Halloween 2015

All the kids on Halloween Day.

Ella as a Goth Girl.  Makeup and Tattoo sticker from Wal*Mart for $4. Black fishnet gloves for $5 from Wal*Mart. I made the black tutu. Jacket, leggings, and shoes were her own.

Evangeline as an Angel. Wings and Halo $7 from Wal*Mart.  Tutu made by me.  Shirt, leggings, and shoes were her own. Jewels from my craft supplies put on using false eyelash glue.

Bianca as a Chinese Princess.  Chop stick hair stick made by me.  Dress, tights, shoes and dress were her own.

Jude as an Aviator.  I bought the hat at the Hill Aerospace Museum gift shop over the Summer for $8.  The jacket is from Goodwill for $2 and the khaki pants, white shirt and shoes are his own.  He loved it and never once tried to take off the hat!

Cecilia as a Cupcake.  I bought this costume after last Halloween when it was 70% off at Target (for $4).  Pink tights, shoes and white onesie were her own.

We spent the afternoon doing Halloween puzzles and crafting candy bags!

We went to Sonic Drive-Thru and got their Halloween dinner deal of $.50 corn dogs. Well played, Corporate Corndog Pushers. Then we headed to Krispy Kreme for our FREE donuts to kick off a weekend of mass sugar consumption!

We headed to the Grandparent's neighborhood to do our Trick-or-Treating!

We had a great night! I can't remember ever having better Halloween weather and we hit up the Grandparent's neighborhood where nearly every house was handing out candy.

We bought cheap gift bags and decorated them to coordinate with our costumes. The kids chose designs from the Silhouette store and I cut them out of glitter paper. The kids glue-sticked them on and loved it!

Jude was so adorable yelling "Tick-O-Tweet!!!" at each door and doing the happy dance when he got candy!

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BOOK REVIEWS | Recently Read

I realized today that I haven't done a Book Report here in a long while. So I went to my Goodreads account and found some recent books I have read to share with you. Hope you find something you love in this list!

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Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

★★★★★

This is not my usual read, but I LOVED it!

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Sturggling to fit in, two local women soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

The writing was excellent and had a touch of tongue-in-cheek humor that was wonderful. The story was completely engaging and the end was a surprise. I loved the characters and the story line was great. I definitely recommend this one.

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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

★★★☆☆

This is a coming of age book that is slow to pick up. It is well written and very interesting, but nothing too significant happens until more than halfway through the book. If you are aware going in that it's more about a view of normal life than a book with strong plot points, it's a good read.

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The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale... by Jeanne Birdsall

★★★★☆

This summer the Penderwick sisters have a wonderful surprise: a holiday on the grounds of a beautiful estate called Arundel. Soon they are busy discovering the summertime magic of Arundel’s sprawling gardens, treasure-filled attic, tame rabbits, and the cook who makes the best gingerbread in Massachusetts. But the best discovery of all is Jeffrey Tifton, son of Arundel’s owner, who quickly proves to be the perfect companion for their adventures.

I really loved this book, especially for kids to read. The characters were very engaging, well-written, and likable...even if they may be a bit unrealistic in their maturity. The story was fun and there were good themes. I would read this book aloud to kids age 6+.

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Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas by Natasha Yim

★★★★★

Me and my children all LOVED this book. Not only is it well told, fun, whimsical, and well illustrated, but it teaches along the way without being preachy. Children (and adults) learn about Chinese New Year, it's traditions and the book even includes a recipe in the back for a food item mentioned in the text. A huge and emphatic 5 stars!

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Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

★★★★★

This is the first exposure I have had to Cheryl Strayed and I LOVE her voice. It is fresh and compelling and brutally truthful. This book is a collection of essays in response to emailed questions from an online forum called The Rumpus. People wrote for advice and their questions were answered by an anonymous columnist named Sugar, now revealed to have been Cheryl.

Tiny Beautiful Things is filled with wisdom and passages that will speak directly to you. I loved this book so much!

Warning: This book is mature and has adult language and concepts throughout.

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Pumpkin Recipes I Love!

HAPPY NATIONAL PUMPKIN DAY!!  

What's with all of the "food days" all of the sudden? 

Anyway, let's celebrate anyway with some of my favorite pumpkin recipes.

DINNER IN A PUMPKIN by Plucky Momo

PUMPKIN LOVE by Plucky Momo 

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE BREAD by Our Best Bites

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Links to Love | no. 09

SOMETHING INSPIRING // I love this quote.

SOMETHING FREE // Wanna be the coolest parent alive this Halloween?  Get this free download and rock the kasbah.

SOMETHING TO CRAFT // Speaking of Halloween, this seems cool!

SOMETHING TO EAT // These cookies are delicious and SO EASY. Make them. You will thank me.

SOMETHING WITH GOATS // I feel like I need this fabric. I'm kind of obsessed with it.  But....goats?

