FRIENDS!

I have had the pleasure of helping out a few of my friends recently....I like to help people, its in my nature I guess. Having a few friends in need right now, well it makes me think how very lucky I am to have such an amazing group of friends. Moms who can relate to my life of being a mom and a wife & never truly having it all together...friends who have kids that are friends with my kids.....FRIENDS no matter what you look like that day or what you did or didnt do the day before!

It's amazing that in such a BIG BIG world (Ok sorry but i just had that crazy PBS sloth run through my mind when I wrote that!?!) you can have such a close knit group of true friends who you know are there, kinda waiting in the wings to help if ever you need it!

So thank you, to all my friends out there...I love and cherish you all and am so thankful to have you in my life!

Now enough with the mushy crap and back to my normal self ;)

Falling for Fall!

Ok, so that song on Nick JR that is played a million times a day really gets into your head....For those of you with kids I know you are totally singing along right now............. :)

OH I feel like I'm falling for fall.........I'm not prevaricating nor am I exaggerating, fall has got me in its grasp, it must be said. Autumn's such a pleasin' season...You must see all the trees in their blazing colors; orange, gold and red. Should I write fall a love letter telling how I feel better every time the season comes around each year? Or maybe I'll just go on bout' how nature puts a show on as a prelude to all kinds of holiday cheer! I feel like I'm falling for fall, there are feelings of elation mixed with some anticipation when I think of all the fun there is in store. And my heart just gets to thumpin' thinkin' bout piles of leaves I'll jump in..It's no wonder that it's autumn I adore!!!

Fall really is my most favorite time of year here in central New York! Here are some pictures of the girls enjoying autumn activities! Leaves.....apples.....pumpkins.....aaahhhhhhh I heart this time of year!!!!!!!

Tooth Fairy come on over!!!!!

Savannah lost her first tooth tonight......its been about 3 weeks in the making I swear!!! It has been loose forever and she would not eat anywhere near that tooth, brushed around it ever so carefully...swore up and down she did not want to give up her tooth....even when I told her the good ole tooth fairy would bring her loot for it!

Today when she got home from school I noticed it was super loose.....we had an apple with yummy homemade caramel sauce!!!!!!! She took 1 bite out of an apple slice and there it was, dangling out the front of her mouth.....Silly me thought we were home free....but oh no!?!? This had to drag on and on and ooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn for almost an hour!! Screaming and crying and swearing she was not going to touch it or let me near it......

I know she will HATE me someday for posting these photos but I HAD to!!! She finally she wiggled and wiggled and wiggled it...got bored & decided to watch a little TV while wiggling....I was just happy to get a break from the tears & yelling!

I got a whole lotta this!

FINALLY out it came! She didn't want the tooth fairy to take it, you see its Friday night and in her class the kids get to "share their tooth" to this I say YUCK but she is so excited about it so she wrote the tooth fairy a note "Dear Tooth Fairy, PLEASE do not take my tooth until Monday, you can keep your prize. I want to take it to school and show it. Thank you Savannah" Followed by about 8 smiley face stamps and more PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

Sometimes a trip to the grocery store gets you more than you bargained for!

So......on my way home from grocery shopping Saturday afternoon and see a TREASURE..I am talking big time amazing, slam on the brakes, no way am I leaving this behind even if I have to strap it to the top of my car kind of treasure!!!!!!!


Problem.....I have my mom with me and 3 car seats which means my third row that is never up is up and a loaded car full of groceries!!! Luckily no kiddos with me so I was able to pull out 2 car seats, which I quickly realized I don't even know how to install or uninstall car seats since hubby always takes care of it! Further proof I don't think I could never make it as a single mom..so thankful for you Dave even though I rarely say it! Pulled out all the groceries and my mom helped me wrestle it into the back. FINALLY got it positioned right to go in and shut the back doors..Now to stuff all the groceries back in somehow! Buried my mom and every spare inch with bags and off we went!


Was it worth it???? You tell me!!!!! Check this out! An antique children's armoire!!!




My plan is to sand/paint it and make super cute & fancy for the girls dress up clothes and jewelry! Hang the dresses on the tall side, install a mirror on the back of the door and then the shoes, hats, jewelry, etc will be in the drawers!


Considering this is the state of our dress up gear now you can tell we need help!!! :)



Cannot wait and so excited to get started on this....only problem is nowhere to keep it until A. I can work on it & B. the new part of the playroom is completed since that's going to the be the dress up/pretend play room for the girls! Wish me luck on convincing Dave to help me bring it inside since its still out on the porch as of Tuesday because he REFUSES to bring another "to do" piece into the house!!!!!

Happy 6th Birthday Savannah Lee!!

WOW, I cannot believe my girl is already 6 years old & in 1st grade! Amazing how time flies...everyone tells you when you have your baby to soak it all in and don't rush because it zooms by and they are grown up before you know it! So true!

Savannah you are growing up to be such an amazing & beautiful girl! You have such a sweet and compassionate nature, you make me smile all the time. Your love for animals is so great and reminds mommy and daddy both of when we were kids. You got your GoGo My Walking Puppy from us & a veterinarian kit from Emmie.

Your choices of how to spend your BIG day - cheerios for breakfast, salami sandwich for lunch, eggs & bacon for dinner! We spent the morning @ the Manlius Fire Department building our own scarecrow & playing games, bounce house, so much fun! You usually pick Critz Farms but this year you wanted something different & it was a great choice!

We took your birthday snack, cake pops in your favorite color & clementine jack-o-lanterns into class last Thursday since Friday was a zoo field trip & you get Monday and Tuesday off from school! What a great weekend for a birthday lucky girl!!

Hope you have a wonderful birthday my sweet girl & can't wait to see what you do next! I love you with all my heart and you make me so proud to be your mommy!

Shout out for the local farmers!!!!

Gotta love those amazing local farmers we have here in Central New York!!!! This farm is right up the road from our house and has been there for years and years, operated by the Holmes family! This is something they have never done before & as far as I know no other local farms have either. Love it! What a great small country townish way to celebrate Fall! The sign reads -"Thanks for drinking milk, have a pumpkin"

And.....here are 2 little thrifty finds I made last week at a nearby Salvation Army.. the green was 99cents & the tall cream was only $2.99!

I also scored an AMAZING piece that I am saving for Emerson's Christmas present project......its the big Santa gift & its sure to please...I picked up the other piece today I managed to score for free from freecycle.org! Those will come sometime before December 25th I promise ;)

Toilet Paper Pumpkin?!?!

OK - so its officially Fall and all throughout blogland pumpkins are popping up everywhere!! Actual pumpkins, & of every variety imaginable....wood, metal, fabric, cardboard...just about everything you can imagine has been turned into the Autumn fruit!

I made these pumpkins at a birthday party for my daughter's friend last year...it was such a cute, CHEAP & super easy craft I thought I would share it! All you need is 1 roll of toilet paper, a small piece of fabric, small square of batting (roughly same size as the fabric) & a brown paper bag. I don't think you really even need the batting if you don't have it on hand..it just makes for a fatter pumpkin ;) Easy peasy craft here, no sewing, no gluing, no cutting, no mess!!!!

Take your toilet paper roll and lay it on its side on top of your batting

Start rolling, pushing in the sides of the batting/fabric as your roll

You will end up with this

Then you just need your stem! Take a brown paper bag and rip off a little piece, jam it down in the center hole & voila...a cutie cute toilet paper pumpkin is born!!!

My friend had other supplies on hand so we added green pipe cleaner twirls & some leaves to finish it off!