Resolutions for 2012!!! So excited to get started!!!

RESOLUTIONS FOR 2012!!

(and things I want to do/accomplish in 2012)

1. Read 75 books {0/75 completed}

I read 100 books in 2011, so this should be a piece of cake! :)

Here is my goodreads account of the books I have read/ am reading!  I read a LOT of paranormal romance, lol, don't judge me! :)

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/7296616?shelf=%23ALL%23

2. Donate Blood 3 times this year {0/3 completed} 

Donated blood 3 times in 2011 as well! 

3. See a movie all by myself {0/1 completed}

 Something I've always wanted to do, but the thought of it fills me with anxiety.

 4. Attend at least 1 meeting of an adult book club! {0/1 completed}

-So excited that the January meeting is about The Hunger Games (which I love).  Jason actually talked me into going to the meeting which is towards the end of January.  I'm super nervous even though I have no idea why, lol!

5. Draw 25 pictures {0/25 completed}

I'm really hoping my little side business can help pay for Haven's preschool next year! *fingers crossed*

6.  Visit 3 new state parks I've never been to before {0/3 completed}

Can't wait for camping season!

7.  Complete at least 1 portrait painting {0/1 completed}

8.  Complete 10 crafts from pinterest (for/with children or for/by myself) {1/10 completed}

*(1) Cut up pipe cleaners in a bottle and move them around with magnets!

*(2)
*(3)
*(4)
*(5)
*(6)
*(7)
*(8)
*(9)
*(10)

9.  Finish the girls' baby books!  {0/2 completed}

 For real!!!  I'm embarrassed to even write that!

10.  Have at least 3 pieces of my artwork submitted to the fair {0/3 completed}

Need to get to work reading over the rules!

 

11.  Workout 25 times. {0/25 completed}

 - Because that seems like a tangible goal and I'm uncertain about how much I care about being in shape.  It changes daily.  I think I would like to lose 3.5 pounds, just b/c of the scale.  I would like being in great shape, but I am in decent shape anyway so do I actually want to have to work at it?  Not sure! 25 times is a start!

12.  Make my wedding scrapbook.  {0/1 completed}

5.5 years later, I still have all of the stuff to do it, but have just never done it!

13.  Walk around the lake 15 times. (2.5 miles each time) {0/15 completed}

-Another "should be easy" tangible goal.

14.  Try 10 new recipes! {0/10 completed}

 - Super excited about this one!  We are so bored of the things we eat.  Being vegetarians (and now Jason doesn't eat soy) limits our options tremendously!  I'm excited to try new recipes b/c I hardly ever do!

15.  Go through and organize at least 5 boxes {0/5 completed}

 - I still have boxes that have not been unpacked in years and years and years!  Soooo much work!  Hopefully I'll surpass my "5 boxes" goal, haha!

And a list of random things I want to do as well (to be crossed off as done)...

16. Go horseback riding (it's been YEARS)

17. Get a professional massage (have never had one)

18. Go paddle boating (b/c I say it EVERY summer and the girls are big enough not to jump off now... hopefully, lol)

19. Go one week with no computer. (Just b/c...)

20. Take the girls to visit my dad at the cemetery. (we pass by it all the time, but I have only gone once in the last 20 years, right before I got pregnant with Venily)

21.  Paint the hallway (3 years in our house and it is still unpainted drywall w/ texture stuff on it- gross!)

22. Repaint our living room! (I cringe every time I see the huge white patches on our walls!!!)

23. Take some kind of an art class

24. Design a tattoo in honor of my girls (NOTE- I did not say GET a tattoo, lol!  That would go against my "donate blood" resolution.  And if I were to get a tattoo, it would take some serious thought! but maybe someday...)

25. Buy a lottery ticket (B/C you can't win if you never play...)

26. Create an Etsy shop.

27. Make a list of 100 things that make me happy

28. Bring the girls to the Shedd Aquarium

29.  Get dressed up and go on a date with my husband.

30. Try 3 different kinds of wine (So funny, I wrote this months ago and have now tried 3 kinds this week!  I am finding out that I am just not cut out for wine drinking, lol!  It's way too strong for me!  I will try to find something I can drink though since I haven't had a single drop of alcohol in 11 years (until this week), haha!).  So maybe I will change it to "Find something that I actually enjoy drinking"?  lol!

