Trick or Treat

This year I decided to make Luke a trick or treat bucket using a paint bucket after seeing one online. I am so happy with the way it turned out and I hope that he can use it for a couple years to come.

Halloween 2010

Well Halloween is officially over and we survived! Phew. No more candy for a while. The festivities started last Thursday Luke wore his skeleton shirt to school to get in the spirit.

Here is Luke at his school's party as a train conductor. In the morning he refused to wear his costume so when I got there for the party he was the only one not wearing a costume :( Luckily he got in the spirit and joined in the parade.


Saturday we went to the trunk or treat festival at the church that is at 7 Lakes High School. Luke had fun having a snow cone, he wouldn't eat the cotton candy. Later that night we had a good time reading Wall e









Halloween morning we had delicious donuts that were shaped like ghosts, bats and pumpkins. Unfortunately, the black frosting kind of got everywhere...


Trick or Treating was a success. We went to a friend's party and the kids had a hayride from house to house. Luke caught on to the whole thing and tried to eat as much candy as possible. Luke dressed up as a football player and I was an fanatical mom. Here are some highlights from the night.

The owl cupcakes I made for the party

David's idea of a costume. I am working on his holiday enthusiasm.


On the hayride waiting to trick or treat.


My fanatical mom mum and flip flops. Who knows, maybe I really will be one of those moms one day...



A rare moment of Luke looking at the camera and smiling.


Misty the Ninja Turtle


I always say I don't want him to play football till he's in Junior High but I'm not sure I can keep him away.

Mama almost burnt the house down

Today has been pretty eventful. After almost burning the house down last night, I have opened all the windows and cloroxed the whole kitchen to try to get the smell of ashes out. It has to be one of the most disgusting smells in the whole world. However, I have noticed that opening the windows makes me more inspired to do housework. And I must say, David was a wonderful husband and didn't make me feel worse for almost burning down the house. After all, I was just trying to be sweet and make tea...

In school today I worked on a project example for my kids who are drawing popcorn. The drawing on the left is in pencil with a paint over tissue paper background and the drawing on the right is chalk with a paint background.


I stopped at hobby Lobby after school and got some things for my costume on Sunday and, of course, I forgot my coupon. They really have some really random things there. Did you know they sell a moccasin kit for 17.99 that you lace together yourself? I think I am going to have to get one.

And why, may I ask, is it 93 degrees out on October 26? Ridiculous. I am beginning to think Luke is never going to get to wear long sleeves and to tell you the truth I am getting sick of all his summer clothes.

This afternoon I caught Luke in a rare moment actually wanting to pose for the camera. I love this shirt. I got it at a woman's artist show in Austin. I will be sad when he out grows it.

Family Fun Time

This Saturday I was lucky to be present for a friend's wedding. Thanks to Jace and Deidre who watched Luke, I had a few hours to spend with my family (which doesn't happen very often). The ceremony was great, the bride beautiful, and the food delicious. Audrye and I chased down the waiter several times and I fell in love with these sausage biscuits that I am going to try to make for Thanksgiving.

click here for the recipe

Here is my sister Audrye, me and my dad.

This is my dad telling me about his duck blinds. I am not interested in hunting but I sure do love him :)

Here is my sister Arienne wanting to be featured on my blog. Sweet tea anyone?

Audrye, my mom, me, the bride Heather, and Arienne. Then just me being silly.

What a beautiful bride!

Congratulations to the happy couple David and Heather.

Luke even got a party favor. Thanks Audrye! Also thank you for the use of your great pictures. Love you.

Pouty Pumpkin Pants

Yesterday was the day for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. In three years David has never made to one of these excursions so he doesn't even know what he's missing.

The first year, Luke was one month old and slept the entire time. He looked so sweet and we snapped the most adorable pictures of him laying in the pumpkins.




Last year was a challenge keeping up with him as he toddled his way around the pumpkin patch. I am pretty sure I was profusely sweating. Not to mention that he was in the drooling phase. Look how little hair he had!




So this year I was looking forward to him being older and maybe even smiling for the camera. Yeah right. Luckily I had Megan and Nikki both taking pictures with their "real" cameras. Out of the approximately 150 pictures they took he is actually looking at the camera about 5 times and is smiling zero. The lady working there must have been getting annoyed at the amount of pictures we were taking because she kept coming over making sure we knew how the pumpkins were priced. The only times he looks happy is when he is playing with Lightning McQueen. Ha.

But I must say that Luke is an excellent pumpkin chooser. He expects nothing less than perfection. No dents, bumps or scratches for him. Just smooth and perfectly shaped.







