Girls and Bows

We own a fair amount of hair accessories.

Mia has a drawer in her bathroom that is pretty much overflowing with ribbons and bows.

Zoey is starting a collection of her own, or rather I am starting it for her.

I am sure she loves big bows as much as I do :)

Zackary

 Zackary loves his Spider-Man backpack. He loves that inside the backpack is a Buzz Lightyear lunch box that I help him fill with snacks and treats.

He carries around other treasures in his pack; toy cars, his ninjago spinner, and Woody from Toy Story.

After he packs all of his things inside he says goodbye and leaves for "school".

We love our Zackary :)

Today, This Week, and Beyond

1. I  "accidentally" doubled the chocolate chips in my peanut butter cup granola this morning. The result was chocolatey goodness :)

2. Ty is home this week. There are NO home projects lined up and No fun errands to run. Read into that what you will.

3. We are in full blown Halloween mode here! The costumes are ready....Max will be the white ninja from Ninjago, Mia will be Snow White, and Zackary will be Buzz Lightyear!

4. I am already looking forward to making the Halloween candy stuffed cookies after the big day.

5. I have all the kid's Christmas presents figured out. I am buying everything online and I can't wait to be done. (This may seem early to be thinking about Christmas, but it really takes the stress out of Christmas. I get to focus on parties and people instead of presents!)

Happy Monday!

The Pantry Project

I love my pantry, but I would really love it to look something like this one!

I love the painted walls and the storage drawers :)

Who doesn't love a good project?

Sharpee Mugs

I have found several tutorials for "sharpee mugs" around the web.

All you need are some plain color porcelain mugs, sharpee markers, and an oven.

We bought our mugs from Wal-Mart for about $1 a piece.

 I let the kids design their mugs. They were very into the project and pleased with the results. (Ty did a mug too.)

 It says, "Anesthetize Me" and is covered in anesthesia related drawings. Oh Ty.

My mug was simple, but I love it!

 On the back I included a little shout out to "Gossip Girl".

After the mugs were decorated I baked them in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Later we made hot chocolate and filled our new mugs. It was a great Saturday project!

Bubble and Squeak

Zoey loves to drink from a straw.

 She loves blowing bubbles into a straw as well.

 It's extra fun when she can do it in the tub.

 and the tub is already nice and bubbly :)

Good clean fun!

The Lumineers - Ho Hey

This is a good one.....Happy Friday!

The Pumpkin Patch

Ty was home today and I wanted to do the pumpkin patch on a weekday so after school and Sundance Singers we took the kids out for an afternoon of play at the Live Oak Canyon Pumpkin Patch.

It's a  little more than just a pumpkin patch. They have all kinds of games and rides for the kids. It is ridiculously entertaining for them!

Max started out by shooting tennis ball cannons at some pirates and winning a foam sword.

and then he did a little bouncing :)

We kept trying to get him to do a flip, but he was content just to bounce up and down.

Mia took a turn. Her little ballerina self came out as she danced through the air.

Zackary didn't join in on the big jumpers, but he LOVED the bounce houses and slides!

and his very favorite activity was racing the mini four wheelers.

Such a happy face!

Max and Mia raced as well.

I didn't end up with a good picture of Mia racing, so here are just the boys.

There was a hay castle that was really just a very tall stack of hay.

The kids were still excited to climb to the top.

Zackary was happy to be there.

Mia was happy to be there.

I think Max may have been less than happy.

Did I mention my parents were with us!

They were a great help and SUPER fun :)

This last picture will show you what Zoey enjoyed most about the pumpkin patch.....a root beer italian cream soda....and my dad!

We had a great time. We ended up leaving with only 1 pumpkin because we had only $2 left after everything else, but we can get our pumpkins from Albertsons later!

You Are Beautiful - Grantsville West Stake (AKA: Cutest Thing Ever!)

Hurray!

It's National Chocolate Cupcake Day :)

I was unaware of the big event until last night when I read THIS post on Sally's blog.

Chocolate, cupcakes, and a national day of celebration....what could be better?

I found 2 recipes especially appealing;

THIS ONE for cookie dough frosted fudge brownie cupcakes.

 and

THIS ONE for snickers chocolate mousse cupcakes.

The kids will want to help make the cupcakes. They will lick the beaters and taste the batter with little wooden spoons. They will wait patiently for the cupcakes to cool and they will be delighted to frost and decorate them. When it comes time to eat the cupcakes, they will eat all of the frosting off the top and leave the rest for someone else.

That's just the way it works around here!

Happy National Chocolate Cupcake Day!