Halloween Recap - 'Bout Time

You can always tell life is completely insane when I don't update my blog for a holiday. Especially to commemorate my favorite one - Halloween!



I took the boys to Dylan's school carnival. The PTA seriously outdid themselves this year as it was completely OTT with a variety of things to do. Drake loved the petting zoo.



We all had a great time. Drake had a hard time trying to decide what prize to pick after each game.



The only problem we encountered was when Drake discovered the bounce houses. He ran me ragged running from one bounce house to the other the rest of the time we were there.





Davis has the best luck of anyone I know. The little guy was banned last year from the cake walk because he won EVERY TIME he participated. He was completely devastated last year when it happened.

This year he took things into his own hands and after winning twice in a row, told the principle that he was banning himself this year. This way all the other kids would have a turn to win. Such a sweetie - looks like we're growing up. :)



Unfortunately, Dylan has my luck. {{Poor little guy.}} He finally did win something (after like 8 tries) at the cake walk but it was a 4 pack of muffins. He was stoked until he saw the Halloween cookies and huge pumpkin cake Davis won.



For Halloween we went trick-or-treating with Lisa & Billy, and Wendy & her family.



Davis went as Duke from GI-Joe, Drake as Lightening McQueen's pit crew chief, and Dylan went as a ninja. Can you tell I let them each pick out their own costumes this year? {{giggle}}



I broke out my brunette barbie pony tail for the occasion. Dude, I love that hair. Although not as much as I love the man in the picture. {{smooches}}



Here's the gang all together ready to get juiced on sweets.



They had a complete blast! I actually did too. The men stayed at home and passed out candy while Lisa and Wendy kept me thoroughly entertained as we went from house to house. Drake really got into it this year and went to each door with the kids. I was able to hang with the adults which made things a lot easier and more fun.

Lastly, here is the Beyonce, Kanye, and Taylor Swift spoof that my sister, Billy, and I did for our mandatory Halloween party skit. We completely nailed it during practice but got a little distracted by all the laughing during our live performance.

Oh well. And yes that's a little girls leotard I'm wearing. $13 bucks baby! Enjoy and I hope it gives you a good laugh. Billy nailed it!!

Guilty Pleasure

Dude. @LittleDebbie is following me on Twitter.

I heart Little Debbie and should own some stock as I'm emotionally invested in these baked goods. We're a match made in icing heaven. {{smooches}}

Is Social Media a Fad?

Ladies!

I have really been surprised at how many Mom-prenuers (women with at-home businesses) do not have a Facebook Fan Page AND a Networked Blog page for their business, do not have a blog, or a twitter account.

This thing called "social media" is not a fad and will not go away just because you don't understand it. If you want to make money online from your home - please sign up for these accounts and play around with it for a while. If you need help, I know a thing or two and would be happy to help you out. If I can't answer your question - I know someone who can.

Please catch up!

If you aren't trying to make money online - ignore me all together. {{cheesy grin}}

My Chevy & NASCAR Experience

I dragged Lisa out to the races over the weekend. It was supposed to be time with our men but they got caught up at school and missed it. Major bummer.

Lisa and I had a blast and you can see all about it in my NASCAR Whrrl Story.

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12 Days of Junkie starts Monday!!

I have organized some amazing upcoming events for just for Tip Junkies! It's my way of saying "Thank You" for an incredible year of fabulous ideas and lots of new readers and friendships.

Mark your calendars and tell all your blogging buddies. Believe me, you won't want to miss out on any of the amazing ideas or free goodies.



1. To help promote & feature some of the amazing women who have joined the Mom-preneur Shop-a-thon, I have set up the 12 Days of Christmas, um I mean Junkie! It will start tomorrow, Monday November 9th.

It will run similar to the Birthday Bash back in June; where each giveaway will last only 24 hours and a winner will be picked each morning. There will be two winners each day!

This HUGE giveaway has 2 purposes:

1. To spotlight women’s products in hopes that you’ll find something you love and then buy or barter for it.
2. To give away products for you to use at home or save some cash and give as a gift.

Other events coming up:

2. Christmas Card Challenge: November 17th (3 winners)
3. Christmas Tree Contest: December 8th (3 winners)

I hope you'll come on over to Tip Junkie to check out these fabulous Mom-preneur products and hopefully win some fabulous prizes!

Laurie
www.tipjunkie.com

P.S. Tip Junkie is your hook up for creative Christmas tutorials and handmade gift ideas. As well as fabulous Thanksgiving DIY and tutorials!!

Attention Grandparents - Christmas Wish Lists

Skate Rail Grind

I'm in complete denial that it's already November and time to get my hiney in gear and get my Christmas shopping done. Usually, I'm much more organized but this year I have a new attitude and I'm just rolling with the punches and keeping things easy.

I've been getting requests from Grandparents to get the boys Christmas gift lists ready. Honestly, I have no idea what they want. The boys are getting older and their interests are changing. So I packed up all the kids, grabbed Lisa as my wing man, and we headed on over to Toys R Us.

