HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Will was a Sith from Star Wars (whatever a Sith is?)

Harry was a Jedi (I think he was that last year too but for some reason he needed a new costume and light saber).  I have never seen a Star Wars movie but all the boys in our family are obsessed. They wanted Kate to be YODA! (Mark and Angela if you are still reading...what did you think they would be this year? I got a kick out of the fact you guessed pirates last year.)

May the force be with you, Princess Katie Ru!

The evil Sith....

Kate turns from fairy princess to a Jedi too! (Really she just stole Harry's light saber).

"Alright people, let's go get some candy.  I am done taking pictures and playing with light sabers."  

We could not find our Halloween things amongst the boxes, so Kate carried this adorable monogrammed bag my friend Julie Anne gave her for her birthday.  (It is monogrammed in green on the other side.)

The loot!

Oh my goodness, would you look at all of this candy!

"I love trick or treat."

Kate kept saying that all night long!

We had a great Halloween.  It started off a little tough but ended up great!  Kate threw a fit and would not wear the tights that match her costume.  Then even though she asked to put it on ALL day, she did not want to get into her costume. As two year olds do, she quickly changed her mind and was happy 2 minutes later.  She fell a few times though.  The left side of her face is red in some of the photos. Oh and mosquitos bit the right side!!

I took the 3 peanuts trick or treating while Dave gave out candy.  We met tons of neighbors and found out there are several boys Harry's age close by.  Kate made some neighbor friends too. Before tonight, we had not met any of our neighbors.

Kate LOVED trick or treating.  She really got into it.  She said trick or treat at every house and thank you.  Then she wanted to sample each piece of candy. The girl is very social!

I brought the kids home and the plan was to put Kate to bed and Dave would take the boys for a little more trick or treating but Kate was having SO much fun, she tagged along! 

Oh and some of you might remember last year's saga regarding the "Halloween witch."  Well, in spite of last year, both boys are making piles and hoping she shows up.

Pinafores for Sale! And a Matilda Jane peasant top!

SOLD

Much to my surprise, the pinafores sold in moments and so did the Matilda Jane top.  I felt silly doing this but it worked so well, I might try it again. I think it will be much easier for me than e-bay.  Plus, now I won't feel guilty buying Kate a Christmas dress that I have been drooling over.  It warms my heart that all of these items are going to some future adopted China princesses too! Thank you for your interest and purchases!  Enjoy!


I also am adding this peasant top. It is a Matilda Jane (18 months) and fit Kate at that age. The long sleeve tee underneath not included.  It is in great condition too. I paid either ($34 or $32) and will sell it for $20 plus $3 shippping.

Last year I ordered these pinafores and we loved them.  They are all too small for Kate now.  They fit her at 18 months but they are a 2T.  Kate is tall and they are way too small now.  I was hoping to get put them on E-bay in time for the holidays but I have not used it before and I am lacking time right now.  So, if anyone wants to buy these for $15 each (plus shipping $3), leave me a comment with an e-mail address (I won't publish it).  I paid $24 for the red damask and $28 for the others.  They are in perfect condition. I hang dry everything.  I will send you a paypal invoice and ship as soon as you pay.  First comment, first serve.

Notes...these are reversible

The red damask reverses to Mod red dots.  The flowered baby wale corduroy (top right)reverses to brown and hot pink mini dots.  The mod lotus (middle right) reverses to a beautiful chocolate brown damask.  And the Christmas tree reverses to red and white polka dots.

I can e-mail more photos if you need them.

Happy Halloween!

Thankful for so many things!

~I am thankful that Kate had school for a few hours this morning!  I accomplished quite a bit and I think Kate was very happy to get out of the house. Most importantly though, she was excited to go to school!  She happily waved goodbye and blew me a kiss.  She did not want to bring her "lovey" to school this morning for the first time. Her teachers told me today that she cooked blueberry muffins and she taught her friends their colors!

This is Miss Kate right before school today.  Doesn't she look like she is concocting some mischievous plan?

One of the other Moms e-mailed me these pictures of Kate cooking at school.  I was not there (bad MOM!). I was home unpacking! I am thankful she e-mailed these to me.

I am am thankful that all of our closets are unpacked!

I finished Kate's closet.  I still have some framed photos and special decorative pieces for the shelves but they are not unpacked yet.

I have been working very hard on my closet.  As I have posted before, I arrange everything by group, color etc.. So this was a daunting task. 

Again, I have several family photos in silver frames and decorative trays to hold jewelry and accessories that will go on the top of the drawers but I have not found that box yet. 

Guess whose closet this is?

~I am thankful that Harry is feeling better.  I did not share this (and I will go into more another time) but Harry was experiencing some serious health problems.  They are so much better and I am so grateful to have my sweet Harry back again.

