cracking up and cracking it out

Preslie is cracking me up lately. She loves to listen to music and is a wiz at memorizing song lyrics. BUT sometimes she misunderstands the lyrics...

Like the song "Tennis Court" by Lorde. 

The right lyrics: 

Baby, be the class clown

I'll be the beauty queen in tears

It's a new art form showing people how little we care (Yeah)

Preslie's version:

Baby be the class clown

I'll be the beauty queen in Sears

It's a new Iphone showing people how little we care (yeah!)

And the song "Girls Chase Boys" by Ingrid Michaelson

The right lyrics:

All the broken hearts in the world still beat

Let's not make it harder than it has to be

Ooohhhh it's all the same thing

Girls chase boys chase girls

Preslie sings:

All the broken hearts in the hospital bed

Let's not make it harder than it has to be

Ooohhh, so sick that 

girls chase boys chase girls

She cracks me up!

I took my girls to a Relief Society mother/daughter activity. We took a cupcake decorating class, and Quinn got her nails painted at the nail polish station. She was in heaven! I looked over at her and she said excitedly, "This is SO fun!" She also told me, "Your friend who was painting my nails didn't even mess up!"

We made dropcloth pillow covers. Mine turned out fun.

Mack was the "smile of the week" in his class and I helped him make his poster.

I may have swayed his answer on his favorite thing to do...

Dax's birthday kicked off the crazy season at our house! I made him a delux-o cheesecake like last year.

I love my little cuties!

I finished: Dax's closet is organized! 

His shelves used to hold his collections of manly gadgets and accessories.

 I installed a shoe organizer on the blank wall next to the shelves and put his collection of pocket knives and other stuff in there. I like this because it uses a space that previously had no use and it freed up his shelves for clothing.

Before shoe organizer..

AFTER:

The opposite corner of the closet looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

 I put up wire baskets (Ikea) to hold Dax's collection of hats and my FIL helped me screw a piece of wood to the wall so I could display Dax's collection of patches. I also attached bulldog clips (Wal-Mart) to the wood so it doubles as a memo board. I screwed a little magnet board (DI) under that so he could hang pics, receipts, and home teaching contacts.

I grabbed an empty pink leopard jewelry organizer from Quinn's closet and put in Dax's chapstick, earplugs, batteries, lighters, keys, and other random smaller items. It has pockets on both sides so it holds a lot in a small amount of space.

He likes the improvement, I think. He works really hard for our family and I want his closet to work for him.

I finished painting my bathroom. It only took a week and a half to get it done. It is frustrating to work that slowly but I'm still a Mom, Wife, primary worker, piano teacher, cook, chauffeur, maid, slave driver, etc.

I picked so many delicious raspberries from my friend's garden. OH they were yummy.

 My kids got out the Halloween decor and had a blast looking at it and leaving it all over the floor in the front room.

Mack's birthday came quick. He is my lucky Seven-year-old! Wow. That seems too grown up!

On Mack's birthday, I took the kids to see my parents. I told my Mom of my plans to makeover my bedroom and she immediately started orchestrating the making of my headboard. My mother LOVES projects and she is very fast and organized. That woman gets crap done. She also has MS and can barely walk somedays. BUT she had me set her up a station in the shop so she could chop wood for my headboard. She is so fun and amazing. I feel super bad that the chopsaw had a mishap so her fun came to an end. No one was hurt but the saw is out of commission. Boo.

The kids and I had a nice visit and listened to general conference with my parents and my sis and niece. Preslie and I did some thrift shopping with my sister and scored some goodies in her closet. I also brought home some rad furniture from Dax's bro's basement. It was originally from Grandma and Grandpa so Bro and Abbey were wanting to update and I couldn't pass up this badboy.

I asked Dax's dad about the couch and he said his Mom had it custom made in 1970 so the length would accommodate how tall he was (6'6"). Many a nap has been had on the couch. The chairs can also be turned toward each other to make a makeshift crib/nest for cousin sleepovers.

Back home, my bro Matt took me and my kids to his boss's house where it was DECKED out for Halloween.

Even inside their house was decorated wall-to-wall.

We're going back at night so we can see the music light show!

I think time is speeding up. The months go by so quickly like we are in fast forward. I am not a fast person and I don't like to be rushed. I feel the rush and the speed of time racing by and I don't like it! I feel a sense of urgency to do the most important things because there is little time for anything else. I will not be signing my kids up for soccer next year. I'm in the mood to simplify so my time can be spent on things that are top priority. My goals are:

Keeping our belongings to a minimum so there is less time spent cleaning and organizing
Building food storage
Paying off debt
spending quality time everyday with my family

a great ending to a super month!

What a busy month...and it ended with a bang! My husband applied for the manager job at his work, interviewed and got offered the job Oct 30th! We are SO excited! He will do awesome.


Halloween seemed to last all month with all the parties and events. Here is Mack with his teacher.

Here is our porch decked out for the 200 trick-or-treaters we had visit.

I added 2 new yard sale finds to my porch decor this year: the ceramic cherub thing I painted to look freaky and a giant portrait of a creepy lady that I covered in spider webs. I think a black light would look so awesome shining on her.

 

 Here are my kiddos ready to go! So thankful for another warm Halloween!

And here are the parents of those wacky kids..

 Dax had fun standing in the shadows and scaring kids. As they left, he would wave goodbye to them with the severed arm. It was creep-tastic.

New adventures await in November and we are so grateful for the blessings we've received!

Jedi-ween

Another fun and successful Halloween. The whole season, really. Planning the costumes, decorating the house, and buying candy is just as fun (if not more) than the actual day. We didn't get quite as many trick-or-treaters, probably that Halloween was on a Monday.

This is the last year I am encouraging us to dress as a theme. My kids are getting old enough to want to go with their friends and my husband has been a great sport. It is time to set them free. I knew I could get away with it this year because of how into Star Wars my family is right now. Dax made a fine Obi-Wan. He was wishing for Princess Leia in the gold bra but I had to save that costume for after the kids were in bed.

I added a few new yard decorations this year. One was a sign post the hubs put in for me. It is just a pine log from the mountains with some dollar store signs screwed onto it.

I made a "severed finger" box for my kids this year. I remember having one exactly like this when I was a kid; I loved tricking my friends with it. It is just a jewelry gift box with a hole cut in the bottom and fake blood/red food coloring added around the hole in the fluff.

The worst thing about today was Hunter, Mack, and Quinn being sick. Hunter missed his class party again- second year in a row. October is a hard month for being healthy.

The best thing about today was baby Yoda. She stole the show in those darling green ears. AND she can sing the Star Wars theme. How adorable can you get?

Another couple funnies: When Dax told me that he's never going to trick-or-treat at the park again. The line was SO long; we waited forEVER. He said, "I hated that. I would have rather sat on the toilet for 2 hours reading an entire hunting magazine."

I also had to laugh when I was fixing Preslie's hair for her Padme Amidala costume and she said, "You know, I am actually your Mom."

2 Halloween decor projects

We are in full-fledged decorating mode at our house. Here are 2 projects I completed this week. And you know how I do 'em: CHEAP.

1. Creepy Curtain.
I purchased horrid seafoam green lace curtains at a yard sale for 25 cents a couple years ago. I had this very purpose in mind but it took me til now to finally do it. I tried dying it black but I should have heeded the instructions on the dye box: 100% polyester won't dye. It can be spray painted, though. After paint, I cut and ripped until I was satisfied with the results. I hung it in the front window with a tension rod I borrowed from my bathroom curtain.


2. Pumpkin Post.
Starting out, this project was going to be 2 posts flanking the entrance of our Halloween graveyard. After I made one post from scraps in my garage, I got lazy my idea evolved and the post became a Jack o' lantern stand. (click on image to enlarge)

I may still make another one but for now I think it looks good holding my Jack. What do you think so far? I have a few more projects up my sleeve. I love Halloween.