Thursday, October 29, 2009

those terrible three's

When did this little sweetness


turn into this?



There's something to be said for the rumors circulating about the terrible three's.

Don't believe me?

Ask the family of three and all of the employees of a certain sub shop that we visited for dinner last night.

Evidently, something as simple as asking a three-year-old to eat their sandwich meat can turn into World War III...Complete with weeping and gnashing of teeth, scraping of the tongue, and fake vomitting noises.

Lovely.

This is going to be a fun year.



Sunday, October 25, 2009

why ask why?

Why is talking to yourself considered a bad thing, but humming to yourself considered totally normal?

Why can't someone give Michelle Duggar some new shoes?

Why are french fries so good? And why can't I stop eating them?

Why does watching "The Biggest Loser" make me want to stuff my face?

Will I ever get the guts to paint my armoire (a.k.a. Big Brown)?

Why won't my kid sleep in her own bed?

Why is Dora's t-shirt so tiny?


Why can't my floor stay clean?

Why do I feel compelled to buy this pink swiffer - despite the fact that I already have one?


Why won't people leave me the heck alone about P90X? Yeah, it's great. Yeah, it's awesome. Yada yada yada...blah blah blah.


Why does my Dave Ramsey Envelope money always run out before the end of the month? The last week of the month lasts forever....

Thursday, October 22, 2009

sweet baby girl

I made this banner for my friend Ari who just gave birth to a precious little baby girl.





I found scrapbook paper at Michael's to match the colors of Ari's baby bedding.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but the banner says, "sweet girl".
Banners are really hard to photograph...especially when your camera is STINKY.


I made the circles with the Mini Monograms Cricut Cartridge.
The inner circles are 5 inches and the outer are 5 1/2 inches.

Making the circles the right size can be kind of tricky. I do a lot of pre-cutting with scrap paper to test sizes beforehand. As a result, it takes me for.ever. to do one.

While I was making this banner, I had an epiphany: a little bit of wisdom from the paper-crafting muses. It went something like this:

Um...Genius... It would save you a lot of time and paper if you would just make templates out of scrap paper beforehand and label them with the sizes. 

My muse is kind of a jerk.

Well, Paper Crafting Muse. That's novel idea, but one that requires forethought. And planning. And organization. Things I'm not so good at these days.
So, that's not going to happen.
Thanks, though.

How much longer can I use the "sleep deprivation" excuse for inability to function and lack of sanity? Any ideas?
 

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

our best laid plans

We had big plans this weekend: a little yard work, hanging out with friends and family, and a trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

Events devoid of puking, barfing, or vomiting of any sort.

Life has a funny way of going exactly the opposite direction than you've planned sometimes.

Charlie started Puke Fest 2009 late Friday night and the party is still going strong.
Very strong.

The first time your kid pukes, there's this little part of you that hopes and prays that it was just a fluke.
You ignore it.
You pretend everything is totally normal.

Somewhere in the back of your mind you worry that it's something more serious, but admission of sickness is the most certain way to make sure that it sticks around. Saying, or even thinking the word, "virus" is the quickest way to quarantine yourself to "The Sicky House".

So you put a happy smile on and go about your day like it won't happen again.

But then it does.

All down your shirt.
And into your shoes.
While you're eating lunch at a Mexican restaurant.

Leaving you no choice but to quickly scoop up your kids and rush out of the restaurant before it happens again.

...and with the realization that certain feminine undergarments have the unbelievable ability to hold a lot of puke.

So - We didn't get any yard work done this weekend. We didn't hang out with family or friends. And poor Avery didn't get to make it to the real pumpkin patch on Saturday.

Instead, she and David headed to the little church pumpkin sale down the street while Charlie and I de-pukified ourselves.

Thankfully, she's three and her pumpkin patch frame of reference is limited. She didn't seem to mind at all that there was no playground, corn maize, hayride, or petting zoo at this pumpkin patch.











She excitedly brought home her 4 pumpkin picks and showed the "Mommy", "Daddy", "Charlie" and "Avery" pumpkins to Charlie and me.

Then she and Charlie watched while David and I scooped out the insides and carved happy faces on each one.


Sure, it's early.
Sure, Halloween is still 10 days away.
Sure, they're going to rot waaaay before then.

But Avery had fun.

And sweet little Charlie managed to keep a sweet little grin on his sweet little face between puke sessions.
Because that's just his way.



Thursday, October 15, 2009

halloween banner

Here's a banner I made the other night at Craft Club.

I cut the pendant shape by hand.

The letters were cut with my Cricut using the Simply Sweet Cartridge.

I used the Doodlecharms Cricut cartridge to cut the spiders.

This banner ended up hanging in Avery and Charlie's playroom. Halloween can be kind of scary when you're a three-year-old, so I tried to keep all of my Halloween decor light and silly for Avery's sake. I think it turned out more goofy than scary. Avery loved it.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

almost wordless wednesday

Me: Hey, Avery. What'cha doin'?

Avery: Playing with my puppy.

Niiiice.

I swear she has a room full of toys.
Really.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Welcome to Stepford

My sister goes to a big southern university. It's the kind of southern that's steeped in tradition, big hair, lots of make up and designer jeans. It's the kind of southern where men still stand when a lady walks into the room, and where people seriously salute when "Dixie" is played.

Seriously.

It's the kind of southern where HUGE, palatial mansions with sprawling front porches are disguised as Sorority Houses.

