The Spelling Bee

My daughter has been talking about her Spelling Bee for months. "Destiny, you can't miss it. December 17th at 9:00 in the gym!" So we all show up to support our little angel baby and the gym is EMPTY. Apparently it didn't actually start till 9:30... but being there super early got us the best seats in the house!

I am so so proud of my daughter! She made it through something like 9 rounds (and I was jittery and sweaty through every single one of them) and ended up getting 3rd in her group. Every time she would get one right she would go sit down and heave a sigh of relief. During one round they gave her the word "cowlick." She repeated the word back like it sounded gross or something... everyone laughed, it was so stinkin' cute.

The next round her word was lumberjack and she spelled it "l-u-b-e-r-j-a-c-k." Heartbreaking! But I was still beaming with pride and I think she was pretty proud of herself too for making it so far. I can't believe how grown-up she is!

Patiently waiting for it to start. 

"Don't. d-o-n-apostrophe-t. Don't" 

Look at her sitting there so proper with her legs crossed. She's so fancy. 

The kids on the back row are the ones that got out before she did. The two on the front were the only
other two left. Here she is misspelling lumberjack. :( Still so proud of her though!!

Snow Day(s)

I'm always skeptical when the weatherman in Oklahoma says it's going to get nasty. Thursday morning I woke up to a text message saying the University was closed. I looked out the window--it was raining. There may have been some sleet mixed in but, overall, the ground wasn't slick at all, just wet. Well that's Oklahoma for ya.

Then Friday it got fun. Sleet and snow and lots of it. Here in Oklahoma, is anyone really prepared to drive on slick roads? No, not unless it's a four wheeler and there's some sort of man-made sled attached to the back (whatever you can find is acceptable). So we were stuck at home all weekend. We did get out some thanks to my angel of a mother-in-law who let us borrow her Jeep--that kept us sane (and from killing one another). We did have a lot of fun though being stuck inside. Here are the fun photos from our snowy weekend. Enjoy!

Pano view of our backyard (with Jordan's cute little head in there, too)

Jordan wasn't so sure about all that fluff. He didn't
like getting it on his boots!

All bundled up. Check out those pink gloves. We should
really get him his own pair!

Ali making a snow angel... immediately after she started
yelling, "Snow in my pants! I got snow in my pants!!!" 

Ali pulling around a laundry basket... what's in there, you ask?

Her American Girl dolls, of course!! She spent an hour
pulling them around in the backyard. 

My icicle lights have icicles on them! (And now half our lights
are sagging)

We really didn't spend a whole lot of time playing in the snow. Fuzz and I are pretty big babies when it comes to cold, so we always came up with excuses to go back inside (like, "It's too cold out here." Original.). We decided to spend some time doing some indoor activities instead, like making a gingerbread house!

Daddy rockin' those marshmallows.

I'm not sure what Ali is doing with her hand here... But
look at that gingerbread house! 

Jordan doing his part. As a perfectionist... it was SO hard
to just let him do it and not try and make everything the way I wanted it.
It was a physical struggle for me. But we managed!
(After he finished his wall... Ali couldn't stand how
crooked all the candies were so she just had to fix it for him!) 

Another day out of school for Ali.. but I had to go to work. So
she came with me and I had her do some of my stuff. 
She said, "Destiny, you're job
is so easy." 

What I didn't take pictures of was us playing "Speed" (a card game) for hours on end. Fuzz and I played while Ali was outside (pulling her dolls around the yard lol) and Jordan napped. When Ali came in she wanted us to teach her how to play. She picked it up so fast and told me, "Don't take it easy on me. I won't learn that way." What!? That girl used to cry and pout if we beat her at the memory game... and now she tells us not to take it easy on her? She is just growing up TOO FAST. And she legitimately won a few games at Speed. And she didn't boast like her daddy always does. ;)

To end this post... let me tell you about our tree. Growing up, we always had colorful lights and random handmade ornaments and it was always the most BEAUTIFUL thing I'd ever seen. Being all grown up and mature now (HA) I wanted to have a matchy matchy tree. I wanted plain white lights, silver and gold ornaments, some red accents.. My kids did not like my idea. "But what's the point of plain white lights? That's no fun!" and "But you're not gonna put the ornaments we made you on the tree? Don't you like them?" So no, our tree isn't matchy. There are candy canes made from beads. There are ornaments with hand prints and foot prints on them that are so faded you can't really tell what they are. But... when I look at it... it reminds me of my tree when I was a kid, and it makes me all fuzzy inside. I think I'm okay with having a non-matchy, colorful, theme-less tree. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Halloween Birthday

This has turned out to be one of my most favorite Octobers ever! I turned 26 on the 26th and gave myself a Halloween/Birthday Party. I literally started decorating October 1st for my party because A) I was afraid Jordan would be scared of the decorations if I didn't ease them into the house and B) I am a known procrastinator and I knew I wouldn't be able to pull it off last minute!

