Favorite Link Friday

*I am in super clean and organize mode. And I SO wish I had a little extra closet space to pull this off.

*If I was going to get into pumpkin carving, I would do this

*The Jellyfish costume is one I think I could attempt to make

*So cute - Halloween petit fours

*At our Thursday night dinner club, our friends made Hash Brown Quiche. They used sausage and it was delicious. My girls even ate a piece each. It's Paula Deen so I'm going to experiment with a lighter version.

*These little cupcakes are about the cutest things ever.

Have a great Halloween and remember to turn your clocks back.

'I want to do it myself!'

We've all heard that phrase before. It usually comes from the mouth of a 2 yr old. Maybe even earlier, but that's the age it usually starts.

Lily has been potty trained for 2 weeks which is fantastic. I was so resistant to this knowing that it would require much more of me once she decided it was time to give up diapers. And that's just what she did, decided one day she was done being a little girl. Only a few accidents later and no more diapers.

Another one of her big decisions happened today. She decided that she didn't want my help. In fact, she told me multiple times to go out of the bathroom while she goes. My first response was, hey, you don't tell me what to do. The second was, well, she has to go sometime and this means she doesn't need my help.

We did great until 4 o'clock when I heard her scream, I need to go potty and run as fast as her little legs would take her. Then I heard blood curdling screams. I thought she of course fell in the toilet. Nope, she peed her pants. She was mortified.

'Change me! Change me!", she yells at the tops of her lungs in between screams. She only had her panties on so there wasn't too much to change. She then proceed to yell, "change me" as if she wanted me to remove the skin on her legs to free her from the wetness. I was trying hard not to laugh at her response to this normal, albeit, uncomfortable experience. Really, she was this bothered by peeing her pants? I guess this is good thing.

Once off the potty she told me that she no longer wanted to be a big girl. "I'm a little girl mama, put my diaper on". No way, kiddo. You are in this for the long haul.

Now if I could just figure out how to teach my 4 year old not to pee at night. This one is going to take some time. And the solution cannot include a load of dirty sheets everyday.

Favorite Link Friday

*Last night I got to attend my first birth ever. It was so cool. My friend, Angela, who has this blog, gave birth to her 4th little one, a boy. She didn't know the sex of the baby so I was super excited and hoping it was a girl. Wrong! I was so shocked. Anyway, just giving a big CONGRATULATIONS to her and thanks for letting me sneak into her birth.

*Hand print candles. What a cool and easy idea. I may try this this weekend or give the gift to my mom.

*I love the subtitle on this blog, it's hilarious. And I LOVE this simple table. I can just envision my kids destroying it the moment I finished it.

*I love projects like this. I would love to do this for my garage and for the girls dress up clothes.

*Oven Ham Sammies - delicious. I did these for a shower this last weekend and everyone wanted the recipe. I just made them with whole wheat rolls this week and they turned out
great.

*Candy Corn Cookies - cute and easy.

Have a great weekend.

Pumpkins

I love pumpkin for baking, but I do not love it for carving. Slimy mess, stinky guts, and all those seeds you feel obligated to roast. I know, it's like not loving trees at Christmas. But I just can't handle the mess. So this is how we did pumpkins this year.

We found all the spare Mr. Potato Head supplies we could find

Dad drilled a hole

Presto! Pumpkin created

Aren't they adorable. I'm fairly certain they are going to get stolen by the high school students in our neighborhood, but for now, the look cute.

Then.....we went the pumpkin patch.
The first pumpkin's were from my brother's garden which Eloise calls her own pumpkin patch.

Here's this cute little pumpkin at 10 weeks old.

goats, goats, goats

the big slide that she went down 5 times

my kiddos

Favorite Link Friday

*I'm a huge fan of the Cheesecake Factory's Thai Lettuce Wraps. So I decided to google it and see what I could come up with. Voila! Here you go. Delicious.

*I'm thinking about making these for a baby shower this weekend.

*I think this is the cutest necklace. I really want Dave to buy this for me for Mother's Day - just in case he ever reads.

*I'm planning on putting this little craft together. I love the idea of family rules posted in the house.

*Tank Top Totes - I think my friend T could use this...she has over 56 tank tops!

Have a good weekend!

wow

My friend Cutzi has 3 little kids, all within 3 months of my little ones. She just adopted her 3rd tiny baby, Xochi just a few month before I had Sam. (her stories of their adoptions are so inspiring and Spirit led. Definitly worst a read).

When I was reading her blog a few months back, she wrote this. I thought, oh man, I'm in for it.

Today I had that day. That day where I'm so exhausted at the end of the day that I can barely hold my head let alone clean the kitchen.

I wish I could say that I made it through the day patient and kind, but around 6 p.m. those attributes flew out the window. I felt overwhelmed and on sensory overload. At one point I thought locking myself in the bathroom sounded like a great idea. I'm fairly certain that one of my children will need counseling.

