Happy Halloween!

We've been gearing up for Halloween all week. Here are a few highlights:

We've seen black cats:

Max in '08

Alexandra in '11

 We've played with pumpkins:

Max and his friend carved a pumpkin with Miss Bailey. Well, she did. She claimed they didn't even want to scoop the goop!

Max hammered veggies onto a pumpkin at school. They said he knew his way around a hammer.

 We've had excitement about candy:

Aunt Lisa gave Alexandra the "Bling on the candy" onesie.

Cousin Kent gave Max the "Will trade sister for candy" shirt.

We've enjoyed our Monster Meal: 

You are supposed to see a two-headed monster on a swamp of spinach.

Three of the grands joined us for our second annual Monster Meal.

Dirt for dessert

 Happy Halloween!

Friday Favorite: Sooner Born and Sooner Bred

My husband and I met at the University of Oklahoma, so our kids truly are "Sooner born and Sooner bred."

We were excited when my hubby and dad took Max to his first football game.

 

They tailgated.

 

They gave Max popcorn and Cheetos for dinner.

 

 They saw the Sooner Schooner.

They hung out in the stands. 

They hung out a long time in the stands because it stormed and the game was delayed.  They learned that a kitchen trash bag makes a good poncho for a three year old, but not a grown man. They decided to come home before the game ever began.  But that's okay.  Max had a great time. He doesn't know the Sooners ended their winning streak, and he doesn't know he didn't see them actually play.  As far as he knows, he had the full experience. And he loved it.

Let the indoctrination begin!

Writer's Wednesday: Revision

More than once I've heard successful female authors talk about writing books while they had babies at home.  I wondered how they did it.

Now I know.

It's like eating and showering and everything else when you have babies at home.

Somehow, you manage.

I don't like crumbs on the kitchen counter or piles of clothes in the laundry room. I don't like my office email inbox increasing. I don't like thinking I've returned friends' phone calls only to discover it was in a dream or my imagination only.  I don't like fewer than nine hours of sleep at night.

But, hey, since having children makes those things happen anyway, I'm attempting to embrace the reality.

In stolen moments that could result in a neater home/inbox/social calendar, I'm revising my novel.

And just like my new life with kids, the revisions are great.

TV Tuesday: Project Runway

I always enjoy having Tim Gunn in my living room.

But another season of Project Runway is almost over.

I choose my designers similarly to how I choose my favorite protagonists.   Heroines fall into two categories: 1) Those I like or with whom I can identify 2) Those who possess qualities I want to emulate.  If a designer can create clothes that make me feel the same way, I'm a fan.

Viktor, Anya, Joshua, Kimberly

Each of the four finalists has a specific point of view. Each of the four have made clothes I coveted. Consistently, though, this season, I'm a fan of two:

Viktor Luna

and

Anya Ayoung-chee

Friday Favorite: Was blind but now I see

Lasik surgery was amazing. 

I just wish someone would have told me to wait until after I had children. Apparently hormones are mischievous with eyesight. After having my son I had to get glasses again.

So, six weeks after my daughter was born, I wasn't surprised to notice I wasn't seeing too well again.

It did alarm me I could wear my prescription sunglasses over my contacts and still not see as well as I'd like.

All day I worried about my eyesight.  Thankfully the sunglasses kept me from being a road hazard.

That night I went to remove my contacts and reached for their container. 

Contacts were still there. 

Now that was a quick recovery.

Mommy Monday: Swaddlers Sensitive

 Babies are like little noisy Rubik's Cubes, but with Swaddlers Sensitive diapers there's one less mystery to uncover.

Blue stripe: Change diaper
Yellow stripe: Feed, burp, soothe, or try something else. It's not the diaper.

Yep. That easy.

So... you know how some people annoy parents by gifting noisy toys or ones with lots of parts? Well, here's a gift to buy that will make any new parent think of the giver fondly in the most stressful of times.

TV Tuesday: Gossip Girl

Sometimes people do things when no one is looking.

When everyone else is asleep, I devour baked goods while watching shows on tv that are pretty.

Based on a series of young adult novels by Cecily von Ziegesar, Gossip Girl's poor little rich kids aren't exactly who you want your teens emulating.

Still, I could easily watch this show on mute.  The clothes and most of the cast are equal in their eye candy status.

In the novel I'm currently revising, Chase Crawford, who plays Nate Archibald, is the physical model for one of my characters. 

Meet Zac in my current novel. Pretty, isn't he?

The lovely Blake Lively, who plays Serena van der Woodsen, usually sports an expensive, teeny-tiny skirt.

Alas, I will miss Leighton Meester who declared this season her last.  I love her style on screen and off.  I'm glad it looks like she will get her "prince" on the show (one way or the other).

Many other cast members are as pretty as their characters are soap opera-y. You'll just have to watch to see.

Writer's Wednesday: Out of Print Clothing

Need a gift for you or someone else?

Out of Print is an online shop for a cause. Not only do you get cool looking stuff, but you can feel good about it, too.

Check out their mission here. For each shirt you purchase, they donate a book to a community who needs it through their partnership Books for Africa.

They use incredible artwork from the covers of books--many of which are now out of print.

I like this Pride and Prejudice sweatshirt...

 ...and this Wuthering Heights tee.

I may purchase this one for hubby for Christmas.

My love for this site isn't only about clothes.

These e-reader covers may trick you into thinking you're holding the real thing.  How cool are they? Plus, they are made in the USA.

Happy shopping!

Mommy Monday: 5 ways to belch a baby

As a baby, my son rarely spit up or burped.  Our delicate looking daughter, on the other hand, regularly behaves like a drunken pirate.  She guzzles until she can't contain anymore, belches loudly, spits up profusely, hiccups, and wants more.

I even took her to the doctor because I thought it was abnormal.

It's not.

Nights are the worst.  The poor little thing whimpers in gaseous pain.

So, of course, I was happy to discover this little blog entry at 2 AM one morning on Tripi's Baby Tips and Tricks.

Oh, and in case you didn't know...babies are supposed to be patted on the lower back, not between the shoulder blades, to achieve burp-dom. Two babies and many sleepless nights later, I'm glad I finally learned this...today.