The RANDOM Edition.  As in, the MOST TOTALLY RANDOM Edition possible!!

1.  I was born exactly 9months after Valentines Day in 1978 – hmmm ….

2.  As a toddler, I walked into the beach backwards.

3.  My first real memory(you know the kind without pictures) is at the age of Kindergarten – I remember shutting myself in the closet of our bedrooom.  My mom was threatening to tell my teacher (Mrs. Bryan) that I wasn’t as good as she thought I was – apparently I was in trouble alot after coming home from school – ha!

4.  I got glasses for the first time during my 4th grade year – with Mrs. Pryor.  She always asked me to read to the class when she stepped out.  I guess that means I was a good student … but why do teachers do that?  Don’t they know the poor student doesn’t want to “tell” on anyone when she comes back!!

5.  I lost a pair of glasses once when they flew off my face during a hayride with our church youth group.  They were ran over & crushed.  I was crushed in fear of telling my parents they’d have to buy me another pair of glasses!

6.  I got braces during middle school – yes, I was the lucky one … glasses & braces at the same time!

7.  I broke another pair of glasses while playing basketball in the 8th grade.  The ball hit me square in the faces & those silly things busted right at the nose!!

8.  I got my first ticket the summer before my senior year of high school.  It wasn’t for speeding, but rather for pulling out & hitting someone – rats!

9.  I came close to a 2nd ticket in 2000, but the officer wished me happy birthday, asked me to slow down & sent me on my way … Thank you Lord for birthdays & nice policemen.

10.  I had Lasik eye surgery in 2004 & finally put an end to my glasses saga.  Absolutely the BEST invention – E.V.E.R!!!!

So, how’s that for random?!

For some more (and hopefully more exciting) Top Ten Tuesday Posts or to link up to your own, visit ohAmanda.com.

I’m celebrating a birthday later this week, so today I had this conversation with “the four year old”:

4 year old: Mommy can I come to your birthday party?

Me: Of course!!  I’d love for you to come to my birthday party?  Guess what?  I am going to be Thirty-ONE.  Can you believe it?

4 year old: Yep, I can.  And guess what, you’ll be ONE just like Megan and Asa.

Me: Ah thanks Evan.  But I’m a little older than Megan or Asa.

4 year old: That’s ok.  I love birthday parties!

Well … at least he’s not old enough to tell me I’m old yet!

For the last two years, we have participated in Operation Christmas Child through Evan’s school.

Out of complete honesty both years have consisted of me going shopping at the stores, me packaging the boxes, me wrapping the boxes, me sticking the money in, me sealing the envelope, and me carrying the box to his classroom.  I know I mentioned it to him each year … that we were taking a present so some other children that didn’t have much – so that they would have a Christmas present to open, but I honestly didn’t expect him to get that much out of it.  And even more honestly I probably didn’t try to hard either.

I’m hoping this year will be different.  He’s four now.  He knows that Christmas is getting closer.  He’s already started telling me what he wants to get.  I’m hoping this year he’ll start getting a better understanding & even an excitement about what he wants to give.  He’s always been very excited to give gifts to Megan or his Dad, a grandparent or a friend.   But he has absolutely no idea that he has so much compared to so many other children throughout the world … or even down the street!!  His little world is shattered if he can’t get a toy every time we go into a store.

So this year, we’ll go shopping together.  We’ll pack the box up together.  We’ll wrap the box together (or maybe I’ll wrap & he’ll stick a bow on it), we’ll seal our envelope of money together, and together we’ll carry the boxes into his classroom.  Then at his school they’ll have a big drop-off celebration for all the boxes collected.

Sarah at Real Life is hosting an Operation Christmas Child Carnival.  You can link up & we can share about past Operation Christmas Child experiences or plans for this upcoming drive.  Plus there’s even prizes … and Veggie Tales at that!

I originally saw this idea when Impress Your Kids linked up to My Sweet & Simple Life.  Evan is all about the calendar these days.  He wants to know when his birthday is, when Christmas is, when … well any other holiday that equates to him getting a gift!!

