Heather Ann Melzer

The perfect day off

Kenzie had off school yesterday for Veteran's Day, so when our friends/neighbors invited us on a play date, I decided to take the day off, too. We don't get to do much outside of family time, so it was really great for both of us. We started the day with Kenzie's first time riding a horse, then took a hike through a nearby trail, had a delicious lunch, and then the girls ran around the house making crafts, reading to each other, and playing Barbies. It was so neat watching the two of them together, and so nice to have adult/mom conversation, too.

I'm working today and then we're headed out to the Dells in the morning, although I've got 2 more calls I have to be on during the day. Things are really starting to heat up at work, which is a great sign that the market is starting to recover a bit. Usually this time of the year is slower for us, but we're seeing quite the opposite right now. Should make finding time to shop and decorate this season all the more challenging!

Speaking of shopping, how many of you have started knocking things off your xmas list? How many of you are like me and have NO idea what to even put on your xmas list? LOL It's almost mid November and I'm absolutely clueless this year. We've been slowly scaling back on the kids' gifts the last couple of years and I think this year will be even more so. We're out of room and I'd love to put that money towards finishing our lower level - kind of a Christmas gift for all of us.

I'd also love to plan a family vacation for next year, now that my buddy pointed out that Southwest will be flying to Destin starting next May (which will hopefully make those flights more affordable). Our last week-long family trip was to Orlando in April '07, so I think we're due, I just need to start banking up vacation days that have been sucked up by sick kids earlier this year and just general mental health days (ugh). Although another visit here with just Tom and I is very, very tempting.

In other news, I think I have another kidney stone (double ugh). I've had really intense lower back pain for the last couple of weeks and Tom brought the kidney thing to my attention. I spent a day really focusing on the pain and it most certainly is. I've been drinking water like a madwoman, hoping to get rid of it, and so far I still have crazy intense pain in the morning that gets a little better as the day goes on. Just trying to get through the weekend without a trip to the emergency room :(

If I was smart, I'd lay off the espresso, since caffeine only contributes to the problem, but the withdrawal headaches that result are equally as painful to deal with. Plus, my 10 year service gift from my company was a cappuccino machine and Tom is determined to become my favorite barista. This morning's attempt wasn't bad at all, which was pretty exciting. Anyone have any tips for making cappuccino at home? I think we need to watch this video together tonight and try again :) That is, before this comes on - new episode tonight!

TOMS for the Whole Family!

By now I'm sure you've heard of the super giving shoe company, TOMS shoes. For every pair of shoes they sell, they give one to a child in need. One for One. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what they're all about.

You can learn more about the movement here and see their new line of Youth shoes here.

As a special promotion, TOMS is giving away a $200 TOMS gift certificate to one of my lucky blog readers! That enough for a pair of shoes for Mom, Dad, and 2 little ones. To enter, complete the form through this link:

CLICK HERE TO ENTER

The contest will run through Monday, November 16th at 11:59PM PST - so enter today!

NOTE: Contest is only open to permanent, legal residents of the United States of America, and is void in Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, and Rhode Island.

Good luck!

And the winner is...

 

Julie said...

I love the new 2010 calendar! Last year's version made a wonderful gift for all of the mothers/grandmothers on our list! :)

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Congratulations, Julie!! Please email me your address so I can get a printed calendar and case mailed out to you asap!  I'll also send you a CD with the digital collection as well :) I'm so happy to hear that your family enjoyed last year's set!

I have another fun giveaway that I'm working on putting up tomorrow. It's feeling more and more like Christmas everyday! I was seriously considering putting the Christmas tree up last weekend, and the lights outside since it was 70 degrees here!  We finally got our Indian Summer and it was wonderful. I resisted the urge to decorate, though, and had my own little holiday workshop inside with the sewing machine. Hopefully I'll have some fun things to share soon :)

I'm looking forward to a short week this week. Kenzie has Wed off school, so I took the day off so we could hang out with some friends and then we're headed to the Dells on Friday for a long weekend. Katie wanted a big birthday party this year and we were able to get 2 nights at the Wilderness for less than a 2 hour party would have cost us, so we convinced her that was the way to go. My whole family is coming along and the kids are out-of-their-minds excited. We haven't taken them anywhere this year, so they're bursting at the seams - especially Jack.

It's hard to believe that kid didn't talk for so long. We now have 3 that NEVER stop talking/making noise and they are SO LOUD. Jack almost got us kicked out of a breakfast restaurant yesterday with his loud outbursts. I need to put "inside voice" on repeat. Please tell me we're not alone.

2010 Desk Calendars - the perfect gift!

 

I'm so excited about my NEW 2010 Desk Calendars! They're colorful, chic, and are sure to add flair to any desktop. I think they make the perfect gift for teachers, hair stylists, friends, and more! AND they're available as a digital download or printed with storage/display case!

I have the downloadable set introductory priced for a limited time, so you can start printing today and cross the first to-do off your holiday list :) I print mine on Epson Professional Presentation Paper Matte and love the results.

And to celebrate Digital Scrapbooking Day, how about a giveaway?! Leave a comment on this post by 8am on Monday and I'll use the random number generator to select a winner for a printed 2010 Desktop Calendar!

Happy DSD! :)

DSD Eve

On the Eve of Digital Scrapbooking Day, I took some time for myself and scrapped one of my favorite recent pics of Jack with some new goodies. This page was made with my friend Gina's new Frightfully Fun Kit and a new template from my buddy Jen, which comes out tomorrow (although you can enter to win it today!).

Speaking of Gina, I'm hard at work on our 2010 8.5x11 Calendar Kit, as well as a ton of other goodies (like Desk Calendars, calendar toppers, and card/newsletter templates). The heat is on! I hope to have some things to share tomorrow :)

What five looks like

I really truly can't believe that my little baby bird is a whole hand old today. I still have this image in my head when I think of her. My brain needs to catch up with reality, I think.

Birthdays are a big deal for kids, but for Katie, it's like the World Series, Olympics, and Christmas all rolled into one. Being the middle child means her opinions aren't always heard, especially with a very outgoing older sister and a demanding little brother who's become equally as vocal. Her birthday is a day where she gets to call the shots and have all eyes on her, and she lives for it. So much so, that she was up EVERY HOUR last night until it was officially time to wake up this morning and be 5. I am one tired mama :(

I found this adorable fabric a couple of months ago and made her a skirt and matching appliquéd top to wear today.

I am completely obsessed with hand blanket stitching. It's so fun to do while we watch Food Network before bed. Last night, that was after baking cupcakes and making some fun treats for her classmates. She chose the cupcake design out of Hello Cupcake and the chosen theme was the perfect excuse for me to try some Martha Stewart pumpkin treat bags (filled with yummy popcorn).

For the cupcakes, I:

1. Used orange food coloring to dye white frosting

2. Dipped the tops in orange sugar crystals

3. Used a wooden skewer to draw 5 lines that were a bit off center

4. Used orange icing (already in a tube with tip) to outline the skewered indent lines

5. Stuck the end of a pretzel rod in for a stem (the medium size rods)

For the bags, I:

1. Bought mini orange kraft bags from Michaels

2. Filled them 3/4 of the way with popcorn

3. Twisted the bag tops into a skinny stem

4. Wrapped floral tape around the stem, starting at the top, leaving 3-4 inches at the bottom for the curly tendril. Then I rolled the remaining few inches between my fingers until it was super skinny, and then curled it around my pinky finger.

A super easy, fun project - my favorite kind!

Now, to bake a cake for tonight and turn the kitchen into a My Little Pony/Rainbow dreamland - per the birthday queen's wishes. Oy!

An evil surprise

When we came up with our Halloween theme this year, the girls really wanted Tom and I to dress up, too. I used to love dressing up for Halloween, but the stress of getting three little ones dressed for the day has always kept me from adding one more costume to the mix. At the last minute, I decided to surprise the kids. I found a costume last Friday, and after trick-or-treating, I snuck down to the basement to transform into the Evil Queen. I snuck around the side of the house and rang the doorbell, pretending to be a trick-or-treater.  Kenzie stood there with a bag of candy in her hand and had NO idea who I was. Apparently, neither did Jack...

I couldn't handle my baby running away from me, so it didn't stay on for long, but it was worth it. Here's a pic of us all together...

And here's one more video for you. My nephew dressed up like Michael Jackson and was showing us the moves he learned last week. We were dying!

A little too authentic, perhaps (goodness). This is what our house is like all the time, by the way - loud, lots of dancing, laughing, toys everywhere. And can you believe how big Dylan is, hanging out in the back there? He was too old cool to dress up this year. Actually, he told me he was dressed up, like his sexy self (goodness again).

I have more Halloween goodness to share, but we'll have to take a slight break because tomorrow our Katie turns 5! I'm busy sewing, baking, and decorating (and running all around town looking for these and an alternative for these (wahhh!!) for her school cupcakes). Hmm...

Every fairytale needs a villian

    

   

   

And Katie was more than willing. I love that last one - you can't contain Katie's sweetness for too long ;)

I really didn't think this costume idea would stick, but there's something about going against your personality on Halloween that makes it fun, I think. Kenzie mentioned wanting to be Snow White a few months ago and the trio was born from that. Katie was such a trooper with her nose, which was glued on with Spirit Gum. It smelled really bad, but she didn't want to break character, so she wore it for most of the night. The next morning she said, "Next year I'm being Tinkerbell!"  I think there was some serious lipstick envy happening with her older sister - lol. I made her gown/hood with tons of velvet and no pattern (wee!). It was actually really liberating. Velvet is NOT the easiest fabric to work with, but I was proud of the end result. She really did look like the Snow White witch, I think.

Jack was napping during Katie's photo shoot and didn't wake up until well into trick-or-treating, so I'll have to do a formal shoot with him in costume next weekend. Here are some shots I did manage to get of him later in the night...

 

Jack's tunic and pants are made of sweatshirts I bought at Walmart. I bought the shirt big so it would be long enough and then cut the bottom/sleeves off and hemmed them (including the slit in front). His hat was a $1 find that I sewed into a point so it would stick up. Then I blanket stitched on some big yellow buttons and sewed a belt out of velvet and more yellow felt. I made his boot covers out of tan felt and they velcro'd in the back. He wouldn't wear the beard on his face, but I still think he looked like a dwarf. He was torn about being Doc until we saw the movie and then he was ok with it. Although when we were shopping for his sweatpants/shirt in Walmart he was screaming, "I DON'T WANT TO BE A DORF!" It was as funny as it sounds - lol!

I'll share a group shot and some fun video tomorrow :)

Halloween photo opps

So much goes in to making Halloween a special day, that it would be a shame not to take pics all the things that make it so magical. I'm determined to capture some things I've failed to in years past and some that I have and would like to again, like...

The loot

Trick or treating

A lit jack-o-lantern

Full costume shot

Closeup costume shot

Acting the part

Handing out candy to trick-or-treaters

Closeups of decorations

It's always stressful getting the kids together for a group pic, but I'm glad we pushed through and got one of all of them holding their jack-o-lanterns last Wednesday night. Emma wasn't enjoying herself at all, but at least her and her pumpkin are present :)

I'm so excited about Halloween being on a Saturday. I'm planning on staging a photo shoot before we start trick-or-treating. Normally,we race to get the kids dressed when they get home and by then it's dark and too late to take decent pics of them. I'm hoping with less rushing, I'll have time to take more creative shots than I have in past years.

I'll leave you with some great Halloween photography tips I found online. And a few more here.

Have a safe, photo-filled, HAPPY Halloween!!

At the Patch '09

We made a last-minute decision to venture out to the pumpkin patch last Sunday, and I'm so glad we did. It's been really cold here in Chicagoland, and I was holding out for a warmer day, but since Indian Summer passed us by this year, we had to work with what we had. It actually turned out to be warmer than we expected, though, so we got lucky. Aside from the puddles of mud from all of the rain we've had. We actually cut through the corn maze because we couldn't find our way out and we were sinking in mud quicksand - lol!

We went to a new farm this year - Kuipers in Maple Park. It's probably quite a jaunt for folks that don't live as far out as we do, but it was a really neat place and we'll definitely be back. It's a real working farm with a pumpkin patch and all kinds of things to do on one side and a full U-pick apple orchard on the other. After we ran around and played for a few hours, we walked across the street for some of their famous apple cider donuts. YUM! We also bought a bag of freshly picked apples and Tom said they were delicious (I'll have to take his word on that ;)

I was just saying last night (during our 2nd annual Pumpkin Carving Party), that I probably take more pics in October than any other month of the year - lots going on. Here are some of my favorites from our outing...

Is there anything cuter than a chubby little boy with a messy donut? Maybe...