.:Cutesy Pocket Warmers:.

Its that time of year again. Everyone I know is starting to brag about how they have finished their Christmas shopping. I haven't bought a single thing. As a mother of 4 this could turn out to be a bad thing for me. If I disappoint Im grossly outnumbered.

I decided that since I'm oh so crafty and I also don't want to break the bank, I am making Christmas gifts. My first project is going to be pocket hand warmers. They can also be put in boots and slippers if you don't mind walking on a lump. So I went to Michael's and stocked up on every color of felt that they had. I left the store quickly so I wouldn't just randomly spend $400 on crafty things that will surely keep me busy for the next couple months. Today I spent a whopping $6.40 ($4.15 on felt and $2.25 on a new pack of embroidery needles)

Here's how to make these ridiculously cheap and easy pocket hand warmers:

I made a basic heart template out of card stock and traced 4 of them onto pink felt. You could also use cashmere or wool, but once again Im trying to be frugal. I guess you could also do more than one color two but I didn't think about that til after I started. Put 2 of them together and blanket stitch all the way around with embroidery string leaving about 3/4 inch open. I filled the warmer with rice since thats what I had on hand. You could also fill with some lavender or cloves etc. Don't fill it too full because you want the warmer to form to your little cold hand. Finish stitching the rest of the way and tie a knot. then take your needle through the middle and out the other side so that when you cut the string the end of it is inside the warmer and not left out dangling.

Then just pop these little cuties into the microwave for 30 seconds and slip them into the pockets of whoever holds your heart.

Super easy s'mores bars

Every night right about 8pm, Matt and I decide its the best time to get the munchies. Never fail, especially if we are trying to eat right and diet. We MUST have sweets. Most of the time we wait for the kids to go to bed so we don't have to share tho. :)

Tonight I decided that I didn't want to make something elaborate cause I needed my goodies NOW. Tonights snack is going to be S'mores bars. The website actually called them Holiday S'mores Bars but there is really no 'holiday' to it. Its not green and red. Its not glittery. There are no fireworks. I think I might rename them 10 Minute Monday Night S'mores Bars. Yep.

Here's the recipe:

10 Minute Monday Night S'more Bars

Ingredients

1 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup white sugar
3 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups miniature marshmallows

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.
• In a medium bowl, combine butter, sugar and graham cracker crumbs until well coated. Press half of crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Top with the chocolate chips, then the marshmallows. Sprinkle the remaining graham cracker mixture over the marshmallows and press down with a spatula.
• Bake in preheated oven 10 minutes, until marshmallows are melted.

• Cool completely before cutting into squares. (which I didn't do because I'm impatient.)

Ps. If they turn out delicious tomorrow you can make 10 Minute Tuesday Night S'mores Bars.

*Family Fun*

After spending the whole day Saturday baking, making goodies and decorating, I was piping frosting onto my mini cupcakes until the first guests arrived for our Halloween party. These were basically the cutest little cuppycakes I had ever made.

Other than 2 different cupcakes I made peanut brittle, reeses, caramel apples, chex mix and kool-aid in dry ice (for cool foggy effect) Everyone was dressed up in their costumes and we had a good time with friends playing corn hole until it was too cold outside and we had to turn in.

Halloween is always a treat here in southern California. You never have to plan your costume with a matching coat or umbrella. Every year we get dressed up and meet up with our friends from around the neighborhood and take our kids around. its like in the movies. I say that every year, but it still blows me away. There are so many kids and so many great costumes.

Jillian: Gypsy, Penny: Pumpkin Princess, Me: School Girl, Matt: Mobster, Lola: Bumblebee, Brian: Phantom

Anyone know how to stop time?

We have about a month til Matt deploys again. Penny will be turning one also. Im really not ready to be on my own again. it feels like Matt just got home. He has had to work so much that I'm scrambling to get as much time with him as possible. which sometimes means I'm following him from room to room as he goes about his business.

we have the pre-deployment brief tonight. that is usually the first sign that time is going to start speeding up and before i know it he will be gone. he basically has the month of november off. which will be nice. it will be good to have that time together. we are hoping to have penny's first birthday before he leaves. he missed lola's first birthday because of his last deployment. we are also going to celebrate christmas early too. i don't know how that is all going to work out but we will manage.

We went to the bates nut farm pumpkin patch last weekend and the kids picked out their pumpkins. we learned that lola has a phobia of piles of pumpkins. it was funny and sad at the same time. she is such a silly little girl. we got them all carved up and put outside. the kids had fun and made a big mess of the pumpkin guts.

Brian made a zombie face but he went so quickly that it basically looks like a bunch of shapes.he put it outside backwards. Jillian made a panda that turned out well. she almost messed it up but i helped her fix it. i did lola's kitty and penny's butterfly and my sea turtle. Matt did a Husker pumpkin.... of course.

