Then we headed up to school for Alex’s class party!  He insisted that Elliott join him on the carpet.  In fact, the other day he asked me if Elliott could just go to school with him every day and have her own desk….but I’ll save those big brother stories for another post.

He did great at the Don’t Drop The Eyeball race!

After that party and a couple of hours celebrating a friend’s party at Chuck E Cheese, we came home to freshen up for Trick-or Treat time!

Along the way, we ran into lots of friends and saw so many wonderful costumes.  My shy little girl wasn’t sure what to think of the whole trick-or-treat concept at first, but quickly warmed up to it and enjoyed it immensely!  Alex was a sweetheart, of course, with his gentle voice and wonderful manners.  He helped little sis with her bag and made sure she said ‘thank you’ every time.

My tired kids came home with insane amounts of candy and huge smiles on their faces.  I don’t know about you guys, but I’m already ready for next Halloween!

Oh…and while Shayne didn’t dress up this year, he was inspired for possible costumes next year.  I’m not sure what I’ll be, but I’ll be brainstorming.  How about you guys?  Did you dress up this year?  What were you?  Do you have ideas for next year?

She loves it and carries it everywhere, calling it her purse.

We carved our pumpkins this week, too!

Halloween is a big deal in our house.  We love it!  I love the planning and anticipation.  I love the excitement in the kids’ eyes.  I love the smell of a cut pumpkin as we’re carving into it.  And….umm…I love the candy.

What do you love about Halloween?

On to the hyenas. Okay, not really living and breathing hyenas. Hyenacart.com, I mean. Hyenacart is a fabulous place where work-at-home moms can sell their homemade wares and the things you will find there are just amazing. You have to go take a look around. My friend Diane over at Pampered Bunz and I have a congo (A group of work-at-home moms selling their homemade goodies. A couple of our friend are our congo-mates. ) over on Hyenacart and today we listed a collaboration. I made a little dress and she made a coordinating appliqued diaper and we’re auctioning it as a set. It’s really a cute set, if we do say so ourselves! Check out the matching set here and to satisfy your curiosity…here’s a pic of just the dress…

Before dinner, I went out to do a little yardwork and I looked up in time to see our backyard coyote slip under the back fence and head out for the evening. You see, apparently this coyote has taken up residence in our back-back yard. It’s mildly unsettling. Mamas lock up your babies. Our little urban coyote isnt’ threatening and is really quite meek. We have spoken to our neighbors, though and decided he needs to be taken care of before family pets start disappearing. It would also help us feel slightly more at ease playing in the backyard. The neighbor is calling a friend who should be able to have him relocated instead of killed. Whacked. Offed. Sent to sleep with the fishes. Clipped. Let’s hope that works out for him. Or her.

***Pampered Bunz has now changed their name to Doodle Bunz!

He requested a Transformers themed party, so I made him a cake with the Autobots logo on top. I’ve never had a cake give me such a hard time, but Shayne and I recovered what we could after fighting with uncooperative fondant for hours.

The birthday boy loved it and that is all that matters!

Elliott and I got in the bounce house to play for a bit before our guests arrived and we all had a great time!

Alex’s classmates came and they all had a blast. They jumped, they played on the playground and half of them ended up playing in mud puddles. It was wonderful, silly, dirty chaos and we all enjoyed every minute of it!

Honestly, there is not much I look more forward to than my childrens’ birthday parties! I hope they always love them as much as I do!

While we were at Hobby Lobby (the best store EVER. ever.) I decided to pick up a few things to experiment with and I came up with this clip. What do you think?

Oh yes. Big deal here at our house because my son cannot STAND the idea of dressing western. Loathes the idea. Why, I don’t know, but he does.

I set out his clothes this morning and when he spotted his pearl-snap cowboy shirt on the bed, he instantly started whining. It wasn’t like I laid out boots, spurs, Wranglers and a hat. Or even a bandana. Just a simple pearl-snap shirt that he uses for days at Grandma’s farm. I learned this morning that while that shirt is just fine for the farm, it is absolutely unacceptable for public wear.

“My friends will laugh at me!” Enter tears. Lots of tears. Then arguing and anger. And then more tears.

So….do I back down and not make him do something that makes him uncomfortable? Or do I insist that he go against what he believes in and participate?

I made him wear it. I did it so he would learn that acting ugly and rude about something isn’t going to change my mind. And so that he would realize that in life, we just sometimes have to follow the herd. And so that he knows that as a student, you do what your teacher says. And as a child, you do what your parents say. And that’s that.

I hated to send him to school after a morning like that. It’s just sad. But Shayne said once they got there he was okay with everything and it was business as usual.

At the moment I’m sitting here with a bowl of Cheerios trying like hell to NOT think about what the teenage years will be like.

I call this set ‘Lots o’ Spots’. Mainly because, well….it has lots of spots. I love spots and I love these colors!

And these just almost became ‘Citrus Schmitrus’, but then I decided that nobody else would get a giggle out of that like I did, so they became ‘Just Juicy’.

The name ‘Melon Mania’ made me laugh a bit when I looked at these. So it stuck. Even if melons are more red than pink. And the green might be a bit off. But whatever. Melon mania is funny despite it all. At least I think so.

And on that silly note, I’m calling it a night. I swear, the older I get, the harder these time changes hit me! Or maybe it was the 19 loads of laundry I did and the 12 pounds of chicken I cooked for dinner. Or chasing around a busy little girl. Or turning 30 this year. Hmmm…I can’t decide.

I’ll sleep on it.

Today I got to watch my brother’s sweet new thing–a new son–on webcam. He’s absolutely beautiful and I am in love with my new nephew. I can’t wait to meet the little guy in person! Today is his one week birthday already! Happy birthday to him! I’m dying to share a picture but I didn’t ask for permission, so I’m just going to leave you guys hanging on that one! Just get a mental picture of a beautiful baby boy that’s just chilled out and sweet…with his sweet new feet poking out of the blanket. That’s him.

EDIT: My brother read this and said I could post his sweet little thing! Yay! So here he is: Liam Reece

The other sweet new thing on my mind today is a set of ribbon I bought. While it’s not as sweet as my darling little nephew, it is pretty darn sweet. So sweet that I ran home and immediately made a set of clips and put them on the products page for ya. I think they’re sweet new things!

Oh…don’t forget to sign up for the clip giveaway by noon Friday!

You know what?! I think in honor of the ‘grand opening’ of my cart, I’ll do another clip giveaway! The winner gets to choose the set (from any listed on the product page)!

Enter now through Friday, March 7th at 12:00pm CST! Good luck!

TIME’S UP!