SOMETHING FOR KIDS // This book and it's sequel are favorites in our house right now.

SOMETHING TO INDULGE IN // These donuts look amazing.  I'm a sucker for a good donut.

SOMETHING I WANT THAT I'LL NEVER GET //  Oh man. I want this so much. But I am positive I would never spend this much money on a camera part.

SOMETHING I WANT THAT I'LL GET AT SOME POINT // Do you have a favorite perfume you are completely loyal to? This is mine. I'm all out and I need a new bottle.

SOMETHING TO READ // If you haven't read this book yet you really should.

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This & That Thursday and Racist Newberry Books

The three big girls and I have been crafting every day.
It's been amazing.
If you live in Utah, get yourself to The Wood Connection.
Like, NOW. It's awesome.

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This is late because I have no idea what day of the week it is.
Life is crazy.

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We have had our annual Pumpkin Carving Party
every year for 12 years straight.

Two of those years just included our family and the Grandparents,
but every other year we have had guests.
I love this tradition.

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I bought loose glitter for our crafting.
Heaven help us all.

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I decided to make a goal to read every
Newberry Award winning book.

Then I did some research and found out
that the early winners suck and are pretty racist.

So my new goal is to read ALMOST every
Newberry Award winning book.

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Do you follow me on Instagram?
Because you should.
I am having a GIVEAWAY
exclusively on Instagram this weekend!

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I love donuts.
Cupcakes have had their day.
Donuts are here to stay.

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Scandal is pretty scandalous this season, right?!
Are you watching?

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A Spousal Conversation on Mason Jars and Gorillas.

Me: I'm drinking out of a mason jar because there are no clean cups. I'm Shabby-Chic.

Matt: Watching The Pioneer Woman is starting to get to you.

Me: I'll have to start feeding my family individual portion sizes fit for a gorilla.

Matt: That's a bad analogy. They hardly eat anything. They eat gnats.

Me: What? No way. I'm talking about a full-sized, adult, male, gorilla. Not some trendy Teacup Gorilla.

Matt: There actually aren't Teacup Gorillas...

Me: ...just regular-sized gorillas that Americans starve to keep them small and cute.

Matt: Exactly.

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Dear Future Me

Dear Future Me,

I am writing this at a certain point in my life; the right now.  I am learning to accept the right now more fully, but it is hard for me.  So often I consider how much better – or rather easier – life will be when…when we have more money, when the babies are older, when all the kids are in school. 

What I want myself to know is that where I am right now is okay.  In fact, it is great. There are a lot of really good things about right now.  Baby Cecilia snuggles are starting to disappear and soon they will be gone forever.  Jude still lets me kiss him goodnight and happily holds my hand and sleeps in complete darkness with the door closed.  Bianca thinks I am the greatest and says the funniest things and wears what I want her to wear without much fuss.  Soon enough she will be begging me for awful leopard print leggings and wearing shirts with tween sayings on them.  Evangeline still wants to snuggle and doodle and spend time with me.  I hope that never ends, but it might.  Ella still loves playing with the babies and having an American Girl doll.  I know that very soon those things will make way for make-up and boys and peer pressure.  Right now is good, even when it’s hard.

I want to remind my future self to be more kind to myself and more patient with my children. I want to remind my future self to not make the mistakes the kids make a flaw. Let it be just a mistake and nothing else.  I want to remind my future self to take time for yourself.  I have made great strides in self-care this year and I want (and need) to continue to nurture myself so I can nurture others.

I want to remind my future self to open myself to the possibility of friendships where I think we have little in common.  I learned this lesson before, but need reminding often.  Sometimes the best of friends seem to have nothing in common at first.  But all women are worth getting to know on a deeper level before deciding if you are meant to be friends.

I want myself to know that I am doing well at a lot of things.  I want to always remember these words, “Hold up your head! You were not made for failure, you were made for victory. Go forward with a joyful confidence.”  I hope I have found more joyful confidence in motherhood.  I need that. If not, press forward!  Recommit yourself to the infinite happiness that can be a part of the infinite challenges of being a mom.  Yes, I am flawed, but I am also succeeding.  Everything is going to be okay.

Love, Me.

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This & That Thursday and Halloween Fun!

I designed these Apothecary labels in Photoshop and then did Print+Cut onto sticker paper using my Silhouette. These bottles were just $3 each at Hobby Lobby and I filled them with black beans and black-eyed peas. Love the results!!

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Having birthday morning dance parties in our Living Room is a "thing" now.  And I love it.  You have no idea how good it is to start your day with dancing. Well, Ellen Degenerous knows.

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Bianca's Peppa Pig birthday party is this Saturday and then we are done with birthdays for this year!

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Related: Why don't people RSVP?!!!

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Dear ABC,
America DOESN'T want "The Muppets" to be edgy.
We want wholesome, funny, family TV.
Miss Piggy just said "Sext it to me" and that's when I turned it off.
I am SO disappointed.

