Do you want to take a survey?

Have you had about enough of campaign phone calls? The recordings are driving me crazy! Ellen Pompeo from Grey's Anatomy even called me the other day. So now, when I answer the phone and it's a recording, I yell into the phone, "I've already voted!" just because it makes me feel better! And it's not rude to yell at a recording!

So, today when I answered the phone, I was fully expecting to find out why I should vote for so-and-so and getting jazzed because I would get to yell (I'm telling you, it's a great stress reliever!), but instead I was asked to take a survey by a real live person. A short survey, I was promised. Boy, she didn't realize just how short her survey would be!



Her question to me: How many times have you been to a movie theater to see a film in the past two months?

My response: Bwahahahahahaha! Hehehehehehe! Hahahahahaha! Um...none.

Her response: Oh. Ok. Thank you for your time. Click.

So, I didn't get to yell, but I sure did get a good laugh! God bless the telemarketer lady today cause I'm still grinning 30 minutes later!

P.S. If by some chance I get to see a movie in the near future, what should I see? Seen any good movies lately?

Look What We Woke Up to This Morning!

Snow!! I can't remember ever seeing snow before Halloween...can you?

Drew and I were just discussing how much we wanted "good" snow this year and no slush! You are welcome to join us in our campaign against "bad snow" - Just Say No to SLUSH!! (We're a very political family this year! HA!)

Hope you have a great day...and stay warm!

Happy Birthday, Drew!

Eight years ago today, my baby boy was born. He was a little over 8 pounds and he gave this new mom a run for her money! We soon found our rhythm and life with Drew has been wonderful. There are so many things that I love about my son and I wanted to tell you all about it on his big day.

What I love about Drew...

He slept through his first 3 days. How silly of me! I thought I had to do all the hard work!

He loves his family and they love him - our family looks a little excited, don't you think? Papa Tony is grinning ear to ear from behind the camera in this one! This was taken right after they met for the first time - Kevin was allowed to carry him to the nursery from the operating room back then!


He's a Daddy's boy.




And a Mama's Boy.




He's silly!


And sneaky!



He's always willing to pose for a picture!


He's a manly man!



He's thoughtful and kind.

He's always smiling!



He's my superhero!



He's a wonderful brother!


Just an all-around Terrific Kid!

We love you so much, Drew! Happy 8th Birthday! But, you might as well get used to it, kiddo, you will always be my baby!

A Little More Halloween...

We're having a great time getting ready for Drew's 8th birthday. He is having a costume party at our house! We are so excited about having room to invite family and friends over for his big day. Drew and I have been planning for this day for some time. He has helped me shop the after Halloween sales for several years in preparation for the day when we have a big enough space for everyone. And we are so excited that the time has come!



I am trying my best to focus on invitations, cake, decorations, and treat bags so that I will forget that he is turning 8 and that he only barely fits in my lap now. Because that would make me sad and I might just tear up a little. Kind of like I'm doing right now.

I thought I would share some more of our decorations - nothing too original, but fun nonetheless! And a lot of stolen ideas! If I can remember where I found the idea, I'll be sure to give a link.

You may remember my Spray Paint Addiction? Well, this is how we used one of our black urns. We borrowed an idea from Susie at Bienvenue and made a not-so-spooky Halloween tree. We spray painted (again!) the branches black and added some ribbon and our friend, the crow (Drew named him "Freedom" - still not sure why!). The glitter pumpkins were inspired by Martha, of course!

Here's our other urn holding one of our glitter pumpkins.

This is definitely our weirdest Halloween decoration - the finger candle. Drew saw these several Halloweens ago on the clearance table and we bought them. But, ewwwww...! When we got them out this year, we realized that they are much less creepy in the package than in a candlestick!

I covered some napkin rings in cheese cloth and added googly eyes for our mummy napkin rings. I got this idea from Matthew Mead's Halloween magazine.

This project was never intended to be for Halloween, but it was a craft project that went wrong, so it became part of Halloween. I was attempting to make a variation of Martha's monogram wreath, but mine turned out looking spooky. So, we spray painted it black and hung it up! Now, hopefully, it looks like it was supposed to be spooky!

We made a fun Halloween banner after I saw this project. It was made from painted newspaper!

I've had such a good time making our home just a little spookier for Drew's big day! I'll be back with photos soon!

Hey Kevin!

**This was a message left for me on our kitchen counter one day. I just wanted to return the favor!

The Boys

This past Sunday, I was dressing the boys for church and realized that they were going to be a little more matchy-matchy than I usually like! Then, when Kevin joined in on the fun, I just had to take a picture! Davis is wearing his first "big boy belt" and he was so proud. As usual, Drew was wasn't pleased about having to tuck in his shirt, but he relented and they look so handsome together!

Davis and the Baby Pumpkin

We have two pumpkins that are sitting on our front porch - a mama pumpkin and a baby pumpkin! That's what Davis calls them. Isn't that how all things big and small are labeled when you are a preschooler?

Big = Mama. Little = baby. REALLY BIG = Daddy!

I love watching how the minds of little ones work. You can almost see the wheels turning! Wait a minute - I think I might have just remembered why I was an early childhood major in college!

Anyway...back to the pumpkins. I was taking pictures on the front porch and trying to get Davis to cooperate. Not happening. He needed (NEEDED) to move the baby pumpkin. I decided to catch the process. Here he is - so determined and, well, precious.

Step One:

Step Two:

Step Three:

Step Four:

Step Five:

Step Six:

Success!

Countdown to Halloween

I keep seeing Halloween countdown calendars that I love and my favorite is from Just a Girl, a blog that I just recently found. I LOVED her project and I knew the boys would get a kick out of opening a new box every morning. But, I started this project a little late and didn't have time to make the boxes. So...here is our version.



I used little brown paper bags that I found at Michaels and decorated them with stickers and my leftover Halloween ribbon. Really quick and no painting involved which saved me a lot of time.



I put two small trinkets or pieces of candy in each bag (mostly from Dollar Tree) and hung them from a ribbon on our mantle.

I could only fit about 10 bags at a time on the ribbon, but this worked out for me because I still need a few more treats to fill up the rest of our bags! I think that on the 31st I will put some of those fun glow sticks and bracelets in their bags for trick or treating!

Oh, I almost forgot! I still haven't given up on the countdown calendar with boxes! Don't you think that would make a great Christmas advent calendar? Me too!

"Mums" the Word!

Oh wow. That was really terrible. I apologize. Truly.

Moving on...

I think mums are the loveliest fall flower. There are lots of color choices, they are pretty inexpensive, and I have a tendency to kill them. I get maybe one week of blooms before they turn brown and flaky and fall off. But, in addition to being a mum killer, I am also an eternal optimist. So, I am trying again.

We went out a couple of weekends ago and bought 4 mums and 2 planters - I was thinking I could get 2 plants in each pot. Nope. So...I spent a week looking for larger planters and gave up when I couldn't find anything that I like. I put one mum in each pot and kept the others in the black plastic pot that they came home in. But, of course, I had to dress them up a little! They both received matching burlap dresses and black gingham belts. Very fashionable!

Here is my mum in casual clothes...




And here she is in dress up clothes...




And here she (of course she is a girl plant!) is with her other fall friends by our front door...