meet Jack

and here is your warning... if you come to our house, you can't say I didn't tell you it could be DANGEROUS!!

The boys had fun carving Jack. Tanner thought it was so disgusting though! We told him to stop acting like a girl, and then we made him eat the guts. He ended up having fun after all!!

of course we didn't really make him eat it

um, is that not the cutest smile EVER. no, not Jack.

Kambrie even liked Jack. He fits in well.

Where my dreams continue to stay.

craft swap

Hey girlies that are playing my fun craft swap...you have one more week!

Get them mailed before then!!

I already have TWO awesome deliveries.

This is so fun.

You guys are the best.

teacher gift

I made this Halloween gift for Tanner's teacher. I made up the saying but I'm sure it's been used before somewhere in this big bad world, but I was excited to come up with the idea on my own! The little jar is from Walmart ($1). Then I did the classic toilet paper over sucker for the ghosts. Oh, and I added a few more punched out bats with my Stampin' Up punch.

And yes, the quotations marks are going the wrong way at the beginning. Totally buggin'. I just noticed.

Tanner's teacher loved it, by the way!

Finally festive

I finally got some decor out and we've had some fun festivities going on around here...

We have Jack as a new guest at our house (you'll meet him later).

We made caramel apples last night.

We're loving the beautiful leaves changing colors.

I really want some new family pics.

And I've had fun crafting...this frame being my first item of business.

EASY AND CUTE!

I'm in love.

I saw the idea on line and did one myself.

I got my supplies from Walmart. The frame was $3 and instead of placing pictures inside I put in some adorable scrapbook paper.

(paper from Stampin up)

Then I bought a box of styrofoam pumpkins.

Cut them in half, BEHIND the stem.

Then just hot glue them to the outside of the glass! VOILA! Stinkin easy and cute.

I love the 3D effect and the glitter pumpkins are perfect!

Even more stunning in real life. ☺

(Rachael, what do you think about doing this for MOPS?)

Then my accomplice helped me make some spooky spiders to hang from the light fixture!

I just freehand cut them out of cardstock and added some googly eyes!

EEEEEK...mice, rats and spiders now reside in our kitchen!!!!

Yay for Fall

WE ♥ FALL!!

warm jackets hot chocolate autumn decor cider cool weather yummy smells pumpkin cookies, bread, pie... Holiday excitement the list is endless... Fall is simply FanTastIc!!

the comparison

Recently a friend of mine vocally declared in a group setting, directed at me, an emotive statement:

"you have the perfect life"

Hmmmmmm I thought to myself. I gave a mystified smile and then analyzed their comment best I could.

Were they mad?

Were the jealous?

Were they happy for me?

Just what was her intention for such a comment?

The fact of the matter is we judge. We judge and compare ourselves to people all the time. Why? I don't know. We're silly humans that don't know how to control ourselves and we waste our time doing stupid things! But I feel pretty safe to say, WE ALL DO IT!

I wanted to laugh and explain my so called "perfect life" to my audience after the uttered judgement. Because by their remark they were only looking on the visible outside.

Isn't that how we all compare though?

We choose to take bits and pieces of people's lives. When in actuality we may not really know what goes on in someone's life. We think they might have this pretty packaged gift, but we don't know the entirety of what is in the box!

I wanted to ask my friend what her definition of perfection was...because apparently she wasn't thinking of my enduring heartache of infertility. She wasn't thinking of my weaknesses and the things I struggle with or the insecurities I have. I don't know if she was considering some of these things that are part of my life when she categorized me into

"the perfect life"

stereotype.

I'm not sure what was concocted in her mind of a perfect life, but I guarantee it was probably only superficial.

Then I read this blog post my sister had linked on her blog. It's SO GOOD. Take the time to read it. I promise you'll be grateful!

We need to stop comparing. Stop judging.

Or if we do it, do it to better ourselves!

What a brilliant idea. ☺

The grass ISN'T always greener on the other side. Guaranteed.

Kambrie is not a team player!

When the impossible seems impossible...

it really is impossible.

Hmmm...bored already and we've only just begun our attempt at a photo shoot...

half yawning.

