The (Second) Best Holiday

Collin is the "Saggy Baggy Elephant" this year. It's from the old Golden book of the same name.

Something you don't see everyday....

Shane and I reused last year's vampire costumes. That's the beauty of moving. No one has seen your wares.

Technically, Lydia was a witch for Halloween. You can see photos of that costume here. 

However, there were so many Halloween functions, we switched between the witch costume and last year's southern belle costume. I know I took her on a little photo shoot last year, but I just used my point and shoot camera. This year I have a snazzy new camera to experiment with. AND a lawn full of leaves!

My, she is lovely.

Yawn. Done editing photos. Now it's time to dig into the candy bag!

WINNER!

The randomly selected winner of the baby shower earrings is Kathleen. Congrats! Email me and I will send you your prize.

And don't forget to VOTE FOR BECCA!

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Click cartoon to enlarge. 
Via - Docpopular 

Halloween....TRICK!

Need a good trick idea for this Halloween? Check out this one that I was subjected to recently.....

While visiting my parents one night, some of us stayed up late playing Mexican Train. Finally we decided it was time to go to bed. 

I got in my pajamas, washed my face, brushed my teeth and turned to use the water closet. 

BUT SOMEONE WAS ALREADY THERE!

Did I scream? Hello! Wouldn't you?!? If you innocently went to pee and were suddenly faced with THIS?! I can't believe I didn't just go ahead and wet my pants. 

This terrifying "person" is completely inanimate. My sister Emily and her husband put it together using a body made of a duct tape base and clothes for filling. They toped the torso with a freakish mask and wig.  Tucked the monstrosity in a pair of jeans and placed it on the toilet. Adding toilet paper as a nice touch.

As soon as they heard my scream, Emily and Greg came laughing from the next room. They had been hiding in there, just waiting for me to find their creation.

I have to hand it to them. It was awesome. In a totally disturbing way.

"MOM! Something is wrong with the toilet. Come look!!!!"

Have a wonderful Halloween everyone!

Breast Cancer Awareness Giveaway - $75 gift certificate and jewelry prize.

A few weeks ago I was saddened to learn a close family friend, Rebecca Thomason Jensen, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is a young mother of 5 children and possibly the nicest woman I've ever known. Rebecca was very lucky in that her cancer was caught at an early stage. Her prognoses looks good, but she has a long road ahead of her. In fact, yesterday she underwent a single mastectomy. I can't even image going through all of that with five children. And she stays so positive!  If you want to read more of her story, head over to her blog and maybe send her some well wishes while you are there.

As many of you know, the cost of health care can be exorbitant and a hardship on a family. Well, the Jensen family has entered an Early Cancer Detection Video Contest in order to win some funds to go towards their medical bills. The video with the most votes wins. I would love to see such a lovely, brave women receive some blessings at this trying time.

Please head over and vote for "Rebecca's Story". I know it's a pain to have to register to do so (took me about 95 seconds to do it) but it's for a really good cause. (Just put "n/a" in the address and phone sections. It might show an error, but your vote did submit.)

After you're done voting, head back here and leave a message and you will be entered to win.

One reader will win a $75 gift certificate to either Amazon.com, The Gap, Target or Olive Garden. Winner picks their prize.

The winner will also receive this handmade bracelet and matching earrings set. (I know I should have done pink, but I was too tempted by the autumn colored beads.)

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

You can vote every day, so leave a comment every time you vote. I will announce the winner on November 5th.

Good luck! And good luck to you Becca!

Halloween Darlings

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And let's not forget MY little Halloween darlings!!!!

See the rest of the halloween fun here. Have a great Halloween Week :)

One last sunny warm day.

Love being able to enjoy a lawn again. (Without the fear of southern bugs.)

An Autumn Baby Shower

Last weekend was my sister Molly's baby shower. It was orchestrated by my sister Emily, my mom and myself. As Emily and I deliberated over the theme, it just came to me. Little Pumpkin! So darling for a fall shower. We went with the colors of orange and gray with brown accents. Very autumn and very boyish. (Which is what my sister is having.) Emily went to work on a cute invite. I love how it turned out.

