Happy Halloween........

From ours to yours........


This picture was from last year. You'll have to wait for this year's photo until after tonight!

Another Baby shower.........

and I took pics before wrapping the gifts.



I made another pillowcase dress and this time I used some of the leftover case to make a matching burpcloth with a rick-rack border and rolled it and tied it up with matching ribbon.




I also made a diaper cake. I love pink and brown!!!



I know I still owe pics of Chickie Poo's costume.......but I finished it and wasn't completely happy with it.

She had a costume birthday party last Friday night that she wore it to. And I discovered major issues.

Mainly, that when my long legged girl of 11 years wears a mid thigh dress and flops she's fine. But put that same dress on with the costume required fish nets and small ankle boots with a bit of a heel.........and she looks 17! That skirt on that dress looked like it climbed 3 inches......in the wrong direction.

I made her sit in the car while I ran into the store for a card on the way to the party.

I let her go to the party in her costume with cheerleading bloomers underneath, but had I had any other option that wouldn't make her cry, I would have gone with it.

Did I mention is was a boy/girl party? That sounds worse than it was. It was her kindergarten "boyfriend" and his twin's birthday party. I am close with their mother and knew supervision would be the word of the night. There were a handful of other girls and a bunch of rowdy boys.

I stayed for about 20 minutes and only once did I feel like yanking her into the car and dedicating her to the life of a nun.

Her desk partner from school, (a boy) had told her what he was dressing as and wanted to know about her costume. She was telling me all about it on the drive.
When this boy showed up he pulled her aside and was talking about his costume. Of course, I turned slightly away but eavesdropped like a champ.

This boy came to her ummmm, chest, and he backed up and looked her up and down.......a total once over, and said (in all sincerity)"You look good."

To her dismay, I immediately decided to let Boo Bear stay for the party, sans costume. The twins have a younger brother his age and he stayed and played in the haunted house.

You know I pumped him for info when they got home.

I rushed to the Super Walmart the next morning and bought more fabric and will be sewing an underskirt that adds a few inches.

Look for pics after Halloween. You'll totally be able to imagine what she looked like before as I had to get different fabric for the underskirt!!!

Driveway Movie Theater Party

For Chickie Poo's 11th birthday we did a Driveway Movie Theater Party. We borrowed a screen and projector from My Man's work, as well as a table top popcorn maker. We hooked up our dvd player and the girls watched Hair Spray.

As her guests arrived, Chickie Poo took them out back and had them each decorate a scrapbook page for her birthday book. I took a picture of her with each of her guests to put on the corresponding page. When all the girls where there they came inside for pizza. After pizza, they went poolside and did a little freeze dance while I put the baby to bed and stocked the concession area.

I made a banner that said concessions and hung it over the tall bushes/small palm trees. My Man had hung lights earlier that day. Then I moved a small bookcase and table outside. I had small cokes in a bucket on the top shelf, and three different types of candy stacked on the other shelves.

Each girl had a tray to carry her goodies to her spot. I also bought pink/green buckets and applied an initial sticker for each girl to hold her popcorn.

Here the girls are watching the movie. Chickie Poo passed out the personalized pillows I had made for each of the girls.


I didn't time the movie correctly (it was longer than I thought....and yes I thought I looked) so I had to bring the cupcakes outside toward the end of the movie.

Chickie Poo loves Reese Peanut Butter Cups (not sure where she gets that from?!!?) so I made chocolate cupcakes with a mini Reese cup in the middle. Then I frosted them with Peanut Butter Buttercream Icing and put half a Reese on top of each. I was rushed and only took a picture while I was baking... but trust me, they looked FABULOUS! Personally, I'm not sure how good they tasted as I am dieting and didn't have any. But I was assured they were good.

We had SEVERAL cars stop and watch some of the movie and a few people out walking wanting to join the party. It was a beautiful night with a slight breeze. The only negative was the Rays were playing in the ALCS and about half of the girls who came got stuck in major traffic either coming, going, or both ways!


All in all this was the least expensive party we've ever done. Costs: Pizza, candy, soda, cupcakes, fabric for pillows, and buckets. We borrowed or had everything else. We even borrowed the movie from the library! Now Boo Bear wants to do this for his party.........but his birthday is in July and this is FLA! Not sure he gets the concept of how hot and buggy it is then. I'll just have to keep thinking and persuade him of a better party. Any ideas?

Happy 11th Birthday Chickie Poo!!!!

Today Chickie Poo turned 11. I am so proud of her, though I can't believe she's that old already! She is so nurturing, a friend to all, helpful and gracious to everyone and a fun girl all around. I am so proud to be her mother.

Does anyone else seem to celebrate the birthday "week" with their kids???

First is the actual birthday and we will have the birthday kid choose their favorites for all meals. Another tradition we've started since the oldest started kindergarten is to bring them lunch from whatever easy place they want and eat lunch with them. If their birthday falls on a weekend, we do it the Friday before. Then you have the kid party. And still to come is the "family" party. We put that in quotes because we don't live near any family and we consider our close friends our family, but damn we have a lot of kids when you put us all together!

These "traditions" can be stretched out for a week depending on what time of year it is.

Chickie Poo's birthday was kept to a mere 3 days of celebrating this year.

