Black Friday

It's no secret I am in love with Black Friday and get a little giddy when I think about it.  Check out my new bedspread, it came with the comforter, bedskirt, 2 pillow shams and 3 decorative pillows.  Want to guess how much I paid?  $35!!!!  I am so excited and it matches the paint and everything as well. 

I am getting so excited for Christmas now, I can hardly wait to see how excited the girls are going to be when they see what they are getting!  I hope everyone's Christmas Shopping is going well as it is officially December!  Merry Christmas!

Famous for the Day!

I just have to share I am so excited!  For those of you that don't digital scrapbook (and you all should!!) Shabby Princess is the #1 designer of paper and embellishments to use.  I love her stuff and buy as much as I can afford.  I recently started posting a few things in her gallery and they picked me for Layout of the WEEK!!!  I won $10 to her store which is SOOO exciting but even more exciting is that I am featured on her blog!  So go check it out!

http://www.theshabbyshoppe.com/blog/index.php/2010/11/08/lotw-19/

Huge thanks to my photography friends!  Without great pictures to inspire this never would have happened!

Laura Bunker Photography took the amazing pictures of the girls!
Shameless Photography took the picture of Brent and I, it is my FAVORITE picture of us ever!

Evil Day Light Saving and the Dyson

The dark.  I so do not like daylight savings time.  I just find it depressing that at 6:30pm I feel like I should have my kids in bed because it is so dark.  I like the sunshine and I don't like mornings, so I would just like it if they left daylight savings time alone.  I think the whole thing is silly.  Now so that you don't think that all I do is complain . . . I have a new love.

I got my dyson years ago, Brent and I argue I say it will be 5 yrs in the spring and he thinks it has only been 3.  So you decide for yourselves who you want to go with on the the date.  All I have to say is I opened my shiny dyson from costco and it came with extra stuff.  One was a hard floor tool, it didn't fit onto the vacuum itself so I thought I would never use it but I had just paid $400 for this thing and I luckily wasn't going to throw it out, instead I stuffed it into the coat closet where it has lived for almost the past 5 (3) years.  I have been on a closet cleaning binge and only have my master closet left to finish, which Brent would probably love if I was in working on it now instead of blogging as you cannot easily walk around in my room right now.  I have wandered away from my point which is I found this hard floor tool and decided to give it a try, I love it!  I am a huge fan of vacuuming anyway it just makes my inner Asthma Princess happy to watch all the dirt and allergens sucked out and gone from my home.  But this floor tool?  Man I am throwing my broom out as it will never be used again.  With two kids, a parrot, a dog and cats, sweeping can be embarrassing if someone is over and sees the massive pile I accumulate as they would never dream I sweep every other day.  This hard floor tool works SO much better than a broom and has a nice wide path.  So if you have a dyson that came with one and you haven't given it a try go and do it now.  If you have a dyson I would recommend picking one up they are not that bad of a price and simply wonderful.  Dyson Accessories

Trick or Treat

Katie and I had this great idea we would start trick or treating early as it was going to rain all night and get it done before it got cold. We managed to snap a few pictures before the rain really set in. Then it was too late we were drenched!! The kids candy was even getting soggy, lol. We stopped at home and had pizza and then headed out again, this time it was dry!! We were all relieved. My little nephew Joshua told me he should have taken a nap so that he was ready for this. Poor little guy was so done!

Poor Little Bear, he was dressed as a wolf in sheep's clothing and the poor little guy was soaked, I took pity on him and carried him most of the way.  Brent walked him home early and met back up with us.

We gave the kids the umbrellas and made do ourselves.  It reminded me of the Halloween nights in Wyoming when it would snow and Dad would cheerfully take us all over the neighborhoods trick or treating.  Amazing how I rarely think of the cold from Halloween as a kid and always the CANDY!!!

Spoiled

I am beginning to think my girls are spoiled. Brent bought them two new church dresses at Costco last night. He bought them matching dresses and then let them each pick their favorites as well. Aspen's was purple of course, Sage chose black because I wouldn't let her get the blue one covered in glitter. This morning I let the girls try them on they were having so much fun I grabbed my point and shoot to snap some pictures. I simply can't wait for tax returns when I get my new camera but I suppose that is another blog post really.

Sage is devastated that Aspen's is longer than hers.  I finally had her try it on to prove to her that it wasn't.  Aspen is just not quite as tall.

1st Snow!

None of us adults are probably very happy but the kids are THRILLED that snow has come early this year. I am happy that it was warm enough I didn't have to shovel and the sidewalks are clear.
I let the girls head out this morning after their chores were done.

