A Tap Dancer, A Ballerina, and a Stinky Skunk.

Both Reese and Quincy had preschool class field trips to Town Center to Trick or Treat this week.
Thursday-
Quincy's class:
These are my Busy Bees! We had a lion, a monkey, Minnie Mouse, a ballerina (Q), a chicken (monkey's little sis) and Spiderman. The kids were GREAT on the field trip! It's a shame is was chilly, Q did not like having to wear a jacket over her leotard.

"Five little pumpkins sat on a gate.
The first one said, 'Oh my, it's getting late!'
The second one said, 'There are witches in the air!'
The third one said, 'But we don't care!'
The fourth one said, 'Let's run! Let's run!'
The fifth one said, 'It's Halloween Fun!'
Then 'Woooo' went the wind and OUT went the light
and the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight"

For Quin's trip we had Baby Frankenstein. Thanks for the outfit, Carrie!
Too funny. He looks like a little thug.
Friday-
Reese's class:

"The leaves on the trees are orange and red

orange and red, orange and red.
The leaves on the trees are orange and red
all through the town"

A Ballerina and a Tap Dancer Trick or Treating at the grocery store.
(Aren't Q's legwarmers the cutest? I want some!)
And also sporting a pair of tights (don't judge me)...
A Stinky Skunk!

Corbin stole the show. He was like this most of the time...
...totally asleep in the stroller. He STILL managed to score more candy than the girls. Really. The ladies were taking pictures of him shoving treats into my diaper bag that was hanging from the umbrella stroller. I love candy, I'm not complaining.
Excellent.
Double Excellent.
And Quincy is napping in her crib. Perfect!

They're gonna need their energy, Round 3 of Halloween Festivities is this afternoon: Trick or Treating with Daddy at the Walmart Home Office. It will be madness.

"Two minutes makes the difference!"

My mom said this repeatedly to us when we would be stuck in high school traffic. It piled up so quickly that had we left for school 2 minutes earlier, there would have been no traffic at all, and we would not be late for class.

Well, Mom. I am sorry I used to mock you for saying that.
I'm also sorry that I never believed you.

2 minutes DOES make a difference.

Scenario #1:
About a month ago, had my shower been 2 minutes shorter, Quincy would not have been in Corbin's room. Reese would not have pulled Quincy off the crib.
Quincy would not have suffered horrible pain and required a visit to the ER for her arm being pulled from it's socket.

Scenario #2:
In the ER, had we spent just 2 minutes longer in the waiting room, Quincy's arm would have popped itself back into place before she was admitted (only to be told "good news! She's fine, it popped itself back. But you did the right thing bringing her in, I'll go write up the discharge papers")

Yeah. I'll BET you think I did the right thing taking her in.
You just got $446.00 for a "good news, she's fine".

Good thing for insurance, it's only going to cost us $175.00.

Two minutes.

Things to make cute #100, 101, and 102...

The list just keeps on growing.
For those wondering if I got to sit back and relax during the last two days (like I promised myself I would) the answer is no.
I DID help an old lady out today though.
And a freaking bird flew in my house.

I put off doing any other important things during nap time today and did a little crafting.
I found these chipboard letters and thought they were perfect for Baby Guy's room.
and like everything else....I hope to finish them tomorrow.

Other items on the "crafty project list" attached to my fridge:
-coffee table-repair, paint, and wax
-reupholster the orange occasional chairs
-learn how to reupholster
-update Corbin's baby book with photo's.
-homemade Christmas stockings
-learn how to knit again so I can make homemade Christmas stockings
-find cute fabric stockings to copy and make when I realize I am terrible at knitting and that is why I quit in the first place. make cute fabric stockings instead.
-a fence. not exactly a craft, but very necessary, therefore it belongs on every TO DO list in my home. Cleaning list, Grocery list, Christmas list, Errands list...it doesn't matter.
The fence is on them all.

Cute things to come.
I hope.

Q on the Go!

Yes there is potty training power in that mullet, folks.
We have had one accident (ahem "skid" would be more appropriate) in weeks.
It took 2 days to potty train Q, and she is even going to bed without a pull-up and waking up dry. What a little champ. We went to Chuck E Cheese last week to celebrate.