Luke and his pumpkin. Little stinker. Smiling when we get in the car to go home.



I cant wait to see what next year's pumpkin patch extravaganza brings.

Saturday morning madness

This morning Luke decided to wake us up at 4:30 am screaming and crying to watch Cars. We tried to get him to go back to sleep but he wouldn't have it so we alternated staying up with him. At 6:30 Megan woke me up so that we could go to the Seven Lakes High School garage sale. Even though it started at 8, by the time we went to Mcdonalds and the atm the sale was in full swing at 7:30. It had a flea market type feel and there was so much stuff and so many people I kind of felt like I was on the Amazing race. Luckily, there are TONS of families in our surrounding neighborhood and most of the things for sale were for kids. I was excited and exuberant about my wonderful purchases and I am sure Megan thought I was a little bit crazy. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation. Anyways, here's a look at what I found this morning.




A white toddler bath robe made out of the super soft towel material that feels like velvet. It has vehicles all over it and a hood! I have been looking online to find one for Luke for Christmas so this was an amazing find at $2.

Lightning McQueen rainboots in perfect condition in size 9-10. Luke wears an 8 right now so he even has room to grow. $2

A beautifully colored spinning globe $2. I have already taught Luke that we live in Texas.

Some glass jars to hold Megan's scrapbook embellishment collection. $2

3 different Wiggles dvds. All for $1. Maybe I can catch a break from Cars.

A set of 7 brand new how to draw books for the classroom. $2 Maybe when kids get bored, they won't start throwing things across the room if I tell them to learn to draw something.

3 sets of vintage lace trims including eyelet. Perfect for scrapbooking sweet little girls pages. $6

The Super Nanny parenting book and Jenny Mcarthy's book Baby Laughs. I can tell you I am really excited to read these. The super nanny one because Luke has been throwing little fits lately and I am unsure of how to handle them. I will be reading that book as fast as I can. I have also heard that Jenny Mcarthy's Baby Laughs is a witty and informative read. $1 a piece

I also stumbled upon a family that had the most amazing children books for sale in pristine condition. Either their kids hated to read or they had too many books. I can tell that most of them have never even been opened. What a shame. We got Walle, Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed, Miss Spider's Tea Party, Stellaluna, Owl Moon, The Berenstain Bears Learn about Strangers, and my personal favorite Ferdinand.

I also got Luke a few pieces of clothing and a cupcake shirt for my mom.
All in all it was a great morning with a great friend. I only spent $19. The best part is that I didn't buy any toys. Phew!

Here's a picture of us sans makeup but looking triumphant.



Also I cannot resist putting up this picture of Luke and his Daddy yesterday snuggling on the couch. What a lucky girl I am.
-Alycia

Bathtime is one of my favorite moments of the day. I buy the Sesame Street bathtub colors and it is the perfect bribe to get Luke into the tub. I say "what color bath do you want ?!" and Luke runs to the tub and jumps up and down until its time to throw in the magic tablets. We practice making green and purple and orange but by far blue is his favorite bathtub color. I think he is going to grow up and be disappointed that water is really clear.

Yesterday I went to book club. My friend Whitney invited me and I am really glad that I went. I love to read but often don't use my time to do it. Isn't it funny how people make so many different choices on how to spend their time? I don't have enough time in the day to do everything that I want. Scrapbook, read, play with Luke, see my friends, spend time with my husband, cleaning the house, watching tv, getting on the computer, writing this blog. I want to make the right choices. I want to look back on my life and not have regrets.
Anyways, at book club we read The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent. It was not a book that I would probably choose to read on my own, which is what I love about book club. Putting others in control of what you are reading pushes you out of your comfort zone and into the unknown. The book was awesome . A heavy tale of a farm life, family animosity and the accusation of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. It was fascinating and depressing all at once. It is so nice to be able to discuss something intellectual with a group of fellow adults. I cant wait until next month when we are reading The Mercy Seller by Brenda Rickman Vantrease.

Kachow!

Having a kid consumes your life. Its true. Things I never thought I would do, I now do in abundance.

At the moment my life revolves around the Disney movie Cars. I am required to watch it at least twice a day per Luke’s request. We know the words, the names, the songs and I love to see him play along with his toys to the story line. Lately however, I have become a little concerned that this is turning into a full blown obsession….of mine.

I cant help myself.

As a parent you want to give your child everything you possibly can. Once they show an interest in something, you throw yourself into a frenzy buying them every type of themed toy to go with whatever it is that they like.

Now, I haven’t gone as far to buy him Cars furniture or anything but it has become my life’s mission to collect Luke every single Cars character there is. It started with one Lightning McQueen and after that, there was no going back.

