Outtakes

We did the dreaded christmas photo thingy last weekend. I took over one hundred pictures- you gasp, but ask any mama with three young uns. It is a scientific fact that it is impossible to get them all to face the camera at the same time, or not to itch, or not to cry or make funny faces. This is why I will be hiring child model stand ins next year. I kid. I kid. Sorta.

But I was beyond frustrated with them- it suddenly seemed like the most important thing in the world, to get perfect pictures. By the tree, by the fireplace. Look at me, look st my perfect trio. We look nice, we act nice. Not. But thank God for outtakes.

Ninety nine pictures later, we had a passable photo that I could crop and use for cards- or so I thought. Sent them off to the printers and viola, resolution was too low. So i am left with a stack of blurry, imperfect christmas cards,

Then I remember the shootings in Connecticut and some stockings that will never be seen by some little angel again. Christmas cards that may have been the last pictures taken with family. And I stuff my blurred, low resolution, Walmart printed cards in the mailbox. 'That'll do," I think to myself. My life is not perfect. Noone's is. No outtakes for life- so I'm gonna enjoy mine and not obsess about silly things- like christmas cards that people may toss after a season.

I'm learning.

Bless you, bless us. Merry Christmas, Pradists.

Another obsession

Don't know if I've been living under a rock, but I just discovered this gospel singing, grammy winning family, two nights ago.

I have a girl crush on the one on the far left- who wrote this song by the way- and plays the guitar AND the piano. LOVE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUMRqJCV9Q4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

'Le bow'

You know that cheesy thing that you bought on a whim from Target, for like $3.99, that has all of a sudden become your all consuming obsession? Yup, that one. Viola! In my case, my tacky, sequined, hot pink, hair bow.

I. Cannot. Get. Enough. I wear it with everything- whenever I can get away with it. And I have not worn hair bows since I was like, eight.

Even the Principessa is bewildered by my new fad. Everytime she sees me with the bow, she says soberly, reproachfully, "That's Principessa's." Even a two year old knows that a thirty something year old mother of three has no business rocking that monstrosity. To which I reply sweetly, " Mine, not yours. Mommy's bow."

That's right. Mine. :)

Obsessed, pp

Thanksgiving

A month late, I know. But these pictures are too pretty not to share.

And I am proud of my 'shellacking' and 'decoupaging' skills. Okay, I just wanted to say 'decoupage', a la Martha Stewart and Rosie O' Donnell.
But I did organize an impromptu dried leaf and pinecone hunt, right before lunch and the kids and I had a ball spraying them down with gold paint. That left an interesting motif on the breakfast table, but whatever.

Enjoy a but of thanksgiving in December. :)

Thankful, pp

Author

Her joy is my joy. Her success, my success. When you support her you support me. But I know you will love her because her writing is phenomenal. Enjoy.

http://remembering-my-journey.blogspot.com/2012/12/guest-post-rest-of-way.html

How not to bake a Pumpkin Pie

Whatever you do, do NOT go to the pumpkin patch, because if you do, you'll be tempted ( or should I say cajoled) into picking up a teeny pumpkin. Or three.

If you pick up a pumpkin, rest assured that one of two things will happen- pleas for a pumpkin pie or pleas to carve the pumpkin. I say, if one must choose- carve the pumpkin. Why? Cause it'll be over in 30 minutes. And you won't need to pop over to the store like three times that day, looking for obscure spices like 'mace'. Yes, seriously, mace apparently is a spice. Who knew?

If suckered into baking a pie, make sure you do not actually use said pumpkin to bake the pie! That's what canned pumpkin filling is for. And do not attempt to make the crust yourself. See previous sentence and substitute 'pillsbury dough' for 'canned pumpkin filling'.

Expect to hear, "when is MY pie going to be ready?" a gazillion times. Times three. And pacing infront of the oven, peering through the glass door of the oven, as well as all other dramatic indications that the kids are just dying for some pie.

When the pie is done, expect fanfare. jubilations and confetti.