Also-we opt not to do the potty seat/kiddee toilet thing for our kids because we potty train late enough that we don't see the point in introducing something we will have to transition our kids out of just as soon as they start to feel comfortable. I know it works for a lot of people, it just isn't my thing. I already have 2 toilets to clean, I'd rather not add another. Also, my kids have tiny lil' booteys. I know they are ready to use the toilet when they can climb up on the toilet themselves. For a child, few things have got to be more frightening than falling in a toilet. We just wait until they are strong enough to perch themselves up on the seat and the fear of falling in has passed.

Moving on...
Public toilets are nasty. REALLY nasty.
Germ X SPRAY. This stuff is awesome, cheap, and it fits in my diaper bag. Since kids can't use a public restroom without touching everything, I spray the whole surface of the toilet with this stuff, give it a quick wipe down, and feel like a better parent.
Last time I was in the WM checkout, I saw a Lysol version. I'll try that next and post a review. So far, 2 thumbs up on the convenience of the germ X spray, but it does have to be wiped off. I would love a product that did it's sanitizing without me having to go back and touch anything.

Anyway, we are quite impressed with little Quincy and her champion potty skillz. She basically potty trained herself, which is super awesome, and she doesn't request treats or prizes for her success, which is double awesome. Way to go, Q! We are so proud of you!

It's that time again.

It seems like every minute of every day has been filled with someone needing something from me. I don't mind, as we all go through phases of being givers and takers and it was my turn to give. But suddenly I realize that I am only able to do everything about 75%. The children are over tired and so am I.
Since water can not be drawn from an empty well....it's time to take a step back and relax. Aside from Halloween festivities, YW tomorrow night, and preschool, the remainder of this week will be filled with laziness and gluttony in the form of all things cozy.
Nothing extreme, just enough to recharge our batteries.

We'll enjoy a day or two in our pajamas.
Comfort foods are on the dinner menu all week.
Or maybe we'll have frozen pizza on paper plates.
Or cereal and popcorn.
A fire will blaze in the stove.
Forts will be built (for me, too).
Crafts are on the table.
My commitments to others are limited to my family, and my preschool class this week.

I bought me a fresh pair of pink fuzzies.
Let the "Just Say NO" Fest begin.
It's going to be great.

Owls would be easier.

I'm sorry Dorothy.
It appears another one of the Horcruxes you left behind has been destroyed.
The Willy mailbox was in bad shape.
Literally.
Let's go over a few things that I will not miss:
-The base. Because why put cement in the ground, when you can take an old milk can, fill it with cement, and fashion a new lid.
-the plywood lid. Jes. It is held down with wire hangers.
-the newspaper box. We do not subscribe to the paper.
-the dent. My first clue that Carl should not be driving. A month after we moved in, he backed into the mailbox. Flattened it. I was stoked. A new mailbox was officially bumped to the top of the "Honey Do" priority list for the house! Let's get diggin'!

No such luck, Carl was outside in the snow, pounding out the dent (not very well, as you can see from the finished product below), and repainting it with a different shade of black than was previously used. It never closed the same again, and after that incident always required two hands to close correctly (and avoid finding the mail blown about in the street).

But yesterday my dream came true.
Even though Aaron was fighting a cold, he set up a new mailbox for me.

Pretty. What a perfect gift. I love it!

Dorothy,
We have been busy. You don't have many horcruxes left in this house anymore. May your strength be weakened with the knowledge that a portion of your soul will be crushed by a garbage truck on Thursday. Perhaps now, we will finally go a full week without getting any of your mail. But, until we meet again,
Avada Kedavra!

Your mailbox was unforgiveable.

The Cookie Factory

It isn't Halloween if I don't make SOME kind of sugar cookie!
I made these tonight for the YW I teach and I saved some for Reese and Quincy.
I can't wait to see their faces tomorrow morning when they awake to cookies for breakfast!
Simple Citrus Candy Corn Cookies:

Step 1- be lazy like me, and buy refrigerated sugar cookie dough.

