Halloween Costume Fixings

Ok, so for those of you who don't know me that well, I will go ahead and tell you that I am a slacker! I have tons of ideas of things I want to make and do, but when it comes down to it, most of those things just don't happen. My loved ones might not say I am a slacker per say, more that I just have too many interest and not enough time. ( bless their hearts I love them)

One thing that I always slack off on is Halloween costumes. Every year I say that I am going to make costumes for me and the kiddos, but before I know it, the end of October is here and I have no costumes for anyone. However, this year is different. This year I planned ahead, and I got an early start. The photo above is the materials needed to make the kids costumes. As we speak, Short Rounds costume is already half way finished! My costume is covered for a very long time. Last year was one of those slacker years and I went to the costume store the night of and bought some lady bug wings. I paid like $15 for some stupid wings, and decided I am going to be a lady bug for the next few Halloweens. DJ will also do the same thing as he has for the last couple of years. ( I know, we are boring party poopers) So it looks like I have this Halloween covered.

I will post pictures of the finished costumes later.

Pool Time

Last weekend we took a family outing to Phoenix. We wanted to get away, and also take Miss O to the Children's Museum there. Before we had really planned out this trip, we told Miss O that we were going to a water park. She was so excited and kept mentioning swimming at the water park. Well DJ did some research, and discovered that the water parks in the area were not really toddler friendly, so we decided to just make sure that the hotel had a pool.

Miss O loves the water and is not scared at all to jump in and get her head under water. This day was a huge treat for me, and I am not exactly sure how it happened. Usually DJ is the fun parent who plays and entertains Miss O, but some how DJ ended up hanging out with Short Round and I got to swim and splash with Miss O. She would jump in the pool, I would catch her and take her back over to the stairs, then she would do it all over again. She had so much fun, and it melted my heart to hear her giggle. Short Round was content to just hang out by the side of the pool. We dipped his feet in the water, but it was really warm outside, and he kept trying to fall asleep. We finally gave up and let him sleep by the pool. (sooooooo cute!!)

I was always a water bug growing up. I spent all summer in the pool and was brown as a biscuit by the beginning of the school year. I have a feeling that Miss O is going to be the same way. We are going to have to look into some swim lessons for her in the near future.

We Put Her To Work

One recent afternoon, while Short Round was taking a nap, we opened up some of the windows so we could hear him if he cried and we went out to the garden to do some work. The garden does not really get too much attention these day, and the tomatoes had gotten out of control. The cages that my brother and I made did a great job keeping the birds out, but the plants were now trying to grow out of it. The plants were having a hard time standing up, because the tomato cages just could not support the weight of the plants anymore.

We got in there, and got it all cleaned up with the help of Miss O and her Lion. We decided that we could use some stakes to prop the tomato plants back up. Miss O saw her daddy hammering the wood into the ground and she decided to do the same. She found a brick and started hammering away. (so cute!) Then I am not sure what made her think this was a good idea, but she started using lion's head as a hammer, poor lion.

This afternoon in the garden was tons of fun and it melted my heart. There are many reason to grow your own food, but the time spent with family, and the effort and love put in by everyone just makes it special. Miss O has been a big help in the garden through out this entire season, and we hope that her love for being involved continues as she gets older.

A Visit From Paw Paw

Even though we don't get to see all of them very much, my kiddos are blessed with three sets of grandparents. Recently we had one of those grandparents come out for a visit all the way from Kentucky. My dad or Paw Paw as he is called, has not been out to visit in about two years. He was pretty eager to see those grandbabies. The kiddos warmed right up to him, and it was nice to have an extra set of hands around for a few days. I told him to make sure not so much time passes between his next visit. Two years is too long.

It's Fall Time!!

I know, I know, the first day of Fall was a couple of days ago, but we were having some technical difficulties and I was not able to use the computer.

Miss O has been in such a great mood lately, and I thought she would like do something fun and different. I found these foam pumpkins and leaves at Target in the dollar bins, and thought she would love to decorate them. Miss O is always excited at the idea of using markers and stickers, so she really loved this. We got lucky and Short Round was content to just hang out while we decorated.

I had plans to string these pumpkins and use them as part of our Halloween decorations, but Miss O loves to play with them so they are now spread out in different places through out the house.

Now I am going to have to come up with some other Fall craft projects for us. Please fell free to leave a comment if you have any favorite toddler Fall craft activities!

Just A Weekeend Trip To The Crand Canyon Part 2

 I can't even began to tell you what a wonderful time we had on this family adventure. We all got to spend time together in a beautiful natural environment. We also learned so much about our children during just a short period of time. We learned that Miss O can count to 10, and that she is now concerned with monsters. We also learned that Levi is a really good traveler when it comes to riding in the car for long periods of time. It was not only a fun trip, but it helped to make our family closer.

 

Levi, as you can tell from the pictures, spent most of his time snoozing or hanging out in the baby carrier, but Miss O was a busy girl. We have been blessed with a little girl who loves to be outside and get dirty. We took her on hikes, and she had a blast. There was also lots of big wildlife that she is not used to seeing, so every time she saw a deer or an elk she would want to sit down at the closest rock to watch it for a while. We also managed to make it through the weekend with minimal meltdowns, and lots of wonderful behavior.

 

This was a trip that I was very nervous about taking, but all of the issues we had we not big enough to have made it worth staying at home and missing this opportunity.

So This Is 30

Well this is it, I have been on this earth for three decades now! I am not sad about turning 30, in fact, I find it more bizarre than anything else. Even thought I have a husband, 2 kids, and a house, I still feel like I am at the age between teenager and adult. Getting older is just a number, and how I feel and act is a more accurate indication of my true age. When my attitude finally catches up with my age, then I will be sad.