Yes, sigh, it is sideways and I am too lazy to re upload so there you have it. . . sideways Aspen.  She's still cute.

Yup those are PJ pants, I can't find their snowpants from last year, I think I purged and got rid of them.  Sage had hand me downs, I will have to buy Aspen a pair, but in my defense I thought I had a few weeks.

Sage's snow gear is all hand me down, I don't remember from who but I thank them!!!

Snow Angels look so pretty when they have bright happy green underneath!  Have a good day everyone!

Seriously!?

So apparently I need a maid, it might keep me alive longer really.  Previously I learned first hand the amazing reaction ammonia and bleach create.  See here for previous blog entry.  You would think such drama would stick in my head and I would clean more carefully.  Nope.  I emptied the litter box out and thought hmmm while it is empty I should wipe it out a bit.  I of course grab my trusty paper towels and bleach cleaning spray, anyone see the problem here yet?  Wow it is smoking!  Seriously?!  What would make it smoke, oh this is bad smoke, like toxic!  I ran for the tub to rinse it out and then as I looked over to the tile surround it dawned on me.  Cat pee = ammonia and I had just added bleach, yup toxic war far #2. 

Do maids do litter boxes?  I had a maid for a year back in the day when I worked full time before kids, never even thought to ask them if they did litter boxes, I might totally have missed out on a great perk.

Pumpkin Addiction

I have pumpkin issues.  Last year there were floods in the libby pumpkin fields and pumpkins were rotting instead of ripening and the talk of pumpkin shortages began.  I promptly headed to Costco that night and stocked up, As in probably about 12 of the super large cans.  I currently only have 2 left from that shopping binge, gotta love food storage we made it through the pumpkin crisis without trauma.  My kids think muffins only come in pumpkin flavor, lol.  I often think hmmm I bet I could add pumpkin to that . . . and then I do.  By the way it makes chili thicker and adds vitamins too!  Oh and no one knew I did it . . . well until now. 

So now it is time for the Top 3 pumpkin items currently available!  1. Kneaders pumpkin bread!  Seriously the best absolutely fabulous yummy, gotta get some good!  2.  McDonalds Pumpkin shake, this one was a shocker but it was excellent, spicy, pumpkin goodness in a shake, perfection!  Seriously 5 stars!  3.  Another personal favorite, Taco Time pumpkin empanadas and make sure they don't gyp you the whip cream in the little container it is a must have.

Ok and now to make it official that I am crazy for pumpkin!  How cute are these!!??  Seriously love them, lol.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/58221852/pumpkin-pie-earrings

School Pictures

My sister Jennie was kind enough to let us tag a long on her sibling picture day at her daughters school.  I was happy with how they turned out and now have the fun typical school picture to add to the collection of pictures I have of the girls.  I want to get one of those frames with the 12 holes for each year of school but I want the senior picture bigger than the rest, haven't found one I like yet, maybe this year will be the year.

Scarlett oops I mean Sage!

My favorite book ever is Gone with the Wind.  My sister Jennie knowing this took advantage of having all her Halloween stuff out and had Sage try on her daughter's Scarlett costume from last year!  I love it!  With her green eyes and dark curls she looked fabulous in it and very Scarlett.  I was dying as my go everywhere camera was not in my purse but stuck in Vegas waiting to be shipped to me.  Luckily Jennie snapped a few pictures for me!  From age about 11 to um well now this would have been my dream Halloween costume!

My favorite Holiday!

I have decided on my favorite holiday . . . Black Friday!  Please let there not be a soul who doesn't know what that is but if you don't it is the day after Thanksgiving Sales and I love them.  I got my first email of "the season" from www.blackfriday.info ooh and the excitement started.  Oh and they also have a facebook page http://www.facebook.com/blackfridayinfo  They posted the first ads today!!! Harbor Freight ad, ok nice but also drum roll the Kmart Toy ad!  Sage promptly wanted everything.  I want the pet shop pets, yes me I admit they are my favorite toy of the girls and I fall in love with them!  Oooh I can hardly wait!  Just had to quickly share my excitement!

Happy Birthday Aspen!

Aspen turned 5 on Monday, October 4th and what a busy day it was! Aspen had asked Brent months ago if he would not work on her Birthday so he had taken it off for her. So we started the day with a family breakfast of pancakes because there is nothing Aspen likes better than pancakes except maybe peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We then went outside for a quick photo shoot, Aspen was excited to wear one of her new outfits from her birthday party on Saturday.

