Happy Thanksgiving!

We are beyond grateful this year for all our abundance. May you enjoy good health, good food, and good friends all year long.

Halloween in Seattle

Every time I offered her a choice of wing styles, she chose neither. Then she found a cheap veil in the mass of wedding stuff and wore it around the house for an hour straight. On a whim I packed it in our Seattle bag. She only wore the wings for a few minutes so I offered her the veil.

It was no contest.

So we had our Hocus Pocus style Halloween, with fall leaves, cloudy sky, and sidewalks full of kids that simply doesn't compare to an AZ Halloween. Our child bride picked up on the whole concept of taking candy from strangers like a champ. I figured she would take a piece, sit down and eat it. Nope, she seized the opportunity for more candy and guarded her "purse" fiercely. And when someone said "Take one!" She looked at them seriously and took two pieces without breaking eye contact.

And if you don't understand why I'm wearing a pig nose, please watch Penelope. It is a fabulous movie.

Pumpkin Festival

Madre Dos is a docent at the Desert Botanical Gardens and invited us all, including my parents, to enjoy the yearly pumpkin festival there. I was happy to have somewhere to wear her fancy Halloween outfit. Priorities I know.

They have a hay ride to a special section where the action is.

Then you have to wander through a little hay bale maze.

J was happy to find Grammy

It opens up into a pumpkin patch with hundreds on pumpkins littered about and everyone under 12 gets to choose one to take home. 

Some were too big

Some made good seats even though the lighting made a magically-mommy-blogger-pumpkin-patch photo impossible. Or maybe it was part J not cooperating and trying to avoid all the other mommies with their cameras trying to do the same thing.

Some made great goggles.

And one was just right

Then they decorated them with foam stickers and markers

J's face is classic in this one

After that we swung by the petting zoo

It was almost a literal cow lick.

Of course we had to sit on the tractor too.

Our Halloween Angel

Special thanks to Madre Dos for finding this dress at Goodwill a few months back

Hello again! And how to quilt a wedding cake

Remember that time when I was blogging? I was trying to figure out what happened because it's been pretty much a month since I posted regularly. Then I remembered I was prepping for my dear sis in law's wedding. Then I was busy doing nothing as a recovery. Then Halloween was upon us in all. Then I went to Seattle for a week. Boom! Too many pictures, not enough energy to go through them. 688 photos to be exact, most of which are terrible and need to be vetted. Then there are the handful that could be good with some editing. It the decision making that kills me.

I make no apologies. Just excuses. Mostly to myself.

So you get to relive my October in the month of November, starting with how my lovely mother did the cake. It is a fake cake with a real top layer. I am now the custodian of both a round and square fake cake should you or an acquaintance find yourself in need of a frugal option.

1) Watch a million videos on how to work with fondant. My mom is a champ these days and fits it over the styrofoam squares. Then she used a fondant rotary cutter attachment to make the dotted lines. She measured regular intervals and had and angle cut from cardboard to connect them. I know, the complicated part and I don't have any pictures. The crazy lady did it without me the photograph it.

 2) If the fondant is soft still, you can press the pearls into the line joints, ours had hardened already so we made up a batch of royal icing.

3) Picking up the pearls was a little tricky, but since they were beads a toothpick worked great to spear it and to position it without the holes showing.

Here is what the final product looked like, surrounded by the cheesecake bar. Unfortunately I was too busy prepping decor to get a picture when there was light. But you get the idea.

Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Skin Care Line

I think I've posted about bzzagent before, but in case you haven't heard, they send you free stuff and then coupons or samples to give to your friends. Yes, friends free. You do have to pimp out your facebook status (if you so choose) but mostly you just tell your friends about stuff and right up a little report each time you do.And you have a fill out a handful of surveys every so often. I've been doing it for a couple years now and have gotten everything from TONS of free makeup (I haven't had to actually buy mascara for two years since I'm always getting a new one) to fancy disposable plates to air freshener to kindle books. And if you hate a product, you are supposed to tell the truth. www.bzzagent.com if you want in. It may not be worth your time, but my love of free things and addiction to the internet makes it easy for me.

The funny thing how I've been sent 3 different lines of Burt's Bees facial care over the years and I must say this one is by far my favorite. Either the scent or the texture just wasn't perfect for each product, but they nailed it with this one. The night cream is silky and not heavy. The face wash doesn't feel like you are giving your face an oil bath like some moisturizing washes. The clary sage scent is just right, fresh and natural smelling without being over powering.

Of course, I probably won't spend the money on it because $18 for a night cream?! My cap is at $7 because I'm cheap like that. Of course if you are forking over the dough for the Aveeno, I think this is a nice eco friendly alternative. And if you are a department store junky looking to cut corners, I think this could make you happy. The face wash is more in my price range so I might actually buy it. If I don't get a new product to try before them :)

Happy Halloween

My Little Mime, Not the Creepy Kind.

I don't actually know how old my kid is so I just say she'll be 2 in December. Saves us all from doing basic math. I can't figure out where this almost two year old came from. Maybe the cupboard?

Dude, I feel like December is a blink away and I haven't wrapped my brain around a two year old yet. I'm not dreading it though because every day she gets a little more fun. These pictures are from a goofy grin she gave me with her mouth full of milk. I did the grin back and thus it went back and forth long enough for me to snap a picture of it. Makes me think of her milk face when she was just a few months old.

The mimicking has become a favorite pastime for her.

A couple weeks ago I was making paper cranes for a project and left some of the paper out. That night while I was out, she would grab a square, spend a couple seconds crumbling it in different ways and deliver her "crane" to Husband, repeat ten times. We have also found her carrying a crowbar from the mid-remodeled bathroom, as well as a small sledge hammer. She will also nab our toothbrushes given any opportunity.

She also enjoys dumping things on the ground, exclaiming "A mess!" and proceeds to get out the broom and dustpan. I wish I could harness this desire to clean. Brings to mind this graph.

Since she has mastered the sliding and climbing of chairs, I have a sous chef whether I want one or not. I couldn't ask for a cuter one though. I do wish she knew that relish goes into the bowl of tuna instead of tuna in the jar of relish.