Pumpkin Time!

I've always loved carving pumpkins. Last year I skipped it since we had just moved and I was all pregnant and hormonal! This year it was ON! My husband and I decided to do Disney pumpkins for Piper. I carved Ariel. I think it came out pretty good!

 

 

Scott carved Tinkerbell, which also came out really good!

 

 

Piper got her own little pumpkin which we decorated with her footprint, and my horrible handwriting :)

 Here's all 3 of them lined up :)

The second best part of carving pumpkins? 

PUMPKIN SEEDS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 First I pulled out all the guts

 Then separated the seeds from the rest of the goop

 Then boiled the seeds just long enough to get the rest of the orange goop off. (About 5 minutes)

 Then I spread them on a cookie sheet covered in tinfoil and salted them. (I always use garlic salt)

 Baked them at 350 for about 15 minutes, and VOILA! Crunchy delicious garlic pumpkin seeds.

Om nom nom.

Fisher Price Party

Not long ago I applied to host a Fisher Price House Party through www.houseparty.com. Figuring that I had NO chance of being chosen, as this would undoubtedly be a very popular party to apply to host. I had to try though. To my surprise, after a couple weeks I got word that I had been chosen to host one! I was STOKED. I've never been selected for a house party before, and I've applied for many. This was an AWESOME way to start out with them though!

I received a fabulous party pack, which included 4 of their popular toys:

Laugh & Learn Stride To Ride Puppy

Apptivity Monkey

Cruise 'N Groove Ballapalooza

Stand Up Ballcano

and everything I would need for goodie bags for our guests! Coupons, toy playing tip cards, coloring books, cds, and catalogs. As well as the bags and tissue paper themselves!

 I made it a point to put out some of the smaller Fisher Price toys we already had at home as well. And I set everything up!

Which looked kinda like this!

The kids seemed to have a great time. Hands down the Stride To Ride Puppy seemed to be the crowd favorite!

 

Even Batman enjoyed it!

Not everyone who rsvped was able to make it, but those who did had a great time, and I made it a point to give the goodie bags to even those who weren't able to make it, to share the wealth. 

So, check out House Party and see if there is something you might be interested in applying to host!

Hoodie Weather

I've always been a huge fan of Fall. The weather is near perfect, sunny in the day, cooler at night. The leaves are changing. Fall colors take over. My birthday arrives, as does Halloween, and Thanksgiving shows up just as Fall dwindles down and Winter takes over. You can wear hoodies and not be too hot, or too cold. Hoodie weather has always been perfection to me.

This is Piper's first fall. She looks adorable in hoodies. I hope she grows up to enjoy fall as much as I do!

 We had fun trying to ride on the pumpkins and bouncing around.

And even came home with a Piper sized pumpkin for her first Halloween!

Wordless Wednesday

TV Tuesday!!!

Hi, I'm V, and I'm a TV junkie. Seriously. I got giddy excited when I realized fall TV was starting up again!  Living back at my mother's house has it's perks. She has ALL the movie channels. Which meant one thing to me: DEXTER. 

 Stop reading here if you don't want spoilers.

I caught the first 3 seasons of Dexter on a whim on Netflix streaming. I'd heard good things about it, but I sometimes have trouble getting into more serious shows. HOLY. CRAP. Amazing. I started watching in real time for season 4, and I was hooked.

Season 7 opened with a bang! I'm fairly certain I squeeeeeeed at the tv a few times. I wasn't sure how they would top season 6, which in my mind, was completely epic, with the revelations murders. (Colin Hanks played an AMAZING bad guy to my surprise!) Deb walked in on Dexter MURDERING someone! Like, watched him do it. And didn't turn him in. Now they are in the process of working on curing him of these urges. But what I need to know, is wtf is up with Louis? Why does he have it out for Dexter, and why is he not terrified of him after their confrontation? I'm so impatient waiting to find this out.

Are you watching this show? If not I suggest you do it now!

Also, 90210 started again yesterday (awesome trashy wonderful show that it is), Bones has been going for a few weeks, AND the Vampire Diaries starts again on Thursday! I unofficially renamed the Vampire Diaries to the "Hot Man" show. 

Come to mama.

Oh, and America's Next Top Model is on again, with a whole new cast of judges. Yet all I can think, is how I still hate Tyra Banks so much. I really wish I didn't like this show. 

This cycle is the "college" cycle, and it does not disappoint on the total whackjob basketcase front. 

Starting with this one: 

First off, this is a gross location for a photoshoot, and I cannot come up with one good reason it should have existed in the first place. This girl is INSANELY attached to her mother though. She like pants and cries and wails when she talks to her on the phone.  It's unhealthy. And quite frankly, a little scary. 

What shows do you watch? Recommend me some more!

Goodbye 20s!

It's officially happened. I'm not a 20 something anymore. I AM 30! How on earth did this happen?! Shouldn't I feel like a grown up all the way yet? Because I don't.

I remember being SO excited to turn 30 not all that long ago. We were going to have a great party/night out to celebrate, and I was going to bask in the glory of making it another decade. Then my father passed away. I know it sounds silly from the outside, but I was left with no desire to celebrate at all. I felt guilty for getting to move forward through the years some more. All I could think about was " When dad turned 30, he didn't know half his life was already over". I waited all day for him to call, even though I knew that he couldn't/wouldn't. Somehow I couldn't let go of the idea. 

Then it hit me. He wouldn't want me to be upset or sad. In fact, he would be the first one to tell me to cheer up, and that it's okay to be upset, but don't let it affect everything. He would hate that I was feeling guilty about anything. So I trudged on, and went out bowling and had a couple beers with a couple of my close friends. It wound up being a really nice time. As it would turn out, you can be sad and still have a good time all at once.

Grieving SUCKS. That is all. No more depressing crap. I give you: A picture of my dog embarassed to be wearing a party hat.

Riley also has an October birthday, and is a proud 4 year old :)

Over the years I've learned a lot. And if I could find 21 year old me, I would smack her in the face for being so careless, and tell her that things change. Often. It's important to be able to adapt to things in healthy ways.  People enter and exit your life. And that is okay. Someone you thought was a really good friend, may not be there in the long haul, but your true friends, and family, are there for you.

Wordless Wednesday