.:Figuring Out Life:.

Penny is 3 weeks old already! it feels like i just had her. she is still the smallest little peanut tho. newborn clothes are just starting to fit. its not like she was a little baby. she was 7.5lbs. she eats a lot tho, so I'm just waiting to see her plump up and get nice and fat. :)
its a lot different than when Lola was a baby. Lola never cried. she went right to sleep with out making a sound and she was hard to feed. feeding was the most stressful thing ever. getting her to gain weight was such hard work. penny on the other hand is a normal baby that cries when she is wet, cries when she is hungry, cries when she is tired.... she cries a lot. not that it bothers me. after 3 kids i think I've pretty much seen it all.
I'm trying to figure out how to juggle every day life. i think I'm getting close. some times i feel like i don't have enough hands or enough time, but i always seem to get it figured out. its nice that Matt has been home from deployment for 2 weeks now. he is a lot of help. it took a day or two to get used to having him here and for the kids (especially Lola) to accept that he is here to stay. she was a little stand offish with him for a bit, but that has mostly passed. there are still times that she would prefer me, and she cries when its daddy, but i think that will pass too. the kids adore their daddy so much. as do i. I'm so happy to have him home♥
my mom was here for 2 weeks when i had penny and Matt's mom is here for a week now. it good to see family around the holidays. especially when we have a new baby. they are a lot of help and that gives me free hands to clean the house and bake and do whatever i have been wanting to do but couldn't.
I've also been feeling a little bit home sick. maybe not Washington sick, cause i hear they are having a pretty cold winter and i HATE snow. but more like friends and family sick. i miss my people. Washington people make so much more sense to me. if i could bring them all down to California it would be a way nicer place. :)

*WOW*

This year is flying by! Lola is 10 months old, the kids are out of school for the summer and I'm 17 weeks pregnant!
the kids had a good school year and turned out some really good grades. so next year i will have one in 2nd grade and one in 3rd! it amazes me that they are already so big. I'm hoping they get really good teachers this coming year because that makes all the difference.
Lola is doing well and getting big too. she has been hitting some big milestones and i couldn't be more proud of her.
Matt has been deployed now for almost 2 months and it seems like the time is going by so easily and quickly, it will be December before i know it!
baby #4 is getting bigger by the day and is now about 5 inches from the top of its head to the bottom of its rump. I'm not feeling very pregnant, even tho i have the baby bump going on. i want to run on the treadmill and i don't feel the need to eat a lot of crazy foods.
nesting has become pretty intense tho. i am scrubbing walls and floors almost daily. and i have been baking a lot too. i will be going to my 20 week ultrasound on the 22nd of July to find out if its a boy or a girl. that should be extra exciting.
my mom is coming down for a visit today and she will be here for 10 days so we will be able to celebrate the 4th together. we are going to go to town and go to semper fi park. i hope the fireworks are good.
last night we went to seaworld with some friends and saw the fireworks there. but of course they weren't as good as the 4th of July show. but never the less it was a good time and the kids had fun.





while my mom is here we are going to go down to the Del Mar fair too. i wont be going on any rides and neither will Lola but its still fun for me with all the fair food to eat and all the cute things to buy. we should get some good pictures.

Valentine's Day

It's almost Valentine's Day! it will be Lola's first. i took some pics of her today being as cute as she is and in a cute little red and pink outfit. Matt has been gone for work this week, but will be home this weekend and we get a date night. he also got me a new washer and dryer. the dryer comes on valentine's day, so its my gift. i love it. its funny, I'm digging for laundry every day so i can use it. haha



the kids are out of school for the rest of the week and Monday too. i don't know if its because of V day or presidents day or what. i didn't even know until yesterday, cause they never give me the papers from the school if they aren't homework. so i guess that's good for me too cause i get to sleep in.
i got some awesome sleep last night. i put the kids in bed and then i went to bed and i didn't even realize it was only 9pm until i was turning out my light! amazing. i thought it was too good to be true but i guess not. i woke up at 5am and looked at the clock and i remember thinking, "holy crap! i still have 2 1/2 hours to sleep!"
the other day Matt and i payed off my car. i thought it would be a few more years. but since we got a big tax return we got completely out of debt. but when i called the bank and asked them to send me my title, they said they never got it in the first place. and the dealership that sold me my car went out of business. so i called the corporation and they told me that they didn't get any records and that i have to write a letter to the address of the dealership and when it gets forwarded to the owners they will hopefully know where all my info went. I'm sure there are a lot of other people that this happened to also. so I'm really hoping that it gets straightened out and i can get a freakin title!!