To illustrate my unstable mental state, my first thought when I go into Target is “I wonder what Cars they have?!” The thrill of the hunt has Luke and I racing down the toy aisle with our metal cart wobbling. I scour the shelves for the ever illusive Flo, Ramone, Fillmore and Sally. I roll my eyes when once again, all they have is Sarge, Lightning and that stupid pace car who was barely in the movie. You know, for a movie that keeps being popular, they sure don’t have much of a selection in the toy department.

But every once in a while I get lucky and I hit the jackpot! I find that one slippery character and say to Luke “LOOK its Doc Hudson as the Hudson Hornet!!!! Do you want him??” and inevitably he shrugs his little shoulders in indifference and says… Nope.

Depression then sets in. How can he not want the Hudson Hornet?

Oh well, I buy him anyways. I know he really wants me to :)

Thank you Mr. Columbus!

This weekend I had the opportunity to go garage sale shopping in Seven Meadows with my favorite partner in crime. At first it seemed the morning might be a bust but after a few houses I found some great stuff. Here's what I got:

1. Cat's Colors, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and Cars books for Luke $2
2. Moon In My Room $3 which I was going to buy Luke for Christmas anyways. It is battery operated and glows on any of the phase of the moon that you want.
3. Texas Anthony license plate sign $1. Perfect to put on Luke's United states map in his playroom since his middle name is Anthony after my dad.
4. This awesome vintage football guy. $3 Made in the 1970's. The big eyes give him a very mischievous look and looks great on the dresser with all the vintage planes.




Of course no one wants to go to work, but today was a great day in the classroom. Believe me, any time the kids aren't at school, teachers everywhere are celebrating. Every once in a while on teacher in service days all of the art teachers in Katy ISD get together and have workshops. Which means that we get to spend the whole day doing artwork. It is a great but at the same time it is kind of stressful. We all put this pressure on ourselves to make our artwork amazing, since we know that the 20 other people in the room are incredibly talented. Its as if we are desperate to impress each other saying "look what I can do, I am a good teacher after all." Anyways, we used collage techniques with tissue paper, paint, and pencils. No erasers! Here is my finished product. Definitely not the best in the class but hey it wasn't the worst !

Hello Everyone!
It has been a long time since I last posted! For inspiration I have been looking at a lot of blogs lately and I decided to give this thing another go. I also downloaded Photoscape photo editing software on my computer and so far I think its really great.

http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php

I realized after looking around our house that we don't have many photos up. Mostly that's just laziness on my part so I got busy hanging up family pictures. I found some great steals at KCM (Katy Christian Ministry). I don't really understand why photo frames are only 50 cents and frames with HIDEOUS artwork in them sell for 5-7 $. I found some great colorful frames for Luke's room and added to the ones that were already there.


I also picked up some 8x10 frames at Target for around 6$ a piece and hung up three pictures of Luke at 12, 18, and 24 months under our big clock.

If you know me, then you know that I love scrapbooking. I already have Luke's first 2 years completed and I am anxiously awaiting the upcoming holidays for the chance to make more wonderful pages.
In addition to scrapbooking, I have been feeling very crafty lately.

For my first project, I bought a wooden pendant at hobby lobby for under 2 dollars. I covered the pendant with a superhero scrapbook paper that I had on hand. I chose it because it matches the colors of Luke's room and right now he happens to love superheros. On the cricket I cut out the letters to Luke's name and turned them into stickers to put on top of the paper. I hung it up on his door as a cute name sign.

My second project was definitely not my original idea. I have seen in several magazines recently silhouette paintings in kids room. I have always thought that they would be very easy to do and finally I buckled down and made one for Luke's room. As I expected, it was very quick and easy.

The silhouette painting looked lonely on the wall so I used a large chipboard letter L and covered it with lime green polka dot scrapbook paper. I framed it with a yellow frame I found at the resale store. I put the two together and voila a masterpiece.
On a more personal note, today Megan, Luke and I went to the Katy Rice Harvest Festival. They have it here in Katy every year but this was the first year that Luke was really old enough to know what was going on. He had a blast riding the boats, cars, and motorcycles rides that I am pretty sure were about a hundred years old. While we were on the carousel Megan snapped a few shots of us.

My favorite picture, what a ham.

Well, that's all for tonight. Hopefully tomorrow will be a productive day of cleaning and relaxing.
No school on Monday for the students but Katy ISD teachers will be on duty. Luckily for me, I teach art and my day will consist of finger painting workshops :) Enjoy the rest of your Saturday.

Alycia