My 3 WitCheS

I sure hope that you all had a Happy Halloween!!!

It is actually really hard for us to have ALL that candy at our house.... so this year we skipped trick or treating and headed to the cabin. Because if you can't trick or treat, you may as well have a PARTAY the cabin with Grandma!

I made this cape for Kisserbella and the bow. She is the CUTEST little witch I ever done see! Don't you agree? Even if you don't, say you do.

Unfortunately this was the best picture I could get of Savannah. She is such a turkey sometimes! IT was crazy hair day at school on Friday so I did 6 piggies with ribbons in their hair. It was more cute than crazy. Ain't it great to be CrAzY?

Doug took this of Mikenna. She said "Daddy, take it while I am doing this... and this... and this..." Oh boy. We are in trouble. Her latest thing is getting a little on the cranky side with me. Like for instance, I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her and it had the chunky peanut butter. She about came unglued. I told her daddy did it. To which she replied, "oh." OH!!! OH!!! OH!!! WHAT? Are you KIDDING ME?

Then at the cabin I didn't pack her Halloween pants because I couldn't find them. I know shocking.... then she was mad that I didn't pack them (luckily I thought to bring her Halloween shirt on a whim no less). SO I being the VERY smart mommy that I am (I learn quickly) I said, "Oh daddy forgot to pack your pants. Sorry." And all was forgiven.... SERIOUSLY????

OK SERIOUSLY????

Mikenna and one of the two twins.

For our PARTAY, we had skeleton and brain dip. At first it sounded REALLY disgusting. My first thought trailed back to last year at work for our Halloween party somebody brought in grey jello from a brain mold. It was actually quite delicious.... but still. When I saw what it was, I thought it would be SUPER fun to have for dinner. SO here it is.

After I decided to do the skeleton and brain dip I googled Halloween recipes and came up with "witches fingers" (supposed to be a cookie, but I had already failed at the caramel apples and the "breadsticks" turned out to be more like bread loaves.... so I just put the red fingernail (red almond) on the bread loaf and called it good.) and these meatball eye balls. Hilarious. AND Mikenna wouldn't touch it for NOTHING.

Dad said it was all a bit more effort than he would have afforded, but it was fun for the girls.... I think. We then played musical chairs, ate popcorn balls, and did Halloween projects.

AND here are the two twins and Kisserbella. Aren't they FREAKING adorable? Ya I am not SUPER into Halloween, but we made it fun. AND now I must rest.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

A HaPpy LiFe

All around me I see the picture perfect families.

I go to the grocery store and see the cute little mom all done up with her 3 kids and their perfect hair, clean clothes, and of course stellar behavior. And of course I am there in my sweats, freshly washed (still wet) hair with my children who have long since pulled out their pony tails and look disheveled from their day at school.

I skip around to other blogs and see the picture-perfect-not-a-care-in-the-world-nothing-bad-ever-happens-to-me-families. And of course here I am, spewing the reality, not sugar coating (actually I am) my life all over the internet.

LOL!!!!!!! Isn't that funny? Ya. No.

Then last night as I was washing my face, I looked in the mirror (it was scary at best) and thought to myself. Wow. I am lucky. I am lucky because I have a house to live in. A modest one at best. Simple.

But I still have a house. With 4 walls. And people who love me who live in it. I have memories in my little house. I have children who are my world.

I have a car to get me from place to place. It might not be anything special to someone on the outside looking in, but it is special to me. It keeps us safe. And I don't really mind driving (who am I kidding. I. LOVE. IT)

I have good friends. Friends who listen to me. Who pluck my eyebrows, pick at my ingrown toe nails, give me a shoulder to lean on, bring me treats just when I need them, text me just to see how I am doing, call me just to say hi, pick up my kids from dance, exercise with me.... and so much more.

I have a good husband who does laundry, washes dishes, sweeps floors, bathes children, rocks babies to sleep, holds me when I cry, loves me no matter how many buttons I push.... and so much more.

This was a long look in the mirror and perhaps today I will blow dry my hair, put on some make up, and wear something other than leftover sweats I pulled from the dirty laundry..... then again maybe not :)

Moral of the story: I am grateful for what I do have and as long I don't dwell too long on what I don't have .... then I guess I can wait .... until someday.... when I do have.... all that I long for. Which isn't much.

Phonetically Speaking

We must first start with Kisserbella. OF course. Funny thought. Yesterday we were going to Costco and Mikenna likes to look at my phone. She has figured out the applications on my phone and knows how to get into the pictures. She says, "Mommy, there are a lot of picture of Isabella on your phone." Do you think she was implying that the 3 pics I have of her and Savannah combined and the 285 pics of Isabella are unfair? Maybe. :) But her are a few more... of the Kisserbella.




I know that everyone is doing parent teacher conferences. Oh what a great time of year..... well hopefully. We hope that our kids will succeed. We cheer them on. We work with them each day and night so that they will be successful in all that they do.

Yesterday we were at Mikenna's Let's play music class and she had to do a solo exercise. I was cheering her on in my mind, hoping against hope that she would do it correctly, but more important confidently. It was an interesting parenting moment for me. I am sure all the other moms were silently cheering their kids on, but I wasn't. Only I was cheering for Mikenna. (not that I wanted the other kids to mess up, I just have a vested interest in my daughter :))

Well anyhow, back to the point. I went to the girls parent teacher conferences. Savannah is doing VERY well. Behavior. Academically. Social. It is crazy. The teacher told me that they are even learning to read!!! I was floored! Savannah. Read? WOW! So she showed Savannah a few words from a book "ran" and "van" and she TOTALLY knew what they were!!!!! IT was AwEsOMe. I almost fell out of my chair I was so flabbergasted.

Then on to Mikenna's class. She is quite the social bug I am told. Need to work on that :). But when put on the spot becomes VERY shy. But who cares. I don't really like being put on the spot either. I know. Surprise. Anyway her teacher was explaining the importance of spelling. Did you know that in order for them to do algebra that they need to learn to spell phonetically before they spell correctly? Ya. I can't really wrap my brain around it, but now that you mention it I guess I can spell pretty good and while it only took me until 3rd semester Calculus, I finally learned algebra too. So maybe they are related?

Whatever.

I went into the playroom. Mikenna spends a lot of time there on the white board that we have hung on the wall. And on the white board I found this:

I am not sure what kind of a mother this makes me, but this was HiLaRIouS!!!!!! I just couldn't let it go unposted.