The worst Halloween fright!

He was trying to be sweet.  He really was, but it didn't end up that way!  See I have this weird control thing.  I don't like when things are done for me, that I  can't control that is.  

Case and point.  Today, I was SO looking forward to my slow morning routine.  Drop kids off at school, come home, have my cup of caffeine alone with my IPad and my favorite APP Early Edition.  It pulls all my beloved blogs into one and I can read them like a newspaper.  I LOVE IT.

The only problem with this was when I opened my Ipad it was EMPTY!!
Yep that sweet little update had erased everything as I knew it! 

Talk about the morning fluster...

THIS is how I had to go about my morning!  Forced technology break....

.I had to revert to GASP a normal old fashioned morning of my magazine and up of coco!  The horrors!'

]

Happy Halloween!

The Great M&M caper

Who knew?!

Those sweet cherub cheeks, the tiny hands, the baby giggles.  it was all a plot, a ploy.  Look cute get m&m's.  Oh my what on earth have I done?!

I am a professed chocoholic, and I admit my two lil girls do like their chocolate.  Even the dark kind, but I didn't realize I was turning them out so young!  Maybe the two bribery  bedtime M&M's had a hand in it?

 Either which way, I was at walmart with the Kbean and had her sitting in the cart for a quick whiz through the store.  I only had about 5 items on my list.  One of them the above mentioned bribery tool.  I threw a bag of them in the cart with her and went on my way.

Only a few minutes later as I am strolling about I hear this tiny, doink. Ding, dink.....ping, ping, fwoosh....   I look down, I look back, and there was a trail of beautiful fall M&M's following me. 

Dont mind the flash, I think people thought I was a crazy lady taking pictures of her M&M trail!

Eyes forward, into card and there is that cherub cheeks.holding her precious M&M's, and in that bag, there were not one hole I discovered, but about three.

 

Lesson to be learned.  Never underestimate the power of a teething, chocolate loving baby/toddler!

Needle in a haystack...

AKA lost treasure!

Do ya see it?  Can you find the pearl in this picture?

One of the hardest lessons as a MOM is when your child looses, breaks, or something tragic happens to a prized possession.

Yesterday was going to be one of those days for me.  The problem, I refused to go through it.  I couldn't stand the look in my sweet Big Girls eyes when I told her that her treasured pearl seemed to be lost.

Confused?  Ok backing up.  When we moved last year, one of the only fun things to the girls about the empty house was they went on a treasure hunt.  And oh the treasures they found!   (can you say old paper clip, something resembling a dust bunny, a wrinkled flower, a pom pom, and oh how the list goes on.)
And we kept almost all of them.  Among them was the rarest find.  A pink/white pearl. 
Was it real?

In her little eyes, oh yes!  But what we really had was a cheap small bead for making kids necklaces or something like that.  Though I doubt it was one of ours, I think it had been there from previous owners.

Either way this became her most prized possession. Chipped "paint" and all.

Now yesterday was share day at school and she was to share something special to her and tell why.  She chose to bring her memory box which was filled with treasures from WI.  And among them was the pearl.

Said day went really well, that is until she was outside waiting for me.  On the blacktop.  The black top that wasn't so black.  The black top that was in fact sprinkled with embedded little white stones.

I pull up ready to get my sweet Alia in the car, who then informs me that she can't get in the car.  "Why not honey?!" the pearl rolled under my car.  Mind you there are another row of cars behind me waiting to drive by.  So I pull over and proceed to get out of the car after they passed to look for this tiny treasure.

When I say tiny, it's an understatement.  Have you ever tried to look for something white on blacktop that isn't so black?  Oh and then there is this little part about a slight downgrade...that ends in a drain hole!

So here I am, grown woman, college degree, mommy, crawling around on my hands and knees on the blacktop with my nose almost literally to the ground looking for this little ball.

One of Alia's friends mom pulls up, and another person whom I don't know...both ask me, "so what we looking for".  When I reply "fake pearl" they kind of look at me as if I lost my mind.  Maybe I have, but darn it I don't want to see the loss on her face when I tell her it is gone.  One of the only pieces of her old home, her old state, is forever lost.

