Thankvember: Day One

Today is November 1st & that means this is my first Thankvember post.

I am thankful today for my children's creativity.
Their imagination, the things their minds create and the ideas that they share with the world make me hopeful for a better tomorrow.

A recent entry from Roxy's journal:

I have a favorite candy! Can you guess what it is? 
I'll give you a hint. It is orange and yellow and white. Candy corn, is it? It is! Very good!
If you try it you will love it. It has sugar in it. Just a little bit! Because if you eat too much candy that has a lot of sugar then you might get sick!
And candy corn is like a Halloween candy! If you like candy corn then you're cool!

I am also grateful my kids instinctively think outside of the box and influenced my crazy crafting spree last month. I composed a little slideshow with all of our Halloween related pictures. Prepare yourself for Spooky Craftiness, Star Wars Awesomeness and Deneweth Cuteness. :)

 

>> Blog Hop linky after the Jump.
well... hop on!

Full Moon Day / Halloween Eve Eve

Excuse my rambles, I am trying to kick this awful, grumpy virus/cold/weather-induced-whatever-it-is and have been foggy for at least 4 days now.

We have been busy little monsters over here.

Halloween Crafting

Remember that post about how the kids decorated the house for Halloween? It turns out, I couldn't stop there. Halloween crafting has been really fun this year! Since then, Roxy painted a Fancy Nancy pumpkin, we made glass jar Jack O Lanterns, that cute little baby Mummy-Pumpkin (I literally couldn't resist), and just for kicks (because I got bored)... yesterday we went out and bought a bale of hay and made scarecrows!

After all that, I came across this article and am now feeling the urge to go out and buy a ton more pumpkins and decorate more more more!!

I will control myself, though.

2 Days Till Halloween

The countdown is almost complete. I am crossing my fingers I get some great pictures of the kiddos decked out in their costumes. I am super excited about all of them this year. This is the first year they are all custom, not brought from Party City, legit costumes. Not only that, but I can honestly say I am absolutely satisfied with the outcome each of them.

With all the excitement of the kids' costumes, though... another year goes by that I get neglected. With this blog as my witness, I will have a costume next year and I will go to a grown up Halloween party, even if I have to throw it myself. ( Can you believe I've never been to a grown up Halloween party?? )

Anyhoo - 

I just wanted to pop in and post a few photos and ramble a bit. I have 3 loads of laundry calling my name and my last task... have a glass of wine whilst figuring out this scary mail in ballot I've got to complete and mail in before it's too late.

Eep! Wish me luck.

haha. Funny how the scariest part of this Halloween post was about my mail in ballot.

<3, Tabi :D

Currently...

A little family update on what we are all currently up to. 

So, you probably realized this before I did, but there is less than 2 weeks to prepare for Halloween! Eep!!! The kids did an AWESOME job decorating the house for us. It is super spooky in here. They must have been trying to drop a subtle hint that I need to get cracking on their costumes.
< segway >

ME: Currently, I'm obsessing over finalizing the kids' costumes... Well, in Zoie's case, starting her costume. Roxy chose to be Aayla Secura for Halloween. You probably have no idea who she is, which is why hers is proving to be the most difficult costume. Aayla is a Jedi from Star Wars, who of course is so awesomely fantastic that you will not find an easy ready-made costume for her anywhere. Especially for a 6 year old girl. Luckily, I have an amazing friend who will crochet just about anything for me I put in a request for. She did the hard part for me and created the headpiece. You can sneak a peek at that here. (So "adorkable" - tee hee. I stole that word from @bonniegrrl ). Riley will be a Jawa. His costume is pretty much complete, as you can see above. Yep, that's the Bear in there. He makes the cutest Jawa ever! Zoie will be an R2D2 ballerina princess. Hmmm, gotta get started on that one.

ME again: I'm also currently totally over the whole school schedule. I'm ready for summer. I've been designing and doing a little web marketing late nights and squeezing in daytime hours, too. That stuff, + school = one exhausted Mama. Plus side: my skills are no longer rusty. Down side: lack of sleep is starting to catch up to me.
(Shameless Plug: if you know anyone who needs any kind of graphic design work done, hit me up!)