~I am thankful for Harry's soccer team.  It has been the best part of his days here so far. Last night they had their final game.  His team was undefeated this season and he is one of the strongest and most consistent players.  I am so proud of him.  He has great sportsmanship.  He always congratulates his team and the other team's players too!  Here are a few shots from the season.

Before each game, the teams hold hands and say a prayer.  It is a church league.  I love that!

Harry gets a little nervous and is either smiling while he plays or chewing his nails!

Last night, Miss Kate put her hands on her hips and said, "I want a Gatorade."  We instructed her to ask politely and she did.  But it was quite funny!

This one was right before......

Harry was bitten by a dozen FIRE ANTS!

OUCH!

I love this one!  They just gave each other some skin.  I wish the lighting was better (it is very shadowy at these late afternoon games in the South) and I am thinking about cropping it.  Any suggestions?

What are you thankful for today?

Not so wordless Wednesday

This is what you get when you leave a 2 year old alone with a cheese stick

and a cooking show....

And this is what you get when you put said child down for a nap....

and leave Scout downstairs!

She looks guilty, doesn't she?

The unpacking is going very, very slowly. Kate is at such a busy stage but she is not independent right now. She wants me to take her for walks (the weather is GORGEOUS here) and have tea parties and play baby dolls. I love to do all of those things with her but these boxes don't unpack themselves. Tomorrow I will post the progress of a few (and I do mean few) small areas that are done.

Dear "And Lily makes Three" ,

Scout is a schnoodle (schnauzer and poodle mix) and she has never shed even one hair. She is hypoallergenic and smart. She was a little hyper as a puppy but she was house trained very quickly and is very well behaved (cheese eating incident aside;)

HELP!

Today is Dave's Birthday!  Happy birthday, honey. You are the best hubby and Dad and I love you! Unfortunately, there are no cards or gifts or celebrations planned for today (yet...I will get some somehow).  I am a terrible wife.  Between hurricanes, strep throat, a car accident, a husband being out of town for week while I had a sinus infection and pneumonia and a move, I almost forgot.  Luckily, I realized the date 2 days ago and I did make him his favorite lasagna (gluten free but delicious) for dinner last night.

(Isn't my new oven pretty?)

 Which was a challenge considering our kitchen looks like this......

I need HELP!  I feel overwhelmed.  It is so hard to live with 3 kids while you unpack.  They still have school (we could not find their uniforms for today) and soccer (and it is our turn to bring drinks tonight) and sleepovers.  The house is a total mess and we still have to get our things from the apartment as well.  If there was ever a time I wish I had a magic wand, this is it.  We own WAY too much stuff. There are boxes and paper and stuff everywhere.

I know I should not be blogging but to tell you the truth my hands are swollen from unpacking and my legs ache.  I need a distraction.  If anybody wants to come help me with either unpacking, cleaning or keeping Kate out of the paper and boxes, please come!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  

P.S. I am not the worst wife.  I will salvage Dave's birthday somehow.  We actually decided to postpone the celebration due all that we have going on.

A little laughter

Cartoon by Dave Shelton at www.daveshelton.com

I am really excited to close on our house tomorrow.  I am so busy sorting out paint colors (it is being painted right now) ordering fabric and window treatments and getting our stuff together. Friday is moving day.  I know that I will be overwhelmed unpacking and getting organized so I might not have time to create posts for a little while.  However, I got an idea from Sippycups that I might "borrow."  There are so many blogs out there and I have discovered a whole new treasure trove that are not on my side bar. They are mostly photography or decorating blogs but there are some Mom ones too.  So, In lieu of posting about my own life next week, I will post a link so you can discover someone new. Because we all need to spend more time on the blogs, right?  

Today, I decided to share some places that made me laugh.

So today, let me introduce you to Happy Meals and Happy Hour.

I just stumbled across this blog the other day when I was sick in bed reading blogs for hours (Sunday--no good TV).  I laughed SO hard. Go back and read some of the old posts if you have time.  Sue is really funny. (I had to come back to tell you my favorite recent posts here are Waiting Room time suck, Halloween 101, and the Cleaning Ladies).  Be ready to laugh! You are going to want to be her friend because she is so darned funny!  I know I do.

Also, there is a very funny video here at Mom 101.

Go down one post. I am still undecided about who to vote for so I could laugh at it (and LAUGH I did) but there were some in my little family that did not think it was funny. I'm just saying...

There are some days that I feel like I am not doing this stay at home Mom things as well as I'd like to.  I love to cook and nest and decorate for Halloween and I cannot really do that in our little apartment very well.  I stumbled across this  video though and it made me laugh out loud. Even Martha has bad days...

P.S.  Just because I link to someone does NOT mean that I endorse or approve of their religious, political, parenting or decorating views.  This is for entertainment purposes only.

Another P.S.  Is it bad that I am letting Kate eat goldfish (a breakfast appetizer?) and watch Diego (she seems to have developed a rather unhealthy crush on the young man) so I can post this and pack?  Wait...don't answer that!