Archive for October 2009

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Na Blo Po Mo, What?



What's all this NaBloPoMo business? It stands for National Blog Posting Month and basically means that I'll be posting everyday, including weekends, for one month. I normally do post 5 times a week, but remembering to do so on weekends will be tough. I'm sure I'll be scrambling for content, so I'll be looking for inspiration everywhere!

Here's a pic of the Vaughnster on Halloween day. We had a successful lunch out (no crying, no food was thrown ((on purpose)), and everyone ate) and then headed to the playground to enjoy the sunny weather.

I made Vaughn another owl shirt, serving as her Halloween shirt. It didn't really turn out how I imagined, but it works.

We're getting ready for a spooky dinner, trick or treating, and then Ghost Hunters after the kids go down. Dorky, I know! But I love it! Can't wait! Happy Halloween, ghosties!

Happy Halloweenie!



Vaughn picked up the whole Trick or Treat thing quickly last night at Vance's school's Trunk or Treat. Vance, however, crumpled with shyness and wouldn't take any candy that people tried to give to him. It was a quick night, we were only there for about 20 minutes before people started to pack it up early.

Vance says he'll Trick or Treat tonight, so we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping so, because two kids equals more candy and more chances for me finding Reeses peanut butter cups in their baskets when they're sleeping tonight.

I hope everyone has a great night. Happy Birthday to any Halloween babies out there!

Friday, October 30, 2009


Spooky cupcakes!

Someone help me - there's no reason that we needed cupcakes on top of all the candy!


Thursday, October 29, 2009

Pumpkin Carving



Here's what you need to know about this photo:

  • The kids picked 2 pumpkins out. The big one rotted in less than a week, so we were left with only the small one to carve.
  • Vance thinks he likes to get the guts out, but not really. He has a thing about getting his hands dirty.
  • This was the first year that he really cared about what the pumpkin looks like. He chose the shapes of all features and could not be swayed. (Believe me, I tried.) This annoyed me a bit as I like carving pumpkins.
  • Next year we'll get more than one pumpkin to carve.
  • The pumpkin carving tools that I use are around 17 years old. I believe I got them when I was a freshman in high school.
  • Since carving the pumpkin, no one has remembered to light the candle at night.
  • This year I didn't roast the seeds.
  • Vance and I did this while Vaughn was napping and it took around 20 minutes. If we would have done it while she was awake it would have taken a lot longer.

It's getting spooky around here!

I was never a big fan of Halloween. Then came Vance and the adorable way he asked to see the "pooky" stuff at Target years ago and I'm hooked. That's all it took. It makes me sad that he no longer says "pooky" and puts the appropriate 's' in front. My baby is growing up. But that's a whole nother post.

Found these DIY bat napkin rings online today. (Here's the link to his site and the template.) He does some pretty cool stuff, so even if you're not digging the bats, head over and take a look. He made them using felt, which is a fantastic idea, but I was all out. So I used black construction paper instead. I'll keep this idea on file for next year and use the felt. The paper worked, but definitely will only hold up for one night. I'll also make them a little longer because it was a little tight getting them to fit around the napkin.

We're getting excited!


Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Owl Shirt

Problem: Vaughn stained this t-shirt after wearing it once.

Solution: Reverse applique, covering the stain and using yet material from another stained shirt, adding some buttons, and felt.

Viola! A new shirt!

This was a quickie and turned out okay. I'll do the next one a bit different and am excited about all the possibilities!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Vance talks about the tooth fairy

Vance is going to tell you what he knows about the tooth fairy. This is information he solely gained from classmates at school. My camera battery was running out, so I had to hurry him along. The battery did finally quit, but he kept talking and talking and talking...

Monday, October 26, 2009

Group pic with cow and sombrero

It was noticed that this pic was accidentally left out of the group below. Here you go, Char Bray.