Since I couldn't be with the older boys I took an easy approach and handed them my camera and told them to take pictures of what they want for Christmas! This way I could focus on Drake and figure out his list.

Davis' Wish List:


Glow in the Dark Nerf

Geeze these kids are cheesy! {{I have no idea where they get it from}} I came home to discover some pretty funny pictures. Leave it to my boys to make a Christmas gift list and event. {{giggle}}


Skate Insane Air Sick Tricks


Vulcan Nerf


Electronic Command Helmet - please don't get him this {{yuck}}

Dylan's Wish List:


Any kind of spy gear - Satellite Listener


Automatic Tommy 20 gun


New Bike - Santa will take care of this one. ;)

Drake's Wish List:



Once Drake saw the Disney Cars Geo Trax the shopping trip was over. He couldn't focus on anything else. Santa will hook him up with this one. :)



Drake is addicted to anything Disney Cars, cars that move (battery operated), or anything with a remote control.

Drake only gave this toy up because the sweet sales Lady promised to give it to Santa for him for Christmas. He was so grateful he gave her a hug and kiss. {{Mean mommy wouldn't buy it for him.}}


Mac Car Carrier

Yep - that's it. This is what an hour in the toy store produced. Talk about unproductive. I expected there to be a LOT more pictures. It looks like we'll have to do another trip or just browse online. Not that they're going to get a lot this year, we have a budget. I just want more options to consider as some of these I'm not that excited about.

I usually like to make sure they get something to build, a video game to play, something for their imagination, one item to build on whatever they are collecting or really into currently, and then a big gift from Santa.

My philosophy is few gifts (3-6 depending on cost) but good quality so nothing breaks and in a variety so there's plenty to do Christmas day an no one is disappointed.

What's your Christmas gift philosophy for your kiddos?

My Favorite Mom-preneurs

For Talk to Me Tuesday over on Tip Junkie, we're featuring our favorite blogger's or Mom-preneur products. These are some of my favorite products that I have either purchased or bartered for:



I just LOVE my beaded watch band from A Time for Beads. I wear it all the time and love coordinating it with my outfit.



Recently, I've also been wearing my crocheted flower headband from Taylor Tengelsen a lot. I think it's such a fun twist on the flower.



I just adore Madison Reece Designs and have been giving out her scrabble pendant necklaces as gifts to my dear friends. They have each loved them.



For Mother's Day, I have my MIL an apron from Sugar Pie Chic. I think it makes the coolest gift.

I still imagine myself baking cookies, wearing a darling apron, and greeting my children when they come home from school. Yeah, it's not going to happen but a girl can dream. Now, I need to get one for myself. ;)



I've also given away these darling stamped pendant necklaces from the Vintage Pearl. My goodness they are gorgeous and make a more personalized gift.



My lastest obscession has been with Hello Robertson and her fabulous headbands. Yes, I imagine myself as Gossip Girl actress flashing beauty in my locks. I wore one of them to my SITScation conference and felt 30, flirty, and fabulous in it. {{love her}}



I hope you'll all post about your favorite Mom-preneur products to help get the word out about these talented women.

Buy From Women this Holiday Season!

Where every penny goes to another mother and her family. We can make a difference in the Mom Made Economy by each purchasing at least 1 item from another blogger or Mom-preneur.

If you need some Mom-preneur inspiration, there's about 3 days worth of shopping over on the Tip Junkie Mom-preneur Shops. You will be seriously impressed with the quality and creative gift ideas you'll find.

You can also check out my Whrrl Mom-preneur Shop-a-thon Gift Guides for easy shopping under specific categories.

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Fabulous Friends

My darling friend Christina celebrated her 30th birthday with a big shin dig over at the club house. She's not only both of my boys 3rd grade teacher - she's a dear friend.

Christina has the biggest heart and it completely shows by the people who attended her party. There were fellow teachers, parents of previous students, and long time friends who flew in from California to help her celebrate. One of her old co-workers drove 4 hours from Houston to party with her on her big day. Seriously so cool!

Christina's son has autism and many of her friends there also either had children of their own or work with children with special needs. It was a room full of people who get each other, appreciate each other, and just adore Christina.

I was honored to be in attendance and celebrate such a cool milestone in her life. She completely rocks and I love our time together.



A couple days later I met up with Alyssa from Keeping the Kingdom First blog. We met at the Dallas girls night out and it turns out our kids go to the same school! Very cool.

We had lunch at Jasons Deli and chatted about everything: motherhood, blogging, conferences, coupons, etc. She's darling and I'm stoked that we live so close to each other. We might even travel to Blissdom '10 together. Whoohoo! {{finger crossed}}

My 1st Speaking Gig - SITScation

I got the opportunity a couple weekends ago to speak at a blogging conference, SITScation in Las Vegas. I was stoked when Tiffany first asked me and felt honored to be included with the other experienced speakers.