Step 2- separate dough into thirds.
add the zest of 1 lemon and yellow food coloring to 1/3
add the zest of 1 orange and orange food coloring to 1/3

refrigerate for 20-30 minutes to let it set back up. The dough is too sticky to work with when it is too warm.

Step 3-roll dough into long "snakes" and place side by side (leave white in the middle)

Step 4-flatten with a rolling pin

Step 5-use a pizza cutter to slice triangles

Step 6-bake!
I made tiny cookies (about 1-2 inches) so they only took 7 or 8 minutes to bake @ 350* (even though package directions said 14 minutes)

Step 7-eat, or package them in cute Halloween treat bags and give them away.
I also have seen the cookies dipped in royal icing (the fat end) and sprinkled with colored sugar. I bought the sugar and I bet it would be super cute, but that seemed like way too much work for me tonight, so I skipped that step.

They're Spooooktacular!

PS-Nicki I know you wish you were here making Halloween sugar cookies with me! No silver dredges here!

This is getting ridiculous.

In yesterday's mail:
Looks like we'll be receiving both American Cheerleader AND EBONY magazines through the month of October. Any predictions as to what subscription will arrive in November? I'm hoping for something I might actually read, like Cottage Living, or even Parent's would at least be useful.

And I'm Hungry Like the Wolf

When Q started solids she turned into an angry elf. She was such a quiet, pleasant little baby...until feeding time. She would SCREAM as I fed her, because I couldn't get the food in her mouth fast enough. You would've thought I was starving her to death as she shook her tiny fists of fury and held her mouth open as wide as she could until the spoon touched her lips. She ate 2 jars plus oatmeal or rice cereal (plus nursing and/or a bottle inbetween) at EVERY feeding. (for those who don't know, that is a lot...especially for a itty bitty baby that only weighed 12lbs when she started solids.) For a few months, when all she ate was baby food, we spent $90-$100 each month on baby food alone. Then we got lucky and there was a crazy Rollback on Del Monte baby food and I stocked up. That, combined with us introducing normal "people" food averaged to about $30 a month for baby food for the months until she turned 1 and we phased out the baby food all together. Mucho Dinero.

So...Corbin is huge compared to what Quincy and Reese were at this age. I am sure that as he grows into a teenager I will be amazed at the amounts of food he can consume. As a baby, I am determined to not spend 100's of dollars on pureed peaches like I did with Quincy.
Remember when it was 100 degrees outside and I went out in the heat and sweat like crazy to pick all of these, just because they were free? I pressure canned 14 quarts of them, gave several away, and the rest have now been pureed into baby food for the Cheeto.
2 "cubes" of food is equivalent to (a little more than) a medium sized jar of baby food.
A 2-pack of Gerber 1st foods green beans sells for $1.09, so 54 cents each.
I have 68 "jars" worth of green bean cubes in my freezer for a total of $36.72....FREE.
I also bought 2 Butternut Squash for a total of $3, that made 24 "jars" of food...so I saved $10 by buying locally and making it myself. Imagine if I had had the sense to grow it myself! Even cheaper.
The day before we left for Dallas, I scored the mother load of Bartlett Pears and went crazy canning into the wee hours of the night. I couldn't resist. I canned 30 pints of pears and 24 "jars" of baby food pears.

When I added the cost of the pears, jars (I had to buy more with all the canning I've done this summer), and even the sugar (for the light syrup they are bottled in) and compared it to the price of purchasing the same amount of canned pears and 24 jars of baby food at Walmart with our discount and a few Gerber Coupons, we still saved $34.78.

And my baby food is all natural. Fruit/Veggie only.
Of course I will purchase SOME jars of food. It is convenient, and I am not going to make my own "ham and sweet potato", "roast beef and pears", or apricot/prune medleys. Even though I plan to make a few more foods myself (bananas, carrots, avocado, and whatever other produce I find on sale), Corbin needs variety.

The point is: Homemade baby food. Give it a shot.

I spent less than $5 on 116 jars worth of baby food.
Booyah.

"Call Me! On the line, Baby, Call Me Call Me Anytime..."

Special Delivery...
Another phone book!