I will myself to crawl around for a few minutes longer.  And it pays off!!!!  There it is, I have no idea how I saw it, but I did.  That is the little lost pearl!

 

He returns safely to his ecstatic owner and is now nestled safe in a little "remembery box" once again.

Did you find the pearl in the above picture?  Its right there, can't you see it?  it's in plain sight!  :)

Don't clean your house!

No really, I mean it!

I was sitting tonight looking at my mantel.  Remember it from my post the other day?  How pretty it looks...

Sometimes we (I) get so caught up in our houses looking perfect, our decoration looking perfect, and everything looking nice, we forget to notice the imperfections.

Like this one.  To my eye at first it is just unbalanced and not looking right.  I resist the urge however, tonight to pull it down.

See it?  See what I am talking about?  That ugly green McDonald's monster bucket?

 My sweet little Alia has put it up there three different times.  The first two I kept pulling it down, annoyed that she was messing up my mantle.  Then this third time, I admire her perseverance.  And through that I see her reason, and it wasn't to annoy me.  It was to add to something she finds special that I do. 

See I tend to decorate when they are gone or sleeping, and when they see it, to them something magical just happened.

My sweet little girl wanted to add something to that.  She was complimenting me in the best possible way.  I see that now.  And I am thankful for the minute of down time I got to really see and appreciate it.

I stop and realize in another handful of years, I will have that perfect house.  Or at least closer to it.  There won't be little annoying toys to step on, there won't be tiny clothing everywhere and crayons strewn about.  

Right now I tend to look at them as an inconvenience.  An imperfection, when in fact they are the epitome of perfection.  My perfectly normal, adorable, wonderful little girls.  

Princess dresses everywhere, drawings and creativity peak around every corner.  Their little budding personalities promising to reveal a little more every turn I take.

So, for now, for tonight, I am remembering to cherish all these things that I know I am going to miss all too soon.

I challenge you to do the same.  Let go of CLEAN and embrase the perfect gift(s) from above. 

New take on an old pumpkin ~ 5 minute DIY

Ok so not exactly 5 minutes, but close. Maybe 15 minus the drying time.

So I have not been a spray painter like a lot of the ladies out there. But they come up with such UHmazing stuff I had to give it a try.

I just don't know if I'm cut out for their talent, because I can't seem to figure out the stuff. I can't see how it is cheaper? Man that stuff is expensive, even with a discount. And when you spray it, it goes all over, not just one concentrated spot.

That being said, these turned out pretty darn neat don't you think?

I have a very formal looking living room and wanted a little more of a professional touch. I opted for the stone look on my pumpkins. Liked it, but not LOOOVEd it. Then I realized what they needed. Just a lil bit of this ribbon.

See pretty isn't it?

Ps Like the Spooky Blocks? (I got those from one of the bloggers I met at that blogger party I attended. Her etsy shop is here (you can get her blog from here too))

The little neighbor boys even came in and commented how pretty they thought they looked.

So here goes: You better sit down, this is a hard one.

Purchase spray paint you want to use, I actually preferred the Rust-Olium, whereas I see a lot of bloggers usin the Krylon.

Gather a few cheapo pumpkins, most of these were either a dollar or under.

Here were a few I didn't paint...

Spray away. I needed two coats, or more like tries, because I have no clue how you can spray a whole item and get it all in one shot. Can you? Do enlighten me if you can!

Let dry.

Add a few festive pretty ribbons.

Arrange in a festive way and there you have easy, inexpensive, pretty home decor, done by none other that wonderful marvelous you! Or in this case...me. :)

Challenging Murphy's Law:

Well, I didn't actually challenge her, but she sure must have thought I did....

See I haven't written in a few days for good reason! Good ole Murphy has proven herself correct on every account possible.

Each day has thankfully gotten a little better, however, it has been a LONG week! Yes I am fully aware it is only Wednesday. It can only go up right?

So Monday started pretty normal. Though I was slightly thrown off because I had to take my dad to the airport and that would mean my perfect schedule would be altered. I don't do well with change. Heck I cried when I turned 13! So even little changes like this bug me.

