Halloween Hair Fun

The girls got new glitter Halloween shirts from MoMo's bag of goodies last time she was here. After I washed them they wore them the next day. As we got ready I remembered more than a year (or two) ago Jared's TX Aunties sent some fun Halloween hair attire. I knew exactly where it was and it all matched. Here are the cuties in their crazy shirts and hair bows!

Aren't those fabulous!?!?!?

Look at that little ponytail! So stinking cute!

Pintrest addiction = busy hubby

Y'all. I cannot even begin to explain to you the fabulousness that is Pintrest.com. It is like your own set of pinboards (you set up the categories) for anything online. Instead of saving something to your favorites you can "pin" (save) to a specific "pin board" on Pintrest. When you go to vie your own boards everything you pinned is there with a picture and a link to the original site. I probably am not explaining it well, this is a better description. I am so addicted!

I have several boards for food - main meals, sides, drinks, sweet treats, etc. It has been awesome to pull up a board and see all new recipes I selected. I use it to make our menu before I grocery shop. Then I have boards for all sorts of other things - house and craft ideas, things for the girls, quotes, clothes, gifts....it is incredible I tell ya! My two most favorite boards are my "organize my clutter" and "Honey Do List". I saw a quote not long ago that made me nod my head and laugh out loud. It said something like "I feel happier and skinnier when my house is clean and organized". HA! That is so true. I LOVE everything to have a place to live and I love the process of organizing. When things are in order I am a calmer, nicer, more relaxed and comfortable person all the way around!

Anyway, here are a few of our first Pintrest projects. Some of them are directly copied from Pintrest and some of them were my idea (anything I copied from someone else has the link to original if you want it). To say that Jared's drill has been used a lot recently would be an understatement. Even my craft desk idea originated from Pintrest.  I hope some of these might inspire you to organize your own house!

I could have cleaned this up before taking the picture but I didn't have time. Jared put a big piece of MDF over the washer/dryer which gave me tons of space for washing/cleaning supplies. I love how easy this makes finding something. I also added a shower curtain rod above everything for all our extra hangers. Extra hangers in closets drive me nutty!

 Jared said I had to make sure to note that I did this all by myself. My wood cutting skills are not the best so the ends of the boards aren't straight. I say "details, details"! Now I no longer dig through a drawer for my measuring cups. The are hanging on the inside cabinet door next to the stove. Who needs straight lines for that?!?!? oringal idea here

This is a tension rod hanging under the sink. All our bottles are now off the bottom of the cabinet. I wrote the product names on the sides of the bottles so that I would know what is what and still had room for baskets underneath. idea here

This isn't hanging up yet but it will be above the couch soon (right, Jared?!?!?). I stained 4 boards, put a rubber welcome mat from Home Depot on top and spray painted it cream. My total cost was less than $20 and it will take up a large piece of wall space. idea here

The flash reflected all funny off this so it looks like a strange blue color. Anyway, I recently got REALLY tired of the dark colors in the house. In addition to a pintrest addiction I also have an issue with spray paint. This was an open back bookcase. I got foam board from the dollar store and painted it blue. It adds some color and light to the room without commitment or cost. LOVE IT! idea here

New window treatments! I took down the dark curtains and made valances. Between the girls and a dog there was someone always rubbing/pulling/messing with the long curtains and it drove me nuts! Now they can't touch them and there is a lot more natural light in the room.

Ha! Jared took this of my skillz...I needed to finish the bottom of this and it was already on the wall so I used my hair straightener to "iron" the bottom. This fabulous idea was totally mine. Maybe one day it will be popular enough to be on pintrest. Dear Jeff Foxworthy, here is a new one for you - "You might be a redneck if you use hair appliances to make curtains".

I don't know why it took me 6 years to do this. I got big laundry baskets and made/laminated cute tags so that I don't have to sort light/darks/whites. When I notice a basket is getting full I just dump it in the washing machine. There are two more baskets - one for dry cleaning and one for handwashing/needs to be fixed. LOVE THEM ALL!!!!

I found this over the door shoe rack at Bed Bath and Beyond a few months ago. It takes up the whole back of the door and holds 30+ pairs of shoes. Awesome! Don't know what it is but the every fall when I see college dorm stuff in stores I have a sudden need to redo something. Do you think any college students might want an old lady to come decorate their dorms?!?!?

