Happy Halloween!

Mittens

I'd like to tell you a tale of a beloved pair of mittens.

These mittens came into my life about 12 years ago. They were a Christmas gift from my parents. I've had them longer than I've been married. I love them. They are threadbare in places, and well worn. The last few years I have been looking for a replacement, but I just couldn't find something I liked as well. I didn't want something really bulky. They couldn't be scratchy. They had to be mittens, not gloves. They had to be a color I liked. These are tough criteria in Carrie World.

These are my pitiful mittens. Aren't they sad looking? I should be embarrassed, I'm sure.

Yesterday, however, a light shone down from heaven on these beauties. They are perfect. Soft, thin, mittens (not gloves), green (my fave), and they even have a cute little slit to slip my fingers out if I need to (but not a bulky flip thing with a button).

Say a little prayer because my old gray mittens have been laid to rest and my new green mitten are waiting patiently in the pockets of my winter coat. I can't wait to wear them.

(I know, simple pleasures, right? But that is what makes me, me, right?)

Finally Done!

In an ode to Project Runway, you get to see a glimpse of my completed design, but not enough to get the whole look. You'll have to wait until the "Runway" show!

I am finally finished. Phew. I was a major procrastinator this year. I do think that the costumes are adorable though. Lily is going to be an octopus and Abby is going to be Pippi Longstocking. Abby has seen the movie, so she does know who she is. The movie is pretty old. I need to get the book and read it to her, I bet she would love it. (Put the on the list, Carrie.)

I went though a bit of a frustration time with all this stuff, because buying a costume would have been so much easier. But as my aunt so aptly put it, making Halloween costumes is in my genes on both sides of my family. My sister and I never had store bought costumes, so I always feel as though I should make the girls costumes. Oh, but the stress it causes! It ends up working out and I am proud of my work, the costumes are original, and they look adorable.

I can't wait to show you how they look on Halloween!

Not much to blog about today

I've been thinking about what to blog about and I just don't have anything. Or, maybe I just am not in the mood. I'm not sure.

I'm in the role of nurse to Lily today. She threw up three time yesterday. Fun times. I'm still not sure why. She could be sick or it could be from the antibiotic she's on. I called the doctor and they aren't sure either. We're taking a day off of the antibiotic. No throwing up yet today and it is almost lunchtime. I'm still nervous though. I'm just not in the mood to clean up any more vomit. I've had about all I can take of it.

Maybe that is why I'm not in the mood to blog. Hmmm.

I'll be back soon, I'm sure!

Abby's favorite sites

Lately, Abby gets a few minutes of computer time a few times a week. We started doing this after we were hearing more about her using the computer at school. She doesn't get to do just anything, but there is one sight that both she and her teacher rave about. We also have a site that is by an author that I have blogged about before, Mo Willems. It is also very fun and simple for younger kids. Here are some links for those of you with kids in similar age ranges:

This is ABC Ya! The picture is the Kindergarten page, but they have pages for K-5th grade. Abby loves the dot-to-dots, just to name one. They also have holiday specific activities.

This is Pigeon Presents. There isn't as much to do as ABC Ya!, but it's fun for a few laughs.

Feeling Fancy

We have a few new things in our kitchen that make me feel like I am living very extravagantly. We recently came to have a Keurig Coffee Maker, which to me is very fancy. We didn't actually buy it in the normal way, however. Our friend, Lacie, won it at a work thing (along with a cool spin-y rack and a box full of sample coffees and hot chocolates) and doesn't drink coffee at all. She sold it to us for a very cheap price (really we essentially stole it, but thank you, Lacie, it has been used a ton already).

Matt is the only coffee drinker in our house, but what I have learned is that you can do hot chocolate in the Keurig! We actually bought a whole box of just hot chocolate thingies (what do you call those things?) at Target and Abby and I love them. The rack is really fun too. It makes us feel even fancier. You know, kind of like Fancy Nancy...