But I guess i shouldn't have told myself I would be glad to get back home and resume normal.

We arrive at the airport and I get out of the van to hug my daddy good bye. I hate good bye's. Never have liked em, any sort of em. Anyhow I hug him, and look over to my hubby (who is sweet enough to walk my dad through the airport and security because he gets so easily confused) and gesture toward our right rear wheel. It was pretty flat.

"Go to the nearest gas station" he suggests, "I'll be there in a little".

So I attempt to do just that. However Salt Lake airport is NOT Green Bay airport. I had no clue where a close gas station was. And when I finally chose a direction, it did not take me "close". As a matter of a fact I believe my husband put it, "Why did you want to go to the ghetto?"

I had been driving for about 10 minutes, which then led to a damaged rim as well. So hubby in his work clothes is changing the tire. In the meantime I realize the poor baby, who had been on antibiotics, has another runny diaper.

I proceed to go into the gas station to purchase a very expensive $4 diaper, uh-hu, one diaper, for her. Then have to sit on the bathroom floor (EWWWE) and put her on my lap to change her, wriggling and screaming the whole time.

Spare finally on the van, hubby directs me to a tire place close to home. I go there to see how long it will take to get fixed and they suggest a half hour. Ok, we stay. And she strikes again. Another poopy diaper, fortunatly after some rummaging through the garbage in our van, not littlerally, I find a diaper and i change her on the floor of the waiting room while all the thrilled customers watch. Oh well it wasn't them was it?

Finally an hour later we were done. Day could only go up from here. Got the baby down for her nap and a few things done in the house before I had to wake her, go get the girls and head BACK downtown to take Alia to her doctor appointment at Children's Hosptial. This is not my favorite place to drive around if you haven't figured that out by now.

We arrive one minute to spare, so I quick grab the baby out of her seat, grab the diaper bag and my purse and we start running to the hospital.

I feel something, well moist. Hmmm no actually quite moist. I slowly move my hand a little further down her bum to readjust her. Yep, she was soaked through..did I dare to peek? As we make a quick stop at a reception desk I do, only to discover to my horror, it isn't only wet, but another ummmm, runny blowout. Only this time all over me. Wonderful.



We get to Alia's receptionist and I ask her if I can rush to the bathroom, only to discover there that I am out of wipes. I send Alia back to the reception desk to ask for wipes, which they give her, but upon opening it, they are bone DRY. If you have ever used a dry wipe on a babys bottom you know there is no working with it! So now I have to hold KK with one hand and rush back and forth to the sink to wet them down and to change her outfit.

Problem solved Again.

We get into the doctors office and the poor Bean is screaming her head off because she thinks it is for her. If you know me at all you know she has gone through quite a bit of doctor visits in the past year.

Finally she is calm and sitting on my lap. Alia's doctor comes in and we address all the issues and what not. Thankfully nothing is major wrong. She is doing well. We thank the doctor and I stand up to be on our way. Only then do I realize I look like I WET my pants! The baby had wet yet again, and this time it was positioned just right so it looked like I was the one who had the problem!

No time to worry about that, time to rush off to make Lissy's dance class, then Alia's.

We make Lissy's only about 8 minutes late. Then when it is Alia's turn I tell her I have a quick errand to run with the girls and will be back to pick her up. The only problem? I was 26 minutes late!!!

Good thing she wasn't too mad at me though, because as if this day hadn't taught me enough, I informed her we were on our way to pick up the new dog that daddy just got!

And then, they all slept peacefully!

Not to self: Never ever again will I question Murphy and her Law!

A sure way to loose weight by staying out of the fridge...

Beady little eyes. Staring at me. Watching every move I make. Every time I reach for something in the fridge, it keeps me from grabbing something cuz I can't stand eyes watching me.

I called my hubby on it. Told him I didn't like being watched. And even more I won't make him dinner if I am continued to be monitored.

Nooooo you have it all wrong, it is not my hubby watching me. Or anyone he has watching me....

Its these little beady eyes spooking me out...

