Thankful Thursday

I thought it would be a good time to start doing Thankful Thursdays every week.
This week, I am extremely thankful (as always) for my Moose. He has changed my world so much and taught me so much about life and love. For my husband, he works long days to allow me to stay home with our Moose (for now) so I have been able to watch him grow and explore, and I have gotten the pleasure to be there for all of his "firsts".
I'm also incredibly grateful for my mom, who is always there to help, my wonderful, caring mother in law, having a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, clothes on our backs, and 2 working vehicles.
Life may not be perfect, but it is definitely good.

A Kellogg’s® Rice Krispies® Halloween House Party!

I got picked to host a House Party from houseparty.com today! A Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Halloween House Party to be exact! I’m really excited since Moose will actually be able to enjoy the festivities and it will be a great way to show off our little place to our friends and family that still haven’t seen it. As if I needed even more on my plate to think about and craft, I’m already thinking up ideas for party décor, food to cook and some fun drinks we can have available. It is going to be fairly small, 10-15 people total, but I seriously can’t wait! The party is going to bring in the end of both October and a very busy string of weekend events for a while. Halloween is one of both mine and my hubby’s holidays so it will be awesome to be able to celebrate in style with some help from houseparty.com.

You can find the link to houseparty.com here: Houseparty.com

And to my party details to follow along here: My Kellogg’s® Rice Krispies® Halloween House Party

Professional Picture Tuesday

Yesterday’s smash cake session made me want to do some professional pictures with Moose for his birthday also, so I decided to take him down to one of the photo studios (Picture People) to get some taken. I’ll admit that scheduling the appointment for right after nap time and expecting him to sleep in the van wasn’t one of my smarter ideas as he refused to sleep on the way, but he was in a great mood for the whole shoot, smiling and giggling and running around everywhere, you would have never known that he typically was either sleeping of just waking up from his nap. It wasn’t until after the shoot and we were stuck waiting around to look at the pictures that he started having a melt down from skipping his nap. Luckily for me, I was able to get him settled in his front pack and nursing through looking at most of the pictures and again before we left and he slept most of the way home. We only got my two favorite shots since the sheets were so expensive and the least expensive disk was copy write so I couldn’t print from it. It was definitely an interesting experience and I plan on going to the studio in Roseville for our family holiday pictures as recommended by a fellow patron during our wait.

Smash Cake Monday

Moose and I needed to do something fun today. We were having a really rough morning and I hoped that maybe if we got out of the house, it would improve his mood as it usually does. I wasn’t really in the mood for driving too far, so I decided that it would be really fun to pick up a piece of cake from a local grocery store, take Moose up to one of our favorite ranches in Apple Hill, and take some one year and smash cake pictures. We had a blast! I set up a blanket so the cake wouldn’t end up in the grass (it did anyway) brought a change of clothes so not only could I get pictures of him in his cowboy gear with his super cute cowboy boots, but I could get smash cake pictures in his ONE shirt that I made too. Once we were done with the smash cake, I was able to change him again so he wasn’t wearing his frosting covered clothes all over the place. I got some great shots, and can’t wait to print them out to have at his birthday party!

 

 

First part done, 2 to go

I am so excited to announce that I have finished the shirt part of Moose’s Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon Costume! I think it has turned out pretty cute and it fits him really well! I did have to add a little extra fabric to the back that I wasn’t expecting, but luckily it wasn’t very much and will be hidden by the fake fur vest that I’ll be making him or by a sweat shirt if he needs one to help keep him warm.

My current project for his costume is Toothless the dragon. I decided to save the vest for last since (I’m hoping) it will be the easiest to make. I was hoping that Toothless would be both fun and fairly easy, but so far it is turning out to be a bit more difficult than I had expected. I honestly hope that I don’t run into anymore road blocks or difficulties with putting it together or I may have to put it off until after I make the vest and hope it gets done before Halloween. I do have the body and tail cut out of the fabric, so if all goes as planned, I’ll just need to design and cut out the wings, then sew everything together, stuff it, and then add all of the embellishments. But, like I said, that’s if everything goes as planned and we all know that things usually don’t go as planned.; especially when you have a crazy kid running around who likes to steal things, getting into stuff you didn’t realize he could reach, and you have to do most of your work when you are half awake after said crazy child is finally asleep at night. Regardless of how it goes, I will finish Toothless at some point, and when I do, I’ll be sure to post pictures!

It's not "Goodbye"

My mom always told me to never say “goodbye”, it should always be “see you later” because you will see whoever it is again someday.

Unfortunately, I had to say see you later to my younger brother T on Saturday. T is going into the Army at the end of October and will be going to boot camp in Georgia. It was definitely a needed trip to go visit them though. I haven’t seen my brothers or step mom in 3ish years, so they had never met their little nephew Moose. We spent some time with T and his friends, my step mom, some of her family, and some family friends for a while, catching up on life, getting the latest on the drama with my birth father and chasing around Moose. My youngest brother M, who is 16, left at the beginning of the party, but came back before we left and we spent a long time hugging, letting him spend time with Moose and promising that I not only loved him, I always have loved him, always will love him, and that I will come back to visit so he can see his nephew again soon. Honestly, I don’t think there could have been anything sadder than seeing my 6 foot little brother crying because he thought that no one loved him and that, except for my step mom (his mom), that he was alone. I despise the awful things that our so-called-father has done to him and how broken he has become because of it. How anyone could destroy the spirit of such a wonderful boy and not even care is beyond me.

                                                            Moose meeting his Uncle M

                                                                  Moose meeting his Uncle T

 In the end, the visit was very bitter sweet. It added to the hatred and disgust that I have for my so-called-father, yet it was so good to see my family again. I knew I missed them a lot, but I didn’t realize just how much until I got to see T and was hugging M just like I did when he was a little boy. I really can’t believe just how fast time has gone and how much they have both grown. It’s going to take a long time, but I think one day, we will all be able to help each other heal from our wounds and we will all be much stronger people for it.

Catching Up

I get to play catch up with my posts today.

I actually had all of these typed out on my computer, but it has been having problems with the internet connection, so I haven’t been able to post any of them until today. So, a short over view in case you don’t want to go back through and read all of my old posts (although I believe they all contain pictures!)

Last weekend, we went to Stockton for my older younger brother’s going away party. We got to visit with both of my younger brothers, step mom, other step family, and some very old family friends. My 16 year old brother had a rough time with seeing us and meeting his nephew for the first time. It was extremely emotional.

Sunday, I finished the shirt part of Moose’s Halloween Costume. It was a long process and I still have to make the vest and dragon part, but one of the most difficult parts is done!

On Monday, Moose and I went back up to lovely Apple Hill and did a smash cake photo shoot, just he and I. It was a blast!

Today, I got picked to host a Kellogs Rice Krispies Halloween House  Party with houseparty.com. I can’t wait to host it!
Moose and I also went out and got some professional pictures done for his first birthday. They got some great shots of him, but we only bought pictures for 2 shots because they get expensive really quick.

Tomorrow is going to be a relaxing day for Moose and I and we need it before the craziness begins! We still need to figure out what we are going to give as favors, buy all of the food, plates and drinks for Moose’s party next weekend. This coming Saturday, we are attending the first birthday party of a good friend’s daughter who was born 3 days before Moose. The Saturday after Moose’s party is one of his cousin’s second birthday party (his actual birthday is the day after Moose’s), and the following Saturday is the Halloween Party! EEK! It’s crazy how fast October is going already and it has only just started.

Are you every surprised at how fast time passes?