A 1st grade Halloween!

Off we went this morning to celebrate Halloween first-grade style with Isaiah's friends at school. There was much fun to be had...including a costume parade, pumpkin carving, and party treats and games. 

After a long deliberation period in front of the costume wall at Party City, Isaiah finally decided he was going to be a "Metal Skull Rider", which is something like a scary skeleton dressed in leather and supposed to be scary. Umm, ok. Gone are the days where I had some sort of say in what he was going to be. And no longer is it fun superhero costumes. Apparently, he's too cool for that now that he's in 1st grade and MUST be something scary. Sigh....

 

Me and my big boys on this fine Halloween Eve Eve morning. lol

 

 Isaiah and friends.

 Lil bro Mikey just had to get in on the action. :) Isaiah's friends are his friends, too!

 The little bros waiting to catch a glimpse of their big brother in the school costume parade.

 Party time in the classroom! 

The kids waiting (somewhat) patiently to carve their pumpkins.

 Their finished products...what proud and handsome little pumpkin carvers!

 Isaiah's loot.

embrace the camera - oct. 28th

Happy Thursday! 

And guess what that means? 

It's time for Embrace the Camera!

Today, I spent part of my morning with my 3yo Mikey and his preschool class as they had their Harvest Day celebration. Here are Mikey and I...embracing the camera!

Now, GO and grab yours! Your camera, your kids, your hubby...and embrace them all!


Here are some more pics from this morning's exciting preschool festivities.

Dress was very casual...their favorite jammies, to be exact!

The kids enjoyed a delicious lunch of delicious orange goodies: mac n cheese, carrots, oreos with orange creme and orange juice.

Mikey was very happy to head home, toting a jack-o-lantern baggie full of sweets!

My Crafty Corner

Today was one of those do-nothing days. The weather was gloomy and cloudy, it was pretty darn cold outside, Liam has the sniffles and a low-grade fever...nothing else to do but bum around the house in our warm pjs. Well, I guess this is after I had to make a quick trip to Target to pick up some cleaning supplies and other goodies for the boys' Halloween parties at school this week.

After I finished my "chores", I got cozy in my crafting corner and started on the Halloween treats for Mikey's classmates. I made the same little mummy chocolate bars that I made for Isaiah's class last year. They were such a hit, I decided to do them again...and I'm also lacking in creative ideas and didn't think I could come up with any other clever treat by tomorrow....
In the process of putting these together, I realized I need some sort of note/tag to put inside. Now, there are plenty of printable Halloween tags all over the internet. My problem was that all of the cute ones were 2" circles and, of course, the only punch I have is a 2" scalloped square. I searched high and low for a 2" square tag and could find nothing! Isn't that crazy? But it's ok!!! Because I discovered a website suggested by The Mother Huddle that is far more thrilling and worthwhile: www. picnik.com. On this site, you can make ANY shape, size, color, style of printable you could ever possibly think of. It's even great for last-minute graphics and banners for your blog. Awesome, right? And it really is so very easy. I made the same tag that The Mother Huddle demonstrates in less that 10 minutes! I wish I had more time to tinker with it because there's so much you can do. This is definitely a site I will be utilizing A LOT and I'm sooooo glad I stumbled upon it.

Here is the tag I made for the inside of Mikey's mummy bars.

Fiddling with picnik.com made me realize that there is this other website I've been wanting to tinker with: www.wordle.com. You can create "word clouds" using words that you provide and the more times a particular word is present in the list, the larger it shows up in the word cloud. Then you can change the color scheme, fonts, etc, and just create something so personalized. It's perfect for gifts!

I have been intending to make one for Liam because it would match a print with his name and the alphabet that was given to him for Christmas in a previous year. So, I put together a bunch of words that describe my sweet little Liam and, voila!, an instant and super awesome word cloud fit just for him. I uploaded it to Costco and ordered it in a 20x30 print to frame and put up in his room. I hope it comes out well...but that is one of the wonderful things about the Costco photo center...a 20x30 print is only $8.99, so if it comes out completely sucky, you don't lose much! :)

I hope you are all enjoying this gloomy Wednesday as much as I am!

I love my girlfriends

Three of my mommy friends and I have a dinner date once a month. And I soooo look forward to them each time. This time away from kids and husband is such a MUST. Not because I don't love them or NEED to get away...but, what I do need is a breather. Just a moment to take a breath and relax, then be ready to take on anything once I get back. :)

Our "first date" at the Cheesecake Factory.

Obviously, the first date went well because we went for a second, to Tracy Thai.

