I am not a photographer, but...

I am pretty proud of these pictures. Lacey thought it would be fun to wake me up in time to watch the sun rise a few days ago. This was a few of the pictures I got of it...





I know they aren't professional quality and such, but I am happy with them... :) Hope you have a great week!

Halloween (a bit late)

I never did give a Halloween rundown, so here you go!

The day before Halloween, I finally decided it would be wise to carve our pumpkins. So Lil helped me choose the patterns... Lacey watched some Backyardigans on TV, and I set to work poking the holes in the pumpkins to transfer the patterns. Once the hole poking was done, Lil got to help me removed the carved sections of pumpkin. I would cut out a piece and she would poke it into the center of the pumpkin, reach in, remove it and giggle at the grossness of it all.

What a great helper she was :)

I didn't get any pictures of us actually CARVING because Joe wasn't home, and I wasn't touching the camera while my hands were all gooky... BUT- I do have a before and after of one of the pumpkins and a before (no after) of the other...







After that, while I was positioning our newest porch decorations, Lacey stripped down to her diaper (and a sticker on her forehead), and came outside to keep me and our pumpkins company. CA-RAZY that she can do that in late OCTOBER! Usually there is snow on the ground by Halloween!



The next night I scrambled to find all the pieces of both the girls costumes (never did find the red hair spray for Lil's costume! Grrr), then proceeded to get them ready for trick or treating. The girls had all kinds of fun. Dad stayed home to pass out candy, while I took the girls around the neighborhood. About half way through I brought Lacey back since she was getting grumpy. All in all I think Lil walked a good 2 miles that night. Funny how the kid who is "too tired" to walk the half a block to preschool is not too tired to walk half the city for candy!

My little Geisha Girl



(Let this be a warning to all of you who have babies... Never, never, EVER paint your 1-year-old's face! And even MORE important- DON'T HAIRSPRAY their hair a different color! I had black hairspray on my walls, couch, carpet, chairs... and the white "no smudge" face paint? Hah!)

My little Mermaid


(She chose to wear her pink crocs instead of her blue and green shoes... such is life, I guess... She wanted makeup too, so I ended up adding sparkles to her face and red lipstick. I think there are STILL some rogue sparkles on her, and she has been bathed plenty since Halloween!)

I've done mypart- have you?

Yes. I voted.

See?


(yeah, yeah- I know it looks like LACEY voted, but really, she just stole my sticker... mean kid!)

Girls will be Girls: Part 2

Yesterday was Lil's last day of preschool before Halloween... Which of course means one thing. PARTY TIME! They were to wear their costumes to class and bring candy for the parade. So as class time approacheth I start instructing her to get dressed. Sure enough she comes back into the room totally decked out in her costume. She is Ariel (Little Mermaid) this year. She walks up to me with a concerned look on her face and said, "Momma, do my mermaid boobies look okay?"

Gotta love little girls and little girl concerns!

Girls will be Girls: Part 1

So here I sit on the couch with my kids. Them in their jammies, me in my santa pants (don't worry- I am not anticipating Christmas yet- they are just warm and red- which matches the shirt I slept in...)

Anyway- back to the story!

I am sitting on my couch. Lilia is watching Peter Pan: Return to Neverland. She is munching on Coco Puffs and squealing anytime she sees her favorite character (Tinkerbell). Lacey is sitting right next to me, mouth full, half eaten slice of bread in one hand, half eaten fun size Snickers bar in the other... I jokingly look at her and say "AH!" and open my mouth for a bite. She looks at me, smiles her chocolate drool smile, looks at her hands and in a moment of decision holds the bread out for me to eat.

Smart Girl.

So I was blog surfing tonight...

And I came across this blog. I am really enjoying what this mother has to say, and her kids ARE SO NOT UGLY! Well anyway- I must admit I didn't really look at the header for her blog until I read back to the 15th of this month where she explained where that header came from! And I was not only laughing at all the insight she gave, but I was also remembering a few months back when Lilia drew an almost identical picture of OUR family! So here is MY family's version, as drawn by my (then) 3 year old...

You'll thank me later!

I am forwarding this on to all of you frennies of mine! I thought anyone in this neck of the woods (that has Smiths as an available shopping place) might appreciate getting a years supply (or more) of soap for free! So- HERE is a specific blog post for you all to go read...

I already have a seven year supply of soap (long story), so I won't be taking advantage of this one, but I figure YOU may want to!