Jeff's Birthday Scavenger Hunt


Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer


My brother and his wife threw an amazing birthday party. Laid back kind of fun, which we're all about. I haven't been on a scavenger hunt since I was in grade school and I think it's safe to say that this brought the kid-like behavior out in all of us. I say we do this next year too and in the mean time I'll be getting my hands on a Hooters shirt, because that would have put our team in the lead.


Saturday, October 24, 2009

Vaughn says Me Me


Vaughn said Me Me for the first time yesterday. Pronounced May-May, it's French for Grandma and that's what my mom goes by.

We're working on other family names, but the kids always say Me Me and Dee (for my Aunt Dee) first. It's no secret that these names are close to Mama and Dada, which are usually always first for babies. (Something to think about if you're a soon-to-be grandparent and trying to think of a name for yourself! Pick a M or a D name!)

My camera battery was almost out, so it's a little fuzzy and grainy. And it's also sideways. And Vaughn likes close-ups.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Project of the day: Spooky Skeleton



This is one of those projects that really isn't meant for kids, well young kids I should say. I thought Vance would get a kick out of it, so I whipped it up without his help. Cutting out the pieces is time consuming, as is the scoring of the fold lines, and gluing of the teeny-tiny tabs. I set it out for a surprise for him and he loved it.

This is from Canon's Creative Park. There's a ton of printable projects, go check them out. This character is from the "Halloween Night" set. I was leery of all the ink that would be used, so I just printed out one character. I guess an idea would be to print them out in black and white, then have the kids color in the pieces.

Happy Birthday Jeffrey!



Hey, hey, hey - It's Jr's birthday today!

Yup, it's my little brother's 29th birthday! Hope he has a good one and can't wait to celebrate with the family tomorrow!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

A glimpse into our morning commute


This is one of Vance's favorite songs. It's from the Juno soundtrack and he asks to listen to it over and over in the car. And also adds, "turn it up loud so we can rock it!" He's a funny guy.

He also likes the next 5 songs from the soundtrack, which includes a Buddy Holly song and a song that says something about "driving to Madison" where he always says, "that's where we used to live!"

It's at this point on the soundtrack that we have to do a little skipping around because of the throwing of some random F bombs. Overall, we enjoy the entire quirky soundtrack. I'm happy because I don't have to listen to "kid" music, but not so happy because Vance likes to listen to the songs over and over and over. Variety tends to be overrated by kids.

Enjoy your Thursday. We're missing Vance's "Mad Scientist Night" at his school because of his soccer game. Wait. I should call it soccer practice. They don't let the kids play little games. I don't even know if they kick the ball. I have seen them carry the ball inside in an upside down orange construction cone. (?) We won't be signing him up again at this place. Sorry, I got carried away. Have a good day, despite the rain around here!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Even though her sippy cup was in arm's reach



Vaughn would rather


drink like her big bro.


Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Dinner Diaries

Last night at dinner, both kids gagged and Vance puked. Needless to say, dinner wasn't as successful as I thought it would be.


The moon and stars aligned yesterday afternoon and I was able to get an hour to myself. I used this time to prep for dinner. Cooked bacon, chopped an onion (which I later realized that this recipe doesn't call for - damn), and peeled and cubed a butternut squash (all fingers still accounted for, phew!). Bacon, squash, and goat cheese pasta. It's fantastic. A little time consuming, (cutting the squash is a pain in the butt) but worth it.

I've been making this pasta for years and this is the first time that Vance wouldn't eat it. "Squash! No, way!" I thought Vaughn would love the squash too, but no. With every bite of squash I'd try to sneak in, she'd make this horrible gagging face. She hardly even ate the noodles. She did pick out all the bacon though. We made Vance try one bite of squash and he erupted.

I'm never cooking again.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Wedding Cake Pops

Using my best Rachel Zoe impersonation, "I'd die. Bananas". (She drives me insane) But that's what I thought when I saw these cuties. Follow the link.