Our third date was to Simply Fondue and I think I've decided that they are keepers. :)

Tonight, we are off for Indian food at a new place nearby called Sansar. Should be a great time!!!! Love you, gals!!! xo

Venting

I'm going to vent. And, gosh darn it, YOU are going to listen! I have been a walking zombie for about two weeks now for the following, but not limited to, the following reasons:

• Liam has been having tons, and I mean TONS, of appointments.
• Bro-in-law got married and that was a 4-day-long process
• Funeral of a good friend who will be missed dearly, as soon as we returned from the wedding
  
• Fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch with a gang of 3 year olds
• A Saturday with two Stella & Dot trunks shows back-to-back (this is a GREAT thing; but my feet and booty hurt like no other by the end of the day)
• Learned of the death of my closest Aunt, who has always been a "Lola (Grandma)" to me and eventually became a mother figure when I lost Mom to cancer 8 years ago.
  
• The loss of my Aunt caused a number of consecutive, sleepless nights, which really took a toll on my body that was already really exhausted by this time and I ended up having to deal with the stomach flu for 3 days. It was coming out both ends for three days, people. Not fun. Sooo thankful my kids didn't get it.
  
• Then there was my Aunt's viewing and funeral and time spent with various family members who journeyed from all over the place. By this time, I really wasn't even better but had to suck it up.
  
• Saturday was the Multicultural festival at Isaiah's school - I was the "Activities Coordinator" for the event, so I was there on my feet from 8am until 5pm, making sure all of the activities were running smoothly, amidst the cold and threat of rain.
• And with the emotional and physical stress, the responsibilities of daily life while raising three kids such as laundry, cooking, cleaning, bathroom duty (Oh yes, this a task of its own when I have two young boys and a husband, all with bad aim, using the toilets in this house. I clean in and around them AT LEAST every other day or else I won't be able to use them myself).
• Not to mention, I'm 8 months pregnant and I really FEEL like I'm 8-months pregnant. *SIGH*

By last Saturday night, I couldn't walk nor could I even eat. I nestled into bed at about 7pm and slept. I slept and slept. I slept all night, I slept all morning Sunday, woke up for lunch, and slept some more. I woke up for dinner and then went right back to sleep. I only woke up this morning and I was feeling AWESOME! Amazing what sleep can do for you.

I locked myself in my room for an hour or so this afternoon just to catch up on some things on the computer and got a good giggle when I finally emerged and found this...
No complaints...it DEFINITELY could have been much worse. Just makes me wonder what they were trying to do. If they were trying to keep me away, they should know that a wall of furniture and toys is not necessary. The dog is not even a bit intimidating, either. I would happily retreat to my bedroom anytime, if only they so kindly asked.

Firetruck Fun!

We enjoyed a super fun time at the Multicultural Faire at Isaiah's school today. There was threat of rain but, although it was very overcast all day, it was only began to lightly rain toward the end of the day. All in all, the entire event was a huge success. As the activities coordinator for the event, I lined up a fire truck to come for the kids to explore. This was Isaiah and Mikey's fave part of the day. Ok, ok...aside from the cotton candy.

Isaiah trying on the obviously-too-heavy helmet.

Hanging out inside the fire truck!

And, like I mentioned earlier, their most, most, mostest favorite part of the day...the cotton candy. With popcorn for Liam, because he's not afraid to differ. :)

embrace the camera - oct. 21st

I recently discovered the fabulous Emily and her adorable 3 boys and a little lady. I love, love, love her style and she always has fun posts and neat ideas. Not to mention, it's always a treat to get a sneak peak into the daily life of other fun families!

I'm not terribly creative when it comes to blog posts and I typically just write about things we do and places we go. I've wanted to step outside my blogging box and do some different things, for a change. So, I am super excited to have my very first Embrace the Camera post! Look out for a new one every Thursday as I join Emily and many other mommy bloggers in embracing our cameras!



In case you didn't know, I have my hands full with three grubby and rough, yet ridiculously adorable boys, ages 6 and under. And we are expecting our fourth little bundle of BOY in December! Oh, the testosterone, when we have four boys in their teens...not to mention their middle-aged father. But, we'll get to those blog posts when we get there.... :)

This is me and my baby belly at 30 weeks. I was hoping to get a picture with some belly love from the big brothers (Isaiah, 6 & Michael, 3; Liam, 1 was napping), but sigh...boys will be boys. They just couldn't get past the growling and clawing at each other, which is obviously more exciting than kissing Mama's belly. Understood.

But they definitely did not hesitate to give their Mama some love!

For the record, I've been fighting the stomach flu for 2 days now, so please excuse the under-eye bags. I finally decided to roll myself off the couch and do a little blogging...and I must say, I'm feeling better already! I love it!

