Glitter Pumpkins - Conference Project #1

This is what I did this morning for my conference project. I have this terrible habit of falling asleep or zoning out if I don't have something to do with my hands. I think they turned out great!!! I found the pumpkins, glitter, and glue at Michaels. I saw these in the October 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living. It was easy, fun, and I'm thrilled with the result! Now my kids want to decorate their pumpkins with glitter. Wish me luck with that one!!

Nicole is 4!!!!

I would love to do a bunch of pictures of Nicole growing up and show everyone how cute she is now and how scary she looked when she was born, but there are too many to choose from so here's a summary of Nicole's 4th birthday:

7:30 am - wake up and open new clothes from Grandma Debbi.
7:35 am - run around the house giggling because she has new clothes.
7:45 am - finally into her new clothes and ready for breakfast.










8:00 am - eating coco puffs mixed with captain crunch (her favorite breakfast)
8:45 am - she remembers that Uncle David and Aunt Sara sent her a box. We absolutely must open it right this second or we might explode. It's a barbie and some movies. She's in love with the Barbie but doesn't care about the movies because she doesn't know what they are.
9:00 am - off to preschool where we receive a crown with "jewels" on it. We're feeling pretty special.










10:00 am - birthday party at preschool. Daddy made a yellow cake and mommy put green sprinkles in the shape of hearts (per Nicole's request).
12:00 pm - home from school and off to Safeway to pick up her Barbie birthday cake. Meanwhile, we have to tell everyone we pass that it's her birthday and she's 4 now.







12:30 pm - lunch that includes plain pasta, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and capri sun. Her favorite. I decide to give her vitamins because proper nutrition just isn't going to happen today.
12:35 pm - I'm running around like a crazy person trying to put up pink streamers and balloons for the birthday girl.
1:00 pm - Lia Belle and Grace come over (in full costume) for the Barbie birthday party.
3:00 pm - Party's over and Nicole now has more jewelry for her non-existent jewelry box that was supposed to get here a few days ago from Target.com and mom is sweating bullets!
4:00 pm - The UPS guy shows up with the jewelry box. Whew!!
4:01 pm - I put the jewelry box on my bed and try to find the wrapping paper so that this whole mess can be behind me. then I hear her yelling, "Mom! You don't have to buy me a jewelry box any more! I just found one!" Sigh. So much for my big moment of "greatest mom ever". Oh well, she loves it, that's the most important part.
5:00 pm - We're all too full of cake to eat anything for dinner. More vitamins.
6:30 pm - Grandma Belva, Grandpa Wiley, Grandma Lisa, and Grandpa John all show up for the family birthday party. We have presents galore, MORE chocolate cake with pink sprinkles and vanilla ice cream. (I wrote exactly what she wanted)







8:00 pm - Nicole goes to bed and says, "Mom, I had 3 birthdays today. First I was 4, then I was 5, and now I'm 6!!!" Carefully explaining that she's still only 4 leaves a confused look on her face, so I tell her she can be as old as she wants tonight, but tomorrow she has to be 4 again. This compromise seems to satisfy her.

She's the greatest little girl that a mother could ask for. I don't know what I'd do without her and I never in a million years thought that a child could be so maddening, cute, and funny, all at the same time. Thanks for being such a good girl, Coley.

p.s. I may have also given Tori a piece of cake :-)

This is why...

This is why I don't let Tyler play with my camera:
(I have hundreds of these self-portraits)











This is why I should do Nicole's nails instead of letting her get a pedicure with Grandma:
(sorry, it wouldn't rotate)










This is why babies shouldn't go to Mardi Gras:

You should be jealous of me

Here are two reasons you should be jealous of me:

First, what could this baby be eating that is making her so happy? Why, its broccoli! Yes, my daughter is eating broccoli. I am counting it as a personal victory.













Second, I have the greatest garbage can in the universe. The only way it could be better is if it emptied itself and put in a new bag. I can hear you saying, "a garbage can? seriously? what's so great about it?" Well, my friends, let me tell you. It has two compartments inside, one for garbage and one for recycling. I love that! Also, it has one of those little pedals to step on to open it. I need something with a lid because of my crazy baby, but it's nice to be able to open it with my foot so that when I have my hands full, I don't have to worry about it. The coolest part (in my opinion) is how it closes. How it closes? Yes, you read it correctly. It closes in slow motion which is wonderful for my little baby's fingers! It closes flush with the sides so she can't get into it! Well, almost flush, she can worm those chubby little fingers in there sometimes. I found a barbie in the recycling this afternoon. I don't think anything will stop her. She'll just have to grow out of it... I hope.

It's not just adults...

You know how when you're feeding a baby you tend to open your mouth when you want them open their mouth? Well, it goes both ways. Here's a little video of Tori feeding me some chips:

Sigh

Does anyone have an empty basement with good lock on the door that I can borrow for about 25 years?

All right people. It's time.
My mom and I are renting out the whole theater again (at Cinetopia in Vancouver) and if you want to come, you'd better let me known ASAP! Last time, we got a small theater (only 86 seats), this time, we are getting 144 seats! So, not only could you come, but you could bring friends!! Wait, it gets better. Because we are getting the whole theater, we get to see it on November 19th at 5:00 pm instead of waiting up until midnight or seeing it on opening day (November 20th)! So you really will be seeing it before anyone else! Plus, because the movie isn't actually open yet, there won't be huge crowds. So, please, if you want to come, leave me a comment on here, send me an email, call me, text me, whatever. Just let me know so I can reserve your seat.