pumpkin carving and football helmets

we did a little pumpkin carving this weekend and ended up with some pretty creative pumpkins.  i think my favorite is the football helmet...ha, ha...my nephews put those pumpkins on their heads without anything on their heads.  that's what i love about boys.  

i also love the skull andy carved for julian.  i'm not a big fan of skulls, but that's what julian picked out and i think it turned out pretty good, especially since it was free handed.  it kind of reminds me of a dia de los muertos skull.

i didn't finish mine so i worked on it for about another hour at home...this is so typical of me.  i made the haunted houses on the hill one, but i had never carved one that is just carved on the surface.  it turns out the pumpkin is really thick and you have to scrape half the pumpkin away from the inside so that the light can even shine through.  

so much fun!!

well, i'm off to the thrift store to get a couple of things to finish ella's costume.

julian's smoothie recipe

ella was off to school and daddy was off to work and julian had a plan.  

'can we make a smoothie?'

'oh sure, honey, we just need to go grocery shopping because we are all out of fruit.'

'ok, i will make a recipe.'

he can kind of sound out words and he can write most letters, but i know he can not write a recipe, but i thought, oh how cute, as i busied around the house unloading the dishwasher and cleaning up breakfast dishes. 

 he sat at the table so quietly working on something.

i was so busy i didn't even notice that he was still there at the table...and i had definitely forgotten all about the smoothie

'ok let's go, i have my recipe.'

ha, he did make his recipe.

the yogurt tub is the best...see the Y on the side...obviously it's yogurt.

 so off we went...recipe in hand.

so here is:

JULIAN'S SMOOTHIE RECIPE

1 banana

1 apple -cored obviously

1 cup milk (about)

1 cup yogurt - we love Brown Cow's Maple flavor

1 tsp vanilla extract

a dash of cinnamon - he insisted...we made pumpkin bread a couple of days ago

1/4 cup of crushed ice

blend

it was really good.

we faltered just a tad away from his original recipe only because i don't really like oranges in my smoothies and we didn't buy any peaches because the were super pricey and hard...so there is julian's smoothie recipe for you.

he drank his and then half of mine.

setting his mind on a smoothie was easy...

deciding which wizard of oz record to listen to was a lot tougher decision.

some days are hard...

some days are really really hard as a mom.

some days everything the kids do frustrates me...i know my patience is wearing thin, the day is coming to a close, but bedtime couldn't be soon enough and i try to to remind myself that i need a little more patience, a little more grace, a little more love in my words...but ahhhh!!  sometimes i feel like screaming and some days my volume creeps up...but how can i teach them about self control when some days i obviously haven't quite learned this lesson.  the never ending arguing and whining is just about enough to drive me crazy.  i pray for patience, wisdom, grace, love, compassion and anything else that will help me get to the end of the day.  

today was one of those days.  ella was tired.  everything and anything brought about the dramatic flow of tears.  i was a little more on edge today.  i was frustrated and feeling like a complete failure as a mom.  out of nowhere i tried a little something different.  i had wisdom not of myself.  i had grace and compassion for a frustrated little girl.  my prayers were answered in such an obvious way.  God gave me the patience and compassion to hear a little heart out and that was all she needed.  she needed to be heard.  we talked and hugged and everything wasn't perfect but God's presence was there.  

i sat here looking for a picture to throw in and i looked at these little faces and my heart swelled. 

these guys are my heart, my love, my joy...

tomorrow is a new day and i'm trusting God to equip me with what i need to raise these little ones that He has entrusted to me.

the new love-ly wall

I wanted to make a little something for a photo shoot I had this past weekend and I remembered this.  

I thought it would be perfect.

I made it with some pipe cleaners and even added a little floral wire that I had on hand for a little more stability. 

 It still turned out a little too wonky to be held.

 We didn't use it for the photo shoot but 

I pinned it up in the kid's room

 on the wall that has been blank for way too long. 

 It's simple, but I like it.

 It will work for now!

embrace the camera

i let the kid's use my camera once in a great while...

julian took this one the other day right after we 

finished our

swing.

i had to test it out first, right???

i didn't want to get up

it was pretty 

relaxing

i'm linking up here

my dirt magnets

there is one patch of dirt in our front yard where my planter boxes once stood...you would never guess the kid's favorite place to play.

ah, you're good!

i have heard mom's here and there talk about how their kid hates dirt or sand and i just couldn't imagine.  julian used to eat sand by the handfuls and both of these guys can't get enough of the dirt.  the other day they were out there for hours.  they were playing so good together without fighting i knew they were up to something so i grabbed my camera.  it wasn't anything too exciting, but they were having so much fun.  they were trying to stuff dirt under the tire and then they would peddle and try to shoot the dirt out in a spray.

eventually someone got upset

who teaches them to cross their arms like this when they get mad??  i have to hold back a smile every time i see one of them do this...it's hilarious to me.

man, julian was really dirty.

he even had marker on his leg from earlier in the day.

yep, these guys are my dirt magnets!

embroidery hoop hopes...

i have so many embroidery hoops that have been hanging in my craft closet just waiting to be used.  actually, i have quite a few things begging to be used...

i have been in a little bit of a crafting funk. 

 i'm going to blame the weather for that. 

i think part of my problem also is that i lost my little notebook that i use to jot down ideas or to sketch out little projects.  

i just need to start a new notebook.  it really makes a difference for me.

recently i came across a couple of amazing creations that just might pull me out of my funk.  

this is just one of the many incredibly beautiful ones found here.
where is our cold weather??!!!
i want to snuggle under a quilt.

and this one from this etsy shop makes me crave a cold evening out.

for some odd reason this reminds me of an awkward night long ago when the jr high group from our church went on a hay ride...i don't remember any thermoses, but then again my memory isn't the sharpest.

now I just need a quiet evening in to make something pretty...maybe tonight when i snuggle up with andy and rub my cold feet on him, with a hot beverage at arms length while we watch a movie i picked up at the library today.

it's never too late...

all summer i had planned on making a swing in the back yard for the kids.  well, it's never too late, right???

last week we had summer weather (the temp was in the 90's) which reminded me of my swing making wishes, so the kids and i got on our swing making project.

 they love helping with the power drill...

(don't worry babe, we were super safe...promise).

i used a couple of different ideas from a couple of different sights on the how to and this sight for the knots...all super helpful.

here is my basic design.

totally makes sense right?  ha, ha.

 once the kids got tired of helping me they decided to make a little family out of the wooden plugs that came out of the holes that we drilled.

when we finally hung the swing and made our stand-up loop rope swing (or whatever it's called), the kids were beyond ready to try them out. 

  ella is my little acrobat...

she makes me a little nervous.

they have been on those 

swings 

so much since we made them.  

i'm so happy we didn't wait until next summer to make these.