Pumpkin Soup Bowls...

A local store sells pumpkin soup bowls. I thought they were so cute, but wasn't about to buy them when I could make my own. They turned out really cute. The kids loved them. I don't think they actually put soup in them though.

A lucky find....

I went to the thrift store to find some shoes to make into Dorothy's ruby slippers. I found this cute bird house thingy. It's top was broken off and it was a little banged up, but nothing a little spray paint couldn't fix. It is a nice new addition to my kitchen. Now I just need to get up there and dust.

Trick or Treat Pail

I have wanted a Trick or Treat pail for a long time. The ones I found at the store were HUGE....who gives out that much candy????? I found this one in the dollar spot at Target. Only problem...it was red. So I spray painted it black and added some orange vinyl. Perfect.

Dorothy costume...

I whipped out this costume for my daughter one night. I didn't have a pattern. It was really easy to make. I wish I would have done the front waist part a bit different, but I was in a time crunch! I couldn't find the blue gingham I wanted either. I guess that is what I get for waiting until the night before the school costume parade to make a costume. I also made her shoes. I found some tap shoes at a thrift store, spray painted them red and then glued glitter all over them. My intent was to tie them in cute little bows, but I cut the ribbon too short and didn't have any more.

Do you want to see my husband in his Birthday suit?

We figured that since D is wearing a suit 2-3 times a week now that he might need a new one. His old one he has worn since his mission. His new suit looks really nice on him. Especially when he is wearing his sunglasses. He still can make me swoon! :)

Happy Birthday Lover!

We have definately had some fun birthday stuff going on around here. Besides my two daughters, we also had my grandpa's birthday, my mom's birthday, and my husband's birthday too.

Here he is with all his girls. They were so excited to help him open his presents.

He recently got a new calling and needed some new things for church. He got a new bag to put his church things in. We had tucked fun things into the pockets....mints to keep his breath fresh, tissues, granola bars for when he has to stay at church for hours and hours, and hand sanitizer for after he shakes all those hands!

See A sitting behind him to the left with a little yellow package? She wanted to give her daddy a present, so she colored him a picture and gave him a candy bar. She is so sweet on her daddy. And her daddy is pretty sweet on her too. She was born at the same time he was going through cancer. He couldn't do much after his surgery and while he was doing chemotherapy so he spent hours and hours just holding her. They have always had a special bond because of it.

M is always asking to take pictures with my camera. She does a pretty good job too. Here is a picture she took of me. (To prove that I was actually at the party!)

Last year I was so burned out by the time my hubby's birthday rolled around that he only got a plate of cookies with a candle in the middle. I thought I would redeem myself this year and make him a fresh apple pie. It was definately worth the time it took to make it. We love pie!

Happy Birthday sweetheart. Here is to another year with the man I love!

Happy 2nd Birthday Little H!!!!

Our baby turned two this last month. Here she is trying to put up two fingers. She was so cute. You could ask her how old she was and she would say "two" and try to show you on her fingers. She never did get her fingers going the right way.

I got her this cute little outfit for her birthday. I made her hair bows to match. I love her hair like this, but it makes her look so much older....it kind of makes me sad.

She was born just before halloween. I have always called her my pumpkin. So I decided to throw her a pumpkin party. I made a pumpkin shaped cake, and homemade pumkin icecream. It was so yummy!

It is really hard to come up with gift ideas for a 4th daughter. We seem to have every possible girl toy already. She got lots of books, and a couple toys. She got a little doodler to take to church. I had ordered her a new shopping cart for her birthday, but I didn't get it ordered soon enough, so it came the week after her birthday. She didn't care that it was late. She has had lots of fun pushing it around with her baby and stuff in it.

When she started opening her presents the first thing she pulled out of the bag was some tissue paper. She said "EWWWW!" It was funny. I guess she didn't want THAT for her birthday.

Happy 9th M!!!

Our little Miss M is not so little any more. She just turned 9.... Deep sigh.....I can't believe she is getting so big. She is still my baby! (Maybe she always will be!) We had fun celebrating her birthday this year. She wanted to have a horse birthday. She loves horses, I mean r...e...a...l...l...y loves horses. She is always begging for us to get one. I have NO idea where we would keep it!!!

For a fun surprise, DH talked to a guy at his work that had horses to see if we could bring M out to ride one. She said to me the day before, "I wish that I could ride a horse." She had no idea that the next day her dream would come true. She got to ride Duchess, a really old, blind in one eye, sweet little horse. She was perfect for M to ride for the first time. All the girls got to ride her, but M definately had the most fun. I didn't have fun at all. Come to find out, I am allergic to horses. By the time we left my eyes were red and my throat was swelling. I didn't even touch the horse! That was just from standing by it. I guess we are definately not getting a horse...ever!

In keeping up with the horse theme, we made a horse cake. I don't know about that pretzel fence. Ideas are always better in my head! We got the little horses at the dollar store. They have been well loved ever since.

She got lots of fun presents too. Most of her ones from us were not a surprise this year. I did surprise her with a Checkers game. I could not possibly count the number of games of checkers that have been played at our house since her birthday.

Her big present this year was a pair of roller blades. She has been wearing mine around for months. She is really good on them too, which is pretty surprising since they are 5 sizes too big for her! We figured she should have some of her own. Now we go roller blading together. It is a fun mommy daughter bonding time.

Happy Birthday M!!!

Vacation lifesaver...

I made these for a recent vacation we took to Lake Tahoe. They were a life saver! I made one for each of my girls with their initial on it. I made the bags from some fabric my mom gave me ages ago. The white flowery fabric use to be some curtains that were in one of the houses we bought. I love using what I have to make something fun. I filled the bags with lots of goodies....coloring books, candy bracelets, travel games, toys, and other various activity items. One of the funnest things I put in the bag was a map of our country. As we were driving whenever we spotted a license plate the girls would color in the state that it was from. I made a copy for the way there and one for the way back. It was great to break up the monotony of the trip. I made the handles on the bags long enough that they could hang over the head rest of the seat in front of them. They could still reach them and get into them, but we didn't have any toys getting lost and the bags were not in the way. They worked out perfectly. I don't know why I didn't do this YEARS ago!