Saturday, October 29, 2011

{halloween fun}

We've been having a fun Halloween themed day at our house complete with pumpkin decorating {and un-decorating}, making Halloween cookies {break and bake...don't judge} and watching the Great Pumpkin.

My mother-in-law came over and helped the boys decorate their pumpkins. We cut out lots of different felt shapes and let them go to town. I loved seeing what they came up with...








The pumpkins looked like this for about 10 minutes, then the boys proceeded to rearrange their facial features and relocate them to other areas of the house, like the fireplace doors, the walls, and the bottoms of their socks.

Their Gigi made a cute little ghost banner that we hung over the fireplace...



After dinner we made the easiest ever Halloween cookies. They came pre-made with pumpkins, ghosts and witches on them. Maybe tomorrow we'll make some from scratch. Maybe. 


They were SO impatient while they cooked...they kept checking on the oven...


Ben liked them so much he had one for each hand...


Landon contemplating another cookie or a drink of milk...


I think we are definitely ready for Halloween, how about you?

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Friday, October 28, 2011

{love list}

 Ahhh....the weekend is almost here friends! And it is Halloween weekend! I'm just a tad excited about trick or treat this year, even if it is technically on Monday. How about a little love list to kick off the weekend?

1. I love when I find a little {and sometimes not so comfortable} reminder of the boys in one of my shoes...


There's a train in my boot! {get the Toy Story reference?}

2.  Scrapbooking inspiration...







I've been pinning lots of layouts to get myself inspired and energized to get back into it. I think I'm going to attempt Ali Edward's December Daily this year.

3. Taco Pizza...



Yes, please.

4. This.

Source: omami.ru via Mandy on Pinterest


Really. I like people that make me coffee.

5. This room...



So soft and lovely.

What are you loving today?

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Sunday, October 23, 2011

{warm it up}

Got my hair done yesterday and I'm in love with the color. I had been getting highlights for so long that my natural color had gotten really washed out, so I got a semi-permanent color in a rich brown, with some subtle highlights. And got rid of all of those pesky split ends of course. Here is a before pic...you can kind of see how washed out my color had gotten {and I had quite a few grays}...


And here is the after!


Better, right?

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{sunday morning}

Eating fruit loops...




And sharing the green ones {they know green is my favorite}...



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Friday, October 21, 2011

{balance}

I've never been the biggest fan of Oprah, but I came across this quote from one of her magazines and it really spoke to me {and made me like her just a little bit more}...

"What I know for sure is that the only way to endure the quake is to adjust your stance. You can't avoid the daily tremors. They come with being alive. These experiences are really gifts that force us to step to the right or left in search of a new center of gravity. Don't fight them. Just find a different way to stand. 


Balance lives in the present. The surest way to lose your footing is to focus on what dreadful things might happen. When you feel the earth moving, bring yourself back to the now. You'll handle whatever shake-up the next moment brings when you get to it. In this moment, you're still breathing. In this moment, you've survived. In this moment, you've found a new place to move your feet so you can step onto higher ground."

Here's to a balanced weekend and plenty of living in the now.

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Thursday, October 20, 2011

{owl crazy}

Ever since I decorated the boys' first nursery with owls, I've been a tad obsessed.

And lookie! West Elm is too! {I'll take one of each please!}

For my coffee...


For my butter...


For my sugar...


For my sofa...


It isn't too early to start my list for Santa, right?

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Monday, October 17, 2011

{THAT mom, and a zoo trip}

The boys had their first trip to the zoo yesterday.

And I became that mom.

You know, the mom a lot of us used to judge before we had kids {or maybe we still do}. The one that drags her toddler, kicking and screaming, onto a ride, or Santa's lap, or insert possibly scary situation here.

Yeah...that was me yesterday at the zoo.

The whole car ride there, and pretty much the entire time we were at the zoo leading up to the infamous train ride, it was all Landon could talk about. Not "I want to see the elephants!" like Ben. Not "I want to feed the giraffes!"

Nope..."I want to ride the train!" 

But Dan and I knew that the minute we actually went to get on the train, his tune would change.

And boy did it ever.

The second we went to step foot onto the train, his 40 lb toddler body went into flight mode, pushing his heels into the sidewalk, fighting me with all his might. But I got him on there. And I held him while he flailed and cried, tears streaming, for what felt like 10 minutes until the train started.

Yep...I'm that mom. 

We were near the front of the train, and I could feel the burning of eyes in the back of my head. I turned around at one point to see if Ben was OK {he was sitting with my sister-in-law} and there was a woman behind her giving me the giant side eye of disapproval.

You are ruining him! I could see it in her look of disapproval. Or maybe she was just annoyed that a screaming three year old was going to ruin her ride.

I looked over at my mother-in-law and she reassured me that I was doing the right thing. So I stuck to my guns.

And you know what? The second that train started moving, the tears stopped. Well, his did. And then I shed a few. But not enough to keep both of us from enjoying that short train ride around the zoo. I held him tight on my lap and told him how proud I was of him.

I don't want him to be scared of the world, of new things.

I want him to explore and learn and grow.

A big parenting triumph that I'm hoping will have lasting effects. 

But I still won't force him to sit in Santa's lap. Or that creep Easter Bunny. I don't really want to scrapbook a photo of my child crying in some stranger's lap.

{And another bonus...I did get quite a workout from that 10 minutes of toddler wrangling. My arms are sore today.}

And just to show that our zoo trip was mostly fun and fear free, here are a few photos...




Hard to see it but there is an elephant in the upper right corner :)




I think the boys' favorites were the ring-tailed lemurs {Ben loooved them} and the penguins. That might have just a little bit to do with the fact that they love the Penguins of Madagascar show. :)

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Thursday, October 13, 2011

{leaf jumping}

 This is the stuff a perfect fall day is made of...


The pure joy of a child jumping in a pile of leaves...


The giggles of excitment as they fall down around their little body...


The joy that nature can bring...


The absolute innocence of the experience that takes you back to a simpler place...


Hoping we have a lot more leaf jumping days before fall comes to a close!

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