Roxy: She is rocking the first grade!! This week she scored 100% on her math test, and her teacher tells us she is pretty much the perfect student. This really doesn't come as a surprise to me. ;)
She lost her first TOP tooth last night and talks a little funny now. The tooth fairy visited, left her fairy dust EVERYWHERE & left Roxy FIVE DOLLARS!
Besides being the exemplary student and talking funny, she's also keeping active with gymnastics and going to Family Body Flow with me every week. AND, she's recently been a huge help in the kitchen. This one is growing up so fast... sigh...

Riley the Bear: This guy has a huge Portal obsession. It's all he draws about, all he writes about and finishes up his chores and homework so fast so he can get his Portal time in. He's really good at it, too. ... Oh yea, he's WRITING!! This kid = one smart cookie!
Did you see that cute owl he decorated? That was all him. I was worried about his creativity at one point, pssh: nothing to worry about there! He also stays active with gymnastics, he's getting so good at his tumbles. And what a sweetheart my boy is, he definitely takes after his father with his gentle nature. I may or may not foresee myself being judgmental of his future girlfriends.
Ms. Zoie Rainbow: ... has recently discovered Dora and Diego. She's a total Doraholic. I kind of wish she still had the zero interest in TV she once had. Sometimes it's hard to get her to come to the table to eat. Sometimes, she wakes up and asks for the iPad before I can even get a chance to say Good Morning, Sunshine!  She's a persistent one, this girl. I'm sure it's the 2 year old in her.
Besides being a Doraholic, she is potty trained!! Like, all the way!! And off her binky. She is a full fledged toddler. ... no more babies in this house. :(
She still loves playing with her babies and is getting more and more independent every day. She is my little mini-me neat-freak/helper. She helps with dishes, laundry, wiping off counters and cleaning up spills on the floor. She even yells at the older to kids to clean up their messes. This makes me a proud Mama. <3

Daddy of the house: Would currently like me to wrap this post up and fix dinner. Sheesh! He's all, "Get in the kitchen, woman!" (j/k... sort of)

... so I guess I'll go ahead and do that. And hopefully have time to work on costumes tonight, too. Later peeps.

<3, Tabi :D

What's Up, Wednesday?

I've seen a bunch of bloggers do Wordless Wednesday post and I'm hijacking the idea.

Partly because sometimes I enjoy just pictures. And partly because I have to start dinner and 2 kids are buggin' for some lemonade refills.

Enough words. Here you go.

<3, Tabi :D

A Song about The Dark Side

Yesterday morning, Roxy wrote a little song about The Dark Side. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. <3

<3, Tabi :D

Star Wars Fashion Show

A long time ago,
in a galaxy far, far away...

It was another rainy day around here, and the natives were getting restless. 

So in order to appease my young Padawans, I proposed a fashion show...

One squeal of excitement.

So I said, let's make it a Star Wars Fashion Show!
Three complete squeals of excitement. As it should be.

Here are some of the shots from the show. Enjoy.

Oh, man! If only I had a hangar around here with maybe the Millenium Falcon parked in it (ooh... or my favorite, an Imperial Lambda-Class Shuttle <so sexy>), I think these shots would have been a bit more awesome. But I suppose our living room will do for now.

Ha! My little Bear makes a super cute mini Emperor, doncha think?

Fashion show was cleaned up promptly (thanks to our new rock system) and snacks followed.

Success! And now I have Mommy chores and dinner to cook... If only I had some droids to help out around here, my life would be complete.

<3, Tabi :D

Yellow Shroomie and Star Wars Style

What's the Word June
Today's word is: ( dodgeball ) 

It's been a rainy, soggy weekend but that doesn't mean we're going to let a little rain dampen our moods (pun intended). Here are a few snaps from our weekend so far.

On our back porch, we have a cute little potted Desert Rose sitting atop our cute little patio set. On Friday it sprouted a bright yellow squishy penis shaped thing. Saturday morning, it grew and Saturday night it full on bloomed into the prettiest brightest yellowest mushroom I have ever seen. A little google research and I find out it's called a Spirit Umbrella Mushroom. I also found this cute time lapse video of it's whole life cycle, you should check it out. Nature is pretty amazing.

We went to a family birthday party yesterday and had lots of chips, crackers, fruit, pizza and ice cream cake. YUM! On the way there, Zoie decided to be a supermodel and got her Duck Face picture taken. Duck faces are kind of cute on 1 year olds.

