All Things Halloween...

This year, we made flying bats to add to our Halloween Porch decorations.  Our Butler is a family favorite, although it freaks most of our neighbors out. But, that's what Halloween is about, right? Mission accomplished, although I do feel a little bad that some of the kids HATE him in our neighborhood, but then again, some kids LOVE him.

Usually it's me who is dragging everyone to the store to buy Pumpkins.  This year, Nate was all over it. We picked out some GREAT pumpkins and told the girls we would carve them the following night.  Hailey, as usual was LOVING sticking her hand in the pumpkin guts and making awesome faces to go with it. Addy, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with it.

Having children in the house makes Halloween and any holiday or special even SO much more exciting.  I am the parent helper in Hailey's preschool class and she was so excited for DAYS about her Halloween party and program at school. Leading up to this, Hailey had a really hard time deciding what to be for Halloween this year. She wanted to be so many things that she really couldn't narrow it down and decide. I think the end result of Mulan was perfect. She was absolutely adorable.

Once she decided on Mulan, she was extremely excited to call her Aunt Carmen to tell her. She knows that Mulan is Carmen's favorite Disney movie and character and she couldn't wait to ask her how to say 'Trick Or Treat' in Mandarin.

Hailey's teacher Miss Farrah

Hailey's best little class buddy Zoe

Hailey and Grandma J

Addy was very excited FOR Hailey. 

She loved watching her get all dressed up.

It got her even more excited to dress up on Halloween.

Time Out

I've realized in the 5 years that I've had children under my wing, Time Out is a very important aspect of life. Now, as important as it is in helping children learn boundaries and discipline, I firmly believe that adults also occasionally need a time out. 

I feel a bit selfish in writing this post at this time. I have friends who are in much more distressed times than me but I also know that everyone has their different challenges and right now, i'm facing quite a few. Tonight, I feel as though I might throw up at any time, and it's not because i'm sick. There is just TOO much going on and i'm DONE.  

I'm done with a lot of things right now and one of those things is Photography. I have a few shoots that I've already committed to and i'm happy with that, but I wanted to get the word out there that I will no longer be doing photo-shoots. It's been a blast and I have loved it, but it takes a lot of time and that is something that I don't have much of these days and it's precious, the time I do have.  

I have things coming up in my life that haven't even happened yet, but are extremely stressful and causing some crazy anxiety. My weeks are literally PACKED and i'm pretty sick of it. My kids are neglected (not in the pure sense of the word, but in general speaking.. don't go calling the authorities on me)  :P and I want more time with them.  My time with Nate is very limited and somehow, as the mother and wife of this family, I need to figure out how to make this work better.  

I apologize in advance if I cannot commit to any needs that may arise, I just need a time out. Thanks for your understanding. 

They Were Picked

Last Sunday started out like a regular Sunday night at Nate's parents. We go there every Sunday for dinner. Carmen and Ben made a delicious Chicken Poppy Seed Casserole and everyone brought something to go with it. It was a bit of a family effort. :-)  

After dinner when we were all settled and just hanging out visiting, I notice Ben kept video taping things. I was wondering what he was doing and just figured it was 'silly ol Ben'.  So, a few minutes pass, then Archie, their dog comes running in the room wearing a t-shirt. I read the writing on the shirt and then just passed it off as a 'silly ol Ben' joke or something so I didn't respond right away. I then hear Ben and Carmen say something quietly about how I saw it but didn't react. So, I looked again, read the writing a little slower, then it dawned on me.  

The shirt read: I'm Going To Be A Big Brother

I looked at Ben and Carmen and said " WHAT DOES THIS MEAN????" I repeated myself a couple times while seeing the grins on their faces and the camera in my face, when I turned to everyone else and got their attention while pointing to Archie's shirt.  Then, the magical and LONG AWAITED words escaped from Carmen's mouth:  

"We've Been Picked !"

Tears flooded the room at that moment and we all were LITERALLY jumping for joy!  

They had found out a couple days before on Friday that a sweet young girl had decided that Ben and Carmen would be the perfect parents for her baby boy due December 30th.  I cannot express the intense emotion I felt for Carmen and Ben upon hearing the news. We have all been praying and rooting for them for SO long. It's their turn!  Every time I think about it, it gets me all choked up. 

I know they will be such great parents, given their relationship with their nieces and nephews. We are so so so so happy for them. Last night, about every 20 minutes or so, till we fell off to dreamy land, Nate and I would just look at each other and someone would say, "I can't believe it! I am so excited for them!"

I can't wait for Carmen and Ben to meet their new baby boy at the end of the year, and I can't wait to meet my new little nephew. 

Congrats Carmen and Ben!!! We are so excited for you!!

