Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween!! Know what that means?! Tomorrow I'm going to start getting ready for Christmas! But, for the rest of the day, we'll be Halloweening. I slacked and haven't put decorations up, so the girls will help me get that done ready quickly this morning.

The girls are so excited to get their trick or treat on tonight. I can't wait to dress them all up and snap tons of photos. I keep hearing that trick or treating here on base can get pretty crazy. I guess we'll see.

Sometime today I need to go "boo" my neighbor. When I tried to last night, their front door was wide open.. Just as I was about to go up their walk way, I noticed it and quickly walked in the other direction. Oops. And then I felt like a fool for making a huge loop around the neighborhood with a gift bag in my hand.

Anyway, whatever you're doing tonight, be safe and have fun! (:

Boo'd!

When we moved into our house on post, I had expectations that I would be BFFs with the other ladies on the block. Our kids would hang out all day and we'd get together for wine and girl's nights. When we had new neighbors move in a few doors down, I even went over with cookies in hopes that we'd spend mornings at each others houses sharing coffee. Sadly, that hasn't been the case. However, after last night, I have a sliver of hope.

While I was preparing dinner, I heard a knock on the door. As I walked towards the front of the house, I heard voices and saw some punk ass teenagers in the area. I was reluctant to open the door in fear that they were selling something or asking for donations. I peeked out the door and saw a lovely purple trick or treat pumpkin with a note hanging out.

Inside the pumpkin was a bunch of candy, two rubber duckies, and some body parts that grow when you put them in water. Veronica and Adri quickly claimed the candy and split it amongst themselves. Fine by me, since I spent yet another day sneaking Snickers from the trick or treat bowl. We'll probably start "growing" the body parts this evening, after school.

I don't have much on my to-do list today, so Juli and I will most likely head to the store to pick up some goodies to boo another neighbor. I'm so happy that this tradition hit our street. I look forward to passing it on, and hopefully forming some friendships with the neighbors.

Have you been boo'd?

DIY Olaf Onesie Costume

Do you want to build a snowman? While I won't be building any actual snowmen anytime soon, I did piece together an adorable little Olaf costume for Juliana to wear for Halloween on Friday.

It actually took me up until about a month ago to even watch Frozen. However, Frozen fever has hit my home for Halloween this year. Finding costumes for Veronica and Adriana was simple. Veronica wanted Elsa, and since Adri lives to mimic Veronica in every way possible, Anna was a simple choice for her. Target for the win.

Juliana, on the other hand, took some searching. Costumes in the 0-3 month size are severely lacking. For the most part, any cute costume that I could find in that size was one of those super thick and heavy ones that would instantly over heat my baby. So, I decided to take costume making into my own hands.

Lucky for me, I already had all of the necessary materials on hand. Juli has tons of little white Gerber onesies and I actually had some felt scraps from a felt pumpkin activity that I was working on for the older two.

Before taking the scissors to fabric, I practiced drawing an Olaf on paper. He's incredibly easy to draw. Once, I was confident in my abilities, I cut two eyebrows, two circles for eyes, and the mouth (minus a giant tooth) out of black felt. For the carrot nose, I cut a slightly rounded and imperfect triangle. Seriously, too easy.

To get all the pieces stuck on, I busted out my glue gun. A few dabs of glue around all of the edges, and we were good to go. If I had wanted to get fancy, I would have used iron on adhesive, like I used to do in college for sorority t-shirts, but honestly, who has time for all of that?! Not this mama.

Just to be sure that the pieces were in fact stuck on, I lightly passed the iron over all of the pieces. Originally, I had planned to outline all of the felt pieces with puffy paint, but I decided against it just to avoid any potential accidents.

Last week, Juli rocked her costume at the girls' preschool Halloween party. It held up perfectly! It even survived an accidental spin through the washer and dryer.

Catching Up

It's been over a week since I last blogged! Whoops. Life has been busy lately. I am now attempting to get back on track. My calendar is full, let's just see if I actually have time to type what I have planned.