Being a Star Wars fan is tough on little girls. The Star Wars t-shirts at Target are aplenty for anyone except baby girls and little girls. So when I saw this super easy tutorial to transform a tee into a tank, I scooped up two t-shirts out of the boys' department and made both of these super cute summery dresses for my girlies in 30 minutes total. Now they can display their love for Star Wars proudly, be cool and stylish! (Notice Zoie's fashion model pose, Roxy is teaching her good!)

Today we are going to be brave and head out into the rainy day to see Brave. :)

Oh yea, dodgeball!! Ninja dodgeball??

<3, Tabi :D

This is not the post you are looking for.

What's the Word June

Today's word is: (droid)

From Etsy

Today we are celebrating Father's Day since Daddy will be working on actual Father's Day.  :(

So, I leave you with a cutie patootie baby picture of my favorite droid, R2D2
(or as Roxy used to call him "RD2D2").

<3, Tabi :D

Lightsaber

What's the Word June

Today's word is: (lightsaber)

Lightsabers are definitely the weapon of choice around here.

If lightsabers make your heart beat faster too... some cool stuff here.
Also, this EPIC battle.

<3, Tabi :D

p.s. If any of you are Instagram geeks like me, I just found Instagram Filters as Photoshop Actions that I am way more excited about than I should be. :) It's easy peasy, just download and install and your ready to go!

Happy Monday!

... and happy last week of school for us. :)

For anyone out there with a case of the Mondays, maybe this will help...

I don't know about you, but nothing warms my heart more than my favorite toddler giving snuggles and kisses to my favorite droid.
Zoie <3 R2

<3, Tabi :D

DIY Lightsaber Storage

 (Disclaimer: this is my lame first attempt at publishing a sort of DIY.
Please bear with me, but any and all constructive criticisms are welcome.)

I can't be the only one with the pesky problem of lightsabers all over the house, right? We have collected so many that they didn't have a proper home anymore. It was high time we figured something out and made a special spot for all those lightsabers.

So, on a slow Sunday, while Daddy worked on a bigger project in the garage and I assigned myself to the task of organizing a closet, I put the kids to work.

Here's how we made this super easy Lightsaber Storage Box:

1.) I took an empty diaper box and taped up the flaps. Diaper boxes are amazingly sturdy, btw.

2.) Lo and behold, it was the perfect size for wrapping up with four giant Star Wars coloring book pages, decorated by my super talented-with-crayons kids. So, they chose 4 pages from the book, ripped them out and got to coloring.

3.) When the coloring was completed (or they got tired of coloring the humongous pages), they picked out some stickers to accessorize with. The pages were ready!

4.) I taped the pages onto the box with sturdy masking tape on the bottom and insides so it didn't interfere with the aesthetic.

5.) To hide the seams (where the coloring book pages met), I used some washi tape I had on hand. It added to the design and was functional, too. :)

6.) Gather up the lightsabers from ALL OVER the house and stuff them in. This part was fun! Kind of like an Easter Egg Hunt.

7.) Done-zo!

So when I see an out of place lightsaber, which is a much rarer occurrence now,  the kids know exactly where to put it, no questions asked.

One step closer to organization = one happier Mommy. :)

Hmmm... I wonder how they store the lightsabers at the Jedi Academy?

<3, Tabi :D

Whirlwind Weekend

This weekend was a little of a whirlwind. Secretly, these are my favorite kinds of weekends. They are super busy, but jam packed full of good times. Here's a peeksie at our last weekend.

My stepson Cameron turned 10 on Friday and we threw him a bowling party bash to celebrate on Saturday.

TEN!! Double digits is big time. It seems like just yesterday he was freaking me out by pooping in the bathtub.

We haven't been bowling in for...ev...er... so it was a big treat for us. Bowling is apparently not enough anymore, the cool thing is blacklight bowling!! With pop music. The kids really enjoyed it, I think we'll have to go more often now. After showing our skillz on the lanes, we had yummy Death Star cake and ice cream, then Cameron opened all his cards. He asked for money (I guess that's what 10 year olds are into these days), and that's what he received. So much, in fact, that we left the bowling alley and went straight to Toys R Us so he could purchase a new bicycle. You can see Zoie building it for him up there.