Just before I found pintrest poor Jared got stuck in the land of shelves. This one he made and added above the desk in our sitting room. I still have to get the hanging stuff back on the wall and get the shelf in order but I love it!

And I REALLY love these shelves above the desk in the kitchen. We looked into adding cabinets there a long time ago but they were really expensive and not exactly what I wanted. The chair was yellow and in my old room at my dads. I sanded it and repainted it the same color cream as the shelves. I am still working on a few things to go up there but you get the idea. There was nothing on the wall before except an ugly metal decorative thing. Now our mailbox is there, my cards, all our mailing stuff, a basket for keys and hiding electrical things, etc.

I especially love my moss letter. These bad boys are $79 at Pottery Barn. This one cost me less than $5 to make. Love it!

Another set of shelves that isn't even painted yet. We have such a tiny toilet room in our bathroom and I hated anything being on the floor. Now there is room for magazines, our cleaning supplies and extra toilet paper without it being a cluttered mess.

So there you have it. We've been up to a lot around here and there are lots of other things I didn't take pictures of. My to-do list has always been long but since Pintrest came along it is out of control. Jared will tell you that I don't read blogs or check Facebook much anymore. I'd much rather find a good idea on Pintrest anyday! And if you are interested in joining let me know and I can send you an invite. Hope you love it like I do!

Such cool parents!

Jared and I are such cool parents! While cleaning out the garage we let the girls play alone inside, making a mess, while on their own balance beam. Well, sort of, it at least sounds good when I say it that way. In reality we were cleaning out the garage but had the door open and we were all going in and out. The "balance beam" was a piece of wood from an old clothes rack Jared took apart. I lined up chairs so the girls could easily keep their balance and they played for hours.

Rare

This is a rare sight in our house, especially in the morning. Both girls are in one small space and smiling -at least there was no biting, hitting or pinching while the camera was out. Cuties!

Poor Mat still looks a little sleepy!

Thank you neighbors!

Wow! Is that Halle Kate sitting down drawing?

Sure is! And she never sits still. I wonder what got her attention...she seems to be looking at something across the street.

What is that orange thing across the street?

PUMPKIN MAN! And the girls, esp HK, love him. When he gets plugged in at night HK will go play in the playroom so that she can watch him.

Sometimes we even go outside to see him. And sometimes seeing Pumpkin Man makes the girls so happy the get along without fighting for more than .5 seconds!

Pumpkin Patch

Although our trip to the Heald Family Farm pumpkin patch last year was fun I am so excited that, despite HK being sick for almost 2 weeks, we made it to a pumpkin patch this year!

We went to Kinsey Family Farms this year and, while they did not have a giant pumpkin patch, it was perfect for our girls. We got there when they opened and were the only people for a while. The girls really loved being able to pull their own wagons.

We were the only family on the first hay ride. It was so much fun!

The farm is a large tree farm so the views from the hay ride were so beautiful.

Halfway through the hay ride we got off to feed some fish. The girls were thrilled!

BIG CATFISH! The guy driving the tractor said there is no fishing in the point and these fish get fed during the fall season a lot!

Mom and her girls!

HK finally got brave enough to get off my lap.

Sweet girls!

There was also a small "feed some animals" area. The girls really liked feeding all the goats! It was first thing in the morning and they were hungry!!!

The blow up cat was all fun and games from far away but not so much fun when we got close. Those claws and teeth were a little scary!

Family pictures!

Have to say a quick word about the girls dresses. The NICEST lady named Angela made them for me. I found her on Etsy (I don't even let myself on Etsy often because I love everything! here is her shop) and it is a small world because she lives less than 4 miles from my house. I was able to contact her, drop off fabric and have the dresses back in less than 24 hours.Talk about service! She was so great to work with and has lots of cute other girl clothes. I assume you are not surprised that she is doing their Christmas dresses too!

Because I was needing such a quick turn around she made the dresses (I don't sew great and they'd take me forever!) and then I got them home and added the monogram, ruffle at the bottom and made the matching flower bow. I love them and I love that fall attire is already crossed off my list for 2012. The girls can wear them again and if they are too short then we'll wear them as shirts with some cute leggings. So cute!

whooo hooo for the Paci Fairy!!!!!