If you look close you can see them scoping me out!
EEWWWWEEE

My nice neighbor knows my hubby loves fresh fish, and so when he went the other day he brought me this bag, not well sealed, just a walmart bag with two big rainbow trout in it...the thing he didn't know. I am creeped out by them. I am not talking just a little folks, I am saying they give me the heebe jeebes!

The funnier part of the story though isn't even me it is my elderly dad who is visiting. Whom I get my hate of dead fish from! He was trying to move some stuff around in the fridge to get some bottles in, and he moved the fish, just a little.

Well they started slipping and sliding out of the bag right toward him, head first. You should ave heard my father yell for my accompaniment. HA! Now I know where I get it from.

Soooo if you ever wanna creep me out, this is one of the MANY ways to do it!

Have a great weekend!

As always leave comments if you read. I love this being a bit of an open forum for chattiness. I mean after all I do have three daughters! :)

It's the little things you don't notice day to day

That can really overwhelm and warm a mommies heart.

In a typical day you can hear screaming, whining, fighting of any sort. " Alia did this, Alia got that, Alyssa said this to me, you did this for Alyssa." I know they love each other, but could it be soooo hard to just show it outwardly a little more?

Really I am blessed, they are playmates and really do stick up for one another...even if it is against mom giving one a punishment.

But much too often I forget to look deep inside their hearts, to look at more than just the surface of living in the same room with someone else day after day. Of having to play with that same person day after day. and having to be nice to that same person day after day.

Tonight as I was wondering what I was going to write about, it struck me, almost literally. I was picking up yet another piece of paper. They multiply in our house like rabbits! The kids have no clue the amount of their artwork I throw out. (yes don't worry, I keep the good stuff, I am such a packrat!) But tonight as I was flipping through some to toss, I cam across this...

They stopped me dead in my tracks and my heart turned into instant mush!

Doesn't that just kind of say it all? She loves how Lissy likes to snuggle. She likes how she is nice to her. She likes how they are friends forever. In otherwords she adores her little sister! Man I must have done something right!

My heart is warm and fuzzy, so this mommy is going to bed, realizing the important things in life. And this is one of them!

The epitomay of fall/Halloween?! Candy Corn DIY Wreath

At least a few kernels a year. I can't stand em after those few, but ahhhh to savor the first few tastes of fall!

The rest, this year, I followed the idea of one of my favorite bloggers. Thrifty Decor Chick. She had this really neat candy corn themed post, and I fell in love right away.

I went off to the store to purchase what I needed and a few add-on's and I must say. I LOOOOVE the way it turned out!! I mean I have showed anyone who will look a picture of my wreath. Even my hubby said it looked great!

So here goes:

You will need:

A wreath
Candy corn (about one bag for front and middle, two for back too)
Hot glue
Crepe Paper (I would suggest yellow or orange, though I had black)
Ribbon

That's it! Yep it is THAT easy and THAT cheap!!

So first you want to take your wreath and just wrap the crepe paper all the way around. I used black, but in the end decided that a dark orange might have been easier because it would show less. (she got her wreath at the dollar store, I got mine at hobby lobby because I wanted it to be more "round")

Once you have it secured on (I did double side tape at the beginning and end) You are ready to start!

Get your corn and glue out and ready to go. Pick a good movie and have at er! I glued a ring and then another ring and kept going about the third row I started to alter them a little so a corn would overlap a tip and end of the one underneath. (does that make sense?)

I decided since this was going to sit on a door it didn't need a back so I finished off the outer edges and inside and left the back black. Ok so partly because the baby was crying and I needed to go get her and i was soooo excited to finish this project!

Once you have it looking like this, you night want to fill in the "black" space bits like I did. To do this all I did was add a second layer candycorn in just those places that needed it. Not the whole wreath.

I did not shellac it. I wasn't' sure if the corn would hold up. Anyone know the answer??? (it would probably keep better for next year if I did)

Anyhow, some embellishments I got were a pumpkin and a few fall leaves. I think they really add to this wreath. I just glued a few leaves on first and then had to CAKE on the glue for the pumpkin. Make SURE you know where you want it or else it can get a bit hairy. Yes that does mean I had to pull it off, pull all the glue off and redo a few candy corn. Yes folks a few seconds of thought saves many many of our precious minutes!