I had the best intentions of getting really great photos of the entire shower. However Lisa, one of my best friends from college, arrived and we had 8 years of catching up to do. All I ended up getting was the table and a few decorations. Don't worry Molly, Lindsay got some great shots.

On the menu: Cinnamon rolls cut up and placed in cupcake papers with little pumpkin toothpicks. Candy corns and roasted almonds (the most AMAZING combo!). Pumpkin pie and cheesecake. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, Ham roll ups, Baguettes hollowed out and filled with hummus and fresh veggies. Fruit, chocolate covered almonds and apple cider punch. The highlight was "Emily's Crustless Quiche". She doesn't divulge the recipe, but this one is close. Just substitute cheddar and add bacon. Delicious! 

I offered to do the favors. I don't know what I was thinking, but I ended up making 36 pairs of earrings. That, on top of hand-stamping all the letters onto hand-cut cards, ended up being a bit more time consuming than I expected. But they were cute. I even had a couple pairs left over. Abby, I saved one pair for you. I will send the other pair to a reader. Leave a comment on this post and I will randomly choose a winner next week. 

This was how I displayed them. 

So sad I didn't get any cute shots of us ladies at the shower. We all looked so cute! Oh well, here are a couple the next morning, after we stayed up late talking. Which was one of the best parts anyway. Just wish my sister Abby could have been there.

Congrats Molly! Can't wait to see your little pumpkin :)

Don't forget to comment if you want to win some of the earrings.

One little moment

Last night I heard Collin crying in the middle of the night. He's been doing that a lot lately. I think it's something about being in a new house.

For now, I don't mind it. Every night I wake up blurry eyed to find my little baby crying for me. I pull him out of his covers and wipe his tears. We sit down in the rocking chair and he buries his face in my neck, his little sobs quieting. He is so warm, and I cover us both in his blanket. I could probably lay him down after a minute or two, but usually I can't seem to pull myself away. I know I'm probably starting a bad habit, but at the same time, I realize I have just a few months left of this baby time.

As he slept on my chest last night, I held his little bum in my hands and felt his slow, steady breathing. I had missed him while away for the weekend. Suddenly I remembered, not too long ago, holding him that way when he was still inside me. Sleeping was hard when I was very pregnant, and I spent a lot of late nights laying in bed, holding his little shape and feeling his movements. I would imagine what he would be like. I imagined holding him in my arms.

Now, actually holding him in my arms, I realize this is about as good as it gets. I know that most of the time I complain that I want to just get out of the house, dress in something other than mom clothes and sleep an entire night through. It's these moments however, that makes to realize, this, being a mommy, is what I was always meant to do.

Daddy Daughter Pancakes

I've had so many emails lately asking if we are still doing our Saturday morning pancakes. I should say if Shane is still doing them. All I do is snap a few photos and eat them. Well, yes, he is still super daddy and making his awesome breakfast concoctions. I will make sure to start blogging them again. For now, here are a couple from the archives that I never got around to posting.

Remember this daddy daughter date? Well check out what came about the morning after:

I know. He's a pancake artist. 

And the sweetest dad.

Too advanced for you? Try the candy corns as an easy halloween breakfast. Or check out the pumpkin pancakes he made last year....

Back from my weekend away. Missed my babies. Sleep in until 11:30am yesterday.

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A friend sent me this link today. Lydia and I have watched it all morning over and over again. Hilarious!

Sneak Peak.

Helping with my sister's baby shower today. This is what we are drinking. More details soon to come. 

Oh, by the way. I'm spending the entire weekend sans kids! Thank you Shane. Hope you and the kids are having a great time back in Boise. I'm having a great time here in Utah.

Apple Cider Punch (recipe from BHG)

Ingredients
6 cups apple cider
2 cups orange juice, cranberry-raspberry juice, or orange-mango juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 750-ml bottle sparkling white grape juice

Directions
1. In punch bowl, large pitcher, or pitchers combine apple cider, orange juice, and lemon juice. Slowly add sparkling white grape juice. Serve immediately. 

Via Eat Drink Pretty

Yellow lovelies

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Have a wonderful sunshiny day. It's going to be a lovely one here in Boise. 

(That still sounds so strange!)