 And some miscellaneous stuff for 2012:

* I would like to create and implement some more structure into our routines.  We used to have a lot of structure, but it has fallen apart slowly over the year!

* I'd like to yell at the girls less.  This may go hand in hand with find ways to have less stress!  I know the kind of mom I want to be, but find that I fall short of it often. :(

* I need to make working on my marriage a priority.  I don't like to write stuff about it, but our marriage could use some definite work

* I should probably write something about saving money?  I just don't see that happening though, especially since I will have to be saving money to send Haven to preschool! :(  Maybe someday...

READY... SET... GO!!! :)

Resolution Review 2011

As I have wrote about all year long, my #1 resolution this year was to read 100 books in 2011!!  Well, I DID IT!!!!  (and a few days before the end of the year too!).  I loved doing it, it was the best resolution ever!  Next year I am going to be moving it down to 75 books since I have a ton of other resolutions that I want to add! (Will be sharing those soon!).  I'm also going to be updating my list as I go on goodreads.com and rating the books I read as well!

Other resolutions that I focused on included:

* Donating blood for the first time ever! (and I am proud to say that a few days ago I donated blood for the THIRD time this year!  Yeah!)  This will definitely be a lifetime goal- donating 3 times a year, every year, as long as I am able.  I feel so guilty that I'm 27 years old and I waited this long to donate, but proud of myself for finally getting over the fear of it (by the way, seriously NOT a big deal at all!).

* Doing a painting!  (Which was actually more of a "get back into doing art" goal).  While I didn't do a painting (besides the girls' mermaid photo station), I DID work on and complete 18 pencil drawings (all within the last couple of months of the year).  And started a business where I've been selling those drawings.  I will definitely be doing more next year and hopefully work on my business some more as well.  Come see my facebook business page here to see the drawings I've completed so far!  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pictures-to-Pencil/254677244556724?sk=wall

I WILL complete at least one painting though in 2012!  And I have lots of pinterest ideas on other things I want to make for my home as well! :)

Haven is 2 1/4 years old!

3 more months until her half birthday, lol!!  (I LOVE half birthdays, haha!)

No clue what happened this last week, but my little Haven has ACTUALLY been whining!!!  This from the girl who I didn't think knew how to whine!  I think her last molar has been bothering her a lot.  Her finger is always back in that corner and I can feel a couple of places where little spikes of her tooth are starting to cut through.  I can't WAIT until that tooth is through- it is taking the longest out of all of them!  We have also been way off-schedule during the holidays.  Staying up HOURS past her bedtime some nights (and, of course, waking up at her normal time), skipping naps, moving around eating schedules, etc, etc.  I'm hoping to have my deliriously happy and well-behaved princess back when everything starts getting back to normal!  I might also bring her into the doctor's to check on her ears again, since I never did go back to do an ear-check after her last round of double ear infections!

As far as Haven's nasty cradle cap, that is MUCH better!  I was almost going to write that it was fixed, but after a few weeks of stopping the anti-dandruff shampoo (that stuff smells DISGUSTING!), I can see large flakes coming off again in her problem areas.  The hair is sparse in a few areas on her head, but not BALD, bald.  She did end up losing most of the hair though in the worst patches of it! :(

As far as what Haven is up to now, she has been learning her letters and is doing a great job!  We are working on upper case letter recognition, letter sounds, and how to draw the letters.  I made Montessori sandpaper letters a few months ago and those have been AWESOME!!  She already knows how to draw a bunch of capital letters from doing them.  She still needs work on her hand positioning, but she's got how to draw them down! :)  Here is a video of her drawing a few of the letters she knows how to draw:

She is always bringing me her Magnadoodle (which the other day she called her "Whiskerdoodle" and made me laugh hysterically, lol.  Then, when she realized that wasn't right she kept saying "Where is my... you know, my Doodle thing?" LOL!) and making me draw letters, people, or snowmen! :)

Other than that, we haven't been up to too much!  It has been way too cold to be outside and we don't have any money to go anywhere cool, so we are starting to get a little stir crazy!  I can't wait until our library classes start back up again!