Since I was unfamiliar with other speakers I Googled them and found some controversial stuff about 2 of them and had read some of their more colorful Twitter messages. I e-mailed Tiffany back to make sure that I would be a good fit at the conference. As you know, I am a conservative and a optimistic person. Ok let's face it - I'm an ultra positive person. You won't find f-bombs and twitter fighting from the Tip Junkie. My message is to lift people up - not drag them through the mud.

At any rate - Tiffany assured me that I would be a great fit at the conference and those women would tone it down and most certainly speak to this more conservative audience. And they did! It was a weekend full of girl power, positive messages, and powerful networking.

I was most surprised at how connected I felt to these women I had never met before. Since the conference was hosted by the SITSgirls - it was their readership that attended. However, I was familiar with most of the women and we all bonded immediately!

We walked the red carpet, danced at the cocktail party, took tons of pictures, and enjoyed meeting each other. This was my first blogging conference to attend and I most certainly exceeded my expectations. I can't wait for the next one in Nashville, Blissdom '10 here I come! {{giggle}}



Some of you have stroked my ego a little and have asked if could post my presentation. The full version is really long - over 40 minutes. So, here's a short blurb of my speech for SITScation. Basically, I spoke about 6 tips and incorporated stories and analogies, then I spotlighted someone in the audience who I felt has incorporated that tip into their blog, Tip Junkie style. It turned out really cool.

Yes, I made Leah cry as she was stunned with the recognition. She's absolutely adorable and is an inspiration in her own right.

More stories at #sitscation

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Here's my Whrrl story of the weekend with twitter links so you can follow some of the people if you'd like.

Overall it was an amazing experience. I've even talked on the phone since I've been home with several of the women I met and feel like I made friends for life.

When I got home Monday morning I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with an ear & lung infection. I started feeling bad on Thursday but of course ignored it because I had a job to do. Physically I was feeling terrible all weekend and my throat was killing me - but emotinally I was on cloud 9 and felt so blessed to be apart it all.

Holla to all my new peeps. I can't wait to party with you again in February!

Drake's Preschool Parade

Drake is finally loving his "little school" and was stoked about his pre-school Halloween parade. He's really into Halloween this year which is fun to see. He picked out his costume and he's going as Lightening McQueen's pit crew chief. It's perfect as he's addicted to the Disney Cars movie and toys.



He did such a good job of staying in line during the parade and waving HI to everyone. It was a proud moment. {{snif snif}}

Our Pumpkin Carving Contest

Drake has thoroughly enjoyed his Halloween cupcakes this week. Can you tell?!?



Lisa had us all over to her house for a pumpkin carving contest for family home evening.



She was REALLY into it as this is the first year she carved a pumpkin.



I on the other hand, am on my 11th year of this gig and I know the drill - pick the easiest template and getter done quick.



Lisa took a completely different approach.



I'm quite sure she was carving that thing all night! It turned out amazing but Geeze Louise. {{competitive much?}}

Haunted Gingerbread House

Another family tradition we have during Halloween is making the haunted gingerbread house. I just buy the kit, open up the packages, and let the kids go at it!



Davis takes this annual event very seriously. His little engineering mind takes over and he builds a sound house to decorate.



Drake on the other hand is just stoked to eat all different colors of candy.



This family tradition has gotten so much easier over the years now that the boys are getting older. It was so enjoyable watching them collaborate on this project. It amazes me how well they all get a long.

Dude - Time Flies

Time is seriously flying by at the speed of light. Thank heaven I blog so I at least have something to show for it. Jason has taken 2 trips to Russia for work. The Russians are building their own airliner and his company has been contracted to design the hydralics for it. Super cool.

We're finishing up Davis Weblow's scouting badge and so Jason took the older boys camping. Um no, I didn't go. It was raining and like 40 degrees. Drakie and I stayed home and slept in our warm beds. {{evil laugh}}

Dylan had his 3rd grade concert and had a solo in the program. He did an amazing job! I was so proud of him. I guess those days of silly faces and playing with the kids next to him are over. My little guy is growing up.



Where do the days go?

How to Boo your Friends

One of our family traditions for Halloween is go be the Phantom or Boo our friends. Which means we ring & run and leave goodies at the door.

Wondering how to Boo your friends? First print out the poem then make a goodie bag or plate with yummy Halloween themed treats.



Getting out of the car w/ treats in tact is always the trickiest part. That pink cupcake kissed the ground. Which is why I always plan on incidentals and bring extras. {{no worries}}

(Actually I usually try to cover our goodie plates but this year it was too messy.)



Next, be reallysneeky and tip toe up to the door.



You've got to be extra quiet if then have a window by their door. No peeking in!



Leave your goodies at the door with the poem underneath so it won't blow away.



Let the younger kids get a head start and once Mommy's in the car - Ring and Run!



Lastly, come home and celebrate with Halloween goodies of your own. {{yummy}}