So when I saw this Activities Tree I thought I would use it as a way for our family to countdown to Thanksgiving Day.  If you know me in real life, then you know I am anything BUT crafty!!  So you might be surprised when I decided to do this.  The inspiration piece was made of construction paper & then she laminated it so she could use it for different seasons throughout the year – brilliant!!

Is it mean to admit that I’m not a big fan of construction paper & I wish my fridge was clean again (without kid magnets & drawings – ha!)  So anyways, I attempted to make something fairly permanent & hopefully cute enough to hang in the house:)

So I started on my mission … and I actually finished it (almost) the very same day!!!  Another shocker for me!!

Here’s what I used:

1 thin sheet of birch wood for the backing

1 piece of magnetic sheeting w/self adhesive

*Note – I got super lucky & the birch wood was the exact same cut/size as the magnetic sheeting – no cutting required!!

Several sheets of printed paper – remnants worked perfect!

1 package of magnetic tape (I went for the pre-cut circles, but you could also use the long strips & cut)

Market to write

Craft Glue

Here’s what I did:

Line one side of the birch wood with the Self-Adhesive Magnetic Sheeting.

Line wood with Magnetic Sheeting

Glue paper to the magnetic sheet to make “pretty”.

Cut out the shape of a tree (I’m not crafty enough to have branches!!).

Cut out all the leaves (I just made one free-hand then traced & cut the others so they’d be similiar in size & shape).

Magnetic Leaves

Write the numbers for each day of “the count” on each leaf.Glue the leaves to the small magnetic tape.

And …

Our Thanksgiving Countdown Calendar

I still need to screw in hooks & tie a ribbon to hang it up.  And by self-admission it might be a “tad” busy.   But we’re going to keep it in our kitchen.  Each day we’ll remove a leaf & let Evan tell us one thing he’s thankful for that day (that should be interesting!!).  That leaf will then fall to the base of the tree & we’ll have our countdown:)

So if you don’t know me you may not be impressed but if you do then you should give me some comment love & pat me on the back … Either way, it works for me!

For more Works for Me Wednesday ( it’s the Holiday Edition) or to hook up to your own, visit We Are That Family!

So many good & fun things come from the pumpkin!!  Which makes this time of year just wonderful!!

Top Ten things Pumpkins are Good For (in my humble opinion anyways):

1.  Painting Them – Last month I had some of the Sisterchicks over and their kiddos for a little Pumpkin Painting Party. Our’s didn’t turn out near as cute as this, but it was messy & loud so that usually means also alot of fun!

2.  Carving Them – We didn’t carve one this year but it’s amazing to me what some people can do with a pumpkin & a knife!

3.  Watching Them – Why “The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” of course.

The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

4.  Roasting the Seeds & Eating Them – Yummy!

5.  Using them in Recipes – Muffins, Brownies, Bars, Cookies you name it!  Amy at The Finer Things in Life put together any AWESOME list of 100 recipes … if you’re still in the pumpkin mood like I am, you should definitely check it out!!!

6.  Baking Them - I made my first homemade “from a real pumpkin” pumpkin pie this year!!  And it was all eaten up so either my friends were really nice or they actually liked it!!  For the recipe that I used, visit “Getting Freedom“.

7.  Growing Them - 1725 Pound GIANT Pumpkin … is that possible without Photoshop?!?!

Photo - http://www.pumpkinnook.com/giants/giantpumpkins.htm

8.  Taking Pictures with Them - We do it every year … do you?!?!

Halloween 2007

But I totally forgot to get the pumpkin in it this year!!!  How could I do that?!?!  Because it took too much energy & too many people to get one picture with two kids … forget the silly pumpkin!

Halloween 2009

9.  Drinking Them – Have you had your Pumpkin Spice Latte yet?!?  I don’t like Latte’s but I know I’m in the minority!

10.  Playing with Them -  I have several small ones throughout the family room.  Evan’s convinced they are there for him to pick up, roll around, & throw around!!