Halloweenie

Vance was having a tough time deciding what to be for Halloween. I was pushing for Bob the Builder, because Vaughn could be Wendy and how cute would that be. He kept saying, "No, I want to be a construction guy when I grow up, not for Halloween". Ok.

We went to Target on Saturday afternoon with an idea in mind and when we got to the costume aisle he had already changed his mind. "This is it!", he said. We took the costume home and since then he's been wearing it. He's not wearing it now, I make him take it off to eat, but he's holding it in his lap.

Any guesses? Mom and Dad, no guesses from you. They dropped by on Saturday night and witnessed the costume in action.


Saturday, October 17, 2009

Pumpkin Farm 2009

We went to the pumpkin farm today. This was the best picture I could get of the kids.

It was cold. It was muddy. It was windy. We did not plan well. Vaughn wore safety goggles the whole time. And lets not talk about the positioning of her skirt.


The pumpkin farm itself was amazing.


Here's Justin, pretending to not be jet lagged.



We lasted about 25 minutes there. Then off to Chipotle for lunch, because we're big believers that guacamole makes everything better.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Ni Hao

Last week we were sitting around the table, talking about how gross chicken feet taste. Vance piped up and said, "but chicken fingers are good!"

...............

Justin returns home tonight from Hong Kong. He was worried that he'd offend someone by not at least trying them, but I don't think the situation ever occurred. Thank goodness for him.

Vance just told me I was crazy, in Spanish. The day can only get better from here.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

4 years ago today


4 years ago today:

  • Vance was a baby
  • Vance picked out his first pumpkin (with some help)
  • It was warm enough for me to wear a t-shirt
  • I had blond hair (or herr)
.......

You know it's a slow day when I start to post old pictures. Maybe this picture will help summon the sun to come out. Wouldn't it be great to see it?

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Little Lady



This is the little lady that cried the whole way through the grocery store yesterday.

This is the little lady that whimpered "pumpay" throughout the entire store and when I finally found the mini-pumpkins and handed one to her, she pushed it away.

This is the little lady that Houdini'd out of the grocery cart seat belt and was attempting to jump out while I was loading bags into the car.

This is the little lady that I had to hold while loading groceries into the car while using one foot to hold onto the grocery cart because the store's parking lot is on a slant and it kept rolling away.

This is the little lady that would rather play with an unopened container of antibacterial wipes than any other toy in the house. (She also demanded to carry them into Vance's school for pick-up.)

This is also the little lady that takes her shoes off in the car and chews on the straps when I don't remember to take them off after buckling her in.

This little lady tests my patience and sanity umpteen times a day.

Hmph...

It's a good thing that this little lady is so darn cute and has been letting me put her hair in pig tails.

That's the only reason we're keeping her around lately!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Toddler Repellant Update



The fish is still in the Tupperware cabinet, scaring the bejesus out of Vaughnie.

Mama's been happy about not having plastic containers all over the floor.

It's a win win... Except for Vaughn, I guess. Moving on.
A few days ago she opened the cabinet, looked at the fish, and said, "Whoa". She repeated it one more time, then walked away.

Today she opened the cabinet and reached down to touch the fish. From where I was sitting I couldn't tell if she actually touched it or not, but this is a sign. The fish is losing it's power.

I'm gonna need something stronger.

Friday, October 09, 2009

Vaughn was the last one to use the camera and now I can't find it. How irresponsible of her.


Because of this debacle, I have no new pictures to share. Must channel my energy and think like a 17 month old to find where she has hidden it.

...............

My soap claims to "Energize!". I was hoping that this promised energy would get me pumped for taking the kids to get their flu shots today, but I'm not feeling anything yet. Hoping it will kick in soon. (Their doctor isn't giving shots in her office, but in their hospital-affiliated clinic on certain days. Which means no appointments and general public. And this kills me.)

