Party in Pink

This Past Saturday I had the opportunity to do some more fundraising for my friend Lauren who is in the middle of her fight with breast cancer. This has sort of become what I live and breathe lately.

My own Zumba Party Event for her is coming up next weekend, but this past Saturday I was able to attend another Zumba "Party in Pink" to raise money for the Susan G. Komen association and was allowed to have a booth there to benefit Lauren's cancer fund. It was fun to get away and be a part of the event. I know I have mentioned this before but I am addicted to my Zumba! It is so much fun and there is definitely a sense of family and sisterhood when I am with other zumba fanatics like myself.

Lauren was able to go to the Party in Pink too. She was asked to say a few words about her fight and progress she has made. She is such an amazing woman and I am so honored to be friends with her.
Here are a few shots from the party:

From Left to right: Trevor (Lauren's husband), Lauren, me, and Kristi.

Yes, Emma and I are wearing tutus. I made one for myself that morning and decided if I was going to wear one Emma should too. Don't we look cute? It was a "Party in Pink" after all. Just showing my PINK spirit. We are all wearing our "Lauren's Warriors" or "S.O.S Together we continue Saving Our Sisters" T-shirts that we had made and are selling.

After the event, Lauren, Emma and I went out to get something to eat. It was so much fun to hang out just her and I. Man, I love that girl! Thanks Lauren for an awesome night. None of it would have happened without you.

7 Months! Where Did The Time Go?

Emma is a growing little girl. On Tuesday we went into the doctors office for her Baby Well Check.  She now weighs 18 lbs 2.5 oz., is 27.75" tall, and her head circumference is 45 cm. She is one healthy, happy, baby girl!

She is now sitting up on her own and can bend over to pick up a toy without tipping over. She also has her first tooth coming in on the bottom. It broke through early this week. So far not much fussing about it either. She just had a bit of trouble sleeping the first couple nights and wanted to nurse about every 2 hours. But we are now out of that routine and she is back to her happy self and sleeping through the night again.

We also have been introducing more solid foods with bigger chunks to gnaw on. She does really well and loves her baby puffs, mum mum crackers, tiny pieces of banana, and can even down a graham cracker without any trouble at all. She is also very good at drinking from a straw!

We love our little Emma. And I just wish this stage could last a bit longer.

Halloween Family Picture

Can you tell what movie we are from?

Peter Pan! 

We're three pirates, Tinkerbell, and Nana! 

Tinkerbell didn't want her hair done up until the official Halloween night but she is still glowing regardless and has been spreading her pixie dust where ever she goes. I mean that literally too! That set of wings has left magic sparkles all over the living room couch, floor, carpet, and everyone's clothes. But it makes me smile every time I spot a speck of "magic."

Practice Makes Perfect. A Photographer in the Making

I was recently asked if I'd be willing to take some family photos for a friend of mine over the upcoming Thanksgiving break. I am so excited and honored for the opportunity but at the same time I am TERRIFIED! What if something goes wrong with my camera? What if the pictures turn out grainy? What do we do if it rains? How do I know when to quit? Will the family like them? So many things running through my head.

So to ease my mind a little I have been taking the time to read through my camera's manual again to freshen up on some of the cool features, and have also been soaking in some of the things I read on the photography blogs out there. Hopefully I am not doing too much. I don't want to over think this either. I just want to be prepared.

Practice makes perfect and so that is what I have been doing the most of. I have been taking lots of pictures just for the heck of it and have been messing with the settings on my camera to play with the different types of lighting. I am definitely no pro at this, and with all the pictures I have taken there are a good share of bad ones. I just hope that I can take more good ones than bad when the time comes.

Today I took the kids for a ride on the trail in some early evening light. I hear it is a good time to shoot pictures. These are some that I liked.

I will be practicing as much as I can til Thanksgiving arrives. Practice makes perfect. Wish me luck!

Family Outings are the BEST!

This past weekend our family took a trip out to Craven's Pumpkin Patch. We had never been and had heard it was fun. We went through the corn maze and enjoyed the baby animal barn. Unfortunately the covered hay ride didn't run on the weekdays but we had fun nonetheless. We didn't get pumpkins since we already got ours from another pumpkin patch trip. I took as many pictures I could while carrying Emma in the sling but it just wasn't the same. So by the time we were out of the corn maze I passed Emma off to daddy so I could make sure I got the pictures I wanted.

 This was the kid's first time ever in a corn maze. They were little troopers and although we ended up down the "bunny trail" instead of the "wild hare trail" I think they did pretty darn good. The kids took turns choosing which direction we would take at each fork in the road. It was fun even with the mud! Thank goodness for rain boots and umbrellas.

It was a fun little outing and was so nice to spend time with Daddy on his day off.

Emma Giving Loves

Emma is growing up soooo fast. This month she started sitting up on her own. She also started to blow bubbles. It is so fun to watch the changes. But the newest thing is her kissing or "giving loves." I love love love it. I had Dan take a video of her in action the other night just so I could have it to watch later. It makes me smile. Enjoy.

One last Hurrah!