Chickie Poo's actual birthday is today, Saturday. So she made blueberry cheesecake muffins for everyone this morning and put a candle in hers. Her birthday dinner requests were:

Flank Steak in a ginger/soy marinade
Garlic Whipped Potatoes
Green Beans
Banana Splits

She put a candle in her potatoes as well as her banana split.

Yesterday the baby and I met My Man at her school with Subway for lunch.

We had her birthday party last night with her friends. I'm planning a post about that when I have more time, and am not so tired. Again, she had a candle in her cupcake.

Tomorrow we will be watching the Bucs game with some of our "family" and eating lasagna rolls, salad, garlic cheese biscuits and cupcakes. The cupcakes are a nod to Chickie Poo turning 11. Who wants to bet she's gonna put a candle in hers????

So the last few days have been a whirlwind of cleaning, baking, cooking, shopping and a bit of craftiness thrown in. Not necessarily in that order.

My Man and Bugaboo are at the Rays game tonight. I gave Bugaboo a Faux Rays Mohawk by using blue gel to spike his hair down the middle from the front to the back. I asked My Man if he wanted one too, and he just rolled his eyes at me. He also wouldn't let me write with blue face paint on him, however he took the pencil with him :)

After I got everyone else in bed and the thirty odd cupcakes baked for tomorrow.........I got started on Halloween costumes.



I changed directions on Bunnyboo's and love how it came out. I was gonna do a ladybug tutu but couldn't bring myself to ruin the tutu (that took me 3 hours to make) by gluing dots all over it. And she wouldn't keep the wings on either. So I decided to go with the love bug thing. I plan on adding a big poofy bow to her hair as well. The leggings may be too hot, we'll see. (And obviously the tutu will be going around her waist not her head, but she's fast asleep so I could only lay the outfit out. Duh!)

My kids all seem to have a sense of humor so the boys went for funny this year.

So Boo Bear will be Sponge Bob. I'm gonna tie the sponge to the top of his head. We are deciding if we want to do anything with the square pants part. Suggestions?

Bugaboo will be painting one eye black and going as a Black Eyed Pea. Get it? He cracks himself up. Actually, I also think it's pretty funny. All it got from My Man was a eye roll, though.

I haven't started on Chickie Poo's yet because she want s something more difficult and we are still negotiating. Do you think if I stall her long enough, she'll cave? Nah, me neither.....she's 11 now ya know!

No Ghosts in this House (yet)....

I haven't started decorating for Halloween yet.

Chickie Poo's birthday is Saturday and I always wait until after her birthday to put up my decorations. I think it is unfair to have the house decorated for another holiday before the previous one (her birthday is a holiday to her) has even come.

So this waits patiently in the garage for me:

And I've been busy with sewing the party favors:

Chickie Poo was home with a stomach bug for three days last week and Bunny Boo came down with double ear infections over the weekend. It's amazing I've gotten dressed each day......but not much else has been done.

Nothing like last minute preparations to get in party mode!

I am planning on sharing more about her party later this week........Stay tuned :)

That makes me angry!

I've been fuming all day. A close friend sent her second mass email with a smear campaign against one of the presidential candidates. We know that we disagree politically, so I was a bit peeved that she kept sending me her opinions. She states we as a nation need to vote morally. But if we don't choose her candidate, than what?? Are we immoral?

But what sent me over the edge today was this paragraph:

The following links are essential in order to make an informed, educated decision. (If you cannot access a link, please copy and paste it into your browser.) If they make you angry you are one of two types of people 1) An *named* supporter that is choosing not to really know the candidate or 2) An outraged American that can't believe the media is ignoring or maybe hiding who *named* really is. But don't just get angry, get educated about the facts. We cannot allow the media to dictate who we vote for by the reporting. They are not doing their job, so we must do it for them.

So am I uneducated or just plain stupid because I disagree???

Am I being overly sensitive???

Here's the website I like to consult for *one* of my decision tools:

http://www.speakout.com/VoteMatch/Pres2008.asp#sec0

It allows you to choose how you feel on each issue and then tells you which candidate you agree with most. You can also see where they stand on each issue.

I believe each person is entitled to their one vote; so make yours, but don't try to make mine for me!

Does this make anyone else crazy????

*whew! * thanks for listening......... I feel a little better now.

Seasons

We live our lives by seasons. I know most people also mark time by the passing of seasons ~ Winter turns into Spring which leads to Summer followed by Fall.

Florida really only has two seasons: Hot or Not.

Here in Bahama Shores we each have our own cycle:

For the kids:
~Basketball season turns to Baseball season which leads to Golf season followed by Football /Cheerleading season. And just to change it up we have been known to substitute Golf season for Football season. We've even thrown Soccer season in for a year or two. Dance season is ongoing for 9 months.......but since we are indoors we hardly notice.

For My Man (who is a college coach):
~Preseason Conditioning turns into Preseason Practice and Scouting which leads to Season followed by Post Season (from my blog straight to God's ears) and then begins the dreaded (by me) Recruiting Season and topped off with Summer Camps.

For Bahama Shores Mama:

~ It's simple: School is followed by Summer. During one season I am busy and the other? Busier. I always think whichever Season I am in is the busiest. Until I get to the next season.

Anyone else feel that Seasons rule their lives???