Here is some more recent videos of Haven at Monkey Joe's.  She is so fearless, lol!

And some more recent random pictures of Haven!  You can never have too many pictures of my little Haven! :)

♥

Christmas 2011!

Christmas was the best yet this year!  Each year that the girls understand more and more, the more fun it becomes!  Both girls were so excited all month long!  (I'm sad the Santa threat is over now though, lol!)

* We saw Santa a total of FOUR times this year, lol, and I was so impressed with how well my super-shy girls did!  

*We counted down the days until Santa came with Advent calenders that the girls reminded me EACH and every morning that we needed to do, lol!

* We made cool "stained-glass" gifts to give to family as presents and the girls loved doing it!  They kept asking me each day if they could make more and more, lol!

* On Xmas Eve night, the girls threw "Reindeer food" out on in the backyard that Venily had made at school.

Here is a video the girls made Xmas Eve night!

And here is the girls sleeping Xmas Eve night!

* Here are some videos of the girls opening some of their presents!

And I LOVE this one of Haven after putting on her new dance shoes!  ♥

* Santa was on a definite budget this year (as usual...), but delivered tons of smiles and pure joy with no presents over $10 under our tree.  (Well, for the girls, lol, I got a new vacuum and swiffer wet jet mop, but those were opened before Xmas and were very much a necessity rather than anything fun!).

And proof I was also present during the holiday season, lol! (Taken by Venily)

* Some of their favorite toys included:  their Happy Nappers that they have been talking about for months (buy one get one free at Walgreens on Thanksgiving day!), an RC car (that they have been fighting over, lol), lots of cool new dress up stuff including 5 new wigs! (Halloween clearance, lol).  Lots of new learning toys (Haven is on a letter kick right now).  A new camping chair b/c we hope to do LOTS of camping this year, new games, books, etc.

*  The girls had 3 different family Xmas parties and my mom and step-dad stopped over (on separate occasions, of course, lol) and they got tons of gifts each time!  They got lots of new clothes, babies, Barbies, a new camera (that takes actual pictures and videos), new earrings (I haven't changed their earrings in 2 years when they both got them pierced!- and so far, no problems!) as well as a ton of other stuff!  I desperately need to go through all of their toys yet again to make room for everything!!!

Oh, and we ended up getting lots of cool stuff to help us decorate our house.  (We've been living here for 3 years and hardly have anything up on the walls!  It is starting to come together nicely now!)

And, I almost forgot!  We got some new family members as well! :)  Three new goldfish who took over Edward's tank while he was moved to a smaller apartment since he wasn't being nice to his new friends!  Venily named 2 of the fish- "Careful" and "Puffer" and Haven named one "FishAlisha" since Alisha (and Adalein) gave them to us, haha!

I hope everyone else had a fantastic Christmas as well!!! :)

800th Post!!

This is my 800th post since I've started.  Pretty crazy!  Unfortunately, it is just a post on posts I need to post! :)  Jason is almost done fixing my laptop so hopefully I'll be able to post regularly again!


* Christmas
* Haven turned 2 1/4 years old yesterday!!
* Resolution Review 2011
* New resolutions for 2012
* New videos of the girls

5 Things For Friday!

(Stolen from my friend Jenn at Not Your Typical Family!)  :)

Just a weekly Friday thing where I talk about 5 things!