Last weekend, our best friends from Georgia (also Adri's Godparents), flew into town for a visit. It's had been nearly a year since we had last seen them, but with friends like those, you can always pick up exactly where you left off. Unfortunately, we had a few downpours from a hurricane passing through, so a majority of their visit was rained out. Regardless, we had a fantastic time. Whether it was hanging out on the couch watching HGTV or out and about touring Oahu.

It's always nice when people visit here. It's really the only time that we go out and do the touristy things. This time around, I got many more items crossed off of my Hawaiian bucket list. There was even a day where the boys were golfing and the girls were at school that my friend and I got to drive around the island just taking pictures. I've always wanted to do that, but I would never go on my own.

While the BFFs were here, we did several new things. We went to the Dole Plantation for the first time, and I finally got to try the Dole Whip, which was a bucket list item of mine. Bleh. It wasn't even that great. The only thing that saved it was the chunks of pineapple that John added on top.

I bet you didn't know that pineapples actually grow above ground..!

We also went to another luau. This time, at the Hale Koa. Last time we had friends visit, we went to the Paradise Cove luau. Both were great, but for different reasons. I'll be posting a comparison eventually.

My favorite part of the entire visit was the last night though. I insisted that everyone had to stay awake until at least 10:00. John and I are used to going to bed around 8ish and the friends were still dealing with jet lag, but we managed to stay awake until about 11:00, mostly bullshitting and catching up while sipping on pomegranate tequila from the girls' little plastic cups.

Now that our visitors are gone and we won't have anyone else visiting until Thanksgiving, I'll be catching up on the blog.

Juliana - Three Months Old

My sweet girl is getting bigger and bigger by the day. I just wish I could keep her this little forever. I love our early morning snuggles and spending the day together while Veronica and Adriana are in preschool.

Since there is no three month well-baby check up, I don't know exactly how long or heavy she is. I can tell you that she is definitely gaining weight well though. This girl loves to eat! Pretty soon, she's going to be too heavy for me to be able to lug her around in her car seat. Juli is still in size 1 diapers, but we're slowly making the transition to cloth diapers. They're beginning to fit better, since she's chunking up a bit.

You can't really tell from these pictures, but her eyes are blue. Sort of a darker blue, but definitely not a brown like both of her big sisters. I'm hoping that her eyes stay that way. I keep Googling to try and see when a baby's eyes stop changing color. According to Dr. Google, we still have a few more months for them to possibly darken up.

As far as milestones go, this month, Juliana has learned to roll over from her belly to her back. She's working on the back to belly rolls, but isn't quite there yet. Although she isn't a huge fan of tummy time, she does a great job of holding herself up. She's also discovered her hands and will bring them together and put them in her mouth.

My Solution to the Dinnertime Dilemma

I'm fairly confident that any toddler mom can tell you what a pain in the ass meal times can be. I often find myself arguing incessantly with the older two trying to get them to finish what's on their plate sometime before they become teenagers. It doesn't matter if it's a dish that they love or not, I can almost guarantee that there will be a fight to try to get them to finish in a timely manner.

On a recent grocery trip, I was scanning the aisles when a little gadget caught my eye. Hanging somewhere between Life and Lucky Charms I spotted this heifer.

Considering there are several digital timing devices built into my kitchen, it's been a while since I've used an actual timer. I figured it would be a nice visual motivator to help get the girls to hurry up and eat though.

For a few night now, we've been using our new friend to time dinner. The timer gets set to 20 minutes when we sit down. When the bell dings, dinner is over. Veronica and Adri are able to watch the clock and determine approximately how much time they have left to finish eating. To my surprise, it's actually helped!

John and I are usually done in about 10 minutes. We're then able to use the rest of the time to assist the munchkins if they're in need of an extra hand. If I notice that they're making an effort to finish, I'm willing to be lenient with the time and stick around at the table for a few minutes after the bell.If not, that's it. No more snacks or dessert.

Do you have any tricks for getting your kids to eat?

Thanks to all of the lovely ladies who have joined the MilSO Directory Map! It's starting to fill in rather nicely!

