The end of an era {or Saga. Or something like that}

Breaking Dawn Part 2 was not exempt from being one of the many things that has snuck up on me! Honestly..I’m STILL wondering where August went!!!

Instead of my traditional Twilight inspired party before the movie comes out, this year I opted to do a Girl’s Night Out! And I am SO glad I did! It was nice to not be stressing about having a clean house and games and decorations and the whole she-bang!

I still put together a little goody-bag…cause that’s how I roll. Each item on the tag was included in the bag. And just so you know..I came up with it by.my.self! :) Non-pinterest inspiration!

Go ahead. You can be jealous of our matching hair..and matching shirts! Cause you know you are!

We ate dinner at Bravos! before heading over to the movie! There were 14 of us lovely ladies! And we had super sweet waitress, too! ♥

The movie was so much fun! I am tempted to go watch it with Ben. After I have him watch the first one. He hasn’t seen it yet. {Breaking Dawn Part 1, that is…see’s seen the others! I don’t think I could handle catching up on all of them!! 4 years to watch them all? Maybe! 1 month? Not so much!}

I love this girl! She is SUCH a nut! After the movie..we weren’t ready to go home yet! So, we went out for some fro-yo. Yummy!

Sweet P

My little girl had a birthday! And boy was it fun!

She woke up to a room full of balloons. The “balloon fairy” visited her some time during the night. The kids had so much fun playing with them! {What’s a birthday without balloons, right?}

Robin brought over a gift for Pais to open up before school. Like her tiara? She wore it ALL day! :)

I love these girls!

 

I made Paisley some cupcakes for pre-school. Cream filled white cupcakes with with buttercream frosting and sprinkles! A perfect birthday treat.

After spending the morning making cupcakes and getting kids off to school, I came home and started making Paisley’s cake and decorating for her “low key” birthday party.

AANNNNNDDD…

I can’t believe I made this cake. Really. I can’t. I do cupcakes. Not cake. And not Barbie cakes. But I DID IT! :)

We have the BEST little girls! Ever. Like..ever!

Rearranging her name.

And then she put it back how it was supposed to be. So smart!

Blowing out her candles. I can’t believe she is 4! Holy moly!

 

We had so much fun! Lots of streamers. Lots of balloons. Lots of cake.

What more could you ask for when you turn 4 years old?

On life and towels

I wouldn’t call myself a perfectionist. At all. From the outside, people might assume that. But really, I’m not. I wish I was {in some ways!}.  Maybe if I was you could: 1. Open my tupperware cupboard without any thing falling out. 2. Look under my bed and see all the way to the other side. 3. Open my dresser drawers and have them slide right open without getting stuck on wrinkled clothes. 4. Peer into my dryer and not see 4 loads of laundry that needs to be folded. Ect. Ect. Ect.

So no. I am not a perfectionist.

At one point I liked my towels folded a certain way. And if my husband {ahem} folded them “wrong” I would refold them. Because, yes, they do stack nicely in the closet. And they do look nice and neat if someone looks in my closet. But you know what? How many people actually look in my closet? And out of those people…which ones really judging me on how I fold my towels? Like..really? And, even if I do fold them nice and neat, somewhere in the process of putting them away and eventually drying off with them, they get all messed up anyway! So that defeats the whole purpose, right?

Sooo…. I can just have my boys fold my towels. And learn team work. And have fun doing it. Because shouldn’t chores be enjoyed?

So to me, at this point in my life, I’m not going to worry if my towels are nice and neat. {Ain’t nobody got time for that!}

I’m just going to soak in the moments of watching my two little boys helping their Mother out. And having fun along the way.

 

A Second Helping of Leftovers

Will someone please tell me where September October went? Cause really, I can’t believe it is already November! I can honestly say that life around here has been super busy, super fun, and super crazy! I just want a day off. Just one. To relax. And be lazy. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening any time soon!

Here’s a look back at the past month. {I cannot believe I didn’t blog for an entire month! It didn’t feel that long!}

For almost a month straight it literally rained acorns. There was a constant tinkering on the roof as each acorn fell. Ben and the boys collected the majority of them and “corralled” them in….and Ben took them to the woods so the deer would have some to eat. {We don’t want the deer to starve this winter!}

We had a scary incident involving my boys’ bus. Fortunately it happened after my boys were dropped off. Unfortunately it happened right in my neighborhood. As a way of thanking the bus driver for driving directly to the school and not letting the remaining kids off the bus, the moms at my bus stop decided to give her a “thank you.” I made cookies!

 

Preston and Paisley were both chosen to be the Student of the Month for their classes in October. They were so excited, as were we! I love that my kids are not only enjoying school, but behaving and being the good kids that they are.

Their names were called at the same time---I don’t know how often siblings get Student of the Month…in the same month!

We had our Trunk-or-Treat at church the Friday before Halloween. The kids were so excited to dress up and get loads of candy! This is my favorite part…sorting through the candy to see what we “scored”!!

 

We weren’t planning on going trick-or-treating, but in the end, I was overruled and we took the kids around the neighborhood. They had so much fun! {And didn’t get too much more candy!}

 

Preston brought home a book order form…..and it melted my heart to see them pour over all the books they wanted to buy! I remember doing the exact same thing when I was their age! We’re trying to instill in them a love of reading…something that is VERY important to me!

Ben took the older kids for the afternoon, so it was just me and Parleigh. It’s amazing how if I get a “break”….I still have at least one kid! Annd, it’s crazy how that feels like a break! I couldn’t help but snap these pictures of Parleigh. I’m loving her little personality right now!

She even got a special treat!

For FHE I made homemade waffle cones and we held our own election---everyone casting their votes for what we would have for dessert.

The kids had a blast. They loved having a say in what they got to eat…who wouldn’t like that? What a privilege it is for us to live in a country where we have the opportunity to vote!

Check out Ben’s beard! He’s been growing it out this hunting season. It’s starting to grow on me {no pun intended!}, but now he’s going to have to shave it off tomorrow!

Yesterday was spent at Parent/Teacher conferences, and in line to vote. Amazing reports from the boys’ teachers…and I only had to wait in line for an hour to vote! {And only 20 minutes of that was spent in the freezing cold!}

Ben votes at a different precinct {I know, we need to change that}, but at his there was NO line, and the kids were able to vote!

Paisley voted for Abraham Lincoln. And then she wrote-in Preston for the Senate race!