1.) Venily has been a reading machine lately!!!  She's been doing amazing!  We read to a German Shephard/Chow mix dog at the library on Monday and she did really good!  She's usually afraid of big dogs, but she loved Buster!  Haven even read to him (Venily whispered the words to Haven and then Haven would say them out loud, lol).  The girls thought it was great!  Venily has 12 BOB books from the library that she carries around with her all around the house and is constantly reading to anyone who will sit still long enough, haha.  She even brings them to bed with her! ;)  Yesterday morning she asked me "Can you turn off the t.v. so I can read?".  Yep, that's my girl! :)

(Don't worry, the dog was super nice, just looks mean in the pictures, lol!)

2.   We got an RV.  Yep, that's right!  Jason says he "upgraded" our pop-up. I would disagree, I love the pop-up!  Both are '76's, lol.  And the RV needs some definite work.  But it DOES have a bathroom w/ toilet and shower and an awesome, new refrigerator w/ freezer.  It's roomier too, but less beds and less storage space.  And the kids and I can run around in it while we drive (which I have very mixed feelings about).  We'll see come Spring...

3.  I signed Venily up for her 3rd session of dance (though it doesn't start until the end of March).  She had no interest in trying baseball or soccer again.  I wish they offered more classes in the winter/spring classes, but I'm excited for her to be in dance again.  She loves it so much!  I also signed up for a Couponing class!!!!  It's only a one-time 2 hour class, but I'm really excited!

4.  Haven has been really into writing lately.  There are a couple of letters that she writes really well now and she also blew my mind by showing me a person she drew.  Complete with head, body, arms, legs, eyes, nose, mouth, and belly button.  I didn't even know she knew how to do that!  I thought Venily did it, but they both insisted Haven did.  So I erased it and had her draw me another one, and sure enough, she did it (again and again and again, lol!).  And she drew some that were super details.  Toes on the feet, ears with earrings, etc, lol!

(This was the first one she did :)  )

5.)  I broke our main laptop. :(  I downloaded something so that I could watch videos on Facebook (they had stopped showing up) and downloaded a virus with it.  I had TOLD Jason to help me fix it like 5 times before I did it myself, so I blame him entirely!  We have 2 other computers (Jason's laptop and our t.v. computer), but I hate both of them.  They won't even let me see this page properly.

It's a BOY!!!!!

I think it was a shock to my whole family!  We were all thinking it was going to be a girl!  I now have 4 nephews and only 1 niece (someone needs to get to work making more girls!) !  I am still excited though, I can't wait to hold a tiny new baby in my arms! ♥  However, as evident by my Xmas shopping, boys are SO much harder to buy for than girls, lol!

Double Ear Infection for Haven!

Jason brought Haven into the walk-in today b/c her eyes have been pink and goopy for the last 2 days.  She also has a cough and the cutest little hoarse voice you have ever heard in your life! :)  It turns out she has a double ear infection which is leading to pink-eye like symptoms as well. :(  Poor girl, she also has her last 2-year molar coming in and it is causing her problems as well!

This is ear infection #6 for Haven in her 2 years and 2 months of life (that's if I'm not forgetting any).  It has definitely been a while though since her last one.  She was prescribed Amoxicillian and after THIS wonderful experience, I am so afraid to give it to her (even though Haven was just on Amoxicillian in October w/ no problems...)

Here is her updated ear infection chart (b/c I like to stay organized, lol)-

*Single ear infection 4 months old. (given Amoxicillin)

*Double ear infection at 5 months old. (given Cefdinir)

*Double ear infection at 13 months old. (given Amoxicillin)

*Double ear infection at 16 months old. (given Cefdinir)

*Double ear infection at 17 months old.  (given Cefdinir)

*Double ear infection at 26 months old (given Amoxicillin) 

I'm hoping she gets better soon and we don't have any problems with the Amoxicillin- she is getting probiotics 2x a day as well, so hopefully no diarrhea either!)

P.S.  Haven weighed in at a chunky 31 pounds! :) (She was 29.5lbs at her 2 year check-up, even though I never can trust the walk-in...)

November Resolution Review!

Resolution #1- Read 100 books this year.  So far I've read:

January- 11 books

February- 5 books

March- 10 books

April- 8 books

May- 11 books

June- 9 books

July- 5 books

August-  6 books

September- 9 books 
October-  9 books

November- 8 books

 TOTAL: _92_ books (should have 91 2/3 read at this point!)