Announcing: The MilSO Directory Map

Happy Monday, friends! I'm excited to announce my brand new MilSO (military significant other) bloggers directory! I know, I know.. You're probably thinking, another milso directory..?! BUT, I promise this one is different! The directory itself is an interactive map meant to help find other bloggers in your general location.

I've loved connecting with and meeting some of the other blogger ladies here in Hawaii. I hope to be able to meet more and help other ladies make connections as well.

Check out the directory and add your blog here!

Homeschool-ish [September]

I thought I would finally get around to sharing some of the activities that the girls and I did as part of their mini homeschooling during the month of September. Both Veronica and Adriana currently go to preschool two days a week. Another week day is spent doing more fun type stuff and gymnastics, which leaves two days for us to do our little homeschool activities. Adri still has a while before kindergarten so I do this mostly to reinforce what V is learning at school, as well as to keep up occupied with something other than TV during the day.

Through a Pinterest search, I found Play, Learn, Love, which features a pretty amazing curriculum. Jessica, the momma behind the blog, has an entire school year planned out. Plus, she updates weekly with the lesson plan and activities. Once I had the themes knocked out, it was easy to go back to Pinterest and find fun worksheets and craft ideas to incorporate into the themes. I got lucky with September, because V's class was doing the same themes for three of the four weeks.

Based off of Play, Learn, Love curriculum

For Veronica, I focused on mastering the spelling of her name as well as identifying each of the weekly letters. The original curriculum also included sight words, but we're not about that life just yet. Adri, who usually gets the short end of the stick, did all of the same activities, but I let her do them all wrong. I did however make sure that Adri was at least good with identifying the color red. V (re)learned how to say it in Spanish.

Week 1: I cut out the letters from each of the girls' names on red paper and had them (Veronica) put it in the correct order. She also practiced writing it out. This week, we also did some other "all about me" activities which included drawing a self portrait and writing/illustrating some favorite things and hobbies.

Week 2: At her school, each day corresponded to one of the five sense. I covered what they were doing in the classroom on the days that V wasn't actually in the classroom.

Week 3: I have to give all of the credit to Veronica's amazing teacher for this little craft. On black sheet of paper, trace a hand print with silver Sharpie. Using chalk, lightly color over the hand print. Then, glue Q-Tips down as bones. Genius, right?! For Adri, I used this week to make sure she knew all of the major body parts.

Week 4: I thought about getting really crazy and attempting to learn Hawaiian islands, but that'll be a lesson for a few years from now. Either way, we got lucky with the letter of the week being "H" for home and Hawaii. Both girls made houses out of the letter H. I tried to get V to learn our address, but didn't have much luck.

We've gotten off to a good start for October starting out with farm animals. I'm looking forward to getting closer to Halloween having fun with pumpkins.

Full-time homeschooling would never work for me, but I'm enjoying a few hours a week. Have you ever considered homeschooling?

Currently..

So many things to write about, but never enough time to write. And for that reason, here's an easy post for me.

READING Some blogs. I swear I've tried to keep up with the ones I read, but apparently, I am way behind. 

WRITING Same. I've tried to stay on top of it, but it just isn't happening. There are never enough hours in the day. When do you find time to write?! 

LISTENING to my brain signing songs from Frozen over and over again. I just watched the movie for the first time to prepare for V and Adri to be Elsa and Anna for Halloween. Juli will make the perfect Olaf. Do you wanna build a snowman?

THINKING about the items I need to add to my grocery shopping list for today. 

SMELLING vomit. Sort of. More like baby spit. I'm covered and should probably shower. 

WISHING the girls would go back to following the house rules. I'm not sure what's happened lately, but manners have flown out the window and I constantly have to nag in order to get them to pick up after themselves. 

WEARING the mom uniform, college edition. Basketball shorts and a sorority t-shirt. 

LOVING Johnny. I complained that he didn't help me around the house enough, so he's stepped it up a little. I feel a tad guilty since he does work all day, but lately, everything seems to be piling up on me. 

