Spooky

I made these last night after reading a blog called Mod Podge Rocks which led me to an awesome crafting blog called Not So Idle Hands. My interpretation of the originals is a little loose, but I love them none the less. I used watered down Elmer's Glue-All instead of Mod Podge, because it's 78 cents instead of $7. The vases were from Goodwill for 99 cents each, and I got an awesome variety of tissue paper that will last me forever for $3. Not bad for a Monday night.

Should I be ashamed...

...that one of our favorite things to do in the morning around bath time is to watch "The Price is Right?"
It's kind of embarrassing, and all of the commercials are for power chairs, AARP and supplemental Medicare insurance, but Remi loves the excitement and sounds. That, and I don't have to suffer through another Mr. Noodle encounter. The show keeps his attention better than anything I have ever seen (which means he gets in a solid 20 minutes of viewing.)

Lounger

He rarely slows down but one day while watching Charlie Brown he plopped down on the couch to relax.
Sometimes relaxation is forced.
Often at very odd angles.

Adding this to my craft to-do list

Monogram wreath. Credit goes to Design Sponge. Specific instructions can be found here.Can't wait to get started!

Two things that made me smile

Bright spots in my week!
Keith is a sweetie and brings me flowers every week after his work hitch. This particular bouquet is the perfect transition into Fall:
We were driving around downtown Houston and at a stoplight we noticed this group of men casually chatting across the street. Why did two of the men decide to carry on their conversation behind bars? Made me laugh and still makes me laugh when I look at it:

Invaders

At first I thought the wood trim around our north-facing front door was beginning to rot because of all the rain and humidity we have had. That, and it's always in the shade, so it never really dries out. Pretty reasonable assumption, right?
Well here is the reason our wood was magically disappearing:

At least two giant wood beetles have been feasting on the softened wood for who knows how long. They chewed up into the trim and got a good 4 inches into the inside of the door. Aggressive buggers, each pushing 2 1/2 inches long. After a solid day and a half of work and many dollars spent at Lowe's, Keith has reconstructed the eaten trim with "Veranda" vinyl and filled the door with wood stabilizers and two-part epoxy...a much better alternative to dropping $3500 on a new door and threshold!
Thank you, my glorious handyman! He's cute, strong, clever, and comes really cheap.
Gotta love the creatures of Texas...

What we have been waiting to hear...

Upcycled Terrariums

I finally had the chance to make two terrariums using an old Classico sauce jar and a Marshmallow Puff jar. I had to frantically dig up moss while Remi screamed at the back door for me to let him out. Once back inside, I bombed the kitchen with moss and dirt trying to get everything just so.
Pretty fun to make and pretty to look at.

I'm in a box

Remi's favorite new destination...an empty Pamper's box. He watches TV from there, lays his head in it when he's tired, sits there when we play catch, we use it to push him around the kitchen, and he stores blocks in it. Why have I ever bothered buying toys???

Saying Goodbye

Parting is such sweet sorrow...I love the progression of Remi getting more and more frustrated!

Kidlets

Many of Keith's high school friends have kids. This is the couch of chaos:
So many cute kids, SO MUCH ENERGY!

Wish he still worked for them!

Whenever we go to Utah, we make sure to stop in and say to Keith's old bosses, Dennis and ReNae (and son Matt.) I think it's been nearly 5 years since Keith worked for them at Affordable Auto. We have really fond memories of Christmas tree hunting, 4 wheeling, pizza, car shows, and cabin-going with them. We were sad to miss out on seeing Matt's wife, Cori, but hopefully they can all come to Houston for a visit soon.

The Big Top

Keith arranged tickets for the circus while we were in Utah. We went with my young siblings and parents. Didn't get a whole lotta pictures, and there was a very mild incident with the Peta people, but all in all we had a great time at the Ringling Brother's and Barnum and Bailey Zing Zang Zoom!
The only decent photo of the ACTUAL show:
Dani studying the show very intently:
Remi's enthusiasm reached an all-time high:
They even featured baby bears in the show:

Roosters

Amy sings at Roosters in Layton, so while we were in Utah, we jumped at the chance to see her in action. Great food, great ambiance. Of course, Amy does a great job, as always. It was cold so excuse Remi's crazy outfit! If you don't know what ATF is, don't bother asking!

Randolph

The first part of our Utah trip included a getaway to the Sano's Randolph house. It was relaxing and fun. Keith went shooting a few times and helped out with projects around the house. We drove to Bear Lake to get raspberry shakes, played a lot of Guitar Hero, had a chance to lay outside (on the grass!) and look at the millions of stars and ate lots of good food!
We took a drive near the abandoned mines:
We watched movies projected onto the garage:
We got pelted with candy at the Randolph homecoming parade:
We took in the sights:
He made ornery faces:
He helped Grandma do dishes: