was sort of worried, but all the color came off with nothing more than water and a little scrubbing (and what 1 year old couldn't use more of that?  At least mine always can!). 

 And here is my proof that the color washes off!  Aren't my girls beautiful?

I LOVE Halloween!

Alright, check out my cutest little girls in their cutest little costume (all hand made by me!  I really am becoming quite the homemaker/superstar!  Now if I could just get my little mice to do these dang dishes!)

 Our afternoon started off with pumpkin carving!  I love to carve pumpkins.  Unfortunately I have been way too busy for my own good and only got to carve 1!  Usually I do 3-4.  And I have been saving this adorable trick or treat design.  I was super excited to do it this year, but I am dumb and opened the wrong pumpkin first, so it didn't get done.  Guess there is something to look forward to next year!

My neighbor Amber

The finished product!

 The girls played a bowling game Amber set up while we carved pumpkins!  It was adorable.

My adorable little lady bug

Leah-Peah  This picture of her is so cute.  I love the look on her face.

Little queen bee wouldn't get out of the stroller!

Finally she decided to push instead

and let her sister have a turn

All of our little trick or treaters: Leah, Ariana, and Ali.  Well, minus Kira who refused to get out of her car and cooperate!  Do you believe those were Amber's costumes when she was the kid's age?  I think that is a brilliant idea and so cute that she puts them in her old costumes.  They are so cool and vintage!  I am pretty sure her mom made the pumpkin.  Go Amber's mom!

Eventually Kira spotted something even better: Leah's car.  She totally bogarted it the whole night!  Little princess had to drive up to each driveway, get out, walk to the door for her candy, and then return to her car to drive to the next house.  It was pretty hilarious.  In fact, I still laugh every time I think about it!

 Mr. White was kind enough to give her the candy while she was still in the car.  She repaid him by trying to drive into the house!  Apparently it was harder to figure how to reverse.

Kira did great trick or treating.  Surprise surprise, it involved sugar, she figured it out with a quickness.  At one house, the lady answered the door with a mask on.  Ali and Leah just turned straight around and left, they were terrified.  Not my little sugar fiend, they were giving her that candy!  Haha.  After that Ali and Leah weren't real keen to go to anymore doors.  We hit up a couple more houses.  At one, the guy gave Kira her candy to put in her bucket.  She turned around and put it in Luigi's behind her.  So sweet of her to share!  By the time we got home, it was bedtime, so no more passing out candy although I think she would have found that fun too.  I was having too much fun laughing at her with that car to take her home early!    

Ok, apparently I lost all sense of self control, I just love Halloween!  And I couldn't decide on the best pictures.  This is what my dad calls 'the documentary'!  Haha.  Now you got our full Halloween experience.

Today I went for all of the after Halloween sales!  Big score: I got all of the yard creatures I was dying for at Target for half off!  I was really worried they would be sold out, but as luck would have they had a plethora of all the ones I wanted!  Then, Steve and I wandered over to Hobby Lobby to look for more Halloween stuff.  Turns out they were lacking in the discount Halloween stuff, but stocked on Christmas, which was all half off.  We got adorable penguins to decorate our mantle!  They are super cute and pink.  Steve says it is a good thing we have girls!  Haha.  Just for that I'll have a yucky boy next!  Then I'll have to paint one penguin blue...

Hope everyone had an awesome Halloween!  Good night...