Status:  RIGHT on track.  I also have 2 more books started, so maybe a little more.  I definitely could have read more last month, but I had a very steady # of pictures I needed to draw!  This month should be the same as well, so I'm really hoping I can get those last 8 books read so I can complete my resolution!!

This month I read books 14-20 in the Dark Hunter series (super sad it's coming to an end).  Acheron has been one of my favorites so far!!  I also read Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons by Siegfried Engelmann.  And by read, I mean read most of it and skimmed though some, lol.  I decided it was not for me.  Too structured!  I have a few more teaching your child to read books as well that I'm working on!  (Though non-fiction- ANY non-fiction is so much harder for me to read than fiction, lol!)

8 more books left to read this year!!!!!!  What will they be?!...  I'm waiting on quite a few from the library and hoping they come in on time.  Also, my library is going to be closed for like 2 week staring Dec 23rd!!!!  I'm really upset, lol.  I'm used to going to the library 3-4 times a week, haha!  Thinking maybe we'll head over to the Waterford library that everyone is always talking about and see how it is!  I also have quite a few in my personal collection Jason got me over the summer from garage sales that I've never read, lol, so I suppose I could read those (or reread some of my favorites that I own!). :)

Venily Reading and Thanksgiving!

We got a bunch of BOB books from the library and Jason and I were still laying in bed one morning.  Venily got one, sat right next to our bed and started reading the whole thing front to back (there were 4 stories in the one book).  We couldn't believe it!  She's known a bunch of sight words and could sound out words for over a year, but hasn't ever had a book before at her reading level.  She thought it was the greatest thing ever and wants to read everything now!

I'm really proud of her and she's SUPER proud of herself!  She's excited that I can sign her up to read to the dog at the library now! :) (it's a real dog that comes into one of the rooms at the library and kids can sign up to read to it, haha).

Here's a video of her reading one of her stories:

Thanksgiving:

I love when people ask my girls if they were going to eat a lot of turkey or if they did eat a lot of turkey this Thanksgiving and I tell them that we are vegetarians.  LOL!  Some people look at me like I just said something disgusting or ridiculous.  It's kind of funny.  The bank teller a few days ago though told me "Good for you!  That's an amazing thing you're doing for your family."  She had been a vegetarian for 3 years and stopped, but wanted to start back up again!  Nice to hear something positive for a change, lol!  I've been a vegetarian for 15 1/2 years and I don't miss eating meat at all.  The thought of eating it makes me gag!  (I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but there is a little boy in Venily's class who is ALSO a vegetarian.  He's really cute.  I hope they get married someday!  ♥ )

No turkey aside (not that it affects us whatsoever), we had a great thanksgiving!  We went to Jason's parents house first, ate, and went straight to my grandparents where we ate again, lol!  :)  The girls had a great time playing with all of their cousins and 2nd cousins and were pretty well behaved despite not having a nap and having their schedules all messed up for the day!

I went shopping Thanksgiving morning for some last minute Xmas presents!  I am mostly done, but still have a few more things to buy.  I didn't go out at all Thanksgiving night or on Black Friday.  No, thanks!  Haven't ever done the craziness and from what I've heard, I'm just not interested!

The girls have been so excited about Xmas and Santa!!!!!   It's the best bribing tool ever!  We sent them videos from the Portable North Pole and they were amazed.  Venily isn't on the nice list yet.  I debated not sending her a video that said that, but she was being really naughty and I decided to go for it, lol!  It has actually helped tremendously.  She is very serious about wanting to get on the nice list to get her presents so she is working really hard on "listening to her parents"!  We saw Santa last weekend and the girls actually did really well!  They both stood next to him for a picture and they both talked to him!  (though Haven was relieved to get away from him ASAP, haha).

I think we're going to spend the day today getting our Xmas decorations up!!!!  The girls are so excited!! :)

LISA IS HOME.. LISA IS HOME... LISA IS HOME!!!!