To celebrate Mother's Day, we took a relaxing trip to the beach for some sun, sand and relaxation. It was a bit cloudy, but perfect temperature. Roxy made a sand mermaid, a few castles and buried Riley. The Bear practiced swimming in the Gulf and rolled around in the sand. Zoie just enjoyed getting dirty and chasing the birds. Christopher made some fishy friends - for real, one stalked him and nibbled his toes for like 20 minutes! I sat back, enjoyed having my toes in the sand, the nice cool water and even saw some dolphins!  It's always a good day at the beach. The best part? No one fought or cried or even whined the whole time we were there.

Then we ended the perfect day stuffing our bellies at Sweet Tomatoes and falling into food coma on the couch.

The Swag.

Of course, I was showered with gifts and homemade cards. I got: the cutest little Star Wars plushies. R2D2 and Vader... my faves. I am in love, these guys are too cute!! Christopher pimped my computer: rainbow keyboard!!! My Mother in Law gave us (I say us because if it was just mine, it would be dead) a cute desert rose plant that came with a cute little bonus mushroom. I also got a gift card to Starbucks and a rain check for a trip to Rita's (mmmmm... mango gelati).

Those two adorable pillows are the gifts we made for my Mom (the pillow on the left) who lives in Maryland and for my Mother in Law (the one on the right).

My family sure knows how to make a Mom feel loved. xo

<3, Tabi :D

Five Things That Make Me Happy Friday...

 First things first.

Happy Star Wars Day!!! May the Fourth be with you. 

In honor of this most momentous day, my FTTMMHP post is going to be all about Star Wars!!! I planned on going through the movies and stating what makes me the happiest about each movie. One problem... there are 6 movies. dun dun dun.

So, today, there will be: SIX THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY

Episode I: The Phantom Menace
A cutie patootie little Anakin Skywalker that rocks the pod races against all odds.
Queen Amidala who is a great role model for my girls.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones
The mooshy part of me is so happy that Padme and Anakin fall in love. <3
Also, Obi Wan's Jesus look.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Everything about this movie gets my heart racing, but let's face it... the only really happy thing that comes out of this episode are the cute little bundles of joy that are born (Luke and Leia).

Episode IV: A New Hope
Han Solo's smirky smile.
R2D2 and C3PO meet and create a friendship bond that spans eternity.

Episode V:  The Empire Strikes Back
This scene... Leia: I love you.  Han: I know.
Also, AT-AT's are rad.

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Ewoks!!!
And that Anakin/Darth Vader finally gets to return balance to the force. :)

Click Here for more FTTMMHF Posts. 

Have an awesome weekend. xo

<3, Tabi :D

The Bear's Apprentice

Get to know the Bear's Baby

Name: Darth Vader, Bobblehead Vader, the Bear's Baby, The Bear's Apprentice

Fun Facts: 

• Baby Darth Vader was a birthday present from Uncle Mike.
• He sleeps and goes everywhere with the Bear.
• Also known as the Bear's Apprentice as Riley is Darth Sidious, therefore making his baby his apprentice. Because Siths always come in pairs. Duh! (Sometimes, I'm known as Mrs. Sidious.)
• Where did he get that sticker on his helmet, you ask? His teacher gave it to him for being a good Sith in school.
• He likes to play hide and seek.
• Sometimes, he's so good at hide and seek, Mommy and Daddy employ a lot of time and patience to find him. Especially at bed time.
• One time, he hid for a whole day and was found in the bat cave. Who would have thought that Darth Vader and Batman were tight like that?
• He loves watching Riley play Sonic racing on the iPad.
• His favorite foods are sandwiches and pancakes.
• He likes juice boxes and apple juice.
• He has a birthday every 3-4 days, but he doesn't get any bigger.
• This baby naps a lot. He even gets tucked in for his naps.

<3, Tabi :D

 

Happy Valentine's Day all you Lovely Lovers

4 Things that made me smile today:

1. I woke up to a glitter Darth Vader box of chocolates. I couldn't have picked a better Valentine's Gift. My husband is awesome. <3
2. Zoie and her first corn on the cob. She dug right in. She's now a confirmed Deneweth. 
3. This snarky pink cupcake. It's sticking it's tongue out at me! And oh, so delicious - YUM.
4. It's Valentine's Day!! A whole day to focus on love, pink things, sweet things, chocolate things, heart shaped things, romance and pretty much a guaranteed great day. What's not to smile about??

I love you (yes, you)!!

<3, Tabi :D

This post was inspired by Leigh vs. Laundry's 52 Weeks of Happiness Project.

