Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Motivation

I read this article from Fast Company the other day about "How to push past that terrifying dip in motivation".  I couldn't agree more with this fantastic article!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Five Ways to Work From Home More Effectively

Harvard Business Review put together some good tips on how to work from home more effectively.  Link to the article can be found here.  Enjoy!

Saturday, October 18, 2014

A BIG Salad

This is for my friend who teases me that I always say I made a "big" salad.  So, here is my big salad that will go along with tonight's dinner.  

Go big or go home!!!

Had a busy few hours with soccer.  Glass of wine in hand now though and am looking forward to seeing my friend and her family who should be here soon.

The boys just made a soccer field in the side yard and picked all my daisies to make the halfway line. ;)

 

 

Friday, October 17, 2014

Pumpkin Blaze!

This week FLEW!

Tomorrow we have friends coming over for dinner, so the plan is to take 1/2 day from work today and head home to go shopping.  Then need to take my big boy to a 4 pm birthday party.  Followed by 7:30 tickets to see the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze. 

We take the kids each year to the Blaze and they love it. I suggested to my friend that this year we bake cookies and make hot chocolate and bring it with us for a special treat for the kids.  Well, 70 dollars later I have a new thermos and 100 starbucks quality cups, cardboard sleeves and lids since I am in charge of the hot chocolate.  So much for homemade quality while saving money....I am going to have to make a lot more hot chocolate to get my moneys worth!! :)



The kids Thanksgiving outfits arrived so tomorrow hopefully I can get their annual photo for their card.   Next up...the search for Christmas outfits.  Santa will be here in a few short weeks and as soon as that dude hits the mall we'll be there before he is covered with other kids boogers and germs!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Halloween Shirts

Yesterday was so much fun.  The kids had an absolute blast!!
I bought them tshirts and fabric paint and they had fun decorating them for Halloween.

 
 
My big boy and I went to football practice and his game while the other 3 went to visit some friends.  We got in a little while ago and we are shot.  Going to do one final sweep of getting the house in order and then will meet up with a friend tonight to go out for dinner and drinks...super excited! 

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Halloween Potluck

Last night we went to cheer on my big boy for his "Friday Night Under the Lights" football game.  It was fun!

I was out of the house by 6:20 this morning to do food shopping for a Halloween Potluck/Playdate I am hosting today.

I then came home and was baking for what felt like an eternity.  By the time I was almost done with baking I checked the clock to see how much time I had left to do everything else and saw it was only 8:25 in the morning!!   

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
A brownie graveyard with crunched up oreos baked on top to look like dirt

Vampire Teeth Cupcakes

 
Also made some sugar cookies, ordered "bat wings" aka chicken wings, wedges that will have olives eyes and a ham tongue to look like a snake, made a big salad.  Can't wait to see what everyone else brings.


Goody bags for the kids (Halloween notebooks, straws and lots more ) and adults (Halloween cookie cutters with a recipe for the best cutout cookies ever)

Feeling sleepy, but will hop in the shower again to wake up and get my energy level up so I can get my party on. ;)


Sunday, October 5, 2014

Happy Sunday

Looking out the window and it looks like the perfect Fall day....my favorite kind of day!

Yesterday poured all day.  I took the kids for haircuts and then I took the big two and their cousin to a place called Life that has laser tag and arcade games for a bit.  We had a major score there since we were so early and the place was empty -- I had a groupon for 2 and they hooked us up to get all 3 in for free, play laser tag twice and tons of coins for games.  The kids had a blast.

My niece decided she was up for hanging out the rest of the day with us so we swung by the dollar store and picked up wood sticks, wood glue and paint for arts and crafts.

Last night we made one of my favorite traditional Fall meals -- Horseradish-Crusted Brisket with carrots and mashed potatoes.  It was so good.

I still had a ton of apples so used them up and made another apple crisp for dessert.

This morning the kids helped me make cocoa blackberry belgian waffles.

Off to piano and then football!

Friday, October 3, 2014

Brownie Sundae

We have company coming over tonight for a pizza dinner/play date.  I made last Friday - when we went to another friend's house for dinner - the easiest dessert ever. 

Ina's Brownie Sundae

I made the brownies last night so all I have to do is make the chocolate sauce right before serving. Perfect dessert for kids and so easy for entertaining after a workday.


I have my fingers crossed for rain tomorrow so soccer is cancelled and I get back 3 hours of time.  I still need to finish decorating for Halloween and want to relax and make a nice dinner and chill at home. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Stitch Fix

 
Loving my new Stitch Fix shipment!  Kept the top three!