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There is nothing better than putting three little girls to bed at night
with all of them sobbing uncontrollably for different reasons.
Oh wait, pretty much everything is better than that.

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I need to get moving on sewing these Halloween costumes.

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The Amazon Gold Box deal today is awesome!
Inside Out Talking Joy
Just got it for Bianca for Christmas.
When you add it to your cart it becomes $10.99 down from $20!
Get it quick because half are already gone!!

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Is Autumn lovely?
I adore it.
The leaves are my favorite.

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Bianca's 5 year old photo shoot

When the redheads were little I ALWAYS did a photo shoot on (or around) their birthdays. And then I had three more kids. I realized this year that my practice of doing this has fallen by the wayside and I am determined to take it back up.

The good news is we have a lovely yard that has plenty of good spots to quickly snap photos without having to make a big production out of it. You can see Cecilia's One Year Photos here, Jude's Two Year Photos here and below are Bianca's from today.

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5 Years of Bianca...almost.

Tomorrow she turns FIVE!  
She is a ray of sunshine. 
She is kooky. 
She is mine.

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Right Now

Right now Ella is camera shy and seems unsure of how to smile when the camera is pointed at her.  I got a picture this weekend thanks to carnival face paint.

Right now the redheads have four weeks off school. I am thinking we are going to purchase our family Christmas gift early this year and get a family membership to Thanksgiving Point.  Or else how will I stay sane?

Right now I am trying to get on the ball with the handmade Halloween costumes I am making for the kids.  I need to make two HUGE tutus. One white and one black with layers of purple and pink in the middle.  I also need to alter a brown hooded sweatshirt for Jude.

Right now I am planning our 12th annual Pumpkin Carving Party.

Right now the family is ditching the Layton library and checking out other story times in nearby areas.

Right now we are all sick of birthday cake.

Right now Ella has said she will attend a movie in a real movie theater. This is HUGE progress with her anxiety disorder.  We are going to see Hotel Transylvania 2 with friends this week. I really hope she can do it without having a panic attack in the parking lot.

Right now Bianca is loving pre-school, but is way ahead of the other students and is bored academically. We are considering having her skip Kindergarten next year.  Stupid birthday cutoff.

Right now Cecilia is starting to sleep through the night...finally.  Holy cow. That took forever.

Right now I'm not sure what book to read next.

Right now we have to turn the heat on at night and the AC on during the day.  

Right now our yard is completely embarrassing.  I can't believe our neighbors still talk to us.

Right now Jude is getting moody.  Happy one minute, crying the next.  What is this madness? Oh yeah, being a toddler.

Right now I am trying to catch up on One Little Word.

Right now we have a basket filled with Halloween books on our hearth and are loving reading them each evening.

Right now Evangeline refuses to wear her hair any way but down.  No pony tails or braids.  She calls having it down "flowing". So funny.

Right now we are happy, but busy.

Right now Cecilia is getting her second tooth. It's been rough going.

Right now I am thankful for this life and this family.  It is good, even when it is hard.

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Layton Library Story Time FAIL

I decided that since Bianca hates the days when she doesn't have PreSchool that I would start taking her to the local library once a week for story time on Wednesdays.  I loaded all of the three youngest into the car and we got there early.  I was pretty surprised that the parking lot seemed pretty empty. This is Utah. Land of Children. Wouldn't Story Time be crowded? Nope. And I found out why.

We went in and got ready for fun.  The woman in charge of story time was quiet and low energy.  She was holding a stack of books with no apparent relationship to each other. I kind of assumed there would be a sort of theme, like Autumn or Halloween.  Nope. She proceeded to read Blueberries for Sal in the driest, most unenthusiastic voice imaginable.  It was like the reading of a eulogy. Seriously.  No wonder there were only two other stragglers there besides us.

When she was finished she got out a pile of papers for a craft.  I have no idea what this is supposed to be. But I do know that it has been photocopied 750,000 times since it was first made and it was faint and pixelated like an Atari game.  And yes, I scanned this to give true representation to how it appeared.  This is pretty much exactly what we got...

So there's an almost invisible mountain.  A ghost bear and a slightly-less indecipherable ghost bear. A clipart 50's housewife that was copied and pasted from a colored background and a.....ummm....collection of......dots...?  

The reader informed the kids they could color the figures, cut them out, and glue them onto the mountain.  I fantasized about doing just that, but creating a scene where the ghost bears were mauling the 50's housewife (trapped in her grey box of emotion) and the child made of patchy dots to death.  If only they had provided red crayons...or any crayons for that matter.

But really, how hard can it be to find a perky, animated, woman to read stories once a week? And throw a little craft in there?  Besides being the Land of Children, Utah also holds the title Land of Perky, Energetic, Women Who Love Kids. 

You've got to get yourself together, Davis County Public Library.

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Jude's 2 Year Photo Shoot

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