 

The Jedi Princess' Sixth Birthday Party

Over the weekend, we threw a bodacious birthday bash for my little Jedi Princess, Roxy.
In case you missed it, here are some highlights:

The Princess.

Obviously the theme of our party was Star Wars. If you recall, I recently threw a Star Wars birthday party for the Bear.  She kind of surprised me when she also asked for a Star Wars party. But only 'kind of', because what other kind of party would she have wanted?!? So, my mission was to throw a Star Wars party, but make it girly. AND make it different enough so that it didn't feel like the exact same party we had for the Bear 6 weeks ago.

The Venue: Tree Park

There was a pink princess castle bounce house, Princess Leia inspired cupcakes and lightsabers made with purple accents on the hilts.

Of course the bounce house was a huge success!!
Although, we did have to make use of our bounce house 'bouncer' a few times. These things happen when you throw a party at a public park.

Foam Lightsabers + Bounce House = AWESOME! 

And if you got tired of the bounce house, then there's a whole park to play in!!

Of course, Riley's 'baby' was there. Isn't he cute?
(Side Note: the Bear tucks this guy in, brings him everywhere, gives him baths... awwww!)

 

And there was cake. And presents. And juice boxes. 

I really need a new photographer (ahem, Christopher!). Not pictured: Double Edged Lightsaber Hot Dogs, Wookie Cookies, Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Lightsabers, and Chikalay Nugget Platter (yum).

Thanks to everyone who made it out to celebrate my Roxtar's big day, the party was a huge success!!

<3, Tabi :D

Party Preppin': Sneak Peek

<3, Tabi :D

Short Term Goal of the Week: Party Planning

I have always been a last minute* party planner. And the parties usually come out well enough.

But I know I can do better. Roxy's 6th birthday is coming up fast, and this time I'm forcing myself to plan a little better and to start a bit earlier.

*By 'last minute', I mean like 3 days before the party I start thinking about it.

I know that to a sane bunch of people, starting party planning 10 days before the party is last minute. But to me? I'm a week ahead!! Go me!!

The Party: Roxy's 6th Birthday Party

The Theme: Star Wars/Princess Leia

Now, If you recall, I just threw a Star Wars bash back in December for the Bear. So, not only do I have the added difficulty of making a Star Wars party girlie (because my Roxtar is the ultimate girly-girl), but I also have to make it a totally different party than the Bear's was.

Here's what we've got planned so far:
 

 

Plans set in motion. 10 days to execute. Go! 

<3, Tabi :D

May the Fource Be With Us All

... get it? Because he just turned FOUR?!?!

Star Wars party: success!! A great time was had by all and I am always surprised when I can pull off a party in my teeny weeny house. So successful that a certain little Roxtar is already asking for a Star Wars 6th birthday party in January. Well, I mean... who doesn't love Star Wars?!?

 My little Jedis.  <3
I could have posted 16 pictures similar to this group shot and every single one, my girl Roxy has a killer Jedi girl pose. She is so deliciously adorable.

My #1 suggestion for a great kid's party: GET A BOUNCY HOUSE!! I was so skeptical that it would even fit in my back yard, but it did!! Plus - you can't see my green pool to the left of the bounce house, but you can see the swamp like vegetation in the backyard. Very Dagobah. :)

 'Darth Vader' cupcakes. Because the Bear's favorite thing in the world besides Darth Vader is chocolate.

 Death Star cake. My husband the Redditer forwarded me a picture of this and it looked so simple and awesome I had to copy!!

(left) My first crack at punch at a party. I think I will cut the portion in half next time - but it was yummy. (right) Death Star peanut butter sandwiches and (not pictured) Death Star chocolate (nutella) sandwiches.

 Masks and Princess Leia headbands for the girlie Star Wars partiers.

 The spread. This picture really understates the awesomeness of this banner. It was so cute!

 General Grievous Santa.

 Lightsaber fights in the bounce house. Note the awesome foam noodle light sabers each partier got!

 Homemade Death Star Pinata. My husband rocked it!!

 It was destroyed!!!

 (left) More light saber fights. (right)  Boba Fett stopped by to check his email.

 The birthday Bear with that giant laser/flame! 

 Holy Moly, that's a lot of people in my 'dining room'.

And... presents! :)

The Bear declared BEST PARTY EVER and I feel like my mission was accomplished. Phew!!