Do not get your hopes up. They will NOT finish pie. To be clear, they may bot even finish their own slice of pie (cough, cough Monkey boy) and may start mashing it around and saying stuff like "I wanna invent a pumpkin pie burger!", or "Do we have any whipped cream?" or simply in the words of the Principessa, when pressed to eat more, "No Sanks!". To be fair, she did eat all hers and half of her brother's. But that's her duty as the third child. It's called 'taking one for the team.' :)

There's a moral to this story. Aside from 'never bake a pie.' I'll add, "never eat your pie before you've baked it." It might not live up to your expectations. Or just decide to enjoy said pie no matter what. Yeah, that works.

Or... just carve a jack-o-lantern already. :)

Or roast pumpkin seeds.

Fallin' out, pp

How to throw a really good (and wild) party

I used to be a coordination fiend, a 'matchy matchy' kinda chick. You know, back when coordination and 'matchy matchiness' was still cool.
I'll give you an example- my pocket book had to match something I was wearing. I never mixed gold and silver jewelery, nor did I ever wear black and brown. Like ever.



And my kids birthday parties were all themed out. Sesame street this, that and the other. Sesame street all up in ya face, puking Elmo, total Ernie and Bert overload. The party stores and online stores these days are so good, that they just smother your creativity- all you have to do is walk into aisle 7 and viola, total Ben 10 party!  And then you have 'birthdayinabox.com'.  Guilty user here and I still love them.  Just not for EVERYTHING, EVERY year. Perfect for classroom birthday parties- just hand the box to the teacher, provide cake and pizza and dunzo. But when it's all in your hands and you don't want a cookie cutter party, here's what you do.



First, you have an adorable Principessa, who just happens to be obsessed with animals and the farm, and nature. ( Dunno where she gets that from).

  Invite family and a few of her like-minded buddies (so now you're committed, you gotta do something, right?

Locate the furthest, least convenient to you (or any of your guests for that matter), most rustic farm EVER. (Sorry guys.)

Make sure nothing matches.   Ofcourse.

Go Pumpkin picking

 

Have Pizza

Eat cake

Have a blast.

It's okay to theme out the goody bags.   Animals are adorable, no overload possible here.

Stickers, plates, lollipops, animal masks, all courtesy of oriental trading. Animal crackers from any grocery store. :)


Come home with the spoils of war - Pumpkins, corn and other vestiges of the great outdoors.  

Then on her 'real 'birthday, eat 'recycled' cake again. (Serve cupcakes at farm and bring real cake home. Works better that way.)

                                                               Dig in, Sista
Thank you friends and family. Principessa would have turned two regardless, but not like this. Not this fabulously.

                                                                          Hay ride. Best Ever.

So much fun. So much joy.

And no matchy matchy stuff either. :)

Happy birthday to my principessa, xoxo pp

Hello October!

So one of my cross word puzzle clues last week went something like this - three letter 'alternative to nothing'.  I mulled over it for a while before it hit me.  All.  So simple, yet deeply profound.  I had thought of every answer in the book, but just couldn't seem to come up with a three letter one.   Not enough letters, I kept thinking- need at least four.  Ha.  I was thinking big to get less than 'all'.  Isn't that what happens though? We are sitting down waiting for flashes of brilliance to do (whatever it is you want to do) and the brilliance is in the simplicity of the three letter word of all. #poetic waxings.

So, I'm adopting this as my October mantra.  All or nothing.  So what if September sucked has been less than stellar for me?  Does this mean I should accept less than all from October?  Nope.  I'll take my serving of 'all' this new month, pretty please.  Hold the 'nothing', thanks.  Let's go there, October, I'm totes ready.  Yes, I just said totes. :)

This little guy's got the right attitude.

And my Numero Uno October baby too

Yeah! Grimace or smile- same difference, sister is fierce! (October baby #2)

Besides, I have two October birthdays to plan, so no mucking about.


Last, but certainly not the least, Nigeria turned 52 yesterday.  Happy birthday, gorgeous!  Now go do something fabulous, y'all. :)

Zooming into October

bursting with optimism, pp