Lincoln's Birthday

Last week, while we were in Vegas, we were able to attend Lincoln's 4th Birthday Party. Hailey and Addy were so excited to go to Lincoln's Birthday. They love him to death and could not wait. The party was at the 'Butterfly Park' in Las Vegas and it was a beautiful night for an outside party.

Summer was so sick with who know's what. She had a throat, cough, sinus thing going on, but was able to pull off this superb 

Dinosaur Cake.

I took a plethora of pictures. I love my family and when I get to see them, I can't help but snap away. It helps that I have the cutest nieces and nephews ever.

I can't believe how everyone is growing up so fast.  

Little Lincoln turned 4 and it amazes me.

Bella fell and got a rock in the bottom of her chin. She was pretty upset about it as you can tell.

at one point, Hailey was climbing on this fence that was really high up. It scared me. I yelled at her to get down. When she got down eventually, I explained to her why I was so upset about it. I said to her, 

"You could have fallen and broken an arm or a leg..."

Just after I say this, Little Preston chimes in from behind and says:

"or split your head open or something."

It made me laugh. Thanks Preston for the help.

I love watching these kids grow. I love watching these kids become friends. I hope it stays that way forever.

Happy Birthday Linc.

Bella's Baptism

Yesterday, I got to witness the baptism of my niece Bella. First of all, I can't believe she is 8!! I can remember clear as day, the day she was born and the first time I met her.  We were best buds. I'm so proud of her for making this great and important decision. She is such a bright and cheerful girl and we all just love being around her so much.  Hailey and Addy were so excited to go to her baptism and they thought it was so amazing. They got to go sit on the carpet right in front of the font and watch. We sang church songs and talked about the Holy Ghost and what it means to be baptized. What a great event.

Aside from the event of Baptism itself, it was a great excuse to get together as a family. It was a full house for this occasion and even though at times it was a little out of control, it was a lot of fun. Chad, Andrea, Bella, Senna, Damon, Summer, Lincoln, Hudson, Savanah, Hailey, Addy, Mom, Dad & Me, were all the people that stayed at my parents house. CRAZY! But so fun. 

Grandpa & Mimi came, as well as Jackie and Danny and after the baptism, we headed back to mom and dads for some seriously great food! My mom set up the yummiest buffet of food and we chowed!

It was definitely a neat experience for all of us. We are all so grateful that they made the decision to make the trip from Tacoma Washington to have her baptized in Las Vegas so we could all attend. 

Gratitude

I wish I could say that I'm sitting here blogging because I have all my chores done and have completed all things motherly and wifely. But really, I just ate a GIANT plate of homemade nachos and I can't really move at the moment.

Which, leads me into the reason for this post. I love food. I'm grateful for it. :-)

Something else i'm grateful for:

My Beautiful Girls

You can view more pictures from this shoot here.

Have you seen such precious faces? I haven't. But i'm allowed to say that, i'm their mom.  I'm grateful for the beautiful life I have been blessed with and the beautiful people I get to share it with.  

Recently, I stumbled upon a website I was informed of by a friend of mine. I have kept a gratitude journal off and on for a while now. Usually, I write in it when i'm feeling ambitious and in the "I'm going to be organized and keep journals and READ and blah blah blah" Who really has time for ALL that, right? But, this website is fantastic. You sign up your FREE account, then every evening, they send you an email with a simple question:

"What are you grateful for today?"

You simply reply to the email with 3-5 things, including pictures if you like and it gets posted to your account on that calendar day. You can review any posts and you can even print it all out! 

Easy Peasy!!!

I'm hoping on this journey to being more aware of the things i'm grateful for on a daily basis, I can in turn become a more positive person. Try it, You'll like it!

Here's to being grateful!

Home Improvement

I've been a little busy lately.  I've had some ideas for a while of things I wanted to do around the house. 

I finally did them. 

Aside from the usual surface clean and deep clean, these are my latest projects.

The Pantry

I'm always thinking of things I need next time I go to the store, but I never can seem to find anything to write it down on. Then, I usually forget till I get home from the store.  Now, I have made a solution to my problem.

Besides, Hailey and Addy love to draw on it while i'm cleaning the kitchen! It's a win-win for everyone!

Bathroom Mirror

I saw this idea on Pinterest and when I set my mind to something, I have to just do it.  I've seen it before and i've wanted to do it for a long time, but since seeing it there, it motivated me.  So, after a trip to Lowe's and a little painting followed with some sanding and liquid nails, we were set.  The next morning I showed Nate the completed project.. (he had no idea I was doing this) and he loved it. Phew!! That would stink if he didn't.. :-)

Before:

After:

Cute Chairs

I began this journey of making these chairs at a craft night with some friends. I finally finished them last week after cementing the pipes together so they would quit falling apart. They turned out pretty cute and the girls sure love them.

I have a list full of PROJECTS that i'm working on, but these are a few of the ones i've finally completed. Stay tuned for more home improvement projects!!