For more Top Ten Tuesday or to link up to your own, visit ohAmanda.com.

My first edition of “Conversations with a one year old” …

Sorry in advance if this is only cute for her mama!!

After lots of “let’s do this sometime soon”, I did it!

This past Saturday, my sister Staci, Amanda and I got together and took on the September Menu from Once A Month Mom.  The overall outcome:  I think we all agreed that as long as the food tastes good & heats up well then it was definitely a good thing!!! And so far I would have to say that the Once A Month Cooking from Once A Month Mom has “Worked for Me”! It was a long day.  It took a lot of planning.  BUT LOOK AT THE END RESULT!!!

Food, Food, and more Food

Have you ever seen so much food?!?

We were probably on the high end of everything.  It took us about 11hours & we spent a little over $300 (combined).  However it was our first time.  I would definitely imagine we could shave some time & money off that in the future.

A couple reasons, in my opinion (not trying to speak for ohAmanda or Simply Staci) that helped make this “Work for Me”:

The Extra Person – The way I understood everything, the Once A Month “guidelines” are really intended for 2 people.  However, we used three.  This helped us on time – although it took a long time, it no doubt would have taken a lot longer without that third person.   Amanda was “Person A”, Staci was “Person B” and I was the human dish washer!!  It’s not like you have time to run the dishes & I don’t know who in this world would have the amount of dishes & utensils needed to pull the day off, so an extra “human dish washer” worked out well.  It also helped with expenses.  When it was all said & done, I spent $116 for over 18 meals (plus about $15 on some Ziploc Freezer Bags & Baking Trays).  And I promise you we will not feel a shortage of food by splitting it among three people!!  For starters, the meals are designed for 2 families of four.  Amanda & I each have our husbands, a toddler & a one-year old … so in terms of “eating” our families aren’t considered “of four”.  My sister is single so between all that we have PLENTY of food!!!

Table/Counter Space - My kitchen is not huge by any means, but I would say that I definitely have a fair amount of counter space & it definitely helped.  I even brought up an extra 6′ folding table that I had & we got alot of use out of that.  By the end of the night we had food lining up around the floor & on the fireplace!!

The Food Processor – Amanda borrowed her Dad’s Cuisinart Processor.  Very early on we realized she should have borrowed her Dad too (he’s awesome in the kitchen!!), but since she forgot him the Processor would have to do … and it did!  Chicken, Apples, Pears, Veggies … chop, chop, chop!  Amanda also had her smaller prep one & it got used as well!

The Electric Griddle – My husband uses this all the time for big breakfast meals, but I’m not a huge fan … too much clean up for me:)  But we were flippin Silver Dollar Pear Pancakes like crazy woman (a whole other post all by itself) with that thing!  But it gave us alot more room to keep working on the stove.

The Whole Program – A Menu, Instructions, A Grocery List … how could that not work for me!! Sure, Montery Jack Cheese wasn’t on the grocery list(unless all three of us just looked over it every time) & we had to make a midnight run, but my goodness have you seen everything that is done for you!!   Tricia even checked in on us via Twitter to make sure we were ok … how sweet is that!!

It’s Already Done - I have so much food … AND it’s ready to eat (we’ve already enjoyed several items) or give away (I already gave two dishes to my parents because they watched the kiddos so I could pull the day off)!  And they loved both their meals!!

Ready & Waiting!

So, there’s lots more I could say about it and hopefully ohAmanda & Simply Staci will post on it soon too!  But for now that’s just a brief synopsis of our Once a Month Cooking Day & why it worked for me!

Thanks Once A Month Mom!!!!

For more Works-for-Me Wednesday Posts or to link up to your own, visit We Are That Family!

