Red Ribbon Week- Elementary school style

This week was Red Ribbon Week for my youngest, who is in the 3rd grade. The focus for this year is more on empowering children to say no to drugs and focus on their future in education. Overall, I liked it, but am glad it's over. With me in school as well, and my children on two different campuses, I never realized how much I just loved to set a shirt and shorts out for the kids in the morning, without much thought. 

Anyway, Monday was "We are family at Polk!" and the children were to wear a Polk shirt or blue (our school colors). Jansen has grown out of his Polk shirt, so he wore blue...

Tuesday was "Education is the key to keep me drug free!" and they were to wear a Brazoswood High School or Clute Intermediate shirt.....

Wednesday was "We are dreaming of a bright future" ad the kids were to wear their favorite pajamas. Jansen got really into this with a new pair of pj's, a robe, and his sock monkey slippers...

Thursday was "Yes, I can have a bright future and be drug free." and they were to wear their favorite college or sport team jersey. Texans all the way!

And finally, Friday was "think of all that you can be when you stay drug free" and they were to dress up as what they want to be when they grow up. Originally, Jansen wanted to be a "vetitologist" which in Jansen-speak is a veterinarian. But he didn't want to wear scrubs, so his second choice was to work at Dow like his Dad. So my husband brought home one of his old work shirts and told me I could cut the patches off. We found a blue shirt, and glued the patches on. Then I made him a quick "employee badge" and he went as a Dow Chemical employee....

Fun week coming to a close. Next week is Red Ribbon Week at Clute Intermediate for Caleb, so we will start all over again...although they have different themes for each day. 

Super Mario Jack-o-lantern....and some Angry Birds

The kids really wanted to create a variety of pumpkins this year and settled on a Mario carving, and some Angry birds pumpkins. It took us two separate days, but it was totally worth it!

Thankfully, the weather here this week has been beautiful. We finally got a cool front which dropped the temperature down below 90 degrees! That's Fall y'all!!!

So we set up the first day with two pumpkins and two boxes of Angry Birds decorations. These were really cool. It was like creating a Mr. Potato Head!! Problem...they don't push in without a pilot hole!

The kids told me where to poke and I created little pilot holes for each of the characters features. They ended up like this...

A King Pig for Caleb and a Red Bird for Jansen. 

The next day we set up outside to try our hand at carving. I found a Mario face template online, but unfortunately it didn't fit. So I free handed it on the pumpkin with the template on the ground beside it. 

The kids scraped, scooped and EW-ed for almost 30 minutes trying to clean everything out of the inside. And then I sat there for almost an hour and a half with a steak knife and began carving while the kids ran around outside. 

I was so disappointed with the results. It was one of those epic fail moments you feel when you spend so much time on something and it just doesn't work out. I was cursing that stupid pumpkin under my breath. 

We cleaned up and headed into the house and I thought, what the heck. Put a candle in it and see how it looks. I lit the candle, turned off the light, and screamed like a 5 year old. 

I DID IT!!! I looked perfect! I was so happy, and I thought Caleb was going to come out of his skin. He was blissful!!! 

It won't last many days, but the days it will...oh boy! 

Happy Fall Y'all!!!

Mama needs a new costume!

Every year, our subdivision shuts down, and people come from all over the city to Trick or Treat in our area. There are hay rides, golf carts, hot dogs, games, etc and everyone just has a blast. 

My friend, Carmela brings her husband and kids over to Trick or Treat with us and we take turns each year handing out candy. It's the husbands' year to stay behind and pass out candy, and the wives' turn to take the kiddos. The plan is, to decorate our car Trunk or Treat style, and load it with candy for the kids, order twenty or thirty 50 cent corndogs from Sonic, and hit the road. I wanted to dress up a bit without really dressing up and found the perfect idea. 

This morning I hit up Hobby Lobby and purchased a $4 black T-shirt, some yellow sequined iron-on letters, and a headband with bee antenna. Here are the goods:

Two minutes later, this is what I have:

I am going to be Trick or Treating as Bea "bee" Arthur!!! Get it?! Hardy har har!!! It's a win-win. I love me some Golden Girls, and this was so quick, easy, and not too costume-y. LOVE!

Basically, all I have been doing is studying for this class and stressing about this class. My day so far as been full of errands, and I must admit...it made me feel so good. I browsed through Kohls and Target looking for a new hoodie for Jansen and some pajamas for Pajama Day next week at his school. Thankfully, there was one Shaun White hoodie left and it was on sale for $9, and they had pajama sets on sale for $10! SUPER LOVE!!! I stayed at Hobby Lobby just browsing and taking in all the cute holiday items. After I had been there almost an HOUR, I left there with my goodies feeling so relaxed and revived and ready to craft at home. When I am stressed, I need to craft, or paint, or write, or just do something creative. It's a great day!

30th birthday afternoon

My very good friend, Crystal's 30th birthday was last week. With all of us having kids, crazy schedules, jobs, school etc, we were finally able to carve out an afternoon to spend together to celebrate...just us ladies!

We found a place a little over an hour away called the Palladium that seemed like a one stop shop for fun. 

They had a pretty extensive food area with sushi, Tex Mex, souvlaki, gyros, pizza, and almost anything else you could want. There was a bar with a bowling alley, a place for snacks, a gelato bar with truffles and desserts, a movie theater, and an adults only area on the second floor. 

It is lovely to be able to have time just for adults. When you spend so much time arranging for babysitters, the last thing you want is to have to deal with other people's kids at the place where you are celebrating. 

The second floor had a bar, a lounge area, and adults gaming area, tons of big screen TV's, movie theaters just for us, and a bistro. 

We enjoyed having lunch, 

seeing a movie, 

eating some cake, and just spending time together celebrating our friend's birthday. 

I would love to come back with my husband for a football game day! He would really enjoy it. 

Jellystone Camping 2013

This weekend we took a quick getaway with our kids, nephew, and in laws to camp at Jellystone in Waller. 

They have added some really fun new activities that the children really enjoyed. The only problem was, it rained about half of the time. 

We wish we could have done more but were happy to get away, enjoy some family time, and just let the kids play.

When we arrived, we rented a golf cart, and went rollin'. I took the boys' pictures everywhere...small Yogi's, giant Yogi's, pictures of Yogi's...Yogi-palooza!!

The boys rode scooters, bikes, chased each other with sticks!

We decorated our campsite a bit and celebrated my husband's birthday with hot dogs, chips, and s'mores. 

Saturday, the boys went swimming before it started pouring. During the rain, I was able to get some school work done while hanging out in the camper...thank goodness. 

After the storm blew past, we played putt putt golf. 

The kids dressed up and got ready to trick or treat from camper to camper. We had a Wario, a Scream character, and Jason. Golf cart trick or treating seems like the best!

The rest of the time, it pretty much rained. Not just rained, but poured. I felt really bad for all of the tent campers. That was a crazy storm! I would have hated to have been out in it. 

We look forward to going back on a dry weekend to enjoy all the activities!