My sister Lisa is home after being across the country for 10 months working for Americorps!  I only got to see her for a few days in July, other than that she has been busy working in the east coast and in the south on different service projects.  The girls sent her videos and Skyped with her a few times and talked about her ALL the time, but I was surprised at just how much they acted like she never had left!  She came home on Friday and as soon as she walked in the door, Haven ran up and hugged her.  Then I had to leave to bring Venily to school 30 minutes after she had got here and she wanted to stay at my house with Haven while I left.  I didn't think Haven was going to go for that but she couldn't have cared less!  I LOVE having another person to be able to watch after the girls if I need to quick run somewhere or something!  I am SOOOOO glad she's back!!  (even though she's leaving for Colorado next summer for a year! :(  )

More Videos of the Girls! ♥

A Message to Santa From Haven
I LOVE this!!  I love that she says "Wuggles pets are junk!" (they totally are) and asks if Lisa has reindeers.  LOL! (Haven- 2 years, 1 month)



 Girls Crazy Dancing
Disclaimer- I did NOT teach them to dance like this.  They do NOT watch dancing like this.  This is all their own, lol!  I think they are really good dancers! :) (Venily- 4 years old, Haven- 2 years, 1 month)


Haven singing Adele
This is actually My, Venily's, and Haven's "song".  We like to turn it up in the car and sing as loudly as we can, lol.  Haven actually knows almost all the words, but this isn't that great of a video, she has a cold and is distracted.  I just thought Kylee was super funny in it, lol.  (And she was right!) (Haven- 2 years, 1 month old)


Carving Pumpkins!
I forgot to add this to my Halloween post!  LOL!  Talk about perfect timing.... haha! (Haven- 2 years old, Venily- 4 years old)


Haven- Halloween and Ballet
This was pre- trick-or-treating!  And showing some of her ballet moves as part of her "home-therapy"! ;)  (Haven- 2 years old)



And One From Haven's Birthday

Tooth #19! And cradle cap... (or something)!

A few days ago I realized that Haven got her top right 2 year molar.  ONLY ONE LEFT TO GO!!! (I should probably check again to see if the last one is in yet)...

Oh, and I made an appointment for Haven's crazy cradle cap stuff she's got going on.  It actually has been there for a few months, but we thought she just kept banging her head into stuff and it was scabs from that.  It is REALLY gross right now.  It looks like crusty scabs on her scalp (you can only see it really when it's wet though).  And when the "scabs" get pulled up, it is taking huge chunks of her hair up with it!  YUCK!!!  I have been trying to GROW her hair for over 2 years straight now and it is just coming out in nasty chunks, leaving bald spots! :(  Sooooooo..... we have a doctor appointment on Wednesday to see if she has any advice!

Venily's 1st Qtr Repord Card!!

I got Venily's 1st quarter report card today and she is doing terrific!  She got:

• 29 S's (S= secure and is the highest "grade" they can get)!!  

• 2 D's and 1 D+ (D= developing)

• NO B's (B= beginning and is the lowest grade they can get)

They have a TON of things they get tested on in various categories- Language and Communication, Reading Readiness Skills, Math, School/ Social Skills, Self-Help Skills, and Fine Motor Skills.

Her D's were in 

• Zips/buttons/snaps independently (no clue why since she does them all, but is maybe lazy about it at school?)
• Uses proper 3-finger grip (MY fault since I do not do it correctly and taught her wrong, lol, and they are now reteaching her the "right" way!)
• And a D+ in "Uses language to solve problems with others".  Something we are working on at home as well! 

 And the "S's" I'm MOST proud of are the following:

• Willing to speak in front of others!
• Participates in discussions!

Super happy with her very first ever real report card, lol!  ♥

And on the home front, we are hard at work on learning to read!  The words she is reading now blows my mind!  I am super proud of her!  I have the old school "Hooked On Phonics" series that we are playing around with and also a TON of library books on hold for beginning readers.  I've heard good things about the BOB series and am excited to get those in as well! 

The Fly!

