Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!  Hope you all had a ton of fun, got lots of walking done, and a heavy bag of candy to add some resistance. =[:-)B

From my ninja and my vampire, too!

 Other years, I have insisted on having ridiculous professional-type pumpkings.  I carve ghosts, pumpkins, grave stones, etc.  But it was really all kind of compensating for hearing constantly about how I couldn't live up to other people's expectations.  (This all stems from issues in the past - a post for another day.)  But now I see how much more fun it is to just let the kids take a pen and go to town on the pumpkin.  They wanted good, old-fashioned vampire-esque jack-o-lanterns and I was happy to just cut what they drew.  It was faster simpler, and much more fun for all three of us.

This was our first year trick-or-treating with families in the neighborhood.  And I really enjoyed it.  It's nice feeling like part of a community and like I'm doing my part to try to keep the kids connected with their friends while I get friends too!

I hope you guys had fun too!

My Ridiculously Silly Monty Python Halloween Costume. Yeah I Did That.

Last weekend, I went to a costume party. It was so much fun.  I hardly ever dance and when I say I danced the night away, I was dancing when I was walking, when I was talking, when I was shaking hands and meeting new people.  I just totally let loose and it was so much fun.  

Weeks before the party I decided that for my costume, I would use an old school girl costume I still have from college.  The plan was to make it a zombie costume by ripping it up, pouring fake blood all over it, and wearing a wife beater I already have that is covered in fake blood.  (This was from one day when I just decided to dress up like Helena from Orphan Black for absolutely no reason.)

The day of the party I decided I didn't want to wear it.  The skirt is short, the weather is cold, and nobody wants to be THAT girl.  (You know the slutty looking one at a party where everyone else is covered.)

At the last minute, I decided to go for funny instead.  And what is more funny than Monty Python?  Yeah, not much. Especially when I comically recreate it.

I made this in about 3 minutes.  I used my mom’s nightgown, my sweater, a funnel, and a plastic chili pepper from my kids’ kitchen.  I looked for a carrot, but for some reason it was MIA. Yes the costume is ridiculously silly, but I sent it to my brother and he got the reference right away. People who got the reference really GOT it. And I was amused by it. That's what really matters.

Have I put you in the mood to watch? Well here's the scene:

Happy Pi Day!

I have been waiting for a year to make this! I am no good at making pie and probably should have fixed the placement of the numbers (that 1 is there if you couldn't see it) but this was way too fun for me! Are you celebrating pi day? Or taking a great mom educational moment that makes your kids roll their eyes at the holiday after thinking pi day is awesome because they get to eat pie for dessert? Yep,  I did that. :-)  I'd love to hear any other pi day celebration ideas!

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing you an awesome 2014!  I hope everyone had a great NYE.  I know I did.  Here's how I spent mine:

Yup, the kids and I put our jammies on at like 8 o'clock because I was fully expecting me someone to fall asleep on the couch way before midnight. But I told the kids I'd let them try to stay up until midnight anyway.  Imagine my surprise when the ball dropped and both kids were still up.  Big man lasted until 12:03 and my little lady reluctantly hit the hay at 12:20 and took no more than four minutes before arriving in dream land.

2013 was an amazing year for me. I finally feel like I'm moving toward my goals and I actually accomplished some important ones.  I managed to get a job, go back to school, and spent some quality time with my babies.  Maybe when I say it like that it doesn't sound so huge, but as a single mom who was a stay at home mom for a few years after leaving a career that I was finding largely unfulfilling, looking for a new unrelated job without a whole lot of school in the field (I do have a couple degrees but that was for career attempt number one), no related experience, and even no unrelated experience in years, my job hunt was beginning to feel like there would never be a light at the end of the tunnel.  It was emotionally draining.  I was getting so incredibly frustrating and depressing.  It took me almost two years to even get someone to let me volunteer! But thank goodness I kept going.  I could not be happier with the job I have, the people I work with, the things I learn and so on and so on.  So with all of my goal-getting progress in 2013, 2014 can only get better!  

So instead of coming up with a resolution, instead I have a lost of goals to accomplish this year:

1. Get steadier job (mine is a temp position and may be ending shortly)

2. Find a new place to live
3. Get out of debt (except student loans - those will take a while)
4. As always, I hope to use my time to better myself intellectually, professionally, and create a fun, friendly, and happy environment full of good memories for my children.  I want to be the best super-est mom I can be!  (And yes, even the super-est of moms are allowed to make up a word every once in a while.)

Happy New Year!

Are you coming up with any goals or resolutions?

Happy Holidays

from our family to yours!