It's the most wonderful time of the year!

For most- it’s Christmas- but Fall is my most favorite time of the year! I love all of the fun and fantasy that Halloween brings… the costumes and decorations and seeing my friends and family (of all ages) dress up and act like kids. It’s a blast! Of course it can get a little crazy- with costume making and party planning, but it’s all worth it! Here are some of my favorite pictures of the kids from Halloweens past!

My little 50's girl!

Woody and Jesse

         

          Cole as

Buzz Lightyear!

More to come!!!

No Coley tonight :o(

Tonight we were a one-child family for the first time in.... what? 9-and-a-half years?? Cole spend the night at a friend's house and Aria had us all to herself. She spent some time on the computer, with me standing by to help, working on a special project for her "BCF" (best cousin friend) for her birthday. Of course it's 2 months away- but we're teaching her how NOT to procrastinate. All the while, I was finishing her Halloween costume and Daddy was working in the yard. Then we three convened in the kitchen to make breakfast for dinner and had a great time! I think every kid should have alone time with their parents. It was a special night!

What once was lost

Back in March, we decided to fix up our old computer in order to present it to Cole for his birthday. In the process, all of our old photos were lost, and as far as I could tell, gone forever….. until today. I can’t express how amazing it was to find that all of these pictures! I had not realized, and Greg must have forgotton, that he saved them onto disks. So many memories… especially of Aria’s earliest years, back with us again! My day couldn’t get better!

Here are a few of my favorites!

More collage fun

Here’s another little collage I made while playing with this new Picnik feature. I like it, although I wish it had more options for picture quantity in a collage. If you could choose how many pictures went into each one and could manipulate the sizes- that would be perfecto! Until then….

PS- These are pics from my closest friend’s birthday this year and the cake I made her! Beautiful!

Lunch fun

So I am not always able to do it, but when I can, I like to add a little something fun to the kids lunch- something beyond the usual sandwich, fruit and veggies. It can be monotonous to open your lunch to the same ol’ thing day after day! I know that’s how it is for me! So here is a little example of what I like to do to change things up. Fall is my favorite time for these little details! I know my kids really love them!

The power of PINK!

So the GSs participated in the Susan G. Komen walk for breast cancer this morning! They all woke up bright and early to don their pink shirts and walk a mile! They did it in 15 minutes I might add! Way to go Troop 749! We all couldn’t make it, but those who did had fun checking out the booths with all the free stuff and watching this amazing display of love and hope!

Playing with Picnic collages

Picnic is one of my favorite sites for picture editing. You can use a couple of the applications for free or have access to them all for an entire year for only $24.99. My favorite features are wrinkle remover and clone. Here’s one of my latest experiments with the collage feature using pictures from Stephanie's shower. Pretty cool!

A cookbook in the oven

The kids and I have been working on a cookbook since Summer 2010. Together we are making and taking pictures of our favorite family meals. I thought it would have been done a while ago, but there always seems to me more to add.!

Here is Aria with some scalloped potatoes she and I made one evening! Soo pretty! And the potatoes look great too!

(That was for you Greg!)

Here is Cole making a jalapeño-spinach pesto in the Cuisinart.

Me and my girl in our green aprons

The kids usually help me create their most-loved meals for the book. Here is Cole with one of his favorite dinners-

 Salisbury Steak and mashed potatoes. Yum!

My favorite part of this project is the time I get to spend with my kids. These are moments where I can teach them what I know, and they come away feeling proud of what they created.

I couldn’t be more proud of what I have created.

Girl Scout Welcome Back Slumber Party!

This weekend was a blast! I had 12 girls at my house for a Slumber Party- the lovely ladies of Girl Scout Troop 749! It was the perfect way to break in the new year for G.S. for me, as the new troop leader, and for them with 2 new girls joining the group. Here we are in our friendship circle bonding!

We plan on participating in the Susan G. Komen 1-mile walk this weekend, so we all decorated pink t-shirts to show our support! These girls are all so creative and they did a fabulous job!

We ate a big pasta dinner and played some really fun games, including a battle of Guesstures (charades) that team yellow won! Karen, one of the other troop leaders headed up that team! We had a lot of fun!

Then we sat around the fireplace, told scary or silly stories and roasted marshmallows to make gourmet smores! Sara definately wins the prize for best story teller, although it should be noted that Karen Brown nearly made some girls pee their pants with her surprise ending SCARY story. I just wish I could have captured with my camera how truely frightened these girls were! It was hilarious! Emma spun a pretty freaky tale herself! Like mother like daughter! 

After all that outdoor fun, we went inside and played a nailpolish game that the girls loved!

We agreed that their colorful nails looked like Skittles!

 Then ofcourse they stayed up until 1:30 in the morning watching a movie and eating popcorn, all camped out on the living room floor! They barely fit! Then they woke up at 6:30 and enjoyed a breakfast feast of eggs, bacon, sausage, bagels, and fruit. Before they left, they all got a fancy "do"- complete with purple glitter!

I know these girls had so much fun, and I had just as much fun as they did! I am so glad Aria has such wonderful G.S. friends to share her life with and that I get to be a part of making it special and watching along the way!

This is for you, my girl!