Sweetie's Halloween Party

Sweetie wanted to have a Halloween party this year. Thinking of how she'll be in Kindergarten next year, I agreed. Morning of as I tried to prepare for party, nurse baby, get baby to sleep, I thought, "What was I thinking?!" But all came together and H cooperated fairly well with little attention during the party. We've never had a party with just girls, and I'll do it again in a heartbeat! They took turns finding clues on the treasure hunt and wanted to play musical gravestones until everyone had a turn winning. We also decorated haunted houses (put together in advance using meringue frosting) and decorated pumpkins using free downloadable labels from Blonde Designs. We ate mummy dogs, apple slices, and spider cupcakes.

I feel sick.

It's not the swine flu. No, my sickness stems from that open (and empty?) bag of candy corns and the delicious baked caramel corn that my mom sends us every Halloween. If only there were a vaccination against eating too much.

Here's my mom's famous recipe, if you care to join me in my sickness:

1 lb (2 1/2 c packed) brown sugar

1 c white Karo syrup

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 sticks margarine

Boil for 5 min. Pour over 8 quarts popped popcorn, pour on baking sheet. Bake at 250 for 1 hr. Stir every 15 min. Empty on wax paper.

1. Long sleeves and a high of 63--hooray! 2. Baby smiles 3. Clean-smelling children

Lofty goals

Today's goal was to finish and fold all of the laundry. How'd that go for me, you ask?

Maybe next time I'll aim a little lower on the "goal" spectrum.

1. chocolate chip cookies, 2. clean sheets, 3. sleeping kids

Catching up: Trip to Utah

We spent 10 days in Utah in the middle of September, and I hardly took any pictures. I guess we were too busy--shopping, golfing, attending BYU football games (2 of them), going to the zoo, having a campfire up the canyon, going hiking, and all-around enjoying ourselves with cousins, siblings, and grandparents. Thanks for the hospitality, everyone! We loved our trip!

A Little Appreciation Goes a Long Way . . .

I love this card that my friend Emily sent me a few weeks ago. Because don't all young mothers occasionally feel the need to remind our offspring of just how much we do for them? A little appreciation does go a long way in the trenches of motherhood. Thankfully, H has started showing his appreciation the last couple of weeks by the way of smiles.

Oh how I love it when my babies start showing me some love.

1. Baby smiles, 2. Open windows and cool night air, 3. Candy corns :)