Thank you Hullabaloo....

For 5 minutes of peace today. The boys were out of school today in honor of Veterans Day and that always makes life interesting. Austin and Cameron don't always get along (see here) and today was no different....the bickering, hittting, tattling and the mom going crazy! But this afternoon Cam had the idea to play Hullabaloo and instead of the usual angry fighting words, I actually heard a lot of laughter! Music to my ears. So thank you Hullabaloo and thank you Veterans for protecting our rights and freedoms that we so graciously enjoy!



Winner....take a bow!

5 months old

At 5 months old, Ethan is very attentive. He is laughing and squealing and he just lights up when you give him a little attention. He can sit with some assistance and it won't be long now until he can do it on his own. This little guy is growing so quickly! If only there was a way to slow him down....I am really loving having a baby around again! He is a JOY!

Time for rice cereal!He did pretty good with the rice. Made a couple of faces and at times seemed unsure about this new taste and texture, but he ate it up with little coming back out! Maybe he will be a good eater....I can hope right?!

Halloween...

The Dinner:
Which Brett stood in a very, very long line to pick up for us!☺


The Pumpkins:
Can you guess which pumpkin belongs to which boy?





The Costumes:

Sad but true, this is the best picture I have of Austin in his costume. He had a cool Darth Vader (Darf Bader) mask and he carried a light saber. The little stinker took his costume off the minute he got home from trick or treating and that was that. No pic of him fully dressed for Halloween.:(


The treats:
(and the mess)




The poor 4th boy who didn't get a costume but he's pretty cute anyway!

Now bring on Thanksgiving!

Adventures at Target...

We went to Target to pick up a couple of things. We were cruising around the store checking things out when Austin says to me "Mommy, my arm is stuck" I look down and sure enough, his little arm is stuck in the cart between the seat where he was sitting and the basket where Ethan was sitting in his carseat. I try to pull it out and it is really stuck, (we are talking stuck as in his arm wouldn't budge at all). No luck. I try again. At this point, poor little Austin is crying and telling me that it hurts, so I need to figure something else out quickly! Panic is setting in, and I am just sure that I am going to have to call the fire department to come and cut my child out of the cart. Then an idea comes to mind....Vaseline. I race up to the front of the store (because of course we were way in the back) and I find a little jar of Vaseline, tear the lid off, get a big ol' glob and rub his arm down and low and behold, his arm slides right out.....Whew! Crisis averted. Back to shopping. Now Ethan is fussing. OK, I pick him up and discover that he is a huge mess. We're talking blow out!!! That's it! Off we race back to the front of the store (because again, we were in the back), pay for the couple things I needed and out to the car to clean up the poor little guy. And that was the end of our happy day at Target. I vaguely remember a time when shopping was fun.....those were the days! When I asked Austin why he stuck his hand in the cart, he informed me that Ethan wanted to hold his hand. How sweet is that?! However, I don't think that he will be doing that again any time soon. Let's hope not anyway! Oh, and in case you were wondering, I did pay for the Vaseline. The whole fiasco cost me an extra dollar. ☺ Here is Austins account of the day. Enjoy!



Sorry, the sound is kind of fuzzy!
I just told Brett this story and he laughed as he informed me that he set the kids up to drive me crazy so that I wouldn't spend so much money at Target....haha! Little does he know that once he gets home I am leaving all the kids with him and I am going shopping.....ALONE!!!

You Bonkey....

Austin was angry. He was yelling "Stop that you Bonkey" at Cameron and Erik. Dad said to Cameron "What is a bonkey?" Cameron said "It is a toddler bad word."

I like it. Next time Brett or the boys misbehave, I might just have to say "Stop that you Bonkey!"

A good laugh...

Makes for a happy day!

Catching up

Fall is finally in the air, and in honor of that, we took the kids pumpkin and apple pickin' We had a great day!

Pickin' pumpkins:




Yee Haw...our little cowboy:

Austin was so excited to ride the pony and you could just tell that he thought he was pretty awesome up there and he's right, he is one cool cowboy!

When did Erik get so tall?! He is growing up way too fast.

AAAH the JOYS of Fall...it makes me happy! And so do these little cuties!

Doesn't Ethan look like a little pumpkin in that hat?!

More reviews

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Very good book. After reading and enjoying the Wednesday Wars by this same author, I knew that I had to check this book out and it did not disappoint. I love Schmidt's writing style and his characters. His books pull you in and you can't stop reading until you finish the book and even then it leaves you wanting more. Loved how this book evoked many emotions...anger, sorrow, fear and a little humor too.

View all my reviews >>

AAAAH-tumn!

This was the title to an article in our paper today and it sums up my love for this time of year. Even though our temps are still hanging around the upper 70's and low 80's (still too warm for my taste), I have been in the mood for some yummy, fall, comfort food. Last nights dinner was so good.....



The creamy chicken soup recipe came from this book (which is awesome by the way), so I can't share it, but the bread bowls were so good and the perfect way to enjoy this soup. That recipe came from here. I had some leftover bread bowls, so I froze them to eat next week with another yummy fall comfort food...my favorite chili! YUMMY!

Seven years....

old today!

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy! It doesn't seem like 7 years ago on Conference weekend that you were born. You were such a sweet baby with the cutest, roundest face and little tiny nose. I knew the minute that I held you in my arms what a sweet boy you were. I loved you then, and I love you now just as much! So, in honor of 7 happy years, here are seven things I love about Cameron:

1. Your sweet smile. When you smile, your whole face lights up. I especially love your smile now that you lost your front tooth.

2. I love that you are always writing sweet notes for me and your Dad and brothers. It makes my day to get a little letter or picture from Cameron.