To finish i off I bought some cutesy Halloween ribbon and tied it at the perfect length finishing it off with a cute little bow at the top.

That is all. You are done and you have a new $4 ish decoration! I recently went to hobby lobby on a sale and you can not get decor that cheap anymore!

So needless to say, I am super excited!

Please if you decide to go ahead with this let me know how it turned out. Can you post a picture? (I;m not sure if you can, I am not that "blog smart" yet)

Guilt..to catch a break?

Ever have one of those weeks you would have just been better off sleeping through the whole thing? I think that may have been this one for me.

Speaking of sleeping, I gotta say, I did feel a tinge of guilt when my lil one decided hubby was the person of choice at the peak hours of 12-4. Ok a tinge, but I also felt a tinge of satisfaction that it wasn't me!

Ha, you know what I am talking about. It is mommy this, and mommy that...and finally, those sweeeet words. Dada.

And it wasn't only those little words, otherwise he would have convinced me to stay up with her. When I went to take her at that prime hour, she stiffened her legs, arched her back and screamed for 10 whole minutes as if I was pinching her, (really I wasn't!)so hard in fact that he came back out and got her.

I did feel sorry for him tho...while thinking about it in my heated bed.

So we got on with our week which continued to consume me this way and that. As much as my kitchen consumed me. Instead of being able to eat in it, i think it just might eat me! I mean I can't find the ceiling or floor in it!

As the week progresses the Kbean got fussier and fussier. Then the real mommy guilt hit, when of course after office hours have closed and it is officially the weekend woo hoo, my poor lil girl was walking around and blood started pouring out of her ear! Hmmmm that just MIGHT explain the fussiness for the past week!? Ya think?

So off we went to Kids Care and discovered that I in fact was one of the LUCKY few who even though their baby has ear tubes, they didn't really help. We STILL needed oral meds. The poor lil thing had a REALLY REALLY bad ear infection coupled with a sinus infection.

Then we get to the only open Walgreen's in Draper (a small drive from my place) and they inform me they never got the call for the perscription. So we had to walk around and deal with all that for a good hour, in which KK was fascinated with balloons, and won the hearts of all the in and outgoing patrons. She also fell in love with a Pilwo like her sisters, a mini pillow pet. She chose BEAR! Here she is lovin on him.

Man this kid just can't seem to catch a break, and after long hard thought, she has decided that she is DONE with medicine. For many months she took meds like a dream. Opening and sucking it down each time. Well not this time! No sir re. She is going to fight it as if it were the bad guy. And each time she wears just a little more of that white stuff. SIGH.

So tomorrow starts another day, another week. Please tell me it can't get any worse than than last?

I hope to have a few DIY to do projects for you, maybe they will help?
A Halloween decoration or two and a reorganizing my bathroom closet. Fun?!

Quick DIY Newborn closet, or in our case, doll closet...

In my case it was to be an extra closet space for my girls, but after I had finished the project I discovered my children are growing way too fast! Yes their dresses were longer than the shelf itself!

Anyhow I got the bright idea when my cheap old bookshelves didn't make it really in tact from our move to Utah from WI.

So there it sat, in the kids play room holding books, but not looking all that pretty.

Finally I needed more dress space so I decided to spruce it up and make it a closet.

As you can see from this picture, it is one of my first "spray painting" experiences. And I have no patience! I know I know I need to learn some. But it is soooooooooo hard.

After looking inside, I came to the conclusion that 1. I wouldn't have enough spray paint for the whole thing inside and out and 2. I needed another coat, the pink zebra/camo look was cool, on the inside.

So I added another coat on the outside and I found this adorable wrapping paper at the dollar spot in target! LOVE it! I just modge podged it on the back and tada! How cute does that look?

Then I measured how wide it was and went on a hunt for tension rods. They are very cheap, but everyone in the valley must have been doing this same project for weeks :) because I couldn't find the size I needed anywhere.