I'm outta here...this is lame.

Pouty, goofy, silly, i don't know what expression this is FACE.

Makes me laugh every time though!

Yup. Finger still fits.

Hmmmm, this one is cute! Ahhh, we have a decent picture.

I like their hands touching, snuggling in close. At least it looks like they are sharing the love...she is actually probably trying to rip his hand free and take off again.

We'll just go with my version. nuff said.

This is cute.

We have a winner!

gosh dang i have cute kids

Books!

Kambrie LOVES books!

She loooves to read turn the pages and pull them off the shelves.

She's going to be so smart.

Right?

Well, at least she's having fun!

soccer report card

Grade E: for Effort

Needs improvements in the entire effort category.

He's in the middle of the field looking like he's ready to play duck duck goose, not soccer!!

Grade D: for Desire

Um, pretty much could care less if he ever played again!

Needs improvement in having a better attitude and having a desire to play!

Grade C: for Competitiveness

Look at that full on sprint..to where?

Not even paying attention to where the SOCCER BALL is!

Needs improvement in fighting for the ball and being aggressive.

Grade B: for doing your Best

Who can argue with how well you did, if you at least did your best. Can still improve on trying a little bit harder!

I kinda think it's a cop out too...he says after every game, "I did my best."

Um. Okay. Lets define BEST.

Grade A: for Acrobats

Yeah. Check out the bench. See that monkey dangling...yup. That's him!

No need for improvement!

Overall assessment: depends on what you deem worthy to be a passing grade... there's more to life than a perfect report card. wink wink

One thing for sure though, he definitely passes as

HAVING FUN!!!

We love you bubs.

Thanks for the entertainment if anything else!!

GO. FIGHT. WIN.

tutorial

Hey friends!!

I've got something fun for you to do today.

Go HERE and check out my super famous friend's blog. ☺

She has my tutorial posted on how to make the fabric flowers I talked about!

These are super duper easy. Trust me. I am sometimes craft-illiterate.

So if I can do this, you can too!

HAVE FUN!

Monsters in my house!

Being a mom is so gosh dang hard.

I see yall nodding your heads in agreement!

I always post about the good days and the happy moments because they are the majority of my life, plus I don't like a sad whiny negative blog...but it IS life and crappy days DO of course happen!!

I had fun tonight watching my kids laugh and play together. Tanner wanted to play horsey so I held Kam on his back and they ran around the living room giggling, and to me there is nothing more sweet!! That moment went straight to a file in my heart I want scrapbooked for life.

But. A few days before tonight I was NOT wanting scrapbook memories.

Dang sometimes your kids just suck the life out of you!!!

It's like this never ending straw and whatever their drinking has free refills!!!!!

It was a long day. Kam was tired, and would NOT nap. It took me forEEEEVER to get her to sleep only for her nap to last not nearly long enough. Then the evening drug on. and on and on. and Tanner came home which always brightens our day, but it just got chaotic and didn't end. Landon was out of town and I was feeling very hormonal which does NOT induce benefits. I can cry on the fly, without warning, and without reason! I hate those moments. Ya know what I mean sistas!!?? Anyways, my nerves were frayed and I just wanted to curl up in my bed, lay my head on my sleep inducing pillow and close my eyes to the world.

Um. Didn't happen. Hardly at all.

Well, not to keep griping but it was a long. LONG. long long night. And when you're not prepared to be awake all night, it really sucks! I was thinking to myself, well I've done this before when my kids were newborn and got up all night every night, so why is it so hard tonight? Well, I just wasn't mentally prepared. And it bit my butt.

Anyhow. We all have our mothering woes. Some days seem like eternal anguish and other days are celestial bliss.

Motherhood is

FREAK.ING. HARD.

Oprah's dang straight. She's got it right. And she doesn't even FULLY understand, since she only has her pups to put to bed...if she even personally does THAT! But she's so right. Being a mother is the hardest job there is. BUT. I know you will all join me in chorus in saying, it has the

best pay day and rewards ever.

It's so dang cliche, but golly it's true. ☺

She may be my little monster, but heck she's the cutest monster I've ever seen!!