Time for that holiday

Not a fan of Halloween.

Why is that? The scary gross stuff. I hate that part.

I don't decorate. I am TRYING to this year. Lincoln bought a black angry kitty (a sparkly one) and some skeleton hand goblets. We have one baby sized pumpkin.

My sweet friend had a Halloween party last Friday. As we were rushing to get ready I decided to dress up too. (Which ended up making us late. =) Dorothy, the Bumble Bee, Pirate Mom, and Wyatt went to the party. He didn't want to dress up, but we were glad he came because he broke open the pinata! (He is the pinata master!)

This week I need to
*find a ninja costume for Wyatt (One that has REAL pants, not cheapo see-through material.)
*Buy more pumpkins
*carve those
*buy the finishing touches for my costume, and Lincoln's too.
*WORK!
*Clean the attic...toy room and office
*Laundry
*Laundry
*Go to the dermatologist....my poison ivy is getting worse. I can't remember what I was wearing when I got it. I may keep putting it on?

magic

We went to one of our favorite spots.

We hadn't been there in a while.

It is a magic place...even more magic this time.....

look what we found.

We stopped in this little garden.
The light was heavenly, and the weather was so warm.
I watched my girls pretend that they had stumbled upon Wonderland.

Then I grabbed some portraits in one of my favorite spots. The light is always so great here.

Wyatt you remind me that it is best to make time for the things we love, not just the things we need to do.

Natalia you teach me that every little detail counts, and that a surprise is best if eyes are closed first.

Simone you laugh at everything. You remind me that we can find happiness everywhere.

We went home and our Daddy had made us dinner while we were away.
A perfect end to a magic little day.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Natalia wanted to have a Wizard of Oz party this year. It all started when her cousins showed her a picture of the REAL ruby slippers they took at the Smithsonian. She fell in love with those shoes, and WANTED THEM. I mean, really wanted those exact shoes. I told her NO ONE gets those shoes, they are in a museum. She decided a glittery pair from target would do, and she loves those shoes.


I am posting every detail of the party for Rileigh. I really really missed her while I was pulling this together, but she still gave me some good ideas by phone. =)

The invitations.

Follow the yellow brick road to The Emerald City.......err, um...........door. =)

The first thing we did was make some mini apple pies. Yum!

Then came the party games. Lincoln made this fantastic Tin Man! We used heart shaped sticky foamies and wrote the their names on them. (See that adorable girl in the gray sweater? I hired her to help with the party and that was the best thing ever. She is amazing! I had so much help during this party. I have the best husband, friends, and babysitter!)

The girls loved this game.

Wizard of Oz was playing during the whole party. Right when we began the Beauty Parlor, that is the scene that was showing on the TV. It was perfect! Most of the girls hadn't seen the movie before, and they understood why they got a makeover. It was Talia's favorite part of the party!






I told the girls that we had invited the Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, Tin Man, Dorothy, The Wizard of OZ, and even the Wicked Witch of the West but they couldn't make it. They called me and asked if they could bring by some food for the party since they couldn't come. I said, "Sure!"

MENU:

The Witch brought Flying Monkey Goop. (Some girls would not taste this because of the name!) =) It was pistachio salad.

Dorothy brought delicious Ruby Red Strawberries.

The Scarecrow brought some corn from his field.

The Wizard brought his OZ-um Punch.
It was OZ-um!

The Lion brought Cowardly Lions in a blanket. (TOTALLY Wyatt's idea!)


The Tin Man brought yummy Chocolate Cupcakes with a touch of tin.

They ate lunch on the Yellow Brick Road, and watched the last bit of the movie. This "road" ran from the drive way all the way through the house. It was wonderful--and cheap. $15 for 100 feet. Call me if you need some yellow table covering. =)

Each girl took home her homemade apple pie, one red apple, and a few little oz inspired goodies. (The pencil in red glitter.)



Lincoln- "Make a wish!"

Talia- "I LOVE KITTENS!"

(No joke! That is a quote!)

Which fairy are you?

We have two books of these beautiful flower fairies. The girls and I love them. There is one fairy that I think looks exactly like my Natalia! I want to frame it for her.

We were looking at the books, and I was trying to find Natalia's fairy.

Natalia started flipping pages and said, "I know where it is.....(flip)....(flip)......it's the one with the scissors."

"What?" I asked puzzled, "There isn't a fairy with scissors in this book!"

"Yes there is, she looks like me."

Yes, I was wrong. There is- and she does look like her.

TROUBLE.

This is the one I was talking about.
Isn't she lovely?

Proof....

Yesterday was a day of bliss.






I have proof.......

SEE?

I love when the fall foliage is bright and beaming. I have to admit...I don't love autumn. I know...I am the only crazy one. Days like yesterday make me rethink that a bit. It was heaven.


Last week was a hard one. Time for a list.....

Three sessions.
(Two here, and one in VA.)

A big itchy dose of POISON IVY for me!
(None of my clients got into it...just me. The pictures? SO WORTH IT!)

A huge Wizard of Oz birthday party for Natalia.
(A big post about that coming soon.)

My Brother-in-law moved in with us.
(Makes me really wish I had a guestroom for him. He'll be with us a few months.)

My computer and many external hard drives were FULL! Time for a computer overhaul. Enter Lincoln and two new terabyte external hard drives and I was back in business. Wait....where's photoshop now, sweetie?



Did I mention the poison ivy?
I want to scratch my skin off! I have been so good not to. Then today..............I went nuts scratching my arms. IT FELT SO GOOD. Now....I am really paying for it. I have been taking medicine to help...but that makes me so sleepy....then I don't get any work done....then I fall more behind. In order to catch up I have to be itchy, I guess. I hope it goes away soon.
Okay- enough whining.

I can focus on happier things.
That is one of my best qualities.
I am really good at ignoring the bad stuff. =)

Happy Birthday Natalia

My little girl is six.

I went through my old files to find pictures of her.

I loved seeing some of these again.

I'll post more about her party soon.
(We are doing some major computer archiving so as soon as were done with that.....)

Last Saturday we picked raspberries. I love this one. Well, I love them all or I wouldn't have shared them. =)