I'm thankful tomorrow is a new day. I'm thankful that Lily is potty trained and it took little effort on my part. I'm thankful that I'm learning how to parent Eloise (with her emotions and all) and love her as my first born daughter. I'm thankful for a husband that partners with me on all of this. And most of all I'm thankful that God gives me grace and mercy in small ways throughout the day.

Favorite Link Friday

I made it to Friday without any other small objects entering nasal passages. I consider that to be a successful week. Now onto some fun stuff.

*I discovered this cute cupcake site tonight as I was looking for baby shower ideas. Super cute! I love cupcakes and think they can be done in so many creative ways. I especially love the pink ones.

*I'm not joking when I tell you that this is the BEST chocolate chip cookie. Seriously. My friend, Aimee passed this onto me and taught me how to make them. The trick, refrigerate the dough before baking. I roll the dough into small logs wrapped in plastic wrap and then cut 1/2 in. slices before baking. Delish. I don't add the salt on the top and they are still FAB.

*I have baking on the brain. These English Toffee Bars look great and only have 5 ingredients.

*I don't plan on homeschooling but I thought this list was pretty funny and interesting. I understand the position well when you are on the outside of mainstream ideas. Giving birth at home gives people alot of freedom to tell me what they think of my decision. Sounds like it's pretty similar with homeschooling. I have respect for their decision.

*I wonder if all this good eats will stick to my hips just looking at it. It looks scrumptious.

Enjoy the weekend.

the life of a mother

It's only 1 p.m. and today has already been so eventful.

I woke up this morning feeling refreshed. Sam has been sleeping from 8 or 9 to about 4 or 5. I'll take it, definitely. But now that I just noted his sleeping pattern, he's going to be up 7 times tonight, for sure.

Today was going to be cleaning day. Clean up the yard, move clothes, watch videos and BAKE! (my favorite thing these days).

Just as I'm finishing my shower, Eloise comes in, I'm dripping wet and says this:

E: "Mama, I'm sorry. I put the Ariel shoe in my mouth."

me: "Did you swallow it?" (which would have been good knowing what was about to happen)

E: "No. I shoved it up my nose"

me: "YOUR NOSE!"

Still dripping, my mind frantically tries to figure out what to do.

Tweezers. No, I could cause alot of damage.
Bulb syringe for babies. Nope. Can't find it. I think I may have thrown it out b/c they were sticking it up their noses. Go figure.

I called the doctor and she gave me a list of things to try. If they didn't work then I would have to come in.

At this point Sam is crying and Eloise is completely freaked out by the tiny shoe in her nose. I'm starting to curse my mother because she is the one who bought this minuscule, scantily clad mermaid who happened to come with shoes. She's a MERMAID, for the love.

After a few tries to get this thing out we decide it's time to go to the doctor.

I called my super great friend Jenny to come watch Lily and we were off. The entire time I'm praying that she won't freak out the moment they get some gigantic, awful looking instrument out to extract the tiny pink shoe from her nose. Oh, and also hoping they don't think I'm the worst parent in the world b/c she also has a bruise on her face from falling yesterday. I can hear CPS being called as I drive.

This super great doctor came in b/c ours was off duty. Says to me. "Well, she not only has it up there far, but it's facing the wrong way. So if we can't get it out, we'll send her down to the ENT (Ear Nose and Throat doctor)." Sweet. This sounds like the way I wanted to spend my day.

Let's stop for a moment to reflect on the fact that I'm trying as hard as I can not to scold or make her feel like an idiot. I'm trying to find the balance before I starting ranting and asking her what in the THE WORLD possessed her to stick a shoe up her nose. Wasn't this supposed to be Sam's job?

Back to the office. She lays out on the table all the tools she's planning on using. Eloise is oblivious at this point. The doctor asks if I've had her blow her nose. Um...I've had her blow all morning. The last thing I want to do is be here. So the doctor tries one more time, apparently a special doctor way that if mama tried it would bring on blood curdling screams heard by the neighbors. After 3 blows, out comes the shoe. Hallelujah!

The doctor made her promise not to stick anything up her nose again. Or her brother's nose. Little does she know that Eloise has a little sister too. We're hoping that we don't find another shoe in Lily's nose.

For now, Ariel, you are bound to be a fish forever b/c those shoes, they are headed for the garbage. There's no way you are going to be part of our world now.

Favorite Link Friday - the Fall edition

Here's to Autumn! Celebrate the season by doing a few of these and eating a few of those...

*12 Days of Thanksgiving calendar. (don't think I'll ever do it, but it may inspire something else to help my kids celebrate)

*This is my idea of decorating pumpkins. Now knives, nasty smell, or seeds I feel obligated to roast.

*Recreate the pumpkin spice latte at home.

*Too cute Autumn wreath.

*Pumpkin pie bites - cute and delicious! (now if I could only find canned pumpkin...)

*Oh my word - these look fabulous! (too bad I started Weight Watchers Monday)

Enjoy the first weekend in October.