Phase 1: The Decorations

I bought spiderwebs, a 12 pack from Amazon for about $10. I didn't even use them all... Jordan didn't like the scary spiders!

This tree was made from packing paper (dug out of the recycling bin at work).I used tape to hold it up. Two days later my tree was nothing but a trunk.
I had to rebuild it using thumb tacks... which I'm sure my wall loved. 

I decided to replace ALL my pretty pictures throughout
the house with Halloween silhouettes (or phrases).

Trick or Treat

I used an old glass vase and coated the inside with orange paint.
Then, after that had dried, I ventured out into my yard and pulled
out some dying branches off my Honeysuckle bush.
Add some spiders and a web, voila! Spooky centerpiece. 

I made these witch shoes using an old pair of
heels. I used foil to shape the curled up toes,
hot gluing the foil to the shoes. Then I wrapped
them up real tight using masking tape, then
painted them black. The socks were some I found
in my sock drawer. Not kidding! I got the idea for
these fun little shoes here.

I found this big piece of cardboard in the recycling bin at work.
I painted that lil witch and cut out a face. The kids loved it! 

The pumpkin came from our son's field trip to the pumpkin patch.
The mummy is actually a popcorn box wrapped in crepe paper and
with some googly eyes glued on. I found the mini jack-o-lanterns at
Walgreens for $3 (6 pack). The creepy cloth came from Dollar Tree for
(you guessed it) $1. 

My daughter helped add to the decor :)

The tree--rebuilt! With cheesecloth ghosts and some
black bats cut from cardstock. 

This blasted ghost was such a pain. I found a tutorial
here. Of course I didn't follow it to a T and my ghosts
head kept caving in.  

How cool is this!? My sister helped out with some
decorations. She made the poison cauldron and made a
"Book of Spells."

My sister also painted this "BOO" sign!
OMG How adorable!

I hung some streamers up in my hallway
because it just looked a little too boring
for my taste.

I used construction paper and some string
to make this super easy banner. 

Our entrance turned out to be SUPER COOL, in my opinion!

The front door: A mummy made from paper
plates and crepe paper. I turned out nothing like
I'd imagined but... ah well. 

Lot's of handmade stuff going on here.

"If you are reading this then you are blissfully unaware of what
is creeping behind you!" Cardboard, scrapbook paper, duct tape (seriously),
glue, and glitter. 

Phase 2: Food and Drinks

Using clear cups and black markers, we drew
on some "scary" faces.
Then we made vanilla pudding and dyed it green,
crushed some Oreos, sprinkled them on top, and added
some gummy worms. YUMMY.

Our bottled water was called "Swamp Water."
I got the printable here. 

I had a vision in my head. I told my sister, Angela, what to do,
and she blew me away by making this creepy carrot and
celery pumpkin!

Another of my sisters, Tonya, made this ADORABLE cake using
a bundt pan and stacking the two cakes. I'm not sure how
she did the icing all melty (warmed it in the microwave?), but
the stem of the pumpkin is an ice cream cone painted green.

Witch's brew :) This is the only one I was able to get my hands on--
and this was the morning after. It was the last one... and it was delicious. 

Tonya made these fun little snacks, too! There is a lot of brilliance in that
head of hers. I ate so many of the "ghosts" that I made myself sick. 

This is the only picture I have of the "SCREAM SODA." Printables for the all of these
found here. 

Phase 3: The Party

I really, really failed on taking pictures during the party. I have a few...

Jordan... dressed as Papa. 

Hippy and Mr. Clean

Gmo the scary witch

Hippies.

Tonya, the Book Fairy.

Tonya, Mom, Me, and Angela.

Hippies and pig farmers aren't usually best friends,
but we're the exception. 

Cowboy, Mr. Clean, Pig Farmer. Or the Three Stooges.

Now that Halloween is over, I should probably take down all my decorations and start planning for CHRISTMAS! Could you imagine not having the house decorated in time for Christmas? Now that's a scary thought!