It’s the week of Halloween.  And honestly, I only get excited for Halloween for two reasons.  One – It’s one day away from November.  Which means it’s 15 days away from my birthday, 20-something days away from Thanksgiving, and less than 2 months away from Christmas.  To me, Halloween means the real holidays are officially here!!!  Number  two – I get to dress my kids up!  I was never that into dressing up throughout my teenage/young adult years but I love thinking about the kids’ costumes!

So in honor of Top Ten Tuesday, here are my Top Ten (ok maybe I can only think of ten so they all made the list – but what’s the difference?) Halloween Costumes!

1. My first halloween costume memory is only because of pictures … I was dressed as a cookie monster.

2. My second, is once again because of pictures … we did something (a church carnival probably) with OhAmanda that year, and basically every year after that.  Amanda & I were sweet angels or fairies … I forget exactly.  But I remember that we were pretty, sweet, & cute.  My sister on the otherhand was a witch – hahaha … guess she drew the short straw:)  I have one picture stuck in my head that I cannot find but her face is NOT happy about being that witch.  Staci or Amanda, do you have a copy??

3. My memories skip until after I got married to my husband.  His name is Pepper, so as you can imagine, people think it’s funny & original to call me salt.  Side note:  If you ever meet someone named Pepper, it’s NOT funny or original to call his wife Salt).   So, Halloween 2000 that’s what we were – Salt & Pepper:)  OH, how I wish I could find a picture.  I basically looked like the Morton’s Salt Can.  I wraped blue fabric around a hula hoop & wore it like a dress.  I used cut-out sticky felt letters & wrote the logo, barcode, etc.   My husband just wore blue jeans & a black shirt.  We wrote “& Pepper” on his shirt.  We were officially … “Salt & Pepper” :)

4. 2005 was Evan’s first Halloween.  He was just 2 months old & all I ever heard was “oh my goodness he looks so much like his daddy”!!  At two months old I had no intention on dressing him up.  However, I found this adorable “little pepper” bunting costume & couldn’t pass it up!

Evan ~ Little Pepper ~ 2005

5. In 2006 Evan was into everything, including Curious George … he was our own little Monkey!  I found this costume at Old Navy.  I love home-made, put together costumes, but Old Navy has some really, really cute ones!!

Evan ~ Our Little Monkey ~ 2006

6. In 2007 Evan was all into Zebras!  However in our household they’re simply called “Stripes“.   Old Navy once again came to my rescue & Supplied this cute little costumer!

Stripes ~ Evan 2007

7. Then in 2008, Evan was all about cowboys & horses.  So of all random places, I found this costume at Cracker Barrel random, yes!  He still wants to fit in it today but his belly pops out & the pants looks like he’s ready for the great flood, but he loves it!  Not sure why this is the best picture I could find!

Evan The Cowboy ~ 2008

8. For Megan’s first Halloween in 2008, all I could manage to get her in was a little hat.  So she was the “carrot top” to Evan’s Horse.

Megan The Carrot ~ 2008

9. Well now it’s 2009 & Evan is still into any & all things horses & bullriding.  So he’ll be a Bullriding Cowboy! I don’t have his “official” Halloween Picture ready yet, but just to get you excited … check this out!  A friend of my husband’s MADE this for Evan’s birthday this past year!  It’s mounted on a spring & it swivels back & forth, side to side.  It even has a bell that rings!  Evan (and Megan too) LOVES it!!  Minus the demon eyes, I love it too:)

Evan The Bull Rider

10. Megan will be supporting big sister & dress up like a Cowgirl … plus the girl LOVES shoes & she’s got a really cute pair of boots that she hates to take off!

So if you’ll be dressing up, what will you or your kiddos be for Halloween?  Or what are some of your personal favorites from year’s past?

For more Top Ten Tuesday lists or to link up to your own, visit ohAmanda.com.

Today is Monday.  That means tomorrow is Tuesday.  Which means … this Top Ten Tuesday-only blogger chick will strike again!!  I think that’s about the only thing I’ve posted the entire month of October!!  Maybe I like lists!!

