Monday, November 30, 2015

Thanksgiving 2015

Happy Monday! I'm back from a blogging break that I didn't really take intentionally, it just sort of happened. We had a such a nice, long weekend and holiday (even though I've been fighting a nasty cold for over a week!)

Thanksgiving is at my Aunt Nancy & Uncle Kevin's house and it is always my favorite! I was so sad this year because of my stinkin cold I couldn't even taste the deliciousness they always deliver with the meal.  I still had a great time regardless of the fact that I was hacking up a lung every 5 seconds and the other time I was blowing snot out of my nose.

I'm thankful my cousin had her camera out so I could get some pics from the night :)


My gorgeous girl!


Me and my handsome boy :)


And then there was the let's try and get a family picture and literally Brayden wouldn't smile once....ahh gotta love the age 5!





My other gorgeous girl :)







Ella was standing up on the chair doing blast off, where she counts down from 10 and then says BLAST OFF! Girl was on point all night with her entertainment, she sang Let It Go and For The First Time in Forever several times :)




Avery was such a ham all night! She is at such a fun age right now



I printed out a couple of games which Brayden was so into.  Later in the night we played the annual Left, Right, Center game and it came down to Brayden and my Uncle Bob and they were both rolling safes for what felt like 10 minutes straight and finally my Uncle Bob was out and it was on Brayden...the rules can go either way but we usually play it where the last person has to roll a safe to keep the money otherwise the game plays on, well it was getting late and Brayden rolled a L but we still kept him as the winner and he was so happy!




This is the picture of a delusional overtired 5 year old boy who loves to gamble :)


And that's a wrap on Thanksgiving 2015, another great year and we have so much to be thankful for.

Monday, November 23, 2015

our thankful pumpkin {a new tradition}

While everyone else seems to be in full Christmas mode, we are still relaxing in Thanksgiving mode over here :) I'm just not the person who can decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving, I love the idea of it because then you can enjoy it longer, but nope, it just doesn't seem right for me.


Ok back to Thanksgiving.  Last year someone asked in a Moms group I'm in, what some good Thanksgiving traditions are.  My sisters friend replied with an awesome idea and I knew I wanted to incorporate that into our traditions the following year...

So this year, our Thankful Pumpkin was born! I got a pumpkin after Halloween (scored it for free at a local church which is why it's so big) and on November 1st we started sharing what each of us are thankful for at dinner.  Brayden is at the perfect age because he really understands what it means to be thankful, well for the most part anyway, but my sweet Ella, she surely does NOT get it.  But it's still good to get her talking about being thankful every day and I know it's just a matter of time before she really does get it. Plus, the things she is thankful are hilarious :)



Isn't this just the best idea!? I sure do love it!


                                

                                   






What Thanksgiving traditions do you have? We don't have many so I would love to hear more!









Sunday, November 22, 2015

first snowfall of the season

Well they weren't wrong about the snow this time! It started falling Friday night and continued all the way until 3pm Saturday.

As soon as the kids woke up on Saturday morning, they wanted to head out.  Miss A was mesmorized looking out the window at the freshly fallen white powder





This was what we woke up to - just about 7" - I think it was close to 10" by 3pm.  Some areas not too far from us had 17"!! This was the largest November snowfall in 120 years!


It's so beautiful, isn't it!?


Little man loves catching snowflakes on his tongue :)


We bundled Miss A up in her brothers gear (no clue where Ella's stuff from this age is, sorry Avery!) and as you can see, she was not a fan!



We stuck her in the swing so we could build a snowman and have a snowball fight :)






Ella was pretty into the snow but she's also pretty prissy in it as well! She doesn't like when it touches her and she half pouts while walking through it. She loosened up as the morning went on and had so much fun playing.





The kids and I made a sad snowman so when Dad came out, he put it to shame and built a Frosty on steroids.




