Another One Bites the Dust

Another project that is. I love the metal hanging basket I have outside my front door. I love changing it out for the seasons and usually have mums in it for the fall. This year I decided to do something a little different. A few years ago I bought some of those fake pumpkins at Michael's. I think they were 90% off and for the last couple years I've had no idea what to do with them. The color was UGLY and I had no plan for them when I purchased them. They were also a pain in the rear to store so I almost got rid of them last year and now I'm so glad I didn't.

This year I got a wild hair and decided to paint the pumpkins a coppery orange color (gorgeous!) and added a little fun vinyl to them. I added a beaded garland and voila - easy, no maintenance entry-way decor.

Close up:

Full view:

This pic is a little funky because the metallic sheen catches the light (which is gorgy in real life). I'm so pleased with how it turned out especially because it was so inexpensive!

Speaking of vinyl - I added these cute labels to my baking jars this week too. LOVE how they turned out. My whole wheat flour jar is woefully empty but that is because whole wheat maintains more of it's nutritional value if ground fresh. But sometimes there is extra flour in there!

Pumpkin Garland

If you know me at all, you know that as soon as the fall hits I get the crafting bug in a BAD way. I have quite a few projects in the works this fall and finally got one finished and put up this morning when I put out my Halloween decor.

I saw an idea to use those Mellow Pumpkin candies to make a Halloween bracelet. I decided to expand the idea and create a banner to go across my mantle using the same idea. This was actually a really fun family project and came together quickly. Allen used a tiny drill bit and drilled holes through all the pumpkins (about 1.5 bags) and the kids strung them on 8 strands of embroidery floss we used for the project. The longest part of the project was waiting for the acrylic coating that I used on the pumpkins to dry for the recommended 24 hours. I gathered all my Halloween colored ribbon and tied pieces randomly throughout the garland.

Here's the finished product hung on the mantle (yes, I know the tile is hideous and would be the first thing to go if this house was ours!!)

Close up:

Makenna saw the original bracelet idea and begged me to make her a bracelet so I will be whipping up a couple more on a much smaller scale for the girlies.

Stay tuned, lots more fun crafting to come!!

Final Score!

Girls: 3 Boys: 1

Yep, yesterday was our big Ultrasound! It's a GIRL! Everything looks great and she is perfectly healthy and we are thrilled! The first thing out of Allen's mouth was "looks like our household expenses just went up another $10,000 a year." and then he got serious and said we need to set up a wedding fund for the girls. Too funny.

Carter was so sad when we told him. Telling him was truly the most heartbreaking experience of my life and I almost can't talk or write about it without crying again myself. He didn't believe us at first when we told him it was a girl and then when it finally sunk in he sobbed and sobbed. He kept telling us it just wasn't fair that he would never have a brother. We just kept reminding him that this baby girl is what Heavenly Father wants for our family and that we need to love her and be happy about it. It was hard but he will survive.

I have a ton of great pictures of her from the Ultrasound but I am swamped with life so I will have to scan them in and post later. She'll be a beauty just like her sisters, I'm sure.

{Sorry to leave you hanging yesterday - I had only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before, had a crazy busy day and fell asleep at about 8:00 p.m.}

Firsts

We've had a lot of firsts around here lately.

Carter

- had his first football practice ever!

After much debate we decided to have him play with the local Upward league. They are Christian based sports group and we have been beyond thrilled with the coaches and the organization. We also like that they keep the teams small allowing the boys to really learn the game, try all the different positions and get lots of playing time. It may be premature but I think Carter may have found "his" sport. He's quite good at football even though he's never played before. He is SO excited for his first game and has been wearing his uniform around the house all weekend.

- is really, truly being challenged in school for the first time ever! I am so happy to see him have to put in serious effort in his homework and schoolwork. His teacher and the gifted team at his new school have been FABULOUS in keeping him challenged. The math curriculum at the school is excellent and really keeping him on his toes!

Makenna

-had her first dance class of the year this past week. She is taking at a new studio and had a great time in her class. She will be starting 2nd dance class this week with a bunch of her church friends who are taking from a teen in our stake who has a studio out of her home. She is thrilled to be dancing again after taking most of the summer off!

- is doing great in school and her reading is really taking off. She is loving school though she still struggles to wake up most mornings. She loves her little group of friends and has gotten VERY into the Silly Bandz craze since school started!

