Halloween Craft

It's October! The one time I don't mind seeing the color orange everywhere. My neighbors put out their usual decorations and we admired them on the way to church. Grant said, "Yeah! It's Halloween time!". Then I tried to explain what a ghoul was. Tricky one.

This afternoon we tried a craft I found in Family Fun magazine.

You take clean jars of any size. In my case, my co-worker gave me these antique honey jars after I told her what my plans were. They turned out to work perfect!


You get your cute child to pose, in my case, Grant, and he wasn't too interested in posing. Here he is with his cooking/craft apron on.


You then tape off a "face" for your jack-o-lantern.


You then paint the jar with acrylic paint.




Grant got bored after making 2, so he was running in and out the door. Then I heard, "Help!" and this is what I found:

He thought it was swing time I guess.
After it dries, pull off the tape. I ended up pulling out a Sharpie marker and coloring in the areas that were taped off. I was worried the face wouldn't show up too well.
I put battery powered tea lights in the jars, and ta-da!!


Instant spooky!

Friends

Friends of ours just moved into their new home in the country. Congrats Christine and Eric, your house is beautiful! We went to see their new home and Grant got some good play time with Jacob.

Needed Night Out

Lion King 3D came out and my husband was more excited than anyone. I refused to go to the movies on opening night with 1 million children, so we opted for the drive-in theatre instead. This turned out to be a good decision because the weather was cooler.

Grant was excited once we got there, except this is about the only time he wore the 3D glasses.

I was so excited to see they had the guilty pleasure of funnel cake. So good! Daniel got cotton candy and Grant said, "Is this food?" I wasn't sure how to answer that.
Grant decided I was more comfy that the bed of the truck. There IS more padding that way.

Near the end of the movie, a front blew in and it started to rain. Great end to another odd week.

Looking Toward Fall

Beauty in the Common Things: cooler weather. In this area, we've had 68 days with 100+ temperatures. The record is 69 days set in 1980. Such a relief to have high in the 80s. I'm going to cross my fingers that we don't end up breaking that record.

Dinner Plans: taco salad with Wholly Guacamole 100 calorie packs (my new favorite find!)

Listen In: review of college football. Bring on the Longhorns...if only we could watch them.

This month's family fun badge was "Learn Something Together"

Since we are a science minded family, I went with a simple science project: Sink or Float.
We got an empty bucket and filled it with water.

We then gathered nick-nacks to try out. In this case a stick, a leaf, scissors, a toy car, a card, a pine needle, a toy cow, a necklace, dice, cheerios, a pencil, a foam star and a nail.

Before we could make our hypothesis on each object, Grant threw them in the water. That is ok though, he enjoyed it.
In our log book, we would write that the heavier items sank and the lighter items would float (even the old drenched paper card)

The rest of the weekend was spent in the sandbox or playing with our cat, Kitty. Grant kept trying to get Kitty to look at the camera.

After the fun, came the catching up on chores. I scrubbed the floors while Grant took my order from his kitchen. No matter what I order, its always $10! But who cares, look at that smile!

Busy would be an understatement

Beauty in the Common Things: rain. Some began developing in our area and then it made a complete circle around our neighborhood, literally. No rain. 106 degrees. Relief...please!

Listen In: Minute to Win It. I'd like to try these games they play on here. However I wouldn't do them in low cut shirts like these women on here. Goodness...

Dinner Plans: I'm trying to wait until the weekend to grocery shop, so we are pulling out all the freezer favorites like chicken nuggets!

View from the Kitchen Window: No rain. Looks like rain, but again...you guessed it....no rain.

August is almost over and has gone by very fast. Like the previous post says, Daniel was gone for a week. As soon as he gets back, we completed Grant's new room transformation. New paint, new carpet, and a new bunk bed that took forever to put together. However, the results were great for Grant's new 'cowboy' room!

He was SO excited!

I modified the valances that came with the comforters, refurbished the end table, and repurposed some decorations and organizers. The bed has built in drawers so we didn't have to purchase separate storage.

A week later, my family and friends gathered to celebrate my Masters degree graduation. All the events were supposed to be a surprise...but...a glance of a text and too many clues later, I figured some of it out. Either way I was appreciative of everyone's efforts and excited to celebrate. I also give Daniel props for planning this event on the ONE day in August that wasn't over 100 degrees.

We ate dinner and enjoyed some custom cookies Daniel had made.