WANTING sweet tea. There are weeks where I'll go through a gallon a day. If I make some now, the pitcher will be gone by this afternoon. I should be cutting back on sugar though. Decisions...

NEEDING a vacation. Is it crazy that I'm looking forward to getting away from Hawaii for a little bit? It won't be until next year..

FEELING snuggly. If my itty bitty was just a little older and less fussy, I'd spend the entire day snuggled up in bed with her. For now, since she likes to cry if we're not standing up, our snuggles are thanks to the baby carrier. 

On Being A Stay At Home Mom

It's funny that today's Blogtober topic relates to what I was planning on blogging about anyway..

For almost as long as I can remember, I've wanted to be a stay at home mom. As a kid, my mom always worked and I always hated it. I never got to be the cool kid whose mom went on the field trips as a chaperone. And really, because of her schedule, there weren't many functions that she was able to attend outside of school either. Work started early in the mornings, way before I was awake, which also meant an early bedtime for her.

The one experience that has stuck with me for close to 20 years was the time that my third grade class put on a little tea party event for Mother's Day. Our class got to serve lunch to our mothers and then everyone did little performances along the lines of reciting poems and telling jokes. I was in two dance performances. I was also the only child whose mom (or some sort of mother figure) didn't attend. To this day, it still makes me want to cry.

There are days where I hate being a stay at home mom. It's rough to be around the same grumpy little people around the clock, day in and day out. I get frustrated easily and sometimes even annoyed that I'm not doing more with my life. After all, I didn't spend four and a half years in college to wipe asses and make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. There was a point where I wanted to be some big marketing superstar stomping around in $600 shoes in a highrise office building in Miami.

Yet, I have no regrets. I get to spend all day snuggling my tiniest munchkin. I'm the one who gets to hear the excited "mommy!" when I pick up the girls from daycare. I get to run to the front window and hold the blinds open as a fire truck zooms by the house. And soon, I'll be the one at PTA meetings, doing bake sales, and chaperoning field trips. Yeah, having a second income would be great, but for now, we're doing just fine making memories.

If I Had A Million Dollars

Although I know I won't be able to stick with it for all 31 days and there are going to be days where I want to blog about other stuff, I decided to give #Blogtober14 a shot. I probably won't still won't post on the weekends, and if I have something off-topic to talk about I'll more than likely do that instead.

The topic for today is, "If I won the lottery I'd..." First of all, it all comes down to how big of a lottery I'm winning. Are we talking $325 million or the $3 million that the Florida lottery hands out every Wednesday and Saturday night? Either way, this is more or less how it would go. Oh, and let's forget about those pesky taxes for the sake of this post.

I'd start out by paying off the mortgage on our house in Georgia, and buying a property for when John retires from the Army. Obviously, we could do bigger and better things with a larger chunk of money, but even a couple hundred thousand would be more than enough for a chunk of land in the Caribbean. Sidenote: Johnny watches way too much HGTV and all these house hunter shows.

Next, I'd drop a large chunk of change in each of the girls' college and savings accounts. Ideally, each account would have enough to pay for four years of college, and we'd let that money sit there and accrue for the next 14-18 years. The same goes for their savings accounts. Currently, each kid gets a set amount of money sent to their accounts monthly. If we could make a lump deposit, the money would have more time to grow, leaving the little ladies with far more money for weddings or cars or whatever. John would insist on depositing to our own retirement accounts, so that would be next.

I'd love to spend part of my winnings on filling my new home. Kitchen gadgets, extra fluffy luxury towels, clothes to fill my massive walk-in closet.

Now that I've bore you with the materialistic things, I'll move on to some donations. First, cancer. Cancer scares the crap out of me. After seeing how quickly and horribly it can affect a person, I would pay anything to see cancer wiped out. Johnny would insist on donating to his fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta. I'd give more to the USO. As a military spouse, I can't think of a single organization that has done as much for family as the USO.

In the end, if I had enough left over, I'd buy my dream car. It's not any good for hauling around three car seats, but it would be perfect for cruising around a tropical island with the Hubster.