Confession Time

I have a confession to make.
The only reason I'm outing myself like this is because I know there's some other momma out there that will relate to me.
I've read so many blogs about amazing Advent calendar ideas.
I think this one is my favorite.
Doing fun activities every day leading up to Christmas.
And not stressing over it.
Just making it fun and meaningful.
My goal is to do something like that next year.

And here comes my horrible confession.
It comes in the form of a picture. 

Yup. That's my Advent calendar from this year.
Pretty much the worst Advent calendar mom in America.
It wasn't bad enough that I bought it from the One Spot at Target...meaning $1.
I only got Anna to glue on 2 pathetic looking cotton balls on it.
In my defense, we left our house on the 21st and just returned this week.
Ok that's not much of a defense.
Nevermind ;-)
I'm making a New Year's declaration (because I like that word better than resolution) right here and right now.

AS LONG AS MY LIFE IS NOT TOTALLY CRAZY IN DECEMBER, I WILL DO A SUPER FUN AWESOME ADVENT CALENDAR FOR MY CHILDREN!

Did you see that "out" I gave myself?
I don't like to fail ;-)

Ok momma's...who had an advent calendar fail this year??
Don't leave me hanging out here all by myself!

Embrace the Camera - Lights Lights Everywhere!

I've been too busy living life to document it.

This is a busy season...right?
How is it going to be Christmas in 2 1/2 weeks?
cra...zi...ness

This past weekend we got to go to Disney!
We have a wonderful friend who hooked us up ;-)

The funnest part was seeing the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights at Hollywood Studios.
I've never seen so many Christmas lights all in one condensed space.
And...it was all synced with music.

Anna wanted to take our picture.
She said "ok...now stick your tongue out."
I listened...and hubby didn't :-)
(sorry for the blurriness...she's only 3 you know)

And here's another one from Anna :-)

Here's a little glimpse of how amazing it was.
But...I mean...it's Disney...do you really expect anything less?




-Linking up with Emily today-


Embrace the Camera - Turkey Pumpkin

Best and easiest pumpkin decorating EVER!!

At a garage sale a couple weeks ago...

I opened a box to find some painted wooden turkey parts.

A head and five feathers.

I instantly knew what it was for and confirmed with the lady selling it.

I think I got it for around $1

(it was bundled with other things...so it's hard to say exactly)

Bottom line...it was CHEAP!

We decorated our pumpkin in like 2 minutes :-)

With no mess...I might add!

We'll probably carve one next year...

but for this super busy month...

it made my life so much easier!

We just shoved a couple things in the pumpkin...





my concentration face lol



And...we're done.





Anna was not cooperating...so I got a pic with my Ellie.



I look tired and my hairs a mess...captures me pretty well lol



***Embracing the Camera with Emily***

My Prima Ballerinas

Last weekend we took our girls to Sea World

(with free tickets woohoo!)

to enjoy Halloween Spooktacular!
They got to trick or treat and show off their costumes and see some animals.

Here's a few highlight pics.

If you want to see more...you can view my FB album here.

I made their ballerina fascinators :-)

I love how they turned out!

Our skinny little preschool ballerina...

And Chris Farley in a ballerina costume :-)



It's ok Ellie - you'll be that skinny prima ballerina in about a year ;-)

Our chubby ballerina just can't put down the candy lol

Anna was posing for all the pictures all by herself...she was in character all day!

We had a very fun day!

Looking forward to the girls wearing their costumes 3 or 4 more times!

Love getting more use out of them!

Let's put a couple more !!! of these in here!!!

!

Silhouette Necklace

About a month ago I posted about some craft projects I was "itching" to do.



Well...

I made the necklace!

And I bought the paint for the pumpkin...so that almost counts ;-)

The playgroup I'm a part of tries to have a Mom's Night Out once a month.

Last month we did a craft night and all made silhouette necklaces using this tutorial.



my finished product

WARNING: cutting out the tiny silhouettes is crazy hard...BUT doable.

I made the Ellie one and then gave up.

I thought "I'll get hubby to cut out Anna for me."

Well, he gave it a try.

Handed me his finished product and said "I don't know if this looks like Anna or not."

I laughed and said "It looks like a muppet."

So I got er dun.

Here's my Ellie on the left and Anna on the right.
I think it actually looks like them...right?

And here it is making its debut at the Fall Festival at our work.  We were on a hay ride :-)



Anna's is flipped over...sad.  But it looks cute nonetheless!

Wish I had taken a pic of everyone else's necklaces at our Mom's Night Out!
I was too busy trying to stop myself from cursing at the tiny scissors ;-)

Fall Family Events in Central Florida

This is definitely my favorite time of year in Orlando.  The temps have finally fallen under 90! and will keep getting milder and milder and more fabulous as the days pass.  We'll be enjoying 70 when most of the rest of the US is enjoying temps that are slightly chillier.

