guess what we're up to...

inspiration

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thrift store find, courtesy of Mom

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fun fabrics ordered online

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homemade waffles

This past weekend we had a college friend visiting from out-of-town. Before the boys headed out on Sunday morning, we decided to make a brunch of waffles, bacon, hash browns and orange juice. We received a belgian waffle maker as a wedding present and love pulling it out every few months to whip up a batch of homemade waffles. I have a tried-and-true waffle recipe that guarantees fluffy, flavorful waffles. I found the recipe somewhere on the internet, years ago and have been using it ever since. While we stuck with plain waffle this time around, in the past we've added fruit and nuts with favorable results. 

new design

Over the weekend, I decided to change the look of the blog (as you can see...) I was tired of the muted colors and in the mood for something a little more fun! I was working on some projects for our bedroom, so perhaps that's where the navy stripes came in.

I also realized that it's been 1 year since we started the blog - crazy! I feel like we've come a long way since those first blog posts back in November of last year... Time flies! 

ghost bowling

The night before Halloween, I decided I would make a little bowling game for my classroom party. I prefer to have lots of activities set up during a class party so that my kids have something to do- other than  run around on crazy cupcake-induced sugar highs. I waited until the last minute to make these ghosts, so I had to use what was available to me- mismatched plastic bottles that had previously held sparkling/tonic water (and several small bottles that I saved from my parents' recycling can-post chili cook off).

Working with what I had, I peeled all the labels off of the bottles and rinsed them out. Then I filled the bottom of each bottle with a little bit of rice to weigh it down. 

I then hot-glued the tops of the bottles on, so that some of my trickier students would not be able to dump rice all over the classroom floor. Next, I used my trusty white spray paint and spray painted all the the bottles. Time was of the essence, so  I only gave them one coat of paint.

When I brought them to school the next morning, I quickly drew a face on each bottle with black permanent marker. I tried to make most of the faces silly rather than scary, since my little five year olds are not so into the spooky aspect of Halloween. 

I set up the game with a small pumpkin to use as in leu of a bowling ball. 

Ghost bowling= so fun! 

(except for the ghosts...)

chili cook-off

Every fall, my family hosts an informal Chili Cook-off. The main contenders are usually my dad and me, often making slightly different versions of the my grandmother's special chili recipe. However this year, we had three chili's in competition. I decided to try a new recipe, one found on this website, via Pinterest. (Can you tell that Pinterest has been a lifesaver for me this week?!) This chili recipe called for several different chilies, molasses, cocoa powder, and beer among other ingredients, which created complex flavors and a hint of spiciness.  This recipe certainly wasn't quick, but the results were certainly worth the effort. 

Our chili cook-off took place on Sunday, the day before Halloween so a few of us came in costume- 

everyone else was just there for the food! 

Best of all, there were left overs to take home- look how thrilled Nick is about them!

pinterest-inspiration

You've heard me profess my love for Pinterest- so many great ideas and endless amounts of inspiration for outfits, decor, and food. A month ago, I saw this pin that one of my friends had pinned and was enamored with the cute costume idea.

Even though this was originally a child's costume, I decided to adapt to be adult-friendly; definitely school appropriate and something fun and easy to make! I made a quick trip to the fabric store to pick up 3 yards of blue and green tulle, along with felt, fun foam, and 1 peacock feather. The entire costume cost only $20 to make- much cheaper than most store bought costumes. 

Since I can't quite sew, I enlisted the help of my mother to assemble the skirt. My mom and I alternated layers of blue and green tulle so that I had 8 total layers of tulle for my peacock skirt. My mom sewed the skirt and then I gathered it to create a tutu effect. I then cut the skirt into various-sized zig-zags to give it a little more fullness. I added a green ribbon around the top of the skirt to hide the stitches and also allow me to cinch the skirt a little tighter around my waist. 

After the skirt was assembled, I created the peacock feathers for the back of it. I cut 9 feather shapes out of brown felt. Then I cut out green circles and smaller blue circles from sparkly fun foam. I layered these- brown, green, and blue and attached them to the skirt with my hot glue gun. 

The last and easiest part of my costume was adding a peacock feather to the side of a headband, again using hot glue. 

Since I already owned a blue shirt, black leggings, and blue ballet flats, the rest of the costume was a breeze to pull together. 

Any other Pinterest-inspired costumes out there this year??

Shared on YHL's Pintrest Challenge.

Happy Halloween!

As I prepare for a crazy pumpkin/costume/treat-filled day in the Kindergarten trenches, I wanted to stop by and wish everyone a Happy Halloween! With Halloween falling on a Monday this year, we kept our celebrations low-key with a few festive events over this past weekend. Instead of heading out, tonight we plan to cozy up on the couch with our favorite- Hocus Pocus and a big bowl of tasty candy- perfect night! 

On Saturday evening, we hosted an impromptu pumpkin carving party for the neighbors of our building. The event had a decent turn out and we had fun getting to know the neighbors and enjoying "ghoulish spirits" (as my hubby likes to say).  And yes... I'm wearing a winter coat to carve my pumpkin- such a wimp... I'm not sure what I'll do if we ever move out of California!

Nick and I jointly carved a pumpkin this year; which means I scooped out the pumpkin and drew our design, while Nick did the cutting.  We decided to carve our initials instead of a typical face, for a little change of pace. I drew an R in between an N and J- nRj, not to confused with the NRA... 

I hope everyone had a lovely Halloween weekend and stay safe tonight!