Consumer Report

A follow-up on the enormous pink marshmallows.
Grossness.

It's like eating a tennis ball.
So much like a tennis ball that when I took them to the youth night hayride/bonfire Tuesday night, I couldn't help it and accidentally/on purpose threw a few of them at unruly youth, exposing my lack of maturity and self control.

...and I kind of hit the bishop in the back of the head.

Not sure if he likes me very much, now.

Inside every man there is a 14 old girl trying to get out.

Ok maybe not. But we've somehow gotten ourselves on magazine trial list. We have received 4 issues of EBONY magazine, addressed to Aaron Willardson Walmart Snacks.
EBONY. REALLY.
Because every Salty Snack Buyer really wants to read about "how many calories are in that mojito".

Aaron didn't believe me that they were actually addressed to him and thought it was a joke.
The mailbox was visited by Alicia Keys, Michelle O, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and then Whitney.

This month our free mail has gone a little more vanilla...

That's right. American Cheerleader.
Now Aaron can read his Cheer-O-Scope, and brush up on his "Liberty Grip, Double Down Cradle, and Tuck Arch Basket Toss".

what. the. heck.

and
TWO DAYS LATER...
Another issue!

This one featuring the "Team Twilight Article where Ashley Greene dishes on her vampy life"

Lucky us.

My niece is a frosh cheerleader-Tay, they're all yours...and you're gonna want them, cuz according to this week's Cheer-O-Scope, "...a new love possibility shows up in late October".

Christmas Gift Exchange

Like many families, every year the Lawrence Family Kids exchange gifts at Christmas.

I recently sent an email to each of my siblings with the following gift exchange to remind everyone who they are giving to this year.

Hey All!
Behold, the Lawrence Family Christmas Gift Exchange.

Mark's Family gives to Scott's Family
HolleeAnn's Family gives to Meg's Family
Amy's Family gives to Mark's Family
Scott's Family gives to HolleeAnn's Family
Meg's Family gives to Amy's Family
Mom and Dad give the Almond Box to Meg


Scotty replied with the following email:
Thanks mego. Way to be on top of it.

To which I cannot take credit.

What actually happened is
Amy sent a text to HolleeAnn.
HolleeAnn called me and asked if I got the same text.
I agreed that we should figure out who has who.
HolleeAnn sent me an email with the list.
I sent the list to everyone.

wow.
What if I used this many steps to do everything in life?

To be 100% sure that my Christmas List gets in the right hands, I plan to post my Megalicious Christmas List here on the Willy Blog.
The following is the series of events that I assume will commence after said post.

Scott will read my blog.

He will point out to Kristie that his list is SO much better than mine, but I did have a good point adding "excess loads of candy" to the list this year, because without Dad around at Christmas, there are just no guarantees.

Kristie will go to Wicked with my Mom and retell the joke, and it will be twice as funny.

Mom will tell the joke to Dad, who will email it to 7 people, along with a message to Amy asking her to mail Mom's winter clothes back to Co because they've extended their mission a few months.

Amy will be buried by clothes in Mom's closet for 3 days, and when she emerges, she will call mom and say, "too bad you won't be here for Christmas, I was really hoping you'd give Meg the Almond Box this year.

Mom will say, "the Almond Box is on hiatus for one more year, but Meg IS our favorite so we will give it to her next year".

Josh will interrupt the phone conversation because he pulled a hammie playin' church ball and needs Amy to bring him ice. He needs to stay off his leg if it is going to heal in time for the 1/2 marathon.

They will run the half marathon in Santa Barbara with Mark and Melinda and Paul and they will say how much more fun it would have been if Meg were there to run it with them.

Melinda will send Taylor a picture text of them on the finish line using Mark's totally awesome phone.

Taylor will text Jordan, "HAHA good thing Meg isn't in Santa Barbara with those guys ;) We'd be babysitting her kids while she ran LOL"

J will show HolleeAnn and say, "I wonder if the girls got the Halloween package we sent them yet".

HolleeAnn will say, "I dunno, let's check her blog and find out"

....and then they'll see my Christmas list and know what to get me.

We Lawrences know how to get things done.

