Trick or Treat!

We had such a fun Halloween this year.

First we painted some pumpkins.  Mom and Dad carved some, and Olive painted.  I was going to let Lumen paint, but she got cranky and went to sleep.  It was a really fun night.

Halloween wouldn't be complete without a trip to Grandma's house.  Lulu looks so cute in this pic.  I love my girls.  She kept that pumpkin hat on the whole time, I was a proud momma! 

This is Olive getting ready for her preschool party and parade.  She is getting so grown up.  

Lumen waiting for Olive's parade.

The preschool parade was hilarious.  Being a former preschool teacher I knew it would be, the kids were gawking at us like we were crazy, as they walked in a giant circle for 10 minutes.  It was so cute though.  (Note:  To my Challenger friends, I have many pictures of Shannon in a pink bunny suit, if you ever need blackmail)

Finally the big night.  We took both girls to a few houses, and then Mom and Lumen stayed behind to hand out candy while Dad and Olive hit the road.  Olive didn't like all of the houses, she said some were "too scary"  But for the most part she had a great night and got tons of candy.

These pictures are my sad attempt of getting a sisters only picture.  Oh well, they are still so cute!

All in all it was a terrific Halloween for us.  I can't wait to see what next year brings.

Snow and the Great Costume Debut of 2012!

I had to share this cute picture I took of Lumen in the snow.  It was the first snow she had ever seen and she LOVED it.  I put her in a snowsuit and laid her in a big patch of the white stuff.  She really liked moving her arms and hearing the sound her snowsuit made against the snow.  I think it is going to be a fun winter, hopefully we get more snow than last year.

I can't for get a little something about my sweet Olive girl.  She had her first Halloween party of the year yesterday at gymnastics.  Which meant we got to put on the whole costume (complete with a black nose) for the first time.  She was so excited.  I don't think even Minnie herself is a cuter Minnie Mouse.

Another thing I think is really cool about this Halloween is that when I was three years old I was Minnie Mouse.  I guess I left an impression because my third grade teacher, Mr. Painter, once told me that he would always see me as Minnie Mouse.  Anyways, here's a picture.

 (I think the witch in the background is my brothers handiwork, way to go Scott!)  My mom made this costume for me, she is very talented.  I love that I can share this special memory with my little girls.  Hopefully in a few years Lulu can be Minnie Mouse and the tradition will live on for generations (who knows right!)

Stay tuned for Lulu's costume, it's a cute one as well!

Bows, Bows, and more Bows! Oh...and a trip to Lagoon.

I am sure by the end of tonight my facebook friends will be cursing me for all of the shameless self promoting I have been doing on their newsfeed.  But I can't contain my excitement for my new Etsy store "Olive and Lulu"

Our Etsy Store

I have been playing around with making bows for about a year now.  I have had many people tell me I should sell them.  During a recent trip to Lagoon I had Olive and Lu both in Halloween bows.  I recieved so many compliments from total strangers that I decided I should give it a try.   Here are some samples (I'm lucky I have such a cute head to model them on).

Since I mentioned Lagoon I figured I should post some pics of that as well.  Needless to say Olive loved every minute, and Lumen didn't hate it.  Olive has been asking to go back ever since.

Toy Story Birthday Round Up

         My little Olive has a small LARGE obsession with Toy Story.  Despite my encouragement to have a girlie Tinkerbell, or My Little Pony party, she insisted on a Toy Story party.  We had two parties a friend party with all the little boys and girls from church and playgroup and then a family party.  Olive had a blast and was so excited to have all of her "kids" come to her party. Mom had a little bit of fun too, planning and making all the decorations and preparations.  I would just like to note that I did both parties for less than $100, that is including ALL the food.  I felt pretty proud.

Sweet Mother of Abraham Lincoln,

Olive is fixin' to turn 3!

We hope y'all can strap on your boots,

set your laser to stun, and saddle up

to ride like the wind over

to her birthday shindig!

Day: Saturday September 15^th

Time: 11:00 am to 1:00 pm

Place: LDS Stake Center Pavilion

(Behind the church)

Bring yer Ma, Pa, and don't forget yer angry eyes.

Yodel yer RSVP on over to: Melissa 555-555-5555

This is what her invitation looked like.

The Birthday Girl!  Grandpa hooked her up with some sweet western gear for the gala.

This was the table, (we fought the wind the whole time, just look at the balloons).  I used Toy Story fruit snacks as the confetti.   I had a lot of decorations that I couldn't put out because of the wind, oh well maybe Lu will like Toy Story.

These tables I had set up for eating, and the red one was for a "Build your own Mr. Potato Head" game.  However because of the wind we were only able to build the real things.  I sent the other game home with the party animals.  I was a little bummed because that game was what I had spent the majority of my prep time on.  I had cut out all the parts of Mr. Potato Head for each child and they were going to glue it onto a cut out of Mr. Potato head.

This is my own invention "Pin the Tail on Bullseye" The kids had a blast and Bullseye looked pretty funny in the end.  Most of the sites I looked at for ideas had "Pin the Badge on Sheriff Woody."  There is even a kit you can buy at the party store.  But I thought that was lame so I made this.

This is my obstacle course that I called "Escape from Sunnyside Daycare"  This kiddos had the most fun here by far.  I just put it together with various things I had at home.

This game was called "There's a Snake in My Boot"  I found it on pinterest.  Behind the Jessie "boot" I made (my husband had a good laugh about how "awesome" the boot was), was a trash can, kids had to stand back and throw snakes in the can.  Olive thought the game was a waste of time so she pick up all the snakes and threw them all at once.  Miraculously they all made it in. While it wasn't my favorite, it was something else for the kids to do.

Cake time! 

 I was going to get all fancy and try to make a cake myself, but Olive insisted on the one she had seen in the grocery store book a million time before.  It was made of cupcakes which made it really easy.

The rest are some pictures from the family party which wasn't near as cute.  But it was a part of the birthday round up none the less.  She insisted on chocolate cupcakes that she could help me make, so we put them in the shape of a 3.

 Let's not forget a cute picture of the Lulu, she was there too!

All in all it was an awesome birthday for my little cowgirl.  I think she had a blast, and I hope all of our guests did as well.  Now to get cracking on the big ONE for Lulu in five months.  Stay tuned!

My Mommy Adventures!

I am doing this blog so that I can remember, consult, and document all of my adventures as a mommy.  I have two sweet little girls who I love to spoil and do fun activities with when we find the time.  I used to be a preschool teacher so I find it fun to stretch my creative legs once in a while and do something really fun for the girls.

My oldest daughter is Olive.  She is smart, spunky, and beautiful.  She is never without something fun to say or do.  Olive is 3 years old.

My littlest is Lumen.  We call her Lu or Lulu, for short.  You will not find a sweeter baby out there.   She is six months old.

I hope you enjoy reading about our many adventures, because  I know I can't stop talking about these cutie pies.