Fabulous thrift store finds

I love thrifting. I love scouring through random household items that most would consider junk, and finding purpose. Today, I went into the local Goodwill to kill some time while Isaiah was in jiu-jitsu. I wasn't expecting much since I haven't found a thing anytime I've been there. But today, I was very pleasantly surprised!

I found this black serving bowl that is EXACTLY like one my Mom had when I was growing up. Actually, my dad still has it as his house and I've made numerous attempts to "steal" it from him because I am just that attached to it. Well, I was never good at stealing things (thank goodess) and it never made it out dad's front door with me on any occasion. So, I was so excited to find an exact replica of it at the thrift store today. I felt like I found a piece of my childhood just sitting on the shelf. I like to think that my fond memories are priceless, but today I paid $3 for a piece of my childhood! :)

I also scored a couple of old books. I love to use the old pages for papercrafting all sorts of fun things. But I especially love the old books from thrift stores because the pages are already distressed and brown, I don't even have to run my edger on them. Old books are easy to find...but I'm constantly on the lookout for vintage hymnals, songbooks and even sewing patterns. They make beautiful backgrounds for cards, banners, etc.

'Til next time!

Hello, Tooth Fairy??

Isaiah lost one of his top, front teeth today. It's been loose for over a week and was ever-so-disgustingly hanging by a freakin fiber for the last two days. I wanted to just yank it in his sleep because I was so grossed out by unnatural ways he could move it around. lol

It came out at some point during school today and his friends have been hyping it up to him that the two top, front teeth are worth the most money. Whatever amount that is, I'm not too sure. So I need to talk to this Tooth Fairy person and see if they will put some $$ under Isaiah's pillow in exchange for his tooth. She can seek reimbursement from the Dish and Laundry Fairy, who owes me BIG TIME, since that bitch keeps forgetting to come by my house and do her duty.

More!

"You will never, ever take progress for granted. Every milestone met, no matter what the timing, will be cause for celebration. Every baby step will be a quantum leap." -diary of a mom

There have never been words that were more true! In an effort to bridge the communication gap between us, we recently started to introduce "Baby Signs" to Liam, which are signs for basic needs like "more", "milk", "eat", etc. This morning, Liam signed the gesture for "more" and handed me his sippy cup! My heart leapt with excitement and I scooped my baby up and we danced and giggled throughout the living room. This is a huge milestone because, although he has been doing the gesture with his hands for a couple of days, I never really knew whether he was just imitating me or if he actually knew what it meant. But this morning, I knew that he knew the meaning when he handed me the empty sippy cup after he signed his need.

I'm super excited because I'm learning what I can do to help Liam progress forward. And when he does, no matter when or how small the step, I can't help but jump for joy.

Soccer Saturdays!

Oh, how I LOVE our Saturdays! I love, love, love packing up the kids and some snacks, heading to the soccer field and cheering for these dedicated Under-7 boys who just tear it up! Go Tracy Fireballs!
I never imagined I'd one day be that crazy, screaming, over-excited mother on the sidelines as my big guy brings that ball toward the goal. The excitement is too much! Last weekend, I was advised to sit down...I think people are more worried about me falling on my pregnant ass and hurting myself than anything else. Soooo embarassing.

I should also mention that last weekend, the Fireballs played against "The Best Team in the World". Yes, that was their team's official name. Awesome? Yes! Even more awesome that the Fireballs won that game, 2-1. So the kids are pretty excited that they won against the best team in the world. ;)

This soccer stuff is some serious biz, people.
Our cheer section. lol Can you sense the excitement as Mikey picks his nose?

Soccer momz. woot woot!

Isaiah charging after that ball!

Post-game huddle
Super proud Papa & Mama!

This is harder than I imagined!

We have recently switched Liam to a gluten-free, casein-free diet (gfcf diet) after talking with a few friends with kids with autism and doing a ton of reading on it. Everything I've read says that it can help with various digestive problems and food intolerances that kids with autism are often affected with. So, Shawn and I figured...what the hell, let's give it a try.

I say it's harder because 1) it's more expensive to buy the special foods that Liam can eat and 2) we have three kids who love to eat together, so you can just imagine the level of control needed in order to keep things from getting to Liam that he is not supposed to have.

But, the hardest part is when I walk into the room and find this scenario....
Two brothers sitting on the sofa watching Go, Diego, Go! Mikey was munching on froot loops and is happily sharing with Liam, and Liam is even happier to accept the unallowed goodies. What is a mother to do?! If I hadn't noticed various changes and improvements in Liam since we started this diet, I may have just said, "To hell with it! Enjoy those froot loops, boys..." But since the gfcf diet has been doing him some good, I traded the fun, red box for his favorite gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. I like to believe that he'll thank me one day....LOL