Happy Thanksgiving!



I hope that everyone enjoyed their turkey day and was able to spend it with loved ones. We certainly enjoyed ours!
Our celebration began on Wednesday when Gran Gran arrived!

We were able to stay on track just long enough to get our 2 pumpkin pies made.

We broke a long lasting tradition this evening, we decided that it is a ridiculous rule that you have to wait until after Thanksgiving dinner to eat these delicious pumpkin pies. So here's to a new tradition, pumpkin pie anytime!

Our Thanksgiving dinner.

The perfect ending to a perfect day! Enjoy your weekend and each other!



Meet Me in St. Louie!

This was my first time flying with children. This was the first time my children have ever flown on an airplane. Let's just say I was a little nervous. I made sure that I was the prepared mama, who had everything she needed, because I refused to be "that mama" who had the screaming children on the plane. I understand these situations can't be helped, but I at least had to try to be ready. We waved bye- bye to Gran Gran and then we were on our own. The flight went surprisingly smoothly! The only bad thing was the fact that I WAY over packed. All the carry-ons that I brought, all the heads that got smacked as I walked down the aisle with 2 children and 3 bags hanging off my body, good lord!

Welcome to St. Louis!

These are the two lovelies that picked us up,

Luci and Hollyn!

St. Louis proved to be a fun and vibrant city designed for the people. There was this amazing hands on museum, The City Museum. It was more like a piece of art.

Alex, Amara, and Hollyn

You can actually climb in all these metal "tubes". It takes you up into different levels, where you can find systems of caverns, a wooden tree fort, ramps made for feet sliding, a circus show, aquarium, an art area. Just levels and levels, 10 stories to be exact with roof top ferris wheel and 10 story slide, not to mention all the other slides located throughout the museum, and a bar, AMAZING!

You can climb in all of this!

There's even an area for the youngins.

We also paid a visit to the Butterfly House

It was so hot and humid!

Beautiful orchids!

This one was bigger than my hand and so spectacular!

Also,

The St. Louis Zoo-Free to the public, and absolutely amazing!

No trip to St. Louis would be complete without a visit to The Arch.

View from the top!

We had such a great time. It always goes by too fast when I am with these folks. Lou and Al have been in my life for...years...and now we have kids that also love one another.

Thank you so much, we love you guys and miss you already!

Vacation, funeral, sickness, Oh my!

Hello and good morning to you all! It has been weeks since I last posted, almost a full month! Things have been well, CRAZY! So, I will give you all a full report of all that has been going on around here in these next few posts.

When we last spoke it was Halloween. We really enjoyed ourselves and had a great time trick or treating with out friends Joe, Becca, Orin Star, and sweet little Isaac.

We are so grateful to have met this sweet family!

The very next day, the girls and I were about to embark on one hell of an adventure (Daddy had to stay back and hold the fort down). We planned a trip to go visit my dearest friends who just moved back to St. Louis. We booked a flight out of Albuquerque. That first meant a 4 hour drive, before we could even get on the plane! Knowing that this was grounds for a meltdown party, I decided that we needed to stay the night in Albuquerque, and since our GranGran lives there, this was even better!

All Hallow's Eve

Happy Halloween!

It was a great weekend here. Grandma and Papa came up to visit us! We spent the whole weekend getting hugs and kisses and getting spoiled! Thanks again, we love you!

I made up some last minute costumes for the girls. Amara is going to be a Yip Yip alien from Sesame Street. We made the costume a little different because Amara wanted to add her Fairy Baby's wings to the costume. So, we have a Flying Fairy Yip Yip!

We had a little bear suit that GranGran gave Amara for her first Halloween. So for Ani's first Halloween, she will be a Brown Barbaloot, from Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax."

We are going trick-or-treating with our friends tonight, and are very excited!!

Hope you all get lots of treats!!! Have fun and be safe!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see...inspired by soulemama @ http://www.soulemama.com/



Have a great weekend!

Happy Un-Birthday Grant!

I can hardly believe that it is already Thursday!?! We have so much going on the next few weeks, months! Grandma and Papa are coming this weekend and we are very excited! We also have a dual-birthday(twins)  party to go to, and Monday is Halloween, and then we head to Gran Gran's for a quick overnight visit, and then we are off, St. Louie bound to visit ol'Lou (and Hollyn and Alex, and Pootie, too!)! Whew!...It doesn't end there either, enter "The Holidays." I'm ready!

Thanks to Nikki for the motivation to finally complete this WAY overdue project. I am just excited that Granty will still be able to enjoy it!

Let's begin.

I bought a solid hoodie from, sorry to say it, Walmart. I drew, traced, cut-out, and Heat-N-Bonded a guitar and a star from some felt and scrap fabric. 

Setting

As you see, I sewed a tight zigzag

I'll get better with time, but I mean well! :)
Happy Un-Birthday Granty!

Play-Doh!

A storm rolled in today. So far we've only had some rain and a brief hail storm. So brief, that by the time I finished running outside to bring the tomato plants in, it had stopped hailing. So, since the weather is a little less than ideal, what better use of our time than making play-doh! This is an adaptation of a recipe from http://www.sewliberated.com/. I kind of went out on my own.

You are going to need:

1/2 cup flour plus
2 TBS salt
2 Tsp oil
1/4 cup water
food coloring

and a helper!

Amara and I usually make a few batches at a time because we like to have a variety of colors. Grab the same amount of containers with lids and colors you will be using. Measure into each container the flour, salt, and veg oil. Give a little stir.

Next put a few drops of food coloring into the water, add to flour mixture, and stir it a little more!

Work it out on the table at this point. I always add more flour, I never measure how much, just keep adding flour until it is a nice consistency and no longer sticky. You got yourself some play-doh!

Now hours of fun begins!



Still Life With Play-Doh



Play-doh bracelet

Play-doh ring

Behind the scenes

Snosty the Gnome

 You can bake your creations in the oven to preserve them a little longer. Have fun!