A school where all the boys have hair just like this:



and the girls look like Pageant Time Barbie.

At football games.
And at lunch.
And when they're just hanging out.

They may be wearing shorts and a t-shirt, but they're in full make-up, dang it.
Cause that's how Old South University girls do.

So - you can imagine the trepidation I felt when my mom asked my very un-blonde-old-navy-jean-wearing-mother-of-two-self to join her for Bid Day at the Old South University of Beautiful People.

Because I love my sister...and because I was curious...and because I seriously wanted to check out those monster sorority houses, I agreed.

Ya'll. I've never in my 32 years seen anything like what I saw that day.

Let's just take a little tour, shall we?

Here you'll see Monster House #1:
Equipped with massive front porch and millions of fabulously decorated rooms.
I was told that this house is one of the largest in THE COUNTRY. (that's the U.S.A, people)

Monster House #2
Lovely, right?

Monster House #3

Notice the MILLIONS of people lining the streets.
They included not only the girls receiving Bids from Sororities that day, but their boyfriends, aunts, uncles, moms and dads, sisters, dogs, and next door neighbors.

There were at least 20 more houses just like those at the university.

As the time came for the girls to accept their bids, the active members of the sororities started pouring out of the houses in their matching t-shirts and perfect hair.

Then, at exactly 2:01 pm, the crazy started.

In the distance, a tiny blur of a girl with tear-stained cheeks and a crumpled piece of paper in her hand came running down the hill from the Union Hall.

She ran all the way to one of the sorority houses where a screaming mass of girls were waiting to squeeze her to death.

Minutes later, a literal deluge of college freshman girls came running down the hill to ear-shattering shouts and screaming from the hundreds of people lining the streets.

It. was. crazy.

People were screaming and crying, and crying and jumping up and down, and crying and dancing... and crying.

ca-razy.

Added to the volume of millions of screaming girls was music blasting from a D.J. booth at every sorority house. That's 20+ D.J.s with 20+ sound systems. Playing 20+ different songs. At the same time.

Wow.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Sororities. In fact, some of my most treasured memories of college life were spent as a member of a Sorority. I loved my sorority.
But I went to a very different university from Old South University.

My Bid Day was totally different. Let's just say, it was a little more understated. Make that a lot more.

My sister's Bid Day took place in an alternate universe of beautiful people and massive houses set in a quaint, picturesque Mayberry town. And I want to live there.

Just take a look at the inside of this mansion that my sister gets to live in a couple of years:








Oh how I love my sister.
But I'm a little jealous too.
Enjoy La-la Land, My Love.
Enjoy it.
Enjoy it for me.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Avery's Third Fiesta

After weeks and weeks of rainy rain rain, we finally got a little sunshine just in time for Avery and Faith's third birthday party last weekend. The beautiful, crisp weather set the perfect scene for our outdoor fiesta.

A few weeks ago, Kris and I found our invitations on Tiny Prints and just had to have them.

Unfortunately, they didn't show up until a couple of days before the party, so we had to send out e-vites.
Boo.
Boo, boo, boo.
BOOOOOOO.

Because we paid for them, I'm putting them on the blog.

Here's what they looked like.
Mostly. Give or take some info.

Cute, huh?

Too bad no one saw the actual invitations.
Boo. Boo, Boo, Booooo.

Anyway ---
Kris and I loved the little Dora on the invitation so much that we decided to dress the girls in matching felt appliqued t-shirts.

I couldn't leave Little Charlie out, so I made a Boots shirt for him.


We decorated the park gazebo with tissue pom poms, paper chains and mexican banners in light and dark pinks, orange, lime green, and turquoise.

The paper flowers that Kris and I created turned out really cute!

And it only cost us 4 hours, around 55 cents per flower, and a few grey hairs from the stress of trying to keep our kiddos distracted while we worked.
Worth it.



Our special guest, Dora, arrived 30 minutes into the party.

As she walked across the lawn, the kids literally RAN to hug her.

Avery was a little shy, but thrilled that Dora was at her party.

After greeting Dora, the kids were each given a backpack for a special adventure.

Faith's momma, Kris, and I ordered white backpacks from Discount School Supply.

Kris dyed the backpacks purple for the girls and orange for the boys. Then she hot-glued felt for the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth.

How cute did they turn out?!
(Was it worth the purple fingers and cramping hands, Kris?)


After the kids were given their backpacks, we gathered everybody around Dora for their "Big Adventure".

Each of the kid's little backpacks contained a few things to help with an "Adventure" with Dora.

FYI: I searched all over the internet for different Dora party ideas and came across the following activity here. It was a huge hit with the kiddos.

Dora opened her backpack, took out her map, and showed the kids the three destinations for their "Big Adventure".



Then, Dora told the kids to take their Spy Scopes out of their backpacks to help them look for "Cupcake Mountain" (the playground slide).

After their climb over Cupcake Mountain, Dora led the kids across the Silly Snake Pit (plastic snakes on the grass)

Finally, they made their way to the big surprise (a wrapped box under a tree).

Dora told the kids to take the whistles out of their backpacks to wake up the sleepy bear on top of the present.

Then they all opened the present to reveal The Big Surprise: A pinata!

We took the Pinata to a tree and let the kids take turns hitting it.

After the Big Adventure, everybody had nachos from the nacho bar.

Then, it was time for CUPCAKES!


and presents!



The BIrthday girls had a blast partying with Dora.

Now it's time to start planning Charlie's 1st birthday celebration NEXT MONTH!
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