There was a fly in my house that's been driving me crazy!  I got out the fly swatter yesterday to kill it and Venily says "What are you doing Mommy?!  You can't kill that fly.  He's my friend!  You are only allowed to kill mean bugs like bees and wasps!".  Right, I forgot, lol.... Well, today while Venily was at school that fly was driving me NUTS again.  I thought "well, what Venily doesn't know won't hurt her!".  I took the fly swatter out again and swatted the fly.  Haven looks at me and says "MOMMY!  Why did you hit that fly?!  He's nice!" so I scooped it up on the fly swatter and said "Look, I'm bringing him outside!".  After I closed the door she gave me a sad look and shakes her head and said "Why can't you let that friendly little guy stay inside?"

LOL!  What have I done?!  haha.  I'm actually really happy that I'm raising such thoughtful and considerate children! ♥

October Resolution Review!

I'm only worrying about my main resolution for the rest of the year!  I am also working on my resolutions for next year.  I have about 30 so far.  I had planned on 100, but I think that's really unrealistic since a few of them are really involved (like reading 100 books again!)!

 Resolution #1- Read 100 books this year.  So far I've read:

January- 11 books

February- 5 books

March- 10 books

April- 8 books

May- 11 books

June- 9 books

July- 5 books

August-  6 books

September- 9 books 
October-  9 books

 TOTAL: _84_ books (should have 83 1/3 read at this point!)

Status:  RIGHT on track.


This month I read Books 10-13 in the Dark Hunter series as well as a short story from the series (the more I read of them, the more I like them!).  I finally read the Sookie Stackhouse Companion book (I'd been on the waiting list for a long time) as well as Down These Strange Streets by Charlaine Harris.  And I read The Death Cure by Dashner (the final in the Mazerunner trilogy).  FANTASTIC series, even though the ending was pretty sad (not trying to ruin it for anyone).  I think the trilogy is very comparable to The Hunger Games trilogy.

ETA- I forgot!!  I also read The Help this month since EVERYONE talks about it and I've found that (unlike movies), if everyone says it's good, it's good!  I loved it!  I am dying to see the movie now!

Halloween!!

Also late, lol!  Oh, well!  I think Halloween is one of my favorite holidays!!!!

Halloween collages!

Venily wanted to be a butterfly this year and Haven wanted to be a pirate girl and a butterfly.  I was a butterfly as well!

Here are some pics from pumpkin carving!  Venily and Haven BOTH drew their own faces on their pumpkins and Jason carved them out for them!  I was really impressed with Haven's since I just handed her a marker and told her to draw a face!!!  She drew 2 mouths one on top, one on bottom, so we had to connect them, but other than that it was completely drawn by her!

(Venily's on the left, Haven's on the right!)

Venily had a pajama party at school to celebrate Halloween.  They also had a Halloween party in her classroom.  

THEN, they had a school-wide Halloween party AFTER school from 5-8pm, for all the students and their families!  I was impressed.  They had free pizza, punch, cupcakes, candy, and games, and a costume contest!  Jason threw a costume together last minute w/ stuff we had around the house and won 1st place for the adult costume contest!  I laughed so hard!!

On Saturday we went trick or treating at Spooky City in Burlington at all the businesses in town.  We had my niece and nephew with as well.  The kids had a lot of fun!

Saturday night, my niece and nephew spent the night and the next day we had more trick or treating fun around Lily Lake!  Venily decided to do her own makeup for that round, lol!  It was kind of cold, windy, and rainy, but the kids had fun nonetheless!  (except maybe Venily who fell and scraped her knee on the rocks in our driveway and insisted on being in the stroller the whole time.... :(

Overall, it was a great Halloween!  We did miss out on going on any hayrides this year... have to remember that for next year!!

I also have a Halloween clearance addiction! :)  I have gone out 3 different times and got a TON of stuff!  I just love it, a bunch of it I am giving to the girls for Xmas (new wigs, new costumes for dress up, etc).  We also got new hair color in every color imaginable!  (which we use all year round, lol)