Last year I put together a list of some of the fun family events in Central Florida.  A couple people have asked for it again...so here it is!  Please let me know if you hear of something that's not on my list.  I try to be "in-the-know" and love sharing that info along to you all.  If you aren't in Central Florida...then what kind of fun Fall Events do they have in your area?  You should do some research and enjoy this fun time of year!

(I'll have to do another one of these mid-November to highlight Christmas events - someone remind me if I don't do it!)

Now until Dec 11th

• Long and Scott Farms Corn Maze - Zellwood, FL - This is a really fun experience!  If you've never done one before, you should try it out this year! - more info here

my babies at the Corn Maze last year


Friday Oct 7th

• Celebration Oktoberfest and Falling Leaves - We usually go to this event every year.  The kids love watching the "leaves" fall from the sky and we love walking around and listening to the music.  And the church that we usually park by has a really great pumpkin patch! 

trying to catch the "leaves" last year


Saturday Oct 8th

• Celebration Oktoberfest and Falling Leaves
• Winter Park Autumn Art Festival - I've never been, but I need to get to this Art Festival this year!

Sunday Oct 9th

• Winter Park Autumn Art Festival
• Homespun Chic Marketplace - I've been to this several times in the past.  It's like Etsy in real life.  You get to touch and feel and see all the stuff before buying it.  One of the reasons I don't buy more on Etsy (probably a good thing!).

Friday Oct 14th

• Avalon Park Oktoberfest - we go to this event every year and enjoy eating brats and walking around.



riding the hay ride at the Avalon Park Oktoberfest 2 years ago with our friends Liz and Autumn...look how little those babies were!

Saturday Oct 15th

• Avalon Park Oktoberfest
• Spring of Life Fall Festival - 10am-1pm - There will be games, pony rides, bounce house, crafts, food and of course…pumpkins!

Saturday Oct 22nd

• Mount Dora Craft Fair - I LOVE going to this every year!  There are a billion people, but SO MANY booths of fun crafts and food. 

Mommy and Anna at the Mount Dora Craft Fair 2 years ago...she's so little!

Sunday Oct 23rd

• Mount Dora Craft Fair

Friday Oct 28th

• Center Pointe Church Trunk or Treat - 5:30-8:30pm - my daughter goes to preschool at this church and I've seen signs that they are having a trunk or treat and festival this night.  I'll link up to more information once they post it on their website.
• Blanchard Park YMCA Trunk or Treat -

Sunday Oct 30th

• CrossPointe Church Fall Festival - Trunk or Treat and Food Truck Bazaar - My church is again having a Trunk or Treat and this will be the first of a monthly Food Truck Bazaar.  How cool is that?!  We're totally in to food trucks :-)



our little family at CrossPointe's Trunk or Treat last year



Zoo For My Birthday

I promised some zoo pictures...hope you're ready for LOTS of zoo pictures :-)

We went to the Brevard Zoo on my birthday last week.

Besides it being blazing hot...we had a great time.

The girls checking out the jaguar.



My Ellie LOVES animals. She was in heaven!

Pretty much all my pics are like this...the back of their heads.

They were too busy checking out the animals!

Woohoo!

Feeding some birdies birdseed on a stick.

Come and get it birdies!



Feeding the other more colorful and more aggressive birdies.

Didn't get the birdies in the picture...but look at that baby saying "CHEESE!"

Here's my "keepin it real" picture.  I literally laughed out loud for like 5 minutes after seeing this picture.  Apparently I'm not a fan of birds sitting on my leg lol

"There's a bird on my leg...ahhh!"

So proud of my Anna wanting to hold the cup to feed the birdies all by herself.  We didn't get a pic of when the birds got a little too close and she threw the cup and screamed :-)

And we ended our zoo visit by trying out the wading pool...

It was such a fun day at the zoo with my family :-)

I got to celebrate with my girlfriends a few days later with a Craft Party at my house.

SO.MUCH.FUN

You'll see more about that later this week.  Here's a little teaser...

Fun at a Hotel

I'm a full time mom and part time conference planner.  It's such a great outlet for this stay at home mom that needs adult interaction and responsibilities that don't include diaper changing and nose wiping.  It's turned out to be a fun thing for our family too.  My hubby gets to use his AV/Tech skills and my kids get to be around lots of people...and that's pretty much their favorite thing...besides swinging for like 5 hours straight...ya I think that would top the list.

I helped with a conference this past weekend and hubby and the kids and I all stayed at the hotel for several days.  My hubby and I work for Campus Crusade for Christ, a ministry that brings the love of Christ to people all over the world.  This conference was for people who have spent 1 or 2 years overseas and are now joining with our ministry full time.

The girls loved staying at the hotel!

They took their babies (and pan of Melissa & Doug brownies...<sigh> Anna) on walks...

They played in the window sill...



They ate breakfast in their pj's...



They hugged it out...

They swung with their babies...

And walked around...a lot...