This past weekend we decided to have one last fire in the backyard and take advantage of the decent weather before it gets cold and wet around here. It was actually Dan's idea. It was pretty crisp out but by the fire it was PERFECT! We roasted some homemade marshmallows that I made the other night with some girlfriends of mine and made smores. The peppermint, and root beer flavored marshmallows were the best! I didn't much care for the banana ones, but the kids didn't mind. It's sugar!

Notice my Garden boxes in the background? There are 4 of them. One of the projects I just finished was the covers for them. I stapled some 2X2's at the bottom of the plastic on each side so now they can't blow away. Then we got some plastic clamps to close up the sides to keep the heat in. Now I can start some winter lettuce and carrots. We'll see how that goes. I still need to stake up the raspberry bushes. They were starts that we got from the in-laws. Hoping to get some berries from them next year.

Anyway, back to the fire post. Emma was content sitting in my lap starring at the fire. She gnawed on a grahmn cracker too. She was very happy and pleasant.It was a very nice evening with our little family. I love that my husband does these spur of the moment things for us all the time! He's the best!

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

Today the weather was awesome. It has been really gray and gloomy lately but today it was blue skies and gorgeous. It is pretty chilly out but the sun make it so much better! I think Fall is here to stay.

With the fall comes the changing of colors, cozy nights by the fire, hot chocolate, and one of our favorites, The Pumpkin Patch! The local plant farm here hosts a pumpkin patch every year to raise money for a children's literacy program. It is sooo much fun and the kids look forward to it about just as much as I do. Nothing beats free hayrides, bouncy houses, train rides, animals, dum dum suckers and my favorite...photo opportunites, oh yes...and of course pumpkins.

 I didn't want to go by myself with all 3 kids but I decided to take advantage of the weather. Just when I decided to go, my friend Elise called me up and said she'd go too. It was so nice to have her and her girls there with us. It makes things go so much more smoothly with two moms to keep their eyes on things. Thanks Elise for coming with us!

I was able to take lots of pictures while I was there but here are a few of my favorites. I was even in a few! Thanks Elise!

I love outings like this with my babies! We just might have to go back sometime when Dad is around too. On to another memory in the making.

Halloween FHE Craft

For Family Home Evening last night we did a fun craft for Halloween. I got the idea from one of my favorite blogs Make It and Love It. She got the idea from Martha Stewart. We both put our own twists on the project.

Just put a baby food jar, some watered down craft paint, and some black electrical tape together and you get these really cute mini jack-o-lantern jars. I think they'd be cute with some little candles inside. But for now, we are using ours to bribe the kids to do their chores. We told them if they finish their chores on time they would get a piece of candy in their jar that day and they could eat it "whenever they wanted!" Seems to be working really well too because today both kids rooms were spotless and I even got help folding the laundry! Can't beat that.

Minnie Mouse Window Mural

For the holidays I enjoy the tradition of doing window murals for my kids. In the past I have done them on the front living room windows. This year I decided it would be fun to give each of them their own mural on their bedroom windows.

This past Saturday I finished Kiera's. I love how it turned out! I was a little worried with the color of the face at first since from the inside it looked VERY PEACH. But that was because of the sun coming through. Outside however is great! Kiera loves it which was my goal. Next up is Ethan's window. It is just really hard to find the time to do it because I don't want to sacrifice his nap time nor do I want to listen to Emma scream at me the whole time since I have to put her down to do it.

Baby Blue Eyes

Where did the time go? She's growing up so fast!

Halloween Goodies

Yesterday the house suffered! I hardly did any cleaning. Instead I spent the ALL day in the kitchen. I canned some green beans from the garden, made sugar cookies, whipped up some royal icing, and after watching a YouTube video on it I made some meringue ghosts. The house may have suffered but it was worth it!

 While baking some sugar cookies I made some eyeballs out of royal icing

Then, once the cookies had cooled I iced them with some thinner colored icing. While the eyeballs dried I watched a YouTube video from the Joy of Baking and learned how to make meringue ghosts. I just had to try it! Here they are baking...

and here they are all done...

Aren't they cute?

Then it was time to add the eyeballs and details to the cookies! 

I love how they turned out! We made up some plates for the neighbors and still have a ton! I just may have to send some with Dan to work tomorrow. Now I need to make and can some applesauce and pie filling from the boxes of apples we got from the in-laws last weekend. That is....once Emma decides to let me put her down for more that 5 minutes at a time. :)

Pirates and Rainbow Underwear

I love my kids and their imaginations. The other day Kiera ran inside and said, "mom do you want to come and see the picture I drew?" She spends A LOT of time drawing and coloring (must be related to her mother) and one of her favorite places to do that is on the sidewalk. I think I might stock up on 5 or 6 boxes of sidewalk chalk while it is on clearance just so it is handy next year. We go through it sooo fast.

Anyway, I went out to admire her artwork and she proceeded to tell me about her masterpieces. But as soon as she told me what one of them were my jaw dropped and I went in for a closer more sincere look. "Its a pirate with rainbow underwear," she said. A what? Yep sure is....

 

That entire day she colored away and only seemed to break away for lunch, snack time, and the occasional potty break. By the end of the day this is what our cul-de-sac looked like...

I am so pleased that at least one of my children shares the art of creativity with me.