3. I love that you are so good at sharing with your brothers. You often think of them first and do things for them to make them happy.

4. I love that you are so smart and you are getting straight A's in school! Way to go!

5. I love that you like to dress up in costumes. Some of your get-ups make me laugh!

6. I love that you eat popcorn with me!

7. I love that you are generally in a happy, good mood and you love to laugh and have fun!

Happy Birthday Cam, I love you lots and I am so lucky to be your Mom!

4 Months already?!

My sweet baby boy is now 4 months old. It is scary how quickly time flies by. I love having a baby in the house again and I am not wanting him to grow up too quickly.

Ethan at 4 months:
Ethan is the most patient baby ever. He is content to sit and observe. He sleeps through the night and he even puts himself to sleep. He loves watching his big brothers, and one of my favorite things to see is when I lay Ethan down on a blanket, without fail, his big brother Austin is right there laying by him holding his little hand....so sweet!

Ethan smiles a lot! He is a happy little guy and his sweet smile is infectious! He also giggles from time to time, usually at his daddy.



Ethan is getting very close to rolling over...won't be long now.

Ethan is such a sweet little boy and this Mommy loves him more than he will ever know. It has been a joyful 4 months with this little guy! ♥

JOY!

Check this out...

My friend who is crafty and has a blog is also having a giveaway. She is spotlighting women with etsy shops. Go check it out, and if you feel so inclined, leave a comment mentioning my shop (Color Me Sassy) that is now up and running again. Oh and good luck!

Pumpkins

I love fall! The vibrant colors of the leaves, the cool, crisp air, apples, fall clothes, the smell of cinnamon and Pumpkins! So I had this idea to create these little pumpkins using some spare wood and craft supplies that I just had lying around. I think they turned out pretty cute.



Want to make some of your own? You can now purchase a kit here.

Happy Fall Crafting!

What's for dinner?

Finding time to craft these days has proven to be difficult. I find myself coming up with lots of ideas for things to create, but no time to complete them. Well, I am happy to say that I managed to finish a project that I have been needing for sometime now. Here it is:





It is my new write on/ wipe off weekly menu. Every day at our house I answer the question "what's for dinner" multiple times (usually to moans and groans when I give my response). So in order to divert the question, give my kids a chance for dinner input and also to keep myself more organized, I created my weekly menu board.

First:
I created the little baking embellishments for my menu. I used to do a lot of paper piecing several years ago, and I forgot how fun that was! I also created and printed out the weekly schedule.

Second:
I found some fun scrapbook paper in my stash that matched my kitchen and pulled it all together.

Third: I found this cute "leather" frame at a discount grocery store near my home and I "jazzed" it up a bit. I hot glued scrabble tiles (that I found at a garage sale) to spell out DINNER and I am happy to announce that I only burned myself 3 times while trying to get them all lined up neatly. :) Next I decorated a clothespin with scrapbook paper and a ribbon and attached that to the frame as well. I will explain the purpose of the clothespin in just a minute. Last, I wanted my dry erase marker to remain with the frame so that I wouldn't have to hunt it down everytime I needed it, so I took a small piece of elastic from my sewing stash and stapled it to the frame. Then I took some more ribbon and tied it around the elastic to make it look cute! *hint* Be sure to place the marker in the elastic before tying on your ribbon to make sure that you don't tie it too tight.

Once the frame was completed, I put it all together. Now I can just write out a weekly dinner plan on the glass of the frame and just like that it wipes off when we're done so I can start over the next week.

The clothespin is a handy little contraption, because its job is to hold my cute grocery lists that I created to match. Now as I am planning dinners, I can just jot done on my list what I need at the store each week to prepare the planned meals. So simple, convenient and organized. The clothespin is also handy at holding on to your recipes that you are using that week.

One more tip. On the back of the frame I adhered an envelope and in the envelope is a card with a list of some of our favorite dinners to help me plan for the week. I often find that I can't remember what my family likes to eat, so now I have a quick little reference guide to help me plan. *see 30 meals here*

That's it! Now go make one for yourself and one for a friend. Makes a great Christmas gift! And my gift to you...
my grocery list and menu plan
FREE for you to print and use!

Enjoy!

Fall has arrived...

at our house. At least inside, outside it is still 100 degrees and can I just say that I am not happy about it. Every fall I ask myself why I live here. Fall is my favorite season of the year with summer being my least favorite go figure. But it is what it is and even if I can't enjoy fall outdoors (yet), I can bring a little bit of it inside to help me get into a festive fall mood. Now if only I could justify turning on my oven in this heat, I would make up some yummy loaves of pumpkin bread! So in honor of the first day of fall yesterday, here is what we did...

My shelf.

I just hung this up yesterday and I love it. The black frame, apple topiary and the grapevine wreath were all thrift store finds! The black frame was a lovely lime green when I bought it and I just painted over it, put new ribbon on it and used a vinyl letter C (our family monogram) to jazz it up. And how cool is that grapevine wreath?! I love that it is square and oval. Cute! The pinecone was a little souvenir from Tahoe!

My mantle:


Remember my pumpkins from last year? Here they are...I still love them.


My Table:



My dining table:
I made these pumpkins last year using this tutorial. So cute, easy and fun. I may have to make a few more this year as you can never have too many pumpkins ♥


My hutch:


My living/ dining room:

Notice the fan in the background?! I'm telling you it is hot!



Last years wheat pumpkin


Last but not least, my helper:



And with all of that, we are almost done! I still have a few fall projects in the works to finish off my fall decor. You'll have to stay tuned to see what they are!

Happy Fall!!!