After our photo shoot we did school for a few hours and then headed off to the mall to let Aspen pick out a birthday outfit.  We took her to Crazy8's because there is no where better to shop!  She promptly picked out this cute dress on clearance for $9, lol.  WooHoo a bargain shopper already!

So I promptly helped her out and added the full price satin shirt to the pile.  I fell in love with this one and didn't want to wait in case I couldn't get it in her size.

Then we took her to Chucky Cheese which she calls Chunky Cheese.  They snarfed down their pizza as fast as they could so they could get to the good stuff . . . the games.  I found I have a real knack for the wheel of fortune and racked in a hefty amount of tickets for the girls to spend on fluff.

It was a fun day spent as a family.  I put the girls to bed and got teary eyed.  I cried when Sage turned 5 too.  Don't know what it is but it makes me a bit sad to see them turn 5.  Aspen is my sweet girl.  She is not in the least selfish, in fact I will give you an example.  If I gave both girls a bag of skittles, Aspen would get 1/2 a bag and Sage would get 1 1/2 bags.  Why?  Because Sage would ask her to share and Aspen would do it, I would get mad and tell her to leave Aspen alone and that she didn't have to share.  Aspen would promptly burst into tears and tell me that she wants to share with Sage.  I would give up and let Sage eat her 1 1/2 bags of candy.  Our family is lucky to have our soft hearted Aspen.

About an hour after putting Aspen to bed I heard her crying I went in to check and she was sobbing because she didn't want to grow up.  I finally got her calmed down enough to explain to me that if she grew up, Brent and I would get old.  If we got old we would die and she didn't want us to die.  Poor kids, ever since they lost Gunner they think entirely too much about death.  It hurts my heart but I am not sure what to do about it.  Anyway I finally convinced her turning 5 wasn't the end of the world it was cool and we weren't going to die if she turned 5.  So help me neither of us better get hit by a bus this year or this poor girl will be scarred for life!

Oh I almost forgot, the next day she asked me to look for gray hairs on her head!!!  Can you believe a five year old looking for gray hairs!?  Hmmmm that one may be my fault I did gray early, but not at five!!!

Cornbelly's

Sage's 2nd field trip for school this year was to the Thanksgiving Point Cornbelly's. (Yes, I know you haven't seen the 1st trip, maybe this week I will post a bunch as the school week is only 3 days whoo hoo!) We had a blast. I think it is one of my favorite things about our schooling choice is the many fun things we get offered to us. We honestly don't have time to take advantage of all the opportunities but we wouldn't miss Cornbelly's!

The girls are actually closer in size I didn't notice that Aspen wasn't standing up against it, oh well!

Super bright noon sun so it isn't the greatest picture but you can see how much fun they were having on the giant jumping pads.

The girls were SOO excited to see their friends from school!  Again sorry about the noon sun but I thought it was cute.

Crazy fun slides.  I didn't think the girls would ever get tired of these.  They FLEW down!

How funny are these farmer girls?!  I love Aspen's eyes she pulls that face at me often lately.  I say Aspen please look at me!!! and I get this . . . .

The face painting at the Cornbelly's was amazing, excellent quality.  So much fun we all joined in!  Check out their blog:  facepaintingillusions.blogspot.com I was surprised at how much I enjoyed my face paint, lol.  I found myself checking me out in the mirror all day long it was definitely a fun thing to do as a family.

Brent was afraid he might have to work and not come with us but at the last was able to pull it off and join us.  I was relieved that he was able to come if only for the time we spent in the corn maze.  I have no sense of direction, zip, zero, none.  I could get lost forever, lol.  It doesn't help that the kids have learned this and have no faith in me being able to find my way out, not that I really blame them.  Brent on the other hand is so comfortable he can even skip ahead of us and surprise us!

Random corn shot, but I liked it.

My pretty girls!

The girls in their Rule Breaker "timeout!"

Finally after a long afternoon of fun in the sun we headed home and the girls got to pick out a little pumpkin to take home.  I keep trying to talk them into decorating them, they want me to bake them into pumpkin cookies.  I promised to make them pumpkin cookies from a can but that wouldn't cut it.  Sigh . . . so I may be making my own pumpkin puree this week.

I saved this one for last.  It was my favorite picture of the day and I have to thank my amazing friend Laura Bunker for this one.  She showed me some tips on how she fixed a picture of her son Braxton in full sun and I used them to save this picture!  It really would be nice if school field trips were scheduled in the perfect lighting hours but since they never are it sure is nice to have friends that can help you make the best of it!