But the newest fancy thing I want to tell you about is something you may have noticed up above in the first picture. And that is my fancy new syrups... Yup, I have Starbucks Peppermint flavoring for my hot chocolate! Matt had to be a copycat and buy some caramel. That's okay. :) I saw on another blog I read that you could actually buy it there and so I emailed Matt yesterday while he was working because he frequents Starbucks during the workday.... and... guess what he surprised me with?!?! It is yummy.

Ah, simple pleasures. Yesterday morning I took a steamy cup of peppermint hot chocolate to the bus stop with me and shared it with Abby. Her first sip she said, "Yuck! Peppermint!" Then, about 10 seconds later, "That's good. Can I have another drink?"

I need a book recommendation- Please?

Help a girl out-

I need a book recommendation or two. But, first, let me tell you what kind of book I'm looking for. I want light, easy, fun reading for Fall Break. I loved the Hunger Games series, the Twilight series, I love Sophie Kinsella, chick lit, if you will... Just to give you an idea.

So, that said, if you have a suggestion, click on that little place down below where it says "COMMENTS" and tell me what to read. It will send your comment right to my email box. :)

Wordless Wednesday

A confession

I have a confession to make.

To some of my closest friends and family this will not really be a confession, but, I hate to clean. I mean I really hate to clean. And, I kind of stink at it. Now, let me explain. I am a pretty tidy person. You wouldn't walk into my house and think, "What a dirty house!" I am actually kind of fanatical about having a picked up house. My counters are clean, my floors are vacuumed. No dirty dishes. But, I stink at the deep cleaning stuff. You know, bathrooms, baseboards, dusting...

But this is a good week. You know why? ...and I am not going to be embarrassed to say this. Merry Maids is coming! Yay! The funny part is that preparing for Merry Maids actually takes some cleaning work. Weird, right? But, you have to make it easy for them to do the deep cleaning. Clean up the clutter. I'm going to wash all the rugs. But, tomorrow afternoon, this house will be sparkling. I can't wait.

Alright. End of confession time. I'm perfect again. Ha. Yeah, right.

(Okay, so I just googled 'cleaning image' and couldn't pass this one up. Love it.)

Pumpkins, Ghords, and Mums

We got our pumpkins for the fall season!

We tried a new vendor this year and got beautiful pumpkins, a few cool ghords (or colored pumpkins as we call them), and a gorgeous mum for pretty good prices. Abby was bummed about the lack of hayride, but what we came home with was SO much nicer.

We are planning on having a party for a church group in a few weeks, so I was on the look out for some pumpkins to decorate the deck with. Not to mention, it has cheered me up to look out the back door at them, rather than the dead flowers that they just replaced (I know, I could have done something about the dead flowers earlier, right?).

Here are the girls trying to choose a pumpkin. As you can tell, Abby is trying to help me out with the picture and Lily is not. Having a 20 month old is all about snapping about 100 pictures and hoping you get 1 good one, I guess.

Again, Lily on the run...

But she loved the flowers.

...and here is the site as I look out my back door. Pretty, right?

Family Art Class

We previewed a Family Art Class at Gymboree on Saturday morning. Because it is labeled as "Family", both girls could attend the same class. I think we've decided not to enroll, but we still had fun today. Their warm up is wall painting. This is the first time that Lily has ever painted, and Matt and I found it really stressful! :) But she did really well. The teacher said that most little ones her age usually stay in one space and she really moved around the paper well. Abby loved it.

They (meaning the class) was just starting a new fall theme, so today we did projects that focused on barns and farms. Here they made a picture of a barn with animal stamps.

This was a tractor picture. I don't have a picture of the finished product, but Abby's was really good. She actually drew it in a corn field, with real ears of corn growing. It was cool. I think she was actually a little old for the class (5 is the max age) and Lily was a little young. Probably not the best fit for us right now, but a fun Saturday morning nonetheless.