My new hair product claims that it will give me "camera ready hair". I wouldn't go that far, but I did tell a difference today after using it. So, not a total loss.

..............

I started out the day by cleaning out the pant section of my closet. So far, I have 15 pairs of pants in the pile for Goodwill. I could have added a few more pairs, but homegirl needs something to wear.

Maybe I'd get through the flu shot lines faster if I get that burst of promised energy, have half-ass camera ready hair, and without pants on. Too bad the camera is missing.

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Beautiful Junk



Two weeks ago Vance's class spent a week talking about the three R's. Reduce, reuse, recycling!

Which I'm all for.

Except for when he keeps bringing home "beautiful junk" projects that were mingled into the reusing portion of the lesson. This is a "newspaper putter inner" that he would like to tape to the wall. He was almost in tears last night when I told him that it was time for it to go into the recycling. "But it's my beautiful junk!", he screamed. So, I caved and it's still sitting on the counter. At least for now.




Wednesday, October 07, 2009

We missed family apple picking this year

I started off yesterday determined to post about apple picking. And the fact that we haven't taken our annual family apple picking trip this year.


I could only find pictures from a couple of the trips, so I wasted a lot of time looking through pictures, trying to find all of them. I thought it would be cute to post one picture from each trip, just to see how everyone has changed through the years. (Some old pictures from my last computer that I've uploaded onto my new one are categorized incorrectly. I need to fix it, but it takes time.)

And then I started thinking about it more. Seems like this time of year is popular to us when it comes to making changes in life. It was on our very first trip to the apple farm when we announced that I was pregnant with Vance. The following fall, on our next trip, we announced that we had sold our house and were moving to Wisconsin. A few more years down the road and we were pregnant with Vaughn during this very same time. And now, this fall, we're trying to sell our house and move again.

A snowball of memories, plus looking through old pictures, plus getting Vance to school on time yesterday. That's the reason for I never finished my post on apple picking.

But I guess I just did. Just without the pictures.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009


Here's something to look at while I'm working on the real post for today. Why is Vance's hair and the grass so long?

Monday, October 05, 2009

Two years ago, pretty much to the day, I started a Christmas stocking for Vance. This picture is after a couple of weeks of work.


I've blogged about it before. How easy it looks to do. How painstakingly time consuming of a project it is. Since the Holidays are around the corner I've been thinking about it again. Vance is old enough to ask, "Hey! Where's my stocking?!" so I better finish. And then Sarah mentioned on her blog that she's making one. I feel guilty that I don't have Vance's finished and that I don't even have one for Vaughn. Better get moving!

I dug it out, dusted it off, and have been working on it for a couple of weeks. There's about 12 more pieces that need go on. See that tiny golf club sticking out of the tiny golf bag? What you can't see is the rest of the club. That's what this stocking is about - having you sew a tiny piece of felt around a pipe cleaner to make the shaft of the club, only to have it hidden inside the golf bag. I'm on to it now, so I've been doing some shortcuts.

Poor Vaughnie. When it comes time to pick her stocking out, she'll be getting a much easier one!







Friday, October 02, 2009

Project of the day


This was the Project of the day - for yesterday. A little hard to tell, but it's supposed to be Birch trees and the fall leaves.

We took a piece of cardboard, dipped the edge in white paint and dragged it across the black paper to make the trees. (We looked at pictures of Birch trees before, so Vance knew what we were going for...) I figured it was a good time to talk about the primary colors, so I let Vance mix the red and yellow, to Surprise! make orange. We did the same for the purple and green. He used small sponges to "stamp" the leaves on.

I know this is very boring to most. I'll switch it up.

Vance had soccer last night and did very well. Signing him up with a friend has totally made the difference. He can't wait to get out there and has so much fun running around. (He's playing indoor, so thankfully we didn't have to brave the elements last night!)

Gram has come to our rescue and is watching the kids today so that we can do some house hunting with our realtor.

Have a great day!






 

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