It's present time! It's present time! Open a present and see what's inside!"

Carl and Barb have accepted an offer on their home.
At the end of the month, they'll be moving to an assisted living apartment, and we will have a new neighbor. (oooh I know you are on the edge of your seat with excitement)

Barb brought over some "parting gifts" for me.

Today's Treasure:
her spice cabinet!
No. Not the cabinet itself. The contents.
How thoughtful, right? Since I'm the neighbor that's always borrowing an egg or a cup of sugar on Sunday's when I get the crazy urge to bake.

But, Um. Don't spices like....expire?
She told me she remembers moving some of these spices with her from her last house.

I mean, I KNOW they "last forever" or whatever, but they've lived in that house for 14 years. And look closely...
When's the last time you remember paying 33 cents for a metal tin of All Spice?
When's the last time you bought All Spice in a metal tin?
When's the last time you saw a white price tag on a non-clearance item at Walmart?

The packaging on some of these brings back memories of the spice cabinet from my childhood.
Which is really scary, because I am certain that everything other than the garlic salt and coarse ground pepper in MY spice cabinet growing up was at least 15 years old then.
My favorite is the Wyler's boullion cubes.
They look more like this now:
And it's really too bad the imitation brandy container is empty.

I can't wait for the estate sale. Geriatric spices aside...Barb has collected some awesome stuff. The glass bird collection, costume jewelery, and vintage clocks have my name all over them.

"Daddy's gonna pay for your crashed car..."

The van is in the shop getting "it's owie" fixed.
Which means...

we are a one car family this week.

Yesterday, all 5 of us crammed into the Honda Civic.
-It was not a pleasant drive.
-Aaron made a sharp turn and I think part of Reese's nostril is still on the dashboard.
-Quincy liked that her feet were touching the back of my seat and repeatedly kicked the back of it for 10 minutes.
-It was convenient that I could reach behind me while driving and give Corbin his pacifier.
-In fact, I was close enough to him that I probably could have just nursed and stayed buckled in the front seat at the same time.
-Quincy fell asleep with her head on Reese's shoulder because they were THAT close to each other.
-When she woke up, she sneezed and some snot landed on the steering wheel.
-Gross.

-This bag was sliding around at my feet.

What's this? A grocery sac from someplace OTHER than Walmart?
Blaspheme!

The contents:
a HUGE bag of HUGE marshmallows.
Only a store with the word "EL" in the title and a man waving a sombrero would carry this kind of goodness.

And just to show how "gigante" these bad boys are...that is a penny.

What do you do with a marshmallow that big?
Is he planning to make an enormous S'more with a super sized Hershey bar and a graham cracker pie crust?

I'm SURE this will help with Quincy's case of "the crazies".
It's helping with mine.

Aaron's First Post

This is Aaron.
Meg complained that I bought this Peanut Butter in Dallas and now she can't stop eating it.

is there even a piece of bread under there?

Thank YOU, Whole Foods.

Hurricane Quincy Returns

Today has been utter chaos.

About 90% of it was spent following Quincy around, cleaning up her disasters. And while I cleaned one up, she made a mess somewhere else. I tried having her help, but sometimes...well it just wasn't happening.

Finally I pulled her off the table for the third time and put her in her crib.
She fell asleep.

By the time I'd finished damage control, (markers, toys, emptied glue, silverware drawer, hand soap, sock drawer, three 1/2 eaten apples a piece of slimy cheese and one basket of strawberries with one bite taken out of each, 2 rolls of toilet paper, ponies, stickers, a booklet of stamps turned into stickers...) she was awake.

awake and angry.

What. the. heck.

Anyone want an almost 3 year old for the night?

Anyone?

It's been a looooong day.

I love her, but dang. I had high hopes of productivity today, and they've been squashed by the beast! My house is in a state of disaster.

And as I typed this I had to pause because she drew on her leg, threw a book, and bit Reese on the toe.
Pray for me. There are 2 hours left until bedtime.
I don't know if I'm gonna make it.

Actually, I don't know if SHE is gonna make it.
Pray for HER...

gotta go. Someone is crying.

{Blessed}