Wordless Wednesday

Puzzles

Lily is very interested in puzzles lately. When we go to Gymboree class, they have a mini-store there that stocks Melissa and Doug puzzles and she always stops to "play" with them. They are having a 20% off sale right now, so I bought her a new one today. We also have some puzzles at home from when Abby was younger also, and I think as of today, I have finally narrowed them down to the ones that are the most age appropriate for Lily right now. The rest she just throws the pieces around, and that really isn't much fun for the rest of us. Not to mention, Abby just tries to show Lily how to do them, which makes them both mad. So, those have been put away for the time being.

Here are our current favorites...

Furry Farm Animals

She really likes this one and the duck is her favorite. She walks around with the animals growling. They all make the same sound: grrrrrrr.

(this is actually not the exact one we have, but a close approximation off of the Melissa and Doug website)

Ocean Animals

(This was Abby's first and is only a so-so in Lily's opinion)

... and the new one, Safari Animals!

This one is super fun because the animals will stand up on their own outside of the puzzle. I think the giraffe is Lily's favorite so far, but the whole puzzle is a hit.

Happy Sunday

Happy Sunday Morning!

We are having a quiet morning around here this morning. We've been doing double duty with church services lately, so we're taking the morning off today. This afternoon will be packed with church activites and services, so we're saving up our energies! Abby will have Pathfinders which is a a "youth group" for her age group, I will be helping out with the fifth grade-middle schoolers on a hayride/cookout type outing, and Matt and Lily have the normal 6:00 church stuff.

It ended up being lucky we planned for a quiet morning because I'm pretty sure that Lily's off and on again cold has turned into an ear infection. Call it Mother's Intuition, I'm calling it experience. We'll see tomorrow when I call the doctor. In addition to that, I woke up with a pretty good headache. It's better now, but I wasn't feeling so hot at first.

BUT...

You know what made it all better??? Monkey Bread.

And, remember this post about wanting to buy one of those tricky high chairs that hooks to your table? Yup, bought one last night (and won over Matt that we should buy one). Isn't it cool? I love how the girls are giggling at each other. (and look at that yummy Monkey Bread!)

Have a great day!

The Modern Conveniences of Today's Toasters

So you see this toaster?

Let me first say, this is not my toaster. This is a newer model of my toaster. My toaster is 10 years old. I got it as a wedding gift. I love my toaster, but it pretty much has all the same features (meaning the buttons) as the picture shows above, which is what I need for my story....

Some mornings, Abby will choose a Pop Tart for breakfast. She likes her warmed up in the toaster, however I know that if it goes a full cycle, it will be too hot. So, I put it in for a few seconds (maybe 30), and then I hit the "Cancel" button and it pops up, ready for her to eat. About a week ago, I showed her how to hit the "Cancel" button when she thought it was warm enough. She loves this job.

Fast forward to yesterday. I put some toast in, because she had requested toast this day for breakfast, and she was over by the toaster when it popped up. To which she exclaimed, "You mean, it pops up all by itself!?!?!"

Priceless.

Decorating for Halloween

Abby and I pulled out the Halloween decorations this last weekend. We don't do a lot of decorating compared to some people, but we have some things that we put out every year. This year, we added a couple new things and tossed a few old things.

We bought the silly ghost that is hanging on our back door. If you push the purple button on his hand, he talks to you in a spooky voice (and even Lily has figured out how he works). He's pretty funny. We also bought the ghost bucket on our kitchen table. Abby insisted that we use the ghost placemats because they match. I've had those for years and haven't liked them because I can never get them to lay flat, but she was right and now they are laying flat and look great. Sadly, this will be the last year for our window clings. Lily has already destroyed a few that were placed a little too low and some aren't sticking any more. Abby is VERY upset about this, but we'll find new ones next year I'm sure.

Do you decorate for Halloween?

Wordless Wednesday