There’s plenty to blog about.  I’ve been at T-ball games with Evan, did our first Once A Month Cooking with ohAmanda & my sister, hosted a Pampered Chef Party, have had plenty of play-ground days, hosted a Pumpkin Party for the kiddos … and all other sorts of stuff.  The problem is sitting down to actually write the posts.  I guess if I want to be a blogger I’m going to have to work on that!!

But never fear, tomorrow is Tuesday so “I’ll be back!”

Today is my sister’s birthday!! We are two years apart.  It’s true what your parents say about “one of these days” you’ll love each other!!  Because while I probably always loved her growing up, I certainly didn’t appreciate her as much as I should.  Growing up we had our share of fights – most of them started off in the bathroom that we shared.

Here’s one of our more recent fights:

JUST KIDDING!!

So in honor of Staci’s Birthday, I’m dedicating this Top Ten Tuesday post to the Top Ten Characteristics I love about my big sis!!

1.  Her love for her nieces & nephews – seriously!  She does the coolest, most fun, most thoughtful things for all her nieces & nephews.  If you want to be a cool aunt, you’ll have to copy everything she does but then do it with all your heart … and you might be close!  My two little ones are so incredibly blessed to have her as an Aunt!!  A family get together is never just a get together if Aunt Staci is in charge … here’s just one example!

They LOVE Aunt Staci:)

2.  Not only do her cupcakes & cakes taste good – but they are always so cute!!!  It’s fun having a “cake person” in the family.  She always out does herself for the kids’ birthdays!!  I know it’s always going to be cute, home-made, and made with lots of love!

3.  Ministry – She is such a giver!!  She’s always been involved in ministry & hasn’t let her job or other responsibilities slow her down.  If it’s for something or someone that she cares about, she’s there!  Puppets, drama, stick ministry, small groups, children’s church, outreach, Camp Rocks, Square Peg, Mission Trips … you name it, she’s done it!  I know any youth or children under her lead are lucky, lucky, lucky!

4.  Friendship – Just like a ministry cause, if a friend is in need of something she’s always there!  She has supported countless girlfriends as they get married – I honestly think I would go broke (and a tad crazy) buying all the bridesmaid dresses, shower presents, plane tickets, etc. that she has or all the baby & wedding showers that she’s hosted, but her friends love her & want her to be a part of those days & she loves her friends & can’t help but do anything less than extraordinary for them.

Cruisin'

5.  Her Style – I’m always jealous of her clothes.  I could seriously go shopping in her closet & have a ball.  In fact, I’ve done that a couple of times!!  She’s an accessory queen, but in a good way.  Never too much but always just enough to show that she’s thought it through.  I wish some of that would rub off on me!!  Here’s a peek into her closet:)

6.  She is full of integrity, grace, compassion and just fun!!

Her "Standard"

7.  Martha Stewart & a bag of chips! She’s like my personal closer!!  My dreams are always bigger than my ability!  So basically everything I start, she finishes for me.  And then there are those times when I know I shouldn’t even start the project … so I don’t.  I just call her.  It’s always cute. Cute. Cute!!!

8.  She’s around six graders all day long – I don’t see how she does that!!  But I know for a fact she’s an awesome teacher!!

9.  She’s a tad Vain – I’m KIDDING!!!  But she can definitely take an entire roll of pictures if she like her outfit one day:)  Here’s a little proof!

10.  But the best part of all … she’s my Sister & my Friend!  I’m very lucky to have her … Happy Birthday Staci!!

I LOVE YOU!!!

You’re an awesome sister, aunt, friend and person.  I love you very much & hope you have a great birthday!!  I pray this is an awesome year for you!!!

OH, and I know she’d rather me not bring it up, but if after reading all that you can believe that she’s single – then you’re crazy,  but she is.  Guys are just flat out stupid!!!  If you want to send me an application, I’ll screen accordingly:)

For more Top Ten Tuesday posts or to link up your own, visit ohAmanda.com.