(Unfortunately I did not take a pic of Kenna before her dance class last week but here she is baking with Allen yesterday - her all time favorite past time)

Addison

- is using the big girl potty regularly and rarely has accidents any more. Unfortunately, she has not gotten #2 down yet, despite many bribes and threats. I have resorted to making her take a cold shower when she poops her pants, which she hates, so I'm hoping it works out soon. (And I know I'm not the first mom with this problem so if you have any tips/tricks - send them my way!)

- started her dance and tumbling classes these last couple weeks. She is as cute as a button and LOVES going to her classes. She especially loves tumbling because several of her friends from church are in her class with her and she loves her teacher Miss Jacque. Seriously, I could eat this child alive, every second of her life!We're staying SUPER busy between all our extra curricular activities, homework and volunteering in the kids' classrooms!

STAY TUNED: We have our LAST ultrasound for our LAST baby on Wednesday. I can hardly wait for our big news!!!

Labor Day Weekend

Allen's mom came from AZ for a VERY quick trip over Labor Day weekend. Quick as in about 36 hours is what she spent in ABQ with us. We packed a lot in and the kids were thrilled to pieces to have grandma here, even for a short visit.

Carter came up with this idea to create fake injuries and pretend like they were dead when she arrived. It was very interesting and creative and FUNNY. I couldn't resist a picture.


Sunday evening we had a nice dinner together, played lots, had a tea party and took a long walk to collect rocks.

Monday morning Allen's mom made and played Play Doh with the kids (for a long time), had another tea party and made Jello Jigglers. She's always so good about doing fun things with the kids.

Late in the morning we headed into Old Town to do some shopping, exploring and have lunch. Allen's mom quickly made friends with an older hispanic man in one of the shops who took pictures for us and make a restaurant recommendation. Carter and Makenna chose a scorpion sucker as their souvenir. It was disgusting but they thought they were the greatest things ever.

At lunch at Church Street Cafe - great ambiance, and pretty good food!

After Old Town Al and his mom took the kids for the last swim of the summer at the pool. We're so glad Grandma Frost was able to spend a short bit of her weekend with us and had a great time together!

Signs of Life

I am so happy to report that I am finally feeling back to my normal self. Well as normal as you can feel at 19 weeks pregnant anyway! I knew things were starting to get back to normal when the following happened:

Laundry getting washed, folded and put away on the same day! This didn't happen around here for months. I could get it washed and dried on my normal day (Monday) but it usually sat in baskets until Allen folded it for me (on about Thursday).

Meal planning and cooking! Yay! It feels great to be back in my kitchen and feeding my family healthy meals again. I'm especially enjoying all of the fall baking this year. Last year I was on my crazy strict diet and did virtually no baking all fall so I'm totally living it up this year! {And next year I'll have to be good again while I lose baby weight}Scrapbooking! I'm so happy to have enough energy to be getting back into a few hobbies. I scrapped TWELVE pages this week and am happily completely caught up on my kids' school scrapbooks! Next up is getting my 365 blog updated this weekend.This fall is shaping up to be INSANELY busy. My bestie (Mindy) is getting married in two weeks so we are making a QUICK trip to Utah for her wedding. We are thrilled to pieces for her and love her fiance Erik.

The very next weekend Allen and I will be boarding this:

And heading to places like this:

(One of our ports - St. Maarten, Virgin Islands) as an early 10 year anniversary trip. We are so excited but I have A LOT to do to get ready for my parents to come and care for my kiddos that week.

We also have all of our traditional fall activities - apple picking, state fair, pumpkin patch, balloon fiesta - to squeeze in to the remaining weekends. Carter starts football this week and the girls have started their dance and gymnastics classes. I have some decorating and sewing projects up my sleeve (including DARLING Halloween costumes - yes, I am a glutton for punishment!!) and am pulling out my fall decor bins to start decorating around here this weekend!

Ok, that's about it from around here! I'll be back with more soon!

Isotopes Game

This summer my big kids participated in a summer reading program that is done by a local restaurant and the minor league baseball team in ABQ. They were so excited when they earned their tickets to an Isotopes baseball game. Because of pregnancy and vacationing we ended up going to one of the last games of the season last weekend.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous - slightly cool and breezy and we even got rained on a tiny bit at one point. We all had a great time but the kids especially loved being in the park. The kids split a bag of cotton candy and Al and I shared some kettle corn. There was also a fun park/play area for the kids that they had fun in. I think Carter's favorite activity was playing baseball with a bunch of other little boys on the grass near us.

{Don't ask, she would only let me take pics of her eating her cotton candy}

We will definitely try to hit a couple of games next summer and will participate in the reading program again. It was a great end of summer activity for us!