WHOOOO HOOO! We had a surprise visit from the Paci Fairy last night and it was a fabulous success! After more than 3.5 years Matney Rose is paci free! Her jaw/mouth is so thankful!
We have tried before to take M's paci and it was MISERABLE. I've been dreading trying again but knew we wanted to do it before the holidays. Long story short - a good idea by MoMo and a great bribe later Matney left this note for the paci fairy last night. You should know that Matney's bestest friend is a little girl named Madigan and she is turning 4, having a party this weekend and Matney is also in love with La La Loopsy dolls like the one she got Madigan.

So....here is how we went to bed last night.
It says: Dear Paci Fairy,
I like LaLaLoopsy. I am too big for a paci now, my friend Madigan is turning 4 and she doesn't have a paci either. We want to play LaLaLoopsy together. Please take my pacis to babies who need them. Love, Matney

And on the back she wrote her name. Granted, the letters are all over the place but you can pretty much recognize each letter. Jared thought I did connect the dots with her but I did not, she was just using a market that left dots anytime she held it still. I know it isn't great but I was really proud of her! (and yes, there are two Ms, not sure why!)

The problem with this is that it was after 8pm and seriously raining outside, and there are 30 La La Loopsies to choose from, and this was not planned. The Paci Fairy was a little perplexed about how to solve this issue with less than 12 dark hours notice. In the end creativity worked! Here is what Matney woke up to find.

Ah! Are those notes on the bed? Pink and Purple, her two favorite color, notes? And what is that reflecting light? Might it be glitter???

Matney followed the glitter and decided that the Paci Fairy must have come in through the window.

Unfortunately, the Paci Fairy couldn't see well in the dark of Matney's room and had no idea how much glitter was falling from her glitter bottle wand. It was a lot. A whole pain-in-the-behind-lot to get cleaned up. But, Matney loved it!

What do those notes say?

Dear Matney, I am so excited you are getting so big. I am also very proud of you for sleeping without your paci! I want to make sure you get the perfect La La Loopsy doll so here is a ticket for any doll you want and a trip to the toy store today. Have fun! Love, the P.F.

Anytime Matney wants something she heads to the playroom and her crayons. She makes a "ticket" for whatever it is and brings it to you, positive it is going to get her what she is after. The Paci Fairy decided to take a chance that Matney would be ok with a glitter ticket and a trip to the toy store instead of waking up to a  La La Loopsy.

After she read her notes Matney also announced that she was so excited because she knew the PF left her candy downstairs. The Paci Fairy was not prepared for that so it may have taken some quick thinking...and MORE GLITTER....to make sure there was a treat for M downstairs. Thank goodness for hidden candy!

Matney with ticket and new La La Loopsy doll, Suzette la Sweet. We looked at every.single.doll. in Toys R Us and this pink one with a pink puppy was what she decided to get. She was one happy girl!

Here is Suzette and her pink puppy ready for bed tonight.

Poor Monica has been tossed to the end of the bed. I have a feeling that Cabbage Patch Kids and La La Loopsies will get along just find after a few days.

My big girl with NO PACI! She went to sleep again tonight with no issues. Thank the LORD! I have been so avoiding this and expecting it to be awful again. Now I have learned that a good friend, a good bribe and some glitter can accomplish miraculous things!

Here is the last note to the PF. Matney found some pacis that the PF forgot to take. Ooops. Matney was too distracted by her La La Loopsy to pay much attention to this note so I wrote it for her and left the pacis on top. It says, Dear Paci Fairy, Please take to babies, you forgot these. You must be getting old. Love Matney.

The PF did come pick them up, requiring MORE GLITTER, and left a note for M - Dear M, I am old. Thanks! Love, PF

After a night of running around playing with glitter in the dark and looking at every single thing in Toys R Us I think the PF was a tad cranky!

Jared and I are soooooo excited that the last 24 hours went so well. Matney is a happy girl and we have a big "to do" crossed off the list! And as soon as I get all the glitter cleaned up I'll be a happy Mommy!