From there, we went to one of those go-cart/arcade/mini golf entertainment places. Grant and Corbin LOVED mini golf, the 3 year old version. In this version, you grab any ball you see and throw it and try to make it into the hole. You do this as fast as you can by any means necessary. That even includes stealing stranger's balls as they about to make their shot!
Grant and Corbin also enjoyed air hockey and the other arcade games. Corbin won the jackpot (over 1100 tickets) on one game. I hit 900 on another. We were able to get the most JUNK out of everyone because of our winnings.

That next week we started back to school. Meeting after meeting, then here comes the kids the next Monday. We are on day 4 of the first week of school and I forget how exhausting it can be. Our feet hurt, our heads hurt, and we are living off take out and items from the back of the freezer. We are ready for the weekend!

When Daddy is Away, and the Heat Wave Comes In...

When Daddy is away, and the heat wave rolls in...

You dance in the car with your froggy boots on.

You pull out Mommy's old dolls for pretend time (whether they are clothed or not!)

You trap giant dinosaurs...

...but share your apple juice with the little ones.

You try out your artistic side...
...but you get messy, too!

You go surfing on the front porch.

You show your Mom you can help her bake a cake, even if you are left handed.


You sit still and do what you're told while getting a hair cut, but no one said you had to like it!

You watch a Disney movie from your Mom's childhood and share popcorn with her. Bonus: You get to stay up way past your bedtime!

Ode to My 2nd Favorite Red Head

Today would have been Lucille Ball's 100th birthday. I found out thanks to the Hallmark Channel running an all weekend long "I Love Lucy" marathon. How could I not know such a thing ahead of time? Lucy is my lady. She has been for quite a while. I will say I'm not such a crazed fan as some, but I am a great admirer of her work.

Google is paying tribute to her birthday today as well.

Of course, I only know her from reruns, after her death thanks to DFW's channel 33. In elementary school I remember watching it before bedtime and on Saturday mornings. Then I began to get things to view my admiration. First came the t-shirts. I made my Mom drive an hour away in Dallas to a little store I heard sold them (you know, BEFORE the internet!). I wore them to school, in jr. high, and even though she wasn't as cool as the Mossimo shirts at the time (haha, Mossimo), I showed Ms. Lucy off. I don't remember anyone asking, "Who is THAT?" Knowing me if they did, I felt embarassed and was reluctant to wear it again. T-shirts turned into more than that over the years. I named one of my dogs Lucy, in fact. In fact, when I lived on my own after college, my guest room was the "I Love Lucy" room. When I got married, I felt I had to scale it down because I'm sure Lucy is looked at as a little girly. It was hard, but I parted with a few items. Today, you can still a few items lurking about.

I dressed as Lucy for Halloween in college. I bought the wig out of a catalog, made the apron, and took an old dress from my granmother's closet. My husband and I started dating the day I wore this costume. He claimed he knew who Lucy was but never saw an episode. I continued to date him despite that awful remark!

Here is a color picture of the costume. Me with SFA Preseident Dr. Tito Guerrero.
I told him he could be my Ricky if he wanted to (such a cute little man!)

The few pictures/signs I kept are hanging over my scrapbook area.

This is an advertisement that Lucy did for Max Factor makeup. My brother found it in an old magazine and framed it for me.

Lucy, thank you for giving us the best show of all time. As a marketing teacher, I talk about it being the most recognizable show and longest running show in syndication on TV of all time. You won't find curse words on her show or anything close to it. You won't find teen pregnancies, homosexuals, or too much skin. Its the farthest things from today's TV shows and maybe that is what makes it such a hit today. Who wouldn't want to live in Lucy's world? Best friends next door, so handsome exotic husband, son who always behaves and is musically gifted, perfect hair and outfits, and movie stars always just showing up. Not to mention all the laughter.


Lucy, thank you for giving your kids some brains. Have you thought about how much her children make from royalty payments?? That is something else we talk about in my marketing class. All those reruns, all those t-shirts, shower curtains, books, etc. They have to have permission from her estate and her estate gets money from it (or that is how I understand it atleast). What if her kids held on to all those reruns and pictures? Then generations of people couldn't enjoy such things.

Someone gave this to me as a gift. The mints were AWFUL, but I loved the tin it came in.

Although I know my 3 year old son won't stop to enjoy you now, Lucy, I hope one day when I say "Lucy, I'm home!" he won't think I'm crazy. Also, one day I hope to actually learn Spanish so I can translate all the mean things Ricky says to you!



~Did You Know?

• "I Love Lucy" started as a radio show called "My Favorite Husband"



• Lucy was shy as a child



• Lucy was the first pregnant woman on TV. Before, it had been hidden.



• Lucy's real hair color is chesnut brown



• Lucy was the first woman to run a major production studio

Great quote from Lucy: "Love yourself first, and everything else will fall into place."