Photo Every Hour | Thursday

6 AM | dressed before the sun. it's not normal. neither is my orange sweater. or the stripes on stripes... #halloweenparty

7 AM | supa-dupa foggy

8 AM | rare solo breakfast date with this girl

9 AM | basically stood in line for the store to open like a normal mom

10 AM | classroom party! and sweet treats before lunch!

11 AM | wild pirate girl.

12 PM | i'm not quite sure what's happening...

1 PM | SUGAR CRASH!

2 PM | i literally eat this for lunch every day. i'm sad.

3 PM | quick! do something weird and awkward because both kids are still sleeping!

4 PM | good nap.

5 PM | adolescent male gymnast or ready for swimming lessons?

6 PM | soup's on. thanks, cooksmarts!

7 PM | jumping off the bed. totally normal bedtime attire.

8 PM | asleep? for now.

9 PM | bloggity blog. and house hunters, duh.

Currently...

Reading...
Nothing. I need a life. We may have been living under a rock but we just discovered that we can "rent" books via our Amazon Prime membership. I've also discovered that you can rent textbooks for college which, by the way, was totally one of my senior marketing projects when I was in school. I'm pretty sure someone owes me and my classmates some serious cash for that idea....

Watching... 
The Lion Guard. The girls get a show before bed and this was tonight's winner. It's way better than Mutt & Stuff. That show is absolutely terrible. Sorry, Cesar.

Listening...
To this girl giggle next me while I try to type a blogpost. She's also head-butted me no less than seven times.


Wondering...
Why none of the baby-dolls in this house are wearing clothes?


Making...
I need to make little supply kits for Gracyn's school party tomorrow. I figured if I have everything set up and ready to go, the craft table won't be a complete cluster with 15 preschoolers running around.

Feeling...
Kiiiiiiinda like I'm getting sick. It might be a mind game, though. Leighton totally sneezed into my mouth last night and she's been having weird diapers all day. #momlife

Planning...
Halloween costumes! We did a test run today and I think we're all set!


Loving...
The no-bake cookies the kids and I made today. I've eaten so many I've lost count. That mixed in with Halloween candy is sure to do wonders to my waistline. Just in time for winter and the holiday season which means I'm basically doomed... ;)

Five on Friday

Hey Friday, I'm glad to see you! I walked into preschool yesterday morning thinking it was Wednesday instead of Thursday so imagine my surprise when I finally figured out we were one day closer to the weekend. And, G doesn't have school on Wednesdays so I thought it was about to get super-awkward but don't worry. We were supposed to be there. :)

{ONE}

Speaking of preschool, Gracyn has her first ever classroom party next week and I'm signed up to bring a craft for the kiddos! Room Mom status, for reals! I'm so excited. Probably more than she is. I'm thinking about bringing supplies for the kiddos to make sucker ghosts, which would be super easy and something the kids could enjoy later, too. These Halloween mask printouts would be fun, too!

The kids get to wear their costumes next week and everything, followed by a pajama day the next week. Preschool is the life, I tell you.

picture via pinterest
{TWO}

If you still need a good costume idea, check out the picture my mom found for me! My best friend since childhood and I were sand-witches one year. Best costume ever. Ha! I think we were around 3rd or 4th grade. It was suuuuuper cold that year but the costume fit over my Nebraska starter jacket just fine.

My mom helped us make these costumes from scratch, too. We cut out cardboard boxes in the shape of a piece of bread, added some white cotton to the outside and filled in with colored pieces of thin foam-like paper to make cheese and tomatoes. Top it off with a witch hat and you're all set!


{THREE}

My poor iPhone completely died on me the other night. Well, I guess the screen completely died. It was in pretty bad shape, the screen was so cracked and missing actual pieces but it still worked in general. I was in the middle of snapping pictures of Butch, filters and all, to send to my brother when my screen went black. Kind of like the app crashed but I could not get it to come back on. I tried forcing the phone to reboot and nothing.  The phone was still on so I could still receive calls and hear notifications but I couldn't see anything.

she's terrifying.
I took the phone to Verizon where they tried replacing the screen but even that didn't work. Instead of shipping it off to try to be repaired by insurance, I figured it was just as easy (and about the same amount of money) to buy the old phone out and upgrade to the iPhone 7. So I'm rocking a fancy new phone nowadays. I forgot what it was like to have a phone with a screen intact and a battery that doesn't die at 57% like my other one did.

{FOUR}

I'm on the hunt for some winter boots this year. Something along the lines of duck boots that will keep my feet warm and dry when running errands or playing outside with the kids. I love how they look with cozy socks and either leggings or skinny jeans. LL Bean always has great options but I don't love the price tag. I also really love ones from Sperry, but again, cha-ching.

Here are a few more affordable (for me) options...

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My hope is that I can frolic around town looking something like this... we'll see!

via pinterest
{FIVE}

Our weekend activities include a chili potluck lunch on Saturday in the neighborhood, enjoying the beautiful fall weather and shopping for costume accessories. Gracyn wants to be a pirate (again) and apparently it's a thing that parents dress up too so we're all going to be pirates. I picked up a couple of new pirate hats and swords for the girls at Target but I'm at a loss for what to do for Justin and me. I best get creative!

Have a great weekend!





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Recipe :: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Tis' the season for all things pumpkin, right?!

My friend posted a picture of her making these yummy pumpkin cream cheese muffins and I knew I had to make them IMMEDIATELY. Holy moly, they looked good. And they are good. Really good. The whole family got in on the action and then I ate, like, five for breakfast on Saturday morning. They were even better the next day! They have the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor, too. Not too overwhelming or anything like that. Juuuuust right.

Here's the original recipe - make these right now. You won't be disappointed!





Family Pictures 2016

For my mama's birthday in January, my brothers and I gifted her an extended family photo session with everyone on my side of the family. It took half the year to plan but we finally made it happen over Labor Day weekend!

Becca from Becca Blackburn Photography did such an amazing job capturing all 11 of us! The kiddos were a little grumpy at first but when they finally loosened up, Becca was able to get some really great shots!

If you're in Kansas City, be sure to check out Becca's work! I'm so glad we were able to all be together and get amazing photos that we'll cherish for a long time to come! Warning: photo dump ahead!










I'm trying hard not to really laugh in that last picture because Justin was whispering inappropriate things as we attempted to look like we really love each other. ;)

Love this pic of my bros and our parents...




Cousins and best friends for life...


Gang's all here!



Thanks again, Becca!

Family Photos 2015, 2014, 2013

Forever Royal


We may not be celebrating Blue October this year since the Kansas City Royals didn't make the playoffs but the team spirit is still alive and well. We absolutely love taking the kids to the stadium to watch a game, eat hotdogs and peanuts and cheer for the team. Gracyn will even ask Justin to "turn the Royals on!" when we're at home and he, of course, always accommodates her request.

KC is bursting with local businesses making Royals t-shirts and hats and other fan-gear. You can easily find Royals-themed home decor items too. Prints, pillows, coasters and coffee mugs are all ways to showcase your Royal pride in your home.

And now, you can even incorporate the Royals' blue and gold paint colors! We were lucky enough to sample Royals™ Gold SC-56 and Royals™ Blue SC-55 from Benjamin Moore's Sports Collection.

Now, we may not be painting the walls blue anytime soon but I knew I wanted to try and come up with a few crafty things we could do with the paint. Off to Pinterest I went (duh) and quickly found a few ideas.

Gracyn was totally on board to help me paint some pumpkins to spruce up our fall decor. We picked up a few fake pumpkins to use so we can keep them for years to come and display them next fall (when the boys are hopefully IN the playoffs...).




G did a great job! My little crafter-in-training. :) She LOVES helping me with any of my little projects so this was the perfect set up. Even little sister got in on the painting action...





I used the end of a small sponge roller to make the polkadots on the small white pumpkins. Gracyn was helping with that step too so we had a few mishaps in the form of rouge dots here and there but for the most part, they turned out ok!

Oh, and we added glitter because #girlmom ;)






I think we're going to attempt to make a few other seasonal decor items too. These painted snowmen are super cute and could easily be changed to represent the Royals. Painted wine bottles? Done. It'd even be fun to have the kids paint a christmas tree ornament in the blue & gold colors, too!

And if we ever have a baby boy? Blue and gold nursery for the win, obviously!

Benjamin Moore's Sports Collection also includes colors for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees so check out your local BM paint retailer to find all of these great colors!

*Disclosure: I was gifted samples of paint in exchange for a review. All opinions and mediocre craft skills are my own!
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