Now a piece of advice, not all tension rods are created equal, target carries better ones that Wal mart. I did the two inside ones from target and the curtain rod one from walmart, as it was a tad bit smaller and less sturdy.

Plueezzzee don't mind that dirty floor!

After seeing it inside the white was so, well white! I thought of wrapping the rods with the wrapping paper and it turned out fabulous!

Now here is where i was excited to be almost done and added their clothing. Cute here...but then add my 6 year olds and it just was messy looking. NOT a look I was going for.

My mother in law suggested that I use it for doll clothing. So the wheels began turning once again.

I bought another tension rod and added that

If you look closely at the above two thy are not exactly on top of one another, the top one is as far back as the doll hangers could let me go, so the longer dresses can hang down. Then I put one toward the front lower, so you can hang all the little shirts.

It worked out so well, that I added some cute left over dangle beads I used on a purse from Alia. Sewed and hemmed the curtains with some left over material I had, put them on the rod and tied them with some left over ribbon.

HOW CUTE is this!? You should have seen my daughters faces when they came out of the bedroom that morning. They were in LOVE and had a renewed vow to play with their dolls as if they were real, because now they had a real big girl closet too!

For the jeans I went to the dollar store and just got some cute bins I am going to stack on top and put in them. I will add accessories and such to another bin and so on.

I am so pleased with how this turned out. What do you think?

Check out more girly DIY....I posted this project here for:

As always please share if you do this or something like it :)

This is the life

Ok Ok I was feeling so guilty I crawled out of bed to finally do this post.

Life as normal has taken me on crazy so I never seem to find the time to write. I think I need to schedule it, as in write it down in INK and highlight it! We'll see if that helps. I know there aren't many, but I so appreciate the few of you who stick with me! Really you are fabulous!

Sooooo remember a little over a week ago when I showed my way of relaxation? The instacare? Well this week I actually did get it!

The reason we moved out here to Utah was so hubby could take a new job with a company that really wanted him. We are so blessed because I have never ever heard anything but wonderful things about the company any time I mention them.

And I truly believe it. They had their annual planning meeting and the wives came with.

I know you are going to feel sorry for me. I mean all day while he was in meetings and what not, I was left alone. To my own devices to try to figure out what the heck to do with my time. This really is a predicament when you don't have little ones to yell, i mean talk with. Or diapers to change. Or homework to do. Or school. Or housework. Or laundry. You get the point. It was a hard situation to be left in.

Did I mention it was at the Waldorf in Park City It was a hard life.

I had to subject myself to getting my nails done.

Which by the way I think look absolutely fabulous!

And then I had to take this torturous looking shower.

Yes that is a TV in the bathroom. And you could see it from the shower. Now normally you would get a huge eye roll from me because this would be my husbands dream bathroom, however it was pretty neat. I took the longest shower I have taken in years! Plus they supply everything, the lofa, the shower gel, the shampoo and conditioner, the bath salts, the mouth wash and the list goes on.

The best part, ok wait, be prepared to call me cheesy, I know you will! The best part is, when you check in, they ask you if you would like some bottled water, and if so how many. So I took two to start, and then had hubby bring me another one, and upon leaving had them give me two more. For some odd reason, if I drink water out of a pretty bottle, it just tastes better. See isn't it pretty?

Speaking of pretty. These was so dang cool, I wanted a whole collection. God bless my husband. After 10 years of marriage he doesn't even hesitate a second when we are at a place like this, he brings me a handful of them (I see a neat DIY craft in the future with these!)

But back to the hubby. He is awesome. He doesn't bat an eye when I want him to go and get another set of bath stuff from the maid. He is so sweet, he just does it naturally. Gosh I love him!

We went out to dinner at Ruth Chris's and got to order whatever we wanted. Sorry no picture here, I was afraid I might embarrass him just a bit too much. I had the most wonderful melt in your mouth fillet and then a lava cake to follow. YUM!

But really, the way this company not only treats their employees but their employees families is amazing. They are a wonderful bunch of people and we enjoyed every second we spent with them.

Then it was off to this amazing room to actually feel like we had our own get away.

All in all, it was a short but totally pampered and amazing night away.
Thanks to my hubbys new job!