Word "less" Wednesday

Today we wear gold for Gabriella

Last, November Gabriella was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. She passed away peacefully, this past Saturday at only 10 years old. Her family is part of our community, a community that is showing so much support for the family, that it blows me away.

Here is Gabriella's Make  A Wish facebook page...

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Make-A-Wish-with-Gabriella/489751111047045?hc_location=stream

Halloween Party - the crafts and decorating

Last Friday, we hosted a Halloween party for some kids in the neighborhood. I spent months getting ready for this party and scouring Pinterest for ideas. I am very pleased how everything turned out.

Thank you to my Silhouette Cameo for working many hours, the Dollar Store for helping me find things cheap, to Target because when don't I have to thank them and to my husband, family and friends for putting up with me.

Here are the pictures:

These wine bottle decorations are from Martha Stewart at Michael's. I did not make these, although I probably could have.

The banner was made from my Silhouette Cameo (the best gift ever) and the felt ghosts, I found at Michael's for $1.

My mantle and the witches' hat toss. Mantle items are from HomeGoods and the fabric tie wreath is from Two Little Bird Designs. Hats are from Target in the Dollar section. The kids tossed orange glow necklaces and received a prize from the Dollar Store - a box of Halloweenstickers.

This banner was sent by a friend and it came in perfect. Over there to the left are prizes to the ping pong pumpkin toss.

The ping pong pumpkin toss. We just tacked them into the board so the buckets would not move. Buckets came from The Dollar Store.

Another game called Witches Brew - the kids had to pick out the cut outs with a straw and place them into the cauldron. They had a lot of fun with this and of course got a little Halloween notebook prize.

Front table and the candy corn guessing contest. The prize was a $5 Target gift card. There were actually 1072 candy corn in there. One girl guessed 1000 so she was the big winner.

My super talented friend made the cupcakes for the party. I just decorated the stand with washi tape and put the spider webbing all over the island. It was the main centerpiece for the party. The spiders on the counter were from Martha Stewart at Michael's.

The craft table. I got foam pumpkins for the kids to make Hobby Lobby and the other end housed the witches brooms. They were made of peanut butter cups and pretzels. I wish I had a picture, because they came out so cute.

This was the popcorn bar. We made lots of popcorn and put it in the cauldron and then let the kids add Halloween marshmellows, m&m's and raisinettes. They had a field day with this.

This is the drink station for the kids. I found 10oz cups with lids at Staples and then I just decorated them with vinyl. Probably one of my favorite parts of the party. The kids loved them and I loved that they could not spill. The straws came from an Etsy vendor.

All and all I had a blast planning and partying with some great friends. I am hoping to make this an annual tradition and making it a little bigger each year.

Here we are all dressed up for the party.

Happy Halloween from our family to yours!

Word "less" Wednesday - Parents Weekend 2013

Word "less" Wednesday

Don't you wonder what she is thinking here?

Hockey Henry

Last week I entered a contest for a local dentist that just opened up in our Town Center. They were giving away two free tickets if they got so many likes to their page. Well, I entered and won!

We decided it would be best to take Henry, since he had never been. Boy, did we make the right decision, he was so excited to go. We went out and bought him a CAPS sweatshirt because we knew it would be cold in there and of course his Dad bought him a hat at the game. His only request was that he got to eat popcorn.

Here are some pictures.

I'd say from that one picture he had pretty good seats. Thank you Little Smiles and Costa Family & Cosmetic Dentistry for the awesome tickets! I am sure we will see you for a check up soon!

Daily Dose of Fashion

Daddy says she has too many clothes, Mommy highly disagrees. I don't think Daddy understands that Mommy waited a long time to have a doll to dress up. Every Mommy wants to dress her daughter in cute clothes and just make her look like a fashionista, don't they....well, I do.

Yesterday, daycare told me she looked frumpy. I was offended (not really) but I knew that was not going to happen again. So, I give you this.

She was a ham this morning posing for the camera. I'm pretty sure I could not pull this outfit off but she does! That hair bow you see, yeah she picked that out herself. No, joke. We were getting dressed and she put her hand on that one and said, "please".

So, Daddy you might want to give up saying she has too many clothes because when you are this cute, there is no chance, Mommy is going to stop shopping.

New Blog Design

So, what do you think about the new blog design? You love it, don't you? I'm in love with all the new color and it really screams me.

Wondering, who did it?

Becca, over at Jumping Jax Designs, of course. She is pretty talented, can't you tell. She also does  so so so much more than just blog design. Need Birthday invites, check her out. Need holiday cards, check her out. Need a logo, check her out.

Like her on Facebook because she does give aways and promotions. That is how I won this new blog design. I always enter contests and never win, so I was pretty excited to win this one.

Seriously, click on the link above and go check her out, you can't go wrong!

Word "less" Wednesday

He was practicing his poses for picture day today.

Also, you like the new look of the blog? I will post more on that later today!

Halloween Decorations!

I did a little bit more than usual this year, since we are having a party at the house. I already showed you the mantle in a post last week, so here is the rest of the house.

I love how everything turned out. The kids love it and Henry would like to keep adding more items. We do have a few more headstones to put out but we are getting rain today so I thought I would wait.

Happy Haunting!

SAVINGS!

I think I have mentioned before that I have been buying a lot of things for the kids from consignment or when they are on sale. It has actually become a game for me at this point. I want to find good quality items for discounted prices and then I like to add up what I have saved.

For instance, Mary's Christmas gifts.

Everything in that picture was bought on sale or consigned. I paid $86.96 for everything in that picture. Compared to $215.96, I would have paid, if I bought everything full price. That is a savings of $129! Now maybe the stroller is last year's print, but I don't think Mary will mind.

I'm pretty pumped about this and it also makes Charlie happy to see that we are saving money. It's a little harder with Henry, because he wants transformers and knows what is in the stores, but I will certainly try!

Exactly One Year...

Last year today at almost 9 months

Today at almost 21 months....

In both pictures she is headed to daycare and she doesn't even look like the same child. Henry always looked the same, just older looking, Mary not so much.

Here are the pictures side by side. Her face is longer, her hair curlier, her face still chubby just in a different way and well I guess one thing is the same, her eyes.