This bad boy was not easy to put together!! The kids had so much fun putting all of his "buttons"on and of course they fought over who put the nose in 


making snow angels! Then getting upset because they weren't perfect (he is so my child)


I went inside with Miss A to get ready because I was heading out to my cousins wedding shower and when I came to say bye I see the boys had created a ginormous ice fort





I was sad I had to leave them, I could have played in the snow all day with them! The first snowfall is always so special :)


Friday, November 20, 2015

Happy Friday {11.20.15}

Happy Friday, friends! This week seemed a little longer than normal and that's probably due to the fact I had to pick Brayden up Wednesday morning from school with pink eye and then had to keep him home yesterday so he could have a full 24 hours of his eye drops.  There was a whole lot more sibling bickering with him being home, that's for sure!



Let's get into the link up party, shall we?

{ONE}

In case you missed it, I blogged about a cute pumpkin turkey craft me and the kiddos made the other night - you can check it out here. One of my favorite things to do is craft with my kiddos :)




{TWO}

I also blogged about some of my favorite super budget friendly makeup products that I've been using - you can see that post here



{THREE}

Over here in Chicago, we're expected to get several inches of snow on Saturday! While I LOVE the snow, I just don't think I'm ready - I am still enjoying Fall, but I guess I should be use to the fact that Fall around here only lasts 30 days *sigh*

We're in the Dupage area - we are expected over 7"!!





{FOUR}

I just ordered this book last night and am so excited to read it! Has anyone else read it? I got the recommendation from Shay and she raved about it.


via


{FIVE}

I'm thinking about putting these boots on my Christmas List - how cute are they!?

Madden Girl Crrystal Women's Fold-Over Boots

That's all I have for today - I hope everyone enjoys their weekend. I'm sure I'll be building a snowman at some point :)



Linking up with:


Thursday, November 19, 2015

paint chip pumpkin turkey {craft}

Hey hey friends! Guess what? I made a craft last night with the kids that didn't involve me finding it anywhere on the internet or a magazine! Yep, I used my own noggin to think of this one and I think it turned out pretty darn cute if you ask me!

I came up with the idea to turn the kids pumpkins from Halloween that they decorated with my mom (using stickers) into turkey pumpkins.  Then I kept thinking what would be good for the feathers and since I have painting on the brain for our front door, I knew using paint chips would be perfect!





Here's what you need to make these super adorable and easy Paint Chip Pumpkin Turkeys:

  • Small pumpkins (stems removed)
  • Lots of paint chips
  • Construction Paper
  • Markers
  • Googly eyes
  • Glue gun




First, I had the kids choose some colors they liked from the paint chips.  Brayden cut his choices into strips and I cut the rest.


Then I cut out circles out of light brown cardstock for the turkeys' heads.  Then we glued on the googly eyes and Ella and I used a small cut out of an orange paint chip for the beaks but Brayden wanted to draw his own.  We used a red marker to draw the snoods (the red dangly thing - totally had to google it's official name) Ella and I wanted to add hats to our turkeys but Brayden insisted on drawing his own on :)




Once the heads were done - I used the glue gun to glue the feathers to the back of the pumpkin and then to glue the heads on the other side.

Here are our Paint Chip Pumpkin Turkeys!! So adorable if you ask me :) The kids had so much fun making these and it didn't take us long at all.

In order: Mom's, Brayden's & Ella's











Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Beauty on a budget - makeup edition

When I chose to become a SAHM there were many things I had to give up, and buying expensive beauty products was definitley on the list.

I had to find new products that fit in my new SAHM budget and now that I've been using them for several months, I thought I'd share.

Today I'll be sharing my makeup picks and another time I'll share some other good finds.


I never use to use a face primer then one day while at Target I saw this one and decided to try it. I've read about face primers and how the make your face look more set and keep your makeup lasting longer 



I don't use foundation but concealer is a must! I usually put the primer all over then continue with this concealer under my eyes and any other dis colored spots on my face. 






I love this bronzer and it's price point is amazing!! Once I'm done applying the concealer I use this bronzer all over.





Now I'm lucky enough to still have my naked pallet that I bought when I was still working, but this is almost an exact replica and the one I will be ordering once my naked runs out.





5. Mascara

I've always loved Clinique's mascara but recently ran out and figured I'd try something new. While at Target I picked this up and am happy to report it is a great mascara! And the price is totally on point! 






So there you have it - a quick round up of some pretty inexpensive make up products.  Tell me, is there something else out there I'm missing out on? I'd love to hear!


 
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